Erik's Random card 6/14/2011
The set used to have Terror. That was a reprint of a reprint; it was in Mirrodin, where it was interesting because the drawback of not killing an artifact creature was very significant. However the developers did not find it as interesting the second time around.
Mike Turian (the lead developer of Scars of Mirrodin) decided to boot out terror, and choose this one. But why "until end of turn" instead of a bunch of -1/-1 counters?
While many black removal cards in the set generate -1/-1 counters; some don't. While players want the option of building a proliferate deck with -1/-1 counters, putting those counters everywhere takes away an important choice; the choice to not play into that theme. This card is a little more efficient at killing a creature than one a card that generates counters. That way you are giving up something if you do want to play the theme, and there is an interesting trade off.
I like Mike's choice of a clean but powerful removal ... (see all)
Posted By:
ErikLauer
(6/14/2011 10:17:51 PM)
Shikadi: There s nothing Phyrexian about it, why wouldnt it be Mirran? I mean, just because Phyzzies are the bad guys, do you think all Mirrans do is sing and dance in the moonlight? ITS DOUBLE BLACK! Only the most B A D A S S Mirrans use it... and they use it well...
Posted By:
Mightyass
(10/29/2010 8:57:42 AM)
Only Sudden Death trumps it in terms of black -x/-x removal, especially since it was one of the only ways to kill Teferi back in the day. Phenomenal really, 4.5/5
Posted By:
SlickDragon
(9/28/2010 3:48:38 AM)
Good when used in tandem with an infect deck for killing off an indestructible that has been already cut down to size with poison counters. Hell, its useful in most situations.
Posted By:
franconbean
(2/7/2011 2:19:17 PM)
@chremon:
Not quite.
Disfigure is just as useful; this is just more efficient card-wise for taking out bigger creatures.
Posted By:
Diachronos
(10/2/2010 3:18:46 PM)
Wait wait wait
-4/-4 for BB... And they made it an INSTANT? Dayum
Posted By:
NARFNra
(11/12/2010 6:34:27 PM)
I play MBC with Vampires, and even though Urge to Feed is more flavorful and has a tacked-on Vampire mechanic, this card does so much more than Urge does for the same price. That extra -1/-1 make this sucker capable of killing Wall of Omens, Overgrown Battlement... so many annoying things die to this!
Great card.
Posted By:
ByGoblinsBeDriven
(10/12/2010 1:17:50 PM)
On constructed: It kills Wall of Omens. It kills just about any utility creature. It... unfortunately doesn't kill titans. But who cares? This should be an auto-include in any mono-black deck.
On limited: Despite its awesomeness, this is never a card you should pick early in a draft (yeah, yeah, unless you're partial to black). The color commitment this card demands, even in an artifact block, is huge. However, once you determine that you're going black, this becomes a very high pick. Usually, that doesn't happen until the second or even third pack in Scars limited, but if it goes really late in the first pack, jump on it and head for black.
Posted By:
Selez
(10/12/2010 6:15:10 PM)
now black has a chance against black. Woot. Something I can replace doomblades with when facing someone running black.
Posted By:
ThatGuyYouHate
(10/19/2010 12:31:33 AM)
This and terminate are my favorite removals.
Posted By:
Carkki
(12/5/2010 7:42:02 AM)