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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Miren, the Moaning Well
Saviors of Kamigawa


Reviewed June 16, 2005

Constructed: 1.87
Casual: 2.25
Limited: 2.75

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 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Miren, the Moaning Well
While this card's ability has been around before, Miren, the Moaning Well is certainly useful enough for limited play. The ability to gain life from a creature being sacrificed would not be good enough, even in the Kamigawa block with its many goes-to-the-graveyard effects, if the ability were part of a card that replaced a creature or removal card slot in your draft or sealed deck. Miren is much more passive, and therefore more useful, because it is a land and because it is capable of producing colorless mana with no drawbacks. In other words, this card does not have to replace a generally more powerful card in your deck because you can simply play this legendary land in your limited decks in place of one basic land. This is a better idea in two color decks that would have run 9 land of one color and 8 of another.

You should really never focus too much energy on making a card like this useful. The best situation is that you simply have this ability available to you when a creature would ALREADY be about to go to the graveyard anyway. Of course, in Kamigawa block, it can be quite useful to have a way to sacrifice a creature whenever you want to. I don't like this card for constructed at all, because this card works at cross purposes with the kinds of decks in which it would be the most useful. Decks that have LOTS of creatures, potential targets for this card's effect, are too aggressive to care about this land. Control decks that might want to gain life and slow down the game don't have enough creatures in them to make this legendary land worth its inclusion. In short, limited YES, constructed NO.
CONSTRUCTED: 2.0
CASUAL: 3.0
LIMITED: 3.0
 


DeQuan
Watson

* Game Store Owner

Miren, the Moaning Well

Cards like this often end up in life gain combo decks. That's OK though. I do see a few other interesting things for this card in constructed play. You can steal creatures and sacrifice them for life. You can even use it to sacrifice your guys just to stay ahead in the life race.

The main issue this card will be fighting is space. Is there room in most decks for a card like this? If you were building a deck, would you be likely to include this card if it wasn't the centerpiece? I'm not so sure. So, even though hit has a neat ability, it just may not be main deck material.

Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 2
Limited: 2.5
 

Paul Hagan

Miren, the Moaning Well --

I'm going to summarize yesterday's point I was trying to make: Life-gain doesn't win games. All Miren is doing is helping delay losing, which means it already has a strike against it. The fact that it costs three to activate Miren is a second strike. I won't count it out of appearing in some decks, but they will likely be utilizing a lot of big creatures that will help them gain a significant amount of life whenever they inevitably go to the graveyard at some point during the game. Overall, I'm not impressed, but don't ignore it completely -- at least it produces mana.

For limited play, I would usually recommend keeping your copy of Miren in your deck -- the difference in life could potentially make a difference, and it is just eating a land slot.

Constructed Rating: 2.0
Casual Rating: 2.0
Limited Rating: 2.5
 


Christine
Gerhardt

Miren, the Moaning Well
 
Geez...it apparently is "Ridiculously Long Name" week. Who the heck comes up with these names, anyhow?  =/
 
Life gain isn't the darling of constructed decks...in fact, it tends to be the red-headed step child.  Very few life gain strategies have been employed, and those that have were part of a bigger picture to buy time to wreck an opponent after a lengthy or complicated set up, or were employed as a side note while beating the crap outta your opponent (see Exalted Angel).
 
Miren's problem is that it's ability will usually only be used if BAD things are happening to you...and you are losing.  It just means you will lose a little slower. =/  In limited, it's a little more useful, as it gives you a bit of time to stabilize.
 
Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 3
 
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