This card is just ridiculously retarded, it basically says 'lose the card you used for ante OR give away a card as if you've lost'.
How could this have passed away from beta testing? Even a 10 year old child sees the potential of winning a game and stealing a card OR stealing a card and have the chance to win anyway.
GainsBanding
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Well you do lose your Tempest Efreet for a random card in their hand. It's not exactly stealing.
SlackWareWolf
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(29 votes)
There IS still Ante... The reason you don't see it anymore is that a bunch of sissy boys play now who are scared they might lose an Island for a chance to win something good. Back when I started playing, Ante was REQUIRED. You HAD to play for Ante. The only time people didn't was when they were playing somewhere and they had "House Rules". You can find that in the back of the Revised Starter Deck Rule Booklet. Basically Not playing for Ante was a House Rule that was very common, so they started making it OK to not play for Ante. A Mulligan was also a House Rule at one point and now, you can do it at a tournament. Back in the day you drew 7 and if your hand sucked ass to bad, you had to play it anyway.
ultratog1028
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
this + splinter twin = pretty much auto win in Five color magic.
Xpodmaniac
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
It's fun to think about what could have happened back when this was a permissible card.
It's also gratifying to realize that this doesn't happen anymore.
DragoKnight
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(13 votes)
@SlackWareWolf
I wouldn't call them "Sissies." They paid for their cards, and I bet they wouldn't want to loose their cards that they paid for. Also, it says RANDOM, meaning that they could lose more than just a basic land. Players honestly shouldn't have to be forced to deal with ante in tournaments. If you really want to play ante so badly, play it with your friends who are cool with it.
As for the card, I think it's good.(But not in positive light.) Not saying it's broken, just unfair. Either way, your opponent is going to lose something, life or their card. I'm glad that theres no more ante in this game.
scumbling1
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(13 votes)
"Basically Not playing for Ante was a House Rule that was very common, so they started making it OK to not play for Ante. A Mulligan was also a House Rule at one point and now, you can do it at a tournament."
What's more likely: that 99.9% of Magic players are sissies, or that you're just an elitist troll?
There's a reality--the 'norm'--outside your backwater metagame and narcissistic view of the world. You are in a small minority that believes that the game would be better with ante and no regulation on deck content. Notable people who disagree with you are the members of Wizards of the Coast, who have kept this game running for almost seventeen years now. While they may not have done everything perfectly, they have decidedly earned credibility for their stance on the matter. You can't even seem to conjure up any argument against these matters that goes beyond childish name calling.
Arachibutyrophobia
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(7 votes)
WTF?! I'm so glad that I didn't play Magic when there was still Ante.
Kikke
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
One of the greatest artwork ever!!! I love that card, sadly is unplayable
TPmanW
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
@ SlackWareWolf: Mulligans were always part of Magic, they just worked differently than they do now. Originally to mulligan you had to reveal a hand with exactly 7 or exactly 0 lands in it. The modern "Paris Mulligan" rules were first used at the first Pro Tour (which was in L.A. not Paris, but that's a topic for another time).
GrimjawxRULES
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Four mana: steal a card at random from your opponent's hand or target player pretty much loses the game. That's just insane. I can only agree with DragoKnight; removing ante from the game was the only right decision. If you really want to play for ante, simply convince your friends to do so instead of forcing it upon them. I for one can't see ante as being healthy in the casual environment
You are right, and all those people who don't play this game for ante are sissies who just aren't Man enough to play this game the way it was played eighteen years ago. It can't just be that they simply enjoy other methods of play, depending on the situation (possibly including Ante, when consented to by all players), because there is only one right way to play the game, and that's your way. And only wusses would ever mulligan, or let an opponent mulligan, because the only acceptable way to play this game of strategy is to gamble on the games, and then allow chance to skew the results to an irrecoverable degree. Anyone who has any opinion other than this single view is clearly inferior.
While we're at it, lets do away with those silly ban lists, restricted lists, the increased minimum deck size, and most certainly that four-copies-per-card limit. Constructed deck restrictions aren't what Magic is about, after all, and that surely holds true even with modern cards, because the game hasn't massively changed over the years at all, right? If my opponent can't beat my deck of 40 copies of Chancellor of the Dross, then they deserve to lose on turn zero and lose a card permanently, to boot.
And what's with all these different formats, and card rotating out, huh? Eighteen years ago, no cards had rotated out, and that's the way this game should stay forever, no exceptions. All cards ever printed should be usable in all contexts, and there should never be divergent rules systems that must be balanced in distinct ways, often by disallowing certain cards or altering fundamental rules of the game. The only thing that these different formats do is give new players the impression that there are numerous acceptable ways to play this game, all of which can be enjoyable in different ways, for different reasons. We don't want them getting that wrong idea stuck in their heads. Then they might even commit that most atrocious crime of failing to be informed on an outmoded rule referenced by very few cards, and done away with in the earliest days of this game, from before when many of the newest generation of players could form whole sentences.
Good job, you've successfully changed the mind of a random stranger on the internet by ranting about their inferiority due to having tastes that differ from yours, and now that person is just as closed-minded and bigoted over a card game as you are. Don't you feel oh so very satisfied? {/sarcastictrollrant}
Your true friend and convert, Summer Glau
CranberryIce18
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(2 votes)
People warewolf is either a troll or some lonely d-bag who makes up rules to intentionally try to emasculate newer players. Please stop taking him seriously, he is a joke. Ante was made to be an alternative way of playing the game. It was never mandated, which is why all cards for ante instruct you to remove them if not playing for it. Nor was there ever a rule against mulligans. He's clearly overcompensating for a lot of things by constantly calling others names on a message board. Don't feed the troll. Or. Leave the pathetic, lonely, waste of life be.
Anyone you actually attempt to do that to will punch you in the face, of course.
(Note that you can use the token during their upkeep, so they never get to keep cards they draw. Sane opponents will just concede as soon as you set it up if they don't have a way to kill the original or end the game immediately. Well, no, as I said, a sane opponent will punch you in the face...)
Curiously, note the wording on this card and compare it to Bronze Tablet, which lacks the key "from anywhere" qualifier. This is because, due to the lack of that wording, Bronze Tablet's ownership doesn't change if it leaves play before it resolves -- but you still get your opponent's card! Ugly. The errata to Tempest Efreet fixes that, but can't do anything about the advent of token copies (which existed even back when this card was still relatively new thanks to Dance of Many and Skull of Orm, the first incarnation of the combo. Followed Footsteps just makes it comically easy.)
Technetium
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The reason this card is better than the similar Bronze Tablet is that it is much easier to make duplicate creature tokens than duplicate artifact tokens. The original combo with this involved Dance of Many and Skull of Orm. Now, of course, it's much easier with Splinter Twin.
It should be noted that the old PC Shandalar game has a bug that makes this card incredibly broken. If you use it in that game, you get over a hundred copies of whatever card was going to be stolen, plus the same amount for 2 or 3 other random cards in the deck. And for the icing on the cake, you don't even lose the Tempest Efreet.
Zetan
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Use cards like Mind Slash, Coercion, Duress, and Despise to slim down your opponent's hand to one good card, then use this to take it. Then lose friends. :P
I think the meanest part of this card is that even though it looks like there's an out (Pay 10 life and it doesn't happen) if you're down to less than 10, you are unable to pay life.
Comments (17)
How could this have passed away from beta testing? Even a 10 year old child sees the potential of winning a game and stealing a card OR stealing a card and have the chance to win anyway.
It's also gratifying to realize that this doesn't happen anymore.
I wouldn't call them "Sissies." They paid for their cards, and I bet they wouldn't want to loose their cards that they paid for. Also, it says RANDOM, meaning that they could lose more than just a basic land. Players honestly shouldn't have to be forced to deal with ante in tournaments. If you really want to play ante so badly, play it with your friends who are cool with it.
As for the card, I think it's good.(But not in positive light.) Not saying it's broken, just unfair. Either way, your opponent is going to lose something, life or their card. I'm glad that theres no more ante in this game.
What's more likely: that 99.9% of Magic players are sissies, or that you're just an elitist troll?
There's a reality--the 'norm'--outside your backwater metagame and narcissistic view of the world. You are in a small minority that believes that the game would be better with ante and no regulation on deck content. Notable people who disagree with you are the members of Wizards of the Coast, who have kept this game running for almost seventeen years now. While they may not have done everything perfectly, they have decidedly earned credibility for their stance on the matter. You can't even seem to conjure up any argument against these matters that goes beyond childish name calling.
Mulligans were always part of Magic, they just worked differently than they do now. Originally to mulligan you had to reveal a hand with exactly 7 or exactly 0 lands in it. The modern "Paris Mulligan" rules were first used at the first Pro Tour (which was in L.A. not Paris, but that's a topic for another time).
I can only agree with DragoKnight; removing ante from the game was the only right decision. If you really want to play for ante, simply convince your friends to do so instead of forcing it upon them. I for one can't see ante as being healthy in the casual environment
{sarcastictrollrant}
Congratulations!
You are right, and all those people who don't play this game for ante are sissies who just aren't Man enough to play this game the way it was played eighteen years ago. It can't just be that they simply enjoy other methods of play, depending on the situation (possibly including Ante, when consented to by all players), because there is only one right way to play the game, and that's your way. And only wusses would ever mulligan, or let an opponent mulligan, because the only acceptable way to play this game of strategy is to gamble on the games, and then allow chance to skew the results to an irrecoverable degree. Anyone who has any opinion other than this single view is clearly inferior.
While we're at it, lets do away with those silly ban lists, restricted lists, the increased minimum deck size, and most certainly that four-copies-per-card limit. Constructed deck restrictions aren't what Magic is about, after all, and that surely holds true even with modern cards, because the game hasn't massively changed over the years at all, right? If my opponent can't beat my deck of 40 copies of Chancellor of the Dross, then they deserve to lose on turn zero and lose a card permanently, to boot.
And what's with all these different formats, and card rotating out, huh? Eighteen years ago, no cards had rotated out, and that's the way this game should stay forever, no exceptions. All cards ever printed should be usable in all contexts, and there should never be divergent rules systems that must be balanced in distinct ways, often by disallowing certain cards or altering fundamental rules of the game. The only thing that these different formats do is give new players the impression that there are numerous acceptable ways to play this game, all of which can be enjoyable in different ways, for different reasons. We don't want them getting that wrong idea stuck in their heads. Then they might even commit that most atrocious crime of failing to be informed on an outmoded rule referenced by very few cards, and done away with in the earliest days of this game, from before when many of the newest generation of players could form whole sentences.
Good job, you've successfully changed the mind of a random stranger on the internet by ranting about their inferiority due to having tastes that differ from yours, and now that person is just as closed-minded and bigoted over a card game as you are. Don't you feel oh so very satisfied?
{/sarcastictrollrant}
Your true friend and convert,
Summer Glau
Anyone you actually attempt to do that to will punch you in the face, of course.
(Note that you can use the token during their upkeep, so they never get to keep cards they draw. Sane opponents will just concede as soon as you set it up if they don't have a way to kill the original or end the game immediately. Well, no, as I said, a sane opponent will punch you in the face...)
Curiously, note the wording on this card and compare it to Bronze Tablet, which lacks the key "from anywhere" qualifier. This is because, due to the lack of that wording, Bronze Tablet's ownership doesn't change if it leaves play before it resolves -- but you still get your opponent's card! Ugly. The errata to Tempest Efreet fixes that, but can't do anything about the advent of token copies (which existed even back when this card was still relatively new thanks to Dance of Many and Skull of Orm, the first incarnation of the combo. Followed Footsteps just makes it comically easy.)
It should be noted that the old PC Shandalar game has a bug that makes this card incredibly broken. If you use it in that game, you get over a hundred copies of whatever card was going to be stolen, plus the same amount for 2 or 3 other random cards in the deck. And for the icing on the cake, you don't even lose the Tempest Efreet.
I think the meanest part of this card is that even though it looks like there's an out (Pay 10 life and it doesn't happen) if you're down to less than 10, you are unable to pay life.