MND Regional Reviews: d'Resh

Welcome to another Magi-Nation Duel Regional card review, by Kroodhaxthekrood!  We'll be featuring these reviews once or twice a week on the blog, and linking all of them in one place on the main Magi-Nation Duel page here on this blog!  Enjoy!

Magi-Nation Card Review

d’Resh

by Kroodhaxthekrood

Rating Scale

Magi-Nation Duel has only one traditional format, Constructed, where all cards are legal except for a limited few. Cards will be rated in this context with the rating scale shown below. These grades do not tell the whole story and should be viewed in the context of the writing which accompanies them.

1: Unplayable. Actively bad or detrimental to your board own board in some way.

2: Low-Impact. Not actively bad but doesn’t do a whole lot. 

2.5: A little better than “meh”.

3: Role Player. Cards which are simply not played as much but either could be good given

    support or are at least decent or fun options.

3.5: Very strong with the required support.

4: Staple. Strong cards which see lots of play (or should) but are not completely busted.

5: All-star. Practically an auto-include in most if not all of decks from that region. 

Now, on with the show:

Magi

Ahron – 3.5

Ahron is a weird magi. d’Resh isn’t a defensive region, so Dust Cloud feels a bit out of place. Then again, d’Resh just has a lot of weird stuff going on. He’s got very nice starting cards which is a bit of a theme in d’Resh as a whole and his energy numbers are at the low end of playable but still fine. What Ahron does is give your deck game against big, stompy decks that are trying to attack you in the face and kill you (as long as Ahron can keep some energy on him). He’s less of a build-around and more of a metagame choice. If your play group likes to play giant guys and attack with them, consider Ahron.

Dakat – 3

Good energy numbers is a start. Déjà Vu is actually a nice power although you won’t use it every turn. It allows you to make plays like using a Desiccate to kill the opponent’s biggest creature then turning your worst card in hand into a Desiccate for their second-biggest creature that only costs 2. He also gets to double Crushing Sands which can decimate the opponent’s board if done properly. The problem with this guy is that his starting cards have no synergy with either each other or with Déjà Vu. In normal regions that wouldn’t matter quite so much, but d’Resh keys off of starting cards in a big way.

Dey – 3.5

Dey is a very interesting deck-building challenge. His starting cards want him to play Olum tribal which is actually a pretty nice swarm strategy. His effect wants you not to have that many creatures in play, which is anti-synergy with Olum tribal swarm. Balance can be a powerful effect in the right circumstances though, so building your deck in such a way that he can choose which path to take becomes an interesting game.

D’Jarvish – 3

While he’s a burrow magi in Underneath, in d’Resh D’Jarvish is an Illusion magi. He starts with Sikra, one of the better Illusion creatures, Escape helps against Shockwave effects which are some of the more efficient ways to answer Illusion creatures, and Strengthen helps give your Illusions more energy. This is all fine but none of it is outright powerful. Additionally, despite being a dual-region magi, there is very little reason to mix his two regions’ cards which means his dual-region status is basically not a benefit. He’s better in Underneath simply because Escape is much more annoying in concert with Burrow than it is with Illusions.

Drajan – 5

This guy is a jerk. Fight is obviously annoying. It shuts off powers that cost the creature’s starting energy amount (like Ormagon) and makes others cost much more (like Sea Barl’s Lore which would kill the Barl). Still, not every deck has lots of powers on their creatures. But the ones that don’t get hosed by “Fair” (like most decks do). Think about how many creatures have effects that trigger during attacks. Cawh, all of Kybar’s Teeth, Furok, Chaos Plith, Jungle Stalkers’ Hunt triggers… It’s an endless list. Boom. None of them work. Add to that very good energy numbers at 15/5 and very good starting cards and you see why almost every d’Resh deck uses Drajan in the third spot: He’s generically powerful in a region with a lot of themes and he has access to your discard pile via Sand Cape.

d’Rasha – 3

d’Rasha is a fun alternative setup magi. Foretelling is a good power since it lets you control your draw step in a big way. 12/5 is just slightly below playable in competitive, especially since she plays like a 12/4 magi because you want to use her power every turn. This is the biggest factor keeping her out of competitive decks. She does cool things though. For example, she can set up turn one Obsis if you go first, allowing you to (maybe) Sandaclysm all their stuff on turn two before playing other creatures and drawing you cards from Szhar’s Legacy. This puts Szhar into your discard pile to Recur when your next magi flips, if you so desire. The other thing d’Rasha does is set up Daydreams (which is basically unplayable on lackey but really cool IRL).

Gherish – 4

For me, Gherish is the most difficult d’Resh magi to rate. His basic metrics are off the charts good, especially his starting cards which are three of the best cards in the region. Habob + Drift is a combo that lets Gherish energize for 7 by taking energy away from his board. 14/7 is the best, but the -2 to board means you have to work really hard to play as an effective 14/7 because obviously they’ll kill your Habob. Darbok is a nice way to try to do this, by bouncing and re-playing creatures. Illusions can sort-of help. Basically, you have to work for it. Abrade is nice incidental damage that can stack up quickly against decks like Paradwyn that use a lot of powers. The opponent has to play into it, but it’s so powerful against the right decks that it can be very difficult to manage. Also, starting Forgotten Tales is great and can help magi like Nahara get going early. Overall, I would say Gherish is a 4 in d’Resh since his starting cards are so strong. Tales can get back his Habob for Drift shenanigans or do something else that’s cool. Starting Izmer combined with his own Abrade effect can be really mean. You can build around Drift to try to maximize it but I don’t think Gherish requires it of you.

Harresh – 4

Like Drajan, Harresh goes in the vast majority of d’Resh decks, this time in the first slot. Again we see good energy numbers at 15/5 and great starting cards. Bottled City is an especially good play on turn one (before you Time Shuffle!) because you can Capture the opponent and look through at least some of their deck to gain some information about what cards you’re looking for. Harresh doesn’t do anything broken; her power makes her effectively Evu with card selection (energize: 4 since you’re using Time Shuffle every turn, draws 4 but puts 1 away is like drawing 3 but a bit better). Her starting cards just give your deck a consistently powerful opening and starts to craft your hand for the rest of the game. Not broken, but very strong.

Hasseth – 3.5

Here’s a powerhouse Illusion magi. Master Illusionist draws cards. This is good. Banish turns these cards into removal. This is also strong. Because of how resource-intensive Banish is, you don’t want to put Hasseth in the starting spot. He also doesn’t start with any Illusions and has a Sand Cape. 12/5 is low but offset slightly by your deck type giving you natural energy advantages on board. Olum is a wasted starting card but whatever.

Korremar, Avatar – 3.5

Here’s your other powerhouse Illusion magi. He’s heavily anti-Core (flavor reasons), but this doesn’t really matter much a lot of the time. What matters is he’s big, he gets Avatar’s Staff to protect himself from the natural weakness of Illusion decks, and Wisdom is very aggressive.

Mohani – 3.5

Imbue Spell is really cool. With access to a bunch of cards, Mohani can leverage the energy on Illusions or other interesting creatures to play a bunch more removal spells than a normal magi would be able to. For instance, she always starts with Habob + Heat of Day. Heat of Day costs 2, Habob has energize: 2. This is a natural combo but it’s the floor for Mohani rather than the ceiling. The challenge with Mohani is to find creatures that want to discard themselves, Illusions which don’t care as much about spending the energy, or what have you and combine them with removal spells, most of which cost 4-5 energy. Szhar is nice, for example, because you can Imbue a Desiccate onto it (costs the same) but now you’re drawing cards when you Desiccate because of Legacy.

Nahara – 3.5

This magi is crazy. Nahara starts Forgotten Tales, which is one of the best cards in the region and the best card for Nahara specifically. Nahara wants to fill the discard pile in order to abuse it with Remembrance. You’ll often look to creatures from outside of d’Resh for this power. The best one I’ve found is Xyx’s Shock. d’Resh naturally has a hard time killing magi, and access to this power allows Nahara to find the finishing blows better than almost any other magi in the region. Nahara has two weaknesses: First, sometimes the discard pile shuffles back into your deck making Remembrance useless. Second, Nahara’s 12/6 energy numbers combined with the aggressive play pattern mean that after you’ve killed one magi you’ll probably just get revenge killed very easily. But that’s often fine because you get to bring out Drajan last, so….

Nashiq – 3

Here’s another magi who wants to fill up the discard pile. If you can make Salvage work every turn, it’s insane, giving you an effective 16/7 magi. The problem is you can’t do that. It’s just not possible. For one thing, Salvage requires a stocked discard pile and controlling what goes in there is difficult, as Forgotten Tales and Maelstrom Flask are both random. For another, you need 3-of copies of most of your cards. This isn’t necessarily bad. Most decks want this, but it makes one-of tech cards much worse because you can’t discount them. Also, you need to be playing cards that are expensive enough so the discount actually matters, and when you can’t Salvage then you’ve got a 4-energize magi. Finally, Nashiq doesn’t help you fill the discard pile at all with her starting cards, and, like Nahara, basically has to go second. Nahara gets Tales while Nashiq doesn’t. I haven’t really tried to break Salvage and I’ve never seen it done, but this is a magi who could potentially go up in rating if someone figure her out. Right now, I think she’s a fun idea but not quite good enough for the competitive scene.

Nymat – 3

Nymat is fine. Like Ahron, his effect helps out against decks that play giant creatures. Unlike Ahron, Sandstorm isn’t really going to be terribly impactful. It’s free to use though.

Risha – 4

Risha is the biggest magi you can play in d’Resh, as long as you activate Insight every turn (16/6 is better than Korremar, Avatar’s 15/6). Even if you don’t have an Oracle in hand, you get to find one with her starting draw, so you’ll have at least one to Insight with. Oracles are pretty good cards and have synergy with each other. Glorious Prophecy is a dream that will never come true but that’s okay because Risha is just fine without it. You don’t have to put all six in your deck if you don’t want to. She’ll still be good as long as you’ve got 3 Bone Grags.

Salara – 3

Here’s the fourth and final Illusion magi. Salara will likely boost your creatures more than D’Jarvish when your opponent is kind enough to let Spellcraft trigger, but if they don’t play into it, she’s pretty vanilla. Still, punishing your opponent for playing spells isn’t horrible and four energy is a ton.

Ythra – 3.5

You need to play a lot of spells to make Ythra good. When you do though, she becomes probably the most powerful magi in the region. In super spell-heavy decks, some people use Clarity as a setup mechanic. I don’t like this very much. It’s just not as consistent as Harresh or what other decks can do, and Ythra needs a grip full of cards to become powerful. Her starting cards alone don’t give her that. Clarity is great at continuing to draw cards after you already have a bunch, keeping the train rolling. Prodigy is energy advantage (often very large) stapled to a way to get around burrow in a burn deck. d’Resh is very good at making burn decks. She also has good energy numbers and a built-in way to gain energy advantage, meaning her 14/5 goes farther than it looks. Last, starting Sunburn is just rude.

 

Magi: TLDR

5

Drajan

4

Gherish

Harresh

Risha

3.5

Ahron

Dey

Hasseth

Korremar, Avatar

Mohani

Nahara

Ythra

3

Dakat

D’Jarvish

d’Rasha

Nashiq

Nymat

Salara

2.5

N/A

2

N/A

1

N/A

Creatures

Ababila – 2.5

Ababila has a really cute name. It’s Ali Baba spelled backwards, which is why he’s a Thief and why Korremar wants 40 of them. Get it? Also, his effects are Stop! Thief. Unfortunately, that’s the best part about this critter. He’s small enough where Stop! often doesn’t matter but expensive enough to take up most of your energize step. Also, Crushings.

Beeb – 3

Two energy to deal five is a great deal. It’s very conditional though.

Bone Grag – 4

This card is close to a 5 for the amount of energy it can generate, but one of them by itself doesn’t get you there. If you have multiple copies, it’s insane.

Bulabantu – 4

Costs 5, generates 8 energy worth of value, removes small creatures. Efficient.

Cactus Dryte – 3

This has two conditionally strong effects with different targets, which can be enough to include it as a tech choice, especially if you’re using Korremar, Avatar who gets to do so for as close to free as you can get. It’s still a 4-energy Crushing target that might not have an effect on the game.

Cactus Hyren – 3

Big boi that fights other big bois. That’s fine. The problem is that there’s not a single d’Resh magi who can play this off one energize step except Gherish if he has Drift available. Also, it’s slow.

Chasm Jile – 2.5

This is a Weave card. In d’Resh there’s really no way to set up Dreamform.

Circling Darbok – 3.5

Passing Shadow is cool as some extra card draw in a burn deck. I say a burn deck because then you can kill the creature during PRS 2, after you’ve played Circling Darbok. You don’t want too many of these though. Probably two at the max.

Craw – 3.5

This is my favorite card in all of Traitor’s Reach. Discard pile d’Resh shenanigans get so much more fun if you have access to at least one of this card in your deck alongside Sand Cape. While expensive, Sift for Sand Cape lets you continue to recur Craw, who in turn lets you have constant access to the many strong d’Resh relics (especially those that discard themselves like Bottled City or Aubra’s Canteen.

Darbok – 4

Divebomb can be built around to make it better, but you don’t need to do that. You can just put this in most decks with creatures and make Divebomb good. Four damage is a good chunk.

Drahkar – 3

I used to like this card a lot. I find that, at six energy to play, it’s too expensive even when you’re gaining five energy on board and potentially removing 3 from your opponent with Dominate. I think one copy is a fine inclusion but I’m never thrilled about it. 

Habob – 4

Look, they always kill this card but it’s nice to dream isn’t it? The errata on Serve actually makes it better, which is cool.

Izmer – 5

It’s got a build-around level effect in Sandomancy while not requiring you to build around it. You’ll probably put some d’Resh relics into your deck anyway because there are a lot of good ones, but that’s not even the point. Also, any deck with Izmer and Sunburn automatically becomes a burn deck.

Lesser Darbok – 2.5

It’s a protection effect that’s trivially easy to remove.

Mirago – 3.5

Many d’Resh decks don’t want this card, and that’s cool. The ones that do care a lot about their discard pile, or play Aubra’s Canteen, or both. This card’s floor is higher in Bograth but its ceiling is higher in d’Resh because it helps enable a bunch of nonsense while giving your board more energy.

Mowat – 3

Mowat is a bit like Cactus Hyren. They’re both a bit too big and can gain a big advantage if they ever get to attack.

Nemsa – 4

Free 3-energy creatures? Yes, please. One reason a magi’s starting cards matter so much in d’Resh. Probably the best reason too.

Obsis – 1

You’re realistically never going to be able to play this card, and actually never in a spot where Sandaclysm will do any good.

Olum – 3.5

Needs lots of Olums in play. Is good with lots of Olums in play.

Olum Digger – 4

The Digger is one of the few ways d’Resh has to actually kill magi so it goes up significantly in value in the region.

Olum Fiend – 2

Situational in the extreme. This card does actually combo with Sareb but then you have to play Sareb in your deck.

Olum Mystic – 3.5

Good in Olum tribal because you can break the synergy. Plague triggers on each player’s turn, and if all you have are Olums in play, they have to ping their own creature. Really annoying in multiplayer.

Quanjuel – 1

There just aren’t any Recurring creatures that are anywhere close to good enough considering how expensive this card is.

Sand Hyren – 3.5

Paying 7 to then get a discount on future cards isn’t exactly a steal, but it does net you an advantage on a magi flip. Dark Side also lets you splash Core cards, which opens up a bunch of possibilities. The most common reason to play this card is because Drajan starts with it and you’re playing him right?

Sand Sark – 2.5

I suppose. Cool looking creature though.

Sandsifter – 3.5

So, let’s get this out of the way right now. The nameless effect does not prevent energy loss due to burn or combat. If they had just said “specifically” discarded from play like all the other cards do, it wouldn’t have been so confusing. Also, yes Sandsifter can live through Cataclysm. Now that’s out of the way, Unearth is awesome value, Inevitable Truth can deal magi damage (in d’Resh), and this guy dominates the board. The only problem with it is how you’re going to actually get it into play. d’Resh magi are not known for the amount of energy they can gain, so you’ll basically have to cheat which is why this rates a 3.5. Paying full price for this guy feels awful even though it can protect itself from some things.

Sandsinger – 2

This is by far the worst Oracle card. Searching out cards is powerful but the cost on this card is way too high.

Sandstone Hyren – 3

If you can cheat this in you might as well cheat in a Sandsifter because it’s better.

Sandstorm Orshaa – 3

In Illusion decks, having access to this card lets you randomly Stinging Sands people who play spells that stay in play. There aren’t a lot of them, but that’s why you don’t run many copies of this card.

Sandstorm Xyx – 3.5

Metagame dependent choice, as not every deck uses a lot of powers and has giant creatures you want to Dissipate. Combined with Gherish, it can be really annoying to deal with.

Sareb – 5

Best creature in the game.

Shimmering Orshaa – 3.5

This is a way d’Resh has to cheat out its giant Sandsifters and can be a great way to generate value out of an Illusion that has already done stuff and is now at low energy (looking at you Xala).

Sikra – 4

Sikra is just a solid card. Unlike the majority of Illusions, you can still double-play from a single energize some of the time, and they have to either spent a Shockwave effect at an energy disadvantage or actually attack this card (also a disadvantage). Or ignore it like people do to Illusions, but shhh.

Skullek – 3.5

Doesn’t have to go in Illusion decks, but Persistence is nice support for the archetype. Inspire lets your decks full of little creatures attack for more damage, including against magi, but it’s difficult to get out before the attack step without spending Boots on this, so it’s mostly useful for Illusion decks despite what I said before. Unlike D’Jarvish, this card does combine with Shimmering Orshaa.

Spined Hyren – 3

It’s fine but some decks don’t play lots of spells and you can’t be sure what you’ll face.

Swirling Orshaa – 3.5

Morph is interesting. For instance, this card does not die to Ormagon and can’t be burned by Flame Rudwot (I don’t think). This can also count as copies 4-6 of Grubble if you already have at least one normal Grubble in play. Also, it costs 3 to play.

Szhar – 3

Slow card draw is still card draw. However, this particular card draw is one energy too expensive if we’re going by the rate of two energy per card. I get that you’re paying five for a five-energy body, and that’s why the card is playable. The difference between this card and a card like Drowl, which gives you the cards right away, is enormous though and I just want to make sure people know that.

Thrybe – 3.5

Useful in Mohani decks for the magi that are not Mohani.

Twilight Mowat – 3.5

Dream Inhibitor doesn’t matter most of the time, though against Core it does do a good job at shutting of Zungg, Vrill, Gorath, and Core Grag and making a few other cards more expensive to use. At face value, Dark Strands’ job is to make some non-Core creature’s power more expensive to use, but that’s not great because they’ve already had a chance to use it the turn they played it. When you consider that the card Traitor’s Reach exists, Twilight Mowat becomes a two-card combo and that is quite powerful, though more of a testament to the power of TR than a statement about how good this card is. Also works with Forgotten Dancer.

Uban – 4

Dream Slice turns any card in your hand into three damage to a creature for a low, low cost. Burn decks want this critter. Discard pile decks want this critter. Drajan starts with it so, basically every d’Resh deck wants this critter.

Venger – 3

I always want Counter-Strike to work differently than it does. The only reason to put this card in your deck is if you’re using Ythra in your lineup because she starts with it. Otherwise there are better options.

Warrior Olum – 3

These kind of abilities that give your opponent the choice are pretty meh. Despite that, Challenge gives you an energy advantage no matter which mode they pick. Also goes into Olum tribal, but it’s the worst of the four Olum creatures because it’s more expensive.

Wind Hyren – 3

When has this ever lived until your energize step?

Xala – 5

As much as Illusions open you up to assassination, Xala is so worth it. Piercing Scream is super annoying for opponents to deal with. It’s good against Forest Hyren Naroom, it’s good against Ormagon, it’s great against Interchange decks, stopping Giant Parathin in its tracks. These are some of the strongest cards in the game which means Xala should be in your d’Resh deck. Period. You can even splash this card in other regions because of how powerful Piercing Scream is. Because it’s an Illusion, the splash still gives you 3 more energy on board than you paid for.

Creatures: TLDR

5

Izmer

Xala

4

Bone Grag

Bulabantu

Darbok

Habob

Nemsa

Olum Digger

Sikra

Uban

3.5

Circling Darbok

Craw

Mirago

Olum

Olum Mystic

Sand Hyren

Sandsifter

Sandstorm Xyx

Shimmering Orshaa

Skullek

Swirling Orshaa

Thrybe

Twilight Mowat

3

Beeb

Cactus Dryte

Cactus Hyren

Drahkar

Mowat

Sandstone Hyren

Sandstorm Orshaa

Spined Hyren

Szhar

Venger

Warrior Olum

Wind Hyren

2.5

Ababila

Chasm Jile

Lesser Darbok

Sand Sark

2

Olum Fiend

Sandsinger

1

Obsis

Quanjuel

Sareb

Relics

Amulet of Sand – 3.5

Native Wisdom is not optional. Remember this when sequencing your plays. As long as you don’t play this out and trigger Native Wisdom that turn this relic pays for itself, so despite how expensive it is, it’s well worth it in your burn deck. Crushing Sands + Amulet of Sand is the combo, dealing 4 to one thing and 2 to all their other creatures. More with Sunburn.

Aubra’s Canteen – 3.5

Building around this card is really fun. With Mirago, Uban, Channeler’s Gloves, and a myriad of other ways to discard cards for good effect (even just playing Mohani), d’Resh decks get to pay 1 to draw 5! You have to work for it, but when you do, the draw power is bonkers.

Aubra’s Hourglass – 2

This is probably the better of the two, because it helps mitigate surprise kills from Warrior’s Boots or the like. It’s still an expensive do-nothing a lot of the time and you can’t afford that. If it didn’t affect you, I could see playing this.

Aubra’s Timepiece – 1

Like the Hourglass, except pointless.

Avatar’s Staff – 3.5

Very necessary in Illusion decks due to how vulnerable your magi are at all times. Having Relic Mirror to keep this card alive is probably even worth it in those decks.

Bottled City – 4

This card is great. When you factor in the cost of the relic and the regional penalty, Release still gives you a one energy discount on their creature, but you can even spread it out over another turn so it always feels like more. Capture is the real value on this card though. You get information on their deck, and you can sometimes just steal a key creature and park it on your relic where they have trouble getting it back.

Dreamcatcher – 4

Magam, Flamesmith is a good magi right?

Dune Compass – 3.5

Good in the Oracles deck. Even if they kill it, it’s still one energy for a card which is awesome.

Lens of Truth – 3.5

Future Sight gives you a fun deck building challenge and also fits nicely in the Oracles deck because you have multiple copies of Sandsifter to hit, giving every card in d’Resh except Drahkar and Sandswirl a reduced cost. This card is also why d’Rasha can be fun. She can manipulate the top of your deck to make Future Sight more consistent. This card also helps you fill your discard pile, despite not being terribly efficient at doing so.

Sand Cape – 4

Yes, Memory has a condition attached. You can’t just automatically recur stuff. You have to have fewer cards in hand than they do. There are a ton of cards which let you discard cards, and aside from Canteen (which in itself requires you to keep your hand size low) d’Resh doesn’t have insane draw power. You can also just play cards. That all means that you basically always have Memory active when you want to.

Sand Strands – 2.5

Most of your big creatures are Illusions already and the ones that aren’t should stay that way. It’s only a 2.5 because it can add a chunk of energy to your magi, but you just don’t want to be doing this.

Sun Glasses – 4

Have I mentioned d’Resh decks have a hard time killing magi? This card helps your board of small dorky stuff hit very hard.

Ythra’s Mantle – 3

You’d need to activate Prepare twice before you’d be okay with this card and three times before you were happy. This means it’s mostly too slow, but it’s definitely playable.

Relics: TLDR

5

N/A

4

Bottled City

Dreamcatcher

Sand Cape

Sun Glasses

3.5

Amulet of Sand

Aubra’s Canteen

Avatar’s Staff

Dune Compass

Lens of Truth

3

Ythra’s Mantle

2.5

Sand Strands

2

Aubra’s Hourglass

1

Aubra’s Timepiece

Spells

Aubra’s Wisdom – 3

Funny include in Aubra’s Canteen decks that accidentally drew too many cards but mostly too awkward to use seriously.

Chill of Night – 4

Competitive decks draw lots of cards. Even normal decks draw two cards per turn. This can discard a lot of things. Not everything, but for one energy less than Shockwave, we’ll take some corner cases. It’s worth noting that d’Resh doesn’t often need this card. A) It has Desiccate which gets around a lot of the things which normally prevent specific discard. B) You can overcome Burrow naturally with Effect damage and Ythra. Where you want effects like this is against Arderial because of Arderian Guard-Wings or Tranquility.

Crushing Sands – 3.5

At first glance the one energy to the board doesn’t seem amazing but when you stack Amulet of Sand and Sunburn on top of this card it does serious work.

Crystal Vision – 5

The drawback of your opponent having perfect information is real. The drawback of not being able to splash cards or play too many Universal cards without discard outlets is also real, but less of a problem because you can combat it in deck building. The benefit is crazy. Making all your d’Resh cards cost one less without reducing the cost of the Universal relics you want to get out of your hand helps you gain a massive energy advantage over your opponent over the course of a few turns and very few decks pack cards like Spell Pulse to deal with this. Incidentally, Crystal Vision is one reason why d’Resh gets relics that are generally more expensive than other regions’ or at least why it doesn’t hurt as bad.

Daydreams – 3.5

Unplayable on lackey because the interface isn’t set up to handle it. Really cool card with d’Rasha and to a lesser extent with Harresh.

Deceptive Dreams – 3.5

You need to be able to kill the (smaller) creature that comes down, but if you’re a burn deck, have a board presence, or even just have a Dreamcatcher, you can do that. In those situations, this card can deal with giant creatures, making your opponent have to spend the energy to re-play them and can snipe key utility creatures before they’re ready. It also lets you see their whole hand which is really valuable.

Desiccate – 5

This card is just Shockwave that costs 1 more (to your board) but gets around the things Shockwave can’t kill (Greater Gargagnor, Cawh, Colossus, Sandsifter, etc.).

Forgotten Dreams – 3.5

You typically don’t see this much in d’Resh but rather as a card in combo decks (Naroom, Orothe, or Bograth usually) with a lot of ability to search creatures out of the deck.

Forgotten Songs – 3

This card is fine, but doesn’t stop combat or spell damage and Sandsifter and Sandstone Hyren already protect themselves. Other regions can splash this though.

Forgotten Tales – 5

This card fills your discard pile for decks that care about such things, but it also allows you to use your discard pile as a resource in an additional way. Any creature or relic you really need out of there, go grab it. And yes, yes you can grab Warrior’s Boots.

Heat of Day – 3

It’s hard to use and a bit low-impact given options like Amulet + Crushing, but it is spell damage, it’s cheap to Imbue, and it triggers Sunburn.

Horizon’s Mirage – 3

This is a way to cheat out Sandsifters but it’s slow as heck and your opponent sees it coming a mile away.

Lightning Sand – 2.5

It helps protect against attacks a bit. In d’Resh, you have Ahron and Sunburn to discourage attacks as well (and Sareb obviously), so there’s maybe something there in multiplayer. Otherwise it’s just too expensive.

Mirage – 3

With four creatures in play we’re doing stuff but that stuff isn’t very powerful.

Oasis – 3.5

This can work well in Illusion decks to protect your magi. Additionally, Izmer and other effect-based damage gets around this effect.

Redream – 3

Playing one-of is pretty decent because you have a lot of synergy with starting cards in the region. Dey is probably the best use case because it draws three Olums.

Sandshape – 3

This is the last way to cheat out a Sandsifter. Finally, a use for those Sand Strands (the only d’Resh relic that costs zero energy). You still have to pay half the cost though, so your Sandsifter will cost you 5 + 1 for the spell is 6 + 1 for the relic because you’re probably not playing Sand Strands is 7 energy. Saves you 3 whereas Horizon’s Mirage saves you 7 and Shimmering Orshaa is cool and more generally useful. On balance, Sandshape is the fastest way to do it.

Sandswirl – 5

In d’Resh it’s better than in Arderial which usually doesn’t have problems attacking for lots of energy or finishing off magi in general. d’Resh gets to make use of both modes, the Rayje’s Belt-like effect and the extra damage. d’Resh also gets to Sandswirl its own Illusion to punch face.

Sandtrap – 2.5

Too slow.

Sunburn – 5

Have you read this card? Take a minute. Okay, the only thing I want to mention is that Sunburn doesn’t actually deal the damage itself, it increases damage dealt from other sources. This only matters occasionally, but it does matter.

Unmake – 4

Unless your opponent has multiples of a creature out or is playing a tribal theme, Unmake will never give you an energy advantage. That said, it discards stuff directly. Mostly, you play it because Harresh starts with one and when it’s bad she can just Time Shuffle it away.

Spells: TLDR

5

Crystal Vision

Desiccate

Forgotten Tales

Sandswirl

Sunburn

4

Chill of Night

Unmake

3.5

Crushing Sands

Daydreams

Deceptive Dreams

Forgotten Dreams

Oasis

3

Aubra’s Wisdom

Forgotten Songs

Heat of Day

Horizon’s Mirage

Mirage

Redream

Sandshape

2.5

Lightning Sand

Sandtrap

2

N/A

1

N/A

Find all the regional reviews on the Magi-Nation Duel hub page.