Pointed Discussion

Amazing EDH card.
I like the other swords better, but this is still a great card

Not hideously OP like some of the swords, but a great sword nonetheless.

Take that infect!

COMBAT damage. This will only make the spikeshot elder do 3 damage per ping.

Cool card but probably the second worst of the swords so far.

AHHHH... thank you Busdude i was about to go looking for my Spikeshot

2nd best sword.

"Tonight we feast! Tomorrow, we... famine"

Level Up. Blue has some hard to block ones... and Blue Sun's Zenith is an instant X draw.

Swords: red-blue > black-white > black-green > blue-green.
Like all swords, this is an awesome card. Still, this is the only sword where the triggered abilities might be at times totally useless. If your opponent has a deck where he doesn't mind discarding, or has no cards in hand, the discard-ability is already useless. The land-untap ability only makes sense as well, when you have something to use the mana on.

I guess the only sword missing now is white-red? Maybe the red part will be land-destruction, and the white part will be... uhm... no idea. Maybe a disenchant effect?

Not the best of the swords, but my friend's Omnath deck just got EVEN uglier.

WOW Chris Rahn Is Whoopin Ass On These Swords. Pro Death And Pro Big Ass Creatures!

Body and Mind still owns this sword hands down... Sorry...

This card may not be up-to-par with Sword of Fire and Ice, but it is certainly a very handy piece of equipment.
This sword, in combination with Geth, Lord of the Vault who normally can only be blocked by black and artifact creatures can now just walk past black creatures as well and smack your opponent for a sizeable 5+2 damage - plus he'd be safe from the new Go for the Throat killspell introduced in the same expansion as this sword. But that's not all!

If you used his activated ability before combat, you could salvage several cards from your opponents graveyard, while also milling them. After combat, you'd have all your mana back to repeat the process - gaining card advantage, field advantage while once again milling your opponent's library - plus he lost a card from his hand!

Other uses would include attaching the sword to a small creature, casting something big, dealing damage and then untapping all your lands to have mana ready to answer your opponent's threats during their turn.

Definitely a 5/5 card in my book.

Like Bear Umbra this combos with Hellkite Charger and enough lands to allow unlimited attacks during a single turn.

While not an infinite combo since it only triggers on combat damage, Spikeshot Elder with this on can do 1 damage per land you have, attack, and do it again.

I put this in my Omnath EDH deck. Works splendidly.

Anyone want to bet that the W/R is ridiculously OP?

My money is on +2/+2 pro red, pro white

Swords to Plowshares stapled to Relentless Assault

Sword of War and Peace

NEW CARD:
Sword of "F*ck You" and "Banned in EDH"
3 Artifact-Equipment
Pro white/red, +2/+2
Whenever equipped creature attacks, punch target player in the face and steal his card binder.
Equip 2

I like my Sword of Feast and Famine on my Phyrexian Crusader so he turns into a 4/4 protection from red, white, green, and black, first strike, infect creature with bonus goodies. Never forget the bonus goodies.

Love it. Have it. Love it some more. Get some more. Share the love :)

got a couple of booster packs today and pulled a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. This in Foil, and a Cryptoplasm. Couldnt be happier!

Since Green/Black decks seem to be all the rage these days with the infect mechanic, this looks like a damn good card. Untapping all your land cards looks VERY powerful indeed.

Sword of War and Peace? Sword of Heart and Soul? Sword of Blessing and Blood? Sword of Faith and Fury?

The R/W Sword will probably be War and Peace, but I guess we can't be sure...

Sword of Order and Chaos

+2/+2, Pro Red and White

Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to player, destroy a non-creature, non-land permanent, and target creature gains defender as long as Sword of Order and Chaos is on the battlefield.

Phyrexia needs a sword =(
Art is AMAZING, new background for my laptop.

I don't get it ... the art screams phyrexian but the mark is mirran. Also, doesn't it seem a little unfair that the mirran faction gets a card that straight up hoses the opposing faction, while the phyrexian faction gets ... nothing? not even Sword of Body and Mind?

Had to give this a 5. This equip can basically give you a time walk. When it was spoiled I said it was the best card in the block, and sure enough it owned the pro tour!

The control-deck potential of this card is very interesting. Being an equipment without color requirement a blue player can use this card to its great advantage. Merfolk decks, for example, is a semi-aggro deck that could benefit from playing creatures (thus have creatures for equipping the sword) while keeping lands untapped (thus have mana for instants).

@mike-c

A foil sword is worth about $40, Tezz is worth about 45-50. I would do the trade.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result.asp?Set_Name=Mirrodin+Besieged

Better than people are giving it credit for.
If anything, in standard this is protection from the two best titans, most of infect, 's kill spells and Avenger of Zendikar. Sword of Body and Mind has more arguably more powerful damage effects and protection from 's bounce spells but both swords have their place and uses. Of course, you can also use both in conjunction; Feast and Famine's untap lands ability helps bring Body and Mind out.

I think everybody's missing the part where your creature gets protection from black and you get to untap lands. You can cast your creatures and sorceries, and have all of your mana open for responding to your opponent. Really, what is a turn people?

Untap, draw, maybe a combat. What does this do? Combat, they lose a card, you untap. You just timewalked them.

Hmm, maybe:
Sword of Faith and Fury
+2/+2 prot red-white
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, if this is the first combat phase this turn, untap all attacking creatures, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn, and there is an additional combat phase after this one.

Of course that would be ridiculously powerful. But how else do we mess with this? I think red's most likely effect would be land destruction, but for white... life gain has already been on a sword, so has token spam, white's removal methods (exile or put on top of library) are both too powerful for a repeated effect, pacifism isn't something they'd put on an effect (but rather an aura), disenchant would just be odd (destroy target land and destroy target artifact or enchantment?), creature buffs, damage prevention, and tapping are not useful on your turn after combat... I could also see extra combat phase and prevent all damage that would be dealt to your creatures, though, that might work.
Also, if it was this version, Fire & Ice, Feast & Famine, and Faith & Fury (that's a lot of 'f's) stacked together on a hit would give you basically all parts of an extra turn, plus an extra effect each.
Otherwise, I guess it'd probably be something like this:
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, destroy target land and exile target creature.
Which just seems kind of ridiculous. Bouncing is about the best removal I'd expect to see on a sword, but white doesn't get bouncing! (That would've made a better Body and Mind, though. But it'd probably be called, i dunno, Truth and Lies or something. No, never mind, that's not a good name for those effects. I like it though. Hmm...)

Oh, and about THIS sword: I'm disappointed that they didn't pick up on the angling of the swords on the original pair. Of course, they didn't do it right on Body and Mind either, but that's less obviously wrong.

whilst i agree it's not as good as "fire and ice" (given your opponent often had no cards in his/her hand after the first 5 or 6 turns) this, in a control deck, rocks.

so what if your opponent has no cards in their hand, you lay aether adept/something with the same effect, bounce their biggest baddest monster, attack with this equipped to any n00b with flying (blues good for that) make them discard it, then untap your lands, and be ready with a counterspell in case their next card was a game saver. absolutely adore this card.

4.7/5

I'm seeing the next Sword being a remnant of the Mirrans, red/white, of course.

The civilizations of the red sun seem to be the least corrupted, as it says on Burn the Impure: Flame doesn't kneel to Phyrexia.

The red ability of the sword should reflect either the fierceness of the Goblins on Mirrodin (Forked Bolt-type effect?) or the ability to manipulate the earth (land destruction) as displayed by the Vulshok and their leader, Koth.

The white sun societies were in chaos and are now united under the imminent threat being faced by all Mirrans, so perhaps 1 +1/+1 counter on all creatures you control? (see: Ajani Goldmane)

screaming to be used with hellkite charger

@Shadoflaam

That would be one card I would buy.

This card is one of the better swords. It should be closer to 5 than to 4. It essentially gives you half a turn.

Of course this is intended to be used in a control deck, but throwing this on Phyrexian Crusader sounds awesome! Protection from {R}{W}{B}{G}? Yes please!

@littleBeast

Sword of Faith and Fury
cmc: 3

Artifact - Equipment

Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player you may exile target permanent until the opponent's next end step and untap all creatures you control.
Equipped creature has protection from red and white.

Equip: 2

Exiling is white, and venser introduced the temporary bouncing idea. The bouncing affect could also be used for your permanents too. I think the 2nd combat phase with the exiling would be too powerful. The swords exile affect would trigger twice in one turn plus you would get to attack with everyone again.

This is the second-best sword so far, and not far behind Fire & Ice.

What I'd really have likes is a remake of the terrible green and blue sword, using existing abilities among the other-colored swords. Sword of Icy Feasts: draw a card upon contact, and then untap your lands so that you may cast it!

You can't really appreciate the power of this card, until you've equipped it to your mirran crusader, cast a hawk, bashed them for 8, made them discard 2, untapped all your lands, cast gideon, +2ed, and said go. That's a time walk plus mind rot, all - essentially - for free. This card is bonkers good, really pushed on power level. It will dominate standard for as long as stoneforge mystic is legal, it will be solid (at least) afterwards; it will be stone cold nuts in extended for years, and it doubtless has chances in Legacy.

If mirrodin wins then there will be a new sword, sword of war and peace W&R, nothing else is know about the sword yet.

@kiseki:

"It was 7 years between the release of Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin. At the end of this block, we will either have 4/10 or 5/10 of the swords."

You've got a lot of speculation based on one shaky assumption: that the cycle will have ten swords. All evidence points to the contrary. For example, your notion of ten dual-color swords would make sense if there wasn't a smaller, more specific pattern that could be gleaned from the current swords, and there is. The swords aren't just random combinations of colors-- they're enemy colors, colors that are across from each other on the color wheel.

: Sword of Light and Shadow
: Sword of Fire and Ice
: Sword of Feast and Famine
: Sword of War and Peace (as semi-spoiled here: http://is.gd/LXs7C8)
: Sword of Body and Mind

None of the colors in these pairs are adjacent to their partners-- none are allied colors. If we had seen a sword, or any other allied color pair, there would be more reason to believe that the cycle would include all ten color pairs, like the guilds of Ravnica. But we haven't-- we've only seen enemy color pairs, so there's no reason to assume there will be any more than five cards in the cycle.

What's more, Mark Rosewater has stated that the cycle will be completed in the Mirrodin Besieged block. (Look under "Sword of Body and Mind" in this article: http://is.gd/pNqTJa ) Given the recent spoiling of the fifth sword, the evidence suggests the cycle will contain five, not ten cards-- unless the next set actually contains six swords, which would be absurd.

honestly... this card is sort of ridiculous... you double your mana output, you gain protection from doom blade/ etc. you force discards. and for how much? 3 mana >.>

It was 7 years between the release of Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin. At the end of this block, we will either have 4/10 or 5/10 of the swords. We won't see the others until the next two or three artifact blocks. And maybe only then if Mirrodin is involved. It is possible that this mega cycle of swords will span 21 or more YEARS. That is longer than the game is old at this time.
Also I submit now that Mirrodin Pure will be the next expansion as Mirrodin has to survive for there to be more Mirrodin swords.

edit: I acknowledge that I am very wrong : )

I think the boros (Sword of War and Peace) sword's red effect (War) will be like Gideon's +2, a mass provoke effect, while the white effect (Peace) will be a one-sided Holy Day in your favour.

I cant decide weather favorite sword is this or fire and ice.

Hellkite Charger

Well.. since its the driving force of the kingpin deck in standard right now, I am gonna say its pretty good.

Pretty. Friggin. Good.

Disgustingly good with stoneforge, without stoneforge its still a solid card but will suffer without the tutor effect to grab it. Its not really a card you want to play 4 of if you don't have to.

Sword of War and Peace, will deal damage to opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand and you gain life equal to the number of cards in your hand when the equipped creature deals combat damage.

very good card for turnaments i think.maybe xP

not the best sword but not the worst either. very powerful nevertheless, i like the untap-all-lands ability.

Suns/blades should be switched on the picture. I find it irritating the way it is now.

I have to admit, I really underestimated this sword, though I think it's largely gotten better thanks to Puresteel Paladin. When you're drawing an extra card whenever you play an equipment, and have quite a few equipment, then getting extra mana via Sword of Feast and Famine becomes very, very relevant. Protection is also pretty nice, and discard is flat out card advantage.

One of the news articles suggested summoning Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur with five lands and this, and have Jin flash in during combat.

I ought to try that out.

Pretty sweet equipment, I must say. All the new swords are awesome in the own right.

My favorite sword, if only because it's the only one I own...also helps get Jin-Gitaxias out turn 5...

Ends up much sicker than I thought. Who knew?

Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace

EDH loves this card, I kid you not. If you're an abrasive player like me with no sense in politics, untapping your lands to play another engine of devastation is just peachy

So insane!! I can't pull these for squat though!!

This thing's best function is getting out a beefy Wood Elemental.

I, for one, can't wait to see peoples' reactions when they actually have to draw this card and pay its mana cost to put it into play.

Sword of Feast and Famine + Aggravated Assault + tapped out EDH player = Salty Sad Loss.

Play this in blue control. Getting hit by this is like getting a time warp. You'll untap all your lands AND have enough to play counterspells. Not to mention they also discard a card, which is still denying them of card advantage.

@Keiya: It's not better than the deckbuilders are giving it credit for. It's obviously being given the attention it deserves. Anybody else get a tiny sinking feeling that they MAY have banned the wrong card? A very good argument for not banning Jace or Stoneforge, but banning this, goes as follows:
(I address Batterskull- they had time to do it my way)

Jace and Stoneforge are about to leave Standard anyway. Stoneforge is broken, period, because of any and all cool equipment. But at least its a creature with no evasion, and gigantic huge freaking target on its head. Red should never let it live, and will have no problems. Jace...was always meant to be this bad-ass, uber Planeswalker guy, and he's about to leave Standard anyway. He's such a cool card, that if we can save the metagame without banning him, we should do everything in our power to do that. He would be loved, not hated, if the metagame was healthy. Lots of folks spent a lot of money on him, and while Extended, Legacy, and, uhh, VINTAGE will probably keep him from dropping too low, we should still make an attempt to respect the Standard players' investment. He makes Magic players feel like a Pimp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYhG_ekoH8
Shouldn't that count for something?

This (Sword of Feast and Famine) limits anything cool we want to make that could interact well with artifacts, or especially equipment, in Innistrad block, and we do retrofitting and futuresight Design ALL THE TIME.

Jace and Stoneforge will die a natural death. They will leave Standard. The way to kill a Caw is to take away its Blade. And we just won't make Batterskull. Instead, the Mythic Rare for the Living Weapons fans will just start out as already a creature, a creature super-perfect for fitting Living Weapons to in some way, and that won't be broken with Stoneforge, who will then rotate out. Problem. Solved. Well, maybe we still have to ban Stoneforge. There's still Argentum Armor. But nobody will take us seriously if we ban Squadron Hawks, and this is still incredibly dangerous to have around with Hawks, with or without Stoneforge. Sword of War and Peace has already been Kamigawa-nerfed. Worth playing, but will not break open standard like a can of beans.

In Fact, we could make the Living Weapon Monster be like a 3 or 4 drop Stoneforge, but ONLY for Living Weapons! Perfect.
Class dismissed.

These swords remind me so much of lightsabers...

This is hands down the best sword, card advantage plus tempo is almost always better than card advantage plus card advantage/removal via Fire and Ice, or card advantage plus nothing via Light and Shadow. And that's just in a vaccuum. Consider that the main reason equipment isn't played more is because it's a tempo/mana sink, and you have an equipment that defeats its own weaknesses. Creature gets +2, protections and specter for FREE.

I really think this sword will get popular in Modern given all the green creatures, and given that 12 Post relies on green blockers for defense. Pro-green is very solid evasion in Modern, and decks like Counter-Cat love the mana for instants.

And @ ICEFANG 13 - You didn't seriously just type all that out forgetting that Gitaxias has flash, did you? Tap 5 lands with the trigger on the stack, resolve the trigger, play Gitaxias at the end of the step before passing priority. Simple. Not that it's reliable enough to do that in competitive play, but simple still.

@ Superllama12

Since mana leaves at the end of phases and steps, you'd have to have something more than this sword to get Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur out earlier.

106.4. When an effect produces mana, that mana goes into a player's mana pool. From there, it can be used to pay costs immediately, or it can stay in the player's mana pool. Each player's mana pool empties at the end of each step and phase.

There is no time to stack on the ability either, since mana empties at the end of phases and steps, you'd have to summon Core Auger before the Combat Damage Step, or after creatures have done damage. There is no time before (in the Combat Damage Step) damage being dealt that you can cast spells, only after the damage has been done.

510.2. Second, all combat damage that's been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it's dealt. This is a change from previous rules.

That is the time when you deal damage, that would activate the extra mana, there is no where before it to activate spells or abilities. Mana abilities does however follow different rules, but a player still has priority, never before damage being dealt in the same step does a player have priority.

510. Combat Damage Step

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. A player assigns a creature's combat damage according to the following rules:

510.1a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature assigns combat damage equal to its power. Creatures that would assign 0 or less damage this way don't assign combat damage at all.

510.1b An unblocked creature assigns its combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking. If it isn't currently attacking anything (if, for example, it was attacking a planeswalker that has left the battlefield), it assigns no combat damage.

510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. (goes into details)

510.1d A blocking creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it's blocking. (goes into details)

510.1e Once a player has assigned combat damage from each attacking or blocking creature he or she controls, the total damage assignment (not solely the damage assignment of any individual attacking or blocking creature) is checked to see if it complies with the above rules. If it doesn't, the combat damage assignment is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that player began to assign combat damage. (See rule 716, "Handling Illegal Actions").

510.2. Second, all combat damage that's been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it's dealt. This is a change from previous rules.

510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities.")

510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

510.5. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.

No I already accounted for that:
Mana empties at steps and phases, there is no time between the start of a step and combat damage, it doesn't matter if it has flash. Add 5 mana, switch to combat step (mana empties), deal damage, add 5 mana.

You can only activate mana abilities when:
605.3a A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever he or she has priority, whenever he or she is casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it's in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability.

None of those are being met, you aren't immediately casting a spell (you can't get all 10 mana at once), no player has priority, and nothing is requiring a mana payment.

@ ICEFANG13

You had me convinced for a few minutes, but check over this rule one more time:

605.3a A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever he or she has priority, whenever he or she is casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it's in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability.

Both players receive priority after the sword's ability triggers, allowing mana abilities to be activated. Upon resolution of the triggered ability, the active player receives priority again, with enough mana and untapped lands available to cast Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur.

How the hell did Mirrodin lose with this on their side?

This dude is so good. My brother has four, lol.

Also, this gives you Pro-Phyrexia. How did Mirrans lose the war, again?

Sword of Fire and Ice and this are great.

DAMN IT!! I should've gotten this before it exceeded the 40$ mark!

Ive got an unplayed foil for sale. Want it? Hmu- 1mike2c@gmail.com

All these swords are amazing, but not broken, which is good. I just hope that Wizards don't decide to make a pro-black/red sword unless it's ability is "Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller discards a card and Sword of X and Y deals 3 damage to equipped creature."

Buddy of mine tossed this on his Phyrexian Crusader.

Him: "I'll understand if you want to scoop."

Me: Geth's Verdict.

BTW, you'll know R&D is out of ideas when we see an ally-color cycle of these things.

I think tempted Johnny is right, as the swords trigger goes on the stack you can float the mana and then when it resolves to untap your lands and force a discard you can tap them Again to flash Jin in.
This card defined the standard meta between it's release and New Phyrexia, Stoneforge and the mind sculptor were just there. CawBlade didn't exist before Sword of Feast and Famine. 5/5

the sword cycle was undercosted for its effects according to the development.
and sofaf should just untap 2 or 3 lands max. untapping all lands is OP.

i love this cycle but sofaf pushed so much boundaries. and sobam's blue ability is weak.

Aggravated Assault

What the ***?? In the right deck this single card effectively doubles you manabase while simultaneously being a great equipment.

personally, this is my favourite of the Sword of X and Y cycle. At least for EDH.

Light and Shadow was always underwhelming for me and my least favourite, because of it's effect. The pro-colours is probably the best aspect of it, but when you compare 3 life to untapping all of your lands... I do think it's better than Body and Mind, mind you.

Simply put, the "untap all lands" is huge. I remember when I started, I had this cheap deck with Aura Gnarlid and Umbras. Let me tell you: giving Gnarlid a Bear Umbra on turn 3+ is one of the most awesome things I've ever played.

Also also, I think if you tapped your lands for mana, then got them untapped and tapped them again, you'd have the mana for the phase where damage is being dealt.

Of course, it'd empty after that, but it gives you options to play creatures with Flash or Instants that are huge.

I hate this card. I love this card. 5/5

2 protections and power/toughness boost alone would be worth the costs.
The abilities make you say WHHAAAT?

How did the mirrans lose the war, you ask?

kept blocking it!

(okay why is it formatting 'elesh norn' to a green mana symbol?)

It's pretty sad when the sword the creature is using is better than the creature itself. But IMO this is the best swords but all of them are amazing yes even body and mind (I actually really like that one). If they could make an ally cycle of this that would be awesome it's highly improbable but it would be cool maybe next time we see the phyrexian they created there own swords based on these ones (and don't say we won't see the phyrexian again I'm sure we will they're like slivers)

Someone please use this with Aisling Leprechaun

In a red-green deck, have this equipped to one of your creatures, then cast Savage Twister. The creature with the sword won't take any damage from the twister, but the opponent's blockers will be devastated. After that, of course, attack!