Between proliferate and metalcraft, this might not be a bad card now. Too bad Clone Shell can't hit other Artifacts. Might be a little tricky to try to sneak this in... or you might just have to hardcast it. But with cheap proliferate like Steady Progress and Contagian Clasp we could see a faster win condition for the new U/W Artifact control.
Actually I'm thinking of using this in my B/G Rock deck... hm...
Posted By:
sungkwon
(10/21/2010 10:59:16 AM)
The only ways to make this worthwhile would be to play it in a deck that words off of counters, throwing in a few each of Coretapper and Power Conduit.
Posted By:
lukemol
(4/17/2010 11:53:03 PM)
If you can find a way to cheat this onto the battlefield, it might be good. In late-game, there are so many other ways to kill the opponent, especially in RoE. Might be good in an Esper deck withMaster Transmuter though.
Posted By:
Pramxnim
(4/16/2010 12:36:06 AM)
@strigen: "This should've cost 4 at most."
Well, i'm glad that you are not a card designer^^ Up to a cost of four mana this artifact would be rather ridiculous, at least in a control deck. I think 5 mana would have been ok since this starts very slowly afterall, but as wolfbear said the damage can be considerable nontheless.
An effect like this always have to be treated with care. Although the high cost sometimes merely kills such cards, you have to think about it:
The true power of this card lies in control decks, when you prevent your opponent from getting any further while you can deal an increasing amount of damage while accúmulating charge counters with your spell counters. And since it can also target creatures you might be able to get even rid of further threats this way.
Posted By:
Mode
(4/19/2010 10:37:55 AM)
Arghh! If this was cheaper I would definitely use it as the win condition of my counterspell deck. Why could it not have cost 
? Maybe even target only players? Or only activate on Instants?
Posted By:
JFM2796
(9/18/2011 12:48:22 PM)
This card is so underrated. I run this in a U/R deck which, out of the 40 nonland cards, 32 are either instants or sorceries, most of them costing 1 or 2 mana. Blue library manipulation, in this case ponder (x4), keepsenough land coming as well as keeping the wand away until I can cast it. Djinn of Wishes, with the help of ponder, can cast this earlier and leave some mana spare. Once it's out, It quickly becomes crazy especially with 1 or 2 activated Pyromancer's Ascension. With this, a single ascension, some lightning bolts and a couple of grapeshots, I've manage to do away with three players in a single turn, all on around 20 life. And in advance, I realise that the ascension doesn't actually add counters to the wand, just gives more burn.
And I agree that it would've been stupid to print this any cheaper.
Posted By:
ArkReaver
(6/8/2010 2:49:37 AM)
@wolfbear2, I don't understand your math on this. It should be an increment ratio of 1:1, 2:2, 3:3
Either way, this thing seems like the definition of high-cost, low-return. Although I could see ramping to the cost, any type of artifact hate neutralizes your plan and it wasn't like you were going to do that much damage with it anyway. I can't think of a single format in which this thing would shine.
Posted By:
coyotemoon722
(11/30/2010 2:47:29 PM)
There is such a thing as artifact reanimator decks... but usually they use darksteel colossus
Posted By:
XTwistedsoulX
(5/20/2010 11:53:24 PM)
EDH ftw, well priced and dangerous in a multi-player game
I would have liked it at 5 for 1 on 1
Posted By:
Gezus82
(6/8/2010 8:20:59 PM)
I got this today in a pack. It is my new favorite card ever since i have begun playing Magic. I have yet to lose a game with this deck.
Posted By:
Bucket365
(7/6/2010 2:20:06 AM)