Commander review: It's a great addition to Commander decks running Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker as Commander. Apart from that, it's not that useful. It's p/t are quite useless and it hits only a single opponent. 4.5 for Shirei and 1 for other decks.
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(9 votes)
And in its 10th life, Sanctuary Cat went discarding.
and suddenly Kessig was depopulated of Werewolves, after someone summoned both Ceiling Cat and Basement Cat in one turn, causing all canines to immediately drop dead.
drpvfx
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
ZOMBIE CAT!!! Awesome in a Heartless Lich deck- 1B- target player discards a card at random.
Also, so what if it loses to Storm Crow or Sanctuary Cat? You *want* this to die!
Pseudolias
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Kitty! I love this for the art and the cuteness, and little else. But I can't help but feel that it would've been fairly costed at . But then again, the only comparison is Insidious Bookworm, so yeah. Debatable which is better. I also don't like that it's a Zombie. It seems less likeable and fluffy what way. Stupid block tribal theme. I would've rather had it be a Spirit, especially since it's implied to be haunting things (That poor mechanic, not coming back here to Innistrad.) and Spirits Cats are more fluffy than Zombie Cats, IMO.
On another note, obligatory comparison to Sanctuary Cat, a card I expect this to meet in Limited. Debatable which is better when facing off. Sanctuary Cat survives the combat, but this punishes your opponent for killing it.
What do you guys think?
RAV0004
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I don't wanna be buried in a pet sematary
MechaKraken
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
So how exactly should the opponent discard the card. Obviously they will try to discard a card fast from their hand and hope you have nothing to say about the fact that they can actually see what card they are discarding.
Should they lay their hand face down on the table and do a sort of 3 Card Monte game with it? Or should they give the hand face down to you, and you shuffle it and discard one? Since it is impossible to trust them to shuffle their hand in such a way...
How exactly should the randomly discarded card actually be discarded? Because I can see this causing problems when legitimacy is expected.
.Blaze.
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
No matter where you go the cats are watching you. Just look at those eyes.
Also, this in foil will be sweet.
And for those that wonder how random discard should work, rolling a dice or having the other player pick the card is normally a good way to do it.
fernaske
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Thank you Wizards. Now I am able to make a house cat and house dog deck with Little Girl as the ringleader.
Nucleon
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Now if only there were some sort of poptart-ish equipment. Or a cheeseburger-flavored regenerate effect.
Yozuk
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
They loose a card at RANDOM and I get a zombie cat for 2 mana.. That is value! I'll take 4.
mxruka
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Great blocker! Its card advantage any time and, Diregraf Ghoul isn't that effective late game.
Splizer
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
....racist? Postman Pat thought so.
netog121
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
A evil kitty
lorendorky
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
So in Avacyn returns will we get a sorcery: walking under a ladder - target player gets bad luck.
It looks like Innistrad is a pet cemetery. No wonder they have such a zombie problem.
JB_Xyooj
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pet Cemetery anyone? lol
andoroth
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Effectively a two card combo with Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker. Okay, so you need a sac engine to power the combo too - Not too hard to find, in a black deck! On another note, this combo works effectively with Thoughtpicker Witch -U
Niner9
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
That art will torment my dreams
Radagast
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Cute and creepy artwork, funny cat jokes, and a random discard combine for a fun card!
Wrath_of_Squee
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Here kitty kitty kitty...aww, hey little fella'. Can I take you home...Oh, God. Nooooo! Not the face! Not the face!
PrideofSorin
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Perfect Specimen for fling+undying.. lol. Pre-release move ftw, lol.
Narim
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
It feels somewhat bad for sacrificing this kitten at Altar's Reap... but hey, it has results! :)
Cavel
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Noone was spared. Not even the kittens.
NicodemusCromwell
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I wish it were legendary so this could be my EDH general :D
@Nucleon: I know what you're thinking... I say Nyan Cat should be {1}{U} (or {2}{U}), and allow you to tap to add 1 mana of any color (or be unblockable -- or both!).
Maybe in a 3rd Un-Set they will make one with a Cherry Pie (or Pizza Pie) body.
If they do Tac Nayn (the Reverse-Nyan Cat), he should be black (or Eldrazi/colorless) and tap to add {1} colorless mana. Instead of Unblockable (maybe), he should have Deathtouch (thus making him perilously blockable!).
Both cats should be Spirit Cats (like Spectral Lynx).
Then, ...you sac Black Cat by Falkenrath Ability-> Opponent Discard 1 card ...you bring it back with 3 CMC by Havengul Lich Ability
Do this until the opponent doesn't have any card. Then use this combo in his/her turn at the beginning of the upkeep. And they will not be able to draw any card until they die. Black Red Blue is a weird combination but just thinking...
@puresightmerrow: not necessarily stronger, as the rats have the advantage of being an at-will discard spell. Casting the rats means your opponent will lose a card then and there. Casting this means your opponent can safely kill this if that's the last card in his/her hand or if he hasn't got a hand at all. With discard spells, it's always best to be in control of when the discard happens, and you'll have more of a saying with Ravenous Rats in that matter than you'll have with this.
Being a Zombie is nice though - it pairs pretty well with lords supporting its zombie type, although I'd probably rather play something else instead; something larger and more aggressive.
humor_love
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I've seen this played effectively as an aggressive, challenging attacker - with a couple +1/+1 boosts, and without. If I've got a decent hand and want to avoid discarding, I've got a pretty difficult choice to make with this creature coming at me. It was a 2-cost base 1/1 that ended up dealing at least 5 or 6 damage to me in a 4-player casual game. I was impressed.
The card's value clearly lies beyond the bounds of the discarded card, alone. Certainly playable in a lot of quicker or more aggressive Black decks - maybe especially in decks that dish out difficult decisions. Reminds me a little bit of Vedalken Ghoul. I say it's at least a 3.5 in general, though it seems closer to a 4 while it's being used effectively.
Kelptic183
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
My BW deck is going to use 3-4 of these with Vault of The Archangel. I foresee that no one will ever want to swing on the ground, ever.
rogelio
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
When I first saw this card, I didn't look at it too thoroughly. I thought, okay, for 1/1 and a random discard when it dies, that's not too bad. This card was nice in my first Dark Ascension draft. Then when I was rebuilding that draft deck to make a nice standard Zombie deck, I did a double-take at the type: Zombie Cat. All of a sudden I had something to have on the field turn 2 to keep my Gravecrawler swinging. It turns into a 2/2 with Diregraf Captain out and pings for a card AND a life as it dies. With Mikaeus out, it has Undying and repeats the cycle over and over again. A full playset of this makes me happy.
ndrew68
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Way better than Ravenous Rats and way cooler! ZOMBIE CATS FOR THE WIN
Toquinha1977
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Should this card have had undying? If not, maybe "Black Cat comes into play with 9 life counters on it. If Black Cat dies, remove a life counter and return it to the battlefield. If there are 0 life counters on it, Black Cat is exiled."
Purrfect with Fling ! My cat fling deck is the most offensive deck I have against cat lovers.
ThinkOriginal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have found an excellent way to use these.
With Heartless Summoning out, he becomes a (B) Sorcery. Add a Harvester of Souls out early with Heartless, it becomes a cheap, strong two-card advantage swing. Run four cats, Heartless, and a way to bring them back repeatedly, and you will instill despair in many high-end decks.
Dragasm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If only the foil wasn't relatively expensive.
MojoVince
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This make sense , don't run over a black cat you may be unlucky and bam losing a card at random ! Perfect zombie card !
This cat is defiantly one of the more functional cards, it will almost never be blocked and it can keep attackers at bay early... Wait... This is a zombie cat, a cat that is dead and alive at the same time. Why has no one brought up Erwin Schrödinger and his cat yet?
Knight-Master
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My Grixis deck began as Kitty Control, and still often ends with this beast mauling my foes. OK, so the Inferno Titan helped a little...
azure_drake222222
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I iz blak lolcat. Blak lolcat iz haz red eyez. Blak lolcat iz not Sanctuary Lolcat. Sanctuary Lolcat iz enemee. O, and I iz watching u.
Smoke_Stack
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
love this guy! One of the best deterrents in early game when your opponent had a full hand and doesn't wanna lose their 5 drop fatty. Most people will take the point of damage a turn rather than block and risk losing something good.
MugenHoyou
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Could work nicely together with Sadistic Hypnotist and Liliana's Caress, but you need to make sure that the opponent actually has enough cards in hand.
Noitatohtori
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
No-one has mentioned Edgar Allan Poe and his short story the Black Cat yet? The flavour text is screaming reference.
Cheza
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Should have been a 0/1 creature for . There are rats that do the same, so this would have been a good time to do a minor shift.
Lifegainwithbite
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
@Cheza: You're missing the 'at random' part. No rats have 'discard at random' and that's what makes this card so painful.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is really annoying because it makes attacking painful, and using wrath effects painful. It's also a zombie so you can get 2 of them back with ghoulcaller's chant. Insanely good for a common. 5/5
TowerDefender
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Use with Ulvenwald Tracker to remove their utility dork and a card at random. Somebody needs to find a way to give this card "nine lives" should be easy in Golgari colours.
blurrymadness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
this next to Ghoulcaller's is a quick route to card advantage. T2 this, T3 attack in, sac it if they don't block, ghoulcaller's it and something else (nameless inversion?) and nail them again.
Comments (79)
5/5 cutest thing in black since Muck Drubb
With Lord of the Undead and your sac engine of choice, you can lock an enemy down.
A zombie. Cat.
5/5
Wizards, what are you thinking?!
Too bad it loses to Sanctuary Cat and even Storm Crow in a fight
4.5 for Shirei and 1 for other decks.
KYOOTENESS!!!
..........
and suddenly Kessig was depopulated of Werewolves, after someone summoned both Ceiling Cat and Basement Cat in one turn, causing all canines to immediately drop dead.
Awesome in a Heartless Lich deck-
1B- target player discards a card at random.
Also, so what if it loses to Storm Crow or Sanctuary Cat?
You *want* this to die!
I also don't like that it's a Zombie. It seems less likeable and fluffy what way. Stupid block tribal theme. I would've rather had it be a Spirit, especially since it's implied to be haunting things (That poor mechanic, not coming back here to Innistrad.) and Spirits Cats are more fluffy than Zombie Cats, IMO.
On another note, obligatory comparison to Sanctuary Cat, a card I expect this to meet in Limited. Debatable which is better when facing off. Sanctuary Cat survives the combat, but this punishes your opponent for killing it.
What do you guys think?
in a pet sematary
Should they lay their hand face down on the table and do a sort of 3 Card Monte game with it? Or should they give the hand face down to you, and you shuffle it and discard one? Since it is impossible to trust them to shuffle their hand in such a way...
How exactly should the randomly discarded card actually be discarded? Because I can see this causing problems when legitimacy is expected.
Also, this in foil will be sweet.
And for those that wonder how random discard should work, rolling a dice or having the other player pick the card is normally a good way to do it.
On another note, this combo works effectively with Thoughtpicker Witch
-U
I don't think that will be a problem, dawg.
Maybe in a 3rd Un-Set they will make one with a Cherry Pie (or Pizza Pie) body.
If they do Tac Nayn (the Reverse-Nyan Cat), he should be black (or Eldrazi/colorless) and tap to add {1} colorless mana. Instead of Unblockable (maybe), he should have Deathtouch (thus making him perilously blockable!).
Both cats should be Spirit Cats (like Spectral Lynx).
Humor me: Basement Cat and Ceiling Cat?
YOU WILL block my 1/1 deathtouch zombie cat.
How? - Weird Combo - I know it is hard to do too.
1) Cast Black Cat
2) Cast Falkenrath Aristocrat
3) Cast Havengul Lich
Then,
...you sac Black Cat by Falkenrath Ability-> Opponent Discard 1 card
...you bring it back with 3 CMC by Havengul Lich Ability
Do this until the opponent doesn't have any card.
Then use this combo in his/her turn at the beginning of the upkeep. And they will not be able to draw any card until they die. Black Red Blue is a weird combination but just thinking...
T2 Swamp, this
T3 Swamp, Cry of Contrition, Tendrils of Despair, Blackmail
Being a Zombie is nice though - it pairs pretty well with lords supporting its zombie type, although I'd probably rather play something else instead; something larger and more aggressive.
The card's value clearly lies beyond the bounds of the discarded card, alone. Certainly playable in a lot of quicker or more aggressive Black decks - maybe especially in decks that dish out difficult decisions. Reminds me a little bit of Vedalken Ghoul. I say it's at least a 3.5 in general, though it seems closer to a 4 while it's being used effectively.
With Heartless Summoning out, he becomes a (B) Sorcery. Add a Harvester of Souls out early with Heartless, it becomes a cheap, strong two-card advantage swing. Run four cats, Heartless, and a way to bring them back repeatedly, and you will instill despair in many high-end decks.
Perfect zombie card !
or
Altar's Reap
Either way, huge card advantage.
Also see Pet Sematery
-Swag_Crow