Extracting New Levels of Awesome

Hello Everyone! After the mass release of what is probably unauthorized spoilers, we finally got a real one from the Mothership. Brace yourself because this is deceptively epic:

So let's start by looking at this card compared to other cards printed in the past: This is almost the exact same thing as Extirpate from Planer Chaos. Almost. There is one line of text that appears on each that does not appear on the other that creates a world of a difference: Extirpate has Split Second and this costs a Phyrexian Black mana. When I was texting Mark about this, I didn't know that either card could target non-basic lands, so when Mark mentioned it to me my response was: "It can target non-basic lands!!!??? OMGWTFBBQSAUCE!!! Thats awesome!" Come to find out later that Extirpate can also target non-basics I felt a little foolish afterwards... But regardless, this card is going to be one of the premium rares of the set!

Standard: This card is going to have a big affect on standard I feel, starting with making Vengevine decks much worse. Interestingly enough, they make a Phyrexian card, Spawning Shell, to make the deck insane and then they release the perfect hoser. However, even without Vengevine, maybe this card will still see play as an anti-Vampire card by taking out their only resiliant creature: Bloodghast (good card to move right now).  Also, capitilizing on its ability to get rid of non-basic lands, Tectonic Edging a Valakut becomes a much more attractive option all of a sudden (UW Caw-Blade plays 4 Tec Edge, and can easily pack this in the board by just paying 2 life)! Speaking of this in Caw-Blade, remember when people were packing 6-7 Jaces to win the Jace war in control mirrors? Why not just win it faster by nailing your opponent's big Jace and then removing all copies from their deck? That seems good. I think this card could show up in every sideboard of every deck for a while, or at least until graveyard decks have been Extracted from the field. Last note: this + Hex Parasite laughs maniacly at all your planeswalkers

Legacy: Zendikar offered us Mindbreak Trap as an immediate sideboard card to beat Tendrils Storm (Silence/Orim's Chant is laughing at you) for every deck, and now we have Extirpate for everyone not playing Black sounds like a card that will also show up everywhere. However, I think this card will make much less of a splash in Legacy because splashing colors is so easy and in Legacy Land, the counterspells cost 0 too. Being able to get countered is far more important then dropping the cost from 1 to 0 mana, unless you're playing Belcher.

Extirpate is at 9 currently, and this card may start higher simply because of it's utility in Standard, but overall I think this will be worth less then Extirpate. Probably 7-8. Once it drops out of Standard, it will drop to 3-5, seeing play as a budget/easier to acquire Extirpate for Legacy.

On a completely different note, I am playing mono-red right now in standard with some hot tech named Cyclops Gladiator. Yeah, go look it up. I think this guy has the potential to be insane against decks like Valakut that can slow you down with their walls, or it can be the nail in the coffin against Vampires after I Slagstorm their board, then pick off their creatures as they hit play with the Gladiator. Another cool piece of tech that I still can't understand why it's not being used is Zektar Shrine Expedition. It's 2 mana for 7 damage! What's not to love?

Another completely random thought: Sarkhan the Mad and Jace, the Mind Sculptor go very nice together. Brainstorm, then draw a land with Sarkhan to keep him at 7 and you digging deeper into your deck. Then, after a while you can turn walls into Dragons with Sarkhan and beat face. Maybe it's just too loose, but it feels cool.

Until next time, stay classy!