Card of the Day - November, 2009 : Daily MTG : Magic: The Gathering

Card of the Day - Friday, November 20, 2009
Muraganda Petroglyphs – Future Sight rare. A petroglyph, as you are no doubt aware, is a carving or line drawing on rock, especially one made by prehistoric people. What does this tell us about the mysterious land of Muraganda? Not much, really. But we do get to see Muraganda itself in the Planechase card Feeding Grounds.

Card of the Day - Thursday, November 19, 2009
Winds of Rath – Tempest rare. Pro Tour–Los Angeles 1998 was Tempest Constructed, which meant that the only "wrath effect" in the format was Winds of Rath. This goes a long way toward explaining why the key card in David Price's tournament-winning deck was Giant Strength!

Card of the Day - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Mirrodin's Core – The art of Mirrodin's Core shows the mycosynth core of the plane of Mirrodin. The core of Mirrodin is also depicted on other cards such as Mycosynth Lattice, Mycosynth Golem, and the Planechase plane Panopticon. In the storyline, the plane's core was a sight seen by very few, the hidden lair of the plane's mad warden, Memnarch.

Card of the Day - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Reki, the History of Kamigawa – Saviors of Kamigawa rare. No, his name isn't a typo. Reki isn't a historian of Kamigawa—he is the History itself! The history of the kami war was tattooed on his body and transcribed after his death, implying that all of the flavor text attributed to the "History of Kamigawa" originated in one of Reki's tattoos.

Card of the Day - Monday, November 16, 2009

Wildfire Emissary – Time Spiral "timeshifted." It looks unassuming, but Wildfire Emissary was a creature to be reckoned with, dodging both Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt. It even made it to the Finals of the 1997 World Championships in the hands of Janosch Kuehn. The freshly timeshifted Wildfire Emissary appeared in another World Championships Top 8 nearly a decade later, making it to the Semifinals in Nick Lovett's red-white aggro deck.

Card of the Day - Friday, November 13, 2009
Who/What/When/Where/Why – Unhinged rare. Mark Rosewater knew he'd want to do a card like this in Unhinged, but was momentarily stopped by the fact that a card made up of two doubly-split cards would be only four colors, while Magic prefers groups of five. The solution? One more level of splits!

Card of the Day - Thursday, November 12, 2009
That Which Was Taken – Betrayers of Kamigawa rare. That Which Was Taken represents the kami child of O-Kagachi, the theft of which began the mortals' war with the kami. It's very important to the story.

Card of the Day - Wednesday, November 11, 2009
When Fluffy Bunnies Attack – Unhinged common. Some cards have a clear, unambiguous link between their flavor and their mechanics. Others have a more tenuous connection. Then there are cards like When Fluffy Bunnies Attack, where the lack of a connection is turned into a virtue!

Card of the Day - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Journey to Nowhere – Zendikar common. If you look through the hole in the middle of the art of Journey to Nowhere, you can see the place that the target of the spell was presumably sent. It actually looks like a more relaxing place to live than the spooky forest in the foreground. In fact, it's kind of reminiscent of Warren Mahy's Island for Lorwyn!

Card of the Day - Monday, November 09, 2009
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way – Betrayers of Kamigawa rare. The place that Yomiji is barring the way to is "the afterlife," or in game terms, "the graveyard". Yomiji prevents legends from dying, bringing them back to fight another day. Presumably, Yomiji can't be bothered with saving cannon fodder.

Card of the Day - Friday, November 06, 2009
Adventurers' Guildhouse – Legends uncommon. One of the more obscure rules changes that came in with Magic 2010 was the alteration to the meaning of "bands with other". This means that adventurers who hang out at the guildhouse are now slightly more likely to be able to get some use out of it.

Card of the Day - Thursday, November 05, 2009
Land Aid '04 – Unhinged common. The reference is to "Band Aid" (1984) and the series of "Farm Aid" benefit concerts. Whoever that is on stage is probably not an Elvish Impersonator, though, since he's not wearing one of those cool jumpsuits.

Card of the Day - Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Root-Kin Ally – Ravnica: City of Guilds uncommon. The only "Ally" from before Zendikar is the mighty Root-Kin Ally from Ravnica. As you can see, it has a fairly direct implementation of the idea that it gets bigger from having a bigger army around it.

Card of the Day - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Balshan Collaborator – Torment uncommon. Torment was so heavily black-centric that even non-black cards joined in the fun. Balshan Collaborator and Pardic Collaborator stayed blue and red respectively, but got their +1/+1 abilities from aligning with the more powerful color.

Card of the Day - Monday, November 02, 2009
Kabira Evangel – Zendikar rare. An "evangel" is not a kind of angel, which is why Kabira Evangel doesn't have wings. It's actually another word for "evangelist", which is why the character is a cleric who appears to be reading to his allies.

Card of the Day - November, 2009

Monday, November 02, 2009