I love this guy. Obviously you can keep attacking with him each turn. In case he get's blocked and would be dealt lethal damage, you can make him untap itself and prevent the damage.
Pantheon
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
Throw him and his maze (Maze of Ith) into your Bant hate deck to completly defang the Exalted mechanic.
mdakw576
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(7 votes)
it's like what if maze of ith was mediocre instead of completely broken
A3Kitsune
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(6 votes)
He's ment to be a 'double-blocker', ie: he 'blocks' two creatures (blocks one and taps to Mazeblock the other.
And he's vigilant, so he can attack if the opportunity prevailes.
TheAlucinaut
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Ith is the chit.
Every time I look at him I think "I don't know," due to his high cc but I think I've hardcasted him Once. Every other time he has a knack for getting out early & just straight up holding the line. Always at least makes some kind of dent in their offense while I get my own ready. Also, he tends to be a removal target, which is okay since he only cost me WU & probably did some good while he was out there. 3.75/5
Mudbutt_on
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(8 votes)
YAWN!
Omenchild
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Haha lulz in an EDH match. Its like, no you cannot attack Sean this turn haha. Just give him some support with loxodon warhammer or something beefy, and he will kick butt. Just remember you counters though.
Ladnarud
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
He's lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on, but I love this guy all the same.
I think he should have "can't be the target of spells or abilities that your opponents control". That'd make him perfect.
Also good IN an exalted deck, assuming you maindeck 4 Dueling grounds
Tommy9898
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(13 votes)
Flavor points if you ever manage to lock him down with a Barl's cage.
Leshrac_Nightwalker
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
@Tommy9898: Yes, exactly!
To any who don't get the reference: in Jeff Grubb's book The Gathering Dark, Lord Ith is imprisoned in Barl's Cage, and he sends out his Rag Man to fetch someone to save him. That someone turns out to be Jodah (of Jodah's Avenger), and most of the book revolves around his journey to learn more about magic and to free Ith.
Although I didn't end up picking up much of the set, it was a real treat to see named characters from old cards finally represented as cards of their own. I don't feel too strongly one way or another about the card itself, but I do love the fact that Lord Ith finally has his own card.
MasterOfBearLore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Love his expression.
"Oh, what is this sh¡t?! I think it's time for a time-out."
longwinded
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Leshrac_Nightwalker Oddly, even though his full name is Barl, Lord Ith, Grubb didn't seem to know that and invented a second "Barl" character to make the cage. Grubb's Barl doesn't really serve much purpose, other than giving Marisil, the Pretender someone to lecture for expositional purposes.
Salient
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I love that Ith exists now. For a while a lot of us thought the Ith in Maze of Ith was a country.
This guy is not a good commander (you can't suspend him from the command zone), but it's not like is lacking for good commanders. He's fun to just mainboard.
Also note that if you attack with him, and somehow get him untapped at instant speed, he can tap to untap himself infinitely many times, since he's still an "attacking" creature. You get bonus Johnny Combo points if you figure out how to use this to win the game.
Ideatog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Unless I'm mistaken, Ith should actually make a pretty cool EDH general because he always costs {W}{U}- the additional {2} for recasting from the general zone doesn't apply to activating abilities, and when suspend finishes, you cast him without paying his mana cost. And Clockspinning is in his colors.
LordRandomness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Salient: If you "somehow" untap him at instant speed?
He has vigilance, dude. :p
As for potential combos with infinite tapspin (a leading alternative to leekspin for MtG players...and now I'm imagining this card spinning), there are several possibilities.
- Turn him into a merfolk, then use Judge of Currents for infinite life - Mesmeric Orb allows you to mill as much of your deck as you like. There are several applications for this, the most blunt being Laboratory Maniac. You can even run Unburial Rites strictly for the flashback and stay in {U}/{W}! - Wake Thrasher gets infinite power
...huh, alright, there aren't that many "whenever something becomes tapped/untapped" dealies then. Mesmeric Orb is by far the most interesting, allowing for a nigh instantaneous win by flashing back the aforementioned Unburial Rites and then flashing back something like Think Twice.
Lord_of_phyrexia
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think he was actually built around Barl's cage
Missile_Penguin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Every card in Time Spiral was a throwback to at least one previously printed card.
This card represents a character from The Dark who was locked away in Barl's Cage by Mairsil, the Prentender. Ith's abilities reference his imfamous Maze of Ith
SkyknightXi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Longwinded: What happened was that Grubb misread the flavor text for Dark Sphere. He read the last bit as "Barl, to Lord Ith", rather than "Barl, Lord Ith". My personal way around it is to regard BOTH of them as having the given name Barl. The arcanist's full name is Barl Ith, the artificer's full name is Barl Tervish (name snatched from Dust to Dust).
Comments (20)
And he's vigilant, so he can attack if the opportunity prevailes.
Every time I look at him I think "I don't know," due to his high cc but I think I've hardcasted him Once.
Every other time he has a knack for getting out early & just straight up holding the line.
Always at least makes some kind of dent in their offense while I get my own ready. Also, he tends to be a removal target, which is okay since he only cost me WU & probably did some good while he was out there. 3.75/5
I think he should have "can't be the target of spells or abilities that your opponents control". That'd make him perfect.
To any who don't get the reference: in Jeff Grubb's book The Gathering Dark, Lord Ith is imprisoned in Barl's Cage, and he sends out his Rag Man to fetch someone to save him. That someone turns out to be Jodah (of Jodah's Avenger), and most of the book revolves around his journey to learn more about magic and to free Ith.
Although I didn't end up picking up much of the set, it was a real treat to see named characters from old cards finally represented as cards of their own. I don't feel too strongly one way or another about the card itself, but I do love the fact that Lord Ith finally has his own card.
"Oh, what is this sh¡t?! I think it's time for a time-out."
Oddly, even though his full name is Barl, Lord Ith, Grubb didn't seem to know that and invented a second "Barl" character to make the cage. Grubb's Barl doesn't really serve much purpose, other than giving Marisil, the Pretender someone to lecture for expositional purposes.
This guy is not a good commander (you can't suspend him from the command zone), but it's not like
Also note that if you attack with him, and somehow get him untapped at instant speed, he can tap to untap himself infinitely many times, since he's still an "attacking" creature. You get bonus Johnny Combo points if you figure out how to use this to win the game.
He has vigilance, dude. :p
As for potential combos with infinite tapspin (a leading alternative to leekspin for MtG players...and now I'm imagining this card spinning), there are several possibilities.
- Turn him into a merfolk, then use Judge of Currents for infinite life
- Mesmeric Orb allows you to mill as much of your deck as you like. There are several applications for this, the most blunt being Laboratory Maniac. You can even run Unburial Rites strictly for the flashback and stay in {U}/{W}!
- Wake Thrasher gets infinite power
...huh, alright, there aren't that many "whenever something becomes tapped/untapped" dealies then. Mesmeric Orb is by far the most interesting, allowing for a nigh instantaneous win by flashing back the aforementioned Unburial Rites and then flashing back something like Think Twice.
This card represents a character from The Dark who was locked away in Barl's Cage by Mairsil, the Prentender. Ith's abilities reference his imfamous Maze of Ith