The Really Big M11 EDH Review – Red

Do you really need to keep that 1995 SI Swimsuit issue?

Entering part four of this series (White, Blue, Black). Luckily this series isn’t like Lost where you have to have see the previous in the series or it will all not make sense. Because I’m not building on the last post, each one of these can be read separately if you’re curious about one certain card from the set. I guess that’s one benefit of breaking them, up by color.

But what these colors have in common are three cycles of Rare/Mythic cards: The Planeswalkers, the Titans and the Leylines. Not all of them are made equal. The Red one really only works against White (sometimes Green) decks, so I didn’t even mention it down below; the Blue Titan is clearly the worst. In any cycle, there must be a best and and worst; it’s just odd nod seeing Green at the bottom of those cycles.

Cards in italics are reprints. At the very end of all the reviews, you’ll get my Top 10 list of EDH cards for M11.

Like any time when I review these cards, most of them can see play in EDH; there’s only one in this set that is absolute trash in EDH (Squadron Hawk). These are just going to be the better cards I would recommend playing.

Red – 17 Cards (10 New)

• Act of Treason

Steal your opponent’s General, swing with it, then Fling it to them. This card is otherwise known as a LeBron James.

• Ancient Hellkite

I would be much happier about this card if it said “Deal 1 damage to each creature” instead of just one. It doesn’t, and even though it’s a little bigger than other dragons, It can’t firebreathe the opponent. Mordant Dragon from Worldwake is better since it can just flat out kill opponents and their creatures. – RED PRECON FOIL RARE

• Chandra Nalaar

See Liliana Vess. Aw, man, I guess you do have to go back and know past reviews.

• Combust

Kills Blue and White Generals (Teferi and Cho-Manno, Revolutionary). That alone, makes this a card to be included in your Red deck. The fact that you can put it on Isochron Scepter is gravy.

• Cyclops Gladiator

Picking off smaller creatures to clear the way for your own guys is pretty cool. A 4/4 for 4 in red without drawbacks (I don’t consider the Arena ability a drawback) is still pretty rare. But, if you play this with Basilisk Collar, you can kill any creature that opponent controls, gain 4 life, and if you’ve killed a small one, swing in for another 4 damage lifelinked. That’s a 12 point swing with life gain in a mono-Red deck. You’re living the High Life.

• Destructive Force

A “bigger” Wildfire. It’s a known quantity, but just costs 1 mana more for 1 more damage and 1 more land scarified for all. Not saying it wouldn’t fit in a deck with Countryside Crusher, but you’re walking on thin ice with the destroying of that many lands.

• Fire Servant

A Furnace of Rath on legs. Kinda. But with the drawback of it only being able to work on Sorceries and Instants is the fact that it’s yours only. That makes up for that drawback, doesn’t it? Fireball and Lightning Bolt away.

• Fireball

Well, at least they got rid of the XY template. Still a staple.

• Fling

Still waiting someone to Fling their 15/15 after attacking with it. Once would be fun, the 100th time, boring.

• Hoarding Dragon

The very rare time that Red gets to have a tutor and it’s a Dragon, which makes it even more awesome. You do have to kill him to get your benefit, but it all depends on which artifact you go get in the first place. He can become a good blocker or a kamikaze attacker. Be wary of Blue players who like to bounce and White players who like to exile; if either of those two things happen, you don’t get what the dragon was hoarding.

• Inferno Titan

Dealing 3 damage to anywhere you want when it attacks and enters the battlefield is pretty cool. There’s that missing firebreathing that the Ancient Hellkite was missing. Played against this guy at the pre-release, and he came back to win the game after I had total control of the board. He’ll mess with math ’cause people will be like, “Oh, I can block that and the firebreathing. Oh, damn, the 3 damage.” He’ll want to attack and he will do the damage to get through.

• Lightning Bolt

Deals 3 damage for R, and even that is fringe playable in EDH.

• Magma Phoenix

Another one of those “Walls” that you have the upper hand. Clear the board, get it back, cast it again. Wrecks tokens decks. Equip Basilisk Collar on it and people will hate you; I know that from personal experience.

• Manic Vandal

I thought this had never really been printed before until I looked it up. Take your pick. This is why you do research.

• Pyroclasm

You got a problem, yo I’ll solve it, check out my beat while the Pyroclasm resolves it. (Elves, Elves baby,)

• Reverberate

Wow, a red Twincast. How exciting is that? Wait, I’m actually getting word that Twincast is actually a Blue Fork. For those of your worried about the Reserved List, how can Wizards get away with this? Well, Fork actually turned the copy of the spell Red, which would make sense from a flavor perspective. Now, with Reverberate, it doesn’t, making it different enough to “reprint.” Was Wizards being sneaky? No, Red should get a spell like this, something that EDH players (like you) can abuse. Just remember, don’t Reverberate a Wrath of God, it doesn’t really do anything. Plus, do you think the art looks like Michael Jackson from the Scream video?

• Wild Evocation

This is going to drive people into one of two camps: really fun or really unnecessary. The people who roll their eyes over this card can leave now. A free random spell for everyone a turn? That can turn out to be really fun, can’t it? Well, it’s going to be a little dangerous to let people have their own hands and the first random card you see is a 15/15 that allows that player to take an extra turn and play another free card. May I suggest Teferi’s Puzzle Box. If you want random, I suggest going the whole way.

Looks like Red got better toys than Black. But there’s only so many things you can say about “Well, this Red card deals damage.” Let’s hear you thoughts below.