Magic: The Gathering Preview: Dragon’s Maze White and Blue Cards

Welcome to today’s preview of Magic: The Gathering’s newest set: Dragon’s Maze. Yesterday we looked at Red and Green cards, and today we’re looking at Blue and White. Remember that May 3rd is the official release date for Dragon’s Maze so get the lo-down (Copyright: Bebito Jackson) on another six cards from the set here today!

BLUE CARDS:

Hidden Strings

This is a nice, cheap Sorcery. For 1U, you may tap, untap, or do one of each to any two target permanents on the field. So you could tap your opponent’s best attacker so he is useless and untap your best character so that he can block this turn. Maybe you’ll tap a land or an Artifact, preventing them from being used. Maybe you’ll untap the same for yourself. The possibilities are limitless, and for only two mana, this is simply a wonderful deal. Better yet, the card also has the Cipher ability. This means you can attach (exile) the card to a creature, and whenever that creature does damage to an opposing player, you can cast Hidden Strings without having to spend the mana usually associated with it. Put this on an unblockable creature or something with a landwalk ability and you’ll be tapping and untapping with crazed abandon. There are so many fun uses for Hidden Strings, it’s sure to see a lot of play.
 
 

Murmuring Phantasm

This is a pretty straightforward card. It’s what we old timers used to call “Walls.” It’s only 1U for a 0/5 Defender (which means it can’t attack). That’s a great deal, although I do feel the card should have flying as well. Murmuring Phantasm makes for a great early game blocker, especially if your deck is mainly high cost cards, and it will see play even through the long game due to how high its toughness is. Don’t overlook this card.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Maze Glider

Maze Glider feels somewhat pricey at first glance. It’s 5U for a 3/5 Flyer. However, it’s the special text which reads, “Multicolored creatures you control have flying,” which makes it strongly worth consideration in any deck heavy with Gold cards. Dragon’s Maze is one of the most multicolored heavy sets I’ve seen since the original Legends, and giving all your creatures Flying is an awesome ability, well worth the six mana it costs to summon Maze Glider. They key is to craft a really good deck that gets the most out of this ability.
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHITE CARDS

Wake The Reflection

Wake the Reflection is going to be one of those cards that will befuddle a lot of players. When you first look at the card you’ll wonder how it can be of any real use. However, someone somewhere is going to put together a killer deck using this thing, similar to how Necropotence once sat unloved and unused until someone created the first truly dominant deck that featured it. I don’t think Wake the Reflection is going to be that powerful or popular, but I can see it being used to flummox people who don’t see it coming.

Basically, the card is a single White mana that lets you put a token on the battlefield that’s an exact copy of a token creature you already have in play. It could be as useless as a 1/1 white creature or it could be as crazy as something like a 4/4 creature with trample, or even a creature whose power and toughness is equal to the number of lands or creatures you have in play. All that for a single mana? Yes please! Again, the key to Wake the Reflection is going to be is crafting a deck that makes high quality use of it. Is it worth revolving an entire deck around? Maybe. Is it worth insert into any deck that is heavily token based? Oh my, yes.

Riot Control

Here’s a very fun Instant. For 2W, you gain 1 life for every creature your opponent controls. So, this is killer against weenie, token or other decks that are heavily creature based. Riot Control also prevents all damage done to you that turn, making it one of the best White Instant cards I’ve seen in a long time. So much defensive goodness for only two mana!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunspire Gatekeepers

This is a fun little card. At first, 3W for a 2/4 creature doesn’t seem all that great. When you read the text however, you realize you are getting two creatures for the mana cost- as long as you control two or more Gate lands. If you do, you get the 2/4 bland soldier AND a 2/2 creature token that also has Vigilance. Not bad! The problem, of course, is making sure you have two Gate lands in play when you have this in your hand, and that can be somewhat tricky.
 
 
 
 
 
 

So there we go, another six cards from the Dragon’s Maze set. We’ll be back tomorrow to look at the Black and Split cards from the set. Remember, it’s also launch day for the set on May 3rd, so hopefully these two previews and our review of the Gruul Siege deck from Friday has helped you to decide if you’re picking up any packs from this set or not.