The Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler is finished, so it’s time to give my thoughts on the set. There are four main characteristics found in Scars of Mirrodin:
- Lots of artifacts.
- Metalcraft
- Imprint
- Infect
- Proliferate
I will discuss each of these characteristics.
1. Lots of Artifacts
Scars of Mirrodin is not as artifact heavy as Mirrodin was and we won’t see anything that compares to Affinity. However, there will be lots of artifacts that will be good in non-artifact decks, which I think is a good thing, And it is the Return of the Myrs. Scars of Mirrodin returns us to the metal world of Mirrodin, but not quite as we left it. If you’ve played with the original Mirrodin block, some of Scars‘ cards and mechanics will look familiar to you. But whether you’re a veteran or a newcomer, Scars has some surprises in store ….
2. Metalcraft
It’s hard to say if Metalcraft is going to mean much. There could be an artifact heavy deck that is worthy of Standard that can make use of it. Even if limited, it won’t always be easy to get enough good artifacts to get metalcraft to work. 
There are a lot of artifacts in this set that aren’t that great. Best example is Mox Opal even in Legacy this card works Perfect.
Throughout the years variations on the original Moxen have come with serious disadvantages to attempt to control their powerful mana ramping abilities, but Mox Opal doesn’t ask for cards for fuel – you’ll just have to have two other artifacts out.
While Mox Opal would be beyond broken with the original line of artifact lands in the mix, it looks like this attempt to create a “fair” Mox may be balanced “just right”. It is difficult to say whether Mox Opal will be an incredible powerhouse in the new post-Alara constructed environment or an over-hyped throwback mythic until we get a look at everything in Scars of Mirrodin.
In Limited play Mox Opal seems like a highly dubious selection if you’re playing to win (Although it’s likely to pay for your entry fee and then some, depending on the tournament), but again that assessment is subject to change as the vast majority of Scars of Mirrodin remains hidden during the lead up.
3. Imprint
Imprint isn’t going to make a big difference to the game. Semblence Anvil is the only card with Imprint that I could see make a real difference.
Semblance Anvil looks great when you toss a Memnite or some other trivial artfact creature inside it, which will give a significant -2 casting cost to all your creatures and artifacts. Got a few Semblance Anvils in your hand? Stick one of them inside the other one, put a forge inside your forge, and you’ve got -2 to all your artifact spells without hurting too much from playing multiple copies of this brazen boilerworks. Stick your extra legendary copies of Mox Opal safely within the Semblance Anvil. The potential of Semblance Anvil is downright scary…
2 mana planeswalkers, 4 mana titans, Eldrazi on the cheap, overflowing Myr, the deck considerations for Semblance Anvil are many – but will players be able to commit to the 2 card investment on a 3 drop? Sure, Chrome Mox got away with this card imprinting disadvantage easily, but it came online turn one. There will be considerable testing and evaluation of Semblance Anvil for the new constructed environment, but don’t turn your drool-jets on just yet – This is a vulnerable, if incredibly seductive, device. An artifact laden metagame alone may spell the downfall of Semblance Anvil.
In Limited play you’ll probably end up running Semblance Anvil just for the -2 on your creatures, simply toss a Myr or other small creature inside the fearsome foundry and you’re off to the races, able to run out your win conditions much earlier than your opponent. As in constructed, Semblance Anvil may be a vulnerable investment, but one that is likely worth it with even a few turns of table presence.
4. Infact
Infect is the only way to get poison counters in Scars of Mirrodin. We haven’t seen poison counters since Timespiral and poison counters have never really done much for the game. Scars of Mirrodin will either make or break poison.
I am not overly impressed by poison. It looks like poison could be made to be useful. There could be a decent standard deck that uses poison. However, poison is mostly just another life total, and there’s not as many creatures with infect as I would like.
The Phyrexians’ arsenal contains potent weapons to wear down Mirrodin’s defenses. Chief among them are poison counters and -1/-1 counters, both of which are handed out most prominently in this set by the infect mechanic:
Creatures with infect deal damage to creatures and players in the form of -1/-1 counters and poison counters, respectively. So what does that mean, exactly?
When a creature with infect deals damage to a player, the player doesn’t lose any life as a result of the damage—he or she gets that many poison counters instead. If any player ever has ten or more poison counters, that player loses the game.
5. Proliferate
Proliferate seems like a very artificial ability. It’s like saying, “There’s a lot of charge counters, -1/-1 counters, and poison counters in the set, and proliferate says it helps that stuff.” Despite being so artificial, proliferate doesn’t help a whole lot. Contagion Clasp looks good, but proliferate has a good chance of making no difference to the game.
Someone told me that proliferate could help Ally decks. That could be true, but I’m not sure. The problem is that allies help ally decks, and I don’t know if proliferate is going to be good enough.
Proliferate is a new keyword action that lets them do just that. To proliferate, choose any number of players and/or permanents that each have at least one counter of any type. Each player chosen gets a counter of a kind that player has (so far, poison counters are the only counters players can get). Put a counter on each permanent chosen this way of a kind that permanent already has.
So if a creature already has one or more -1/-1 counters on it, you can put another one on it when you proliferate, accelerating the infection. If an artifact already has one or more charge counters on it, you can put another charge counter on it, but you can’t put a charge counter on an artifact that doesn’t have one already. You can even choose to put more -1/-1 counters on your opponents’ creatures while leaving your own creatures with -1/-1 counters on them alone, or give your opponent a poison counter without giving yourself one.
Tears from my Archive Trap 
