Rampage Review: Part 2 Water
July 26, 2004

Well, what can you really have expected, with a set that’s so heavily oriented towards huge face-busting creatures, did you really expect water to get the best of the best? Well, it did get some help, more than I expected. But how will the third set treat our card drawing powerhouse color? Will Liquid people still reign dominant, or will a new combination of creatures take over? And what interesting new mechanics will it get? If you’re looking for the next big wave of cards, look no further. Water has a lot to offer this time around.

Chaos Fish
Water
Creature
Gel Fish
7/1000+
- This creature gets +1000 power for each other water creature you have in the battle zone.
- Whenever this creature attacks, you may draw a card for each of the other water creatures you have in the battle zone.

Super Rare - S2/S5

As far as the Super Rares this set has to offer, Chaos Fish looks pretty good. By now you should realize a creature’s power means little in Water’s plan. It wants complete control of the game, and will do it through cards. A lot of people are going to say the card is painstakingly slow, and will die the second it hit’s the field. But if it does live through your opponent’s turn, things can turn scary. Even if it’s the only creature down when you play it, you can start to chain Aqua Hulcu’s during your next turn and swing for a solid 4000 and ancestral. I don’t think any card with a bullseye that big when it hit’s the field is all too bad, but it’s far from broken.

Rating: ***

Angler Cluster
Creature
Cyber Cluster
3/3000+
- Blocker
- This creature can't attack.
- While all the cards in your mana zone are water cards, this creature gets +3000 power.

Common - 12/55

If Water blockers are simply inferior to Light Blockers, then there’s little reason to play mono color, right? Wrong! Angler Cluster one ups Light in blocking, which is awesome. The only thing it’s been good at for so long and this stupid common shoves it’s behind right in Light’s face. Obviously you’ll play it in mono color only, but that’s 6000 power for three mana. That kills Barkwhip, heck, that kills Valdios. It also makes blockers looks good, and may single-handedly influence Critical Blade back into the metagame mix. This is what Water blockers should look like.

Rating: ****

Aqua Deformer
Creature
Liquid People
8/3000
- When you put this creature into your battle zone, return 2 cards from your mana zone to your hand. Then your opponent chooses 2 cards from his mana zone and returns them to his hand.

Rare - 13/55

I’m sure there’s some combo deck that will lock their opponent out of mana with this card. Nature/Water tempo decks might start springing up around the place with this guy and Shutra. You might as well pick up a playset in case that deck does take off, but it has a tough crowd to win over with cheap EVO’s pounding through tournies.

Rating: ***

Emeral
Creature
Cyber Lord
2/1000
- When you put this creature into your battle zone, you may add a card from your hand to your shields face down. If you do, choose one of your shields and put it into your hand. You can't use the "Shield Trigger" ability of that shield.

Common - 14/55

No, he’s not a chef. But he is quite capable of serving your opponent up a dish of shield triggers. A cheap but scary card that will net you card quality. And, of course, if you somehow know what the shield is, it can add insult to injury. If Cyber Lords get big, it will probably be because this guy is holding off the early game fort. One of the top ten cards in the set.

Rating: *****

Flood Value
Spell
2
- Shield Trigger
- Return a card from your mana zone to your hand.

Uncommon - 15/55

Oh yes, that’s right, any card. The question is, how good will it be. Obviously early game this guy will be used as mana as a first resort, but it’s an awesome top deck. Throughout the game you can shape it so this card will always get you exactly what you need. I’d definitely play this card over Crystal Memory, and it may soon find itself replacing the random card draw spell in water decks.

Rating: ****

King Neptas
Creature
Leviathan
6/5000
- Whenever this creature attacks, you may choose a creature in the battle zone that has power 2000 or less and return it to its owner's hand. (Return it to its owner's hand before your opponent can block with it.)

Rare - 16/55

Combo with Aqua Hulcus, maybe. The latest tech against a slew of Evolution creatures, probably not. 5000 is a solid attacking force, and the effects might come in handy. Leviathan decks will more likely than not utilize a copy or two of this guy, as it’s effect might be effective every once in a while against your opponent. Until a second main phase is initiated, I don’t think it’ll be combo-ing with your creatures to often though.

Rating: ***


King Ponitas
Creature
Leviathan
8/4000
- Whenever this creature attacks, search your deck. You may take a water card from your deck, show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your deck.

Uncommon - 17/55

The effect is awesome, and 4000 may be below Barkwhip range, but this late in the game he’s probably going to swing once and then die anyways. Overall, I think eight mana is a few too much to be asking for this guy, even if he does tutor up a bomb. Use Flood Value or Crystal Memory over this guy and you’ll be a lot happier.

Rating: **

Legendary Bynor
Creature
Leviathan
6/8000
- Evolution
- Your other water creatures in the battle zone can't be blocked.
- Double Breaker

Very Rare - 18/55

Six mana is steep, but Leviathan’s cost quite a bit anyways. This creature slightly reminds me of King Nautilus. I don’t see it being tier one, but this speed attacker is a step in the right direction. It makes it more of a creature than an evasion spell that will probably be killed next turn. And by the way, 8000 is a lot to kill. Fire curls up and fizzles to this guy, as does Light. Darkness and Nature are going to struggle, but have Natural Snare and Terror Pit to at least make an attempt. All in all, I think Bynor is going to have a say in how the metagame shapes, even if it is in the Tier 2 bracket.

Rating: ****

Liquid Scope
Spell
4
- Shield Trigger
- Look at your opponent's hand and shields. Then put the shields back where they were.

Common - 19/55

Looking at shields is rarely worth the mana you invest. Water loves information, but it also needs action. If it had Draw a Card attached, it’d probably see a lot of play. But giving your opponent the type of advantage that water thrives to achieve isn’t realistic in winning you the game.

Rating: **

Psychic Shaper
Spell
6
- Reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. Put all the water cards from among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.

Rare - 20/55

It used to cost three, at which point it becomes broken, so Wizards upped the ante. Magic gets Opportunity, and then you can be playing five color combo. Also, your opponent won’t see what your getting. It seems that a card like this should cost about 4-5, or maybe 6 with Shield Trigger. Four cards for six mana isn’t that bad, but hopefully a varient will come along where you won’t have to play this. It’s going to see play in Mono-Blue decks as that big spell that lets you recover from Lost Soul, which it does very nicely. But after that, where will it be?

Rating: ****

Shutra
Creature
Cyber Lord
4/2000
- When you put this creature into the battle zone, return a card from your mana zone to your hand. Then your opponent returns a card from his mana zone to his hand.

Common - 21/55

Aqua Deformer’s dorky cousin. He’s a Cyber Lord, which means the potential for Illusionary Merfolk is still there. Maybe the tempo deck will break the format, maybe it won’t. In any case Shutra is a lot more crafty than he looks, maybe not now, but it’ll be another staple for the cheap fast water deck that uses Cyber Lords. If it was a rare, I’d snatch up what I could, because it’ll be a sleeper. But it’s just a common that punches Bornze Arm Tribe where it hurts: in the mana zone.

Rating: ***

Stinger Ball
Creature
Cyber Virus
3/1000
- Whenever this creature attacks, you may look at one of your opponent's shields. Then put it back where it was.

Uncommon - 22/55

Ending on a rather sour note here. The Cyber Virus race isn’t doing anything now. Soon it will, in which case this card becomes the random evo-bait, that is, if you own no Candy Drop. Just another uncommon that isn’t Flood Value.

Rating: *

Overall:

That’s all from the wild world of water, which is giving us massive tempo advantage, a spell and creature capable of drawing upwards of four cards, the best blocker this game has seen, a tweaked up version of King Nautilus, and one amazing Cyber Lord. Wednesday we’re going to see what we can dig up with Darkness. Until then...

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Email: kian1602@hotmail.com