*spoilers*
Lets begin with card #1 in the set,
Karn Liberated 7
+4: Target player exiles a card from his or her hand
-3: Exile target permanent
-14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-aura permanent cards exiled with Karn, then put the exiled cards onto the battlefield under your control.
6
This guy has a lot going for him. Right off the bat, he can come in and +4 going up to 10 loyalty, meaning he's even tougher to kill than Gideon. An additional +4 every turn makes him extremely difficult to kill. On the other hand, if your opponent isn't threatening to kill Karn, you can just start blowing up their permanents, which seems pretty good.
There are a few different ways to look at the ultimate. Firstly, having pretty much anything extra means you're very far ahead at the start of the new game. Of course, instants and sorceries do nothing to help you, and your opponent is probably not going to give you anything helpful when you +4 Karn. You can target yourself with the +4, which is probably a good idea if you plan on ultimating immediately, but not really a great long term strategy. I would recommend not trying to get greedy with the ultimate, since I would expect it to be fairly easy to win the game starting a few permanents ahead of your opponent.
I'd also like to take the time to mention how annoying this card is in a tournament setting. Based on the high cost of the card and the fact that it is both difficult to kill and something opponents will try to deal with, games are already going to go long if Karn is involved. Starting a new game just seems miserable and is not something I look forward to playing with or against in any format.
Moving on, we have:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 5WW
Vigilance
Creatures you control get +2/+2
Creatures your opponents control get -2/-2
4/7
While this guy is pretty expensive, he's only 1 more than Crovax, which is a card I've been willing to play in multiple formats. -2/-2 is pretty strong, and shuts down a fair number of strategies. Given the current standard, I can't really see this guy fitting in anywhere, but its definitely a card that has potential.
Dispatch W
Instant
Tap target creature
Metalcraft: Exile that creature
Affinity, or really any deck that can guarantee metalcraft, can look into this
Norn's Annex 3{W/P}{W/P} (phyrexian white mana)
Artifact
Creatures can't attack you or a planeswalker you control unless their controller pays {W/P} for each attacking creature.
First off, for those of you who are unaware, phyrexian mana means you can either pay that color of mana, or 2 life, and has been showcased on some pretty powerful cards.
Here, this card is actually a trick. It looks like Ghostly Prison, but in practice is quite different from that card. Since your opponent can just pay 2 life to attack, this card is most effective vs. weenie decks when you are yourself playing a deck capable of racing.
Phrexian Unlife 2W
You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life
As long as you have 0 or less life, all damage is dealt to you as if its source had infect
As 3 mana gain 10 or more life, this card has its purposes. Multiple copies don't do anything, but there are scenarios where that effect is ok.
What's truly interesting about the card is that life loss continues to be irrelevant. Ad Nauseum can allow you to draw your entire library, opposing win conditions that cause you to lose life can't kill you, and there are probably other cool things I'm not thinking of.
Puresteel Paladin WW
Whenever an equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may draw a card
Metalcraft: Equipment you control have equip 0
This guy seems pretty bonkers. Standard and Extended have been impacted hugely by Stoneforge Mystic already, and more good equipment are coming out in New Phyrexia. In something like a WW Quest for the Holy Relic deck, this guy can both draw cards and let Argentum Armor be tossed around for free. This card will definitely see play and be quite powerful as long as Stoneforge is legal.
Gitaxian Probe {U/P}
Sorcery
Look at target player's hand
Draw a card
Sometimes, you just gotta know. If Sam Black can make an argument for playing Peek in standard, this card must be insane. It can also just cycle for 2 life, making it an only slightly worse Street Wraith (since its a sorcery and is can be countered, though only counterbalance or chalice of the void are worth countering this)
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur 8UU
Legendary Creature
Flash
At the beginning of your End Step, draw 7 cards
Each opponent's hand size is reduced by 7
5/4
If there's a guy from Scars block worth cheating into play, its probably this guy. Assuming you put it into play on your turn, you're probably going to draw an extra 7 cards, and your opponents has to kill it on their turn or they lose their hand. I'd go far enough to consider this guy worth reanimating in legacy, since drawing 7 gives you a good shot at extra counterspells to protect this guy, and its a card that's completely impossible to ignore. While Iona is better at locking your opponent out of the game, this also has the benefit of drawing you cards to deal with anything your opponent may already have out.
At 10 mana this guy should never enter play under fair circumstances, but I'll be willing to look into pretty much any way to let me sneak him in.
Mental Misstep {U/P}
Instant
Counter target spell with converted mana cost 1
Much like Spell Snare, this card is powerful in that it lets you counter your opponent's spell even when your a turn behind. Again like Spell Snare, its very specific and requires a lot of 1 drop spells to be in decks in order for it to be worth packing.
Phyrexian Metamorph 3{U/P}
Artifact Creature
You may have Phyrexian Metamorph enter the battlefield as a copy of any artifact or creature, except its an artifact in addition to its other types.
0/0
Clone is good. Sculpting Steel is good. This can be either. I'm going to guess its good.
Dismember 1{B/P}{B/P}
Instant
Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn
1 colorless mana and 4 life is a small price to pay to kill almost any creature. Its annoying that this can't deal with titans, but nothing else should present a problem for this card.
Phyrexian Obliterator BBBB
Creature
Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to Phyrexian Obliterator, that source's controlled sacrifices that many permanents.
5/5
Don't bolt this guy, or try to kill him with Valakut triggers, or block with your 8/8. Just don't.
Realistically the mana cost is pretty prohibitive, and he can still be Jaced, or Ousted/Condemned, and he does in fact have a throat.
Surgical Extraction {B/P}
Instant
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land. Search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
Possibly free extirpate, though without split second, which was definitely a significant part of the original extirpate. I would like to mention that these types of cards, including Memoricide and the like, are typically fairly overrated, since they aren't guaranteed to actually have any impact on the game. You can pull all the copies of a card out of someone's deck, but that only matters under a few circumstances:
1. They have a copy of the card in their hand
2. They need the card you removed in order to actually win
3. In the case of Extirpate/Surgical Extraction, their trying to do something with the card in their graveyard.
In terms of graveyard strategies, this is good vs. reanimation spells and Vengevine, but other than that I can't see this card being worth it.
That's it for part 1. Check back later in the week where I cover Red, Green, and Artifacts. Trust me when I say there are plenty more sweet cards to come!
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