Homebrew Pick of the Week

So after reviewing my "Card of the Day" posts (or lack there of) I decided to just do a weekly post about a card and then do another post about building a deck around that card. This week's card is one of the most built around cards in the current standard and is probably one of the most fun cards to play in the last few sets. Without further delay I present: Reveilark!

Reveillark is an amazingly versatile card that can be useful and abusable in a hundred different situations. You can pretty much do anything you want to it or with it. Many people will be sad to see it go when the Lorwyn block rotates out of standard in October.

Strengths:

-4/3 Flyer for 5 with a strong ability

-See "Ways to Abuse" section for more

Weakness:

-Used best in decks that don't ramp (however there would be no need to ramp into it because you would have no target for its ability)

-Can only run 4 of these per deck :)

Ways to Abuse:

-Evoke- Can evoke it to instantly gain the advantage of it's ability.

-Beat for 4 until someone blocks or uses a spot removal and then get 2 creatures from the graveyard into play

-Use to Path to Exile to make use of its ability and ramp at the same time

-Use Fulminator Mage to decimate your opponents land and then get him back via lark to do it all over again ( good vs most decks in standard because they all run tons of non-basic land)

-Ranger of Eos to Flamekin Harbinger to Reveillark and equivalent strategies make decks like boat brew insanely powerful/efficient

-Use Turn to Mist to blink your Lark in and out of play to keep it on the field but also gain the advantage of its ability ( this was even better when Momentary Blink was still in standard).

-Brings back Figures of Destiny or equivalant buffable beater and then pump them for an efficient beatdown strategy

-Brings back token producers like Siege-Gang Commander

So basically there are numerous ways to abuse the power of Reveillark making it one of the most used cards in the current standard meta. I think that after Alara Reborn this card has only gotten stronger in blue white decks and possibly green white as well. It will be interesting to see how the meta changes as Alara Reborn starts to be incorporated into current type two decks with the abundance of great lark targets in every color. I'm especially interested in seeing how the meta changes in October when the new set causes the Lorwyn block to phase out. It is definitely going to change the face of standard significantly.

Card of the Day: Wall of Denial

When I was opening up my packs for the Alara Reborn two headed giant prerelease I happened on this card and was very pleased to see that it fit into the esper deck that I was currently constructing. It is a pretty powerful card because of its relatively low cost and powerful abilities. It is also somewhat abusable though not as much as yesterday's card (Path to Exile). It only has one big drawback: defender. But since it is a 0/8 it really wouldn't be that much better of a card without it. It's also hard to remove because of shroud so unless they counter it when you play it, its most likely not going anywhere.

Strengths
-Low mana cost (CMC=3)
-8 Toughness
-Flying
-Shroud (Doesn't die to path :):):))

Weaknesses
-0 Power
- Defender (though as mentioned before there is little this card could do even if it could shed this ability)

Ways to Abuse:
-Reveillark- This card can be brought back with your lark and it fits with the coloration of most popular Lark decks
-Play early against pretty much any aggro deck in the current meta and they will have a hard time getting past it

Overall a very fun card to play and I'm glad I managed to get it in one of my packs during the prerelase (saved my ass more than once!)

(Picture Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast inc.)