So here I am again at the end of a Limited review. This time I've managed to go through two separate Limited writers and was turned down by a third at the start as well! Man, it's been quite a trek.

Darksteel's a much better set than I ever gave it credit. I think we'll be discussing and trying to figure out the format until Fifth Dawn shows up, with constant shifts in the evaluations of cards. In this spirit, don't take anything written - or anything you think - as canon. The way cards have been considered in Mirrodin changed dramatically, and I'm fairly certain they'll go that way with Darksteel in the mix as well.

Myr Landshaper
Iain - Perhaps if he was an ogre instead of a pitiful 1/1, we might have some interest in this card for Limited. For Constructed, to give me something to talk about, a friend of mine assembled a Myr Landshaper, Dross Scorpion, March of the Machines deck. That's one funny and inexpensive combo to pull off!

Reuben - The best combo I know is Tanglewalker, and the number of Tanglewalkers it takes to make Myr Landshaper good is higher than the number of Tanglewalkers you should ever be playing. It would be cute if Myr Landshaper comboed with Echoing Ruin, but it doesn't.

Myr Matrix
Iain - Mobilization was classically an overrated card. In slower formats, like sealed deck, slow token generation tends to win games. But in faster draft decks, things like the Matrix are pretty poor. Given that you actually want to cast spells and move Equipment around, paying five mana for a 2/2 creature that's vulnerable to three out of the five Echoes doesn't seem like a great investment.

Reuben - When you factor in that Myr Matrix pumps any Myr your opponent has, I would not take the risk unless you have a lot of Myr to pump before you start generating any tokens. Myr Matrix is one of the many cards we review today that is fine in sealed decks looking for a way to break a stalemate, but pretty bad in draft where synergy ends games more often than slow but powerful effects.

Myr Moonvessel
Iain - 1/1s for one with arguable drawbacks are not usually playable in Limited. It might take the place of a spellbomb if you were really hurting for Affinity-enabler, but otherwise I would say not.

Reuben - The only home I see for Myr Moonvessel is a deck abusing both Affinity and Modular. That deck already should have ways to sacrifice creatures, and benefits from having artifacts on the board and even more from having artifact creatures. But even there, Arcbound Worker is simply better.

Nemesis Mask
Iain - Most Equipment does one thing or the other. Nemesis Mask falls into the"goofy trick" category. When placed on a regenerator, it puts your opponent in a situation where they can not block. In a situation where you've got larger men, you can force your opponent's smaller men into combat to be ground up. There are also a couple men who trigger effects when blocked, such as Ogre Leadfoot and Tel-Jilad Wolf, which can also get a very frightful use out of the Mask. If nothing else, it's a Falter-type effect, and those can be quite valuable in Sealed deck. In draft, you'll want to have the elements that make Nemesis Mask stronger, such as Nim Shambler or various Green cards, before you put it in your pile.

Reuben - I have heard some good things said about Nemesis Mask, but I have a very difficult time getting behind Equipment that costs three and three unless its effect on the board is almost always both dramatic and immediate. Nemesis Mask is another fine card for a sealed deck needing a win condition, but I doubt I will be playing it in any draft decks.

On an ever so slightly related note, did you know a deck that made Top 16 at PT: Kobe had two Bloodscents in the sideboard?

Oxidda Golem
Iain - Oxidda Golem is almost precisely identical in power to Vulshok Berserker. Sadly, as Red men go, it's pretty much the top of the common Red ones in Darksteel. Unlike Berserker, there's no splashing Oxidda; you have to be at least half way in Red if not higher to get much out of the card. If your deck is almost primarily Red though, he can come out in pairs on turn 4, which can be pretty ridiculous to throw at your opponent.

Oxidda Golem is one of my favorite cards to use with Skeleton Shard, but generally you can't ever pick this high if you're not almost purely in Red. At five or six mana this card becomes extremely mediocre.

Reuben - The comparison to Vulshok Berserker is a good one, but at least I know exactly what effect Berserker has on my manabase and obviously being an artifact is nearly always a drawback. Red is almost always a secondary or tertiary color in my draft decks, making Oxidda Golem even worse. All that said, Oxidda Golem is still a fine creature, but just don't go picking him too high unless at least half of your lands are Mountains.

Panoptic Mirror
Iain - I've seen this card in action and spoken to a couple people on it, it's a strange one to discuss. Any card this slow is going to get a lot of negativity behind it, so I'll just say this : If you have five good targets for the Mirror, feel free to run it. Otherwise, take something else over it. When asked, Tim Aten made a reference to seeing a game go turn 2 Myr, turn 3 Ur Golem's Eye, turn 4 Panoptic Mirror, turn 5 imprint One Dozen Eyes and make five 1/1s, next turn entwine One Dozen Eyes.

That's pretty ridiculous.

Reuben - I differ a bit from Iain as to when I would play Panoptic Mirror. I will play Panoptic Mirror with as few as three good targets for it - things like removal, Blinding Beam, or creature generators - but I will also not play Panoptic Mirror with fewer than seven instants and sorceries in the deck. There are some instants, such as Predator's Strike, that are not great imprinted on Panoptic Mirror, but are still better played each turn as a sorcery than playing just once with the surprise value of an instant.

Panoptic Mirror does not suffer some of the same problems Isochron Scepter did. First of all, if you imprint a card in response to the triggered ability being put on the stack, it is impossible to get two-for-oned. And second, there is no"should I imprint Battlegrowth or wait to draw Electrostatic Bolt" question to be answered: You can do one and then, if you draw the other, do that one too.

Razor Golem
Iain - Ah! I've been waiting to talk about this card. Razor Golem is, bar none, my favorite of the Golems. While it and Spire Golem are about even in power, I generally prefer Razor Golem. Not only is he a beating stick for a turn 3 play, (myrless or with myr and only two Plains), he has great synergy with another White-friendly card - Vulshok Gauntlets. Razor Golem is basically the highest non-rare pick in White after Stir the Pride, with such a solid body for his cost and great synergy with Arcbound creatures.

Reuben - Well, I hate playing Vulshok Gauntlets, but the good news is Razor Golem is great with just about every piece of Equipment, whether they boost power like Bonesplitter or give utility like Viridian Longbow or Leonin Bola. To get full use of Razor Golem, you really need to be attacking with him often, so I have put a new emphasis on picking up more combat tricks when playing White to support the best of the golems.

Serum Powder
Iain - A friend of mine drafted a pair of these once. He pointed out he didn't manage to pick up enough Myr and wanted to see how they compared to Darksteel Ingot. He said they were fine as mana acceleration, but nothing special.

The ability though, is troubling. There's been a fair amount said about the card disturbing your mana ratio if you use it, but overall the card is probably most likely what my friend was calling it: Something to accelerate your mana if you didn't get any Myr or Talismans in packs 1 and 2.

Reuben - Pretty much everything Iain said. The only decks I will ever be happy playing colorless mana acceleration for three are Green decks, and you have to realize that you are getting almost nothing more from Serum Powder. I suppose if your opening hand has all your bad cards (including Serum Powder), but a good mix of lands, you can use the mulligan ability, but if you do not know when to use that ability on your own, you should probably avoid using it at all.

Shield of Kaldra
Iain - The ability is great fun, but the card is way, way too expensive. Don't run it, you'll regret it nine times out of ten.

Reuben - There are few Wrath effects in Limited, so you have no real way to abuse Shield of Kaldra that way. Shield of Kaldra is another card that does a decent job trying to break a stalemate in a sealed deck, but the price is too heavy for draft.

Skullclamp
Iain - The only card I'd take over this would be a Sword of Fire and Ice in some decks. It's hard to explain how this card operates in Limited, but it generally ends up putting you so far ahead in card advantage that the opposing player has to out-tempo you in order to win. It's surprisingly difficult to win games of Magic when your opponent is drawing twice to three times the number of cards as you are without any real mana spent. As long as you're able to trade creatures in combat or throw Myr into the dustbin, Skullclamp is out and out ridiculous. Never pass this card. Well, unless you're on Magic Online and there's some pricey foil in the pack. Maybe a foil Sword of Fire and Ice.

Reuben - Skullclamp basically makes one of your creatures unblockable, keeps your opponent's creatures from attacking, and double-cycles your Myr all for two or three mana per turn. If you read Magic articles - and I think you do - I doubt there is any point in my talking about Skullclamp. It's been talked about. And talked about.

Spawning Pit
Iain - Spawning Pit's a tricky one. This is a card that is very bad in the low-creature count decks that seem to occur a lot when you draft MMD, but it's quite good if you have enough low-cost men that the Pit is going to spew out a couple 2/2s for your trouble. The card is, on the plus side, ultra cheap and highly efficient, so I've never complained about it once I've got it on the table. I guess if you had two of these, Coretappers might become decent in your deck, but I don't think I would bother.

Reuben - Spawning Pit really shines in decks with Arcbound creatures where you want sacrifice effects anyway, but I don't think it's very bad in any deck. Decks with few creatures often have a hard time chump blocking or even trading when appropriate, and Spawning Pit really opens up your options. Remember that you can sacrifice token creatures, too, so the tokens it makes can go right back into the pool when they're about to die.

Specter's Shroud
Iain - This card is basically Mask of Memory that gives a power bonus. Mask of Memory is one of the stronger pieces of Equipment in Mirrodin; Specter's Shroud is somewhat displaced by the fact there are three bomb pieces of Equipment in Darksteel, but it's no less powerful. If you have anything with evasion or trample, the Shroud will generally put you very far ahead in the game if you ever manage to get it going. Take 'em high, especially in White.

Reuben - Specter's Shroud is definitely bomby, but I fail to see the comparison to Mask of Memory. It contains the fundamental problem of discard, in that it's dead late. It allows your opponent to choose his worst card to discard, so its effect the first time is usually not as good as drawing a card would be, and Mask of Memory does more than draw a card, it Loots for you once too. None of that changes the fact that Specter's Shroud is a great piece of Equipment.

Spellbinder
Iain - I'm not sure what to say about this card besides the fact it's rather silly. You have to put something good under the stick, and then have something good to attach the stick to. Now, visions of Neurok Spy and Savage Beating might dance through my head, but it would take a pretty strange deck to make good use of Spellbinder. Of course, if you did have a number of good cards to combine with the Spellbinder, I suppose you'd get it late and enjoy it. Oh, Blinding Beam would be pretty cool with this. Go go creature lock down!

Reuben - The problem with Isochron Scepter is you can pay some extra mana just to lose a card out of the deal, and you had to draw two specific cards to even attempt it in the first place. Those problems remain with Spellbinder, except now creatures can stop you as well as artifact removal. There are just so many variables you cannot control that I never even try to figure out if it's worthwhile to play Spellbinder in my decks.

Spincrusher
Iain - This card is easy to underrate, since it's an 0/2. Let's make some points about it.

First, Spincrusher is not spelt Spinecrusher. It never was and it never will be. Thanks.

Second, the card is very low-end. It's a two-mana creature with a pair of interesting abilities. As long as it blocks once, it's 1/3 for two, which is nowhere near good. The other ability, however, can become rather good with modular creatures. If equipped with some sort of power-increasing Equipment, that unblockable ability can knock an opponent down pretty quick.

Third, it's not a good card, but it fits into decks heavy on Arcbounds with elements that increase attack power. It's also not so awful with Affinity men, as it's a cheap artifact that does something. It's at its best against quick decks, where their attacking will turn it quite large. If it's allowed to block twice, it's 2/4 for two, which is on the other hand rather good.

Reuben - I had some hopes for Spincrusher, but they were crushed when it did absolutely nothing for me every time I played it. You can safely ignore Spincrusher in your drafts and console yourself in the fact that if you're sometimes wrong to pass it, you aren't too wrong. I suppose if I am struggling to get my mana curve down, I might take Spincrusher, or I may play it in a sealed deck that I am trying to keep to two colors.

Spire Golem
Iain - All that chatter about Spincrusher might make you think I like the card. I don't. Now this one, Spire Golem, is a card I definitely like. 2/4 fliers are always valuable, as toughness that high often makes a creature quite solid, especially in this format. Spire Golem is especially good in that it shares a color with Vedalken Engineer, which all but assures you will be dropping this Golem on turn 3 every time. Turn 3 is a great time for a solid Blue man to hit the board.

Great card. There's better stuff in the uncommons and rares, but this is my pick for Blue's top common. Unless you're not so heavily into Blue, at which point Spire Golem gets a little worse, but is still pretty good.

Reuben - What Iain said. I will even consider playing Spire Golem in a Green deck really hurting for some way to block flyers (maybe splash an Island or two), but in draft they should all be gone by the time you would want them.

Sundering Titan
Iain - A vanilla 7/10 creature is hard to rate. The ability is good if you're in the mirror, but rather silly either way - you're going to blow up three or four land! Hurray! You tapped eight mana for this!

I'd board this in if I was in a slower mirror match, such as Red/Green on Red/Green, where blowing up two and then two again of my opponent's lands would be pretty good, but otherwise I'd keep this in my sideboard at all times. Eight mana is a lot, and the symmetry of the effect makes it kinda stupid most of the time.

Why wasn't this in Invasion, exactly? Just give it a Phyrexian paintjob and you're all good.

Reuben - Yet another of the"sealed deck win conditions that I don't want in draft."

Surestrike Trident
Iain - For its price, Surestrike Trident doesn't really do a lot. The main use of the card in my mind is something of a slow manner of evasive damage that leaves the blocker behind. For example, attach it to a Malachite Golem, leave it untapped until your opponent's second mainphase, then fire five to the dome. That's not so terrible, but it's fairly rare this card is all that good in your deck - the effect is pretty small if the first strike isn't a big boon.

It's a win condition, though and can break stalls. If you lack Falters or burn that can go to the face, Surestrike Trident should probably be fine in your deck.

Reuben - You should have the mantra down pat by now. Sealed deck win condition: Not so hot in draft. It does create a creature that's hard to attack into, and that they goes to the head, but it's an awful lot of mana.

Sword of Fire and Ice
Iain - A bomb. There's nothing special or intuitive about playing this card; place it on a creature and swing.

Reuben - You should almost never be passing Sword of Fire and Ice; it's definitely one of the top three Limited cards of the set. It's only competition is Skullclamp and Sword of Light and Shadow, and many people think it's better than both of those. Just remember to go to the dome if they could sacrifice the creature you're targeting, otherwise the ability will be countered due to no legal targets, and you will not get to draw the card.

Sword of Light and Shadow
Iain - A bomb, and it's a got a picture of a guy with no head. Oh boy.

Reuben -It's hard to talk about cards that are so good, so instead I'll talk about the art too. It turns out he does have a head. He's staring up at the sword, but it's from a very odd angle. It took me about a half-hour to understand what was going on there, despite my friend telling me exactly what was being portrayed the entire time. So I won't blame you if you don't believe me.

( Iain - This is why I want to do two-headed reviews, so the other guy can point out I'm wrong about everything including the actual art on the cards. That's what I want out of life, lemme tell you.)

Talon of Pain
Iain - This is a strange card. It's only very good when your deck is highly evasive and consistently deals damage in the early game, even small amounts of damage. It's the sort of card that rewards being ahead on tempo and being a deck that gets ahead on tempo. It's not for every deck and it's not always good, but occasionally it's quite ridiculous as a source of recurring removal or just damage to the face.

Reuben - Talon of Pain makes things like Pteron Ghost and Neurok Familiar look a lot better. If you have a little evasion, but not quite enough to win games, Talon of Pain is a fine card. Otherwise it is hardly worth considering.

Thought Dissector
Iain - Odds are, you'll hit something relatively decent when you fire this off, but it's likely to be a waste of mine. Gaining control of your opponent's card is only good when it's from the board, Thought Dissector randomly spews up something at no card or tempo advantage. That's what we call bad.

Reuben - Notice how Arc-Slogger was so heavily played at PT: Kobe? That's because - and forgive me for stating the obvious - cards in the library don't matter unless you are about to lose because you have none. Thought Dissector is not a Control Magic effect, and since you have no control over it, it isn't a Proteus Staff effect either. If you are tempted to board it in as an off-chance to deal with your opponent's Bosh, Iron Golem, realize that you are more likely to dig your opponent closer to his Bosh than to steal it for your own.

Thunderstaff
Iain - If the card only gave one bonus or the other, it wouldn't be all too playable. For its cost, Thunderstaff slows down your opponent's offense by a great deal, and then gives a bonus when you're alpha striking or your opponent just isn't attacking.

It's important to note that creatures in Mirrodin are pretty generally low as to power, which makes the damage prevention ability a fair bit better than it looks on paper. Thunderstaff's defensive ability is generally in line with the power that Sun Droplet offers to a player.

Reuben - I wouldn't consider it in line with Sun Droplet, because if you stabilize the board you can't regain all that life. That said, the prevention ability is a really nice tool against evasion in slow decks, and the attacking bonus is just enough to make the card have use in more late-game situations.

Trinisphere
Iain - I don't think this is all too playable in Limited. It's a fine card, but you're likely to be just as effected whatever happens.

Reuben -- And if you're not just as affected, then your deck is probably really awful every time you don't draw Trinisphere, and even sometimes when you do.

Ur-Golem's Eye
Iain - Ah, the return of Sisay's Ring. This isn't a terrible card by any means, but it tends to push you into a part of the game you're probably not quite as interested in being accelerated into. With a Myr, you can spend two turns jumping from two mana up to seven mana, which is a huge shift. The problem is that, you just spent two turns doing it! Of course, in the Eye's defense, later on it only really costs two, as it coughs up two mana immediately upon coming into play. If you can make use of that two mana that turn, you're not so bad off after all.

It's not a great card, but if you need to be able to hit six mana for some reason, you'll get passed them nice and late. It's a good card for paying high end entwine costs as well, such as Stir the Pride or Grab the Reins.

Reuben - I have yet to ever play it, and I doubt I am missing much. I said when reviewing Serum Powder that I really don't want to spend turn 3 on colorless mana acceleration, and I want to spend turn 4 on it even less.

Voltaic Construct
Iain - Barring elements such as multiple Viridian Longbows, this is generally a pretty chaffy creature. Certainly it will see play in this deck or that, but those decks are probably going to be pretty bad.

Reuben - I don't want to think about Construct, let alone type about it.

Vulshok Morningstar
Iain - Simply an excellent piece of Equipment. There's not a lot to be said about this one. It provides a large enough bonus while still being fairly cheap to play and Equip. Great card, moves up in White, blah blah, blah blah.

Reuben - The most significant number on power boosting Equipment is the equip cost, and for just one more than Bonesplitter you get +2 toughness. That's a great deal, and makes Vulshok Morningstar better than all the other vanilla power boosting Equipment. In some decks, I am even tempted to classify it as a bomb.

Wand of the Elements
Iain - Maybe I'm underrating the card, but I've played this a number of times and haven't been all too impressed. It dominates games that go into stalls, but so do a great number of bad cards. It's a good card, but you can't effectively use it in the early game barring mana flood, as you end up making cards in hand unavailable through cutting your mana curve off. That doesn't lead anywhere fast.

Reuben - Wand of the Elements is three cards: One when you're Red/Blue, one when you're heavy Red, and one when you're heavy Blue. All three cards win games. It can be hard to use on turn 4, that's true, but it can be hard for your opponent to attack into it, even if you don't use it on turn 4 as well. There is very little I would take over the Wand.

Well of Lost Dreams
Iain - Assuming you had a ton of life-gain elements, this might manage to be good. You only need a single life-gain card to make it excellent, but it's problematic in that there aren't a lot of consistent life-gain cards. If you're swinging with a Loxodon Warhammer'd creature, drawing four or six cards a turn doesn't really change the fact you've got a Warhammer on the table and you're swinging into your opponent's face.

Since it's generally a bad card, you'll get it late, if it fits into your deck. I can't see too many decks it would fit into, but if you had four or five cards that grant you life while being worth playing by themselves, such as Bottle Gnomes or Awe Strike, the Well might not be half bad.

Reuben - I can see Well of Lost Dreams in a White Affinity deck sporting Sunbeam Spellbombs and Leonin Elders. Other than that, everything Iain said is dead on.

Whispersilk Cloak
Iain - This card serves as a replacement for Slagwurm Armor and Neurok Hoversail in Lashdraft-style decks. It's a bit slower, but it does have the element of combining both card's abilities. Putting it on a four- or five-power creature puts your opponent on a fast clock without forcing you to attack with more than one creature, and can start as early as turn 4. That's a quick game.

In other decks, the Cloak's elements won't come together so nicely, which makes the card a bit worse. It's a lot like Leonin Bolas in that I personally don't want more than one in my deck, except in the aforementioned Lashdraft-style deck.

Reuben - You really need to have a reason to play Whispersilk Cloak, and as Iain pointed out the Nim creatures are a good reason. Razor Golems aren't half-bad either. Just don't play Whispersilk Cloak unless you can justify it.

Wirefly Hive
Iain - This card would be highly playable if the first Wirefly wasn't a 50/50 chance. Any card that risks six to nine mana to produce a single 2/2 flying creature just isn't going to end up as worthwhile much of the time.

Reuben - If you have no tokens yet, your expected gain is a half of a token by activating Wirefly Hive. If you have one token, your expected gain is zero tokens by activating Wirefly Hive. And if you have two tokens, your expected gain is a loss of a half of a token by activating Wirefly Hive. This is all obvious stuff, but when it's stated explicitly it's easy to dismiss the card.

Wurm's Tooth
Iain - I'm sure glad there were five of these to review!

Reuben - Let's just mention that these do not count toward the four or five lifegain cards you need to make Well of Lost Dreams playable.

Blinkmoth Nexus
Iain - This card is better in your deck should you have drafted a fair amount of Equipment. Certainly two mana to produce a 1/1 flier is nothing special, but if you have for example a Bonesplitter, you can have a good time attacking for three in the air, for three total mana. That's fair.

Blinkmoth Nexus is never really bad, though, as giving up a colored mana isn't usually a huge big deal in most decks. If you have a lot of land golems, of course, this will move down accordingly. Value it as a 1/1 flier that doesn't cost you a card. How good is that?

Reuben - It's sad, but I have had a hard time working Blinkmoth Nexus into my decks. The difficulty with balancing basic lands for land golems and artifact lands for Affinity related purposes has made it difficult for me to find a home for Blinkmoth Nexus. If your manabase is solid, Blinkmoth Nexus is a fine card, but don't go picking it over something you really need for your deck.

Mirrodin's Core
Iain - This era's Gemstone Mine. Assuming you want to splash something like a Fireball or a Murderous Spoils, this is a decent enough card to run in your deck. It's not so useful for just acting as a dual land, as it doesn't really fit with the flow of Limited games. You'll generally want to be tapping all your mana all the time, or you'll have mana open because you're either mana screwed (where this is adding to the mana screw) or because you're done casting things, where this doesn't help either. Use it for splashes, otherwise, leave it in your sideboard.

Reuben - I disagree. I use Mirrodin's Core in two color decks all the time if I am low on land golems. As Iain said, you usually only have mana open early when you're color screwed, but half the time the basic land you put in place of Mirrodin's Core would not be alleviating the color screw. Mirrodin's Core will alleviate the color screw at the cost of a little time, and that's a price I am willing to pay.

The End

Next week I get to write about a Constructed deck. Oh boy. I can't wait. What should I write about first?

-Iain Telfer