Welcome to my take on the top 5 cards from each color of Planar Chaos. I hope you read my article on my take on the top 5 commons from each color from Time Spiral but if you didn't here is the link: http://www.cardshark.com/content/view_article.asp?article_id=4021. Next week I will post 25 interactions of Planar Chaos cards you may not have known about. Onto the lists:


Top 5 White cards:
This was tougher than I thought it would be because there were 17 cards I thought were decent enough to be in the top 5. So after narrowing them down here is what is left:

1- Voidstone Gargoyle- I had to get 4 of these the instant I saw them because they are a Pithing Needle and Meddling Mage in one and to top it off, it is only one color. This card will protect white mages from worrying about an opponent’s Wrath of God or Damnation or any other card that may have a great effect on them. Blue-white decks may play them as a win condition and also a way to cut down the spells your opponents can play even more. It is a great card to use naming any split second card. The Pithing Needle ability in it will allow you to freeze any permanent in play. My personal option for a card to name with it is Firemane Angel. They will still gain the life but they will never be able to cast it or return it to play from their graveyard.

2- Sinew Sliver- Everyone loved Muscle Sliver when Tempest was Type 2 legal. You still see it in some extended and legacy tournaments. I love this card on turn two when combined with a turn one Sidewinder Sliver. Planar Chaos gives us some nice additions to the sliver family. If you like slivers then check out a previous article I wrote: http://www.cardshark.com/content/view_article.asp?article_id=4013 . In the future I will revise the Black White Sliver deck in said article to include Planar Chaos because I think it will really become an option as a tournament viable deck.

3- Magus of the Tabernacle- This is another control card. What makes it great is that it is not legendary, so if you have 2 in play you will have to pay 2 mana to keep them. But chances are your opponent will have to start picking and choosing every turn which creatures they are willing to sacrifice. They are also nice blockers at 2/6 and with a low casting cost of 4 mana.

4- Calciderm- Just like the Sinew Sliver, we get another good Planeshifted card. Blastoderm was really good when it was in type two. Although Calciderm is not exactly the same as Blastoderm, its differences are very minor. Fading counters vs. Vanishing counters. [Editor’s note: In fact, the two cards are functionally identical. Fading 3 and Vanishing 4 work basically the same way.] Calciderm cannot be targeted by spells or abilities so there isn't any way to add time counters on to it. A 5/5 for 4 mana in white is really good as well.

5- Stonecloaker- This was my last pick for top 5 and it way appear to be an odd pick. I like the ability to play it as an instant and the fact that when you play it, it removes a card in a graveyard and returns a creature to your hand. Basically for every three mana you have available you can remove a card from your opponent’s graveyard, cutting back on the usefulness of Dralnu, Flashback cards, Recover cards, Gaea's Blessing. And when it finally stays in play, it's not bad as a 3/2 for 3 mana.


Top 5 Blue Cards:
This was a little easier to narrow down as I would rank Blue as the worst color in the set. I only had to narrow down the top 5 from 7.

1- Wistful Thinking- This card is a great card because it is common blue discard that also forces your opponent to draw two cards. Even if they don't have any cards in hand then it is equal to a Millstone. In a Blue Black Reanimator deck, this card will fill your graveyard up with plenty of cards to reanimate.

2- Venarian Glimmer- Instant Blue Discard works well into the theme of control in Blue. Although it is not a Duress it is the next best thing for a Blue Mage.

3- Tidewalker- Another great finishing card for a control deck. It's likely that you wouldn't play it until it will come out as a 6/6 or bigger. With all the creatures in the set that bounce a creature back to your hand and Clockspinning, this guy can be really good for very cheap.

4- Chronozoa- I would move this guy higher up on the list if I knew how the card really works. I've heard too many different variations. If Chronozoa copies come into play with the Vanishing counters as well then this guy would be my number 1 blue card. But until I know that, I feel that he will stay at number 4. A Blue creature that splits into two down the road is a neat concept. [Editor's note: The copy does get the time counters, and will thus replicate exponentially without some disruption. Pretty cool, huh?]

5- Pongify- Blue Removal. While it does give your opponent a 3/3, usually that's not as good as the creature you are removing, such as Akroma, Angel of Vengeance, Firemane Angel, etc.... And you can even use it on your creature when it is about to die.


Top 5 Black Cards:
I had to narrow Planar Chaos's best color down from 15 cards.

1- Extirpate- I'm sure no one out there will dispute that this is the number one hot card in the set. For one mana you get to remove all copies of a card from a graveyard, hand, and library at instant speed and uncounterable. Many games will come down to who plays Extirpate second removing their opponent’s Extirpates. Also look for more decks playing Ghost Quarter to end all Tron decks.

2- Damnation- The undisputed second best card in the set. Black didn't need a Wrath of God but now that they have it, it will open up many possibilities. Now players will not have to play White Blue Control, they can play Black Blue allowing access to other forms of control such as milling without worrying about dying from a creature rush. Just think, now you can play a Black White deck with 8 Wrath of God's.

3- Shrouded Lore- Basically a Recollect for Black. Now you can say you play 8 Extirpate, or 8 Damnation, or 8 Persecute if needed.

4- Dash Hopes- Whether or not the spell gets countered more than likely you will get a result you like.

5- Temporal Extortion- Half their life or an extra turn, and only for 4 mana. Throw in Shrouded Lore with this one and you will end up taking a lot of turns.


Top 5 Red Cards:
Another color I had to narrow down from 15 cards.

1- Akroma, Angel of Fury- Although not as powerful as the original the uncounterability and Morph ability make it really playable. It is being sought after as a chase rare but the value will drop considerably when it is legal because without haste it is very easy to remove it.

2- Torchling- Morphling was good, Torchling is better in my opinion. Torchling's big difference is the fact that instead of being able to make it untargetable, you get to redirect the spell to another target. Just make sure there is always another creature in play for you to target.

3- Reckless Wurm- All 5 of my red top 5 are reprints in some form and this one is no exception. While there are not many good discard outlets or anything close to Wild Mongrel, this card will be used as anti-discard and also with Lightning Axe.

4- Shivan Wumpus- This card was so aggravating when it was green. Now that it's in a land destruction color anyway it will be played. More than likely it will be a Red Green deck, but look for it to make a splash in the tournament scene.

5- Simian Spirit Guide- Can anything really be said about free mana? How about adding free mana to a color that already has Rite of Flame and Seething Song. Someone is going to develop some really good deck using these three cards. I just wish it could be me.


Top 5 Green Cards:
Narrowed down from 12 cards is the set's second best color in my opinion.

1- Groundbreaker- A hasted 6/1 that you can play on turn 2 in green is nothing to be afraid of......yeah right, be VERY AFRAID!!! Decks are already being built that use this and Bloodbond March, allowing for a turn 4 win.

2- Harmonize- Green finally has mass card drawing with no drawbacks or restrictions and at a decent casting cost. Look for all decks with green to be running 4 of these babies.

3- Kavu Predator- You want to Faith's Fetter's my Mire Boa, SURE! I'll let my Kavu Predator grow to a big 6/6. You have a Firemane Angel in the graveyard, you sure you want to remember to gain the life? At 2 mana, this may be the best bear in the format with all the life gaining decks floating around.

4- Mire Boa- Yeah! River boa is back! A 2/1 regenerating Swampwalker for only 2 mana! This guy will show up in green weenie decks. I'm sure he will be played over Dryad Sophisticate.

5- Seal of Primordium- Yet another string of top 5 with all Planeshifted cards. I loved Seal of Cleansing and was so hoping it would be reprinted when I saw the Seals of Fire and Doom were reprinted. This is about as close as you can get.

Now as for the rest of the cards, I will note a few that caught my attention:

Cautery Sliver- a less powerful Goblin Legionnaire but still has nifty abilities and it will be played in Sliver decks.

Darkheart Sliver- With no activation cost associated with this card it makes all your slivers worth playing.

Dormant Sliver- You play against a Sliver Deck then sideboard this in and they can no longer attack you.

Frenetic Sliver- Another Sliver that grants a neat ability to your other slivers. This one will be played even if it's not a sliver deck because it can be very difficult to handle it.

Necrotic Sliver- Make all your slivers turn into a Vindicate, who wants to play Black White Slivers now???


Planar Chaos looks to be a sure lock as a player’s favorite set. It will shake up the tournament scene just as much as Time Spiral did and who knows maybe more.


Billy Moreau
crypticfreakscards@gmail.com