Axiom Common Analysis

Axiom Common Roundup

Next up in the list are the Axiom commons. Once again, I will describe my thoughts on their usefulness and how much I like them.

ONE MANA

Kelon Cylinder (1/1)

This is one of the top cards in the Axiom deck.  It’s a good play at any time for the Axiom deck as it’s a cheap and easy way to activate Sierra’s power and nets you a free 2/2/2. The card itself can be tapped to get two counters that can be used for a 1/1/1 counter on another turn. Indeed, it can be used 2 turns in 3 to give a boost and its always a threat to be able to give that extra boost to win a side. If you don’t need that extra boost because you cannot win or because you won’t lose then you can just build up more counters on it for next turn.

The only problem with this card is that it always encourages you to want to play it, but it means that you generally will go over your permanent limit pretty easily. Then you need to make a hard choice as to which permanent to lose.

TWO MANA

Tinker Bell (2/2)

Tinker Bell is a 1/1/3 for 2 mana with no abilities. That puts it slightly below the curve on power (the stats are worth 1 2/3 mana rather than 2 mana. This is not a joyous play as a common, but useful if your really need to win on the water biome.

The rare Tinker Bell is far more interesting. It has a activation ability from the reserve that allows you to reactivate a permanent’s play ability. This allows you to get a free Brassbug token or sabotage a card.

Armoured Jammer (2/2)

The Armoured Jammer is another permanent and this one costs 2 mana. When you play it, you get the sabotage effect which is usually useful mid to late game. It is a good target for the rare Tinker Bell’s effect, but it also will take up one of your permanent slots at the end of the turn. If you play this before you play a Brassbug Hive then you will probably end up discarding it at the end of the turn, lest you don’t have room because of the Kelon Surge’s and the Hive. It then become a one off 2 mana sabotage which is okay but not brilliant as you don't have a body attached to it to win an expedition.

So, I think this card definitely has its uses and I kind of like it, but it can really mess up your sequencing.

Kelon Elemental (2/2)

The Kelon Elemental is already under costed just on the rate of its biome stats (3/3/1) which should cost 2 and 1/3 mana. The fact is that the elemental has another ability that could be a positive or a negative. Putting a card into your reserve effectively gives you a card draw, but makes that card have fleeting. So, unless that card has an extra ability from the reserve or is cheaper but are losing half a draw. Fortunately, cards such as Athena, Amelia Earhart are just the kind of cards that will benefit this. Additionally, there’s no issue with the card being a permanent either, so in an Axiom deck this is a very good card. It’s one of my favourite under-rated cards in the Axiom demo deck.

THREE MANA

Amelia Earhart (3/1)

A 2/2/2 for 3 is from hand horribly over costed. A 2/2/2 for 1 from reserve is horribly under costed. So, if you get lucky and resupply this card into your reserve’s your on for a winner, but otherwise on average it’s okay for the combined casting costs from both zones.  So, the card is good if resupplied but otherwise average at best. I’m hoping that the rare has some good ability attached to it.

Jian, Assembly Overseer (3/3)

A 3/3/3 for 3 mana is right on par for the cost paid. Getting a 1/1/1 boost if you have two permanents makes the card under costed assuming that you can achieve the quest.  A 4/4/4 for 3 mana is good value and with lots of 1 and 2 costing permanents around you should achieve this mid to late game. Early game you may only have one permanent out, but an on-par card of 3/3/3 for 3 is not actually that bad, so I rate this as a pretty decent card in the deck.

The rare version of the card gives you two boosts if you make the quest, making this a 5/5/5 for 3 mana and extremely good value. It’s even better if you can play it from hand and from the reserve for the same cheap price, making this card a real value card at rare.

Kelon Surge (3/3)

At three mana and one use, this is a good removal spell. True it cannot remove anything that costs more than 4 (both permanents and creatures), but currently there are not many things that it won’t remove. This can remove an Ordis Carrier so I think that this is very useful and flexible in what it can do for you. Three mana is on the cusp of being usable with two other cards on turn 4 and its vital to keep certain permanents from getting out of control. Because it has fleeting you can only use this spell once, but I think it’s a vitally important spell in the right matchups. If the rare version removes fleeting, then this will be a very good spell indeed.

FOUR MANA

Axiom Reprocessor (4/4)

This in my opinion is the worse card in the Axiom deck. A four-mana permanent that triggers at dawn after being played from either hand or reserve should do something really good. Alas all it does it to do a single resupply each turn and not on the turn that you play it. So, you’ll only be able to play this mid to late game and won’t get lots of use from it, especially at that point in the game. It’s not completely useless in the Axiom deck as you have things that reprocess can use but I’m not convinced that the investment is worth it so late in the game. If it were 1 mana cheaper or it processed on the turn you play it, then I might be interested. I’d much rather invest in a Brassbug Hive. This is my number one card that will get made into mana that is in the Axiom deck at the moment, but at a pinch I’d cast it.

FIVE MANA

Athena (5/3)

Another Axiom card that is better from the reserve than from hand. A 4/4/4 for 5 is over costed, but a 4/4/4 for 3 is under costed. The real upside of this card is when you control 2 or more permanents you lose fleeting when played from the reserve in a similar fashion to Hua Mulan. For three mana this is a bargain, and you can keep re-casting it every turn if you want to. The rare version is even more of a beast making it a 6/6/6 on the way in from the hand for 5 mana (if you have two permanents) which makes it very under costed. It needs the artifacts to make the card work but it is a very good card.

Brassbug Hive (5/5)

The Brassbug Hive is yet another permanent in the Axiom deck, but this one costs 5 mana and it triggers when it comes into play as well as each turn at dawn. Creating a free 2/2/2 every day is pretty good and the little Brass bug tokens are really annoying for the opponent. I’m not sure what they can do for the rare to make it more powerful without making it too overpowered. Two Brassbug tokens would be too much, so my guess is that the rare is only 4 mana rather than 5. Pretty scary still though. The card does mean that you might have to take a turn off from putting out creatures such that you may lose early tempo against other decks, but in my experience, it is absolutely worth it.