Pointed Discussion

I'm very happy to see this back. A wonderful replacement for Path to Exile once it rotates.

Good that it only works on attacking creatures, though. Though in some cases it can be a bad thing.

It feels a lot more balanced than Path to Exile. No more of that smug "Swords to Plowshares"-ish 'path' this and 'path' that.

Between this and Oust, deck designing will be more interesting in M11 Standard.

Leyline of Punishment - Red-White Decks cheer!!

I would have much rather have seen Path to Exile. I hope they will put Path in 2012 and begin to alternate the two between Core Sets.

I'm glad this in instead of Path, this is balanced, Path is not.

This seems, to me at least, to be much more flavor-true than Path and StP -- no matter how great they are. I agree with what I've heard many people say, the best removal should be mainly {B}. Other colors' (I may have improperly placed that apostrophe) removal should be slightly less effective, as well as try to stay true to it's color -- like Condemn does for {W} by being defensive removal.

And I'm not a hardcore {B} player either. I've only made one {B} deck, actually (and it was only splashed with {B}). If anything, I'm a hardcore {W} fan.

I actually find it worse than path.. having to wait for something to attack is really bad. Like oh I'll just wait for my opponents ulamog to attack and then have to sac 4, and then even when I remove it my opponent gains 10 life. It's also lame for walls, and anything that doesn't attack but instead just acts as a barrier. If your opponent has liliana or other such cards then it sometimes just turns into an oust. I mean its hard to say a card that puts a creature back into a library is bad, since its not, but its no path to exile. Since the landfall set is done path is actually a lot better. I can't help feeling I would have preferred a functional reprint of the mode on bant charm that puts target creature on bottom of opponents library for 3 mana.

Yay, a much more fair cheapo instant white removal.

Still too good for white.

Of course it's similar in it's ineffectiveness to a sorcery destruction, since you won't be able to kill any utility creature, but that is exactly one reason, why I don't like it... especially in white. This would be quite fine as a green removal, if R&D would allow green to have some sort of control too.

In general, if R&D really wants Magic to be a game, where two planeswalker fight each other and where a demon fights Angels, they should stop printing low cmc destruction spell. Where is the problem with an increase of the mana cost of Path to Exile up to three mana??? Still good against huge game winners, mediocre against the usual mid-game beasts and thankfully a waste of ammo against weenies.

Use Condemn in conjunction with Alluring Siren if you are playing White/Blue.

Condemn is just as useful to use on my own attacking creature in response to a Doom Blade, etc. I see Condemn as more useful in decks that want to fend off faster opponents in the first 4-5 turns. I'm going to try out using two Condemns in my White/black.. but I'm already thinking of replacing Condemn with Pacifism.

If it would at least exile it instead of putting on bottom it would be better

If any eldrazi with anhilator (except Emrakul) attacked me can i use this in response of the anhilator so I don't have to sacrifice?

@1919 No. Once the Eldrazi is declared as attacking, the Annihilator trigger goes on the stack, irrevocably.

@Kyo_Dark_Fire - Tunnel Vision says other-wise.

@Donovan_Fabian - Power wise, it is weaker than Path to Exile. However, that is the point of replacing Path with this card in Standard. It severely weakens white as an all-purpose color. In your example white has to suffer any triggers caused by the attack. Black is the creature removal color and as such Doom Blade would be able to circumvent waiting for the creature to attack. Printing Condemn is a move to shift the scene of Standard.

@Kryptnyt - The "attacking creature" clause is for the sake of balance. Being able to remove any creature that serves any purpose for is horribly broken. People complain about Lightning Bolt and that can't kill creatures with toughness 4 or greater. Even giving an opponent a land doesn't balance out Path to Exile.

@Cheza - This fits white just fine. Each color does have targeted creature removal. Green's is arguably the weakest and most unpopular in that it requires you to control a creature (See: Feral Contest, Predatory Urge), be targeting a creature with flying (See: Leaf Arrow, Plummet, Slingbow Trap) or both (See: Wing Puncture)

I love playing cards like this, Oust or Swords to plowshares in a deck with a different win condition.

Like my mill deck, i really couldn't care less how much life my opponent gains. ;)

help!! my teenager and i are having issues!! the Condemn card reads "put target attacking createure on the bottom of it's owner's library. its controller gains life equal to its toughness.


WHO gains the life. Me the card owner (and my interpretation of its controller)

or the rotten teenager (who thinks that "its controller" is talking about the attacking card)

thank you all for your help
tonya

White spell says "NO."

Yup, I agree that they should stop printing low cmc removal!
Ravnica block was great when the removal suite were Mortify + Putrefy, and then Condemn came along and Simic Sky Swallower becomes the best fattie because of its Shroud. 1-mana and 2-mana unconditional removals essentially say you either play cheap creatures, and you play creatures that don't die. Which kills the purpose of printing any beatstick that costs more than Baneslayer Angel, at least competitively speaking.

But change won't be easy - some of the creatures have already become super aggressive and resilient because they had to beat through Terminate and Path to Exile. If we're suddenly back to Putrefy and Mortify, how could one actually deal with a Vengevine?

So Path -> Condemn is sort of a first step taken; at least Condemn has lots of trouble against Fauna Shaman. Not a bad thing, given that Standard cannot change overnight.

--
Edit: This type of spells (like Dispense Justice) was about their tension, like counterspells; you either do something real on your turn, or leave mana up and hope they walk into your trap. However, the low cost of Condemn ruined this part, since there's almost no commitment in leaving just one mana up!
I'd say 1W is the fair price for this card. The lifegain part might as well not be there, lest Wizards (or White) has an excuse to print one-drop removals.

@ tonyapagansocwrkr I doubt you'll read this but your loose grasp of the rules demand an answer.

In ALL cards where you cast a spell and the spell causes you to gain life will say "You gain X life."

When you cast a spell targeting something and there is a secondary effect, such as " target . It's controller ", in all these cases the "controller" in question is always referring to the controller of the object that was targeted.

Again, if it's referring to the controller of the spell being cast, it always says "You".

So yes, the controller of the attacking creature gains the life.

Anyone else notice the "Boros Guildmage" quote? Maybe the next 2011 block is going to be a visit to everyone's favorite 10 guild plane? :D

Interesting to note the changes in flavortext.
"But I will have justice now!"-Dissension (italicized, exclamation mark)
"But I will have justice now!" -Tenth Edition (no longer italics)
"But I will have justice now." -Magic 2011 (no longer even exclaiming)
Note that in flavortext, things that would normally be italicized are un-italicized, since everything is italicized. Like if you use a highlighter on everything but one word on a page, the one thing not highlighted will stand out.

Swords to Plowshares is lv.l 3 broken, Path to Exile is lv. 2 broken, and this is lv. 1 broken...

if you're going to effectively take away the creature from the field for one mana, then the only fair card for instant is Smite. Similar cards in functionality are Divine Verdict, which costs and Dispatch needs metalcraft. They seem quite fair as well.

@Cheza Because magic is also a game where soldiers that cost 1 to 3 mana can be buff like demons and angels too.

This card is really good in my UW control/infect deck. It clears the board, and unless they're running something like Felidar Sovereign I could care less what their life total is.

EDIT: I've seen this thing in U/W mill decks as well. Again, there are win conditions that don't care about life total, and this thing is almost unfair in that.

This is also great in EDH, since you can get rid of an enemy general almost permanently (if it's the sort of thing that would be attacking). And what's another few life, when you're starting at 40, and when you've just crippled their deck?

Combos with Cellar Door if you don't mind putting that creature in the graveyard. Or just run Leyline of the Void to go with it.

I can imagine this flavor text being said by the Navy Seals to Bin laden.

@pigknight : Well, not in 2011, but welcome to Return to Ravnica.

BTW, very nice card.

Annoy target EDH player who just attacked with their general to no end.

Quite good, but I never brought myself to buy it. It's better against black and white since they like the graveyard, it's worse against tutors, has neat combo abilities.

That said, attacking you is a pain and I see this as having many (but less) of the issues as Reciprocate. It can be good, but it can cost you a game if it's the wrong removal.

Condemn: Bane of commander-orientated EDH decks.