It seems all those "dies to Doom Blade" comments are going to change slightly...
SgtSwaggr
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(15 votes)
This is what Black has been waiting for.
KnexWiz
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(9 votes)
wish it costed so it would be more splash-able
Trygon_Predator
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(9 votes)
This is what has needed for a long time. The mana cost is perfect - it can't be as cheap as Doom Blade or Go For The Throat, and it can't be as splashable as Rend Flesh or Eyeblight's Ending. For , you can murder any creature in Magic (barring the indestructible, shrouded, and hexproofed, of course). And the minimalist rules text further proves how futile life is when faced with... Murder.
gman92
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Beautiful. Perfect balance, excellent flavor. I mean, Murder. MURDER. "I play Murder. That's dead." Gives Doom Blade and Go for the Throat a run for their money, is an excellent replacement for Dismember, and weaker but less color intensive than Terminate. I love it, 4.5/5 for sheer awesomeness.
Arachibutyrophobia
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
4.5/5 for flavor
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One may wonder why it took so long...
"This isn't brave. It's murder. What did I ever do to you?"
Gcrudaplaneswalker
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Would've been even better with flavor text... But great card for black, well deserved!!
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Kill A Thing.
d-101
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Simple, devastating, and without self-imposed limits. Wizards managed to summarize the act in three words and one haunting image. 5/5 for the art and effect.
Recino
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Welp, here comes the people saying "It dies to murder." Don't get me wrong, I really like this card, but the fact is that people around here tend to think that unless something is a cheap darksteel that cannot be forcibly sacked that somehow it's a bad card. This might just be my impression, and I might be reading it wrong, but seriously, you can't say that a card is bad just because it can be removed by a card like this one. This is all part of playing magic, get used to it. Besides it's not like every deck is going to have this card in it.
zipec
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(5 votes)
@Lief098: For {B}{B}{B} we have Unmake which is even better than what you want.
wallace063
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Too slow for black spot removal.
Feralsymphony
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Simply elegant.
Totema
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A new staple for my Game of Thrones deck!
ninjaboy05
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
The amazing thing is this is at common. So you could see quite a few of these in limited.
Tzaph
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
DAT ART.
puresightmerrow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Really glad Dark Banishing has be replaced. Never did like that card.
Hevaen
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(34 votes)
Don't fall for it. The sword's in his armpit.
lorendorky
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Wiz seems WAY too into these simple cards. I get it, the text box is clean and concise but it's not that big of a deal. That's what full-art cards are for.
LordOfTheFlies87
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Finally. We've all been waiting for this day.
jsttu
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Simple card design, but i think it is costed a little too cheaply. black removal is characterized by having a subset of creatures it cannot effect, be it color, artifact creatures, or a specific tribe. By merely requiring heavier commitment to the color this card spits on all of that, when flavorwise it should do the opposite (although balance-wise, this is CERTAINLY the correct choice).
Three mana seems too cheap to disregard all limitations to me, even if it is double black. I personally believe that either or having this be sorcery speed would be a much fairer cost. Having it be only three mana and be instant speed makes this a bit too powerful for my taste, although time and experience could certainly prove me wrong.
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like a card with good effect and no flavor text, the cleanness adds to its appeal. The only drawback is its inability to prevent regeneration and double black mana.
Murder she Wrote. I'm glad they made this card. Great card for mono-black decks. Great card over all.
Lief098
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(4 votes)
Such a simple yet great card design; I'm surprised they didn't print it sooner. It really is perfectly costed for what it does. I wonder if, in a future set, we'll see one that costs with an added "cannot be regenerated" clause.
EDIT: @zipec Yeah, that's true, I forgot about Unmake. I guess it's like Wrath of God vs. Day of Judgment, in that the card with or without the regeneration clause would probably cost about the same, but Wizards decided to print the weaker version to create a healthier environment.
Priz
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
The only way this could be better would be if the card number were 187. Amazing flavor and a great card.
Glech
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I love cards that have clean and elegant text boxes. It indisputably kills things.
Mode
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Finally! This simplistic masterpiece of of black removal is what Magic players have been waiting for since at least a decade. I bet a couple of players had even made up exactly this card in their minds already.
SuicidalTendancies
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(9 votes)
I'm not usually one for redundancy, but I think "dies to murder" might just be my new favorite sentence in magic.
Winghsad0w
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Best name in the history of magic, right here. This is the case where everything comes together perfectly. How wonderful.
darken_spiritz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wish this could hit Planeswalkers. Heck, I'd give it a 5/5 even if it only could hit them. The thought of saying things like "I 'murder' Jace" makes me smile. Sadly, Giddeon is the one as of now that could be 'murdered' but saying "I 'murder' Giddeon" doesn't have the same ring to it.
imsully2
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
At the prerelease I pulled 3 of these puppies and used 2 Archaeomancers so that I could murder everything!!! Most satisfying thing to say? "I murder your fog bank"
As far as the card, it's perfect, balanced, not easily splashable, doesn't avoid regeneration, but it kills anything, the first unrestricted kill spell without some sort of secondary effect, and no exile isn't killing.
Perfect card. I've always disliked the "Black is bad at fighting Black" flavor, which never made sense but was obviously a holdover from Alpha's Terror, which was itself flavorful but didn't need to be the inspiration for a ton of other cards after it.
I was surprised this was a common, given that Go for the Throat was uncommon, but it's possible GftT was a higher rarity to not show up as much in a set where it's less powerful (having less possible targets), and not because of power level. I think time will show that this card is perfect, and that cards like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat still have a place in decks that need lower cost removal that are easier to splash. I think this card is perfect. I wouldn't mind an M14 reprint with flavor text, though.
Terminate is not that much harder to pull off at all, but it requires dat red. Please don't forget about terminate guys, besides the cost its just plain better than this.
this card is beautiful in it's simplicity. I'm glad to see that they're de-emphasizing the "non-black creature" destruction. From a flavor standpoint, most black mages wouldn't think twice about turning on their own kind.
Asmodi0000
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(17 votes)
There is an interesting gap between 2 and 3 mana, and it becomes extremely important in the case of removal and instants.
Using removal tends to be a waiting game, since its reactive (rather than proactive) in concept. Your opponent needs to provide you with something you want to remove, and 95% of the time he's going to be doing that on his turn. Killing a creature right before it is equipped/enchanted is often a game-winning move, and the end step of your opponent's turn is usually when they are least capable of reacting to anything you do.
Since instant removal is best used on your opponent's turns, that means having to keep mana open, essentially taxing what spells you can play on your turn.
If you have 5 mana, with a Doomblade you need to only keep 2 mana open, giving you 3 mana to work with, which is a fair amount when you have 5 mana altogether. However, Murder needs 3 mana, which drops your workable mana down to 2, which often means that in the turn you expect to be using Murder you won't be playing anything else (or simply something minor).
It's a similar case to Counterspell and Cancel, though the 2-3 mana gap is much more evident there because those spells are almost always expected to be cast on your opponent's turn and require perfect timing (meaning that in order to cast them, the "mana tax" is heavily enforced). Murder/doomblade don't have such strict timing requirements, but the gap between their CMC is something that really can be felt.
Of course, this is all a good thing, because fair creature removal (with no drawback) is something that should start at 3CMC. Killing a creature is something I've always felt was undercosted with Doomblade or Go for the throat, and Murder even satisfies black players by removing their restrictions.
Overall, a great card, especially considering what it means to the design of the game.
Radagast
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Surprised that it took this long to come up with this idea... Of course, it also took almost as long to come up with a 2/2 black Zombie for 1B, so there you go.
Anyway, a perfect card and a standard to which other cards should be held in the future, IMHO.
Oh, I kind of like the lack of flavor text. It reminds me of the old days when very straightforeward cards had nothing but rules texts on them.
0ba4152840ef9b1725fd
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is the right idea... I like the cost at {1}{B}{B} as it does it's job in slowing down black control. Removal is always needed but this is really expensive for what it does. {B}{B} would have done the trick but I would rather keep it at {1}{B}{B} and add a "cannot regenerate" clause. That Ring of Xathrid will beat this card every time and instead of being removal, it juest becomes remove from combat. You lose a card and three mana for this. I would much rather have Tragic Slip.
CorkBulb
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(5 votes)
Well, they finally did it now.... They gave black the ability to kill itself, one of its major weaknesses. Hail to the power creep!
The extra does NOT give it justice and this is WAY above the curve. This will essentially replace all Doom Blades, Go for the Throats and Terrors. Looks like Eyeblight's Ending has met its end, and the good old Rend Flesh debate is finally over.
This plus Grasp of Darkness are going to be standard black removal now. I would mention Dismember but that's powerful removal for everybody...
The only thing it lacks it the can't be regenerated clause, which is useful more than some people give it credit for, and it still can't whack an indestructible creature like -X/-X spells can. Still, this is excellent. The whole "nonblack" thing with old black "destroy" was a real drawback.
And Unmake may be the best mono-black removal ever printed. Don't forget about that! I object to unmake strongly. I should have been a mandatory at least, if not strictly mono-white. Exiling a creature for gives black something it shouldn't have.
Terminate is excellent but is multicolored. Any deck with should have 4 terminates. Can't compare spells of other colors to this one. I wouldn't go ranting on about Path to Exile in a black discussion ;)
And yes, Assassinate is now officially useless! (if it wasn"t already)
4.5/5 for excellent spot removal
RedAtrocitus
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
A beautiful card: simple, elegant, no flavor text, just "Murder" in the title and three words in the text. I like this a lot. Reminds me of the M11 and M12 versions of Day of Judgment.
Salient
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Now everybody will say "dies to Murder" and then facepalm a moment later when they realize what they said. :)
We've wanted this for what, 10 years now? Magic 2013: FANSERVICE FANSERVICE FANSERVICE FANSERVICE.
...bodes well for Return to Ravnica.
Axelle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wanted an instant called "Kill" for . :(
Ah well.
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Stab, stab, stab!
Tiggurix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Perfect card. Perfect name, perfect effect, perfect flavour and, most importantly, perfect rarity. Simply a perfect card. I am willing to bet my entire collection that this card will be a staple for years to come.
Dabok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
How straightforward. I like it.
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(15 votes)
I can't wait for all the kids screaming "Dies to murder!" in the future.
He has to be faking it. Look, he's still holding his last power ring. I mean, whenever Sonic had a ring on him he was good for another TWO hits at least.
Seriously though, THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS! I mean,
: fine -
: sure, why not -
but : sigh...
I supposed did need an instant speed, non-situational removal at a low cost. Oh well. At least it's not overly splashable. Would've been really nice if it were uncommon, though - less of 'em flying around. Well, it's back to hexproofing, totem armoring and granting protection for me. My Knight of the Reliquary shares a condo on the Sejiri Steppe with Ruin Ghost.
@Ideatog: Metalocalypse? nice lol
Spectre501st
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Finally! a chance to say: I murder storm crow! But seriously, this is a decent card. it takes doom blade and go for the throat's place and as for the mana cost, you're basically paying one more mana to skirt their drawback. this kills any creature. Period.
blindloyalty
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
An instant classic. Exciting. Fantastic artwork. Perfect mana cost.
Get used to seeing Murder. This will be one of the most iconic cards of Magic 2013.
This card is ridiculous, not many creatures can survive a murder and the ones that do die to mutilate 5/5
Autor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It should be like this:
"Kill target creature."
More flavor! Yeah!
Lotsofpoopy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is fantastic. It kills anything! Well almost anything...
Blackworm_Bloodworm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If Counterspell was still the norm, Murder would have cost . But since Wizards made Cancel the baseline cost counterspell, everyone should have expected this to cost what it does now.
pgrieco
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Only took them 18 years to finally make a black only "destroy target creature" instant with no exceptions to its effectiveness.
ToAsTy42o
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Never before has a single card been so eloquent and straight forward in its text.
DESTROY TARGET CREATURE.
three words.
and, every time i play it against my friends, I say "MMmmmuuuurrrdddeerrrrrr!!!!" in my most evil voice
also, if you are teaching a friend how to play magic, and they don't understand this card, then it's time to make new friends.
Max_Glycine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Love it. Simple name, no distracting flavor text, understated art. Beautiful.
yyukichigai
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Toasty420: Yeah, this card is VERY straightforward in terms of the name describing the effect. An ideal card in that regard. Hell, it's so straightforward you don't even need to read the card text (all three words of it). Standard literally could not have a better named and phrased kill card.
The cost is good: not too cheap, not too expensive, not too splashable. The fact that it's not splashable also adds an interesting element to tournament play, since people can't just throw in a handful of swamps and a few Doom Blades to handle spot removal in otherwise ill-equipped color combos.
I like it! Hope it stays around, although I also hope that Black will continue to get less-expensive target-limited kill cards in future sets, akin to Victim of Night and Ultimate Price.
ronthepurplephantom
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is the dead guy on here the guy in the 5th edition art of Weakness?
TheWrathofShane
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Guys, I so called this on a Doom Blade comment a few months back, check it out.
DATE 4/1/2012
For being talked about so much, people rarely choose this thing in constructed. This thing its nice, but situationally annoying (That opponent who only has black creatures.) I cant wait for the black instant that says destroy target creature. would be fair i think.
TwentyFifthBaam
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Like I always said - in Black, you can never have too much murder.
I would love to see a cycle of this. 1 and 2 colored for a simple effect intrinsic to the color. Kind of a retread of like a retread of the boon cycle, but without completely unbalancing them. Blue has Cancel (which is a fair card. Blue is just kind of used to being spoiled) Black has Murder Red could have Burn: 1RR Instant, Burn deals 4 damage to target creature or player. This damage can't be prevented. White could have a toned down version of Reverse Damage. Something like Cauterize: 1WW instant, Prevent the next 4 damage dealt to you by a source. Gain that much life instead. Green could have Rampage: 1GG instant, Target creature gets +4/+4 and gains trample until eot.
eh. Maybe it would need some revision, but i would like to see some sort of cycle like this, even if they chose to do it some other way.
Rezzy64
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is it weird that I like this card better than Victim of Night just because it makes me laugh whenever I use it?
I like to think that flavor wise, I as a planeswalker just walked up to whatever scary monster my opponent has on the field looked at it carefully and then say "Nope, I don't think I like this creature.", and with the snap of my fingers the creature falls to the ground dead. Then if someone asks what sort of great and amazing magic I used to kill such a powerful beast, all I would have to say is, "Well everything dies when you Murder it."
Lord_Ascapelion
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I think this card illustrates the difference between a 2 mana cost card and a 3-costing card- probably not as powerfully as, say, the difference between Counterspell and Cancel, but enough. Personally, I love it, but I could see many situations where cards like Doom Blade and Go for the Throat might be better. Depends on the environment you're in.
Also, I love how it took nearly 20 years to print this card. Really goes to show you how much depth the game of Magic really has.
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
There are too many alternatives to this that are generally better and I wouldn't run a strong black mana base for this when I could have: Doom Blade Tragic Slip Go for the Throat even Victim of Night
SemperNemo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Unplayable in Standard, unless you're playing mono-black. Right now the only thing you'll be using this on is a big multicolored card, because Ultimate Price is a thing. Even then you are probably better using some other form of removal, or a death-toucher. Being said I always take this guy in drafts.
OrangeAir
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think the right play here, assuming you have the sideboard slots and mana base to support it, is to split your main deck removal between two of these and two Doom Blade/Go for the Throat/Ultimate Price/Whatever removal is in standard right now. Just side them in when the regular guys can't quite get it done.
azure_drake222222
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is probably the easiest card to understand that's not a creature or land.
OrgasmandTea
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
This is exactly the direction they needed to go. Excellent card, hopefully the new staple removal card.
One would also note that this isn't very splashable. {B}{B} starts becoming much more difficult to be relied on in non-mono or at least, mostly black. Something like the ol' Doom Blade and it's recent kin are very easy to cast in any deck that can afford the splash.
I was asked to leave the shop after I spoke that aloud.
Bobth
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Usually worse than Unmake in mono-Black. Only better if you want to use it on your own Geralf's Messenger to ping someone at 2 health, or something weird like that.
humor_love
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This feels better in contrast to the Terror family of Black Instants (such as Doom Blade and Go for the Throat) than Cancel feels in contrast to Counterspell. Murder is nice because it's almost always useful, while at the same time it basically never feels broken. That's a nice combination for a card to have, with such a widely applicable effect.
4/5. Effective, straight-forward, not over-powered.
Continue
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
With Putrefy's reprint in Dragon's Maze, expect this thing's prevalence to plummet. This would be competitive with Putrefy if it were (making it a slight upgrade to Rend Flesh among other cards) or (consider Terminate, which is costed at ), but at there's no reason to run this in any standard deck. That said, 3.5/5 for at least being one of the most elegant cards in this game's history.
Trostani12345
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I know about the stack and what not but something is still bothering me if someone summons (vorinclex, voice of hunger) and i murdered it would vorinclex's ability still go into effect?
Xenobody
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
I finally had that moment where I had two Doom Blades in hand against another black deck. I promptly tracked down some copies of this and swapped them out.
Zulutw0
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Because Doom Blade is replacing this in 2014, I believe it is correct to say that this dies to Doom Blade.
sincleanser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The only reason I like this card is because they made it a black Cancel.
Umbric
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's so odd they haven't made a card like this, it's a card you've always expected but was never printed. To me it's kind of like blue's cancel, good because it stops stop things instantly but something about it just isn't good enough. 3.5 non the less
RamenAwesome
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
While I wish it was more splashable, I actually think I prefer this kill spell to Doom Blade. The simplicity and elegance of this card just can't be put into question.
themanwyatt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the only thing I don't like about this card it the mana cost...
Sironos
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
No murder, don't leave us, we had so much fun together in standard, you've been so much nicer to me than your discriminating brother doom blade, I never had to rely on the luck of my opponent not playing black with you, sure, you demand more mana, but you treated all our victims equally, you've never been a dead card, you didn't force me to play a sideboard in casual, you even had a cooler name. And your awesome brother Tragic slip is also leaving us, why cannot black be the colour of death? Why does it have to matter if a creature is black or white, cannot they all just die alike? I'll miss you murder, you were the hero us black planeswalkers wanted and deserved :(
SkyknightXi
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
KnexWiz: Actually, there is a very similar card like that--Dark Banishing. Just hope you can handle it not being able to find black creatures. (Got a Distorting Lens?) Then again, it also interdicts regeneration; would that help compensate?
EDIT: Small wonder this disappeared--it's been displaced by Hero's Downfall. HD is the same, except (a) it's rare (so it's not valid for Pauper or Peasant), and (b) it can find planeswalkers as well.
zenitramleirdag
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
now strictly worse than hero's downfall.. i kinda feel sad when good cards are obsoleted by new ones, but power-creep is necessary to keep the game alive..
not one of the best removals (at all), but still pretty nice in monoblack. 3.5/5.
Paleopaladin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Some cards make me want to find a member of the R&D team, give him* a big hug, and say "That's mah boy*!"
* "her," "girl"
This is one of those cards.
docjarvisd09
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I just love that there's no flavor text, like it's just saying to the opponent "No, you don't get an explanation. I killed your creature and there's nothing you can do about it."
car2n
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Played this on a little girl, now the NSA is on my ass.
K34
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of my favorite black spells. So Simple and clean.
TexasDice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I really, really, REALLY hate the nonblack clause. So much, that I will pay one more black for it being removed.
iandustrial
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The Sword of Damocles finally fell.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
One does not simply walk into Murder.
Syrtees
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
-"I'm sorry missus Goyf, we've investigated what we can at this time" -"What did you find?" -"It seems that little Tarmy was murdered with murder. . . ."
Comments (107)
"This isn't brave. It's murder. What did I ever do to you?"
Three mana seems too cheap to disregard all limitations to me, even if it is double black. I personally believe that either
EDIT:
@zipec
Yeah, that's true, I forgot about Unmake. I guess it's like Wrath of God vs. Day of Judgment, in that the card with or without the regeneration clause would probably cost about the same, but Wizards decided to print the weaker version to create a healthier environment.
It indisputably kills things.
This simplistic masterpiece of of black removal is what Magic players have been waiting for since at least a decade.
I bet a couple of players had even made up exactly this card in their minds already.
As far as the card, it's perfect, balanced, not easily splashable, doesn't avoid regeneration, but it kills anything, the first unrestricted kill spell without some sort of secondary effect, and no exile isn't killing.
I was surprised this was a common, given that Go for the Throat was uncommon, but it's possible GftT was a higher rarity to not show up as much in a set where it's less powerful (having less possible targets), and not because of power level. I think time will show that this card is perfect, and that cards like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat still have a place in decks that need lower cost removal that are easier to splash. I think this card is perfect. I wouldn't mind an M14 reprint with flavor text, though.
(Except in heavily multicolor decks where you can very easily tap creatures for some reason.)
MURMAIDER
Knives? Check.
Rope? Check.
Dagger? Check.
Chains? Check.
Rocks? Check.
Laser Beams? Check.
Acid? Check.
Body Bag? Check.
I'm glad to see that they're de-emphasizing the "non-black creature" destruction. From a flavor standpoint, most black mages wouldn't think twice about turning on their own kind.
Using removal tends to be a waiting game, since its reactive (rather than proactive) in concept. Your opponent needs to provide you with something you want to remove, and 95% of the time he's going to be doing that on his turn. Killing a creature right before it is equipped/enchanted is often a game-winning move, and the end step of your opponent's turn is usually when they are least capable of reacting to anything you do.
Since instant removal is best used on your opponent's turns, that means having to keep mana open, essentially taxing what spells you can play on your turn.
If you have 5 mana, with a Doomblade you need to only keep 2 mana open, giving you 3 mana to work with, which is a fair amount when you have 5 mana altogether. However, Murder needs 3 mana, which drops your workable mana down to 2, which often means that in the turn you expect to be using Murder you won't be playing anything else (or simply something minor).
It's a similar case to Counterspell and Cancel, though the 2-3 mana gap is much more evident there because those spells are almost always expected to be cast on your opponent's turn and require perfect timing (meaning that in order to cast them, the "mana tax" is heavily enforced). Murder/doomblade don't have such strict timing requirements, but the gap between their CMC is something that really can be felt.
Of course, this is all a good thing, because fair creature removal (with no drawback) is something that should start at 3CMC. Killing a creature is something I've always felt was undercosted with Doomblade or Go for the throat, and Murder even satisfies black players by removing their restrictions.
Overall, a great card, especially considering what it means to the design of the game.
Anyway, a perfect card and a standard to which other cards should be held in the future, IMHO.
Oh, I kind of like the lack of flavor text. It reminds me of the old days when very straightforeward cards had nothing but rules texts on them.
They gave black the ability to kill itself, one of its major weaknesses. Hail to the power creep!
The extra
This plus Grasp of Darkness are going to be standard black removal now. I would mention Dismember but that's powerful removal for everybody...
The only thing it lacks it the can't be regenerated clause, which is useful more than some people give it credit for, and it still can't whack an indestructible creature like -X/-X spells can. Still, this is excellent. The whole "nonblack" thing with old black "destroy" was a real drawback.
And Unmake may be the best mono-black removal ever printed. Don't forget about that! I object to unmake strongly. I should have been a mandatory
Terminate is excellent but is multicolored. Any deck with
And yes, Assassinate is now officially useless! (if it wasn"t already)
4.5/5 for excellent spot removal
We've wanted this for what, 10 years now? Magic 2013: FANSERVICE FANSERVICE FANSERVICE FANSERVICE.
...bodes well for Return to Ravnica.
Ah well.
Seriously though, THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS! I mean,
but
I supposed
@Ideatog: Metalocalypse? nice lol
Get used to seeing Murder. This will be one of the most iconic cards of Magic 2013.
"Kill target creature."
More flavor! Yeah!
DESTROY TARGET CREATURE.
three words.
and, every time i play it against my friends, I say "MMmmmuuuurrrdddeerrrrrr!!!!" in my most evil voice
also, if you are teaching a friend how to play magic, and they don't understand this card, then it's time to make new friends.
The cost is good: not too cheap, not too expensive, not too splashable. The fact that it's not splashable also adds an interesting element to tournament play, since people can't just throw in a handful of swamps and a few Doom Blades to handle spot removal in otherwise ill-equipped color combos.
I like it! Hope it stays around, although I also hope that Black will continue to get less-expensive target-limited kill cards in future sets, akin to Victim of Night and Ultimate Price.
DATE 4/1/2012
For being talked about so much, people rarely choose this thing in constructed. This thing its nice, but situationally annoying (That opponent who only has black creatures.) I cant wait for the black instant that says destroy target creature.
5/5
(The card, not the crime.)
Blue has Cancel (which is a fair card. Blue is just kind of used to being spoiled)
Black has Murder
Red could have
Burn: 1RR Instant, Burn deals 4 damage to target creature or player. This damage can't be prevented.
White could have a toned down version of Reverse Damage. Something like
Cauterize: 1WW instant, Prevent the next 4 damage dealt to you by a source. Gain that much life instead.
Green could have
Rampage: 1GG instant, Target creature gets +4/+4 and gains trample until eot.
eh. Maybe it would need some revision, but i would like to see some sort of cycle like this, even if they chose to do it some other way.
I like to think that flavor wise, I as a planeswalker just walked up to whatever scary monster my opponent has on the field looked at it carefully and then say "Nope, I don't think I like this creature.", and with the snap of my fingers the creature falls to the ground dead. Then if someone asks what sort of great and amazing magic I used to kill such a powerful beast, all I would have to say is, "Well everything dies when you Murder it."
Also, I love how it took nearly 20 years to print this card. Really goes to show you how much depth the game of Magic really has.
Doom Blade
Tragic Slip
Go for the Throat
even Victim of Night
I was asked to leave the shop after I spoke that aloud.
4/5. Effective, straight-forward, not over-powered.
EDIT: Small wonder this disappeared--it's been displaced by Hero's Downfall. HD is the same, except (a) it's rare (so it's not valid for Pauper or Peasant), and (b) it can find planeswalkers as well.
i kinda feel sad when good cards are obsoleted by new ones, but power-creep is necessary to keep the game alive..
3.5/5 Stars
1) swords to plowshares
2) path to exile
3) go for the throat
4) terminate
5) dreadbore
6) doom blade
7) hero's downfall
8) putrefy
9) this.
not one of the best removals (at all), but still pretty nice in monoblack. 3.5/5.
* "her," "girl"
This is one of those cards.
-"What did you find?"
-"It seems that little Tarmy was murdered with murder. . . ."