Esper is not fully forgotten. There are certain mid-range gems to be found in this set.
UltimaCenturion
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(4 votes)
The sad thing is, Esper has some really cool concepts, just not a lot of cool cards. They better release some REALLY POWERFUL blue cards in the next core set. (Hint hint any Wizards employees who are reading this.)
Iiory
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(6 votes)
esper lives
Baesjido
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(10 votes)
Saldrath obviously thought that he could rule the world with his Rod of Ruin.
According to the card's player rating, he couldn't even rule something very easily ruled.
AbyssalManZero
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The PERFECT Scarecrow deck card XD I absolutely LOVE this card to pieces XD Probably my favorite non-creature card (nect to DIABOLIC TUTOR)!
Silverware
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(5 votes)
It is no tinker, which is good because tinker is completly broken.
That said its a pretty good card, its like a diabolic tutor in blue that is limited to artifacts, thus making it cheaper and making it more fiting of the color pie.
@ Baesjido
Nice eye, it does look like he is making a Rod of ruin in the art.
Zulp
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Artifact tutors are problematic. I wish there was a good one that didn't cost tons of money to get a playset of. Transmute Artifact costs $8 each on the current market, Reshape just isn't effective enough, and I dare not use Tinker for fear of my friends setting my deck on fire. So Fabricate is my only option, but it's still fairly pricey (for me). I guess you get what you pay for. This card really enables my pet artifact deck, and I'm glad this was reprinted.
Champion_Kitsune
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(7 votes)
A very nice card for artifact decks ^^ A pity that Saldrath thinks Rod of Ruin is a masterpiece, though.
Blackworm_Bloodworm
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Sounds like Saldrath has social issues.
Aside, I'm a bit baffled this wasn't included in Core 2011. Not that it has to be, it just seems like a staple card in its simplicity and color relevance.
mlanier131
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I like this card, if this ever gets new art I hope it throws back to the original tinkers art. I really wish this was in 2011, but I am afraid they thought it might break scars.
nemokara
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Sooo ....
either the world he's ruling is REALLY pathetic (if Rod of Ruin is the one missing "masterpiece" he needs) ...
OR
the rest of his artificing is just that bad-ass that he knows Rod of Ruin sucks but uses it INTENTIONALLY, just to rub into his enemies' faces how completely he rules them.
Sutebe
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Anyone notice how the lightning has tiny hands?
DarthParallax
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Defense of 'Master Plan = Rod of Ruin'
Facts to Start: Players have 20 life. Human creatures are generally 1/1, 2/2 if they're not peasants. Most humans in the world will be peasants. Salrath is clearly OCD, among other things. He's an artificer.
MY THEORY: Salrath is playing a NUCKIN FUTS control deck, with Force of Will, Daze, Mental Misstep, Fabricate AND Tinker, Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm AND Fact or Fiction AND Font of Mythos, and no creatures. He might have met the Mind Sculptor in his travels.
His great glorious idea is: Ultra Lock Down Stop Anyone From Doing Anything. Then hit them to death with a stick.
While actually pulling it off in a duel against another Planeswalker is very tough, if a Planeswalker found a medium-tech level world (modern enough to be comfortable, rustic enough to be beautiful), then decided 'I think I shall retire Planeswalking and take up Evil Overlording', then it's POSSIBLE that he could learn enough spells of oppression/control/grief that he could make his entire deck work toward the goal of countering the minor and scattered forms of opposition an unprepared society would muster- this kind of longterm planning makes gathering the mana for the staff and its activation inconsequential. (And for all we know he's wearing a Sol Ring and is satisfied with the potential use with his staff, rather than trying to power out anything more deadly. After all, he wants to RULE not DESTROY anyway, so this COULD make sense)
At the worst, he might find himself facing a cadre of White Knights with a Captain of the Watch when he besieged the local Castle. Wait. Well, that would kill him. xP
I tried really hard. I did my best Salrath. Your 'master plan' of a weapon ISN'T all that bad for terrorizing a clump of villages. And if you want to dedicate your entire life to making the Rod of Ruin a win-con, it CAN do well against rabble as a pinger. But the minute any kind of trained army notices your hostile takeover, you beg the question- WHY in the WORLD did you not learn Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade? The only explanation MUST be that you are a pure artificer who can't actually draw on mana, and Vorthoses will be confused because of the mana cost on things like artifacts and some blue spells, but MTG doesn't want to track more than one variety of resource, so 'it's all mana' even when it's probably not really. :p
On a world like...oh I dunno...MAYBE Moag, you could probably get a nice chunk of land to call your 'dominion' for a little while...unfortunately, Moag just happens to be where Urza decides to settle next season, and then.....you're f*ked. Not because you're Phyrexian. Not because Urza really gives a damn about the locals. But your talking way too much shit about that piece of trash you're calling an Artifact, so Urza would call you out and have an Artificing contest as a matter of professional pride/arrogance/thinks he's the god of artifice. And then once URZA starts "card=Draco/SHOWING/autocard" "card=Sundering Titan/BY/autocard" "card=Mirari/JUST/autocard" "card=Karn Liberated/HOW/autocard" "card=Legacy Weapon/MUCH/autocard" "card=Masticore/HE/autocard" "card=Isochron Scepter/CAN/autocard" "card=Nevinyrall's Disk/BEAT/autocard" "card=Door to Nothingness/YOU/autocard".... Wow. Just. Wow.
Haelthor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not as good as Tinker, but it doesn't need to be. Tinker is BUSTED in every way, shape, form, and function. Even Natural Order, as broken as that card is, doesn't compare to Tinker's potential level of power. I'm happy to run the best cards available in my commander decks, but I'm glad Tinker is on the ban list. I'd be sad if N.O. was banned, but I wouldn't throw a fit about it. Over all this is a solid card for commander were tutors are direly needed in a 99 singleton deck. I'll need to get a copy of this, enlightened tutor, and eventually vampiric tutor, for my Ertai, the Corrupted deck.
@DarthParalax You get five stars for your post, a very interesting in-game extrapolation of a fictitious character and how that character's deck would look like. The thing is we know next to nothing about this Saldrath character, and no indication that he's a planeswalker (and, actually, because his masterpiece happens to be a Rod of Ruin, he is most assuredly not) so *of course* Urza would just rub his baubles all over his face if they ever were to battle. Urza wouldn't even need to play any spells, he'd just put on his baller Sunglasses and force a concession based on the sheer godliness of the situation.
Comments (14)
They better release some REALLY POWERFUL blue cards in the next core set. (Hint hint any Wizards employees who are reading this.)
According to the card's player rating, he couldn't even rule something very easily ruled.
That said its a pretty good card, its like a diabolic tutor in blue that is limited to artifacts, thus making it cheaper and making it more fiting of the color pie.
@ Baesjido
Nice eye, it does look like he is making a Rod of ruin in the art.
A pity that Saldrath thinks Rod of Ruin is a masterpiece, though.
Aside, I'm a bit baffled this wasn't included in Core 2011. Not that it has to be, it just seems like a staple card in its simplicity and color relevance.
either the world he's ruling is REALLY pathetic (if Rod of Ruin is the one missing "masterpiece" he needs) ...
OR
the rest of his artificing is just that bad-ass that he knows Rod of Ruin sucks but uses it INTENTIONALLY, just to rub into his enemies' faces how completely he rules them.
Facts to Start:
Players have 20 life.
Human creatures are generally 1/1, 2/2 if they're not peasants.
Most humans in the world will be peasants.
Salrath is clearly OCD, among other things. He's an artificer.
MY THEORY:
Salrath is playing a NUCKIN FUTS control deck, with Force of Will, Daze, Mental Misstep, Fabricate AND Tinker, Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm AND Fact or Fiction AND Font of Mythos, and no creatures.
He might have met the Mind Sculptor in his travels.
His great glorious idea is: Ultra Lock Down Stop Anyone From Doing Anything. Then hit them to death with a stick.
While actually pulling it off in a duel against another Planeswalker is very tough, if a Planeswalker found a medium-tech level world (modern enough to be comfortable, rustic enough to be beautiful), then decided 'I think I shall retire Planeswalking and take up Evil Overlording', then it's POSSIBLE that he could learn enough spells of oppression/control/grief that he could make his entire deck work toward the goal of countering the minor and scattered forms of opposition an unprepared society would muster- this kind of longterm planning makes gathering the mana for the staff and its activation inconsequential. (And for all we know he's wearing a Sol Ring and is satisfied with the potential use with his staff, rather than trying to power out anything more deadly. After all, he wants to RULE not DESTROY anyway, so this COULD make sense)
At the worst, he might find himself facing a cadre of White Knights with a Captain of the Watch when he besieged the local Castle.
Wait. Well, that would kill him. xP
I tried really hard. I did my best Salrath. Your 'master plan' of a weapon ISN'T all that bad for terrorizing a clump of villages. And if you want to dedicate your entire life to making the Rod of Ruin a win-con, it CAN do well against rabble as a pinger. But the minute any kind of trained army notices your hostile takeover, you beg the question- WHY in the WORLD did you not learn Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade? The only explanation MUST be that you are a pure artificer who can't actually draw on mana, and Vorthoses will be confused because of the mana cost on things like artifacts and some blue spells, but MTG doesn't want to track more than one variety of resource, so 'it's all mana' even when it's probably not really. :p
On a world like...oh I dunno...MAYBE Moag, you could probably get a nice chunk of land to call your 'dominion' for a little while...unfortunately, Moag just happens to be where Urza decides to settle next season, and then.....you're f*ked. Not because you're Phyrexian. Not because Urza really gives a damn about the locals. But your talking way too much shit about that piece of trash you're calling an Artifact, so Urza would call you out and have an Artificing contest as a matter of professional pride/arrogance/thinks he's the god of artifice. And then once URZA starts "card=Draco/SHOWING/autocard" "card=Sundering Titan/BY/autocard" "card=Mirari/JUST/autocard" "card=Karn Liberated/HOW/autocard" "card=Legacy Weapon/MUCH/autocard" "card=Masticore/HE/autocard" "card=Isochron Scepter/CAN/autocard" "card=Nevinyrall's Disk/BEAT/autocard" "card=Door to Nothingness/YOU/autocard".... Wow. Just. Wow.
@DarthParalax You get five stars for your post, a very interesting in-game extrapolation of a fictitious character and how that character's deck would look like. The thing is we know next to nothing about this Saldrath character, and no indication that he's a planeswalker (and, actually, because his masterpiece happens to be a Rod of Ruin, he is most assuredly not) so *of course* Urza would just rub his baubles all over his face if they ever were to battle. Urza wouldn't even need to play any spells, he'd just put on his baller Sunglasses and force a concession based on the sheer godliness of the situation.