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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Empty the Warrens
Planar Chaos


Reviewed April 6, 2007

Constructed: 3.88
Casual: 3.63
Limited: 3.25

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

Empty the Warrens

This is the best card of the week. This card was good from the very start, limited players grabbed ahold of this card as soon as Time Spiral arrived, and Empty the Warrens has only become a more important card for red limited decks ever since. I have found it happily surprising that Empty the Warrens has found a home in both Extended and Standard Constructed decks. The goal is always the same: play Empty the Warrens after several other spells have already been cast during your turn, put as many Goblin tokens into play. I have to say I prefer the synergy of Empty the Warrens with various blue or black Suspend cards to the idea of powering Empty the Warrens with super-combo mana spells in constructed. Either way, though, this is one very fine common that is will be one of the most memorable original cards from Time Spiral.

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 4.0

BMoor

Empty the Warrens

I've seen this produce 8 tokens on Turn one thanks to Rite of Flame. This card scares me, quite frankly.

Constructed- 4.5
Casual- 3.5
Limited- 4

Aethereal

Friday - Empty the Warrens

One of the kill cards used in combo decks, this makes lots and lots of little goblins if you have a high storm count. This is often used in place of Dragonstorm, as then you don't have to worry about dealing with casting a nine mana spell. That's about all it's good for, though, as you'll be lucky to get 4 goblins with this in a red rush deck early enough for it to matter. Still, good in the decks that it's good in.

In casual, this would be fun to play in a casual storm deck.

In limited, this is an excellent card. If possible, hold on to it until you resolve a suspend spell, and then play it (and maybe another spell before it!) to maximize your storm count. I hear a free addition to your storm count is good.

Constructed - 3.5
Casual - 4
Limited - 4

-David N

Friday
Empty the Warrens
4 for 2 1/1s isn't that great but what is important about this card is the storm effect. Could be key in red goblin decks that drop a lot of small goblins to build up the storm or has a lot of mana boost.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 2
Limited: 2
David Fanany Empty the Warrens

Certainly an interesting card by anyone's measure. Empty the Warrens is a key card in the "other" storm deck making an impression in Standard. It's the most fragile of the win conditions with storm (compare Dragonstorm and Ignite Memories) since it requires you to attack with 1/1 creatures, giving your opponent a turn to use Pyroclasm or Wrath of God. Many decks don't play either of those, though. In casual play, attacking with 150 goblins gets many more style points than what storm decks usually do. In limited, Empty the Warrens isn't so good. It's very difficult to set it up to make lots of tokens, and although ending up with two to four extra 1/1 creatures isn't a terrible result from one card, it usually won't do enough to swing the game in your favor.

Constructed: 4/5 (in the right deck!)
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
PsychoAnime The fact that there's a decent deck based around this and that most Storm cards
are really good ensures a good rating.

It's really competing with Dragonstorm and Ignite Memories as a win condition.
Ignite Memories is clearly the worst out of the 3 as it requires some interaction
with your opponent so is this better than Dragonstorm?

Dragonstorm costs 9 mana; Empty the Warrens costs 4 mana.

Dragonstorm doesn't work when the dragons are drawn. Empty the Warrens always
works.

Dragonstorm wins the game on the turn you play it; Empty the Warrens does not.

I think the last comparison is the most important as that extra turn means a
potential board clearer. To get around it additional cards must be used with
Empty the Warrens whereas Dragonstorm is more standalone. I could see both
working though but my preference is Dragonstorm although one can argue that
Dragonstorm requires more accelerants so that makes up for the additional cards
Empty the Warrens need.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5, smack your opponent with a band of goblins.
Limited: 2/5, 1/1 do not do much and building a high storm count is hard.

Arcane
Reviews by Arcane

Empty the Warrens

Constructed: Is seeing a lot of play in the Extended deck, Dirty Kitty (Goblins with green for Fecundity). Goblins can power out the creatures and the mana for lots of spells in a single turn upping the storm count up very high, and with Goblin Warchief they all have haste. With the Spells rite of flame, seething song, etc this spell has a lot of power but most players in Standard are more content to use that mana to play out a dragon storm for the win, as their goblins won’t draw them extra cards or have haste in this format.

Casual/Multi: A great spell to help you get back into a game if you’re behind or to take that extra leap ahead. I use it right now in a suspend deck with cards like Clockspinning and Fury charm to lose my suspend counters, put a bunch of spells out there and then play a bunch of goblins. What works even better is that if someone tries to stop the suspend cards or toss around instant speed kill it will jack up the storm count even higher. And more players means more spells, which is a dream come true for this spell.

Limited: This card is a bomb in limited in the hands of a smart player. There are tons of great cards that can help power this card out and get the storm count up. Every color has access to suspend cards, white has weenie creatures, and black has madness. Combos well with Coal Stoker obviously letting you pay five mana for a 3/3 and 4 1/1s, or even something as simple as a chromatic star. With only a few board sweeping cards available in limited (Damnation, Pyrohemia and Sulpherous Blast being the only ones I can think of off the top of my head) means that your opponent isn’t likely going to manage to break even on the card advantage to take out all your tokens.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4
The Missing Linc Empty the Warrens

I have to admit when this card first came out, I did not think a lot about it. However, after being swarmed by goblins in the limited environment and seeing this included as a finisher in many constructed decks that work the storm mechanic to its max, this card has earned my respect. In limited, be sure to save a cheap creature or spell if you have this in hand. Four 1/1 creatures early game can allow for some creative gameplay.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 4

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