Such a perfect enchantment for red. So much so, that I can even forgive the triple-red mana requirement. This is one enchantment that won't be fun to work around in even a two-colored deck. But it certainly is powerful. Lightning Bolt? That's 6 damage to whatever you want. Ball Lightning? 12 trampling damage. The aggressive red decks I've built weren't the sort where spending four mana to play an enchantment was a worthwhile investment of tempo, but this actually is something the right kind of burn deck can go far with. Combine it with high-damage effects, preferably dealing 4 or more damage. Lightning Bolt is good and all, but Furnace's effect grows better with each point of damage your other cards are doing. Furnace of Rath is great with any damage-dealing, but one really awesome trick is to use it with Mogg Maniac. Hitting Mogg Maniac with a spell that normally does 5 damage will hit your opponent for 20. I know. Now go build a deck with it.#128: Recycle
Unfortunately, this is among the less practical entries on the list. But we like the idea. And if you ever get really Recycle going, well, it will do a lot. It should win the game, but I guess that all depends on the rest of your deck. Really, the only problem with Recycle is that it's way too expensive. If it were cheap, it would be broken. So you skip your draw step and your maximum hand size is two. That's no big deal when you've got that middle part: whenever you play a card, draw a card. In an early post here I noted the synergy Dream Halls has with this card, but in that case, it's Dream Halls that's the broken culprit (and it's actually kind of a bad use of Dream Halls). Still, it's my vision to someday make a fun casual deck that turns Recycle into something deadly. It's no tournament powerhouse, but it certainly is one cool card-drawing engine.#127: Overgrown Estate
This is essentially a crappy Zuran Orb. But being an artifact, Zuran Orb isn't on this list. So you're stuck with the enchantment version. It costs three mana (as opposed to zero). It has three different color requirements. That alone is almost enough to ruin this card. And it's no Zuran Orb. I already said it was a crappy version. But it has a redeeming feature: you gain 3 life instead of just 2. That might not sound like much, but for certain decks that are actively sacrificing all of their lands, it makes a lot of difference. Lich decks in particular need to draw lots of cards, and gaining lots of life is the way to do it once Lich is in play. If they use Replenish, Overgrown Estate can be played from the graveyard at no cost at all, making it actually better than Zuran Orb. The circumstances in which this clumsy three-color life-gain engine is actually the right card for a deck (especially when Zuran Orb is available) aren't common, but they do exist and should be noted.
#126: Divine Sacrament
The immediately obvious comparison is to Crusade. The same goes for some other white enchantments, such as Glorious Anthem. But Divine Sacrament is (arguably) the best of the lot. It's more interesting than Crusade anyway. It costs 1 more, but after threshold grants an additional +1/+1 bonus. Threshold is pretty easy to reach and I'd say investing just one more mana is well worth doubling the effect, even if none of the rest of your deck is about using the graveyard at all. But in a threshold-based deck or a white weenie deck that quickly runs through its own spells, Divine Sacrament's threshold is huge and the +2/+2 boost to all of your creatures will give you a decisive advantage in combat, especially since white is handy with useful combat abilities like vigilance and first strike, the latter of which has excellent synergy with this enchantment.
This is essentially a crappy Zuran Orb. But being an artifact, Zuran Orb isn't on this list. So you're stuck with the enchantment version. It costs three mana (as opposed to zero). It has three different color requirements. That alone is almost enough to ruin this card. And it's no Zuran Orb. I already said it was a crappy version. But it has a redeeming feature: you gain 3 life instead of just 2. That might not sound like much, but for certain decks that are actively sacrificing all of their lands, it makes a lot of difference. Lich decks in particular need to draw lots of cards, and gaining lots of life is the way to do it once Lich is in play. If they use Replenish, Overgrown Estate can be played from the graveyard at no cost at all, making it actually better than Zuran Orb. The circumstances in which this clumsy three-color life-gain engine is actually the right card for a deck (especially when Zuran Orb is available) aren't common, but they do exist and should be noted.#126: Divine Sacrament
The immediately obvious comparison is to Crusade. The same goes for some other white enchantments, such as Glorious Anthem. But Divine Sacrament is (arguably) the best of the lot. It's more interesting than Crusade anyway. It costs 1 more, but after threshold grants an additional +1/+1 bonus. Threshold is pretty easy to reach and I'd say investing just one more mana is well worth doubling the effect, even if none of the rest of your deck is about using the graveyard at all. But in a threshold-based deck or a white weenie deck that quickly runs through its own spells, Divine Sacrament's threshold is huge and the +2/+2 boost to all of your creatures will give you a decisive advantage in combat, especially since white is handy with useful combat abilities like vigilance and first strike, the latter of which has excellent synergy with this enchantment.#125: Confiscate
Being expensive, Confiscate isn't quite as well-known as Control Magic. But it ranks higher on the list because it can steal any permanent. Some opponents won't have any creatures to steal, making Control Magic a dead card. But whoever heard of an opponent with no permanents? Confiscate can steal anything. And that's worth six mana. Whether it's a creature, artifact, enchantment, or even a land that your opponent has and that you want, Confiscate can make it yours. It's also a good toolbox option with Academy Rector, circumventing the high mana cost and saving it for when taking control of something is the effect you need to win the game. And using it this way means you really only need one in your whole deck, since you'll be fetching it anyway.
Being expensive, Confiscate isn't quite as well-known as Control Magic. But it ranks higher on the list because it can steal any permanent. Some opponents won't have any creatures to steal, making Control Magic a dead card. But whoever heard of an opponent with no permanents? Confiscate can steal anything. And that's worth six mana. Whether it's a creature, artifact, enchantment, or even a land that your opponent has and that you want, Confiscate can make it yours. It's also a good toolbox option with Academy Rector, circumventing the high mana cost and saving it for when taking control of something is the effect you need to win the game. And using it this way means you really only need one in your whole deck, since you'll be fetching it anyway.
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You could use recycle for a substitute in a prosbloom deck, and it'd probably work better. Fastbond combined with some land search should make mana issues go away, then storm for the win. If you wanted to splash black, you could throw in tutors and SR.
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