Kamigawa's got all the weird bad rares, and the awesome broken uncommons.
Posted By:
001010011100101110
(9/18/2011 7:55:20 PM)
The rating on this card depresses me. It's essentially a swamp that can be used late game as a finisher.
Suicide black decks play their hands extraordinarily quickly. This card provides no tempo loss and doesn't take any slots that would otherwise go to spells. If you have three lands and a dark ritual, an evasive fatty will help you out far more than those otherwise wasted lands.
Remember: your life total, your mana base, the number of permanents you have, the number of cards in your library, and the number of toes you have DON'T matter so long as you have won.
Posted By:
DeviousPie
(5/3/2013 6:39:57 AM)
I give this a 3.5. This card is very under-rated and I use it to great effect in my Legacy Smallpox list. Crack a few fetches late game and activate this ability in response. That saves you some lands and you get a 5/5 demon to kill my opponent with. It has made a good finisher after locking down the board.
Posted By:
rodrat
(8/25/2013 9:15:54 PM)
Pretty hilarious alt win condition for Storm decks that can ritual into it off of a Lotus Petal or something. "Oh, I see you sided out your removal and brought in counterspells, which you're saving for my big tutor spell? Thats cute."
Posted By:
MostlyLost
(1/13/2014 6:09:05 AM)
Uhhh, being able to summon an uncounterable 5/5 flyer at INSTANT speed is really good. Using this on the opponants end step and then finishing him off the following turn with the demon was one of my most memorable experiences in Kamigawa.
Posted By:
N03y3D33R
(3/1/2014 9:16:47 PM)
This is actually a very solid card and imo its rating should be more in the 3-4 star range. Let me explain.
As with the Invoker cycle, many people look at the heavy cost and say, "You'll never realistically use that in a game. You'll always win or lose before then!" Those are optimistic people. Sometimes neither you nor your opponents draw the right cards to win the game quickly. Sometimes one or both of you has lots of answers to the other person's stuff and the game gets nowhere. Tomb or Urami can be a major piece in your deck, like if you combine it with Balance, but it doesn't have to be. I'm going to let you in on a secret: a single Tomb of Urami is pretty good in nearly every black deck. 1 life is really not that big a drawback; prioritize tapping your other lands first and the life loss often going to be negligible. And when your opponent "stabilizes" at 5 or less life, having wiped your board with Wrath of God/autocar... (see all)
Posted By:
EvilDarkVoid
(3/10/2014 9:35:32 PM)
If you would like to understand why this card is rated so lowly despite being good in competitive Magic, consider the fact that gatherer ratings are made by casual players, not competitive players. There are for more casual players viewing gatherer pages than skilled competitive players who know anything at all about playing Magic. What casual player wants to sacrifice all of his lands AND take damage? Casual players vehemently hate paying for effects, and sacrificing all of your lands is especially harsh, so it's difficult for them to appreciate a card like this. Someone from R&D talked about this in an article. I don't remember the exact example they used, but it went something like this. If you have a Grizzly Bears (1G, 2/2, no abilities) and another card (1G, 2/2, sacrifice it: gain 1 life) side by side, casual players in general would pick the Grizzly Bears, even though the second card is strictly better. Casual players avoid life loss effects in a similar manner, even on very pow... (see all)
Posted By:
Henrietta
(3/31/2013 6:34:11 PM)
balance or restore balance seems to be a glaringly obvious option...
if you had a B/W deck and rituals enough to throw this out and use it along side a balance card, it could win you the game really fast.
t1. this
t2. plains
t3. swamp, tap swamp,dark ritual x2, tap plains
totals you 5 black mana and 1 while, tap and sac this, use remaining BW mana to cast balance.
Nobody has lands, everyone has 1 creature, and yours is a 5/5 flying, you have 5 cards spent meaning 4-5 left depending on who went first. Not terrible condition considering your opponent probably has a 3/3 at best with no mana left.
Posted By:
Kurhan
(1/22/2010 12:48:53 AM)
You guys don't really get the point of this card. You don't use its ability out of the blue. You don't combo with it. You finish with it. If you are dying or topdecking crap, you can go: Oh boy, these lands are useless. Let me trade them for a 5/5 flier instead. Also, this land doesn't ETB or dilute your mana base. It's just a painland that gives you a last ditch option. This isn't a very good card, but it has a purpose that you guys entirely missed. Good job!
Posted By:
deadapult13
(6/28/2012 7:31:30 PM)
Sacrifice all lands you control! What a ridiculous Drawback. Gargoyle Castle is way better than this.
Posted By:
Volcre
(8/15/2009 4:52:11 PM)