The card is awesome by itself, but the synergy of those 2 effects ...well, milling/tokens?? LOL ...and yes we want our Red/White sword!! Maybe something like Sword of Bravery and Honor
StaberFire
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Usually the swords are named for complimentary elements rather than similar ones. A R/W sword might be more like "Sword of Order and Chaos".
flipsyalec
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
perhaps a red white sword could be called "sword of heart and soul"? or "earth and sky"?
psyklone
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
So overpowered. Sure its mythic, but other equipment in this set struggle to get +2+2 and another ability for this cost, let alone producing 2 different forms of threat at the same time.
StoicChampion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A wholesome breakfast consists of wolves and the thoughts from your opponent's head. I approve.
WhiteyMcFly
★★☆☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(11 votes)
@majinara Card advantage isn't everything you know. And this guy DOES give you card advantage through that wolf it created for you. Mill is very disruptive in this format, eliminating win conditions and lands that your opponent may need. It mills out answers to your creature as well. I guess it depends on the deck this is playing against.
jlowther
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(14 votes)
I'll be honest: I have NO idea what deck to put this in...
Sir_Kaeru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Now we just need a R/W sword and a G/B sword
Richard_Hawk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Where do you get a wolf out of this sword?!?!?
SorianSadaskan
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Actually, looking closely, this Simic combination isn't that bad, and in fact quite handy.
Think this, despite M11 and the Eldrazi brothers have deck recycling abilities, the milling allows you at least to see what's in their decks and what they can't cast later by observing the graveyards.
The 'wolf gain' is the ***urance that you can always find someone to use the Sword in case the previous wielder gets bolted, Doom-bladed or Pathed.
Overall it is a good sword.
Kazabet
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
So... YOU put a 2/2 wolf into play and THAT PLAYER (being you?) mills 10 cards.
I know this isn't what's meant, but they might have worded it a little less confusing.
Daijin26
★★☆☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(11 votes)
@Whitey
Actually, card advantage is one of the most important and underrated parts of Magic. And you're correct in that milling is card advantage: it's not just cards in your hand, but also having more cards in play than your opponent as well as more cards in your library meaning you have more possible options to draw from than he/she does.
@Kazabet
The wording on the card is perfectly fine and not confusing in the least.
@Majinara
You seriously underestimate the power of killing off 10 cards. Mill cards do not have to exclusively be part of a mill-only deck. Not every deck is going to use the graveyard to win, so it's not always going to help your opponent. More often than not, it can save you by getting rid of potential threats before your opponent gets to draw them.
I have won a casual game against my brother because I used Oona to mill him for 2 cards (I had enough mana left over after casting her to do it) and I milled off a Tolarian Academy, which one me the game because he lost the means to cast all of his expensive spells in his hand which would have finished me off, and that was from a 2 card mill.
So milling can win you games without it being just about decking your opponent.
Zosk
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@ Daijin26: Milling actually has no impact on your opponent's next card unless you know what that card is in advance. It is the same as shuffling the deck; you are replacing the top random card with a different random card. Would you feel the same if you had milled off two cards and then he drew Tolarian Academy?
With that being said, this is still a very strong piece of equipment. It does give you advantage in the form of tokens. The buffs are great. With a couple of these, milling could easily be an alternate win condition. And let's not forget the cost!
The artwork is nice too.
LordAlvon
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(6 votes)
This sword is absolutely incredible. I think that it's better than the last two.
Here's why:
They gave you 1 mana affects - draw, shock, disentomb, lifegain, and this one gives you two mana affects - getting a 2/2 dude, milling for 10.
Sure, it might not be the colors you want protection from, but it makes your creatures better than the green creatures' humongousness, right?
I think that the Green/Black sword will be Sword of Life and Death. I'll probably be just as awesome as this one. Fingers crossed they reprint the original two as well. :)
BladeMichizure
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(8 votes)
This is definitely the worst of the Swords so far. It's more of an annoyance than an actually true dominate weapon. It bugs green cause it's fatties can't touch the creature, though green is more likely to destroy the sword than the creature anyway. It bugs blue by milling it's answers to everything else. Unfortunately, We don't live in mono-colored magic land anymore, and 2 color decks are big... Blue-white control anyone. even in extended, this sword bites the big one.. Jund will crush this thing rather well. Can't wait for the R/W and B/G Swords, hopefully wizards R&D don't screw the pooch on those 2.
fateprince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i also dont like why blue is in combo with green in this sword.. but with a mill deck its pretty useful and i dont care about the token after all.. but it could help in blocking;))
Without tournament experience, I can say this card's power level seems just fine with all the people I duel with. It's strong, but not enough to take over a game alone
If everyone is really throwing in their two cents about the G/B and the R/W swords, then another can't hurt.
I'd imagine with the current emphasis on Proliferate, it would make sense for a G/B sword to be created ("Sword of Growth and Decay") giving 2 - +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters to place on creatures. Would definatly not fit in every deck, but it fits in with the Mirrodin themes at the moment.
R/W Sword? "Sword of War and Peace", it will have 1,226 pages of flavor text.
Troutz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It irritates me when people say this card isn't very good. Cast 3, equip 2 for +2/+2 would be serviceable. Throw on protection from blue and green and we have a great equipment. Then give it a 2/2 token generating effect and you have yourself an unbelievably powerful piece of cardboard.
Yes, the mill effect is underwhelming. It is most devastating in the limited format... but this card is a lot better than people give it credit for! +2/+2, prot. blue/green and generating tokens on damage? For Equip 2?! I'll take four.
sarroth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wonder if they stop at Red/White or finish it off with a Green/Black sword as well. You could do both in the next set or one in each.
As is I love the art, it's a powerful card, but I don't understand how the abilities mesh; perhaps someone could explain?
@xxRattyzxx: Nix that idea; Wizards has said numerous times that they try to avoid +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters in the same set, so they definitely won't do it on the same card. Most players don't carry around counters that specifically have numbers on them, so they avoid it to avoid a drastic increase in board complexity. -1/-1 counters and a land search, +1/+1 counters and -2 life or something, that I see, but not both counters on the same sword.
jonfck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm just unsure, but would it grant the abilities double, if your creature got double strike, with a kor duelist this could be pretty fun, though the abilities might not be as good in white, but still double would much more than make up for that.
Enemy_Tricolor
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
You have to respect a sword that makes people you poke with it feel like wolves are biting their brain.
Ameisenmeister
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I agree with LordAlvon. This is better than the older two because they gave one mana effects and this give two mana effects. Mill for five would have been enough and the token... strangely it feels just right. Don't forget that it grants also protection for just 3 mana to play an 2 to equip.
I don't expect -1/-1 counters granted by the black/green sword. They are too specific for this set I think.
mlanier131
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card, equipment only gets played on standard if it is exceptionally good because of the possibly of the creature equipped getting killed on the stack.
18scsc
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(4 votes)
@zosk but this isnt shufling its destroying 10 cards of there deck that means that they have 10 less cards its more likley to milll that academy then it is for them to draw it and the chances for destroying it increse eiht each hit,
this card rocks, it genrates card advantge with wolves, witch are decent enough creatures the mill ability is a Glimpse the Unthinkable on a stick plus if the creature its atached to gets destoryed pay 2 to equip it to your new wolf. plus its decent enough whith out those abiltys. 5/5 this card is awsome
Beastlygreen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
If this sucks compared to the other swords, then why were they so good? It's likely the five hits from this and you're dead. It makes wolves to wield it (somehow) and just looks cool. Whoever says this isn't good is stupid.
dacow
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I have to say this card isn't bad, but it isn't that great either. Of the "deal damange" abilities the only real useful one is wolf ability (which is quite nice), the mill is almost useless in legacy with all the graveyard loving decks out there. I wish it was a draw or bounce ability instead and it woulda been a realitivly easy 4-5 star ability. Also pro-blue isfairly inferior to pro red/white/black. Pro-green isn't so much since green being a dominate force in standard and quite common in legacy
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wins games, also protection from green helps it out against those pesky infect decks.
Dr.Pingas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't like this sword, it lacks harmoney(yeah, sure, enemy colors, but still). If you're going to for mill, why on earth do you need a 2/2? If you just want the dog, you have to work against tons of added resistance because your opponent now has 10 more reasons not to let you connect with this thing.
Sword of Puppy Mills is extraneous and bothersome, and little more than bait for opposing disenchants. I was totally routing for something that gave Protection from Green and Artifacts(or colorless, damn eldrazi), something like Sword of Oak and Iron or something like that, it would have made a much more interesting three-card cycle.
Joseph_Setala
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Just when you think the original two swords can't get any more broken... Hello, I'm the Sword of Body and Mind, here to ruin your day!
I see this card causing a lot of grief for a lot of people, especially one of my friends who uses a gain life/scry deck. Sure, the 2/2 wolf token isn't that great, but it's always good as fodder for cards like Mass Polymorph, Day of the Dragons, as well as others, but the 10 card milling is brutal unless the opponent takes advantage of cards in the graveyard, which is fewer and further between than most seem to think. Plus with 10 cards off the top of the deck, you have roughly a 1 in 5 chance (compensating for cards drawn in game) of hitting at least one vital card your opponent relies on. Even if you don't hit a vital card, you'll more than likely take a good chunck of their lands away.
5/5 for all three for pure brokenness with the cheap mana and equip costs of the cards
NecroticNobody
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is my favourite sword ever. I also have a question regarding a ruling. If my opponent gained control of my creature, using Mind Control/Volition Reins and then equiped this sword, would the enchantment go to the graveyard? I think it does, but I couldn't find the exacte ruling. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
ZuesAscendant
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
"Jund will crush this thing rather well."
I'm sorry, what? This sword is actually fantastic against Jund. In case you hadn't noticed, nearly all cards in a Jund deck are green. Putrid Leech, Sprouting Thrinax (and its Saporlings), Bloodbraid Elves, and Broodmate Dragon are all green. The deck's best piece of removal (Maelstrom Pulse) is also green. The mill also disrupts their rather fragile mana base. And never discount the power of mill, especially repeatable mill. The sword is an automatic five turn clock against every deck except Eldrazi Green.
This card is comparable to the other swords: the white/black one comes with the protection from the two colors with the best removal, and one useful ability, while the blue/red one comes with the always potent card draw.
Evermint
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cool toolbox card to have in the current Standard with a Quest deck. Immunity to bouncing against control is way useful and has saved me countless times. Milling as a secondary win-con is sometimes good, sometimes bad depending on the deck you face. In an Eldrazi filled metagame, it can sometimes refuel their good spells. At the same time, it may manaflood them all over again.
I milled out a few Tier 1 decks with this+Kor Duelist. Yeah, 2 wolf tokens and 20 cards milled by the third turn, second main. That's good CA.
I love equipment cards; Wizards really needs to print more decent ones. This is a start.
majinara
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
It's a good card. Of the three swords though, this is the worst. sword of fire and ice gives you double card advantage each turn (one because it shocks a creature (or a player) and one because it draws a card). sword of light and shadow also gives you card advantage, in returning the creatures from your gy to your hand, which is pretty neat, since you then have always creatures around to equip this sword on, if the current one gets killed. The lifegain is not that awesome but is ok.
This one does NOT generate card advantage, so it's worse than the other two. Creating tokens is fine, the mill... is so-so. As always, unless you mill the last card away of your opponents deck, it basically helps your opponent instead of killing him.
So while you could put the other two swords in basically all decks with some creatures, this one works only well in a mill deck.
5/5 for the red-blue one. 4/5 for the white black one. 3.5 for this one.
Edit @ WhiteyMcFly: Yes, the token is cute. But it's worse than card draw, worse than a shock, and worse than getting creatures back from your gy. The idea that milling prevents your opponent from drawing win conditions is an illusion. A win condition might be among the ones you milled away with the sword. It might also be the 11th card from top, so now that you milled away 10 cards, he draws it right now when he otherwise wouldn't. And maybe he has no specific win condition: in that case milling away cards doesn't harm your opponent at all, unless his library is completly gone. And the problem that cards are more easily accessed while in the gy compared to beeing in the library persists. If the sword would exile the cards: woah. But it doesn't. Not to mention that the whole idea of playing equipment that increases power has no synergy with a mill deck at all, since mill decks are supposed to win by milling, and not by dealing damage.
Edit @ Daijin26: milling does not kill cards. It's easier to access cards in the gy than getting them from your library. Even if it would exile the cards your opponent doesn't use any form of recursion, it does not necessarily harm your opponent to mill him. You said you won a game by milling 2 cards away from an opponents library and among them was an academy that would have won him the game. But the academy could have also been third from top, and by milling those two above it away you might have basically tutored the academy for him. It was simply a matter of beeing lucky or not, whether milling him for two helps or harms him.
I know, especially for newer players it doesn't sound logical, but: milling does not equal destroying permanents in play. If you mill someone, they still have the same permanents in play, and the same cards on hand. You just spent resources to do something that did nothing at all to strengthen your own board position or harm that of your opponent.
Wormfang
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this equiped to nemesis of reason and suddelny they don't have a library to play with
iaiji
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Whatever you do, do NOT play this card against dredge or reanimator. Chances are, the other guy will shake your hand and kiss you on the cheek as they bring back iona/ inkwell leviathan or play a gazillion zombie tokens led by a flame-kin zealot.
Not a bad sword, strictly speaking, but it really does pale in comparison to the other 2 swords. And no, protection from "Tarmogoyf" really isn't that awesome, as there are a million ways to knock that monster out of the ballpark.
Stray_Dog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Sword of Order and Chaos would be cool, and could make a mechanical reference to the card Order/Chaos.
What about ? Sword of Life and Death? That could also make a mechanical reference to the card Life/Death.
I heard mention that design likes to leave some of the more obvious cycles unfinished, because it seems too 'ham-fisted' to make all five. Maybe they will appear in a different block?
Personally I think it would be cool if each of the weapons were different. Maybe a scythe/sickle for and a shield or hammer for ? Bit late for that though.
Juwanplusox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great card, I used this with Whispersilk cloak and put it on my Indomitable Archangel, guess who won
Almost forgot to add I had Tempered Steel out too. :3
Gezus82
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
my problem with this is milling is useless unless your running bombs like wrexial or geth, and is more likely to help your opponent than hurt him or her.
dragonking987
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Just a little bit broken... I like it.
mantisman
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
i use this and a grafted exoskeleton with thrummingbird in my blue-black infect. The look on opponents faces when you start bashing them for 6 infect tokens with a creature that costs 2? priceless. Add in a whispersilk cloak for extra funsies.
normaly only get one good hit out of it but when i do it realy forces your opponent to act.
I great card but not op. I like it
PastProphet
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Bloodchief Ascension ...
EvilCleavage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This is so good in extended against Jund, and Jace decks, faeries, Green ramp. It's sooo good, I don't get how some people say it's not that great.
OBiRiON
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
melted guns of tomorrow (4) may only cast by tapping 4 basic lands
melted guns of tomorrow comes into play with 4 counters on it. 1. first counter spent you may cause 3 damage to target player or serum 3 poison counters 2. second counter spent you may destroy one target permanent 3. third counter spent you may look at top 4 cards of your library and put one in hand 4. fourth counter spent you may sacrifice 4 permanents, 4 life and 4 cards in hand you may sacrifice one counter per turn as a sorcery. if you achieve sacrificing number 4 counter the 'magic the gathering inventive team' must hire me as a full blown card time creator.
(by the way, if a creature has 'serum' and blocks a creature with 'infect' it may deduct a poison counter, deduct a -1/-1 counter, or deal 1 damage to target player.)
ooooooo ooooooo o ooooooooooooooooo o ooooooo o o o o o oo oo oo o ooooooooooooooooo o ooooooo ooooooo my rendition of the 'shake weight'. 'good 4 arms, better 4 vaj'.
I think this should have been return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand rather than mill ten. That would make it ridiculously powerful, yeah, but all the swords are. And milling is very conditional about whether it helps, or hurts, or does nothing. All the other sword effects are just straight-up good, why have one conditional one in there?
made4ipod
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Most people don't understand how powerful 10 cards is. One of those cards could be just the card you need to win the game, like perhaps a big Jace or a titan. I mean sure, milling for 10 is not as powerful as jace beleren raping your deck for 20 or sometimes as powerful as traumatize, which mills half your deck, but milling for 10, giving you a wolf token, and +2/+2 and protection from green and blue makes a very solid and slightly broken card.
scumbling1
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
They had better make the R/W sword terrible, or else this will be the worst of the Sword of X and Y cycle by a wide margin. Ok, I confess I'm not really hoping that they make the R/W sword bad. This was just a roundabout way of bringing up the fact that this sword is the apple that fell FAR away from the tree.
All the other Swords get two abilities. Having the blue mechanic mill cards effectively means it doesn't exist. Are you really going to be using this card in a dedicated Mill deck? Let me answer that for you: no, you'd be ill-advised to try.
Additionally, Pro: green and Pro: blue are the worst combination of protections for a creature to have, as neither green nor blue are strong in regards to creature removal.
EDIT: madeforipod,
Milling ten is a red herring. It sort of feels like you're doing something, but only if you don't think too much about it. If you don't mill the last ten cards of their deck away, then you didn't do anything. They very likely have more threats (perhaps some of them are one the board still, killing you). You're trading one unknown quantity (the top card of their library) for another unknown quantity (the next top deck, ten down). There is no gain in card advantage for you; they don't skip a draw or lose a card in their hand.
To say that the milling is as useful as any of the other Swords' abilities shows that YOU do not understand how powerful milling for ten is(n't).
BlueRock
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
if you're not playing mill, and you don't have cards that take advantage of opponents graveyard size (HUGE majority of decks) the mill bit may as well be ignored.
lets say you get 3 hits through. woop! hell yeah! if you'd done that using a 1/1 infect with this attached, they'd be one step off dead.
3 hits from this thing, and they still have over 20 draw turns in which to kill you. not something to get too excited about really? 3.5/5 - it's fun, and in the right deck could be awesome, but most of the time its abilities are wasted, AND it's a mythic rare.
Milling 10 doesn't impress you? How about milling 20! Eqip it to a double striker like Mirran Crusader and mill 10 first strike combat damage step, and then 10 more regular damage step!
Tonight I did that to a guy playing a UG deck, and and he was totally helpless!
ninjaboy05
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This and Sword of Feast and Famine have made it near impossible to play green in tournaments. Don't get me wrong these cards are powerful, but magic is starting to degenerate into whoever has the cash has the win in tournaments and it's annoying.
Aradimar
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@scumbling1 Milling 10 cards is very advantageous, its basically like playing memoricide without the targeting and possibly much much better. lets say your fighting black red? wonder how many anticreature spells you just got rid of, or blue? wonder how many counters you just got rid of
Reading over the comments here and I don't understand the hate on this sword. A token producing sword is great, and it protects your creature from mind controls, one of the most deadly blue methods of dealing with creatures in the game. It may as well also have jace protection plastered on it, because it gets by blue blockers to kill jaces against blue decks (think this sword attached to thrun for a minute, see what I mean?). As for green protection, they may not have many up front removals, but at least you can't be blocked by their myriad of 3/3's and higher, and it gives you a weapon vs. elves.
Now the argument seems to be about the mill more than anything else. Mill as a win con doesn't do anything unless you mill their last card. It does however, create combo potential. Contrary to popular belief, it is true that the majority of decks do not deal with their graveyard in any way. I can't even remember the last time I saw someone use a rise from the grave or etc. In fact most decks these days prefer to keep things out of the graveyard. Mill does 3 very good things for you. 1, it provides an alternate win con. This is really important in some matches, where your opponent may be gaining a 100 life, or you can only attack with one creature at a time to do a kazuul or something. 2, it combos with your own rise from the graves, haunting echoes, memoricide, expirates, and etc, allowing you to choose what you don't want to be fighting against and take it out of their decks as well as screwing up top deck tutors and library reordering. 3, that it readjusts the ratio of certain cards in their decks, hopefully soft locking them out of the game by getting most of their land cards/big threats, and so on. It's not straight up card advantage in the sense that it doesn't affect the battlefield or players hands, but it does affect what they might draw or combos you can use, and in this way is similiar to fate seal and library neutering such as sadistic sacrament.
Magnor_Criol
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The reason this sword is disparaged is because as far as protection colors go, green and blue are hands-down the least relevant colors to be protected from of the five. There's certainly things it's worth protecting from in both colors; but nothing near the value of protection from any of the three removal-heavy colors.
Getting a dude from the damage trigger is easily the top effect of this sword. And while it's great in a vacuum, it just doesn't measure up to the power of its other four brethren. The only one it can really contend with is Light & Shadow; L&S's damage trigger is probably worse, but its protection colors are vastly superior, especially in the formats it sees play in (Legacy/Vintage).
Artan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I once got milled in a one-on-one EDH just because of this sword. It was rather humiliating. I wasn't even playing the colors it was protecting against!
What I never got about this sword is...why does "body" imply wolf creatures?
SniperJolly
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Throw it on Hada Spy Patrol then level up. You pretty much won.
Also, people say milling is useless without the ability to 100% KO them with it, but I have to say, seeing a green player's biggest brute or all of the control player's remaining counters go down is a huge weight off my back.
Endomarru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a sudden urge to put this on my Grave Titan.
CrowJonSnow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
wasn't exactly sure what deck to put it in, until i tried it out in my mono-blue mill deck. put it on Surveilling Sprite and it destroyed my opponent's deck in seconds. it's a Glimpse the Unthinkable every turn, for an initial investment of 5 (plus the creature). so say, 5 glimpses for a win, normally 10 cmc, but i got it got 7. beast
use643
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
That is Venser, the Sojurner holding the sword. Definetly
Bobth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Throw it on a Phyrexian Crusader to have protection from everything except Black and Artifacts. Since it is also immune to Doom Blade, this is a nearly game-ending combo, which can fit into many decks that play Black creatures, and if you don't get the combo, the cards are great by themselves as well. Watch out for Black Sun's Zenith.
Tanaka348
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
May or may not get quite worse in standard, given there's a big chunk of Innistrad cards, especially in blue, that will say "Thank you, sir. May I have another?" to the prospect of getting themselves milled for 10. It really depends on which cards end up getting played.
TPmanW
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So is this thing going to find new use in a post-Innistrad world? Wolves and milling would seem to fit right in to that set.
Splizer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know what? More often than not, this wins my opponents the game because the flippin' 2/2 Wolf was in the way!
This synergizes fine with Bonehoard, and The Mimeoplasm would enjoy this as a birthday present
pjlizard
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
pairs well with essens of the wild. you cant block my birds with a blade? enjoy my new 6/6.
BalZac
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
People are smoking crack if they fail to understand the power of this card... Got two of these on my Invisible Stalker the other day and milled my opponent out in 3 turns...and its not even a mill deck... Multiple win factors only make your deck stronger, and this Sword provides this possibility far more than the other 4 options in the Sword line.
Gcrudaplaneswalker
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Wow. Great for G/U self-mill. AND U GET A 2/2 WOLF!!! Awesome card 5/5
manoy007
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
i found this cool site http://bit.ly/xozk2a
BoBoCTiberius
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
People who think the milling bit of this is what is generating card advantage are wrong. Mill =/= destroying threats.
Wisdomseyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This sword is easily the worst of the swords every printed.
In comparison to the others, it does very little.
Now mill is sometimes nice, but the environments it played in (standard zendikar and standard innastrad) there is very little mill does with the prominence of eldrazi laughing at it and graveyard abuse being key.
The green ability is nice, but in order to compete with other sword effects, it should have been a 3/3 beast. Not a giant leap, but enough to make threatening creature advantage. For now, 1 2/2 every turn is more of a chump blocking thing. Nothing special.
For this sword, they really took the wrong path on its blue effect, and didnt do very much on its green. It's blue effect, other than drawing a card, could have been bouncing, causing card advantage like every other sword does. It would have been a good idea, considering the lack of protections this sword gives.
I am sorry, but i have to rate this 3. Fantastic card, there isnt much wrong with it, but when milling causes deck advantage what is the point?
PS: I read one comment saying this is a great SELF MILL card. Can someone explain to my how you attack yourself?
deathtothecake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
"welcome back to farlands or bust!"
Pigfish99
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wish I got THIS mythic rather than the archangel. this sword kicks ass.
koopashell
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The force is strong with this one.
Arachnos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Equip to Jace's Phantasm for immediate pump as soon as it hits.
blizzardspectre
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(2 votes)
mill is conditional, not good ability.
the blue ability could be tapping target permanent. it doesnt untap in next untap step. though, a bit wordy.
or it could return UP TO one target creature to the attacked player's hand, so you can choose not to unsummon his creature with ETB abilities.
TwentyFifthBaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Psst! Don't use it on mind controlled creatures! Bad times happen!
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The mill could be a drawback, but its fun to play around. Haunting Echoes or Rise from the Grave for example. If it said exile it would be allot stronger, but you couldn't really abuse it on your side.
This is a sword that you don't want to just slap into any deck with creatures, I mean you could if you wanted. Its more of a casual sword, and there is nothing wrong with that. As a result the price-tag is more affordable for casual players. Its still a sideboard option for the protection in competitive play, but I am happy with this sword.
Unless you milled their whole deck and won that way, the milling didn't do anything.
Let's say the opponent has 40 cards in his deck, with one card he really wants. There's a 25% chance that you'll mill it with one hit of this. There's also a 25% chance that the card was in to top 11-20 cards, and he's now more likey to draw it and win the game. All this math basically cancels out, and makes milling the same as shuffling (unless they get milled out).
"Plus with 10 cards off the top of the deck, you have roughly a 1 in 5 chance (compensating for cards drawn in game) of hitting at least one vital card your opponent relies on." "Most people don't understand how powerful 10 cards is. One of those cards could be just the card you need to win the game, like perhaps a big Jace or a titan." "lets say your fighting black red? wonder how many anticreature spells you just got rid of, or blue? wonder how many counters you just got rid of" "More often than not, it can save you by getting rid of potential threats before your opponent gets to draw them."
Anyway, I like this card's artwork the most. =)
Stig1t2Me
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was very excited when I unlocked this card for Dream Puppets in Magic 2013. One of the upsides to the mill effect is that not very many permanents have the power to mill your opponent to the extent that this one does. Ten cards? You get the same thing for Jace, Memory Adept's 0 ability. Unlike Jace, however, this card is a lot harder to eliminate since you can't do things like declare attackers against Sword of Body and Mind. In Dimir decks, where many creatures are unblockable to begin with and may have Cipher spells like Paranoid Delusions or Mental Vapors encoded on them, the effects gained from dealing combat damage to your opponent can really mess up your opponent's game big time ("Okay, so I mill ten, then mill three, then mill three again, then discard a card, then sacrifice a creature, and you get a wolf and draw two cards? Your Tormented Soul is one evil bastard."). I wish I had a real copy of this card; maybe I'll check my local card store for it. 5/5
wideyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
That is some strange, strange flavor. "A magical sword that gave him protection from blue and green mages, summoned wolves whenever it was wielded and caused his opponents to forget their spells." That's what I would have enchanted my magical sword to do, too.
Megadog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Now that the other two swords have been reprinted, this one is the odd one out again in terms of art.
Why? The suns are on the same side as the blade of the same color. On all the other swords it's the opposite side.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't really like the art on this one because the blue sun created a red sky. It really takes away from the colours on the card. Also, it's the only sword that has the blade colour on the side that its sun is on.
As for the card though, I think it is underrated. It may not give the biggest advantage, but it still gives a 2/2 each time you hit someone. It works perfectly in my Tajic deck I'm building because it will slowly enable battalion.
I also want to point out that protection doesn't always need to be protection against colours with high amounts of removal. Basically, all the swords give a tiny bit of protection from red with their increased toughness, and being an equipment means it doesn't even matter if they kill the creature using it. You can just re-equip it (FOR 2 MANA). The protection just adds more evasion to the creature. Not everyone plays white and black.
I've played against modern decks using this as an alternate win-con. The mill is a hell of a lot better than you think it is, let me just say that.
Haneyphi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So I am surprised at the fact that there were no mentions of Geth, Lord of the Vault with this sword. I run a very fun and very scary Geth Commander deck and this card is awesome and does SO much work. Being mono-black, I designed the deck to be a 'big mana' deck with a lot of ramp: cabal coffers, caged sun, snow-covered swamps with Extraplanar Lens, Nirkana Revenant, Crypt Ghast, etc. I list all these out to show my commitment to making a lot of black mana. The problem is, in some games, I get an excess of ramp and have a lot of mana, but not a lot to do with it.
Here's my point - With Geth as my commander and either this sword getting naturally drawn or tutored out, Geth can start swinging early on either the open player or (nearly guaranteed) green player in the pod. The fact that its pro blue is a bonus as I hate blue. The milling of 10 cards almost guarantees me graveyard targets for all that mana Geth can use IF he has targets and that then gets him started to mill more cards and have more targets. The sword enables that chain to begin and since its commander, you invariably get amazing targets. You also then get the wolf that can be a chump blocker or a creature to re-equip the sword on for swinging next turn if Geth gets dealt with before your next attack phase (and with all that mana, its no problem to recast Geth from the command zone. Its great bonus that the 2/2 wolf, the pro blue/green, and the +2/+2 all come on this equipment, but it would be one of my 99 using it just for the mill. Even better, with Geth being 5/5, 3 swings with this sword equipped and its game for that person. Geth works great with all the swords (well maybe Sword of War and Peace is situational), but he really shines with this sword and with Sword of Feast and Famine.
Pipikako
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This sword doesn't need combo cards, Put it on creature and win. Yes, its that simple.
ShatterPalm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The "weakest" of the sword cycle it may be, but that doesn't mean it isn't powerful. A powerful mill deck makes the most out of this, obviously. My friend and magic mentor used this to great effect in just that manner, slapping it on an Invisible Stalker and wreaking havoc. That along with Jace, Memory Adept , his No-Stick, and a few Jace's Erasures and mind sculpts to really wreak havoc. By the time he got this thing out he would already have you down 20 to 30 cards, and then he would start swinging and throw Jace down. Suddenly you're losing a third of your total deck a turn, and you have no way to respond. It was pretty cruel.
raginglittepycho
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think it's a bit to messed up to put on a nemesis of reason EDIT: it is more messed up to put it on a hydra omnivore with a lord of extinction out
NoIHavent
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why... Why... Why god did they put the suns on the same sides as blade-half they share a color with... I think I'm going to cry.
*ahem* aside from that one art qualm, I think the reason they needed to put the mill on there is because the token-gen ability is so powerful. This is the only sword that leaves behind bodies to stick to if the creature holding it dies. An unsummon effect would be too powerful, and draw was done on F&I, so really that leaves them with mill... Or... Not a lot really, maybe "look at the top card of your library. You may shuffle your library." but still, not much room to work with.
talcumpowder0046
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The suns aren't on the usual sides. On the other arts their on the enemy color sides :(
Chris Rahn is a phenomenal artist, though. If only I could afford these babies.
Anubis0785
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card! It may not be the strongest of the swords but I've seen it make short work of opponents who were unprepared to deal with it. The mill is actually quite good in my opinion and though it only hits for 10 a swing it almost immediately elicits a frown from the person sitting across from you. The wolf token is icing and as a control player I con honestly say that that little 2/2 canine makes a fantastic chump blocker in a pinch.
RetroGamer3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just put this on Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, swing and see what happens next !
troll_berserker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The strongest sword in cube. A Birds of Paradise with this equipped kills in 2 or 3 hits, with wolves to chump that Wurmcoil Engine staring you down. None of the other swords even come close to the pure speed of this one vs a 40 card deck.
@majinara Making wolves IS card advantage. They are creatures and trade with all sorts of stuff, like other creatures or even removal spells if necessary. You claim that Fire and Ice is double card advantage because it can shock x/2s, so doesn't it logically follow that creating 2/2 wolves is card advantage too?
Kirbster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Where does the wolf come out of?
Fightohydra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Interestingly, the art on this sword is the only one out of the 5 that depicts the two suns on the same color side of the blade, rather than the opposite. I have to think that was intentional, since they were all the same artist, but I'm not really sure why he chose this one specifically.
Comments (100)
Think this, despite M11 and the Eldrazi brothers have deck recycling abilities, the milling allows you at least to see what's in their decks and what they can't cast later by observing the graveyards.
The 'wolf gain' is the ***urance that you can always find someone to use the Sword in case the previous wielder gets bolted, Doom-bladed or Pathed.
Overall it is a good sword.
I know this isn't what's meant, but they might have worded it a little less confusing.
Actually, card advantage is one of the most important and underrated parts of Magic. And you're correct in that milling is card advantage: it's not just cards in your hand, but also having more cards in play than your opponent as well as more cards in your library meaning you have more possible options to draw from than he/she does.
@Kazabet
The wording on the card is perfectly fine and not confusing in the least.
@Majinara
You seriously underestimate the power of killing off 10 cards. Mill cards do not have to exclusively be part of a mill-only deck. Not every deck is going to use the graveyard to win, so it's not always going to help your opponent. More often than not, it can save you by getting rid of potential threats before your opponent gets to draw them.
I have won a casual game against my brother because I used Oona to mill him for 2 cards (I had enough mana left over after casting her to do it) and I milled off a Tolarian Academy, which one me the game because he lost the means to cast all of his expensive spells in his hand which would have finished me off, and that was from a 2 card mill.
So milling can win you games without it being just about decking your opponent.
With that being said, this is still a very strong piece of equipment. It does give you advantage in the form of tokens. The buffs are great. With a couple of these, milling could easily be an alternate win condition. And let's not forget the cost!
The artwork is nice too.
Here's why:
They gave you 1 mana affects - draw, shock, disentomb, lifegain, and this one gives you two mana affects - getting a 2/2 dude, milling for 10.
Sure, it might not be the colors you want protection from, but it makes your creatures better than the green creatures' humongousness, right?
I think that the Green/Black sword will be Sword of Life and Death. I'll probably be just as awesome as this one. Fingers crossed they reprint the original two as well. :)
If everyone is really throwing in their two cents about the G/B and the R/W swords, then another can't hurt.
I'd imagine with the current emphasis on Proliferate, it would make sense for a G/B sword to be created ("Sword of Growth and Decay") giving 2 - +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters to place on creatures. Would definatly not fit in every deck, but it fits in with the Mirrodin themes at the moment.
R/W Sword? "Sword of War and Peace", it will have 1,226 pages of flavor text.
Yes, the mill effect is underwhelming. It is most devastating in the limited format... but this card is a lot better than people give it credit for! +2/+2, prot. blue/green and generating tokens on damage? For Equip 2?! I'll take four.
As is I love the art, it's a powerful card, but I don't understand how the abilities mesh; perhaps someone could explain?
@xxRattyzxx: Nix that idea; Wizards has said numerous times that they try to avoid +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters in the same set, so they definitely won't do it on the same card. Most players don't carry around counters that specifically have numbers on them, so they avoid it to avoid a drastic increase in board complexity. -1/-1 counters and a land search, +1/+1 counters and -2 life or something, that I see, but not both counters on the same sword.
This is better than the older two because they gave one mana effects and this give two mana effects. Mill for five would have been enough and the token... strangely it feels just right.
Don't forget that it grants also protection for just 3 mana to play an 2 to equip.
I don't expect -1/-1 counters granted by the black/green sword. They are too specific for this set I think.
this card rocks, it genrates card advantge with wolves, witch are decent enough creatures the mill ability is a Glimpse the Unthinkable on a stick plus if the creature its atached to gets destoryed pay 2 to equip it to your new wolf. plus its decent enough whith out those abiltys.
5/5 this card is awsome
Sword of Puppy Mills is extraneous and bothersome, and little more than bait for opposing disenchants.
I was totally routing for something that gave Protection from Green and Artifacts(or colorless, damn eldrazi), something like Sword of Oak and Iron or something like that, it would have made a much more interesting three-card cycle.
I see this card causing a lot of grief for a lot of people, especially one of my friends who uses a gain life/scry deck. Sure, the 2/2 wolf token isn't that great, but it's always good as fodder for cards like Mass Polymorph, Day of the Dragons, as well as others, but the 10 card milling is brutal unless the opponent takes advantage of cards in the graveyard, which is fewer and further between than most seem to think. Plus with 10 cards off the top of the deck, you have roughly a 1 in 5 chance (compensating for cards drawn in game) of hitting at least one vital card your opponent relies on. Even if you don't hit a vital card, you'll more than likely take a good chunck of their lands away.
With the +2/+2 and protection to U and G it's a very solid card that will be abused just like the Sword of Fire and Ice and the Sword of Light and Shadow
5/5 for all three for pure brokenness with the cheap mana and equip costs of the cards
I'm sorry, what? This sword is actually fantastic against Jund. In case you hadn't noticed, nearly all cards in a Jund deck are green. Putrid Leech, Sprouting Thrinax (and its Saporlings), Bloodbraid Elves, and Broodmate Dragon are all green. The deck's best piece of removal (Maelstrom Pulse) is also green. The mill also disrupts their rather fragile mana base. And never discount the power of mill, especially repeatable mill. The sword is an automatic five turn clock against every deck except Eldrazi Green.
This card is comparable to the other swords: the white/black one comes with the protection from the two colors with the best removal, and one useful ability, while the blue/red one comes with the always potent card draw.
I milled out a few Tier 1 decks with this+Kor Duelist. Yeah, 2 wolf tokens and 20 cards milled by the third turn, second main. That's good CA.
I love equipment cards; Wizards really needs to print more decent ones. This is a start.
sword of fire and ice gives you double card advantage each turn (one because it shocks a creature (or a player) and one because it draws a card).
sword of light and shadow also gives you card advantage, in returning the creatures from your gy to your hand, which is pretty neat, since you then have always creatures around to equip this sword on, if the current one gets killed. The lifegain is not that awesome but is ok.
This one does NOT generate card advantage, so it's worse than the other two. Creating tokens is fine, the mill... is so-so. As always, unless you mill the last card away of your opponents deck, it basically helps your opponent instead of killing him.
So while you could put the other two swords in basically all decks with some creatures, this one works only well in a mill deck.
5/5 for the red-blue one. 4/5 for the white black one. 3.5 for this one.
Edit @ WhiteyMcFly: Yes, the token is cute. But it's worse than card draw, worse than a shock, and worse than getting creatures back from your gy. The idea that milling prevents your opponent from drawing win conditions is an illusion. A win condition might be among the ones you milled away with the sword. It might also be the 11th card from top, so now that you milled away 10 cards, he draws it right now when he otherwise wouldn't. And maybe he has no specific win condition: in that case milling away cards doesn't harm your opponent at all, unless his library is completly gone. And the problem that cards are more easily accessed while in the gy compared to beeing in the library persists. If the sword would exile the cards: woah. But it doesn't.
Not to mention that the whole idea of playing equipment that increases power has no synergy with a mill deck at all, since mill decks are supposed to win by milling, and not by dealing damage.
Edit @ Daijin26: milling does not kill cards. It's easier to access cards in the gy than getting them from your library. Even if it would exile the cards your opponent doesn't use any form of recursion, it does not necessarily harm your opponent to mill him.
You said you won a game by milling 2 cards away from an opponents library and among them was an academy that would have won him the game. But the academy could have also been third from top, and by milling those two above it away you might have basically tutored the academy for him. It was simply a matter of beeing lucky or not, whether milling him for two helps or harms him.
I know, especially for newer players it doesn't sound logical, but: milling does not equal destroying permanents in play. If you mill someone, they still have the same permanents in play, and the same cards on hand. You just spent resources to do something that did nothing at all to strengthen your own board position or harm that of your opponent.
Not a bad sword, strictly speaking, but it really does pale in comparison to the other 2 swords. And no, protection from "Tarmogoyf" really isn't that awesome, as there are a million ways to knock that monster out of the ballpark.
What about
I heard mention that design likes to leave some of the more obvious cycles unfinished, because it seems too 'ham-fisted' to make all five. Maybe they will appear in a different block?
Personally I think it would be cool if each of the weapons were different. Maybe a scythe/sickle for
Almost forgot to add I had Tempered Steel out too. :3
normaly only get one good hit out of it but when i do it realy forces your opponent to act.
I great card but not op. I like it
melted guns of tomorrow comes into play with 4 counters on it.
1. first counter spent you may cause 3 damage to target player or serum 3 poison counters
2. second counter spent you may destroy one target permanent
3. third counter spent you may look at top 4 cards of your library and put one in hand
4. fourth counter spent you may sacrifice 4 permanents, 4 life and 4 cards in hand
you may sacrifice one counter per turn as a sorcery.
if you achieve sacrificing number 4 counter the 'magic the gathering inventive team' must hire me as a full blown card time creator.
(by the way, if a creature has 'serum' and blocks a creature with 'infect' it may deduct a poison counter, deduct a -1/-1 counter, or deal 1 damage to target player.)
ooooooo ooooooo
o ooooooooooooooooo o
ooooooo o o o o o oo oo oo
o ooooooooooooooooo o
ooooooo ooooooo my rendition of the 'shake weight'. 'good 4 arms, better 4 vaj'.
All the other Swords get two abilities. Having the blue mechanic mill cards effectively means it doesn't exist. Are you really going to be using this card in a dedicated Mill deck? Let me answer that for you: no, you'd be ill-advised to try.
Additionally, Pro: green and Pro: blue are the worst combination of protections for a creature to have, as neither green nor blue are strong in regards to creature removal.
EDIT: madeforipod,
Milling ten is a red herring. It sort of feels like you're doing something, but only if you don't think too much about it. If you don't mill the last ten cards of their deck away, then you didn't do anything. They very likely have more threats (perhaps some of them are one the board still, killing you). You're trading one unknown quantity (the top card of their library) for another unknown quantity (the next top deck, ten down). There is no gain in card advantage for you; they don't skip a draw or lose a card in their hand.
To say that the milling is as useful as any of the other Swords' abilities shows that YOU do not understand how powerful milling for ten is(n't).
lets say you get 3 hits through.
woop! hell yeah!
if you'd done that using a 1/1 infect with this attached, they'd be one step off dead.
3 hits from this thing, and they still have over 20 draw turns in which to kill you. not something to get too excited about really?
3.5/5 - it's fun, and in the right deck could be awesome, but most of the time its abilities are wasted, AND it's a mythic rare.
Milling 10 doesn't impress you? How about milling 20! Eqip it to a double striker like Mirran Crusader and mill 10 first strike combat damage step, and then 10 more regular damage step!
Tonight I did that to a guy playing a UG deck, and and he was totally helpless!
Now the argument seems to be about the mill more than anything else. Mill as a win con doesn't do anything unless you mill their last card. It does however, create combo potential. Contrary to popular belief, it is true that the majority of decks do not deal with their graveyard in any way. I can't even remember the last time I saw someone use a rise from the grave or etc. In fact most decks these days prefer to keep things out of the graveyard. Mill does 3 very good things for you. 1, it provides an alternate win con. This is really important in some matches, where your opponent may be gaining a 100 life, or you can only attack with one creature at a time to do a kazuul or something. 2, it combos with your own rise from the graves, haunting echoes, memoricide, expirates, and etc, allowing you to choose what you don't want to be fighting against and take it out of their decks as well as screwing up top deck tutors and library reordering. 3, that it readjusts the ratio of certain cards in their decks, hopefully soft locking them out of the game by getting most of their land cards/big threats, and so on. It's not straight up card advantage in the sense that it doesn't affect the battlefield or players hands, but it does affect what they might draw or combos you can use, and in this way is similiar to fate seal and library neutering such as sadistic sacrament.
Getting a dude from the damage trigger is easily the top effect of this sword. And while it's great in a vacuum, it just doesn't measure up to the power of its other four brethren. The only one it can really contend with is Light & Shadow; L&S's damage trigger is probably worse, but its protection colors are vastly superior, especially in the formats it sees play in (Legacy/Vintage).
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace
Also, people say milling is useless without the ability to 100% KO them with it, but I have to say, seeing a green player's biggest brute or all of the control player's remaining counters go down is a huge weight off my back.
put it on Surveilling Sprite and it destroyed my opponent's deck in seconds.
it's a Glimpse the Unthinkable every turn, for an initial investment of 5 (plus the creature). so say, 5 glimpses for a win, normally 10 cmc, but i got it got 7. beast
This synergizes fine with Bonehoard, and The Mimeoplasm would enjoy this as a birthday present
Got two of these on my Invisible Stalker the other day and milled my opponent out in 3 turns...and its not even a mill deck...
Multiple win factors only make your deck stronger, and this Sword provides this possibility far more than the other 4 options in the Sword line.
In comparison to the others, it does very little.
Now mill is sometimes nice, but the environments it played in (standard zendikar and standard innastrad) there is very little mill does with the prominence of eldrazi laughing at it and graveyard abuse being key.
The green ability is nice, but in order to compete with other sword effects, it should have been a 3/3 beast. Not a giant leap, but enough to make threatening creature advantage. For now, 1 2/2 every turn is more of a chump blocking thing. Nothing special.
For this sword, they really took the wrong path on its blue effect, and didnt do very much on its green. It's blue effect, other than drawing a card, could have been bouncing, causing card advantage like every other sword does. It would have been a good idea, considering the lack of protections this sword gives.
I am sorry, but i have to rate this 3. Fantastic card, there isnt much wrong with it, but when milling causes deck advantage what is the point?
PS: I read one comment saying this is a great SELF MILL card. Can someone explain to my how you attack yourself?
the blue ability could be tapping target permanent. it doesnt untap in next untap step.
though, a bit wordy.
or it could return UP TO one target creature to the attacked player's hand, so you can choose not to unsummon his creature with ETB abilities.
This is a sword that you don't want to just slap into any deck with creatures, I mean you could if you wanted. Its more of a casual sword, and there is nothing wrong with that. As a result the price-tag is more affordable for casual players. Its still a sideboard option for the protection in competitive play, but I am happy with this sword.
4.5/5
Unless you milled their whole deck and won that way, the milling didn't do anything.
Let's say the opponent has 40 cards in his deck, with one card he really wants. There's a 25% chance that you'll mill it with one hit of this. There's also a 25% chance that the card was in to top 11-20 cards, and he's now more likey to draw it and win the game. All this math basically cancels out, and makes milling the same as shuffling (unless they get milled out).
"Plus with 10 cards off the top of the deck, you have roughly a 1 in 5 chance (compensating for cards drawn in game) of hitting at least one vital card your opponent relies on."
"Most people don't understand how powerful 10 cards is. One of those cards could be just the card you need to win the game, like perhaps a big Jace or a titan."
"lets say your fighting black red? wonder how many anticreature spells you just got rid of, or blue? wonder how many counters you just got rid of"
"More often than not, it can save you by getting rid of potential threats before your opponent gets to draw them."
Anyway, I like this card's artwork the most. =)
Why? The suns are on the same side as the blade of the same color. On all the other swords it's the opposite side.
As for the card though, I think it is underrated. It may not give the biggest advantage, but it still gives a 2/2 each time you hit someone. It works perfectly in my Tajic deck I'm building because it will slowly enable battalion.
I also want to point out that protection doesn't always need to be protection against colours with high amounts of removal. Basically, all the swords give a tiny bit of protection from red with their increased toughness, and being an equipment means it doesn't even matter if they kill the creature using it. You can just re-equip it (FOR 2 MANA). The protection just adds more evasion to the creature. Not everyone plays white and black.
Here's my point - With Geth as my commander and either this sword getting naturally drawn or tutored out, Geth can start swinging early on either the open player or (nearly guaranteed) green player in the pod. The fact that its pro blue is a bonus as I hate blue. The milling of 10 cards almost guarantees me graveyard targets for all that mana Geth can use IF he has targets and that then gets him started to mill more cards and have more targets. The sword enables that chain to begin and since its commander, you invariably get amazing targets. You also then get the wolf that can be a chump blocker or a creature to re-equip the sword on for swinging next turn if Geth gets dealt with before your next attack phase (and with all that mana, its no problem to recast Geth from the command zone. Its great bonus that the 2/2 wolf, the pro blue/green, and the +2/+2 all come on this equipment, but it would be one of my 99 using it just for the mill. Even better, with Geth being 5/5, 3 swings with this sword equipped and its game for that person. Geth works great with all the swords (well maybe Sword of War and Peace is situational), but he really shines with this sword and with Sword of Feast and Famine.
EDIT: it is more messed up to put it on a hydra omnivore with a lord of extinction out
*ahem* aside from that one art qualm, I think the reason they needed to put the mill on there is because the token-gen ability is so powerful. This is the only sword that leaves behind bodies to stick to if the creature holding it dies. An unsummon effect would be too powerful, and draw was done on F&I, so really that leaves them with mill... Or... Not a lot really, maybe "look at the top card of your library. You may shuffle your library." but still, not much room to work with.
Chris Rahn is a phenomenal artist, though. If only I could afford these babies.
@majinara Making wolves IS card advantage. They are creatures and trade with all sorts of stuff, like other creatures or even removal spells if necessary. You claim that Fire and Ice is double card advantage because it can shock x/2s, so doesn't it logically follow that creating 2/2 wolves is card advantage too?