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In Batch 4.21, these two cards got exactly 509 votes each. I will now lay out my assessment of each card and pick the winner.

Virulent Sliver

Design

The Time Spiral block Slivers are, like most cards in the block, trying to do two or three things at once. The Future Sight ones are often trying to do even more - by showcasing possible future mechanics as well as calling back to past mechanics, settings, and cards. Virulent Sliver (along with Snake Cult Initiation) showcased a possible future return of poison to the game, after a long hiatus. Of course, from our perspective, we know that poison counters would return in Scars of Mirrodin - although not with the Poisonous mechanic, but instead with Infect.

Before we get to the details of this card, let’s talk a bit about the mechanical identity of Slivers in general. Since introduction in Tempest block, they have grown into one of Magic’s most recognisable home-grown creatures. Their designs (until the controversial M14 re-imagining) focused on a key mechanic: Sharing their abilities with all other Slivers. This is a very parasitic mechanic (one that requires you to play with other cards with the mechanic), but an effective one - it lets you dream of building a monstrous army of creatures with a huge range of powers. However, affecting your opponents’ Slivers was a downside that discouraged using them, hence the decision in M14 to shift to only affecting your own slivers.

Virulent Sliver in particular makes use of the “possible future mechanic” gimmick of Future Sight, showcasing Poisonous. Now, in real Magic, Infect didn’t just come in because they wanted to have Phyrexians dole out -1/-1 counters - it’s there because Poisonous has a flaw. When poison and regular damage are competing (because creatures deal both), there is an unpleasant effect. The opponent can die the normal way to damage before poison becomes relevant, making the poison element feel like wasted effort and leading to a bad experience. That’s certainly a mark against Virulent Sliver.

What this card does do well, however, is showcase a simple implementation of poisonous and blend it nicely into the identity of the Time Spiral block Slivers.

Power level

Glistener Elf this is not - because poisonous doesn’t scale with the amount of damage dealt, Virulent Sliver doesn’t have the riotous power with pump spells that drives Modern Infect decks. What Virulent Sliver does do, however, is stack with multiple copies of itself - which lead to it being one of the primary packages used in non-rotating Flash Hulk decks, which used Protean Hulk to get four Virulent Slivers and one Heart Sliver to give them haste. With each Sliver dosing four poison, you would need to have three blockers (in Eternal!) to survive. This kind of deck was used by Tiago Chan, in part, to win the Invitational that lead to his design of Snapcaster Mage (thanks to apocalyptan on Reddit for pointing this out!).

The card’s underappreciation in the once-and-never-again Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour lead to Chris Lachmann and Jacob van Lunen winning in record time, by utilising a Sliver-heavy strategy that capitalised on the fact that poison still kills at 10 in 2HG. So, while restricted to some relatively niche formats, Virulent Sliver has still seen some top-flight play.

Flavour

Pedantry warning! Poison is misnamed already, because things which are poisonous are things that are harmful to eat, but poison creatures are generally flavoured as damaging you with stingers etc., which would be venomous instead. Virulent Sliver manages to go one worse - virulent as a term generally refers to diseases, rather than either poisons or venom.

Putting that aside, we don’t get any flavour text in either printing, and the name is straightforwardly following the “[Quality] Sliver” template seen on almost every example of the species. Not much to write home about.

Art

Franz Vohwinkel’s piece really sells dangerous. The creature’s stinger and tree-frog colouring both tap into recognisable tells that real-world nature uses to tell you that an animal is bad news. For better or worse, the M14 Sliver redesign did address the fact that the basic Sliver bodyform is limited in how much variation it can show (which is problematic for the Sliver mechanic), but it isn’t an issue here as the stinger does a great job showing you what this Sliver is bringing to the Hive.

Another apocalyptan spot is that the stinger and colouration may be references to Pit Scorpion and Marsh Viper respectively, which is neat.



Unfortunately, however, the card has no real background or context - it just features the Sliver itself.

Just as a brief note, I do consider the wacky and intriguing Future Sight border to have an impact on the art score - it’s really more of a “presentation” score. These borders split opinion but I am a fan.

Place in Magic history

While not the exact execution, this card did help to pave the way for the eventual return of poison. And, as noted, it had a little part to play in Pro Tour history, and in the making of Snapcaster Mage. Those are all big stories, but Virulent Sliver’s direct influence in those stories is relatively limited.

Sphinx of Magosi

Design

Sphinx of Magosi is very simple - in fact, it has in recent years been the Welcome Deck rare that brings new blue players into the fold (quite coincidental that just last week I was assessing Nightmare, the black equivalent). Like any good new player rare, it’s straightforward, appealing, and teaches the player a little bit about its host colour. In Sphinx’s case, that means showing that blue likes knowledge and cards - but in a way that also helps close out the game quickly.

Sphinx also has a neat trick where the activated ability’s cost divides into the mana cost - so that you can almost always use it twice the turn after you cast it. This trick is used quite often in designing cards and helps sell the whole package. It also has square stats (same power and toughness as its mana cost), which again sets a nice standard and is ascetically pleasing.

This is a simple card, but a very well-designed one for what it’s trying to do. It is a classic Sphinx and a great design for a Welcome Deck rare.

Power level

Being a well-designed Welcome Deck rare also means having to be limited in power. While great in casual games, the fact that these are given away to new players for free limits the power that Wizards can put into these cards. Sphinx of Magosi is a little stronger than some other Welcome Deck rares as it can quickly replace itself with more cards, but it’s still very much limited to the casual table. It was a relatively strong Limited card in its day, albeit constrained by its heavy blue mana cost.

Flavour

Magosi isn’t a Zendikar location that got a lot of development, but luckily that’s not really relevant to the flavour package here. The name sounds magical and sphinx-like, and that’s about all it needs to do. The flavour text (identical in all printings) also plays with the pop culture expectation of a riddle-loving sphinx, showing instead a superior intellect that uses riddles to ensnare the lesser beings around it. Unlike many Sphinx designs, the mechanics don’t really play into the “riddle” flavour, but the flavour text is still intriguing.

Art

James Ryman’s magisterial Sphinx makes good use of the braided look preferred by Zendikari sphinxes, providing a creature with an impressive stature and the feel of an animal. Its wingspan and lionish colouration make it appear menacing but also with a human feel to its gaze.

The stormy background and simple perch also work well to improve the atmosphere - this is an ominous feeling piece, and the fact that the sphinx is physically as well as metaphorically looking down at the viewer helps with the sense of superiority and confidence that the flavour text sells.

Place in Magic history

Other than being the current on-board point for blue mages, none in particular.

Final verdict

Virulent Sliver

Design - 6/10

Power level - 3/5

Flavour - 2/5

Art - 3/5

Place in Magic history - 3/5

TOTAL - 17/30

Sphinx of Magosi

Design - 8/10

Power level - 2/5

Flavour - 3/5

Art - 4/5

Place in Magic history - 2/5

TOTAL - 19/30

Best of fortunes to Sphinx of Magosi in Round 5!