Zendikar Top 10 Uncommons

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Hey all, MTG Realm is proud to present what we beleive are to be the top ten UNCOMMONS in the newest Magic the Gathering set, Zendikar. Before we get to it, we will repeat again - these are great UNCOMMONS that will see popular casual play at Friday Night Magic and may even slip into the occasional standard constructed deck headed to a tournament. To check out our previous Top 10 Commons post, click HERE.

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In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone we now present our Top Ten COMMONS . . .

Brave the Elements,
Instant, Uncommon
Choose a color. White creatures you control gain protection from the chosen color until end if turn.

Just for the same reason(s) you are running Oblivion Ring, Path to Exile, or even Harm's Way. Brave the Elements is a solid card and is almost an 'auto include' in white decks. There haven't been many Protection spells printed in quite some time, and I think I would still be happy with this if was even a rare. I will personally vouch that this has saved my MTG butt on more than one occassion.

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Gatekeeper of Malakir,
Creature - Vampire Warrior, Uncommon
Kicker
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.
2/2

Two mana for a 2/2 is par. Throw in removal for a one mana kicker and now were cooking with gas. As this guy will be going into either mono-black or mostly black decks, the double-black mana cost should not be a hang-up. Again, an 'auto-include' in and Vampire deck.

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Kazandu Blademaster,
Creature - Human Soldier Ally, Uncommon
First strike, vigilance
Whenever Kazandu Blademaster or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Kazandu Blademaster.
1/1


Two mana for a 2/2 with first strike AND vigilance is a good thing. Have bonus Bob drop some Ally love onto the card and now this really rocks. Again - there 'may' be a hang-up if you you are not running a mostly white deck. This will see play in most Ally decks - even if they may be mostly green / red - I've seen good mana-fixing to get this guy out to play.

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Mind Sludge, 4
Sorcery, Uncommon
Target player discards a card for each Swamp you control.

Good card. Would have been great if it were costed just a titch less. Anywho, this card could really shine giving the right deck and strategy and hurt your opponent with a big discard at a critical moment in your game.

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Punishing Fire, 1
Instant, Uncommon
Punishing Fire deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Whenever an opponent gains life, you may pay . If you do, return Punishing Fire from your graveyard to your hand.

Two pain for two is par but this card provides options should your opponent gain life. This will stick around the casual FNM scene but really beyond that as lifegain really is not that competitive. The refuge lands which appear to be popular with budget decks will hate this card.

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Refuge Lands
Akoum Refuge /, Graypelt Refuge /, Jwar Isle Refuge /, Kazandu Refuge /, Sejiri Refuge /.

All these lands come into play tapped, give you one life and then tap for two colours. These are budget deck dual land tech. This is a great addition to Shards of Alara tri-lands and unlike the Alara tri-lands, this at least gives you one life to make you feel less sore about the 'comes into play tappe' thinggy. If you need speed or are running agrro, these may not be for you.

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River Boa, 1
Creature - Snake Uncommon
Islandwalk
: Regenerate River Boa.
2/1

This is a great card to slide into most any green deck. It can hit but most importantly, it can provide a chump blocker until the sun goes down which will annoy the hell out of your opponent. Not only does this buy you time to plant that fatty on the field, but it may be the last one standing after Day of Judgement gets played.

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Quest for the Gravelord,
Enchantment, Uncommon
Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a quest counter on Quest for the Gravelord.
Remove three quest counters from Quest for the Gravelord and sacrifice it: Put a 5/5 black Zombie Giant creature token onto the battlefield.

A natural event in every MTG game is that critters head off to the graveyard for a dirt nap. This card is solid in any black deck but shines in decks running Death Baron and / or Cemetery Reaper. Drop this into play earlier and reap the rewards sooner before your opponent develops an answer for this.

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Vampire Hexmage,
Creature - Vampire Shaman Uncommon
First strike
Sacrifice Vampire Hexmage: Remove all counters from target permanent.
2/1

Wishing the body was a bit better here but hey - a 2/1 with first strike for two is good. This card is downright dangerous to all those quest cards or anything else that collects counters - like Ally cards and did I mention Planeswalkers. This awesome card should be renamed 'PW Killer'.

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Vampire Nighthawk, 1
Creature - Vampire Shaman, Uncommon
Flying
Deathtouch, Lifelink
2/3

Right. Three mana 2/3 flying, deathtouch, lifelinky critter. This card is astounding and will be auto-included in every new vampire deck you come across. Not that you will necessarily want to, but get some equipment on this like Trusty Machete or Adventuring Gear and you can really increase the distance between life totals and that is never a bad thing. At the very worst, you can take out your opponent's fatty for three which is OK.

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That's a wrap - sorry blue, but you got hosed for good uncommons. Stay tuned latter when we look at out top 10 Zendikar rares.

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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