@allmighty_abacus:
Maybe you're right, but with a Sire of the Storm in play PolskiSuzeren would have drawed 2-3 cards...
@Atali:
I defend Arcane cards ESPECIALLY for the Splice mechanic... It represents a way to build your own spell, combining various effects in a single spell. It's also quite resistant against counterspell, since you lost only the first spell, not the other that you spliced in the first.
The only problem is that they didn't a lot of spell really worth, so there are only a few alternatives, and there aren't arcane and splice cards outside Kamigawa block to combine with.
I agree that it's quite inferior to Pillage, but Pillage was very powerful, and you can't complain that a card is "strictly" worse than a already powerful card. In this trand you shouldn't play any "draw card" spell, since it's "strictly worse" than Ancestral Recall
Posted By:
leomistico
(6/20/2011 3:48:50 PM)
Damn arcane... making spells much lamer and/or strictly more costly!
Posted By:
AXER
(2/1/2010 4:49:36 AM)
Strictly worse than Pillage.
Posted By:
nammertime
(12/3/2009 8:36:14 AM)
Overcosted, like the rest of kamigawa.
Posted By:
Sago
(9/19/2012 8:40:46 PM)
It's ok. A playable stone rain with the destroy artifact ability, better now with all the new colored artifacts and strong artifact creatures.
Posted By:
shadowf0x
(7/23/2009 10:37:25 AM)
nammertime, no.
I am going to go around offering up examples for people who like to use the term "strictly" when it comes to magic.
there is no such thing as a "strictly" better card. there are always cases when one is better.
like this. it's arcane. so you can splice onto it.
you have six mana up, and play this while splicing on desperate ritual. Now you've destroyed a land, sitting on three mana, and have that ritual still in hand. use two of the R you have to cast it, now you're sitting on RRRR, and you can cast another one of these. so, in the long run, you only tapped down six lands, and played two 4 mana land destruction spells. and if you had two desperate rituals in hand, you could do it with only 4 land, by playing one desperate rit and splicing the second onto it, then proceeding as normal.
that situation is nowhere near a corner case, I could produce that situation plenty of times in a deck built around arcane and splicing.
good day.
Posted By:
PolskiSuzeren
(6/5/2010 10:31:01 PM)
@PolskiSuzeren: Yeah, there are always some cases where one card is better or worse, but sometimes those cases are just things like "Your opponent just Mindslavered you, and is using your good cards against you. Don't you wish you had used sucky cards instead?". I mean, you name me any other situation where, say, Shock is better than Lightning Bolt.
You're right in this case, though.
Posted By:
sonorhC
(6/27/2011 8:10:21 PM)
meh
Posted By:
JFM2796
(7/31/2011 1:59:19 PM)
Of course it's worse than Pillage, R&D has realized that three is too cheap for this effect in red. However, this is generally worse than Demolish, which is sad. Also, if you're going to defend Arcane spells, Splice is not the way to do it, Splice was an epic fail. The Spirit/Arcane triggers that the block was rife with are the only thing that made some of the overcosted Arcane spells worthwhile. Cast this with an Ore Gorger or and Earthshaker on the field, then you've got a nice effect.
Damn you Kamigawa, you suck so bad, but pretend like you have amazing combos!
Posted By:
Atali
(10/29/2010 10:38:13 PM)
I laugh heartily at the fool defending splice as a worthwhile mechanic. If I had six mana up, want to do something other than play two land destruction spells. Like dump it into a red firebreather, or cast a dragon or heck just pop wildfire
Oh, and by the way, you can do the exact same thing if you have 6 mana up with two pillages and save the rituals for something else. Like toilet paper.
Posted By:
allmighty_abacus
(7/20/2010 1:36:58 PM)