3. Chandra's Phoenix
First of all, I'd like to congratulate Chandra's Phoenix on its impression of one of my all-time favorite creatures, Skyknight Legionnaire; but it's hard to call it an impression when you wipe the floor with the original.
From Spark Elemental to, um, Hellspark Elemental, I've always loved cheap, evasive, hasty creatures, there's nothing quite like burying your opponent beneath a pile of early damage, especially if you can finish them off with burn once they've quote "stabilized." I won a playset of Ice Age Counterspells we had bet on a match with a Cabal Coffers-fueled 14-point Consume Spirit once, that guy was calling me a cheap-ass for the next two weeks. Delicious. But, as awesome and efficient as this creature is, where the birdy truly shines is the second ability. You're playing red, more than likely, you have burn spells. More than likely some of them would be going at the other dude's face. Ergo sum, this creature is the next best thing to being totally immune to death, it revives itself based on stuff you're gonna do regardless. What's that? You're going to spend your Dismember to get rid of it? Oh, you want to block and trade your Glint Hawk? Please do, because next turn I'm going to Shock your ass, bring it back, and punch you in the face with it again. Get multiple birdies in the dump and things get truly retarded. Now your Lightning Bolt is generating hand advantage. And, love it or hate it, we're currently residing in a golden age of burn where Lightning Bolt, Shock, and Incinerate are all Standard legal. This card is going to be a staple of aggro-red decks for a long time to come, pick up your set ASAP.
4. Adaptable Automaton
I'm not ashamed to admit that I cheered audibly when I saw this card. Probably weirded the hell out of my co-workers (I happened to be perusing the net at work) although I'm not sure if it was the actual cheer that surprised them or the fact that someone at my workplace was displaying something other than soul-crushing despair. I guess we'll never know.
Time for some background info on ol' X: I love tribal. I love all my cards coming together cohesively, each one providing benefits to the others. But to me, nothing ties a tribal deck together more than a lord, let alone a second one for some tribes. If you read the first part, you know that I fully expect Zombies and Illusions (and probably Vampires too) to be supported tribes come Innistrad time, though whether that goes beyond just having creatures to choose from remains to be seen. But the true beauty of this guy is that damn near any creature type you can think of becomes a viable tribe. And tribal-commander decks always have more room for another lord. (My Rhys the Exiled deck says hi.) This card probably wont be breaking pocketbooks in half, but I promise you it will have applications for a long time to come, and this is one card I sincerely hope to see reprinted as the core sets continue.
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