So Magic: the Gathering fans everywhere would be delighted at the new set, Scars of Mirrodin, which officially released by the time the first weekend rolled in.

For Standard format players, it meant a whole new environment as the debut of Scars meant that the Alara block was rotated out of play.

Check out MagicTheGathering.com’s early October article here for some of the latest and coolest decks (http://bit.ly/c5bZSO). Don’t forget ManaNation.com too – it’s got tons of the latest deck tech and strategies on how to maximize the latest goodies.

Poison in my veins

A slew of new decks are making an impact now, and who would’ve guessed that of all things, Poison decks actually look mighty powerful now.

With the new Infect ability, creatures deal damage to players or Poison counters (in the equivalent amount of damage).

With the preponderance of pump spells (Vines of Vastwood, Primal Bellow, Giant Growth to name a few) available to the color of the almighty Forest, I daresay that the new Infect decks are scarily efficient, with the possibility of winning quickly, should the opponent be unprepared.

The big story for Scars is of course the artifacts. With half the expansion packed with artifacts, this is looking to be one mighty shiny and object-laden set, with a number of headliners leading the way.

You’ve definitely seen the new Mox, Mox Opal. It’s just one of the smattering of Metalcraft cards that give you more, if more artifacts are in the fray. The new Masticore, Molten-Tail Manticore is also rocking the scene, with a nice decent body and a cool new ability tacked onto it.

The new Planeswalker cards are pretty hot as well. In fact, Koth, Venser and the new Elspeth are all commanding premium pricing. Koth is a must-have for Red decks by the way, as he’s just nastily efficient in finishing off opponents.

Speaking of Red, I’d like to heartily recommend Spikeshot Goblin, as the perfect end-game finisher of sorts for all the new Goblin decks. Sounds like the perfect way to spend all the spare mana that usually idles during the end. To top it off, he goes really well with Goblin Chieftain.

Less awesome?

Now, IMHO the set is a decent one that struggles to impose its awesomeness. It’s not bad, but to me is not as mindblowing as Zendikar nor is it as great as Shards of Alara.

Admittedly these are early days but based on the preliminary pricing, the average costs of the rare cards are lower than what you see in other sets. Check out pricing here to see some sample lists – you’ll see what I mean.

After some feedback and discussion with my playing group, looks like only a quarter of us was really, really keen on the set.

No, we’re not a jaded bunch – we’re actually dedicated casual players who allow anything and everything that was printed from Champions of Kamigawa onwards. And this includes cards that came in special sets such as Duel Decks and the Planechase decks.

In fact, I have to admit that I was pretty darned excited over Wurmcoil Engine. It sort of got me thinking that Scars would be awesome.

But these few days has been all rather flat, after realizing that the cards in the set are decent, but not as great we thought it’d be.

Sure there are gems, but Scars to me suffers from the same problem that afflicted Worldwake and Rise of Eldrazi. The gap between the great and staple cards is simply huge, compared to the set’s fillers and crud.

Yes, you’re guaranteed to whoop for joy if you pull a Koth, but seriously, that’s going to be a rare moment. People will want to collect the good stuff, and in playsets too (four copies).

I know there are great cards in there, but I guess I’ve been too spoiled by how awesome Magic sets can be. Zendikar was great simply because of the spread of decent and great rares, and most notably the fetchlands – this ensured that the average price of the rares remained quite high as everyone wanted to get a playset of the lands.

The cycle of lands in Scars is decent, but the mechanic of coming into play tapped means that not everyone will be looking to own them. Hey the M10 and M11 lands can be functionally better in certain instances. But, the Scars duals will be perfect for you casual players who are likely to own a Drowned Catacomb, a Creeping Tar Pit and a host of uncommon dual lands.

I’ll end my comment on Scars by getting everyone to pay attention to the power levels and pricing for the rares. Looks like this is a rare occasion where the uncommon and commons can actually be worth more than a number of the rares.

Here’s to hoping that some really funky decks will appear in the coming months, so that I can be proven wrong. Hey it’s Magic: the Gathering so anything can happen!