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Hello everyone, and welcome to a StarCityGames.com official Shadowmoor preview! And yes, your eyes do not deceive - I am not the Ben you’re expecting here. Rumor has it that Ben is somewhere in Italy, no doubt sipping much ouzo and enjoying fine Italian cuisine. But official Magic previews wait for no one, not even famous jetsetters like Mr. Bleiweiss, so the other Star City Ben has been tapped to -

Oh wait, there’s another Star City Ben (as in Ben–jamin Peebles-Mundy), so let’s say its Star City Geezer Ben who gets to step into Mr. Bleiweiss’s gleaming white patent-leather shoes. In all my time writing Into The Aether for the mothership, I always lamented not being able to get in on the official preview action, so I was thrilled when Craig asked me to pinch-hit this one.

And lo - it’s reanimation, right up my alley! Check it out:

Man, that’s some seriously creepy artwork. Reminds me of paintings you’d see hanging in the offices of Al Pacino’s character in The Devil’s Advocate. Those are not some happy souls there.

So let’s take a close look at this card. First off, it’s one of the cool new hybrid cards that populate this set in a big way. Some of the hybrid cards we’ve seen so far are really good in decks sporting either of the colors, but that doesn’t apply here. In a Black deck with no Red, it’s a fairly poor reanimation spell that compares unfavorably to Dread Return, Makeshift Mannequin, and Beacon of Unrest. As a Black spell, it’s only going to excite in Limited play, where it’s going to be just fine as a way to bring back a vital creature.

In a Red deck with no Black, it’s pretty much going to be just an expensive army enhancer since its highly unlikely that you’ll be able to play this and a creature to which you’d want to give haste. As a Red spell, it’ll be decent in Limited where you could very well build a pretty meaty force of creatures that might not be able to punch through your opponent’s defenses, and this card can give you a favorable alpha strike.

As a flexible, either/or hybrid, it’s fairly mediocre. But in a deck featuring Red and Black… now we’re talking some serious fun!

One of the most frustrating things about reanimation-style decks is when you go to the trouble of casting a reanimation spell, your creature comes into play, and then your opponent kills it during his turn before it has a chance to do anything. In a Black/Red deck, Torrent of Souls gets around that problem quite nicely by giving your target haste. You always wished Akroma, Angel of Fury could attack the turn you reanimated like her Wrathful White alter ego? Torrent of Souls to the rescue, and she even hits harder that turn, which goes nicely with trample. On the budget side, reanimating Lunk Errant with Torrent of Souls gives you a hasty seven power trampler!

We’re still not taking full advantage of this card by reanimating one huge fat creature though. What we need is to reanimate a creature that brings a bunch of friends along - tokens! Siege-Gang Commander has been seeing a lot of love in Standard recently… how nice would it be to bring back SGC with Torrent of Souls and be able to immediately attack with a 4/2 and have your three (or probably SIX) token guys waiting in the wings?

Torrent of Souls a Hearthcage Giant, and that’s a 7/5 to swing with and two 3/1s holding the fort.

For Black creatures, Marsh Flitter has shown its worth on its own; bring it back with Torrent of Souls, coupled with Makeshift Mannequin, and you've an army that grows all the time.

I have to admit that since Flores previewed Fulminator Mage, I’ve been kicking around the idea of a Red/Black Makeshift Mannequin deck, and Torrent of Souls would fit in very nicely. Something like this:

Mannequin Soul

4 Greater Gargadon
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Shriekmaw
1 Mind Stone
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Dusk Urchins
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Torrent of Souls
1 Pendelhaven
4 Mutavault
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Swamp
7 Mountain

Previous previewed Dusk Urchins does a fair imitation of Mulldrifter from the old Blue/Black Mannequin deck, especially if he can get at least one attack in and survive. So go nuts with reanimating land-destruction creatures if your opponent’s gone crazy with his manabase, or go for the token overlap of Siege-Gang Commander. I can see something quickly going lethal when you play SGC on turn 5, your opponent kills the Commander on his turn so you don’t get a chance to untap with him out there, so then on your turn you play Torrent of Souls, bringing him back and giving you an army of one 4/2 and three 3/1s to attack that very turn. For kicks, sac a couple lands and the three non-hasted tokens to bring your Gargadon out of Suspension and join in the fun.

I have to say, from the Shadowmoor cards previewed so far, the set is shaping up to be very cool, with lots of little gems to explore and test. Torrent of Souls seems to be aimed at Limited, but I think you can see there are some very interesting Constructed possibilities in a deck where you can generate Red and Black mana.

Have fun!

Bennie

starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com

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