Into the Scrapheap – Episode 5 (Magic 2012)

The Magic 2012 edition.

First up is the bane of my existence – limited fodder.  Kite Shield is just strictly inferior to Accorder’s Shield, which will be standard legal the entire time that Kite Shield is. So, it was just obsolete for constructed purposes before it ever came into print. Sheesh!

    

All the same costs, but with Accorder’s Shield you also get vigilance. The only excuse Wizards could offer for this is ‘to make M12 draft work’. Lame! The least they could have done is given the new card a different ability or a slightly different cost (2 to equip?).It’s hardly fair for them to boast ‘over 12,000’ different magic cards, when we all know that a lot of them are dreck like this.

On the flip side, Consume Spirit is an upgrade from the old staple Drain Life.

      

Looks like there’s no limit to the lifegain with Consume Spirit. This is a case where it looks like Wizards is trying to simplify an old clunky card (i.e. reduce the amount of text on the card). So, now I just need to replace all my Drain Lifes with Consume Spirits, unless the deck just wants more of this effect for some reason. At least Soul Burn offered something a little different: a little price increase, but the ability to use Red mana too.