Hall of Shame Nominations: Antiquities

[BigBlue]

Since I'll be out of town this weekend I'm posting this early.

Deadlines for nominations will be Sunday 8/17 at Midnight EDT.

Amulet of Kroog
Armageddon Clock
Ashnod's Altar
Ashnod's Battle Gear
Ashnod's Transmogrant
Battering Ram
Bronze Tablet
Candelabra of Tawnos
Clay Statue
Clockwork Avian
Colossus of Sardia
Coral Helm
Cursed Rack
Dragon Engine
Feldon's Cane
Golgothian Sylex
Grapeshot Catapult
Ivory Tower
Jalum Tome
Mightstone
Millstone
Mishra's War Machine
Obelisk of Undoing
Onulet
Ornithopter
Primal Clay
Rakalite
Rocket Launcher
Shapeshifter
Staff of Zegon
Su-Chi
Tablet of Epityr
Tawnos's Coffin
Tawnos's Wand
Tawnos's Weaponry
Tetravus
The Rack
Triskelion
Urza's Avenger
Urza's Chalice
Urza's Miter
Wall of Spears
Weakstone
Yotian Soldier
Argivian Archaeologist
Argivian Blacksmith
Artifact Ward
Circle of Protection: Artifacts
Damping Field
Martyrs of Korlis
Reverse Polarity
Drafna's Restoration
Energy Flux
Hurkyl's Recall
Power Artifact
Reconstruction
Sage of Lat-Nam
Transmute Artifact
Artifact Possession
Gate to Phyrexia
Haunting Wind
Phyrexian Gremlins
Priest of Yawgmoth
Xenic Poltergeist
Yawgmoth Demon
Artifact Blast
Atog
Detonate
Dwarven Weaponsmith
Goblin Artisans
Orcish Mechanics
Shatterstorm
Argothian Pixies
Argothian Treefolk
Citanul Druid
Crumble
Gaea's Avenger
Powerleech
Titania's Song
Mishra's Factory
Mishra's Workshop
Strip Mine
Urza's Mine
Urza's Power Plant
Urza's Tower

Happy Nominating!

(This set wasn't as good, so I think we'll see more nominations than before.)

 

[Melkor]

I haven't done a full look through, I'm sure some other people will pick up my slack. Still, I'm confidant that Rakalite is at least worthy of nomination. First it costs 6, then it costs 2 to use for an effect that isn't that strong and three, just to top it off, if you use it, you have to return it to your hand. That is crappy.

 

[Mooseman]

Urza's Miter
3 to play then 3 to draw a card, but only when one of your artifacts are destroyed or killed in combat or..... but not sac'd...... This may be good with Nuisance Engine... well not really.... maybe with.... What?
Maybe there is a use for it, but their are a lot of better ways to draw..... and less costly.....

 

[BigBlue]

I wanted to go with Su-Chi, because unless you have a plan, 4 mana burn is pretty much a guarantee most times this dies (Unless you have Urza's Miter in play w/ a Tablet of Epityr... ). But, I guess you would make sure to have a use for it's ability, and a 4/4 for 4 whose only drawback is a potential 4 damage that can be advantageous if you plan for it isn't the worst.

I considered both cards already nominated... since i have this innate need to be different, I'm nominating the Urza's lands. You get lured into thinking they'll be useful... but then this set is where Strip Mine came from, and Sinkholes, Stone Rain, and Ice Storm were more common at the time - so one of them would disrupt your set quickly... Plus everyone knows to deal w/ it once you get 2 pieces in play...

So, I'm going with Urza's Tower/Urza's Mine/Urza's Power Plant.

And, in this set they were Uncommon (albeit with several copies/art). So, unlike their Common Chronicles counterparts, you probably had to work a bit to get your 4 each to make them playable.

 

[Ferret]

The problem I hate with this set is how many cards that came from it were so GOOD. A majority of these cards would later be re-printed in other basic sets or expansions...annoyance.

I was also going to go with Su-Chi, but there are lots of mana sinks you can put all of the red mana into and 4/4 for 4 is actually quite good.

The Urza lands are too restrictive. If you're playing an artifact deck, they might become useful by turn three (assuming that you got one of each out), but usually all it takes is one land destruction spell (or strip mine) and you're looking at a bunch of lands that only produce one colourless mana.

This was not an easy pick...

-Ferret

...I almost went with Goblin Artisans because I could never quite figure out what they did, but Goblin Kings still make them powerful...

 

[Shabbaman]

I second Rakalite. I think I got about 10 of them out of chronicles boosters, and I hate the card. Back then I didn't know it was a rare, but if I did, I would have hated it more.

I dislike damage prevention unless it's a static ability, but you have to pay mana for this. And not a little bit, but A LOT (yes, I'm shouting). Now, someone could say it's good because it's an artifact with a high casting cost... []

The miter isn't that bad, it's just not good. It draws cards for a reasonable investment. If (yeah, if...) it didn't have the sacrifice-clause it'd been good with Atog. A pity. I could imagine running this in my Xenic poltergeist deck back in the days (yes, I had that deck, without access to Gate to phyrexia this is mono black's way to get rid of artifacts: xenic poltergeist+arcum's whistle. I know, it's a stretch, but good enough to make people nervous).

Su-chi is just a good card. A 4/4 for 4 plus a good ability.

Urza lands: without good land search these cards aren't great, but I don't know anyone who didn't want to play with these cards. These were some of the most-wanted cards from Chronicles in my area.

I've gone through the list, and there are some pretty good cards in this set. One card that I think is definately sub-par is Reverse polarity. I dislike situational cards. This one depends on your opponents dealing damage to you with artifacts. The effect is something I dislike, lifegain. But within the set it isn't that bad.

That leaves Goblin artisans, but I don't understand them either. I think you need to have an artifact spell on the stack, because you need legal targets for your ability. If so, this card could be one of the worst cards ever. Why would you want to counter your own spells?

 

[Modus Pwnens]

Corel Helm, which effect is less than spectacular, and it's cost is just unacceptably high for such a minor ability.

 

[Spiderman]

I can't really see any worse cards than the ones nominated...

 

[Oversoul]

Su-Chi is very good. The Urza's lands are good too. Most mono-artifact decks I've seen have packed full playsets of the Urza's lands, and with good reason. In these decks, they're as good as basic lands until you get all three out, then they're much better. And it's easy to get all three out. I don't understand how experienced players could want to nominate these cards. If I were making a "top 10 best cards in Antiquities" these cards would make that list. And someone else thinks they're the WORST cards in the set?

Goblin Artisans is a 1/1 for R with a mostly useless ability. That means it's still better than Mon's Goblin Raiders, to put that into perspective. Sure, it's not a good card, but don't focus so much on the ability and remember that a 1/1 for R isn't at at all atypical.

Miter is weak, but not appallingly so.

Rakalite is pure crap. No, having a high cc doesn't make it good because 6 is very common. If I were exploiting an artifact's cost, I'd want something that was more mana and plenty of cards even back then were more expensive (like Aladdin's Lamp).

Coral Helm seems worse, though.

I'm going to repeat my last nomination and go with Golgothian Sylex. Sure, in Antiquities draft, it's a superpowered Nevinyrral's Disk. But Antiquities drafts are more rare than the situations where Coral Helm will actually save you, making the Golgothian Sylex arguably even worse.

 

[BigBlue]

Last day for Nominations:

Coral Helm - Modus Pwnens
Golgothian Sylex - Oversoul
Rakalite - Melkor, Shabbaman
Urza's Land Cycle - BigBlue, Ferret
Urza's Miter - Mooseman

 

[Shabbaman]

Go go rakalite!