Effective card. Evasive, but the key is the loss of 3 life when it comes into play. If you have ways of pulling it back from the 'yard in an aggro deck, that 3 life adds up to wins. A lot.
chipmunk11345
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
i have this and essence feed in my deck and i try to get essence feed out on the field after howling bansee that way oppnent loses 6 life and i regain three after i lose 3
jsmith87
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(14 votes)
OH LOOK! Hillary Clinton's back! Back again. She's back. FTW?
Cheza
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Great card, but I don't like black suicide. If a color should be suicidal than it's red. Would fit better to all the Earthquakes that deal damage to each player as well. And I would like to see a Rage as a red Hatred reprint.
Nagoragama
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
No no no, black is all about damaging itself. Power at any cost. Red creatures sacrifice themselves, black players sacrifice their life force to win.
Athinor
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Uncommon? Why?
Blackworm_Bloodworm
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Nagoragama: Cheza does have a point though. Suicidal black and the 'power at any cost' mantra is more the red side of black, when they start to care more about killing their opponent than benefiting themselves.
Black at its core is all about putting oneself at higher value than others, so really that kind of black wouldn't want to hurt themselves and instead hurt others.
Black can represent one's self-respect and self-awareness. The choice to save yourself at the risk of another's life in a dangerous situation may seem selfish, but you do what you have to.
Smauls
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I play a red and black deck that uses these. I have plenty of lifegain thanks to vampire nighthawk and child of night, so I'm not worried about losing 3 life for a 3/3 flyer on turn 4. The loss of life, coupled with a few lave axes and lightning bolts, will leave my opponent in much worse shape than me. 3/5
Lyoncet
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
@Cheza "Great card, but I don't like black suicide. If a color should be suicidal than it's red. Would fit better to all the Earthquakes that deal damage to each player as well. And I would like to see a Rage as a red Hatred reprint."
You're really missing a key distinction between red and black suicide cards. Red suicide tends to be "you do X to everything," and that's it. Black suicide's flavor is usually more of a "you get really cool effect X, but also suffer consequence Y." In other words, red's self-destructive tendencies usually take the form of catching yourself/your minions in the crossfire (Slagstorm) while black's is more tied to giving something up to get something better (Sign in Blood). Of course this isn't always the case; the very black Pestilence resembles red in function as much as it resembles black in flavor.
I can see why some people would say this is more like red suicide than black, since everyone's getting hit the same amount. However, it also resembles black suicide in that for giving up your health (and of course the mana), you're getting a creature. But your ridiculous claim that "if a color should be suicidal than(sic.) it's red" is just silly.
Overall, not a bad creature; a little pricey, but a 3/3 flier is always nice to have. While taking a Lightning Bolt to get a 3/3 out can feel a bit nasty, I think it actually fits well into quick black decks. It's not hard to get out at 4CMC if you have a Dark Ritual, and while there are likely other good things in your hand competing for that turn 2 Ritual drop, you're essentially saying "no, I say everyone starts at 17 life" when you put this down. Since you need to burn your opponent(s) quickly or get your few little bashers annihilated by an Emrakul (or another fattie, or a combo machine), shortening the amount of time it would take to whittle your opponent/everyone else down while playing a creature can be a huge help. Still, it's a bit expensive for the type of deck that will want to run it, and there are certainly some much more solid black fliers (Vampire Nighthawk for instance), so hard to rate it very high.
JWolps
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Once in a Limited game I played her to kill myself rather than give my opponent the pleasure.
tenkaze
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
@blurrymadness: I'm pretty sure that banshees have been howling since long before Warhammer even existed. l2folklore
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Effective middling flier in black. The art is fairly unpleasant. Not fun to look at. But hey, its a banshee.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not bad for a Burn. Lava Spike attached to a 3/3 flyer for ?? Sign me up.
Comments (15)
Hillary Clinton's back!
Back again.
She's back.
FTW?
Cheza does have a point though. Suicidal black and the 'power at any cost' mantra is more the red side of black, when they start to care more about killing their opponent than benefiting themselves.
Black at its core is all about putting oneself at higher value than others, so really that kind of black wouldn't want to hurt themselves and instead hurt others.
Black can represent one's self-respect and self-awareness. The choice to save yourself at the risk of another's life in a dangerous situation may seem selfish, but you do what you have to.
"Great card, but I don't like black suicide. If a color should be suicidal than it's red. Would fit better to all the Earthquakes that deal damage to each player as well. And I would like to see a Rage as a red Hatred reprint."
You're really missing a key distinction between red and black suicide cards. Red suicide tends to be "you do X to everything," and that's it. Black suicide's flavor is usually more of a "you get really cool effect X, but also suffer consequence Y." In other words, red's self-destructive tendencies usually take the form of catching yourself/your minions in the crossfire (Slagstorm) while black's is more tied to giving something up to get something better (Sign in Blood). Of course this isn't always the case; the very black Pestilence resembles red in function as much as it resembles black in flavor.
I can see why some people would say this is more like red suicide than black, since everyone's getting hit the same amount. However, it also resembles black suicide in that for giving up your health (and of course the mana), you're getting a creature. But your ridiculous claim that "if a color should be suicidal than(sic.) it's red" is just silly.
Of course this is the guy that thinks Leyline of Anticipation and Dissipation Field should be white, Scroll Thief should be green, Jace's Erasure should be red, and Vampiric Tutor and Memoricide are blue.
Overall, not a bad creature; a little pricey, but a 3/3 flier is always nice to have. While taking a Lightning Bolt to get a 3/3 out can feel a bit nasty, I think it actually fits well into quick black decks. It's not hard to get out at 4CMC if you have a Dark Ritual, and while there are likely other good things in your hand competing for that turn 2 Ritual drop, you're essentially saying "no, I say everyone starts at 17 life" when you put this down. Since you need to burn your opponent(s) quickly or get your few little bashers annihilated by an Emrakul (or another fattie, or a combo machine), shortening the amount of time it would take to whittle your opponent/everyone else down while playing a creature can be a huge help. Still, it's a bit expensive for the type of deck that will want to run it, and there are certainly some much more solid black fliers (Vampire Nighthawk for instance), so hard to rate it very high.
The art is fairly unpleasant. Not fun to look at. But hey, its a banshee.