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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


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Meddling Mage 
Planeshift


Reviewed January 18, 2005

Constructed: 3.60
Casual: 3.33
Limited: 2.50

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

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Card of the Day Reviews 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

 

Meddling Mage

Props to Chris Pikula for creating this card after winning the Duelist Invitational the previous year. This card fit right into the scheme of the Invasion block. Decently priced at UW, the blue says "counter something" and the white says 2/2 bear. This dude is primarily found prowling around in blue/white control decks where Meddling Mage is particularly effective at curtailing the opponent's play of an easily predicted part of their winning strategy, especially when the opposing deck is based around any kind of a card combo. When you played booster draft in the Invasion block (this card is obviously from Planeshift) multiple colors wasn't too much of a problem, so Meddling Mage could be drafted and played fairly effectively even in limited.

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 3.0

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
Meddling Mage

As a Judge, I was never a big fan of this card as it brought up a bunch of silly annoying rules issues for players I was forced to answer over and over. As a player though, I loved this guy. He was control and beat down all rolled into one, and fit nicely in one of my favorite decks, Counter Sliver.
While admittedly he is pretty useless in limited, in constructed he's a great 2/2 for two mana, and in multi player if you can keep him alive he can simultaneously annoy your enemies and support your friends, and is a great card to play "let's make a deal" with in multi player. I love this guy.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 2 


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

 Meddling Mage - Tuesday

This guy is so much fun. And when I look at the art, I'm still amazed at how much it really does look like Chris Pikula. The card is great for a lot of different decks.

It's main purpose is stopping that problem card until you get a real answer or a way to deal with it. This card is amazing in casual games too. The problem is that your opponent may eventually get upset with you for playing it.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
Paul
Hagan
 Meddling Mage –

This is another card that, like yesterday, probably appeals to more tournament players than anyone else. In limited, his effects are, er, limited, and for casual players, unless you are specifically aiming to take out a buddy’s deck, you can rarely get a good idea what to call (at least early in the game). However, once you hit the tournament scene, if you have a good concept of what the metagame looks like in the room, Meddling Mage can be your best friend. He allows you to cause headaches for any number of decks, especially those with only one removal spell or one win condition.

Constructed Rating: 3.0
Casual Rating: 2.0
Limited Rating: 2.0


Andy
 Van Zandt

 Meddling Mage

More cards should have a similar mechanic where you name a specific card (and aren't just discard or lobotomy effects). It promotes playskill in general, in any format. This guy is a very efficient grizzly bear, since he, in effect, is generating hopefully at least 1 card worth of advantage by restricting your opponent's play options. He also obviously shuts down specific plans, in a very anti-combo way... or, in some cases, to protect your combo.

constructed 3.5
casual 3
limited 3.5


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner
(Shuffle and Cut)

Meddling Mage
 
An interesting control card that took a while to find its niche.  It definitely takes an excellent player to use this card correctly...someone that knows and understands the environment he's playing in intimately.  In that case, mage is very powerful.  If not, he's dead weight.
 
Mage is particularly effective against combo decks that depend on 1 or 2 cards to pull of their bag of tricks.  If Mage can eliminate them from being played, it's game over.  Decks that do better against Mage are well-rounded decks that don't depend on any particular card for their win. Rogue decks can fare well also, mainly because the Mage player doesn't know what to name, a condition that may change game 2.
 
In casual, it can be effective if you play against the same group of people a lot, and you know what cards they play.  But if you're playing against different people a lot, the casual format is probably too random for Mage to be of use.
 
In limited, it's a sideboard card at best, against some insane bomb that you feel you must stop.  But at least it's still a bear, and worth playing if you are in the right colors.
 
Constructed - 4
Casual - 3
Limited - 2

Jeff Zandi

 
 

 

 

 

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