Hello there. After reading article after article on how Apocalypse will affect the current Type 2 environment and how this and that card will really make an impact, I decided to write a review of Apocalypse from another viewpoint: that of the casual player. I've been playing this addictive card game since Mirage, and I've always stayed mostly on the casual side of the community. I've played in the occasional tournament now and then and of course at pre-releases, but I've never really put my thought on tournaments or accumulated a Type 2 card pool. This is going to be a card-by-card review of the cards I find most interesting, so prepare for a long article (Apocalypse is SO cool )

Card Name: False Dawn
Mana Cost: 1W
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Colored mana symbols on all permanents you control and on all
cards you own that aren't in play become [W] until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Rarity: R

Remember Celestial Dawn? It sucked. This one is a cantrip, which is good by itself, and could be useful in a multicolor deck. It could go to a deck where you need different color mana to execute a combo or possibly to power Legacy Weapon. Too bad it's a sorcery and not an instant.

Card Name: Gerrard Capashen
Mana Cost: 3WW
Type & Class: Creature - Legend
Pow/Tou: 3/4
Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 1 life for each card
in target opponent's hand.[3][W]: Tap target creature. Play
this ability only if Gerrard Capashen is attacking.
Rarity: R

As you can see, he's almost a living Ivory Tower and in addition he can tap your opponent's blockers. Unfortunately, I think he's not as good as he seems and not really worth the hype. There are a lot of better ways to get rid of opponent's blockers and being a Legend, you cannot achieve the fearsome multiple ivory tower effect. And most importantly, he's Gerrard and because I think the current Magic plot is one of the lamest things I've seen for a while, I wouldn't play with him if he was 6/6 trampling first striker for two mana (and that would be boring anyway).

Card Name: Haunted Angel
Mana Cost: 2W
Type & Class: Creature - Angel
Pow/Tou: 3/3
Card Text: Flying. When Haunted Angel is put into a graveyard from play,
remove Haunted Angel from the game and each other player puts
a 3/3 black Angel creature token with flying into play.
Rarity: U

She has some talent, but in the end, she gives the advantage to your opponent. Guaranteed to be the primary target of creature destruction, she's almost a Flagbearer. I'm sure there is a way to abuse her (no pun intended) but I haven't thought of a good one yet. A great casual card, challenging to build a deck around.

Card Name: Spectral Lynx
Mana Cost: 1W
Type & Class: Creature - Cat
Pow/Tou: 2/1
Card Text: Protection from green[B]: Regenerate Spectral Lynx.
Rarity: R

Too bad it's a rare. It wants to be compared to River Boa, but I don't think it's as good. Still, a good addition to my Cat deck.

Card Name: Evasive Action
Mana Cost: 1U
Type & Class: Instant
Card Text: Counter target spell unless its controller pays [1] for each
basic land type among lands you control.
Rarity: U

I've had a 5-color basic land based deck and if I'd had these at the time, I'd probably have used them. With old dual lands, this could be almost as good as Mana Leak. Still, my favourite counter for 1U has to be Arcane Denial.

Card Name: Ice Cave
Mana Cost: 3UU
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: Whenever a player plays a spell, any other player may pay
that spell's mana cost. If a player does, counter the spell.
(Mana cost includes color.)
Rarity: R

Now this is where things get fun. This could make quite an appearance in a Rising Waters or Winter Orb based deck with bounce, or maybe in a lock deck with Arcane Laboratory. The color aspect makes it even more interesting. With 5 color mana, you could probably counter more spells than your opponent. And I can just imagine Ice Cave in a big multiplayer game, it'd wreak havoc.

Card Name: Unnatural Selection
Mana Cost: 1U
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: [1]: Choose a creature type other than Wall. Target creature's
type becomes that type until end of turn.
Rarity: R

I was waiting when they make something like this. A great casual card for theme decks, rename your Lords of Atlantis into Merfolk or kill duplicate creatures by making them Legends (or play this with Spirit Mirror and kill all of your opponent's creatures). And of course, you can annoy your favourite DCI certified judge by asking weird questions about what happens when you change your Vesuvan Doppelgangers creature type to Dog and clone the Vesuvan and... well, you know the type.

Card Name: Whirlpool Warrior
Mana Cost: 2U
Type & Class: Creature - Merfolk
Pow/Tou: 2/2
Card Text: When Whirlpool Warrior comes into play, shuffle the cards
from your hand into your library, then draw that many cards.
[R], Sacrifice Whirlpool Warrior: Each player shuffles the
cards from his or her hand into his or her library, then
draws that many cards."
Rarity: R

If you have a more Type 1 oriented card pool, this walking Winds of Change screams for Chains of Mephistopheles or Underworld Dreams. Also, the Winds effect can really screw your opponent if you use something like Sealed Fate to organize his or her library. And you musn't forget that he's a Merfolk and Merfolk are always cool.

Card Name: Desolation Angel
Mana Cost: 3BB
Type & Class: Creature - Angel
Pow/Tou: 5/4
Card Text: Kicker [W][W] (You may pay an additional [W][W] as you play
this spell.) Flying. When Desolation Angel comes into play,
destroy all lands you control. If you paid the kicker cost,
destroy all lands instead."
Rarity: R

It's the Armageddon Angel! Quick, duck and cover! Really, I'd play rather with the Real Thing than pay seven mana for a big creature and an Armageddon. Even though it's tempting, she costs four colored mana to use properly when Armageddon is only one. Maybe if I had an Angel deck I'd use her, but that's it

Card Name: Necra Sanctuary
Mana Cost: 2B
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a green or
white permanent, target player loses 1 life. If you control
a green permanent and a white permanent, that player loses
3 life instead.
Rarity: U

Now this is a beating. A steady source of life loss, and it's splashable to most decks. It even comboes well with one of my favourite enchantments, Sterling Grove. It's almost better than Underworld Dreams, though you can't do sick things with it. Still, a great kill card.

Card Name: Phyrexian Arena
Mana Cost: 1BB
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw a card and you
lose 1 life.
Rarity: R

The hype card. Since I don't care about DCI types, I can just trade these for fun stuff and use Necro. The good part is that you don't skip your draw step, but as this is hardly splashable, I don't find it worth it.

Card Name: Planar Despair
Mana Cost: 3BB
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: All creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn for each basic
land type among lands you control.
Rarity: R

If you play with 5 different basic land or old duals, you have a black Wrath of God. Otherwise, you have a crap rare. And a bad one at that. Not recommended, you can't even have kicks by building a deck around it.

Card Name: Suppress
Mana Cost: 2B
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Target player removes all cards in his or her hand from the
game face down. At the end of that player's next turn, that
player returns those cards to his or her hand.
Rarity: U

This is something I like very much. A must counter for boring blue decks which sometimes plague my play environment. Also, could be used in a discard deck since it's always 2 damage with The Rack

Card Name: Bloodfire Colossus
Mana Cost: 6RR
Type & Class: Creature - Giant
Pow/Tou: 6/6
Card Text: [R], Sacrifice Bloodfire Colossus: Bloodfire Colossus deals
6 damage to each creature and each player.
Rarity: R

I am Mr. Inferno. First I hit you hard, and then I go postal and burn everything in my sight. The mana cost is very high, but creatures can be easily reanimated or put into play with other means so I don't think that's a big issue. It's basically a Seal of Wrath of God when it's on the table

Card Name: Desolation Giant
Mana Cost: 2RR
Type & Class: Creature - Giant
Pow/Tou: 3/3
Card Text: Kicker [W][W] (You may pay an additional [W][W] as you play
this spell.) When Desolation Giant comes into play, destroy
all other creatures you control. If you paid the kicker cost,
destroy all other creatures instead.
Rarity: R

I like him better than his cousin, the Desolation Angel. You can play this in a disadvantageous situation, and still come out as a winner. Also, a Wrath effect is generally more useful in multiplayer than a Geddon one. He even costs less and has a cooler picture

Card Name: Raka Sanctuary
Mana Cost: 2R
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a white or
blue permanent, Raka Sanctuary deals 1 damage to target
creature. If you control a white permanent and a blue permanent,
Raka Sanctuary deals 3 damage to that creature instead."
Rarity: U

A reusable Bolt for creature control? I'll take that, thank you. Plus, it could be fun with Repercussion. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Card Name: Wild Research
Mana Cost: 2R
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: [1][W]: Search your library for an enchantment card and
reveal that card. Put it into your hand, then discard a
card at random from your hand. Then shuffle your library.
[1][U]: Search your library for an instant card and reveal
that card. Put it into your hand, then discard a card at
random from your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Rarity: R

I'll tutor for The Abyss and discard.. the Abyss. Damn, well I'll tutor for Replenish and discard.. a Tundra. I'll Replenish now, thank you. I think this thing is broken. All that it needs is Library of Leng and you have a reusable tutor. Also, there are a billion combo pieces you can search with it. A card I definately want 4 of.

Card Name: Gaea's Balance
Mana Cost: 3G
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: As an additional cost to play Gaea's Balance, sacrifice
five lands. Search your library for a land card of each
basic land type and put them into play. Then shuffle
your library.
Rarity: U

A while ago I had a deck that used Clear the Land/Scouting Trek-combo and had in it all kinds of weird, multicolored legends like Merieke Ri Berit and Rasputin Dreamweaver. With this, you can achieve the same effect but also fetch dual lands. The drawback is a bad one, and it remains to be seen if it really has enough play value. Maybe some sort of turbo mana/land deck with Fastbond or Manabond?

Card Name: Kavu Mauler
Mana Cost: 4GG
Type & Class: Creature - Kavu
Pow/Tou: 4/4
Card Text: Trample. Whenever Kavu Mauler attacks, it gets +1/+1
until end of turn for each other attacking Kavu.
Rarity: R

Blergh. Kavu are boring, since in my opinion they lack the appeal of most other creature types like Angels, Dragons, Merfolk, Goblins and even Zombies. Still, if you insist on making a Kavu deck, this could be okay.

Card Name: Lay of the Land
Mana Cost: G
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal that
card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your
library.
Rarity: C

Not as good as Land Grant in my opinion, but still a nice card for a common. Still, I'd rather play a first turn Birds

Card Name: Penumbra Wurm
Mana Cost: 5GG
Type & Class: Creature - Wurm
Pow/Tou: 6/6
Card Text: Trample. When Penumbra Wurm is put into a graveyard
from play, put a 6/6 black Wurm creature token with
trample into play.
Rarity: R

Wurms are cool. This is cool, just like Rukh Egg but bigger. Play a Lifeline and kill it with Diamond Valley or Claws of Gix or whatever, then it comes back and you just made a new friend.

Card Name: Savage Gorilla
Mana Cost: 4G
Type & Class: Creature - Ape
Pow/Tou: 3/3
Card Text: [U][B], TAP, Sacrifice Savage Gorilla: Target creature
gets -3/-3 until end of turn. Draw a card.
Rarity: C

My friend told me I cannot write anything interesting about Savage Gorilla. He was right

Card Name: Symbiotic Deployment
Mana Cost: 2G
Type & Class: Enchantment
Pow/Tou:
Card Text: Skip your draw step.[1], Tap two untapped creatures
you control: Draw a card.
Rarity: R

This is really, really cool. Finally a green card drawer worth using.. all you need is some creatures and you're all set. The bad part is that if somebody nukes your elves, you're going down. I think this could be used in a blue deck with Horseshoe Crabs, Morphlings counters and Elves/Birds.

Card Name: Urborg Elf
Mana Cost: 1G
Type & Class: Creature - Elf
Pow/Tou: 1/1
Card Text: TAP: Add [G], [U], or [B] to your mana pool.
Rarity: C

How can you not love him (or her, I haven't seen the art yet)?

Card Name: Captain's Maneuver
Mana Cost: XRW
Type & Class: Instant
Card Text: The next X damage that would be dealt to target
creature or player this turn is dealt to another
target creature or player instead.
Rarity: U

Can't wait to play a few of these in a multiplayer game. A true politics-card, you can either punish or reward other players for their cooperation/lack of it. Four of these and four Reflect Damages, and you're guaranteed no one will ever hit you again. You could even use Deliriums and Backslashes for additional creature control.

Card Name: Cromat
Mana Cost: WUBRG
Type & Class: Creature - Legend
Pow/Tou: 5/5
Card Text: [W][B]: Destroy target creature blocking or
blocked by Cromat.[U][R]: Cromat gains flying
until end of turn.[B][G]: Regenerate Cromat.
[R][W]: Cromat gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
[G][U]: Put Cromat on top of its owner's
library.
Rarity: R

He doesn't impress me. The destroy target creature ability is good, but otherwise he's just a poor 5-colored Morphling-wannabe. If you want to play with a cool rainbow creature, why not play with a Sliver Queen?

Card Name: Death Grasp
Mana Cost: XWB
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Death Grasp deals X damage to target creature
or player. You gain X life.
Rarity: R

Usually life gain sucks, but with this baby it suddenly got a lot better. Just like Drain Life, but you don't even need to use black mana. I'll play with these

Card Name: Fervent Charge
Mana Cost: 1WBR
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: Whenever a creature you control attacks, it
gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Rarity: R

Sure, it makes your creatures bigger. But let's face reality, it is four mana and three different colors. Even in T2, you can make a creature deck that will kill the opponent before this is any real good. If you really want this kind of an effect, use Mightstone, the picture is better

Card Name: Fungal Shambler
Mana Cost: 4GUB
Type & Class: Creature - Beast
Pow/Tou: 6/4
Card Text: Trample. Whenever Fungal Shambler deals damage
to an opponent, you draw a card and that opponent
discards a card from his or her hand.
Rarity: R

Another overcosted, oversized uncastable creature with a good ability. With reanimation he might be nice, even though I'd just use Nicol Bolas to REALLY hurt the opponent

Card Name: Gerrard's Verdict
Mana Cost: WB
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Target player discards two cards from his or her
hand. You gain 3 life for each land card discarded
this way.
Rarity: U

Oh my. Discard your spells, you just lost two good cards. Discard your land, you just gave your opponent more life. I predict this will be a staple in Type 1 Pox decks that already splash white, and I'm sure these will be popular elsewhere too. Almost as good as Hymn

Card Name: Goblin Trenches
Mana Cost: 1RW
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: [2], Sacrifice a land: Put two 1/1 red and white
Goblin Soldier creature tokens into play.
Rarity: R

This is boring. Maybe in some land acceleration deck but I doubt it'd be good even there. Death by goblin tokens is not cool

Card Name: Guided Passage
Mana Cost: URG
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Reveal the cards in your library. An opponent
chooses from among them a creature card, a land
card, and a noncreature, nonland card. You put the
chosen cards into your hand. Then shuffle your
library.
Rarity: R

It really rewards careful deck construction. At worst, it's "draw three bad cards and increase the odds of drawing good ones". I like it

Card Name: Last Stand
Mana Cost: WUBRG
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Target opponent loses 2 life for each swamp you
control. Last Stand deals damage equal to the
number of mountains you control to target creature.
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play
for each forest you control. You gain 2 life for
each plains you control. Draw a card for each
island you control, then discard that many cards
from your hand.
Rarity: R

A bit too casual for even my tastes. Maybe with False Dawn and old duals but I doubt it. The effect is a bit too varied, you can't really build a deck around it. Could be cool in some casual 5-color 250 card type 1 highlander

Card Name: Lightning Angel
Mana Cost: 1RWU
Type & Class: Creature - Angel
Pow/Tou: 3/4
Card Text: Flying; haste (This creature may attack and TAP
the turn it comes under your control.)Attacking
doesn't cause Lightning Angel to tap.
Rarity: R

Hmmm.. she certainly packs some punch. Being 3-colored, you either need a lot of non-basic lands or insane luck to play her quickly. Still, 3/4 flying creature with good abilities for four mana is a bargain. Now, we can finally make a 5-color angel theme deck.

Card Name: Martyrs' Tomb
Mana Cost: 2WB
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: Pay 2 life: Prevent the next 1 damage that would
be dealt to target creature this turn.
Rarity: U

I hate this Limited crap.

Card Name: Mystic Snake
Mana Cost: 1GUU
Type & Class: Creature - Snake
Pow/Tou: 2/2
Card Text: You may play Mystic Snake any time you could play
an instant.When Mystic Snake comes into play,
counter target spell.
Rarity: R

It's certainly no Absorb or Undermine. The mana cost is pretty high for a counterspell, and 2/2 is hardly worth it. I think I'll stick to River Boas and Ophidians if I want snakes.

Card Name: Overgrown Estate
Mana Cost: BGW
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: Sacrifice a land: You gain 3 life.
Rarity: R

Compared to Zuran Orb, this is crap. The art is nice though, and giving 3 life instead of 2, you could probably play it in some Fastbond-based combo deck.

Card Name: Pernicious Deed
Mana Cost: 1BG
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: [X], Sacrifice Pernicious Deed: Destroy each
artifact, creature, and enchantment with converted
mana cost X or less.
Rarity: R

They say it's the new Disk. I think it's not even close, but still a good card. Notice that you can blow up everything except your Avatar of Woe or Verdant Force. It's only two colors, and the effect can be huge in duel and multiplayer alike. I'd want these, if they weren't so expensive to trade for..

Card Name: Powerstone Minefield
Mana Cost: 2RW
Type & Class: Enchantment
Card Text: Whenever a creature attacks or blocks, Powerstone
Minefield deals 2 damage to it.
Rarity: R

A good stall card. It comboes well with Humility, and if you have a few of these, probably no one will attack you. Of course, in multiplayer, this makes you Mr. Bullseye so be prepared. Also usable in a prot red deck.

Card Name: Prophetic Bolt
Mana Cost: 3UR
Type & Class: Instant
Card Text: Prophetic Bolt deals 4 damage to target creature or
player. Look at the top four cards of your library.
Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest
on the bottom of your library.
Rarity: R

It's a solid card. Impulse and Lightning Blast combined, I'd play these in almost any red/blue deck. The mana cost is a bit high, but because it's an Instant, you can play it at end of turn so it doesn't really matter.

Card Name: Spiritmonger
Mana Cost: 3BG
Type & Class: Creature - Beast
Pow/Tou: 6/6
Card Text: Whenever Spiritmonger deals damage to a creature,
put a +1/+1 counter on Spiritmonger.[B]:
Regenerate Spiritmonger.[G]: Spiritmonger becomes
the color of your choice until end of turn.
Rarity: R

Mr. Insane Beatings himself. He is huge, has good abilities and is very cheap for what he does. These should go into any deck supporting black and green. Too bad the abilities aren't really interesting, just good

Card Name: Suffocating Blast
Mana Cost: 1UUR
Type & Class: Instant
Card Text: Counter target spell and Suffocating Blast deals
3 damage to target creature.
Rarity: R

A lot better than Mystic Snake in my opinion. Especially in multiplayer, you will always have targets for a Lightning Bolt. Not a card that you can build a deck around though

Card Name: Vindicate
Mana Cost: 1WB
Type & Class: Sorcery
Card Text: Destroy target permanent.
Rarity: R

Yes, Gerrard dies! A desert twister for three mana. I think it's a bit overhyped, but still quite a good card. Pox decks will absolutely love this one. And with so many good white/black cards in the set, I will finally find use for my 4 Scrublands that have been sitting in my binder for ages

Card Name: Dragon Arch
Mana Cost: 5
Type & Class: Artifact
Card Text: [2], TAP: Put a multicolored creature card from
your hand into play.
Rarity: U

It's a bit expensive, but think of all cool multicolored Legends there are. Also, you can play a dragon legend with only two mana.. this will see a lot of play in casual games

Card Name: Legacy Weapon
Mana Cost: 7
Type & Class: Legendary Artifact
Card Text: [W][U][B][R][G]: Remove target permanent from the
game.If Legacy Weapon would be put into a graveyard
from anywhere, reveal Legacy Weapon and shuffle it
into its owner's library instead.
Rarity: R

It slices and dices, and doesn't even die. I like the wording "from anywhere" since it prevents you from being decked by Millstones and guarantees you get to keep your toy. I realize it's not tournament quality, but if I was to build a 5-color deck, I'd put in one or two. The ability is just so good

Card Name: Mask of Intolerance
Mana Cost: 2
Type & Class: Artifact
Card Text: At the beginning of each player's upkeep, if there
are four or more basic land types among lands that
player controls, Mask of Intolerance deals 3 damage
to him or her.
Rarity: R

A deck with these and Collapsing Borders might be workable. Otherwise, it's just too random to use

The new pain lands:
They are just as good as the original Ice Age ones. Still, I have my playset of old duals and don't probably try to get them as eagerly as the people actively playing Type 2.

The Volvers:
They are cheap, but somehow boring. Nothing special, just good creatures for multicolored decks.

Enlistment Officer, Tidal Courier etc.
The mechanic is interesting, in a theme deck they could really give a good beating.

As you can see, this is unfinished but I don't really have any interest in finishing it so please forgive me. Apocalypse is still the best set to come out in ages

__________________
Am I the one you think I am, or just the one you didn't expect?

It came close to wrecking my Nomar control deck, though, although I eventually Vindicated it and then raced with a Spectral Lynx.