Zendikar Top 10 Commons

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Hey all, MTG Realm is proud to present what we beleive are to be the top ten COMMONS in the newest Magic the Gathering set, Zendikar. Before we get to it, we will repeat again - these are great COMMONS that will see popular casual play at Friday Night Magic and may even slip into the occasional standard constructed deck headed to a tournament. Please do leave a comment or direct us an eMail asking why an uncommon or rare / mythic rare card is not on the list - you are just asking for ridicule then.

In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone (Windrider Eel is very sensitive) we now present our Top Ten COMMONS . . .

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Burst Lightning -
Instant (Common)
Kicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If Burst Lightning was kicked, it deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead.

Just a solid burn spell that happens to have an upgrade kicker model available. Best little swiss army knife common in your red deck and can be played early or late game. Also is appropriately costed.

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Harrow - 2
Instant (Common)
As an additional cost to cast Harrow, sacrifice a land.
Search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

Awesome landfall tech. It will find your splashed colour. It will provide mana ramp / aceleration. Most importantly, it will cash in on bonus landfall by pumping up that Windrider Eel even more or vomiting additional Rampaging Baloth beast tokens. This one won't even want you to 'call them sometime' afterwards.

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Journey to Nowhere - 1
Enchantment (Common)
When Journey to Nowhere enters the battlefield, exile target creature.
When Journey to Nowhere leaves the battlefield, return the exiled creature to the battlefield under its owner's control.

So for only the one time low cost of two mana you are giving some decent removal similar to Tidehollow Sculler but easier to cast. This card promises to bung up the tempo of your opponent's game by having them either destroy the enchantment to get their critter back or having to cast another threat.

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Plated Geopede - 1
Creature - Insect (Common)
First strike
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Plated Geopede gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
1/1

This little monster, if cast on turn two or three can be quite the threat with your landfall tech. Just ensure you have him on a co-ordinated team on the battlefield or else the geopede will certainly become an unfortunate chump blocker.

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Disfigure -
Instant (Common)
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.

This black instant is really a red shock in disguise and is needed in this set. Great removal early on in the game as well as providing some additional pain latter on during combat to take down that threatening critter you are tangling horns with.

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Spell Pierce -
Instant (Common)
Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}.

As the game progresses and your opponent cultures a mature and full mana pool, this spell will become worse. Early game, this will certainly mess up your opponent real good. The strategy here is not to waste it too soon (say against a Journey to Nowhere) but cast it strategically / flawlessly at the right time (like when they play Day of Judgement).

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Scythe Tiger -
Creature - Cat (Common)
Shroud (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
When Scythe Tiger enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice a land.
3/2

A 3/2 with shroud for one - Dang - that's a sweet deal. You may be wondering 'but dude, you have to SAC a land'. We argue that this can be a huge early board threat that will keep your opponent off balance and now on the defence and while they now try to deal with this, you have an opportunity to roll out yet another threat. We suggest this dish with Knight of the Reliquary which get a pump from the land in your dust bin. Alternatively, if you really are quite sore about that early land taking a dirt nap, use Grim Discovery for some recursion.

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Steppe Lynx -
Creature - Cat (Common)
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Steppe Lynx gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
0/1

So - it's a 0/1, blah, blah, it can blow over and die with the slightest hint of a summer breeze. Sure, but just think, how many one-drop cards (other than Scythe Tiger) are ready to rumble as a 3/2 on turn two. This should be an 'auto-include' in any landfall deck as it can become raging-roid-cat with Harrow, Khalni Heart and Knight of the Reliquary.

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Timbermaw Larva - 3
Creature - Beast (Common)
Whenever Timbermaw Larva attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each Forest you control.
2/2

After this hit the board and attacks on turn five, this usually will be a 7/7 in a mono-green deck and for just four mana, we say that ain't bad economics. Placement is everything and only you will be able to decide whether this is a fit for your casual deck - remember there is a lot of support for a critter like this with the likes of Adventuring Gear or a Trusty Machete.

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Vines of Vastwood -
Instant (Common)
Kicker - (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell)
Target creature can't be the target of spells of abilities your opponents control until end of turn. If Vines of Vastwood was kicked, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.

This card is great - more so as a combat trick but if you aren't swinging in on the battlefield, the coolness of this degrades. Still, for just one mana, this pretty much garauntees removal while trading paint on the board. If the planets do align and fortune smiles on you, this card can certainly provide a solid edge for you.

> Stay tuned here for our take on Zendikar Top 10 uncommons and rares.

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