you don't have to discard. notice how it's not part of the already huge cost? also the discarding happens before the drawing.
Posted By:
OverfiendSurprise
(7/13/2010 6:44:11 AM)
The only problem with this card is the mana cost. If it tapped for 3, it'd be amazing.
Posted By:
draco_nite
(5/3/2011 5:36:21 PM)
Had the discard not have been random, it could have been used in some decks, even though it is too expensive.
Posted By:
Radagast
(11/5/2011 10:29:54 AM)
Well, if you think of it as Hellbent - {5}, tap: draw two cards, it's ok, 3/5 for those decks. But there are better things to use for Hellbent decks - Mindstorm Crown for instance.
It's not that much worse than Jayemdae Tome though.
Posted By:
djflo
(5/12/2012 6:42:09 PM)
Others have hinted at this, but to say it explicitly: Because the discard is not of the cost, you can activate this when you have no cards in your hands; first it will try to make you discard a card at random (which you won't do because you don't have any), then you get to draw two cards.
Or, in simple English, when you have an empty hand it lets you draw two cards without discarding anything. So it's not totally useless in the right deck. Still, five mana is too much.
Posted By:
Aquillion
(4/7/2013 10:47:34 AM)
Uh, colorless mana is easy to get. This allows insane card advantage over the course of any casual artifact deck's lifetime. The idea that drawing 2 for 5 mana is somehow unacceptable is beyond me when you use Urzatrong, Everflowing Chalice, and/or coalition relic. Hardly a 4-of; but a reasonable 2-of.
Remember that "discard a card at random" is not only at instant speed (use during your upkeep) but is also an effect, not a cost; so you don't have to lose *any* cards.
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(2/4/2014 1:06:43 PM)
Use the same logic as Tibalt, the Fiend Blooded - make the average card in your hand worse than the sum of two average cards in your deck.
That may sound like a silly thing to do but it really works. If only the cost wasn't ridiculous.
Posted By:
MCcreator
(3/26/2014 4:13:41 AM)
Try Emmessi Tome instead.
Posted By:
nammertime
(12/30/2009 8:53:40 AM)
Hence the flavor text:
"To the uninitiated, the Ring of Renewal is merely an oddity. For those fluent in the wielding of magic, however, it is a source of great knowledge."
I think of cards like Drowned Rusalka, Riptide Survivor, and this as basically Hellbent.
Posted By:
HuntingDrake
(10/9/2010 4:05:04 AM)
hahahaha, high CC, high ability cost, you have to discard a card...AND the discard is at random! Just wow.
Posted By:
Mudbutt_on
(11/30/2009 9:59:27 PM)