MND Regional Review: The Underneath

Magi-Nation Card Review

Underneath
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

Bronk – 2

Conceal is not very useful. The best thing you can do with it is try to get a Freep to go off, and that would be quite useful except they can kill it with any sort of small removal. Conceal even specifies Underneath creatures so there’s no splashing shenanigans that are possible with him either. It’s a shame because this could have been something cool.

Celebrated Hero – 3.5

Mr. Muscles is a very cool magi. As long as you’re not going first, 10/7 is much more manageable than 10/6, especially in regions that have the ability to defend for a second. Starting with a way to draw cards in Gogor’s Spade is really nice for Underneath, as it has little access to extra card draw in region. The creatures are fine as well. Pump You Up requires Celebrated Hero to play dual-region KT creatures (like Akkar) or be in a Burrow deck (oh no), but this is a relatively small cost. Skipping your draw step does hurt most decks a lot, but Gogor’s Spade can help make up for that. If you’re not building your deck to take advantage of Pump You Up, you shouldn’t be playing Celebrated Hero, so he gets a 3.5 out of me. Also, you can run a full KT/UD deck as there are 3 magi to support it.

D’Jarvish – 3.5

Here’s another magi who goes in Burrow decks quite well. Strengthen is a small effect but boosting Burrowed creatures goes quite a long way since the energy tends to stick around for a while. Escape is nice but you still have to spend the energy to play the creature again so it’s not incredible. It does become pretty nice if he has a Motash’s Staff in play, since this will provide him the energy to play the creature again, and it’s obviously good with Sikra as well. In Underneath, Sikra is really the only Illusion worth mentioning but it is a very good card and he starts with it. There’s no d’Resh/UD deck so don’t waste time trying to figure that one out.

Emaal – 3

This magi is very annoying in the middle of your stack (obviously don’t play her last!). Sabotage makes it so your magi can flip over, play Ormagon and revenge kill them and digs you one card further into your deck in the process. She’s still not incredible.

Fossik – 2

Would you play a 10/8 (ish) magi that draws only one card per turn in a region that struggles with drawing cards to begin with? I wouldn’t, but it’s not the absolute worst. Not being able to gain that three energy during your turn to, you know, attack with it or what have you is a drawback as well.

Fossik, Ringsmith – 3

On the other hand, I would play this version. 12/6 is acceptable and Strengthen lets you actively make use of the extra energy. There’s also an enormous difference between seeing only one new card per turn and choosing to discard one. At least this way you can see more cards from your deck and actually have the normal amount of options.

Gogor – 3

Gravel Storm is really expensive but it can be a game winner. Again, this magi only goes in Burrow decks and is generally worse than the other two we have looked at so far. They get to use their powers and effects every turn. OG (Original Gogor) does not, and his energy numbers are overall worse than the others to boot.

Gruk – 2

How the mighty have fallen. When MND was brand new, Gruk was the most powerful magi in the game. There were a lot of tricks you could do, but Gloves of Crystal + Vulbor after locking down the board was so good 2i hit her with an errata, errata’ed just about every Undream-type ability there is, printed a gazillion cards that punish hand discard, and stopped printing creatures with hand discard abilities (more or less). Discard was so effective, even though you draw 2 cards per turn, because you draw them at the end of your turn. The opponent therefore had the opportunity to prevent you from ever having a hand to do anything with your energy. It doesn’t matter how big your magi’s energize is if they don’t have any cards to play. This was also an environment in which nuking your opponent’s hand size was more possible as most of the things that allowed players to draw enormous amounts of cards had not yet been printed. Turns out when you can make your opponent not play the game at all, it’s not a very fun game. I’ve been Vulbor Locked before. It’s horrible. As for nowadays, I can’t think of a single thing that makes Gruk worth putting into your deck. I’ll still give her a 2 because reasons.

Gulg – 4

This decrepit old man doesn’t play around. Fortify is a very strong power in any deck with reasonable creatures and is pretty nuts if your army is Burrowed. He also just starts with Strag’s Claws which is quite a silly card and also encourages you to attack stuff.

Gyrg – 2

Why? Why does he have to be 10/5? Yes, Digging Mastery does nothing in the region’s central theme because Burrow supersedes it, but he could have helped make non-Burrow control decks more of a thing. Starting with a Grakanden is so cool. I’ve said it before, but 10/5 is awful.

Motash – 2

She has a 4 energize which is awful but at least she has some energy on the flip. I really have no idea why she has a 4 energize though, because Escape isn’t all that powerful. All it does is allow you to conserve some card economy in a region that needs to make their cards count. This is not nothing, but your magi need to DO STUFF!

Myka – 5

Oh Myka, we adore you. You just never die. Underneath is a slow, methodical region that needs lots of time to assemble the Voltron of burrow cards or whatever else it’s doing. Myka gives you that time, first by being 14/6 which allows her to out-energize many magi over the long run and second by shrugging off turns that would certainly kill other magi. She doesn’t actually do anything, relying 100% on her cards for any actual impact on the game, but she gets a 5 anyway because every time I flip her up my opponent groans. Every time. Also, her quote is a reference to Mystery Men, one of my favorite movies. That’s neither here nor there but I just wanted to mention it.

Prek – 3.5

Here’s the second KT/UD magi, thanks to Kinship. She can’t play Kybar’s Fang though, which is a shame since she wants to be using relics. Thankfully, Tech Savvy does not have a “minimum of one” clause in there so she’s just encouraged to play all kinds of relics and to use them. Both KT and UD have some really nice relics and relic synergies, so Prek can do some cool stuff. She also draws lots of Parmalags for that Radget deck.

Radget – 3.5

All her metrics check out just fine, so that’s a good start. Refresh is a waste of time unless you’ve got a Parmalag in play, in which case it’s great. This means Radget only has one home: the Parmalag theme deck … which is more for fun than very competitive. Still, there’s enough Parmalags out there.

Sorrowing Ogar – 3.5

UnderCore decks are quite real thanks to Urhail and Cleansing. It’s also probably the best thing you can be doing in Underneath: playing non-Underneath cards! I joke but in all seriousness, Underneath decks that aren’t Burrow decks have to play some questionable cards to fill out the 40. An UnderCore control deck gets to play all the really silly Underneath cards and supplement them with good Core control spells backed by Urhail and Mantle of Shadow if necessary. Sorrowing Ogar is far and away the best choice for those type of decks thanks to Vile Memories.

Strag – 4

I’ve played more hours with Strag than with any other single magi in MND. While he might look innocuous, let’s review. 13/5: not amazing but checks out. Bottomless Pit is a nice little removal spell and he starts with Strag’s Claws and Strag’s Ring, both of which are incredible. Just don’t have Strag as your opener and he can draw a nice little bundle of cards when he flips up. As for Defense, it makes attacking his board a chore if he’s playing straight up and if he’s got a burrowed team it makes it actively bad. Sometimes the best tactic against Burrow players is to just suck it up and chip down their creatures with attacks. Burrow players try to make you think this is a bad idea (and I mean you’re never happy about it) but Underneath is so slow that by the time you get through their thing they might not be able to punish you. It’s when you stop pressuring them that they’re able to build up and if they can do that, enjoy your difficult game against them. Strag blocks this line of play more or less completely. In any other region, he wouldn’t be incredible but Underneath has to take it where we can.

Trug – 3

This guy is a meme. He can’t actually use Cataclysm when he flips up and if not then, when? The old-school combo was Mobis + Trug to give him enough energy but you can also try to do the same thing with Lady of the Sky or by leaving him an energy boost with Trygar. Funnily enough, this means Trug has more of a chance being seen out of Underneath than in it. In Underneath specifically though, giving him at least three extra energy (which you can do with Trygar + Freep) allows him to play Hidden Door before using Cataclysm.

Trygar – 4

The only true setup magi Underneath has access to. He doesn’t draw extra cards. What he does is have a 6 energize and sit behind a wall of Pylofuf while he draws the normal two cards per turn. Then, when he dies, Avenger lets him give your next magi a little help. Leaving an Ormagon out there if you have a Dream Balm in hand is a nice welcoming gift, or perhaps gifting his buddy Trug a nice little Freep, maybe even getting a Tunnel Hyren into play so you don’t have to spend 9 energy on the silly thing. As a side benefit, his starting cards give you a Burrowed attacker right away, so he can even put on a bit of pressure.

Ulmi – 3.5

As far as theme decks go, Crystal Affinity is quite a good payoff. Here’s what she discounts: Crystals Jile, Parmalag, Hyren, Saris, Twinklet, Lascinth, and Arboll for creatures (which [except for the Parmalag] also benefit from Resist) as well as the spell Crystal Shield (Goblet already costs 1). Plus there’s more support from Daybreak and an Unreleased Promo. The big draws here are that Crystal Arboll is already quite a good creature and is completely bonkers if it costs 1, and the fact that Crystal Goblet is a draw engine of sorts which UD desperately needs. Then you just have to figure out what you’re doing with a bunch of other medium creatures in your deck.

Ulk – 2

The Korrit theme magi, Ulk suffers because other than the basic one, Korrits are not good at all. Also, even if they were better than they are, Strengthen means they would have to survive an enemy turn before you get any value and that’s just bad.

Ulk, Prodigy – 3

While Korrits still stink, she now gives them a much more immediate boost via Fungal Bloom, as well as protects them some with Resistance. That’s an improvement for sure. The biggest improvement to Ulk was starting with Spore Vashp and Amulet of Ombor which are both excellent cards.

Magi: TLDR

5

Myka

4

Gulg

Strag

Trygar

3.5

Celebrated Hero

D’Jarvish

Prek

Radget

Sorrowing Ogar

Ulmi

3

Emaal

Fossik, Ringsmith

Gogor

Trug

Ulk, Prodigy

2.5

N/A

2

Bronk

Fossik

Gruk

Gyrg

Motash

Ulk

1

N/A

Creatures

Agovo – 2.5

This card is not remotely good enough, even in Underneath which wants all the help drawing cards it can get. Lore is exactly on rate at 2 energy for 1 card. The problem is, your Agovo will never survive to do it twice, in which case you’re out 4 energy for 1 extra card and that’s paying double. I don’t want to pay double.

Akkar – 4

This creature is extremely solid. In Big Underneath (decks with most creatures around 6 energy, magi around 6-7 energize), this is probably your best creature because Rolling Thunder will almost always be active and because it’s turning a 6-7 into an 8-9, which is at or above Nar level. Invulnerability (2) means Akkar is quite durable as well. The only time this disappoints is when you can’t play it, but even with normal energize rates this comes up somewhat rarely.

Athik – 2.5

This is one of the better anti-Core creatures, because Smite is enormously strong (RIP All-High King Korg). However, it’s still very narrow.

Bisiwog – 2

Not a threat. Additionally, Burrow decks need to be playing abilities that let their team attack anyway, so having a small creature that can do this on its own is low-impact and redundant. They’re cute though.

Brub – 2

Speaking of low-impact and cute, Scrubbing Bubbles here does nothing at all. No one plays Korrits, and even if you’re playing a Korrit deck with Ulk you’d rather keep your Korrits around than feed them to this thing.

Cave Hyren – 2.5

There’s nothing really wrong with Cave Hyren. It’s just extremely generic and doesn’t advance any of Underneath’s typical goals.

Cave Rudwot – 3

Defense is actually pretty nice if they have to attack this guy and synergizes well with Underneath defensive abilities. Good enough as a starting card some of the time.

Crystal Arboll – 3

If you have deck space for this card, it can be quite impactful. Four energy is a big boost. The issue isn’t whether Crystal Arboll is effective, it’s whether you want this kind of one-shot growth ability and can find room for it in your 40 cards. I’ve found I often can’t but it always feels good when I play it.

Crystal Hyren – 2.5

This card is an odd design. There aren’t that many spells that stay in play (though the ones that do are usually pretty annoying). Illuminate therefore doesn’t matter a lot of the time, as it doesn’t have targets against many decks. Ricochet also doesn’t matter a lot of the time, because your opponent controls when it triggers and they can manage the energy loss somewhat easily. Overall, do you want a 6-energy creature with very low impact on the board? Unless you’re Ulmi I don’t think you do. She might play it as a one-of for those few times where Illuminate comes in handy.

Crystal Jile – 3.5

Earthbond has some potential for giving your magi lots of energy. At its worst, Crystal Jile is a free 2-energy creature, and that’s really not bad. If you can support it to ever use Earthbond a second time, you’re really far ahead.

Crystal Lascinth – 3

Since Spines triggers whether they attack the Lascinth or something else, it’s not too bad. It also gets better against Core and synergizes with other Underneath defensive tactics. This is a hate card that’s worth playing, especially if you run Ulmi.

Crystal Parmalag – 3

In some ways, this is a miniature Colossus. Only Radget and Ulmi would really be interested in this card though, since 7 energy is definitely not 12 and because it doesn’t have synergy in a Burrow deck.

Crystal Saris – 2.5

Even if it’s burrowed, they can just attack into it to stop Regenerate from happening. Effects like this get better in multiples because they can only attack so many creatures in a turn, so if you have a lot of them you’ll probably get at least some of the triggers. Four energy is a bit of an awkward spot as a result of Crushing spells though.

Crystal Twinklet – 3.5

This is probably the most interesting of the Crystal creatures. As opposed to a little energy boost on Crystal Saris, drawing a card from Dream Charge is wonderful. This also helps protect itself with Deflect, which can bounce most spells and powers back onto enemy creatures. If you can protect this, you’ve got some card draw!

Freep – 2.5

Obviously a 4-energy boost to your magi is great. The difficulty is in actually getting this card to stick around long enough to use Refresh. It’s even too small to benefit from Burrow, so that’s a pretty tall order. Mostly used with Trygar because Bronk is bad.

Ghost Bwisp – 3

Digging Goggles is the preferred way to get this effect. However, Ghost Bwisp appears as a starting card enough that you’ll probably play one in your Burrow decks and you’ll be perfectly happy to do so. He won’t last very long in play most of the time, so enjoy it while you have access.

Giant Korrit – 3

Pack Hunt allows Giant Korrit to trade its attack for +5 damage on another creature’s attack. This is clearly only useful for killing big stuff and that’s actually where Underneath needs more help (they’ve got small stuff covered). Thing is, Korrits are very slow because of how the phases of play are structured. There are just so many less expensive options to accomplish a similar job.

Giant Parmalag – 2

Outside of Radget, who can kind-of stall with this thing, nobody want this power because decks don’t have problems killing 2-energy creatures outside the Attack Step.

Giant Vulbor – 2.5

In combination with other hand discard abilities, you have a decent creature. As far as Giant Vulbor is concerned, it’s a shame those are so thin on the ground nowadays.

Grakanden – 4

This card is awesome. Interaction is pretty rare and, while they can play the spell again on their next turn, they’ve still paid the energy for it. Most spells you’re interested in “countering” with Grounding cost more than three energy anyway, so you’re probably also getting an advantage this way. The only hurdle with Grakanden is actually playing one as he’s an expensive bugger.

Granas – 4

This card hits all the right notes. It’s good on defense thanks to Burrow. It’s good on offense thanks to Pummel, even after they chip it down a bit. Any magi with a reasonable energize rate can play it in a turn. What’s not to love? The only bone I have to pick with this card (in Underneath specifically) is the fact that so many people play it in their Burrow decks. That’s not necessarily bad, it’s just not burrowed on your turn so a lot of the synergies there will frequently turn off.

Gum-Gum – 2

Does nothing. They just won’t attack it.

Hubram – 3.5

Drawing a card is worth 2 energy, which is the cost of a Hubram. Hubram allows you to draw a card, it just happens to be a very specific card. Underneath has some very strong spells even though most of them suck. I’ll be honest, the only thing you’re ever going to Dreamfetch is a Crushing Fungus. Your opponent is never coming back from 6 Crushing Fungus over the course of a game. They probably can’t come back from 2.

Jore – 3.5

Obviously super good in Burrow decks and only in Burrow decks. You only need two other creatures that benefit from Nourish because energy on burrowed creatures goes a long way.

Kier – 2.5

It’s like a Granas that is too expensive and requires a lot of work in order to Burrow itself. Also, it doesn’t un-burrow when you might want it to. Pass.

Korrit – 3

Like a Giant Korrit except cheaper and smaller. You’ll find more spots where you can play this one and the combo with Parmalag is nice, but it’s still slow.

Magma Parmalag – 2.5

Unlike in Cald where this could be a fun build-around, Underneath has Burrow decks where this ability is pretty useless. Yes, it still does stuff there but the cost is pretty steep. This would have to go in some sort of non-Burrow Underneath aggro deck starring Gulg but I’m not sure that deck exists.

Muggum – 3

Here’s a cheap way to get your key creature(s) burrowed for a short amount of time. It is vastly more energy efficient than the actual spell, Burrow, so any deck that is thinking about playing that spell can think about playing a Muggum instead. However, being a creature, it’s more limited when you can play this during a turn. Also … Bronk synergy! Oy.

Mushroom Hyren – 3

Don’t get confused by the errata on lackey, you still have to bounce the creature. For some reason they removed that text on its lackey entry in which case this card would be obnoxiously broken. This can combo with Gloves of Crystal + Ormagon but that’s expensive as hell. Mostly what you can do is turn a small energy profit from bouncing Sikra, but also allows you to reset Granas or Pylofuf that have fallen low.

Ormagon – 5

Speaks for itself. Though I will say the fact that people splash this thing in a lot of non-Arderial decks (they have Cataclysm) is one of the most persuasive reasons for playing an Underneath deck I can think of.

Ormalet – 3

This card is fine but between regular Ormagon and Thunderquake you just don’t seem them in play too often.

Pack Korrit – 1

Korrit deck isn’t a thing, effectively discards itself to its own power, then has to have another two Korrits in play to be useful. Nope.

Parmalag – 3

This is a card that is worth boosting up with other cards. Shield is very strong but suffers from being on a low-energy creature. If you have Korrits or Crystal Arbolls this thing can put in work. The problem with that is then you’re playing all kinds of medium cards against people with much higher card quality.

Phosphor Hyren – 2.5

This art is incredible. This creature isn’t. It isn’t actually difficult to get higher than 7 energy or to chip this down with direct damage or to just discard it from play. Also, you can’t burrow it so it doesn’t fit into a Burrow deck, where it might otherwise be kind-of cool to protect your Tunnel Hyren except, oh wait, it doesn’t do that anyway. Bottom line, this is paying a lot of energy for a defensive ability that is pretty easy to get around.

Pillar Hyren – 3

You can actually burrow this for good effect, not that you really need to. This is a much better pseudo-Colossus but doesn’t see play because of its high cost. It’s probably worth messing with a little.

Pylofuf – 5

This is the best Underneath card draw spell we got. It just sits there, letting you stall out the game until you draw enough cards the fair way to be able to do what you’re trying to. Unlike Granas, this card doesn’t even really tempt you to attack with it and fits better into Burrow decks because it’s always active. Also, for whatever reason, people do not play aggressively into this thing when most of the time they should.

Rabid Bisiwog – 3.5

If you can get this slavering beast to attack, it’s well worth it. Needs Warrior’s Boots but that’s a decent-sized swing. This is another card for those Korrit decks, because when you can get a double attack out of a Korrit, that’s value.

Sarazen Keeper – 2

This card asks too much of you and will therefore never do anything. You have to have 12 energy cost worth of creatures (unless you’re splashing for the Outcast in which case it’s still 10) to draw a card from Strength in Union. Never happening. Forged Alliance requires this plus a hyren, which is more doable but you’re probably only getting one energy onto itself. Big deal.

Sikra – 4

As long as you can manage to not die to the Illusion text (much easier in Underneath than in d’Resh because of its defensive nature), Sikra is extremely efficient and durable.

Spore Vashp – 3.5

Like Hubram, this card allows you to continue to generate value from cards you’ve already played, which is important since card draw is limited. True Form is a great build-around power, because you need to engineer situations where both options are bad for your opponent, otherwise they’ll just give you the low-threat option. If you’ve already shown your opponent a Dream Balm or you’re playing as Celebrated Hero, let’s say, they can’t just let you have an Ormagon back so you can almost get anything else.

Striped Korrit – 2.5

They’ll just attack this first or, God forbid, Crush it. I’m not sure Pack Defense has ever triggered in the history of the game.

Syre – 3.5

This card is amazing in Burrow decks. Card draw is good.

Trogovo – 3.5

Ok, so obviously against Core this guy is a liability. However, is it good against non-Core decks? Let’s examine. Inspire reduces your magi’s energize by two, effectively causing you to pay two energy to draw two extra cards. That’s actually good. If they kill it on their turn (unless they’re Core) it’s all upside. If they don’t, you get to draw more cards. To minimize the drawback, you’ll want to play magi with larger energize rates to begin with, magi like Celebrated Hero, Emaal, Myka, Trygar, and Fossik, Ringsmith. That’s a list of some of the better Underneath magi, so I’m not all that disappointed to put them in my stack either. Obviously, Trogovo is best with the former two magi on that list because they’ll still have a normal 5 energize even through Inspire.

Tunnel Hyren – 3.5

Here’s the one card that really lets you Burrow your entire team. This card is a Burrow deck, but not by itself. You have to somehow get it into play with its large cost, and then you have to somehow protect it. That’s a tall order, but if you can set it up it’s righteously powerful.

Tunnel Parmalag – 3

This guy is big and dumb and just fine if you’re in the market for big, fair, slow creatures.

Urhail – 4

If all you do is play one Urhail, you’ll have access to it three different times over the course of the game and that’s powerful. Tainted Dreams is one of the reasons an UnderCore deck is possible and there are lots of good Core spells that are worth playing.

Urigant – 3

This card is odd, burrowing itself at the expense of your other burrowed creatures. Invulnerability (2) is great. This guy is mostly useful against Underneath thanks to his Dig Up effect. As a result, it’s more of a Kybar’s Teeth card but is still cool in non-Burrow Underneath decks.

Venomous Korrit – 1

Narrow and not even incredible. Doesn’t do much against Burrow. It’s another Korrit for Ulk decks I guess…

Vulbor – 2.5

See Gruk.

Weebat – 2.5

An anti-Naroom card they have to play into? Surely not. It’s not strictly terrible because there’s a lot of random things that make it annoying to attack Underneath creatures, and Grounded synergizes with those, even against non-Naroom opponents.

Creatures: TLDR

5

Ormagon

Pylofuf

4

Akkar

Grakanden

Granas

Sikra

Urhail

3.5

Crystal Jile

Crystal Twinklet

Hubram

Jore

Rabid Bisiwog

Spore Vashp

Syre

Trogovo

Tunnel Hyren

3

Cave Rudwot

Crystal Arboll

Crystal Lascinth

Crystal Parmalag

Ghost Bwisp

Giant Korrit

Korrit

Muggum

Mushroom Hyren

Ormalet

Parmalag

Pillar Hyren

Tunnel Parmalag

Urhail

2.5

Agovo

Athik

Cave Hyren

Crystal Hyren

Freep

Giant Vulbor

Kier

Magma Parmalag

Phosphor Hyren

Striped Korrit

Vulbor

Weebat

2

Bisiwog

Brub

Giant Parmalag

Gum-Gum

Sarazen Keeper

1

Pack Korrit

Venomous Korrit

Relics

Amulet of Ombor – 3.5

This is a rare instance of an errata giving a card a buff and I appreciate those. If you’re playing Gate to Ombor, this card will now net you a tutor effect and six energy, which is absolutely crazy. Energy Boost is a 50-50 so if you’re feeling lucky you can get very good results. The negative result isn’t even that terrible if they have two or fewer creatures in play and you can therefore make plays to minimize the risk of a negative result. With the Gate out, you have 2/3 to get the good rolls, so you don’t even need to play Loaded Dice. The real question is, does your deck want Gate to Ombor?

Crystal Goblet – 3.5

This is really the card that makes an Ulmi deck interesting, because card draw.

Digging Goggles – 3.5

Every Burrow deck needs at least two of these, if not the third.

Gate to Ombor – 3.5

Since you don’t want to pay full price for this, it necessitates playing Amulet of Ombor. Ulk, Prodigy does allow you to guarantee this draw with her starting cards. Every Underneath magi starts with Urhail, so in addition to your magi’s printed starting cards, that guy’s always an option. The fact that you can get Urhail on the cheap means this card is most attractive in UnderCore, but it’s fun to brew with even in straight Underneath. Prek can get big Parmalags with it, for example. In decks that run this card, you also want ways to kill magi without attacking, maybe something that makes use of these free creatures, maybe Impact…

Gloves of Crystal – 2.5

See Gruk. This card is still marginally useful, and I guess is funny with Rabid Bisiwog, but there aren’t too many shenanigans you can get up to with it anymore.

Gogor’s Spade – 4

Card draw! It’s better than Crystal Goblet because you A) don’t need to play a Crystal theme deck and 2) get to control when Paydirt triggers.

Gremm’s Hammer – 2.5

It’s so slow but it does let your energy accrue interest over time. If they don’t kill it while you’re charging up that is.

Gremm’s Helmet – 3

This card is hilarious. Unfortunately, some of the best powers specify regions, O’Qua’s Conjure for example or Kalius’ Wind Spawn. Still, there are a lot of good magi where copying their powers and effects can be a big upside. Good examples of this would be stealing Evil Evu’s Devour or Barak’s Prophecy. I’ve never seen anyone else play this card but I’ve had it do good things in a few decks.

Kiesel’s Hammer – 3

A bit weird and situational but can be powerful against regions like Naroom.

Motash’s Staff – 2

When are they ever going to return one of your cards to your hand to begin with, much less with this on your field? That said, it is a combo with exactly D’Jarvish.

Rumble Stones – 3

It’s expensive, but it does hit enemy magi in the process. As long as your first use of Mini-Quake is removing 4+ energy from their field (3+ enemy non-Underneath creatures) this relic is fine.

Staff of Korrits – 2

Do you even want this in Korrit decks? I’m not sure it’s worth the card slot. Pack Hunt is already good value and this doesn’t improve it by much. Pack Hunt is already very rare and this doesn’t make it any easier to get there.

Strag’s Claws – 5

This relic is bonkers. It pays for itself after making one attack (or two if your creature doesn’t survive). How much energy can burrowed creatures lose in a turn? Oh yes, 2. This gives them 2. Even without burrow, this card is still super strong. This is what Underneath does, they have a bunch of pretty medium things going on and then some of their card quality spikes through the roof.

Strag’s Ring – 3.5

One of the better Purity rings. Your Burrow deck needs a way to burrow your Tunnel Hyren and your Celebrated Hero deck needs burrowed things to use Pump You Up, so even in non-Burrow decks starring HansnFrans there, this ring is great. You can’t play this in UnderCore and it does mean you can’t splash for Tradewinds if you would have been inclined to do so, which means the cost is more real than some other regions have to pay.

Tremor Stones – 3

It’s free, so although you must wait a turn, it’s still pretty decent. Plus, if they spend relic removal on this or hit it with Rayje’s Belt, they’re not disrupting your other good relics.

Trygar’s Will – 2.5

Kind of a funny card. It boils down to one energy to blow up one of their things, and that’s likely very good. The problem, obviously, is that your magi has to die before this becomes useful and they’ll see it coming.

Tunneler’s Boots – 3.5

Insane in Burrow decks.

Underlord’s Shield – 2

No one plays enough hand discard for this to matter. If they did it would be pretty cool.

Relics: TLDR

5

Strag’s Claws

4

Gogor’s Spade

3.5

Amulet of Ombor

Crystal Goblet

Digging Goggles

Gate to Ombor

Strag’s Ring

Tunneler’s Boots

3

Gremm’s Helmet

Kiesel’s Hammer

Rumble Stones

Tremor Stones

2.5

Gloves of Crystal

Gremm’s Hammer

Trygar’s Will

2

Motash’s Staff

Staff of Korrits

Underlord’s Shield

1

N/A

Spells

Aglow – 2.5

Burrow decks are pretty darn slow, and what they want is to build up layers and layers of synergy that make their board unstoppable. Aglow gives your Burrow deck a temporary power boost, but that’s not really what it’s looking for.

Atekkia’s Gift – 3

Meh. The big issue here is not with the spell’s text, though it’s not as good as a lot of the other Gift spells already. The issue is, what are you bouncing? A lot of the good Underneath cards either discard themselves to their own power, cost real amounts of energy, or want to stay in play long term. The best you’re getting here is to re-buy something that’s been worn down and you have to wait until that happens to be happy about the energy exchange.

Bottomless Pit – 3

As long as you’re hitting a 3-4 energy creature with this, you’ll be happy with the exchange. There are some really annoying creatures in that energy range and most decks will have enough targets. I wouldn’t play three in a deck, but one is certainly fine.

Burrow – 1

This card is pretty horrendous. It’s a single-use energy-inefficient way to burrow one creature. The only time I’ve ever seen this card be good was in an Orothe Interchange deck. In Underneath, find a better way. Even Muggum is a better way.

Carnivorous Cave – 1

This card costs you 4 most of the time because it’ll hit you too. Not worth it, even in a Burrow deck.

Cave In – 2

This is the same thing but not quite as bad.

Cleansing – 3.5

Here’s another enabler for the UnderCore deck, which is the only one I’d run it in. Since you have some ways to play Core spells already (Urhail and Mantle of Shadows), you can use Cleansing to play Core relics or creatures alongside your powerful Underneath cards. It’s also randomly good against Core if you happen to run into them.

Crushing Fungus – 5

This is the most powerful card left in the game. It is also incredibly un-fun to play against. If you get the bonus effect to go off, you’re not only getting a 4-for-9 energy advantage (on average, often more), you’re usually also preventing them from playing new cards on their next turn. If you ever have 4-energy creatures on the table against Underneath, look out.

Crystal Shield – 3

Unless you’re against Paradwyn (who often pack Spell Pulse), this card is a way to protect your key creature (Tunnel Hyren, Grakanden, etc.). Unlike most of these type of abilities, this one doesn’t fall off after a turn, so it’s actually all right as far as that goes.

Enrich – 2.5

Unlike the cards most similar to this one (Shooting Star and Submerge), your magi don’t start with this and you have to meet the condition of burrowing a creature. Also, like Aglow, your Burrow decks are interested in long-term function rather than one-time boosts.

Entrench – 2

This one has a very low impact on the game. It’s cute that you can Entrench their creature to prevent it from attacking or use it to give one of yours some added defense, but it doesn’t do enough.

Gorgle’s Curse – 3

So your Underneath deck doesn’t have to splash Storm Cloud to kill a Colossus. Then again, your Underneath deck can Burrow and wear down those big dudes over time so it probably doesn’t need this. At least, I’ve never seen one of these played by anyone.

Ground Breaker – 2.5

A somewhat unreliable way to damage magi. I’ve also never seen anyone play this card.

Hidden Door – 2.5

There are plenty of good Underneath relics to go get with this spell. The problem is, unless you’re Trug, you have to play three copies of Hidden Door to have a decent chance to draw this, at which point you have two dead cards in your deck because you probably don’t want this effect twice in one game.

Impact – 3.5

This is a good way to kill magi after you’ve used an Ormagon, and it’s a good way to do it in general. You see this played a decent amount in d’Resh decks because they have big Illusion creatures and almost no natural way to damage magi. It’s fine in Underneath too, but just make sure it’s something your deck wants.

Mudslide – 1

Symmetrical but you’re out an extra 2 energy. This means your creature and relic have to be substantially worse than your opponent’s in which case, what’s wrong with your deck? In multiplayer, this isn’t even good because it makes enemies but doesn’t win you the game.

Resonate – 1

Here’s my biggest soapbox moment in MND. You should not play this card. Ever. I did it for years, thinking, “I like the fact that this card is very flexible”. Unfortunately, it’s cost is prohibitively expensive for any of the modes. To wit: it costs 1 simply to play the card, then you can choose 1, 2, or 3 of the modes. Each choice makes it cost another 1 energy, so you’re paying 2, 3, or 4 energy respectively. Paying 2 to discard a relic sucks. Play Relic Stalker instead. That’s the most common mode. Paying 2 to deal 1 to a creature is obviously bad. Paying 2 to deal 2 to a magi is at least breaking even, but the impact of that is very low. Paying 4 to discard a relic (should have cost you zero), discard 1 energy from a creature, and discard 2 energy from a magi has you behind an energy. Paying 3 to do any two of those things is a 1-for-1 exchange as long as you’re not discarding a relic, but that’s what people put this in their deck to do. This card is garbage. Play Relic Stalker or even mess around with Tremor Stones.

Spirit of Ombor – 3.5

This one wins a Razzie for ugliest card art in the game. That said, there are Underneath decks where Resilience is a very strong effect. These are the Big Underneath decks that I’ve mentioned on a couple cards, so if you’re considering Trogovo, this card should also be on your radar. It should not be in your Burrow deck, because what you’re trying to do there is build up a big army of creatures and Resilience won’t ever trigger unless you’re dying.

Thunderquake – 4

It’s probably better in Cald decks than it is in Underneath, because they have synergies with it, but it’s still a really nice card. Unlike Resonate, this one actually is flexible.

Tunnel – 3.5

I know I’ve said that Burrow decks aren’t looking for power turns necessarily, but this card is so low cost and so high upside, that you’ll want to consider it. Getting a bundle of energy back on your magi can allow you to keep playing out synergistic creatures for your Under-army, and hitting their magi for a chunk is often good too.

Unmake – 4

Unless they have multiple copies of a creature or are playing a theme deck, you won’t get the second part too often, but you don’t need to in order for this to be decent. This is basically a single-target Thunderquake with the upside of directly discarding the target rather than removing the energy.

Spells: TLDR

5

Crushing Fungus

4

Thunderquake

Unmake

3.5

Cleansing

Impact

Spirit of Ombor

Tunnel

3

Atekkia’s Gift

Bottomless Pit

Crystal Shield

Gorgle’s Curse

2.5

Aglow

Enrich

Ground Breaker

Hidden Door

2

Cave In

Entrench

1

Burrow

Carnivorous Cave

Mudslide

Resonate

Find all the regional reviews on the Magi-Nation Duel hub page. Explore Ombor, wherever you are!

MND Regional Review: The Core

Magi-Nation Card Review

The Core

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

Agram – 3.5

You can’t just jam Agram into any old Core deck and have him be good, but when you build around him he is very powerful. Starting energy and cards are good, and he starts with an Agram’s Plaything in addition to what’s printed. Since I’ve just mentioned that card, let me mention the number one reason Agram is so good: There are good cards that randomly get way better just because you’re Agram. These cards are Plaything and Shroud of the Master, which are both completely busted on Agram. Possess is also a fabulous power and the other reason he’s so strong, especially in combination with his starting Wudge. Now, to deal with his complicated energize situation otherwise known as the reason people don’t play Agram. Obviously a printed starting energize of 1 is worse than the worst. He will have 16 energy on his flip turn though, and that’s only slightly lower than a lot of powerful magi with 18. In Agram’s early turns, he will have to play very cheap, efficient cards. Focus mitigates this to some degree, but requires many turns in play before Agram’s energize gets good. He often dies before that happens. Opportunist mostly does not come into play, but can allow you to have 4 magi maybe one out of 100 games you’ll play. It can also be Locked Down with a Rayje’s Belt in weird games. Overall, Agram can be very aggressive since he gets a lot of mileage out of cheap stuff and can reliably steal enemy creatures somewhat cheaply. Don’t try to play him in control decks as his energize situation will mess you up. Get aggressive with him and you’ll have some fun.

All-High King Korg – 2

He’s not a 1, even though Super Clever is a horrible drawback and Super Brave is even worse. At 24/6 he just has tons of energy. That’s all he does but that makes him better than a lot of other magi in the game. Make sure to pack some Climbing Staffs if you are running AHKK, because these can prevent him from dying! That said, Super Brave is awful and will have him killed out of nowhere in 90% of the games in which he sees play.

Ashio – 2  

Oi Ashio! Why do you make me try to figure out lists of weird cards? In practice, this guy just makes Flugg really good against Weave and that’s about it. He can’t play the other anti-Core creatures and Chaos Flugg doesn’t change its text due to Weave Twist. There’s a small chance I’m missing something here, but 13/5 with a negligible effect does not a good magi make.

Chur – 4

Man, Chur is annoying. She’s big at 15/6 and has amazing starting cards, not that she’ll be the one playing her Vaporize. You might not even get it if you play Chur first, but it’s nice to have the option. Smash just messes up so much enemy strategy. Sure, it prevents you from playing the relics you draw but you can build your deck with a low relic count whereas your opponent doesn’t know about that ahead of time.

Empress Gia – 3.5

They are a bit kooky, since they count as being both Gia (the person Nagsis is pretending to be) and Nagsis (the person Nagsis… is). This means you can’t have Empress Gia in a magi stack with either Gia or Nagsis but also means Empress Gia can start with both Gia’s Tome and Nagsis’ Sigil (and Weave Powder since they are a Weave magi). When you add that to their printed starting cards which are quite nice to begin with, you have a very nice selection of things to get. You can only choose 5 of them, but it still gives you a lot of options. As far as their effects go, Act Like Gia is good but if you’re in a Core deck unlikely to turn on. On the other hand, Fight Like Nagsis is also good but requires you to build your deck with creatures that can’t normally attack. Attacking with humongous Uwamars is a big game, but then you’re building some kind of bizarre Core deck. There are two Weave Shadow Magi in Ashio and Yayek, so it’s possible to build an Agram’s Staff deck but that’s probably bad. EG is better in a Weave deck splashing Core than the other way around, but they’re powerful enough that it’s worth messing with. As an aside, Fight Like Nagsis does, in fact, allow EG’s creatures to attack through “permanent” effects a Crystallize or a Binding (which they can even play) but not through temporary effects that prevent attacks, like a Blue Yajo (don’t know why this would come up but there you go). All that to say, Fight Like Nagsis has some utility even if you’re not building around it.

Evil Evu – 5

Good grief, this magi is strong. His energy numbers are actually small for the Core, but are actually above the 13/5 overall game average. What makes Evil Evu nuts is his sheer ability to draw cards. I had a game the other night where I had 31 cards in hand when he died! Obviously this is a special case, but the combination of Chaos Plith, Dream Rift, and Devour triggers means he will consistently amass a sizeable hand for whomever comes next. Additionally, he can just straight-up play Naroom cards, making him a dual-region magi.

Fiend of Furoks – 3

Fiend of Furoks is mostly a fun option, as Core Furok decks aren’t very competitive. That said, alternate Sperri is pretty big and Reconstruct lets her do a lot with the cards she draws. As far as fun decks go, Fiend of Furoks is among the more powerful magi to mess around with.

Golthub – 3

You won’t want to play Golthub outside of dedicated Bograth/Core decks, having energize 4 is pretty horrible, even more so in Core where there’s a lot of big stuff. That said, her flip turn is still pretty good. Mire, unfortunately, is pretty bad since you don’t get to keep your cards in play. In a dedicated deck she’s good enough just for being dual-region.

Harror – 3

Spellfire is a nice little effect. Core decks tend to have lots of spells, and it gives your opponent a headache. She also gets to start with a Cataclysm, so if blowing up everything is something your deck is interested in, she’s a fun way to do it. This version of Harror doesn’t ever become insanely strong, but she’s fun to annoy people with.

Harror, Nightstalker – 3

The second version of Harror is also quite annoying, but in a different way. Outside of d’Resh there aren’t an incredible number of magi that rely on their starting cards for their primary strategy. Against d’Resh she’s a nightmare. The reason Nightstalker is annoying is that she sometimes breaks the logic of the game, and this is not fun. She does get to start Cataclysm but she can’t actually play it without Rayje’s Belt. More than that, Quilla and Sorreah are commonly played magi, and the messaging from 2i seemed contradictory in that case. On the one hand they state magi must lock in the name of the starting card, so Starfire would prevent those named cards from being played. On the other hand, they also state Risha is immune to Starfire. This annoys me to no end.

Hrada – 5

I think facing down Hrada is one of the least pleasant experiences in MND. If you’re one of those players who believes in a finite amount of fun to be had in any game of cards and want to have all the fun yourself, look no further. 16/6 is quite large, especially when you factor in Tainted Touch. This power does cost 2 and Hrada wants to use it every turn making him 16/4, but it’s actually worth it as your opponent must pay 1 more energy on each of their cards (most of the time). The real kicker is that they probably can’t play their relics as a Shadow Magi. Also, Traitor’s Reach is a spell now, and it’s a disgustingly powerful combo with Hrada. The only drawback Hrada has (not actually printed on his card) is that if you’re playing him you don’t get to play The Dark Twins).

Jalex – 3

Jalex is an interesting magi that I rarely see on the table. The reason for this is his Power, Designer Intent, makes him a niche pick for odd decks. For instance, if you are trying to build a non-Naroom Shadow Magi deck for a specific region, let’s say an Orothe Shadow deck using Qwade and The Real Qwade, Jalex can do a decent job filling the third slot. The fact that he’s not a Shadow Magi does hurt though, as he doesn’t count for things like Crushing spells or Shadow Ritual. Because he needs to use his power to play non-Core cards, Jalex will operate as an effective 14/5 magi without an ability in many decks, and this is pretty underwhelming. However, Designer Intent opens up some neat deck options and this makes him enjoyable, if not too competitive.

Korg – 1

All three Korg magi have pretty steep drawbacks, and the Promo is no exception. Dis…ray prevents Korg from playing some staple Universal cards, such as Rayje’s Belt and Warrior’s Boots. This is certainly a hit but not a crippling weakness. It also makes you essentially pay one more energy for every creature you play, as you paid full price but they enter play smaller than that. This is a huge hit, as it prevents Korg from playing some of the best Core creatures (Zungg and especially Wudge) as well as stopping some creatures (like Core Grag) from being able to activate their powers. 19/6 is a big boi, but if you want to ever play two creatures in a turn, he’ll be operating closer to energize 4 and that’s just bad. Skip this guy even though he’s hilarious.

Korg & Zet – 3

This time, Korg’s partner in crime tags along to make him… not completely unplayable. Counting as two magi is a big drawback, and the Korg effect is very bad as well. These guys need to be playing extremely impactful cards, since they only get two each turn. They can mitigate this a little with Rabid Wasperine, which can be played out of turn, but in general their cards need to do serious work. They must be extremely careful playing cards such as Haunt or Crushing Darkness as well, because those cards actually count as playing two cards under their ideal circumstances. The Zet effect is a bit of a rules nightmare, but it is at least a positive ability. Here’s how it works: You attack with a creature as normal, activate “Zet” naming a creature you didn’t just attack with, the defender chooses one of them to take damage in the attack, both of your creatures damage the defending creature. You may then attack with the second creature providing it survived as, unlike a Korrit ability, “Zet” doesn’t use up the second creature’s attack for the turn. If you’re planning on using Zet a lot, you’ll basically want to attack with smaller things first because your opponent can always choose to select the non-attacking creature to take damage, reducing the number of effective attacks you can make if it doesn’t survive. Moving on, six starting energy is the lowest in the game, while 11 energize is the highest. The only reason these two jokers are fun to play is because they can play a card, play Focus, and try to survive for a turn. If they make it to their energize step without dying, they’ll energize for 33 and be able to play a pretty strong game from then on.

Korremar – 3.5

Korremar is no fun personified. Mind Shock hampers a lot of magi and decks at the competitive level by preventing them from drawing lots of cards, and he starts with a Mind Blank as well to deny more resources to the opponent. Skipping your own draw step can be managed by including other types of draw effects into your deck (Core Hyren, Chaos Plith, etc.) and he is one of the few magi in the game that can activate a Shryque. Korremar has a lot of qualities that make him a good choice in Prison style decks, which aim to grind the game to a halting pace.

Lanyx – 2.5

Harvest is an awesome power, allowing Lanyx to basically play a Shockwave for no cards spent. The problem with this magi is that he has a 4 energize and Harvest costs 5. On top of that, 4 energize is really, really bad in Core. It’s bad normally, but Core cards are mostly expensive. To be remotely close to good, Lanyx needs a Dream Channel-type effect in play, but these can be relatively easy to remove.

Lanyx, Reaper – 2.5

Hey look! They gave him a normal energize rate! Hatred is a good power if your opponent has three creatures in play or if they are d’Resh and have two. It’s a fine power, but you can also play Core Grags in your deck and play more powerful magi.

Morag – 4

Here’s another 14/7 magi and every single one of those is very good. Morag is mostly just a big scary guy, but Theft can allow him to do some tricky plays if your opponent has a juicy relic in play. The power is a much more expensive, temporary version of Hubdra’s Cube, but it has great utility.

Nagsis – 3.5

Nagsis is a brewer’s dream, able to turn any other non-Core magi into a Core magi to do wacky things with. You don’t often see Possession into a Naroom magi because The Dark Twins are much more powerful than Nagsis and can accomplish the region-swap just as well. However, for non-Naroom magi, Nagsis is your man. The most common magi I see after Nagsis is Ookami, but any powerful magi will do, as long as you can cobble together the synergies with Agram’s Staff.

Ninibom – 3

In Core decks, Ninibom is an 8/7 Bograth/Core magi that can’t splash other cards, which most Core magi don’t worry about doing anyway. When considering him, the question is: “Do you want an 8/7 magi?” Not when you can play Morag instead you don’t. Like Golthub, this means Ninibom is relegated to a fully dual-region deck, where he plays his role just fine.

Ogar – 2

The reason Ogar scores so low is that Feral Instinct is A) low-impact and B) a potential drawback. When it’s good, like on the flip, Ogar will net some nice little energy advantages from playing creatures, either by boosting her own or by pinging enemy guys. It’s random, but as long as there are enemy creatures in play when you’re playing your own guys, you’re happy with either result, though never ecstatic. On the other hand, sometimes your opponent kills your whole team in the Attack Step then plays a bunch of creatures themselves, in which case half the time you’re adding energy to your opponent’s board. There are also a limited number of small Core creatures, so you won’t be getting that many triggers on your turns. It’s just a very fiddly, minimally effective ability to have.

Qwade – 2

Qwade is not good. Leech costs a bunch of energy and he doesn’t generate much energy at 12/5. X+4 means that in order for you to break even on Leech, X must equal 4, since you discard 4, then add 4. If X equals 5+, then Leech becomes pretty efficient, but almost no magi can stockpile 8-9 energy reliably, and certainly not magi as small as Qwade. He does start with some nice cards, but that’s about it. The real qwestion is, is playing this bad magi worth it to put The Real Qwade in your lineup. For more on that, see The Real Qwade…

The Dark Twins – 5

Holy Moses. I know they count as two magi and that’s a drawback, but at 26/7 The Dark Twins have the highest energy index of any magi in the game (33) and counting as two magi is their only drawback. To show you how big this gap is, All-High King Korg is the next highest at 30, but he dies to a stiff breeze and can’t play relics. The Real Qwade is next at 26, but counts as two magi anyway since you have to play stinky regular Qwade (again, we’ll talk more about TRQ in a bit). Promo Korg comes in fourth but he’s awful too. You have to get down to Tal’ik at 19/5/24 before you get an actual decent magi (The Brothers of Vengeance also have 24 energy index but count as two magi the same as the Twins). 26/7/33 is massively ahead of every other reasonable character and we haven’t even started talking about The Dark Twins’ abilities. Let’s check starting cards: Entomb, a staple Core spell that is incredibly good, and the flexibility to grab any Core creature and spell, including the backbreaking combo of Corathan + Corrupt that cripples a lot of decks before they even flip over their first magi. That’s also an amazing feature on the diabolical duo. They can choose to go first every game, and should because they have 26 freaking starting energy which is like two average magi stapled together. They get to draw 2 extra cards at the beginning of the game for free. Finally, they allow for interesting deck construction by corrupting a Naroom magi. They don’t have to do this, it’s simply an option they have. A lot of the time you’ll see Pruitt behind them for some Flood of Energy nonsense, but a lot of the time they’ll just play Warrada afterward (or even before. They don’t have to go first). None of these abilities are even effects, which means Sorreah and Rayje’s Belt don’t do anything against these two terrors. When you factor all that in, it’s pretty easy to see why Twins decks are the most common Core archetype at the competitive level.

The Real Qwade – 3  

The Real Qwade is big. He’s not Dark Twins big, but he’s big. That’s good. He’s got good starting cards too, so that’s good. His version of Leech is a much more powerful version of Ogar’s effect. He’ll want to play lots of creatures on the turn he flips anyway, and has 26 energy with which to do so. On other turns, he at least has the option. This is a good effect but not game-breaking and I want it to be after going through the rigamarole of playing normal Qwade. As is, TRQ isn’t quite worth the drawback at a competitive level. If you’re looking to simply have fun, this is a way to do that.

T’lok, Traitor – 3

He’s good sized, he starts with some decent cards, Strengthen is simple and powerful, and Betrayed Secrets allows his creatures to attack into Kybar’s Teeth creatures, Cawhs, and Burrowed things with impunity. Cool. That all adds up to about a 3: good but not outstanding in any particular way.

Togoth – 4

Togoth is just good. Shadow Geysers are all powerful spells with enormous costs to get into play. We’re not trying to win the game with Awakening here, we’re simply benefitting from having a very powerful card in play and hopefully building our deck to take advantage of its text. Most often, you see Togoth with the Naroom Shadow Geyser in Trask decks, and here he really excels (his rating would increase to a 5 in that specific deck type). The Shadow Geyser is a spell, and so will constantly trigger Lifetap when you play creatures. Togoth can also use Underneath Shadow Geyser to draw cards or use the Orothe Shadow Geyser for some disruption in relic-heavy Core decks (Warrior’s Boots and Rayje’s Belt costing 2 is also a big deal for disruption against a lot of decks). These two options are less powerful than Shadow Trask, but are still good. The Cald Geyser can be kind of fun in Vrill decks or decks that run a lot of creatures with expensive powers (Borgor, Dark Cragnoc, Gorath, etc.) but is probably on a tier below. The Arderial one is the worst, since you can do the same thing with a Robes of the Ages. Shadow Geysers get to stay in play when Togoth dies as well, since “all but one” doesn’t matter if you only have one in play. Unless you’re facing some niche cards that can discard spells from play (Spell Pulse the most common), your whole deck should be able to benefit from whatever Geyser Togoth plops down.

Warrada – 5

Energy advantage is the most important thing in MND. The game is about making plays that creature more energy than your opponent. Dark Blooming allows Warrada to energize for 10 sometimes. She’ll automatically do this on her flip turn, making her an effective 17/5/22 magi at minimum, which is statistically enormous, even if she only triggers Dark Blooming once. Dark Blooming also makes attacking her awkward: if she leaves enough energy on herself so you can’t kill her, you don’t really want to kill all her creatures and thus trigger Dark Blooming again. You’re now faced with a choice: kill all her stuff and she’ll just energize for 10, which you probably can’t beat, or let her keep some stuff in play which means she A) has stuff in play and B) isn’t dead. That’s not too difficult a thing to set up as Warrada. Add to that she starts with Warrada’s Ring and Tomes of the Great Library and we have a nightmare control magi who can also swarm the board with a bunch of creatures if she wants to. Before Nightmare’s Dawn was printed, Warrada would have been probably a 3, since it would have been much more difficult to play a creatureless game on her. With those starting cards, forget about it.

Yayek – 2.5

I’ll admit, I’ve never read this card before just now. 10/4 is awful, and I never looked past that. Yayek isn’t actually 10/4 thanks to Seeds of Deceit, but his?her? average turn can’t be too much bigger than that. Shuffling a Crushing spell back into your opponent’s deck isn’t exactly a low cost either. If Yayek can reliably be a 10/7 magi, I’m not even convinced Ninibom isn’t just as good. (S)He’s probably better most of the time. Yayek does have some nice starting cards, but that’s not nearly enough to compensate for how awkward the stats are.

Zet – 4

Unfortunately, the Rules Team did decide that Korg & Zet count as both an Alternate Korg and an Alternate Zet, which means the best of the Korgs can’t go in the same magi stack with Promo Zet to trigger Good Riddance… which means it’s probably just not happening. You can activate Good Riddance with All-High King Korg but that still means you have to play a bad magi for a 3-energy boost. This devious little bugger is a better version of Qwade. Treachery has the same cost as Leech at X+4, but for the price you get to steal their guy. This is better than trying to kill their guy and pump one of yours because you don’t need a creature of your own in play to make it good. Additionally, he has a bigger energize and so can generate more energy with which to use Treachery. When Treachery is good, it’s really good, but it is still quite expensive.

Magi: TLDR

5

Evil Evu

Hrada

The Dark Twins

Warrada

4

Chur

Morag

Togoth

Zet

3.5

Agram

Empress Gia

Korremar

Nagsis

3

Fiend of Furoks

Golthub

Harror

Harror, Nightstalker

Jalex

Korg & Zet

Ninibom

The Real Qwade

T’lok, Traitor

2.5

Lanyx

Lanyx, Reaper

Yayek

2

All-High King Korg

Ashio

Ogar

Qwade

1

Korg

Creatures

Arboll Stalker – 2

This thing is pretty bad. Also, somewhat unsettling. Arboll Stalker basically has two modes: a 4-enrgy creature with no text or a 4-cost way to deal 3 damage to a creature that you can’t even play during the PRS Step. Unless you can somehow spend 1-2 energy on the Arboll Stalker before using Detonate, it’s energy disadvantage and that stinks. It’s not a 1 because Detonate can still kill a key creature, it’s just a bad way to do it so don’t put it in your deck.

Black Agovo – 1

If 2 energy is a card, Black Agovo is netting you 1 energy. That said, Disrupt creates a giant energy loss on your actual board, so it doesn’t combine with regular creature decks that well. Additionally, MND has progressed to a state where players normally have vastly more than 3 cards in hand, so Disrupt is often a 5-cost way to not accomplish anything. It’s better than an Epik but not by much.

Borgor – 3

Borgor is pretty decent. Some magi (like Morag) have it as a starting card, which is value. He also has two modes, but unlike Arboll Stalker they’re both good. Borgor can sometimes just be an 8-energy creature when you need a big dumb thing in play to hit your opponent with. On the other hand, when Sever is good, you can net a lot of energy off your opponent’s board. Sever also allows you to combo with the good smaller removal Core has access to in order to take down big things. This card is never amazing but it is a playable.

Chaos Flugg – 2.5

Dark Demanding is very powerful against Core or Weave. So is resistance. At least this card hoses multiple regions, but that’s still not enough to put it in your deck most of the time. Also, it irritates me that it’s not a Weave creature because then Ashio could actually combo with it.

Chaos Jile – 3

This is a decent card despite the Weakness effect. You have to be careful and pick your spot when playing this card though, preferably onto an empty opposing board. If you can make it work, Rebound is a dramatic energy boost. The difficulty getting this card into play means you don’t see it in competitive decks but Rebound is powerful enough and it’s a fun enough card that you shouldn’t feel bad putting it in your deck as long as you’re aware of its potential for disaster.

Chaos Plith – 4

This card is quite good. You mostly see it only in combination with Evil Evu because Guile and Devour will trigger at the same time and draw you 3 cards when this defeats a creature in an attack. Outside of Evil Evu, it’s still a good card.

Corathan – 3.5

Corathan’s Betrayal feels busted when you get to activate it. This is because stealing opposing cards is already so good that when you get to tack on a powerful card selection ability on top of it the value goes off the charts. I want to note that using a Turn to steal something while you have a Corathan in play does not create a loop, since the Turn doesn’t hit the discard pile until after it fully resolves, at which point the Betrayal trigger has also resolved. However, cards like Corrupt can loop with Betrayal. All in all, Corathan is a nice value engine as long as your deck is packing lots of possession abilities. You also probably want to find a way to protect your Corathan investment as much as possible (by killing or stealing all their stuff).

Core Grag – 4

Core Grag is a very nice AOE removal card. If they have two or more creatures in play and 3 energy on their magi, Core Grag becomes extremely efficient and that’s a low bar. Even if they only have one creature and 3 energy, you’re trading 1-for-1.

Core Hyren – 3

A mid-sized attacker that can draw you some extra cards? Sounds solid. Core Hyren is slow, in that it doesn’t provide value until you’ve waited a round and also in that you don’t see the card immediately and must wait until the end of your turn, and as a result you don’t see this played too much but it’s not because the card is bad. It’s because there are better things to play.

Dagok – 3

I’ve never seen anyone play a Dagok. Dream Inversion is a very weird bit of text. Basically, removal abilities that discard energy don’t work on this guy but energy-adding abilities turn into removal against it, and it doesn’t stop itself from being discarded from play. Dream Inversion does have the ability to force your opponent not to add energy to their own field in order to kill your Dagok, so even if they remove it with a growth ability, you’re still getting some value. Naroom Shadow Magi (all the best Core magi) get a small energy advantage simply from playing a Dagok, so there’s that. At the end of the day, this card is probably a 5-energy vanilla creature, but it’s a funny one.

Dark Ayebaw – 3

Magi damage is good. Xyx is a 5, and Dark Ayebaw is an Xyx that trades efficiency for the ability to hit creatures as well. That’s a pretty good card. However, you are always losing out on resources when you use Implode, so try not to target creatures with it unless you’re in a really bad spot. Killing a magi is often worth discarding some extra cards, so if that’s what you’re doing with Implode I wouldn’t worry too much about the “waste”.

Dark Cragnoc – 4

The only reason Dark Cragnoc isn’t a 5 is because it’s so expensive. You’ll basically never be able to play one of these except on a flip turn, but there’s no denying the impact it has on the board. Cremate allows it to discard creatures from play, even difficult-to-remove things like a Greater Gargagnor. It either kills something big and leaves a small body or kills something smaller and leaves a large body, and both of those are good abilities. Solid is a drawback meant to stop people from abusing Cremate but it also prevents this guy from being Shockwaved.

Dark Furok – 4

Revile is very aggressive, and can often result in a Dark Furok attacking and killing two opposing creatures, which is obviously good. Revile can also turn into a drawback by occasionally forcing you to damage your own board. But we’re playing a Core deck. We don’t have feelings.

Dark Vellup – 3.5

In a deck with Dark Vellups, you just need to play lots of 3-ofs and Purge will sometimes net you a card for 1 energy, which is outstanding. When Purge fails, it’s not even bad: You spend 1 to discard your worst card and draw a card which will hopefully be better. I’m in for that, especially if your deck is using the discard pile in any way. Dark Vellup is also a low-threat creature. They’ll still try to kill it but if they have to choose between different creatures this will probably survive.

Darkbreed Hyren – 3.5

As cool as they are, there aren’t many Hyren decks outside of Naroom. Subvert is the best possible way to deal with an enemy Forest Hyren though. Subvert is also pretty good against Paradwyn, and there are enough other situations where it has targets that Darkbreed is a decent card. It won’t come up in every game, but unlike region-specific hate cards, this one has game against lots of different decks. If you include it, just also include ways to discard your cards for value so that when it’s bad you can still do something with it.

Darkbreed’s Minion – 3

Darkbreed’s Minion is a must-kill against a lot of decks. I’m not talking about decks that draw tons of extra cards. I’m talking about slow deck that just draw 2 at the end of their turn. Smolder will deal 2 damage to your opponent’s entire board automatically at the end of their turn unless they have abilities which let them skip their Draw Step. It does the same thing to your board, though, and unless you just have multiples of this in play (which is pretty nice) that hurts you almost as much. In creature-light decks we have a fun option, and if you can get one into play against a setup magi, you’re probably pretty happy. Also, if you’re trying a Prison deck, this is something to think about. The reason you don’t see DM played much is because it’s symmetrical and hurts you first, so you’re actually losing value most turns you play it and then you must wait for your opponent to play around its effect. Also, it’s vulnerable to direct discard removal and you’ll lose a lot of energy in that exchange.

Drush – 2.5

Drush’s Vengeance can be powerful but your opponent has full knowledge of it and must allow you to actually make use of the ability. They won’t. Also, Drush naturally sits at 4 energy which makes this the perfect target for Crushing spells of all varieties.

Dryte Fiend – 2

Dryte Fiend is another card that gives your opponent full knowledge and control over the possible penalty, which means Condemn’s ability never ends up accomplishing a whole lot. In multiplayer games, this card is obnoxious, because it’ll trigger lots and bunches of times and encourage your opponents to attack and use their removal on each other.

Garadan – 2.5

Unfortunately, Garadan has no way to attack magi directly and I don’t think there’s a way to make that happen. This creature is fine as a big beater with marginal ability but only at starting card level. That means you’ll basically only ever play this creature as a one-of in Hrada decks, if that.

Gia Pet – 3

Gia Pet has two very niche abilities stapled to a big body, and this is the kind of card that usually never sees play, because all the cards in your deck (barring a few tech slots) need to be actively advancing your game plan. Power Siphon is the less useful of its two abilities, since it relies on your opponent’s deck leaving spells in play, which not many actually do. When you do get a chance to Power Siphon, that’s gravy. Impede is the effect you can actually build around, but its prison effect relegates Gia Pet to decks trying to slow the game to a crawl rather than decks that want to go fast and kill your opponent. These prison decks will only be playing a Gia Pet when they flip a magi as well, so don’t play too many copies.

Gorath – 3.5

I almost had Gorath as a 4, because it’s iconic and can be quite powerful, but unlike most theft abilities, Gorath’s Enslave gives your opponent the creature back when Gorath leaves play, so your opponent can just kill your Gorath. And they will. Theft is still very strong, but Gorath’s large size and vulnerability to getting killed mean it won’t be as good as you think just by jamming it into your deck. You have to be playing a very controlling style and possibly using Shadow Bones or something on this post-Enslave. In other words, it’s more build-around-y than it appears.

Gorath Cub – 4

Gorath Cub is a solid little creature, which can be played in a single energize step. Chain Whip is always an energy-efficient power when you can actually use it. While not every deck has targets, most of them do, making this creature pretty reasonable despite the fact that it doesn’t see a lot of play.

Gragling – 4

Like Gorath Cub, Gragling is a solid creature that’s never stranded in your hand. Melancholy means they’ll want to target this down with removal first. That, coupled with its possible energize due to Lonely, means Gragling is likely a removal magnet that can protect your more important creatures. If they ever leave it alone, it’s going to get real value as well: either they kill all your other stuff and it grows through Melancholy or they don’t and it grows through Lonely.

Grax – 2.5

Grax is a miniature Borgor that has two very big problems. One, it’s less impactful than Borgor. Two, it’s not a starting card for any reasonable magi. Borgor sees lots of play because of how good Morag is. Grax doesn’t have that advantage.

Grubble – 3.5

Grubble isn’t really a creature, in the same sense that Core Grag isn’t either: it’s not in your deck to actually stay in play. Grubble goes in wacky combo decks that can somehow recycle them or abuse Dreamform to cheat out giant monsters. Don’t put this in your normal Core decks, and honestly most of the decks I’ve seen that actually use Grubble aren’t Core at all but are splashing this thing because of its ability.

Gumph – 4

Night’s Shade is an incredibly aggressive effect which allows Core Aggro decks to kill creatures at an accelerated clip. It’s also sometimes a bit of a rattlesnake effect that disincentivizes your opponent from attacking … but will stab your own creatures in the back almost as often as the word “may” is nowhere to be seen in its text. Of note, cards must be in play for their effects to actually trigger, so if your Gumph dies, it doesn’t trigger its own Night’s Shade. In any case, it’s very powerful and aggressive.

Gwaeg – 3.5

Gwaeg is only really useful in dedicated Bograth/Core decks, as it allows a single-region magi to play both region’s creatures. That can be essential in the deck type. There are enough magi (All-High King Korg, Golthub, Ninibom) to eliminate the need for Vile Herald, but if you want to play relics for example, you may not want to run all three of those magi. Escape also tacks on some utility as a defending body, allowing you to sometimes get a second turn of Vile Herald.

Harban – 3.5

Decent body, Browbeat comes up much more often than it looks like it will, especially if you build your deck with sources of incidental creature damage. When Browbeat works, it’s creature theft and that’s very powerful.

Koil – 4

Koil is extremely solid and gives you a lot of value. Nightmare is useful for picking off small creatures and even more useful for damaging a creature so you can Turn it. Re-Koil should almost always hit your opponent unless they’ve shown you specific reasons not to (Hyren’s Call, Grubble, Tweave, etc.). Shuffling your opponent’s discard pile into their deck can turn off Brushfire against Cald and Weave, gets rid of Fird and Shadow Fird, and can seriously mess up some d’Resh opponents. That said, if you want to put 3 Warrior’s Boots back into your own deck or whatever, you also have that option.

Nightmare Hyren – 2.5

Horrible Dreams is an expensive power that reads like it wants to stay active over the course of many turns. It won’t. What it actually does is discard some energy from their board (they must have 3+ creatures for it to be decent) and cause them to suicide the creature with Toss and Turn into your team, dealing 2 less damage in the process. In that sense, Nightmare Hyren is a bit like a bad removal spell and a mediocre AOE removal spell stapled together, but it costs 7 to do that. Killer art though.

Orok – 4

You don’t see a lot of these, but it’s another good aggressive creature to which Core has access. Mostly you see it as a starting card, but it’s well above average in that department.

Rabid Wasperine – 3

Counterattack can be a powerful effect. The problem is its cost. Most magi, even in Core, don’t have such a surplus of energy they can afford to just leave 4 up to play this thing as a surprise. Korg & Zet can use this to cheat the two cards per turn part of Korg’s effect, so that’s fun.

Raveled Drush – 4

This thing, unlike a normal Drush, is a ball of value. Ravel guarantees you +1 energy advantage and can give you more with support cards or if it stays in play. Unravel allows your creature to act as a kill spell if that’s what you want – you have the option – and it randomly gets a lot better in multiplayer. Weave also means that the opponent has to think about what might happen during the Attack Step and sometimes they’ll mess it up and leave your RD alive to use Ravel again.  

Rous – 2.5

“If all your ROUS are ROUS, discard ROUS”. Even though this card will kill itself to the Myth effect in every single game in which it sees play (though you can Belt the Myth), Hit is really good. If Myth simply discarded some energy from the ROUS, this card would be pretty strong. As is, the best thing about it is that it’s one of the Three Terrors of the Fireswamp.

Severos – 3

Mind Dredge is pretty kooky. I really don’t understand why you can’t activate it after the Attack Step, since you wouldn’t be able to attack with the reanimated creature anyway. That’s probably the biggest reason Severos isn’t played but there are some more. Unless you grow it, Severos can only play 5-energy creatures or smaller. You’ve had to actually kill the creature to get it into the discard pile, so it’s not like you’re getting a resource advantage from Severos. He doesn’t make it any cheaper to play the creature, doesn’t make it Core, and in general isn’t abusable in any way. At the end of the day, Severos is a very fun card that leads to some interesting scenarios but is never going to be amazing.

Shadow Dryte – 3

Descendance is a very good effect if you can get it to trigger. In that sense, Shadow Dryte is comparable to a really, really slow Crushing spell: Kill something 4-energy or less, get a big payoff. They’ll probably just kill your guy unless you can Boots it in though.

Shadow Fird – 3.5

In Core Furoks this is annoying. Additionally, there are some crazy combo decks that make Feed completely broken by Dreamwarping it up for tons of energy (you’re still ignoring the now-much higher cost). Great build-around.

Shadow Hyren – 3

Taste can allow Shadow Hyren to act like a more expensive Koil by picking off small things. It doesn’t actually help you Turn because of how expensive that is. Taste then sets up your Hyren to act as a good attacker. None of that is really worth the large cost, but if you’re using Shadow Magi, Feed can help you offset this cost and continue making big plays. Another big, slow attacker though this one does have a big payoff attached.

Shadow Vinoc – 3

When printed, Dark Strength triggered off your own relics in addition to your opponent’s, which meant that you could play tons of relics and make cheap, huge creatures just by playing this card. That was too good. Post-errata, this card is fine as a starting card but only at that level. Most competitive decks play a good amount of relics, so you should still be able to find a moment to get some free energy from Dark Strength, but you don’t want many of these.

Shryque – 2

Having no cards in hand sucks, meaning in order to make Shryque good, you have to be losing the game. In some decks, Mindless Abandon is pretty easy to trigger by just playing out your whole hand all the time, but as soon as you can’t do that (a common occurrence) you’ll be sad. There are some decks out there built to activate Dream Vengeance, and the payoff is real. Even though you can build around this card, it’s very dangerous to do so because working hard to trigger Dream Vengeance means you can just randomly lose the resource war.

Slinking Greal – 2

Situational, not even clear that Skulk is that powerful since it gives your opponent the choice.

Szalak – 3.5

There is no other card in the game that wants Loaded Dice quite so badly. 1, 2, 5, and 6 are all fabulous results while 3 and 4 are disaster. If you’re in for that gamble, all you have to do is succeed once on Supercharge and this card is well worth it. It can also be a 4-energy do nothing, even with Loaded Dice in play.

Tar Hyren – 2.5

Tar Hyren is big enough where it’s probably killing whatever creature attacks into it, if any, so Cling isn’t that useful. That said, you can cheat this card into play with a lot of Bograth abilities. It’s a Bograth card, so in Core you’ll only run it in your dual-region deck if at all.

Tragan – 2

Meh. This card is a much worse version of Chaos Jile. Chaos Jile is a 3, so that puts this around a 2.

Trask – 3.5

If this were a Naroom card, it would be a 5 because everything would trigger Lifetap. In Core, only specific cards add energy so you have to build around Trask to make it work. If you do, however, this card plays like a 5.

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.

Ugger – 2.5

This card doesn’t do much but it does have a few cool interactions. It’s useful with Gorath as a way to get immediate value out of the Enslaved creature and eliminate the weakness of Gorath dying. It’s useful with Agram + Agram’s Plaything as a way to get some “free” energy. Mostly, Ugger doesn’t do a lot as these are pretty marginal situations.

Vrill – 3.5

Succor is annoying, because you’ll have less energy with which to play cards, but it is a slow way to grow your Vrill to a size where it can use Nightfall. If you’re playing medium-sized or bigger creatures in your deck, Nightfall can add a ton of energy to your board. You need at least Shadow Bones to make Nightfall work consistently though, and even then you need other big bodies in play to actually see a benefit. The total energy cost of all these plays means Nightfall never does as much as you want it to. When it works, it seems very powerful but it’s not at all consistently useful.

Wudge – 5

This is the best creature in Core, hands down, and one of the strongest creatures in the game. Strengthen generates obnoxious amounts of free energy and at the same time discourages your opponent from playing creatures. If they can’t kill your Wudge with spells right away, they’re in serious trouble.

Zungg – 5

Zungg is an automatic 3-of in most Core decks because it’s extremely efficient, even if it only gets to Gnaw once. You’re paying 1, getting 2 on board, and dealing 1 to your opponent’s board. That’s 1 energy spent and 3 energy worth of value. The only reason not to put this card in your deck is Vrill, because Nightfall gain 1 is extremely bad.

Creatures: TLDR

5

Wudge

Zungg

4

Chaos Plith

Core Grag

Dark Cragnoc

Dark Furok

Gorath Cub

Gragling

Koil

Orok

Raveled Drush

3.5

Corathan

Dark Vellup

Darkbreed Hyren

Gorath

Grubble

Gwaeg

Harban

Shadow Fird

Szalak

Trask

Twilight Mowat

Vrill

3

Borgor

Chaos Jile

Core Hyren

Dagok

Dark Ayebaw

Darkbreed’s Minion

Gia Pet

Rabid Wasperine

Severos

Shadow Dryte

Shadow Hyren

Shadow Vinoc

2.5

Chaos Flugg

Drush

Garadan

Grax

Nightmare Hyren

Rous

Tar Hyren

Ugger

2

Arboll Stalker

Dryte Fiend

Shryque

Slinking Greal

Tragan

1

Black Agovo

Relics

Agram’s Armor – 2.5

On your opponent’s turn, this is a low-impact defensive tool your opponent can play around, which is to say, bad. On your turn, it can allow your creatures to survive attacks and that has some limited utility. Usually, this card is not worth the deck slot.

Agram’s Plaything – 3.5

This card is very silly, by which I mean it breaks all the rules. Puppet Strings allows you to have a one-energy creature before the Attack Step free of charge. If you’re Agram, it’ll be 3 energy, which is obviously nuts. Any deck that can play this card gets to abuse it with the various Gift spells as well as any other powerful ability that requires a creature to be sacrificed.

Agram’s Staff – 3.5

This card enables decks which would otherwise just not work at all. In any sort of Nagsis deck, in Dark Twins decks, and in Shadow Magi decks splashing for powerful cards, Mastery allows your magi to play a broader range of cards including and especially the relics from their “old” region. It also lets Agram play other cards but that’s not really what we’re interested in.

Chaos Sphere – 3

There’s only one deck type that can actually use Doom reliably, and that is Flood of Energy. This card is one of the big payoffs for a Core Flood of Energy deck, as Doom is incredibly powerful if it ever activates. I would normally rate this kind of card at a 3.5, except the level of effort required to pull off Doom, as well as its inconsistency makes it a bit worse than that.

Collar of Despair – 2.5

Ugh. Prison decks only. Nar magi will still laugh at you. In general, a pretty un-fun effect. Still, it’s not horrible if you like not actually playing the game.

Ebony Mirror – 2

Grim Reflection is a huge non-bo with Shryque, but who cares? Here’s another lockdown-type effect that generally isn’t worth a card slot. It does do funny things with Shadow Zajan though.

Grim Goblet – 1

I love this card for casual games, but in a competitive environment Backlash is too much of a liability. Discarding your whole had is terrible. Even if you’re using Shryques.

Nagsis’ Sigil – 4

Nagsis Rules. Corruption barely requires a build-around since Core magi basically can’t play non-Core spells to begin with (with some exception). Given that, I’d love a free 4-energy swing every turn thank you very much!

Secrets of the Book – 4

This card gets better in competitive games since lots of competitive decks draw lots of cards. Creatureless decks are also relatively rare. They had to put a 4-card cap on Secrets because it was too good when you could draw upwards of 6-7 cards for the cost of 1.5. Also, don’t underestimate the benefit of seeing your opponent’s entire hand. The biggest drawback on this card is there isn’t a magi who can find it consistently.

Shadow Bones – 3.5

Shadow Bones is too expensive to jam into a deck without thinking and does nothing to help the best Core creatures (Wudge and Zungg), but it can combo very nicely with a lot of Core cards, especially Vrill. Just make sure you have a specific purpose for Vitalize and it’s a powerful card.

Shadow Cloak – 3

This card is useful for protecting big boards that you just built by flipping over a new magi. Past that, it probably won’t do much but sometimes one turn is all you need. Typically the only Core decks that run a Shadow Cloak are those trying to swarm and grow giant boards, but any deck with 3 Wudge can benefit from Protection. Of course, Protection doesn’t prevent your opponent from attacking you, so make sure you can survive their board before activating this.

Shroud of the Master – 3.5

Absolute Authority allows you to turn your worst card in hand into a vitamin. If you have 2-3 creatures in play on the first use, the 3-energy cost is mitigated. If you’re Agram, the card is bananas.

Statement of Core Values – 2

This card is awful. It only goes in Bograth/Core decks but that’s fine. All-High King Korg can’t play it. Uh oh. Bograth creatures are already tiny so Pals doesn’t really matter. As a matter of fact, an active Pals makes your Green Stuff cost 1 so avoid that pitfall. Buddies can be pretty good, especially on those flip turns. The problem is, you somehow need to generate 3 discounted creatures for this card to earn start profiting, and you have to accomplish that the turn you play it to be sure you’ll get enough value.

Tomes of the Great Library – 5

Core has lots of powerful spells, so you probably have lots of juicy options to Research out of your own deck. If you run out, you can always try to Re-Koil yourself or just draw enough cards and reshuffle. Yes, Research makes your spell 1 more expensive but that’s basically paying 1 to draw a card then playing the card and that’s still above rate. Even at 2 bonus energy to play an opposing non-Core spell, you’re still on rate for drawing a card. Speaking of which, Research also allows you to use enemy removal or card draw spells against them and that’s fun. The drawback of needing a Naroom Shadow Magi for Tomes to actually be in play isn’t so bad when you consider that those are some of the better Core magi anyway.

Warrada’s Ring – 4

Phenomenal Cosmic Power is a wonderful ability, most often just drawing you an extra card, which is roughly equivalent to 2 energy per turn. Sometimes it’ll net you more because you’re planning on playing 3+ cards that turn. Try to avoid combining the discount with 0-cost Core relics since that doesn’t interact well, but it doesn’t harm your Universal relic drops. The only drawback of Warrada’s Ring is that you don’t get Phenomenal Cosmic Power until a turn after you play it, and they can sometimes kill the Ring before that happens.

Relics: TLDR

5

Tomes of the Great Library

4

Nagsis’ Sigil

Secrets of the Book

Warrada’s Ring

3.5

Agram’s Plaything

Agram’s Staff

Shadow Bones

Shroud of the Master

3

Chaos Sphere

Shadow Cloak

2.5

Agram’s Armor

Collar of Despair

2

Ebony Mirror

Statement of Core Values

1

Grim Goblet

Spells

Anarchy – 1

This card is only for multiplayer games, as doing this in one-v-one has almost no effect on the game. You maybe swap your worst creature for their worst creature? Maybe? Terrible competitive card.

Arderial Shadow Geyser – 1

This is the worst of the Shadow Geysers, since unless you’re against Arderial its ability to discount your spells is the same as a zero-energy, one-card-only Robes of the Ages. Not worth putting in your deck even if you have Togoth, unless you’re trying to meme with Awakening.

Awakening – 1

The Shadow Geysers are so ridiculously difficult to get into play that you’ll just die before you ever get to win the game with this card. It’s just not a competitive strategy at all. You play one with Togoth but certainly never all five.

Blight – 3

The cost of this spell is absurdly high, but there are boards where you can make it energy efficient and it is AOE removal. You have to find some way to net 7+ energy out of it, for example 3 enemy creatures and a small board of your own. In that case it’s fine but if I’m spending 7 energy for a spell I want it to do really powerful things rather than just reasonable things.

Cald Shadow Geyser – 1

This Geyser isn’t any good either since it’s basically a 10+ energy do-nothing unless you’re using a Cald Shadow Magi (both Lanyx aren’t very good and have low energy numbers) or using Togoth who has better options.

Corrupt – 4

This is a great spell since many decks don’t have an efficient way to play around it and even those that do have to draw it or fall way behind on tempo. When playing Corrupt, remember to attach it to your own magi even though this kind of ability seems like it should attach to the opponent. Also remember to play this in the second PRS step after you play creatures of your own, otherwise you can break your own Corrupt and look silly.

Crushing Darkness – 4

Look, Crushing spells are always awesome. This one is a bit awkward sometimes because Shadow Magi cannot play it, so it goes in fewer Core decks than you’d think. Additionally, this is not a theft ability; you kill their creature then play it, and this does count as playing two cards (Korg & Zet steer clear). Finally, the creature you get can’t use Powers which some people (me) forget about a lot. There are a lot of finicky details on Crushing Darkness, but it’s still a great card for those who can use it.

Dark Portents – 2

This card has a very low impact. You’ll probably reveal 2-3 creatures which means you’re not really gaining any energy in the average case and it takes up a card slot in your deck.

Dream Rift – 4

This card draws you 3 cards (6 energy worth of value) for 5 energy, so it’s good right there. Shuffling your creatures back in never really matters much. The only drawback with this card is the expensive cost, but on setup magi like Evil Evu or Warrada with Tomes it’s great. Even later in the game it’s a fine play if you’re running low on resources or you need to suicide your magi for value.

Entomb – 4

Every deck has at least one spell they rely on, and preventing them from playing it is a phenomenal control option. There are a few magi against whom this doesn’t do anything (Yaki, Core Stalker, Sorrowing Ogar, etc.), but it’s mostly very strong.

Gloom – 2

Cards which give your opponent the choice are usually pretty bad since they’ll always choose the best outcome for them and your energy will net you little comparative value. I’d be surprised if this ever gets one creature, which is a shame because I think this card is cool. It might be decent-ish in a prison deck.

Haunt – 3.5

Haunt is a sizeable up-front investment and requires you to then kill the creature somehow. That said, when you do kill the creature you get lots of value. Don’t put this on creatures with low starting energy. Also, like Crushing Darkness, you’re not stealing their guy but killing and playing it. Basically, this is a powerful payoff for having other good ways to deal with creatures in your deck.

Haunting Visions – 2

This card has extremely limited utility in lots of matchups, but can do things against Naroom, Cald Creatures, and any deck that wants to swarm the board. Even then though, they get at least a turn of using their spells and powers before you have a chance to slap this on their thing.

Maelstrom – 4

Kills magi dead.

Mind Blank – 3.5

This is a very powerful spell that requires you to play few spells in your own deck. Core has a lot of very good spells, so Mind Blank requires a bit of ingenuity when building your deck. It can be outright devastating though. You get to see their hand and strip them of tons of options.

Morag’s ‘Gift’ – 3.5

Gift spells are generally pretty high on the power scale, and this one doesn’t disappoint, giving your magi tons of free energy when your opponent plays creatures. Combined with the ubiquitous Wudge and the presence of Corrupt, Core can really punish opponents for just playing the game. As usual, the question with Gift spells is what creature to bounce and in this region we have access to Agram’s Plaything to bounce for free, as well as Shadow Fird or even just resetting a Zungg or something else with a decent “enters play” effect (Koil, Shadow Vinoc, etc.).

Naroom Shadow Geyser – 3.5

This is probably the best Shadow Geyser as it turbo-charges Trask and helps you build large boards of creatures. Additionally, the Naroom Shadow Magi are very strong, not that you ever want to discard 3 creatures to play this straight-up. Goes with Togoth.

Orothe Shadow Geyser – 2.5

Hand discard usually doesn’t do enough and this is a very inefficient way to do it. It’s insane against Orothe Relic decks though, so including it in Togoth decks just to deal with those isn’t the absolute worst.

Paranoia – 2

This just doesn’t do anything reasonable. They can just play a big creature.

Shadow Rain – 2.5

Pre-errata you could gain some big energy advantages by putting Shadow Rain onto something that can easily grow very large. Post-errata you can’t do that anymore. This card does replace itself and allow a small thing to attack into something big, but there are relatively few situations where that’s a strong play.

Shadow Ritual – 3.5

This can net your board a big energy savings in certain situations. Obviously you have to build your deck with lots of expensive powers to make this card good, but Core has some good choices in that department, especially Vrill.

Spirit of the Core – 5

I lose to this card a lot. There’s not much you can really do about it, and the threat of SotC makes defeating a Core magi a risky proposition at all times. Stealing a creature for no energy is just incredibly powerful. If you’re taking their biggest creature you’ll generate twice that amount of energy in value for free, meaning this can net you 20 energy worth of value sometimes!

Stealth – 3.5

As long as your creature can trade in a fight, Stealth can act like a 3-energy removal spell and that’s pretty awesome. All you need to turn it on is a medium-sized creature, and Core decks have plenty of those. It’s worse than a straight-up removal spell because it’s not as high-tempo but the energy value you can generate with Stealth is very real.

Terrorize – 3

While there are differences which allow for slightly different uses, Terrorize is basically a Stealth that costs 1 more energy. On the other hand, Terrorize has starting card value and Stealth doesn’t.

Turn – 3.5

It’s conditional, it’s expensive, and it’s still creature theft and that’s a very powerful ability. You’ll want Zungg or Koil to set this up.

Twisted Dreams – 2.5

Sometimes it does nothing. Sometimes it kills their Giant Carillion. Most creatures with expensive powers tend to use them right away so it’s difficult to justify putting Twisted Dreams in your deck. There just aren’t any practical situations where you’re getting good value out of it.

Underneath Shadow Geyser – 3.5

This is the other good Shadow Geyser to get into play with Togoth. Drawing extra cards is quite nice, and this allows you to use Togoth as a setup magi in basically any type of Core deck. That’s quite handy.

Vaporize – 5

Competitive decks tend to play relics. If nothing else, they’ve probably got a Rayje’s Belt to blow up, but they’ve probably got a lot more than that. Competitive relics tend to be very strong. Blowing them all up at once is great. Killing their magi in the process is great too.

Spells: TLDR

5

Spirit of the Core

Vaporize

4

Corrupt

Crushing Darkness

Dream Rift

Entomb

Maelstrom

3.5

Haunt

Mind Blank

Morag’s ‘Gift’

Naroom Shadow Geyser

Shadow Ritual

Stealth

Turn

Underneath Shadow Geyser

3

Blight

Terrorize

2.5

Orothe Shadow Geyser

Shadow Rain

Twisted Dreams

2

Dark Portents

Gloom

Haunting Visions

Paranoia

1

Anarchy

Arderial Shadow Geyser

Awakening

Cald Shadow Geyser

Find all the regional reviews on the Magi-Nation Duel hub page.   Energize your dreams, and thanks for keeping the game alive!