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Oooh, if you are a serious Magic player,
you are going to want Anthologies. This boxed set consists
of two competetive 60-card, preconstructed decks that include cards from
every edition and expansion of Magic, from (Un)Limited
to Urza's Saga.
Deck A, "Dark Alliance," is a Red and Black deck that
comes out fast and encourages relentless attack. It consists of 25 lands,
23 creatures, 12 spells and artifacts, and 5 goblin token cards. While many
of its creatures are cheap (more than half can be summoned with one or two
mana), the deck does include some real champions, including Ihsan's Shade
(3 + 3 Black to summon, 5/5, protection from white), Lady Orca (5
+ 1 Black + 1 Red to summon, 7/4), and Volcanic Dragon (4 + 2 Red
to summon, 4 /4, flying, unaffected by summoning sickness).
Deck B, "Defenders of the Cause," is a Green and White
deck that is designed to create a stalemate on the ground and achieve victory
in the air. It consists of 25 lands, 23 creatures, 12 spells and artifacts,
and 5 pegasus token cards. Most of its creatures are fairly cheap to summon,
the most powerful in the lot being Serra Angel (3 + 2 White, 4/4, flying,
attacking does not cause it to tap). The deck also includes the famous Armageddon
(which destroys all lands), the now tournament-illegal Serrated Arrows
(which allow -1/-1 counters to be placed on target creatures), and Overrun
(all your creatures get +3/+3 and gain Trample until the end of the
turn).
Anthologies also comes with a 64-page booklet that is a real
prize for people who have not been playing the game since it was released
in 1993. The main reason for this is that it chronicles the history of the
game from its beginning and contains brief descriptions of each of the Magic
editions/expansions/extensions (Alpha-Beta-Unlimited, Arabian
Nights, Antiquities, Revised Edition, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires,
Fourth Edition, Ice Age, Chronicles, HomeLands, Alliances, Mirage, Visions,
Fifth Edition, Weatherlight, Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus, Urza's Saga, Portal,
Portal Second Age, and Unglued; and a preview of Urza's
Legacy). These mini-histories are very interesting in that they
discuss the evolving trends within the game, shifts in philosophy behind
it, and specific cards and rules.
And, Anthologies' sturdy cardboard box, which depicts the factions represented in the decks, can hold up to 350 cards, or five complete 60-card decks along with a few sideboards or spares.
Anthologies could be better in some ways. For one thing, there are no Blue cards in either of its deck. It is understandable that the designers may have wished to avoid creating a three-color deck and thus had to avoid using one color; however, including a 15-card sideboard that could have been used with either deck might have been a better compromise than leaving out Blue cards altogether.
Of course, it is impossible to create something like Anthologies and make it everything to everyone, and the set's few imperfections might not be important to many players. In the long run, they are not important enough to keep us from liking this collection.
Anthologies retails for $24.99.
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