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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Machinate
Darksteel
Common
Reviewed January 29, 2004
Constructed: 2.9
Casual: 2.6
Limited: 2.2
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
Click here to see all
our
Card of the Day Reviews
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Chris
Gerhardt
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game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut.com |
This card
screams: Grab the card you need out of your
Affinity deck! It's double blue, so I'm not
sure how well that fits, but it's a nice search
card that may see some constructed play. In
limited, I've been playing multiple copies if I
have them in my sealed deck when I have
something(s) worth searching out. They've worked
out very nicely. It seems that most Mirr/Dksteel
sealed decks I've play seemed to gravitate to blue
in some small or big way. Hopefully that was just
dumb chance, as I generally don't enjoy the blue
mage way of life.
Just a note for those
of you who have had their interest perked by all
the new Darksteel cards. I just put up
Darksteel
Singles for Pre-Sale on our Website for
those that are interested.
If you need to see the
pictures of the cards, they aren't functional on
my Website yet, but you can see each
Rare Picture in my auctions if you are
interested in the pictures, exact text or the
artwork.
Constructed:
3
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Current Price: $0.50
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Thursday
Impulse for artifacts. Ok, start whining
about how they're building our decks for us
again, because this is a perfect fit into
the affinity deck, as it will get you the
counterspell, Broodstar, or sideboard bullet
now, rather than having to wait. I
personally feel this is much stronger than
either of the card draw affinity has right
now.
Casual players will probably dabble in this,
as the artifact deck can just pick up its
deck and look for the bomb, essentially.
In Mirrodin limited, I would play this, but
not pick it too high.
Constructed: 4.75 (in affinity, of
course)
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Thursday -
Mechanate
To be honest, I just truly don't have much to
say about this card. First of all, I'm not much
on speculating. But secondly, cards like
Mechanate seem to be situational as to how good
they really are. It's an instant, which is
really good for what it does. I can see it
making it into a few decks, I'm just not sure
which ones or how many. Casual players will grow
to like this card I'd imagine. Anything that
lets you look into your deck and/or search isn't
ever truly bad in casual play. In limited, this
card is great when playing blue. In Mirrodin
block, you will have several artifacts in your
deck, so it is well worth having. But looking at
its rarity, I wonder how many would be worth
playing in your deck.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 3 |
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Thursday
- Machinate
Ah, the
artificer's Impulse. Personally,
although I loved Impulse, I never
felt that it was so broken that this
card had to be dumbed down so badly
to make this version. One extra Blue
mana, and a minimum investment of
four artifacts on the board before
its even as good as impulse? This
card is horrible in a set that also
brings you Pulse of the Grid, a much
better deal for the same mana. When
it comes to deck constructions, I'll
say No Thanks to Machinate.
Constructed - 1
Casual - 2
Limited - 1
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Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Thursday-Mechinate
Okay so lets say your playing an Affinity based
deck. On the average your going to have roughly
7-8 artifact in play at most times. So you can
look at the next 6-8 cards on average. Well
that’s not to bad, unless its early in the game
and you have only 2 artifact in play or your
already into the late game and you have all the
artifacts you need so it has begun to be
useless. Lets not forget that Mechinate only
gets an artifact if you have one lined up in
those 6-8 cards. Its not a terrible card but I
probably wouldn’t find myself playing it in an
Affinity deck. It does have its uses but I would
probably keep it for casual play.
Constructed: 2
Casual 2.5
Limited: 1..5
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Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Mechinate
Yet another attempt to simulate the effect of
Impulse; however, costing UU1 pushes it into a
small niche of decks in which it can be
considered for play. Those decks (Affinity,
etc.) have access to better things (Thirst for
Knowledge) in order to draw cards. It’s produced
another unsuccessful attempt at a near-reprint.
Card-drawing hasn’t shown itself to be the most
important aspect in this particular block in
limited. I can see playing this if you happen to
draft the Affinity deck and lack Thoughtcasts
and Thirsts, or if you’re deck is weak but you
have 1-2 bombs that you want to dig for.
In casual play, just play Impulse. If you happen
to be in the game of Mental Magic, there are so
many uses for UU1 that this should probably be
very near the bottom of your list.
Constructed: 2.0
Limited: 2.5
Casual: 1.25 |
Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Mechinate
The only serious problem with Mechinate is its
double blue mana cost. In
Affinity decks, both limited and constructed,
Mechinate is a super Impulse
that can quickly get you to important cards in
your deck. In limited, this
will be a popular card. Mechinate is a common,
which also enhances its
playability in limited. Should be good in casual
decks too, which often
include many artifacts.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.0 |
Jason
Chapman |
Mechinate is
simply awsome and for Affinity style decks it
makes Impulse, one of the best cheap card
drawing instants ever, look like a joke. In
other decks it simply isn't as good but the
power in Affinity is just insane.
Constructed - Really puts so many versions of
the Affinity into a whole new category - 4.25
Limited - Pretty good within the Artifact cycle
- 3.15
Casual - Great for many casual builds - 3.75
PEZ - Could really be a powerhouse - 3.25 |
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Chase |
Mechinate
I can seriously see the card in Affinity decks.
They can easily look at the top 10 cards and
take that Broodstar. If you find a way to create
many many many artifact creatures, this can be a
tutor with virtually no drawback. I think this
will see some play.
In Casual I would rather use blue to draw my
library instead of picking 1/X cards.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 1.5 |
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Spooks |
Mechinate
I played a few
decks that were running this card. I don't
know how useful it was though, because I
never saw what cards they got and what cards
they threw back, but I nevr saw it being
played for less than 3, and saw it go up to
9 in one of my friends games. So it isnt
too bad.
I don't see
affinity using this, as it has enough card
drawing as it is. They simply do not need
it. And any other deck will not have enough
artifacts, or be running blue enough to do
the double blue. (I think modular decks
could use this, but I dont think blue will
be so big in it to afford the cost.)
Limited, it's
good because it draws you closaer to your
bomb, assuming you are playing either blue
or white. (they usually have lots of
artifacts)
Constructed
rating - 2.5
Limited rating -
4
No crazy rating
cause I am gonna be late for second shift of
work rating - 100000000
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