the mana cost-to-power ratio and flying are crazy enough, but it's the lifelink that really pushes this thing over the edge.
Posted By:
luca_barelli
(12/3/2011 7:51:33 PM)
So, I've had a problem with this card for some time, and due to the ungodly hype and controvesy surrounding I've let it lie. But I think I'll take my crack at it, and let my comment get washed away in the 9+ pages sea of them.
The problem I have with this is not that it's broken. Frankly, the reason I love Magic is that for every strategy, however intricate, there is something that can answer it, however remote. And cards like this, however undercosted, always offer some glimmer of hope for the defending player. This is just another nail in a coffin, and one nail does not make for a secure lid.
It is, of course, a very undercosted, very sturdy nail, but you've heard all those complaints before.
No, my problem with this lies in the long term.
I'm not exactly talking about power creep, though something not unlike it. I'm talking about psychology. Players define what is standard and acceptable in a long-running game by holding it to the standard of their early experiences wit... (see all)
Posted By:
DoctorKenneth
(10/7/2010 4:27:44 AM)
Well, today I broke down and decided a couple of these were the missing pieces of my deck, and I ordered a pair.
I've never touched drugs in my life, but at $10.00 a piece for simple cardboard, I felt like a junkie.
Posted By:
Hayw00d0909
(5/19/2011 4:57:29 PM)
Everyone says power creep, but really this gal still outdoes flyers like Sigarda, simply on the basis that there's too much there for so little investment. Siggy as least demands two colours, and can't first strike and lifelink. Her abilities are unique, she doesn't obsolete any other flyer.
Basically, any 5 cost flyer in White now has to be better than or different enough to Baneslayer to be valued. That's not a good thing. At least the Obliterator had the decency to be very black mana intensive.
Sure, she dies to removal, but Wizards did set a bar a bit too high for other cards to follow. Anything that wants to be a basic efficient 5-drop flyer is always going to compete against this.
Oh well. Malfegor kills her, amusingly. And on a side note, I have before with a mildly buffed Serra Angel. Vigilance counts for a lot more than you'd think...
EDIT: On a side note, just saw Havoc Demon/... (see all)
Posted By:
psychichobo
(4/17/2013 3:35:45 PM)
Some angels protect the meek and innocent. Other angels rape the metagame for years to come.
Posted By:
Arachnos
(7/31/2013 5:03:52 PM)
Ironically, dies to Malfegor
Posted By:
Ximenez
(6/8/2011 12:55:19 AM)
@dragonking987
I've never lost a game to Baneslayer, because I've never even seen one laid on the table. Still, it's broken in the sense that it's hideously murders every comparable card for the cost. It's not "broken" in the grand scheme of things, it's "internally" broken. Internal balance in this game would be the balance within a color/comparable cards, and this flat out kills them. The common example is the completely obsoleted Serra Angel. It's not that serra angel is bad, it's that it SHOULD be a relatively good angel. Baneslayer makes it crap.
Urza's is a grand example of awesome stuff, as is mirrodin, but just because they've made actually broken cards and then they come out with creatures that are REALLY REALLY REALLY good doesn't mean this card is somehow irrelevant. Fact is there's a huge difference in dropping this over Serra Angel. You trade vigilance for +1/+1, lifelink, and first strike (and some protection that never happens.)
It's certainly arguable that prev... (see all)
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(5/3/2011 11:55:16 AM)
They should correct its creature type. It should read "Angel Horror".
Posted By:
Tiggurix
(7/14/2010 4:05:54 AM)
The more I look at it the more I think it should have been a legendary.
Posted By:
Eved
(7/9/2010 5:48:46 AM)
Well, if anyone still hates this angel, now you have the option of running four Dismembers in every one of your decks!
Posted By:
Gabriel422
(5/22/2011 2:33:19 AM)