MTG Theros Intro Pack Review

Yesterday evening my Mother invited me to go to the local Targets store with her, so I figured I'd pick up some of the latest MTG Theros cards while I was there. Targets actually carries an impressive selection of MTG cards, and packs. Since it's the only real source of MTG for me I was thrilled to see what they had in stock. What I found when I visited the designated card section was the usual booster pack assortment, as well as some Theros Intro Packs. Naturally I went for one of the $14.99 Intro packs since it's an overall better deal. For $14.99 you get a 60 card deck ready for playing, and two booster packs. Along with the package is also a poster insert containing detailed information on all the available Intro Packs including the card list associated with each. The Intro Pack I ended up choosing was a Green & White deck titled "Anthousa's Army". Being the Green deck player that I am I could not resist.

The "Anthousa's Army" deck actually surprised me a bit. It mainly had creature cards, and spell (Instants, Sorceries ...) that featured complimentary effects. In a way it reminded me of the Kamigawa set, and it's Bushido oriented cards. Instead of Bushido though most of the creatures had "Heroic" which is more than likely like "Bushido", or "Exalted" in some way. I'll have to do some research on that later though. I did take note that some of the more prominent high cost creature cards in the deck had Heroic effects that were geared towards spell usage. For example the "Centaur Battlemaster" had a 5 mana cost, and a 3/3 counter. If you used spells that targeted this creature in some way you could add three +1/+1 counters to it. While it is definitely for later use, particularly when you have enough lands in play it can still become quite the powerful creature. Seeing that half of the deck is focused on spell usage getting that +3/+3 counter shouldn't be much of a problem either. I also noticed that a lot of the spells in the deck as well as the creature cards were all about +1/+1, and +2/+2 counter boosts. If you somehow managed to get enough of them onto the battlefield then you'd be doing good (theoretically).

Other cards in the deck such as the foil legendary creature "Anthousa, Setessan Hero" have interesting effects that target things other than creatures. This card for example has a 4/5 counter with Heroic, and uses spell casting as a means to create up to three 2/2 land creatures. In other words your lands can become warrior creatures, and can assist you on the battlefield as well as still be counted as lands. Like the Kamigawa set it's all about power in numbers. Compared to Kamigawa though I think "Anthousa's Army", and the green, and White Theros cards in general have greater potential. I can definitely see some great things happening with Green, and White in this latest set release.

Amongst the "Anthousa's Army" deck there were some noteworthy cards worth mentioning. As previously mentioned the five cost "Anthousa, Setessan Hero" will be a great asset to an MTG player looking to outnumber their opponent/s with creatures. As far as spells go the four cost Instant "Artisan's Sorrow" is also a great card in that it it will help you rid your opponent of an enchantment/artifact while giving you a library advantage. When playing "Artisan's Sorrow" you look at the top two cards of your library, place any number of them on bottom, and the rest on top in any order. That in itself could prove very useful for when seeking out a certain card. Also included in the deck is a legendary enchantment artifact called "Bow of Nylea". Not only do your controlled creatures have the added bonus of deathtouch with this card but for a two mana you cn tap it, and choose one of four different effects. These effects include a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, 2 damage to a target creature with flying, 3 life, or put up to 4 target cards from your graveyard on the bottom of your library in any order. The fact that the card is only three cost initially will assure you that you can play it early on as well as use it's added bonuses multiple times during a match (unless someone rids you of it first, of course).

Cards like the high cost "Centaur Battlemaster", the low cost "Chronicler of Heroes", "Phalanx Leader (+1/+1 w/each target spell)", and "Favored Hoplite (+1/+1 counter for each target spell used + prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn) will give you the chance to inflict the damage necessary to end your opponent's life. While I could go on about every single card in the deck I'll just leave it at that in hopes that you to will explore the offerings of these latest Theros Intro Pack releases. The fact that you get two bonus booster packs along with your purchase should be incentive enough to get out there, and get into to this highly enjoyable trading card game. The cards are still affordable, and things like the Intro Packs, and Battle Packs (two small 20+ card decks ready for a two person duel) will keep you busy for quite a while.