I am bored to death with this cycle of terrible cards.
For an uncommon color-sensitive cycle of cards, why didn't they simply reprint the Shards from the first Mirrodin block? Granite Shard would have been a great Bloodthirst enabler for every color, and entire cycle has the advantage of not being mindlessly recycled six times before.
PeabodyET
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(6 votes)
So sick of seeing these.
ridiculousricky
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(7 votes)
What are you talking about? This card has saved many a burn deck (especially mine) from running out of steam by letting it live just a little longer. I think it's really good in the right deck.
Tommy9898
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(6 votes)
Oh great, you again.
The_Trendkill
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(9 votes)
Dear R&D,
Please stop reprinting these pieces of garbage. Thank you.
Sincerely, The Magic Community
pigknight
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(7 votes)
Best of the cycle (and that's saying a lot) because it is good sideboard material agaist a red deck wins deck.
Gareth32
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
A little bland, but actually quite good when used defensively. A few of these out effectively neuters burn. 3.5 for sideboard material.
Trent_Almighty
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Great card for the red deck mirror, should definitely but thought of differently to the others in this cycle
kiseki
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
If you are tempted to put this in a deck, allow me to give you several mediocre life gain choices that are better than this: Pristine Talisman: Mana acceleration included Paradise Plume: Mana acceleration/fixing included Peace Strider: Creature included Elixir of Immortality: Feldon's cane included
If you win a game because of one of the cards in this cycle, consider the experience an outlier. If it keep happening, consider finding tougher competition.
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Object: from a dragon's hand
Flavor text: about a dragon's mouth
Conclusion: ...? Dragons pick their teeth a lot, maybe?
ICEFANG13
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Hey look on the bright side, the way these artifacts go in another 7 or so years we will have a 3 costing artifact that says
"Whenever a player casts a red spell, gain one life and add 1 mana to your mana pool"
I dunno if anyone would play it still
Rendin
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Wow, you people are picky. This card is actually really great, especially in mono red where you can't really afford to keep up your life total. I've got four of them main decked in a red offensive deck of mine that I like to use in multiplayer and with a Painter's Servant in play, even one of them is insanely helpful.
TheWrathofShane
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
@scumbling1 Completely agreed. Core needs to be fresh and mix it up. This cycle has made it threw m10 m11 m12. Even tho 85% (being generous) of the community considers this trash.
Now Wizards are not stupid. They can read comments. They have teams of people whos job it is to find out what the market likes and not likes. And they do try to appease the market. But the fact is, Magic is a business, and having the right amount of trash cards ensures two things. One that the good cards will have that much more impact when u pull it, making u want to buy more boosters. Two that your not getting overflooded with good playable cards from every booster. If that happened then you would buy less boosters, because you needs would be completely satisfied.
burntup
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
it's not all junk; imo it just isn't useful in today's meta. in another (slower) meta it can help a lot.
Shadoflaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
It saw play in my Kuldotha Red at GP Pittsburgh, my first and currently only GP, and I won 4 rounds, one with a mirror on the back of this. So I do like it for its help, but I never want to see it again.
cioskookycards
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(7 votes)
WOW! You guys are wierd !What, it didnt cost at least 5 bucks so its not good? Stop FLOODING the polls with poorly thought through comments how much the card needs to go in the trash or giving it 0 stars ....IMHO , this card is about a 3.5 mediocre card ,not good not bad .Play one ,heal alot , gives you something to draw life on while you charge . Playing 2 out gives 2 life when you cast a spell ! Frankly its a good card ( I think that Angel's Feather can be fun in a casual /low budget life gain deck .) AT LEAST try to give it SOME rating , like a 2 or something , thats like a C or a D in school .It did its homework , just not above average. If I knew how to rate on this board I would rate it a 3.5.
4wallz
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Only noobs find this card awesome. Don't believe me? Read Mark Rosewater's articles in the Making Magic column. This card is only to get noob players to be impressed. My words, not his. But he basically said the same thing.
Enelysios
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I thought this might see use against red decks to maybe try to slow them down enough that they lose steam, but it don't even really work there. Maybe against red Grapeshot storm?
Anyway, this whole cycle is pretty bad, but this is the best of them I suppose. New players obsess over life, but it is a fickle resource and wasting a card to try and gain some is almost always a waste. If these cantrip'd That would be pretty sweet?
Truth be told, when you can see that this card isn't very good you are getting good at magic.
I wonder if anyone would play this cycle if they just costed ... Who am I kidding, then they would descend into broken free-artifact combos. As they stand, they're largely useless.
Morgaledh
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
It's been said so many times, this is not a tournament-winning artifact, so don't judge it that way. It is a solid little sideboard charm vs. and there's nothing wrong with that. Reliable little protection charm vs. a ping here and there. isn't high costed, and at worst someone will use a remove on it. At best, it will slowly but consistently reduce your damage while it sits there quietly on the battlefield.
You have rate and comment on what the card is, not what it's not. That's why WOTC designs these sorts of cards. Read more of MaRo's design articles, you'll eventually get it.
@cioskookycards On what planet does 3.5/5 mean "mediocre"? 2.5/5 is exactly half, that's a normal rating. 2/5 or less is getting down there. Anything from 3/5 or more is a good card, and more than 4/5 is among the best.
Even the newest of new players look at this and say, "Well, this seems ok, I guess."
At least it's not Hematite Talisman, or those old cards where you had to pay mana to gain life, so it's not a total waste.
DoragonShinzui
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The mindless hate for this cycle is just as brainless and lame as anyone who supposedly likes it. They're not for constructed. Not every card needs to be outrageously powerful. For 2 mana, this is an artifact that can potentially gain some life both in and against a red deck, and given how red decks love using artifacts as fuel, can get some extra use there.
This isn't a great card, but it doesn't actively hinder your game like plenty of cards out there. There are far, far worse, and everyone's just joining in on beating it up to be a part of something because their mindless ***s. Think for yourselves and try having fun for once, you pathetic little bastards.
PopcornBunni
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Better than it looks. Excellent sideboard against red aggro to sustain through an initial barrage. Aggro's weakness is how inefficient its card engineering is, so anything that helps you withstand the first few turns means instantaneous card advantage at the low cost of 2 and a single card.
Not all cards are meant for serious Spike-Johnny quick wins for 1on1, and cards like this are excellent in design, especially for multiplayer, where it's more than a sideboard option.
7/10
Tamerlein
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
People seem to have some idea that a card that does nothing but lifegain is always bad. That is WRONG. If you have this card on sideboard against Red Deck Wins, you have essentially made every single one of their Lightning Bolts only hit you for two in the face, while in the meantime you will be gaining a life from every spell you cast as well. I don't think you understand how it is virtually impossible for them to outrace you if you have that sort of advantage.
You should never have this card mainboard, though. If you are the only one casting red spells, it is pretty mediocre. But there is a reason that tier one Modern RDW decks have this card on sideboard, because it makes the mirror match a piece of cake.
Don't judge just because a lot of lifegain cards aren't very good.
Zylo-
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Do you people not realize that sometimes they print cards just to counter certain effects/deck builds?
Sideboard this in vs Storm and see how powerful this is. You'll be rating it at 5 stars then.
Outside of that, the use is a little more limited but in a mono red deck, this helps you go the distance for the win...
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The only half-decent card in the cycle, as it's great in the RDW mirror. Sideboard only. 2/5
TheMagicFanatic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is awesome. 5/5.
Bbone37
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Zylo: Obviously storm will need to play many spells to generate a high storm count, but were you also implying the storm copies as well? Just wondering since one doesn't actually play the storm copies, thus this and any effect like it would not trigger per storm copy. Still not bad, just wanted to clarify.
As for me, I don't play standard in any variant, so I would never personally use this. I do understand its uses in RDW mirror match sideboards. Anything to buffer the damage done to your face can help in that match. I will personally give this a 1.5/5
Comments (30)
For an uncommon color-sensitive cycle of cards, why didn't they simply reprint the Shards from the first Mirrodin block? Granite Shard would have been a great Bloodthirst enabler for every color, and entire cycle has the advantage of not being mindlessly recycled six times before.
Please stop reprinting these pieces of garbage. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Magic Community
Pristine Talisman: Mana acceleration included
Paradise Plume: Mana acceleration/fixing included
Peace Strider: Creature included
Elixir of Immortality: Feldon's cane included
If you win a game because of one of the cards in this cycle, consider the experience an outlier.
If it keep happening, consider finding tougher competition.
Flavor text: about a dragon's mouth
Conclusion: ...? Dragons pick their teeth a lot, maybe?
"Whenever a player casts a red spell, gain one life and add 1 mana to your mana pool"
I dunno if anyone would play it still
Completely agreed. Core needs to be fresh and mix it up. This cycle has made it threw m10 m11 m12. Even tho 85% (being generous) of the community considers this trash.
Now Wizards are not stupid. They can read comments. They have teams of people whos job it is to find out what the market likes and not likes. And they do try to appease the market. But the fact is, Magic is a business, and having the right amount of trash cards ensures two things. One that the good cards will have that much more impact when u pull it, making u want to buy more boosters. Two that your not getting overflooded with good playable cards from every booster. If that happened then you would buy less boosters, because you needs would be completely satisfied.
If I knew how to rate on this board I would rate it a 3.5.
Anyway, this whole cycle is pretty bad, but this is the best of them I suppose. New players obsess over life, but it is a fickle resource and wasting a card to try and gain some is almost always a waste. If these cantrip'd That would be pretty sweet?
Truth be told, when you can see that this card isn't very good you are getting good at magic.
Also works with Viashino Sandstalker and friends.
It won't be an all-star, but it may surprise you. The white charm and blue charm are better because of Whitemane Lion and Shrieking Drake.
Who am I kidding, then they would descend into broken free-artifact combos. As they stand, they're largely useless.
You have rate and comment on what the card is, not what it's not. That's why WOTC designs these sorts of cards. Read more of MaRo's design articles, you'll eventually get it.
@cioskookycards
On what planet does 3.5/5 mean "mediocre"? 2.5/5 is exactly half, that's a normal rating. 2/5 or less is getting down there. Anything from 3/5 or more is a good card, and more than 4/5 is among the best.
Then there's Viashino Skeleton....
Even the newest of new players look at this and say, "Well, this seems ok, I guess."
At least it's not Hematite Talisman, or those old cards where you had to pay mana to gain life, so it's not a total waste.
This isn't a great card, but it doesn't actively hinder your game like plenty of cards out there. There are far, far worse, and everyone's just joining in on beating it up to be a part of something because their mindless ***s. Think for yourselves and try having fun for once, you pathetic little bastards.
Not all cards are meant for serious Spike-Johnny quick wins for 1on1, and cards like this are excellent in design, especially for multiplayer, where it's more than a sideboard option.
7/10
You should never have this card mainboard, though. If you are the only one casting red spells, it is pretty mediocre. But there is a reason that tier one Modern RDW decks have this card on sideboard, because it makes the mirror match a piece of cake.
Don't judge just because a lot of lifegain cards aren't very good.
Sideboard this in vs Storm and see how powerful this is. You'll be rating it at 5 stars then.
Outside of that, the use is a little more limited but in a mono red deck, this helps you go the distance for the win...
5/5.
As for me, I don't play standard in any variant, so I would never personally use this. I do understand its uses in RDW mirror match sideboards. Anything to buffer the damage done to your face can help in that match. I will personally give this a 1.5/5