2001)

These days each Magic expansion to come out is peppered with several themes – interesting concepts or mechanics spread across multiple cards. R&D’s latest offering, Apocalypse, is teeming with a number of interesting new themes, such as Disciples and Volvers, as well as some new additions to some existing themes, such as Invasion’s split cards. Rather than examine this new expansion card for card as has been popular among Internet Magic columnists in the past, I’d like to take a look at this set in terms of the various themes it provides.
The Disciples
Necra Disciple, Ana Disciple, Raka Disciple, Ceta Disciple, Dega Disciple

First on the list of themes to explore is the almost familiar-looking disciple. The Apocalypse disciples are opposing-color versions of the Invasion apprentices. Just like the apprentices, the disciples cost 1 mana each, and have 2 abilities activated by a single mana and tapping, only the disciples’ abilities are activated by opposing-colored mana. For example, the Necra Disciple, which costs B to cast, has a G ability and a W ability. The abilities are:

U, T: Target creature gains flying until end of turn.
B, T: Target creature gets –2 / -0 until end of turn.
R, T: Target creature gets +2 / +0 until end of turn.
G, T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
W, T: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.

On average, these abilities are a little bit weaker than the abilities on the apprentices. However, these are still common 1-mana creatures that bring some versatile utility to the table, so they will be played in limited. There really is no use for them in constructed.

The Volvers
Necravolver, Anavolver, Rakavolver, Cetavolver, and Degavolver

In Apocalypse, each color receives a rare, small-sized creature with the potential to become much larger by paying either or both of the 2 available opposing-color kickers. Because they are creatures with 2 off-colored kickers each, the obvious comparison is to the battlemages from Planeshift.

The Planeshift battlemages are very interesting critters indeed. Un-kicked, they are merely Grey Ogres, which we all know are not very exciting. With kickers paid, though, they gain interesting comes-into-play abilities, but these abilities come at a slightly higher cost than your average comes-into-play ability. For example, A white-kicked Thornscape Battlemage is functionally equivalent to an Uktabi Orangutan, but for 2GW instead of just 2G, and while a red-kicked Thornscape Battlemage costs the same amount of mana as a Flametongue Kavu, it is spread across two colors, deals less damage, and results in a smaller creature. However, the battlemages are still sometimes played in constructed because of their versatility. While not as efficient as a Flametongue Kavu or an Uktabi Orangutan, the Thornscape Battlemage gets played because it can serve the function of either or both of those cards.

Compare this versatility with the Volvers from Apocalypse. Rather than destroying enchantments, bouncing creatures, or causing an opponent to discard, the kickers on the Volvers simply cause the Volvers to become beefier critters. The Cetavolver is a 1 / 1 for 1U, a 2 / 2 trampler for 1UG, a 3 / 3 first striker for 2UR, or a 4 / 4 first striking trampler for 2RUG. At 2 mana, the Cetavolver doesn’t match up versus other 2cc creatures, such as Stormscape Familiar. The 3 mana version doesn’t match up versus 3cc creatures such as Rishadan Airship. At 4 mana, you’d probably rather have a Troublesome Spirit, and at 5 mana spread across multiple colors, the Cetavolver has to compete with the likes of Shivan Wurm or Spiritmonger. But the Volvers will be played in constructed formats for their versatility, right? Well, not exactly. For battlemages, versatility meant having creatures that could take care of specific problems as the need arose. For Volvers it’s just a matter of how beefy the creature gets, and there always seems to be a better option.

Limited, however, is another story. You don’t get to pick out four of each of the most efficient creatures in the format to build your deck from. 4 / 4 first striking tramplers are a rare and valuable commodity, even at a cost of 2RUG, so a Volver becomes a nearly automatic inclusion in a deck with the mana to support it, and can even be a strong factor in deciding which colors to play.
The Critter-Diggers
Grave Defiler, Goblin Ringleader, Tidal Courier, Enlistment Officer, Sylvan Messenger, Kavu Howler, and Brass Herald

Each color in Apocalypse receives an uncommon, small-sized (between 1 / 2 and 2 / 3) creature for 3 generic and 1 colored mana with a comes-into-play ability that allows you to look at the top 4 cards of your library and put any creatures of a specified type found there into your hand. Black digs for zombies, green digs for elves, and so on. Additionally, each creature has a color-flavored creature ability, such as haste for the red critter-digger and first strike for the white critter-digger. There is also the Brass Herald, a 6cc artifact creature that digs for the creature type of your choice, and the Kavu Howler, a 4 / 5 kavu critter-digger for 4GG.

If the term “Critter-Digger” sounds a little funny to you, you should know that at first I just planned to call these guys recruiters. However, I was afraid of causing confusion with the Rebel or Mercenary recruiting mechanic of Masques block, causing undue excitement in anyone who hasn’t seen the real deal in a spoiler list yet. Make no mistake, critter-digging is not nearly as strong as rebel recruiting. If you’d like to look at and keep a few of the top cards revealed from your deck for 4 mana, stick to Fact or Fiction. Skyshroud Poacher and Seahunter from Nemesis are rarely if ever played in today’s T2 environment, so certainly we wouldn’t want to play with their inferior cousins, Sylvan Messenger and Tidal Courier. These might be worthwhile in a draft deck with a decent number of the specified creature type, but that isn’t something I would make a drafting goal.

The Desolation Twins
Desolation Angel, Desolation Giant

Now this duo is a pair of heavy-hitters sure to make an impact on any Magic game they happen to pop up in. Neither creature can be expected to be a good value without paying the kicker, but with the kicker paid, each becomes a serious asset to the caster. As a 5 / 4 flyer that destroys all lands upon coming into play for 3WWBB, the Desolation Angel can usually be relied upon to end the game before an opponent builds up the resources to deal with her. The Desolation Giant is not so certain to be the game-ender himself, but sweeping the board of creatures for 2WWRR and getting the jump on the redeployment race with a 3 / 3 warm body isn’t a bad way to start.

In limited, the Desolation Giant is an automatic decision in any deck that can support the 2RRWW cost, and is probably reason enough to choose red and white as main colors in your deck. The Angel will probably be played more often than not, but is a little trickier than the Giant, as you want to make sure that playing the Angel puts you in a favorable position to win the race.

In constructed, you will be certain to see some players giving these two a try. You can never be certain on what strategies actually will pan out as the metagame evolves, but I expect the Desolation Giant to have a much better chance to find a constructed home than the Desolation Angel. The Angel’s ability is not as well suited to dig you out of a losing situation, and will often require you to at least have managed a state of parity before it is able to be played to your advantage. The Giant is much more capable of turning a losing situation into a winning one, or at least of turning a losing situation into a standoff. Because the Angel is almost strictly a finisher, and there are less risky finishers available that may be more useful during all phases of the game, I don’t expect the Desolation Angel to pan out in constructed.

The Mutations
Aether Mutation, Death Mutation

Apocalypse offers us 2 spells continuing in the spirit of Artifact Mutation and Aura Mutation from Invasion. Like their predecessors, Aether Mutation and Death Mutation reward you with a small army of token creatures for picking on your opponent’s permanents. Each spell targets a creature in play; Aether Mutation bounces the target creature to its owners hand, and Death Mutation kills it. Both spells also provide a number of 1 / 1 Saprolings equal to the casting cost of the target.

Creature removal and armies of little green men are both pretty good in a limited deck, so as you can imagine, these cards are pretty good for limited. However, you don’t want more than 1 Death Mutation in a deck, and probably not many Aether Mutations either, since neither spell is an instant, and both have high casting costs: Aether Mutation costs 3GU, and Death Mutation costs a whopping 6BG. It is because of these high casting costs and sorcery-status that these spells will not pan out in constructed in any effective manner, although I would expect someone to try Aether Mutation as a token generation method for continuing attempts at an Opposition deck in Type 2.
Split Cards
Night/Day, Life/Death, Illusion/Reality, Fire/Ice, Order/Chaos

The split card theme from Invasion returns in Apocalypse, but this time the two halves of the card feature spells from opposing colors. Just like in Invasion, no sweeping statements can be made about the playability of the split cards, such as “All the split cards or great!” or “Split cards aren’t playable!” Each split card has its own merits.

Night/Day has the black ability to give a creature –1 / -1 until end of turn or a white ability to give all your creatures +1 / +1 until end of turn. The –1 / -1 can remove annoying creatures like apprentices, disciples, Coastal Drake, or Tidal Visionary, or be used as a somewhat poor combat trick. The +1 / +1 to all your creatures can serve as a pretty decent combat trick making Night/Day a decent play for limited. It really has no constructed applicability.

Life/Death features a black reanimation abilitity and a green animate land ability. At this time, Death is the only way to put a creature from your graveyard directly into play for only 2 mana in Type 2, making it an obvious choice if you were to attempt to build some type of reanimation deck in Type 2. Reanimation is also a useful ability in limited. The Life half is not so impressive as a sorcery, which makes it incapable of providing surprise blockers, and since it makes only 1 / 1 men out of your lands, it isn’t likely to provide a strong finish in games you wouldn’t have won anyway, even in limited.

Illusion/Reality can serve as artifact destruction from the sideboard of your draft deck if you didn’t grab anything else, but the blue Illusion half that gives a temporary color-change is simply outclassed by other color changing options in the set, and isn’t even a cantrip. All in all, Illusion/Reality is not a very playable split card.

Fire/Ice gives you 2 damage divided as you choose among targets for 1R, making it playable as removal in limited. The Ice ability to tap a permanent will occassionally come in handy, and is even a cantrip, which all adds up to make Fire/Ice a playable card in limited, although not one to get particularly excited about.

Order/Chaos is about as split as they come, with the Chaos half useful in aggressive decks to cause creatures to be unable to block for a turn, and the Order half useful in a more defensive deck, where it can remove an attacking creature from the game. Expect to see Order showing up in most limited decks with a white mana base, even without any red to support the Chaos half. This card shouldn’t see any constructed play, as Chaos has no place in constructed and Order is outclassed by other options.

The Sanctuaries
Necra Sanctuary, Ana Sanctuary, Raka Sanctuary, Ceta Sanctuary, Dega Sanctuary

Each color receives a sanctuary, an uncommon enchantment for 2 generic and 1 colored mana that provides a benefit if you control an opposing-color permanent, and an even stronger benefit if you control permanents of both opposing colors. The black sanctuary causes your opponent to lose life, the green makes your creatures bigger, the red deals damage to a target creature, the blue causes you to draw and then discard extra cards, and the white allows you to gain life. The abilities can be pretty useful, but are unfortunately conditional. Of course you receive no benefit if you control no opposing-color permanent, and the benefit is generally too small if you control only permanents of one opposing color. When you get to having permanents of both opposing colors, the benefits from the sanctuaries do start to become valuable, but generally by the time you get around to deploying such a variety of permanents, you should be doing well enough, which makes the rewards of playing a sanctuary not quite worth the times that the sanctuary is useless. A sanctuary may be useful to pull out of your sideboard in a limited matchup where you tend to get involved in stalemate situations with large numbers of creatures, as an Ana Sanctuary or Raka Sanctuary can help to break that stalemate in your favor. Be careful with the Raka Sanctuary, though, as it is not an optional ability – you must deal damage to a target creature if you control opposing-color permanents, even if that means picking off your own critters.

The Phyrexian Pyknites
Phyrexian Rager, Phyrexian Gargantua

If you’re not familiar with Pyknite, it was the first cantrip creature, printed in Ice Age, and was a 1 / 1 for 2G that let you draw a card during your next upkeep. In Apocalypse, we have the modern version. Phyrexian Rager is a 2 / 2 for 2B that causes you to lose 1 life and draw a card when it comes into play. Phyrexian Garguantua is the Rager times 2: twice the casting cost, twice the power and toughness, twice the life loss, and twice the cards drawn. As a common, the Phyrexian Rager is certain to make an impact in Invasion-block limited, and the uncommon Gargantua won’t be far behind.

Despite the fact that the Rager is smaller than Invasion’s Kavu Climber and also carries a life-loss drawback with it, it is actually much more useful than the Climber. The Climber comes at 5 mana, which is the casting cost where you want to be casting your bombs, not casting cantrips to help search for them. Not only does the Rager’s lower casting cost place him into a better stage of the game for casting cantrips, but it also makes him a more effective card-drawing combination with Planeshift’s gating creatures. You can expect experienced players to be using this little fellow to scratch out a little card advantage in Invasion-block limited formats from here on out. Oh, and if you happen to pick up a Gargantua for your limited deck, there are definitely worse things you can do for 6 mana than drop 4 / 4 beasties that let you draw 2 extra cards to boot.

The Whirlpool Creatures
Whirlpool Rider, Whirlpool Warrior, Whirlpool Drake

Here’s a series of blue creatures with a seemingly interesting comes-into-play ability: shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a new hand of the same size. At the Apocalypse pre-release I had a Whirlpool Drake, and I figured I’d give him a go. Why not play a 2 / 2 flyer that lets me trade in a depleted hand of chaff for a new hand possibly containing better cards? Well, the final judgement is that he is pretty poor. Over and over again during the tournament, that Drake sat dead in my hand, because I had other cards in hand I didn’t want to lose. If your deck has enough good cards in it, the Whirlpool ability will be much more disruptive to you than the creature will be to your opponent. I don’t recommend playing these guys in any format.

The Bloodfire Brothers
Bloodfire Dwarf, Bloodfire Kavu, Bloodfire Colossus, Bloodfire Infusion

In the spirit of Mogg Fanatic, Apocalypse brings us 3 red creatures with the ability to sacrifice to deal damage to other creatures in play. The Dwarf deals 1 damage to all non-flyers, the Kavu deals 2 to all creatures, and the Colossus deals 6 to all creatures and players. We also get Bloodfire Infusion, a creature enchantment that allows us to sacrifice the enchanted creature to deal its power to each creature. As Mogg Fanatic showed, creatures that can also serve as removal can be quite valuable, and these cards can expect to see plenty of use in limited. Their future in constructed is much more shaky. Bloodfire Dwarf almost looks tempting in an aggressive mono-red deck until you compare it with Kris Mage, and the Bloodfire Kavu is doomed by his casting cost, as 2RR is too much to spend for a 2 / 2, even if it does have the bloodfire ability. Players attracted to fatties will certainly find the Bloodfire Colossus attractive as a 6 / 6 with the ability to turn into an Inferno, but at 8 mana it isn’t likely to be part of any serious tournament decks. Of course the Infusion will not be played in constructed, as it is strictly inferior to Nemesis’s Rupture, which is already not being played in constructed formats.

The Penumbras
Penumbra Bobcat, Penumbra Kavu, Penumbra Wurm

Each color got an interesting new creature mechanic from Apocalypse, but green’s Penumbra mechanic has so far proven to be the most impressive to me. The Penumbra creatures come in slightly small for their casting costs, but when a Penumbra creature goes to the graveyard, a black creature token of the same size and type pops up to replace it. At the Apocalypse pre-release my opponent’s Penumbra men were a continual thorn in my side, and when I drafted 2 each of the Bobcat and Kavu to go along with 1 Wurm in a booster draft, they just kept overwhelming my opponent’s defenses. However, I wouldn’t get too excited – there are plenty of bounce effects and other good ways to take care of the Penumbra monsters in Invasion-block limited, but they are definitely solid creatures worth slots in your deck.

As far as constructed goes, I think the Penumbra creatures have potential. They can do neat tricks like blocking a Blastoderm and leaving a survivor behind to block again or strike back, or replacing a Flametongue Kavu victim, or forcing the U/W Control player to Wrath twice to clear any critters that snuck past the countermagic. Perhaps a deck can be built using global destruction such as Cataclysm or Obliterate and the Penumbra creatures, using a similar idea as the recently deceased NetherHaups decks but packing more creatures to be a little more aggressive. As with any prediction about a constructed format, you never know until you test.

The Flagbearers
Standard Bearer, Coalition Honor Guard, Coalition Flag

Some years back in my hometown, I played in a league called the Dream League. All the participants submitted their ideas for Magic cards, and myself and a few others weeded out the broken cards and proxied up the ones we thought were interesting, fun, and fair. Everybody drafted a deck from a card pool consisting of homemade cards as well as 4th edition. One of the made-up cards in that league was a creature enchantment for W called Lightning Rod, which stated that any spell that could target the enchanted creature had to target that creature. I remember a silly pencil-drawing of a cartoonish Juggernaut cowering in the middle of an open field with a Lightning Rod growing out of his back, storm clouds looming overhead. Apparently, WotC R&D was spying on our little league, as years later the Lightning Rod mechanic showed up in Apocalypse as the Flagbearers.

Each Flagbearer bears the same text: “If an opponent plays a spell or ability that could target a Flagbearer in play, that player chooses at least one Flagbearer as a target.” The Coalition Flag is the Lightning Rod, making the enchanted creature a Flagbearer for W. These little creatures can be a serious nuisance in a limited environment – the Coalition Honor Guard in particular. Don’t just think that this means your removal will have to take our opposing flagbearers first, this also hinders a number of other spells and effects, like tappers, Armadillo Cloak, and Sleepers Robe. I don’t think that having flagbearers is reason enough to choose to play white in limited all on its own, but if you are playing white, these little nuisances can be a disruptive addition.

Of course, flagbearers bear no relevance to constructed Magic. Unlike previous creature mechanics like rebels that were worth building decks around, a flagbearer deck would require your opponent to cooperate by playing a deck that depends on targetted spells. You just can’t count on your opponents to be so obliging.

Well, I hope these thoughts have helped to get your brains storming on what to do with all of these fancy new Apocalypse cards. It promises to be a pretty exciting set for both limited and constructed formats, so enjoy the ride!

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