X's Hot List-The End

My sincere apologies for the late entry; hectic day, yadda yadda, details you don't care about. I think I've drawn this out long enough, let's finish up, shall we?

5. Visions of Beyond

At its worst, it's Reach Through Mists, (or a crappy Whispers of the Muse) at it's best It's Ancestral Frickin' Recall. Unfortunately though, if you're not playing Mill or some other strange win condition (Szadek, Lord of Secrets sez hi) a full third of a deck in the dump is no easy feat. Which leads me to believe that either Wizards is trying to revitalize Mill decks (a somewhat valid assumption in my opinion, give the new Jace and his Archivist) or Innistrad and its supposed graveyard theme will feature some sort of dredge mechanic that fills up graveyards quickly. Of course, there IS still Sword of Body and Mind...("Hey guys, let's give Caw-Blade some Power 9 stuff!" -Satan) Either way, I'd be very surprised to see this card come back in M13, but time will tell I suppose.

6. Grand Abolisher

This guy can really ruin someone's day. In an aggro deck, he keeps the red zone safe, meaning that your intrepid band of soldiers and knights knows exactly what their charging into without worries of combat tricks or removal. Against a control deck, not only are counterspells now next to useless, but they no longer have the luxury of keeping their mana open during their turn. "Draw-Go? More like, Draw-No!!!" You like that pun? Took me two hours to come up with. Say that to your opponent and see if he doesn't punch you in the face.

7. Bloodlord of Vaasgoth

Alright, confession time; when I first saw this card, I thought it was an aberration. I thought since black was already getting a "traditional lord" in Cemetery Reaper that Vampires were going to get saddled with a non-traditional "gimmick lord" like in M10, only one that was nowhere near as good as Nocturnus; a five-drop that did absolutely nothing for the vamps already in play. However, I realize now that I wasn't even close to looking at this card in the right context. Bloody V's not a lord at all, it's an I-Win button for vampire decks. It's the guy that cinches a long game by letting Nighthawks and Nocturnuses (Nocturni? Nocturnesises?) come down as poor-man's Baneslayers, merrily laughing off Dismembers hither and tither all the way to your opponent's juggular. Personally, I'd love to whip up a Legacy list and see what I could do with some Dark Rituals. But even besides all that, even in a deck without a single other Vampire, for all intents and purposes, it's still and evasive 6/6 for 5. I always loved Bloodthirst ever since the original Gruul cards, because they gave you a chance to play fatties well below their mana curve, the "drawback" being that you had to hit the guy. Show me an aggro deck that has problems with that and I'll show you a pile of cards that needs to be dismantled. I think BoV here has some incredible potential, but it'll take just the right mage to really break him in half.