by Elton Gahr

Created on: October 30, 2009

Some of the simplest of artifacts in the game of magic have been the most powerful. Cards that do nothing but tap for mana, or tap a single creature, or make cards come into play tapped have had major effects on games, decks and even entire formats. But how many truly simple ideas are there? How long can you write magic the gathering cards before you have to begin to make things more complicated simply to keep them interesting.

If Dolmen Gate proves anything it is that there are simple game changing mechanics that still exist out there and that cards can be made that have the potential to make a major impact on the right deck without having to switch to the smaller font.

Dolmen gate is a rare artifact from the Lorwyn expansion set of magic the gathering. It costs two colorless and reads "Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to attacking creatures you control."

This is admittedly more complicated than tap, add one white mana to your mana pool, but not all that much. And it has the potential of making a game very difficult for an opponent in the right deck.

One of the first things that is worth noting is that this is a very inexpensive card to play. If you get this on the draw you should be able to put it into play on the second turn, also the first turn you are likely to be able to attack with anything, making it useful throughout the entire game.

The real value of this card is not only in the ability to keep your attacking creatures alive, but in being able to play a different type of creature a bit safer. There are quite a number of creatures that have a high power and a very low toughness scattered throughout the game of magic. These are typically considerably less expensive than the same card with a high power and toughness, and so if you can build a deck that is aggressive enough to force an opponent to block using 6/2 creatures and 7/1 creatures you will be at a considerable advantage with Dolmen gate.

In addition to that this lets you attack with creatures that might otherwise be too valuable. Creatures with abilities that you need. And one of the most valuable of these is those with the untap ability since using their ability is easiest if you can attack, but if your opponent kills it the ability becomes unusable.

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