2 Cards Baaaad!

Two more days, folks. Just two more. I keep running out of topics.

You know which cards I hoped would get more use? The two-card pitch spells from Coldsnap.

I thought they had some cool effects. I mean, “gain control of target spell”? Okay! Wrath of God? Sure! Put an elf on a dinosaur into play? Awesome!

Two cards is a lot, though. To play one of these cards from your opening hand means sacrificing half of it. The effects fit the cost, but the cards end up not working out in the end.

The best one is Commandeer simply because it would have some utility at any point in the game, but still, going down a net of two cards against your opponent is a huge setback whenever it happens. Even stealing an Ancestral Recall would just put you back to even. (Though the effects on your opponent could certainly be more dire as they go down one important card to, hopefully, three of your less important ones). Essentially, if you steal your opponent’s game winning spell, you might not win yourself, but you might stop them from winning. And if either of those was more certain, Commandeer would be more played.

Soul Spike is an eight-point life-swing if you use it on your opponent and can be devastating if used as a combat trick. Its mana cost is fair, though, and early on when you’d be more likely to have to pitch cards to play it, you won’t have any especially good targets. Going from 20-20 to 24-16 on your first turn is significant, perhaps, but the two cards you pitched might have saved you later on. If you’re playing black, they’re probably removal or creatures, which could easily be worth more than a combined eight points in the long run. Maybe not, but you never know.

Sunscour, seen before as Wrath of God but lacking the no-regeneration clause, has some unique applications as a pitch spell. Basically, you can play it to wipe the board and then drop a creature. With a good control policy after that (which of course is somewhat hampered by your having discarded two cards), you could theoretically ride that creature to victory. It’s not especially swingy since it can go incredibly wrong, but it’s something.

The green one and the red one, Allosaurus Rider and Fury of the Horde, are practically useless. You wouldn’t ever pitch cards to play these. Why would you? Neither of these spells is an early play. And waiting to play them just means you’re less likely to be able to pitch spells to them, since playing green or red should mean that you don’t have any cards in hand.

Elf on a Dinosaur dies to creature hate, which, last time I checked, is pretty good in, I don’t know, this game! Plus, it’s really good with lands, so if you paid seven for it, it’s probably at least 6/6 (figuring that with green you’d have some acceleration). I’d rather have a 6/6 on turn five than a 2/2 on turn one with no other cards in hand.

Fury of the Horde just gets better and better the more creatures you have out. Imagine this first turn play: Mountain, Raging Goblin, attack, Fury of the Horde! Attack! That’s two damage, baby! And you have a whole two cards left in your hand. That play doesn’t improve until about turn four or so, when you could just wait until next turn and win anyway.

I still think they’re pretty cool, especially Commandeer and Sunscour. Commandeer really captured the feel of Force of Will and definitely has a bigger effect befitting its higher costs. Playing spells for free is neat, but two cards is never exactly free. Two cards is a lot!

Maybe that’s what it is: The Timmy in me wants to use them, but the Spike in me keeps punching Timmy in the nads. Someday I might use one, but until then they’re terrible. I just wanted them to be good.