First of all, a big Thank You! to my lovely fiancée, who got me the Arsenal as an anniversary present. She's the best and I'm the luckiest.
So I wasn't expecting to get one of these bad boys, and it was a delightful time figuring out what goes where. Sheldon Menery did an article in this exact vein, only he's got a ton more decks to pimp out and he prefers to do so in Italian foil. When you're a level 5 judge emeritus, you can do that.
Allow me to chime in others who have said that the life counter feels very cheap, the battle markers too, and the sleeves remarkably crappy for a product with this high an MSRP.
Since most of these are cards I already have, the question became this: The foil goes in one deck, but where does the replaced card end up?
Here we go:
Kaalia of the Vast - Direct replacement for my general. I do indeed have a custom foil, but I like to keep a regular with that, in case of tuck effects. The non-foil English went into storage.
The Mimeoplasm - The only card in the set that I don't have a deck for, this is now in my trade binder. I don't feel like the effect is good enough to go into my 5-color token deck.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - The foil went into Animar, the nonfoil is now in storage.
Maelstrom Wanderer - The foil is now in Animar as well, and the nonfoil went back to my fiancée, who traded it to me under duress. ;)
Vela the Night-Clad - Now in the token deck, as a "Wrath and DIE" sort of effect. I took out Nacatl War-Pride for this.
Diaochan, Artful Beauty - This went into my Nin, Queen of Pingers deck. I've got a couple of ways to grant indestructibility in there, and that's an ability that is a super-combo with Diochan. I took out Crimson Hellkite, because that card is a big pinger, but it's 9 freaking mana!
Loyal Retainers - This went into Kaalia, because that has the most legendary creatures. I took out Aegis Angel. I don't have any decks with Sun Titan, but that may change now...
Duplicant - The foil went into Adun, and the nonfoil went from there to Animar, which I took out Heartwood Storyteller for. I've slowly increased the noncreature count in that deck, so he wasn't as broken as I wanted.
Dragonlair Spider - A direct foil replacement in the token deck.
Decree of Pain - The foil went into Garza Zol, and the nonfoil went from there into my Zombie deck. I took out Syphon Flesh, as the card was underwhelming for me.
Chaos Warp - Foil into Kaalia, nonfoil into Adun for Ulvenwald Tracker. I've got much better ways to kill creatures over and over again.
Desertion - Foil into Azami, nonfoil to my lovely lady, who's been looking for one.
Mirari's Wake - Right into my token deck, because that's the deck that needs the mana most. Took out a basic land.
Sylvan Library - Into Animar for Everflowing Chalice. The card selection/drawing is more relevant than the acceleration.
Rhystic Study - A direct foil replacement in Azami, though now I have to choose between foil and signed! Luckily, Terese Nielsen will be signing down at the SCG event in a couple of weeks.
Scroll Rack - Into Azami as well, because with the cards that deck can draw, the Rack is an enormously powerful effect. Took out Serendib Sorcerer, because he just hadn't been good enough.
Mind's Eye - Again into Azami, because the deck does great things with drawing cards. Took out an Island for it, since my land count was 37.
Command Tower - The foil went into Kaalia, and the regular went from there into the token deck, which I took out an Orzhov Basilica for. I was never happy with the Basilica, since the deck runs on green mana to find all the other colors with.
Playing with the cards is almost as fun as deciding what went where. I have to thank my fiancée again for such an anniversary gift, and the guys at my store for not ruining the surprise for me.
See you next time!
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