Aaron’s Random Card Comment of the Day #78, 6/8/11
Check out the printed text on this card:
Put a creature card from your hand into play. You may pay its mana cost reduced by up to 
. If you don't, sacrifice it.
That seems pretty straightforward. You can put any creature card from your hand onto the battlefield, at which point you have to sacrifice it unless you pay its mana cost minus 2. If the card you choose to put into play happened to have a particularly nasty ability that triggered when it entered or left the battlefield, such as, say, Academy Rector or Protean Hulk, well, congratulations, you created a pretty potent combo! If you look at the Mirage printing of the card, you’ll see that it reads essentially the same way.
The card didn’t always work that way. Don’t get me wrong, it worked that way just fine when it was printed back in Mirage, but there weren’t any particularly powerful creatures to... (see all)
Posted By:
Aaron_Forsythe
(6/10/2011 12:05:54 AM)
Note for confused commenters: the "fair" use of this card is allowing you to play a creature at instant speed by, essentially, spending one blue mana instead of one generic mana in the spell's cost. Nowadays, we have cards like Scout's Warning that do essentially the same thing without the strange shenanigans that this card involves.
Posted By:
ChibiUnunnilium
(6/10/2011 2:04:53 AM)
Whoever rated it low probably lost to it :)
Posted By:
Coufu
(6/14/2009 10:29:39 PM)
The combo is gemstone caverns and simian spirit guide to supply mana, then flash into protean hulk, search for 4xdisciple of the vault, 4xshifting wall, and 4xphyrexian marauder for 36 damage before the opponents first upkeep.
Posted By:
powerdude
(12/12/2009 7:26:04 PM)
I love it when "jank" becomes broken a couple years later with interactions with new cards.
Posted By:
kajillion
(6/11/2011 2:40:57 AM)
FLASH...AAAAAAAHHHHHH...SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE!
Couldn't resist, gets 5/5 for broken-ness but otherwise a fairly meh card if not used for hulking etc.
Posted By:
heisthepainkiller
(9/16/2010 11:08:58 AM)
I think the combo was 4 Disciple of the vault with 4 shifting wall after you pulled a protean hulk for a relatively reliable turn two kill
Posted By:
brunsbr103
(12/9/2009 4:48:15 AM)
I had a friend who used that deck type for awhile. He would use Gemstone Cavern for the blue mana, drop a simian spirit guide or elvish spirit guide, cast Flash, play Protean Hulk, let it sac, search for four Disciple of the Vault, one Arcbound Ravager, four Ornithopter, four Phyrexian Walker, and four Shield sphere. All said and done, sacrificing the zero-cost creatures to the Ravager, he could deal 12 points of damage PER Disciple of the Vault. It was enough to take out two other players, first turn at (as said) instant speed.
We all made him stop playing the deck, as no one really ever one against him. But it was still beautiful to watch when you hadn't seen it in a while.
Posted By:
Lateralis0ne
(2/5/2010 9:41:56 AM)
@captainjash
Flash is restricted. The confliction is probably simply a screw-up.
Posted By:
A3Kitsune
(2/6/2010 6:24:48 AM)
The card that inspired the keyword ability of the same name.
With the exception that the keyword "Flash" (as opposed to Affinity) isn't inherently broken.
The possiblity to abuse triggers of costy creatures that you get when they enter or leave the battlefield is obvious.
Yet if you seriously only intend to use this spell to cast a certain creature at instant speed, i'd advise using Scout's Warning instead.
Posted By:
Mode
(4/26/2010 7:54:03 AM)