2012)

Earlier today, I was looking through the Dark Ascension rares to see what deck ideas I could come up with for some of the less-popular ones. Then I realized that I have a podcast, and this would make a great topic and quickly made a list of all rares in the set selling for less than $2. When I saw how long the list was, I felt that there was no way we'd be able to cover that many cards. That is when I set about writing the following. This is a short review of every card on that list. I initially wanted to come up with a deck idea for each card, but unfortunately not all cards are build-around cards. That said, I was able to find a place for every card one the list, except for Deranged Outcast. I just don't like that card.

This review is not for competitive players. It is a review of all of the cards that the community feels are bad, and thus many of my ideas will be for bad decks. My target audience is the guy who bought a fat-pack and pulled 4 copies of Feed the Pack, since Wizards has issues with print runs. It's the girl who drafts every Friday and ended up getting passed 3 Beguilers of Wills. Finally, it's guys like me who like to buy singles and spend about $15 on a new deck if I'm buying the whole thing.

Alpha Brawl: This is a powerful, potential 1-sided Wrath. I'd definitely throw this into a Commander deck, and would be interested to see it in a sort of red chaos deck or as a win condition in a ramp deck.

Archangel's Light: A more expensive, potentially bigger, Gnaw to the Bone. Perhaps mix this card with some of the blue zombies and use it after you're done exiling creatures.

Beguiler of Wills: Tokens come to mind here. Also, I've got a deck that uses Control Magic effects to steal my opponents' creatures. This card, along with Evil Twin and the new Soul Seizer might be a good foundation of creatures for a deck like this.

Call to the Kindred: One of my favorite cards from the set. I'll be throwing at least one or two into my spider deck. I love cards that make secondary tribal decks more viable.

Counterlash: This card has huge potential in casual. Six mana is a lot, but you can counter their spell and then play Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. It might even fit into a Blue-Green Splinterfright deck to get Ghoultree out a little bit early.

Curse of the Bloodletting: This is a solid finisher in a burn deck. Also, in a curse themed deck, it makes Curse of Thirst deal 4 damage per turn.

Curse of Echoes: I want to play this card in multiplayer games. It kills burn and control. Plus, in single player, your opponent can no longer counter anything.

Curse of Misfortunes: There is enough support to build a fun Black-Red curse deck. I'm not sure if any other colors really work. Although, you could throw in singletons of some of the other colors' curses, since you don't have to pay their mana costs. See the previous card for an example of one you might do that with.

Deranged Outcast: Green-White human tokens is a thing. I really don't have much to say about this card.

Dungeon Geists: I feel like, with 3 different uncommon lords and plenty of creatures from previous sets, spirit tribal could be done. This guy is almost like a Faceless Butcher in blue. Plus, he's a 3/3 creature with flying for 4, which is not bad.

Feed the Pack: I say this with many token-based strategies, but this card works well with Essence of the Wild. Also, I've been trying to figure out a deck for Gutter Grime. Perhaps you could have a deck with Overgrown Battlement and other walls. Then, once you get both enchantments out, (extra quickly because of the Battlements) start sacrificing your walls for lots of wolves and an ooze that will keep getting bigger.

Fiend of Shadows: If your goal is to beat your opponent with his or her own cards, this guy is your choice. Put him in a deck with Karn, Liberated, and you'll force your opponent to exile 2 cards from his or her hand each turn.

Flayer of the Hatebound: Warstorm Surge makes this guy deal 10 after coming back from the dead. If you add Curse of the Bloodletting, that makes it 20. 6 mana is a bit much, but between red rituals and green ramp, He should make it to the board often enough. A good alternative if you don't have a titan.

Geralf's Mindcrusher: Great in either a zombie self-mill deck or a zombie-mill-the-oponent deck, this guy is a beast who mills 10. He's another pseudo-titan. Also, has anyone heard of Rooftop Storm?

Ghoultree: Obviously this guy fits in at least some Splinterfright decks. Also, there are 9 Green-Black zombies out there, and plenty of expensive black ones who could use some ramp.

Grim Backwoods: Card draw is always good. Plus, this activates morbid, so you can turn that creature into a 5/5 flying demon with Skirsdag High Priest. Also, it's instant speed and doesn't say non-token creature like several of the sac-outlets in the set.

Havengul Runebinder: Try this guy in your zombie-tribal. It doesn't matter which kind.

Hellrider: Deals 2 damage when you have Curse of Bloodletting? Plus he works well with little guys, and could even fit into something like a Battle Cry deck. Also, there are 11 total devils. Add some Adaptive Automatons and you have a devil tribal deck. Maybe add blue for Call to the Kindred and some good spells for Charmbreaker Devils to get back.

Helvault: Clearly, this card was designed for Commander. However, it's also repeatable colorless removal. It's crazy expensive, but in green ramp it might be cool. Plus, exiling your own creatures and then playing Akroma's Vengeance seems good.

Increasing Ambition: I want to figure out a bad 3-card combo for this card.

Increasing Confusion: I literally wished this card into existence a week before it was spoiled. I said “I wish there was a fireball for milling.” I would not be surprised if this card sees some play in Standard.

Increasing Devotion: Essence of the Wild? Also, human tokens are useful to sacrifice.

Increasing Vengeance: This could go into the Curse of Bloodletting deck I've been talking about. Flash it back on a Lightning Bolt to do 18 damage.

Jar of Eyeballs: Scry is good. Any deck that is sacrificing creatures could make use of this card, but it's not really a build-around kind of rare.

Lost in the Woods: Not including this card, there are now 4 Fog effects in Standard alone. Make your friends mad by playing this in a Turbo Fog deck. It's loads of fun. Plus, although its effect is not insanely powerful, it would be easy to throw one in a Green deck and see how it helps you.

Markov Blademaster: Red-Blue +1/+1 counter vampires was one of the first decks I built when Innistrad came out. This guy breathes new life into it.

Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter: An auto-include into any werewolf deck. You want to flip me back? Take 4 damage!

Moonveil Dragon: Probably my single favorite card from the set. I really want to build a mono-red Battle Cry deck now. It seems like it could even be somewhat powerful.

Predator Ooze: Indestructible, gets bigger, and only costs 3. I like Deadly Allure with this guy.

Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed: You definitely need Increasing Devotion with this guy. Also, if you run out of humans, at least he gets you to Fateful Hour quickly.

Requiem Angel: She's a big flier who helps out with sac-outlets. Also, I could see her making an appearance in some spirit-tribal with Drogskol Captain.

Séance: This works well with creatures who have enter the battlefield triggers. I could see myself trying this in my splicer deck.

Sudden Disappearance: Another cool blink effect. It only takes 10 mana to cast this, then cast Day of Judgment. It won't work with my splicer deck, since all my golems would cease to exist once exiled.

Thraben Doomsayer: I like this guy with Ravenous Demon or anything that requires a steady flow of creatures to sacrifice. Also, his Fateful Hour ability with something like a White Sun's Zenith or an Increasing Devotion is huge.

Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killer: Turn 1 this guy, turn 2 Scorned Villager, turn 3 a potential 6/6. Of course this won't happen often, but a turn 4 6/6 is not unreasonable at all.

Zombie Apocalypse: Like many of the zombie cards, this is an expensive flashy card that does something cool. I like it because there is a good chance that the deck wants to mill itself anyway.

There you have it. Please let me know what you think of my reviews and if you have any other ideas with these types of cards. You can e-mail me at kitchenfinkspodcast@gmail.com, listen to me on the Kitchen Finks Podcast at mtgcast.com, and follow me on Twitter @khalman. Thanks a lot for your time, and hopefully I'll keep writing these articles from time to time.

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