Junún Efreet - MTG 4E

 

Now here's a guy who you can tell from the get-go that he wants to rip your heart out and eat it in front of you. And with that glowing cook arm, it'll be nice and tender, like a steak!

Jump - MTG 4E

 

Now how awesome is that? A swordsman is jumping up and over the castle wall just to try to kill you. You HAVE to admire the guts that takes ;-) This is one of the instantly recognizable cards to anybody who was playing back then. It was used a lot because it was so effective and so cheap. And it gave you a really good feeling when you played it and your opponent had no flyers and so you smashed him in the face with your biggest creature :-D Now that was good old fashioned Magic...

Jayemdae Tome - MTG 4E

 

I loved this card back in the day. I always liked artifacts (no clue why, they just were cool) and having card draw was important for the game. The problem is, this card is extremely mana intensive. So unless your deck was built around getting a lot of land out quick (land is what you use to get mana and you can normally only put one land on the table each turn), you were spending all your available mana to draw more cards, that you then had no mana to use. Another card that I just couldn't make work for me. Honestly, I don't think it was supposed to work. Wizards would put in semi-bad cards just to fill up the card slots.

On an unrelated note. When I was looking around to upgrading my avatar from the old

to some sort of actual picture, I did consider using the artwork from this card. I really liked that old looking book. But I liked a "person" kind of avatar more, so I went with this guy

and that has eventually led me to my current avatar. See, books are an adventure!

Jandor's Saddlebags - MTG 4E

As far as I can tell, "Jandor" is not a named character in the Arabian Nights stories. He is a made up character exclusively for Magic the Gathering. That doesn't mean WotC didn't do a good job of creating a character out of just a couple of sentences on some cards :-D I'd love to have a modern version myself, called Bookstooge's Saddlebags. It would fill up with rockstar, eggnog and cold pepperoni pizza every night, with maybe a little bag of chips to fill things out ;-)

Jade Monolith - MTG 4E

 

I never used this card nor do I remember ever actually seeing it used.

What this brings to my mind now are scenes from the epic fantasy series, Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. In that massive series, jade statues play a significant role. In The Bonehunters (book 6), the world is bombarded with massive jade statues, which are an invasion force from another reality (I think). I wonder if there is a universal jade statue myth I'm not aware of that both the artist for this card and Erikson drew from? Otherwise, I'm going to say Erikson was totally influenced by this card. 

Ivory Tower - MTG 4E

 

This was another card, much like Howling Mine or Black Vise, that I really liked the idea of it, but could never actually make it work. The problem is that cards in your hand aren't doing anything and you need those cards to be out on the field, doing something. Sure, it's nice to get a little life, but all it takes is one Goblin Rock Sled smacking you and your life gain is nullified. And if you have 5 useless cards in your hand, then you probably built your deck wrong.

I am sure some game genius could have built a deck and made this work wonderfully, but I was not that genius. So I know I tried this a couple of times and the deck always fizzled and never won me a game. But that was the whole fun to be honest, trying out strategies to see if you could get something to work. As long as you didn't take losing, personally. 

Ivory Cup - MTG 4E

 

This is the exact same card as Iron Star, except for the color white instead of red. Sometimes Wizards would do a whole cycle of artifacts, one for each color, but at other times they'd only do it for a couple of the colors. I think it all came down to the balance of the game. Did Color X "need" a lifegain artifact to help it out? Well, too bad, because that would make Color X too powerful. Ahhhh, those were the days when Wizards actually cared about the game as a game and not only as a money making machine.

Of course, I "might" be viewing things through my Glasses of Urza nostalgia ;-)

Island Sanctuary - MTG 4E

 

When I look at this, all I can think of is the TriStar company production logo. I don't know HOW Wizards of the Coast got away with this.

Island Fish Jasconius - MTG 4E

 

The only reason to play such a card, even back in the day, was if you were playing a monoblue deck and needed a big finisher near the end of the game to do a lot of damage to your opponent (remember, you and your opponent each have 20 life at the beginning of the game). Blue was simply not meant to have big creatures, so the creators of the game felt that if you wanted a big creature in blue, there were going to be serious drawbacks.

With that being said....

If you had 5 or 6 people over for a Saturday and you all wanted to play a massive game of Magic, and you had to create a bunch of decks quick, you just used whatever you had on hand. That was the fun of kitchen table magic, playing subpar decks and seeing what happened :-D

Island x3 - MTG 4E

 

There are 5 mana types in Magic. Forests (Green), Islands (Blue), Mountains (Red), Plains (White) and Swamps (Black). There is a variety of three artworks for them. When I did the Forests,

• Forest 1
• Forest 2
• Forest 3

I did each one in its own separate post. That just seemed like too much this time around, so I'm lumping all the islands into one post. They are extremely similar and I don't have enough spare words to make something up for each slight difference. I even added the art part just to make this longer ;-)

Iron Star - MTG 4E

 

Red was always about doing damage, even if it meant doing damage to yourself in the process. So any card that was "life gain" (ie, it gave you life) was a big deal. With this being an artifact, it meant that a red deck could run it without any hiccups. When a game comes down to a single lifepoint, having a card like this can keep you from being pushed over the cliff of defeat.

And as we all know, winning is everything. Forget about having fun or hanging out with your friends. You WIN or you lose, that is all there is ;-)

Ironroot Treefolk - MTG 4E

 

More than you EVER wanted to know about the mating habits of treefolk. But if you're a perv and into that kind of thing, then this is the card for you!

Ironclaw Orcs - MTG 4E

 

He's big, ugly and scary on the outside. But inside, inside is the soul of a poet. A poet that wants to eat your guts. Bring your own bbq-sauce...

Instill Energy - MTG 4E

 

Now, was ol' Dameon giving homage to "Adam's Creator" or just outright stealing the idea? Michelangelo is rolling in his grave either way!

Inferno - MTG 4E

 

Lord Ith was the ruler of the Conclave until Mairsil usurped his power and imprisoned him below the Conclave's citadel, installing himself as the First Among the Equals.

Later, the conclave was attacked by a Church of Tal army led by Primata Delphine. Mairsil faced the Primata directly, and after draining away her magical defenses with the Wand of Ith, he stabbed her to death. However, in the chaos surrounding the assault, Jodah freed Ith, who was almost completely mad by that point. An enraged Ith destroyed Mairsil before Jodah cured his mind.

However, Mairsil had imbued his life into a small ruby ring, and his essence survived for the next 2,000 years. The artifact was found during the Ice Age by a soldier named Lim-Dûl, who gained vast necromantic abilities thanks to the power of the ring. In the service of Leshrac, he terrorized Ice Age Terisiare with undead hordes until being defeated by an alliance between Kjeldor and Balduvia.

Magic had a rich and complicated story to go along with the cards. Bits and pieces of that story were revealed in the errata on the cards (the stuff in italics). Some people collected the cards JUST to get more info about the stories going on. It sure does take all kinds!

Immolation - MTG 4E

 

The flames dance, a hungry orange tongue,
Lapping at skin, a story unsung.
Each nerve alive, a vibrant, searing cry,
As flesh surrenders, reaching for the sky. 

No scream escapes, only a silent plea,
For release from this fiery decree.
The body writhes, a fragile, burning shell,
Consuming all, a dark and smoky spell. 

Yet in this blaze, a truth begins to bloom,
A cleansing fire, dispelling inner gloom.
The old self fades, a wisp upon the breeze,
While new beginnings stir among the trees.

The heat subsides, the embers start to gleam,
A promise whispered, a resurrected dream.
From ashes rising, a phoenix takes its flight,
Transformed by fire, bathed in golden light

~ Ember and Ash, a poem by James Zoller

Hypnotic Specter - MTG 4E

 

I hated playing against this card. A flyer that made you discard from your hand. And discard at random too. That could really hurt sometimes. You had the perfect card but weren't ready to use it and then BAM, you have to discard it. Flying creatures weren't as ubiquitous as they are now, so Hypnotic Specter was a serious threat.

Hurr Jackal - MTG 4E

 

He'll not only eat your liver, but your face as well! THEN he'll steal all your chickens ;-)

Hurricane - MTG 4E

 

I never liked this card. It damages me as well as the other players. Unless I'm playing a blue player who relies on flying creatures. Then yeah, jam it in and bring those suckers down!

Hurloon Minotaur - MTG 4E

See, that's the kind of hymnody I don't want to deal with!