Why is cranial plating so good

All-in artifact decks love this for how much damage it helps them put up, and back before the Mox Opal ban neutered Affinity, this was a big part of why the deck could explode as hard as it could. Constructed: 4 Casual: 3. We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. Daily Since Home Yu-Gi-Oh! Card of the Day Yu-Gi-Oh!

Forums Yu-Gi-Oh! News Yu-Gi-Oh! Vanguard Cardfight!! Vanguard Card of the Day Archive — Pojo. Saturday, November 13, Both are Sunburst cards and both require three or four colours of mana before they can be considered playable. It's pretty clear that the deck you have here is going to be strictly two colours as you have several cards with heavy coloured mana requirements.

It's not worth playing other cards like Pentad Prism just to support a combo with one of these two cards and as a result you aren't going to be able to get the necessary number of counters on these two cards and they don't have a place in this deck. The same really applies to both Vulshok Sorcerer and Magma Giant.

They're both very nice cards to have if you're drafting red but you aren't and there's no way you should consider splashing for the double-red casting cost of these two cards. Stand Firm and Steelshaper's Gift are nice little cards to have but they're not high picks here. Stand Firm is probably at its best in a deck like this where it's a nice cheap combat trick that'll help one of your guys survive combat.

It's not a high pick though and it could potentially make it all the way around the table for you to grab as your ninth pick. You should be able to get one later in the draft and if you don't, well, it's still not that great a loss. Steelshaper's Gift is a very nice card when you have the equipment to go with it but here you just have a sole Leonin Scimitar and that's not really worth searching out. These two cards would most likely make the cut in your deck but there are simply better cards for you in this pack.

Ten cards down and five to go. It's fairly clear that the correct pick should come from the following:. Nicolai Herzog : I'd take the Cranial Plating. The card is simply insane, even here where it'll usually be a Bonesplitter. However, it can still become a lot better, and the deck has plenty of evasion as well as a Leonin Den-Guard and a Leonin Shikari that both cry out to be abused.

All three are excellent cards, but Cranial Plating is what the deck needs right now. Also, this pack is so strong that you might very possibly receive Steelshaper's Gift when the pack comes back. Jake Smith : This is a very strong pack. The Anchorite, Courier, Trinket Mage , and Plating are all cards that are good in blue-white, whilst there are a number of other powerful cards here too Justice, Oracle, Manta, and the Sorcerer in particular.

Loxodon Anchorite is one of my favourite cards in Fifth Dawn , as it allows you to control the game - it's bigger than a lot of other creatures, and the healing ability is extremely effective as both an offensive and defensive ability. Thought Courier is clearly strong as it allows you to move through your deck faster, but should not be mistaken for being as powerful as earlier versions - Cepahlid Looter was broken due to the fact that that format had flashback and threshold in it.

Trinket Mage is typically one of the most powerful cards in blue-white decks working very well in tandem with Leonin Squire , but in this deck so far you have only two decent targets for it - Mages can also often be picked up slightly later than first pick. Despite my affection for the Anchorite, I would pick Cranial Plating from this pack.

Even though it is often no better than a Bonesplitter arguably worse, as it costs 1 more to cast , it consistently gets better as the game goes on.

This deck is full of evasion, and doesn't yet have enough equipment to be confident of being able to race a deck with mana acceleration and big creatures. Furthermore, despite not playing black, and therefore not being able to use the re-equip ability, Shikari's presence in this deck makes me want to have as much powerful equipment as possible. Olivier Ruel : I'd take the Loxodon Anchorite definitely, this card is absolutely amazing and it is pretty good with the mana curve this deck has.

Plating is good too, but it's much easier for your opponent to deal with and you may still get other playable Equipment in one of the next Fifth Dawn packs. Zvi Mowshowitz : Well that's a fine mess you've gotten yourself into. You have multiple double cost requirements and no real deck to back them up, but at least you're not too far behind on cards. Alas, you can't even make good use of Trinket Mage , so you're stuck with Loxodon Anchorite since your deck will be unable to make proper use of Skyreach Manta.

Two votes for the Anchorite and two for Cranial Plating. I think that helps demonstrate just how close together those two cards are in this situation. With the Pros and the readers both favouring those two cards it's obvious the pick should be either the Plating or the Anchorite. Before dealing with that choice however, I'll give you a few thoughts on why the other cards didn't make the cut.

Tel-Jilad Justice suffers a similar fate to many of the other cards. Simply put, this deck cannot afford to splash a colour. Justice is a great card, and one that you should be happy to first-pick just not now, and not for this deck.

Thought Courier is a card I love to have in my decks but that's largely because I like to play a control game most of the time. Over time Thought Courier will give you a significant advantage as you're able to turn dead draws and excess lands into more cards. It doesn't fit too well with the theme of this deck however as this deck wants to be attacking with its creatures or at least using them to support an attack in some way. Thought Courier doesn't help out the overall plan here and although it's a solid card in its own right it doesn't shine here.

Trinket Mage is a better option but it too just isn't that exciting here. It will always fetch something — it can get either Leonin Scimitar , Sunbeam Spellbomb or Darksteel Citadel right now. But do you really want Darksteel Citadel or Sunbeam Spellbomb in your deck?

Probably not. You might get some other targets in Fifth Dawn. Conjurer's Bauble is nice especially if you get a Leonin Squire or two and Wayfarer's Bauble isn't bad either, but there's no guarantee you'll get either of those. If you get enough playable cards to replace the Spellbomb it's entirely possible you might only have the Scimitar for the Mage to fetch and that isn't enough. The above choice is quite simply what this pick comes down to. Both cards are excellent picks and both are very playable.

The Anchorite's power isn't really dependant upon anything else other than your ability to cast it. The same isn't true of the Plating however as the power level of that card can vary wildly.

To decide which is the better of the two, you need to look at the cards that are in your deck, and the cards that you'll probably pick in Fifth Dawn. The thing to bear in mind is how many of those will realistically make the final cut? It's not unreasonable to be able to expect to replace those cards but doing so would significantly reduce the number of artifacts in the deck.

If we look through the Fifth Dawn commons what do we have that will be worthy inclusions in this deck?

On the artifact side however there's only really Myr Quadropod that you want for a creature. Likewise you're not going to be able to get a lot out of Opaline Bracers , Pentad Prism or Baton of Courage here and the coloured commons will be better picks than these the majority of the time.

Right now I think it is only Gold Myr , Leonin Scimitar and Thunderstaff that will definitely make the cut in this deck. Now if you expect to play the Alpha Myr and Arcbound Hybrid then the value of the Plating goes up a little bit but it should be obvious that even with six or seven artifacts in your deck it will be very unusual for you to get a significant boost from the Plating.

The fact that the Plating enables your Leonin Den-Guard is nice, but with only two pieces of equipment in the deck you aren't going to be able to rely on the Den-Guard either. Ideally you'd be cutting him for a Leonin Squire or Thought Courier and in that situation the argument for the Anchorite increases further as it's very useful in protecting your ground guys during combat.

Another thing to note in this deck is that all of your evasive creatures have a fair amount of power already. It's not like you have a deck filled with Wizard Replica s and Neurok Familiar s where there is a real need for the boost in power.