This card is not useless late game if you are also playing with land destruction :) Whatever lands you don't destroy, you put this on. Then you play a bunch of those cards, such as Disruptive Student, which force your opponent to pay something in order to prevent something. I tend to win games that force my opponent to make tough decisions like these. Want to pay 1 to prevent me from countering a spell? You're going to take 2 damage to do it.
Posted By:
joeah100
(12/29/2011 1:43:41 PM)
I feel like this has to go on a city of brass whenever possible.
Posted By:
mpawliuk
(6/21/2012 8:50:13 AM)
I love this card. Play it with Spreading Seas, Sphere of Safety, Chronic Flooding, and Blind Obedience. You can Lock the board down. I play it in Bant and go with a Predator Ooze It is so frustrating to play again.
Posted By:
AndrewJacobs
(5/24/2013 10:29:00 PM)
IMO, this ability is better when they moved it to black; a la contaminated ground.
A) Because black has good land destruction. Blue can bounce; true; but black can force you to be stuck eating health by destroying other lands.
B) The black one gets to turn it into a swamp as well; enabling swamp walkers and further synergizing with land destruction (due to color screw)
Still, especially with bounce effects, this is pretty useful.
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(9/8/2013 11:07:36 PM)
This card should seriously be reprinted for Modern. It would be relatively playable in a format so heavy with shock lands.
Posted By:
BongRipper420
(1/25/2014 7:15:56 PM)
That'll teach them not to do a game phase!
Posted By:
docjarvisd09
(2/10/2014 9:17:45 PM)
I made a very fun casual deck back in the day that relied on this along with Twiddle, Mind Games, Power Sink, Icy Manipulator and some Counterspell effects. It didn't always win, but was always fun to play.
Later on, other cards became available like Rishadan Port, Pooling Venom, and Contaminated Ground, the latter two necessitating black. Early attackers can be held off with Tidehollow Strix, Black Knight, and Propaganda, and limit their other mana choices with SInkhole and it actually becomes a force to be reckoned with. When you're tapping their land for 6 damage so cheaply, and buying it back, that's trouble!
Crystal Chimes could help if your opponent succeeds in getting rid of the enchantments.
Posted By:
CFLuke
(4/15/2014 12:31:01 AM)