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In my last article I had a look at the white, blue and black commons of Fallen Empires. Now it’s time to finish that with red, green and artifacts.
Red
As I mentioned in my first article on this set, Fallen Empires has a tribal theme. Every color has at least two tribes at war for power of their land. Red actualy has three tribes fighting each other; Dwarves, Orcs and Goblins. And the way the designers of the set have integrated this war within this color is very flavorfull on one card. Dwarven Soldiers gets a +0/+2 bonus when they are blocking or being blocked by an Orc. At 2/1 for 1R, this is a decent card.
Brassclaw Orcs is Ironclaw Orc’s bigger brother. A 3-powered creature for three mana is a good bargain. It can’t cumpblock, but in an aggressive deck, this is a solid, on-curve creature.
Goblin Grenade is probably the best constructed card in red. In a sealed or draft enviroment, it all depends on the number of goblins you open in the packs. If your have enough, this card is so powerful, but on it’s own, it doesn’t do anything. Since I’m looking to rate these cards from a limited perspective, this is not in my top 3.
Next up we have Orcish Spy. This little 1/1 let’s you take a look at the top 3 cards of any player’s library. Unfortunatly it doesn’t let you rearrange them or shuffle. This ability can be relevant in some decks, especially if you have a way to shuffle your library, or if you have Sylvan Library, which is in 4th Edition. Most of the time, it’s irrelevant.
My number three pick for red is Orcish Veteran. A 2/2 for three mana isn’t great and it can’t block any creature with power greater than 1. The fact that you can give him first strike is what makes him better in limited than the other 3-mana Orc.
Second place for me is Goblin Chirurgeon. A 0/2 for one mana is a great blocker in the early game. In the mid- and lategame, it’s ability is a great way to negate your opponent’s removal on a bigger threat. On top of that, the version with the artwork of Phil Foglio has so many awesome refeneces to other cards!
But the best red card is, in my opinion, Goblin War Drums. Since red is a natural aggressive color, this card fits perfectly. Forcing your opponent to double block a creature means that the more creatures you attack with, the more damage they will have to take.
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Green
Ah, the color of Thalids and Elves! Fungi and pointy ears. And Saprolings of course! Quick aside, when I started playing Magic, my favorite monster at the time was Verdant Force, which could make a huge army of Saprolings. To this day I have no idea what a Saproling is, but I know that if you have an army of them, they’re great!
Right, sorry for that…
Let’s go straight on to the cards.
The Elves have a fortress in the woods. Elven Fortress is an enchantment for G. For every 1G you spend, you can give a blocker +0/+1. This can be a good card in a more controling deck, able to make your creatures survive combat. But overall I’m not a fan.
Elvish Hunter is a 1/1 for 1G, something that green can do much better. The ability however is quite neat. Having one of your opponent’s creatures not untap for a turn, can turn off a potential blocker. Unfortunatly her ability does not tap the creature, so it only has an effect if the creature is already tapped.
The last common Elf in this set is Elvish Scout. His/her (remember, there’s multiple artworks for all commons) ability makes you untap one of your attackers and that doesn’t deal, nor recieve combat damage. So if your opponent has a combattrick up his sleeve like a Giant Growth (also in 4th Edition), you can save your creature from dying. A fringe ability and therefore the Scout doesn’t make my top three.
Neither does Spore Cloud. For 1GG, best thing I can see this card do, is being an overpriced Fog which let’s the creatures remain tapped. If you can combine it with Elvish Hunter, you can lock down a creature for good, however.
So on with my top 3 green commons. In third place, I choose Thallid. A 1/1 for G isn’t bad. And if you manage to keep it aroud long enough, it will create more creatures as time passes. This process is very slow, and I have no idea if you even can stick it around long enough, but I like it nontheless.
Second place for me is Thorn Thallid. 2/2 for 1GG isn’t much, but just like Thallid, if you can keep it around long enough, it can ping every 3 turns.
Wow, I just read that last bit out loud and it made me realise that most common cards of Fallen Empires are realy bad…
Anyway, my favorite green common is Night Soil. With Hymn to Tourach in the same set and the fact that limited is about combat, chances of having 2 creatures in a single graveyard are quite high. And as the game progresses, having the ability to keep adding creatures to the battlefield can seal the deal.
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Artifact(s)
Delif’s Cone is the only common artifact in the set, so there’s no top 3 to pick. It is a funny little artifact. at 0 mana, and no manacost to activate it’s ability, you can gain life instead of dealing damage with a creature once. There are many ways to use this. Most of us have probably learned that gaining life let’s you not lose the game. But not losing isn’t the same as winning the game. This is why I’m not keen on this card, but in times of despair, this might just save you from death.
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So there you have it. Alle the commons of Fallen Empires. I hope you enjoyed my reviews and let me know if you agree or disagree with my choices in the comment section!
Join me next time when I look at some strategies that 4th Edition, Fallen Empires and Chronicles combined create.
