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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Always Watching
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Always Watching
- Shadows over Innistrad

Reviewed March 30, 2016

Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 2.75

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Always Watching
 
This set is clearly the Innistrad we know and love, but there are some subtle differences in its style. Mainly, there is a lot more light and color in the art this time around - which actually makes it scarier. The stereotype of "dark = scary" is an established thing, but breaking stereotypes can be even more effective. This is a great example of art that is actually a lot more sinister and disturbing than it initially seems to be.
 
Its mechanical design is a little curious to me. It's clearly intended to be a mirror of Intangible Virtue - just as the art is unsettling where Intangible Virtue's was inspiring - but tokens are one of the main reasons to play Glorious Anthem variants in the first place, and it I'm not sure whether a variant that only works on "normal" creatures is going to be appealing in high-level tournament Magic. If you're directed away from using token producers like Raise the Alarm that give you more than one per casting, you risk falling behind against faster decks, in a manner that giving your fewer creatures a boost won't help. For decks that are about the same speed and neither of which have Raise the Alarm, whoever draws more of these could easily win, and if there are a lot of those around in Standard, it could become relevant in some metas.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5

Armuun
Always Watching
 
A Semi Neutered Glorious Anthem, though tacking on Vigilance is nice. If you're not running tokens, run a few. If you are, look elsewhere.
 
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3
EDH: 2.5

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