Pointed Discussion

I love that this card punishes your opponent whether they choose to block or not. It's a little mana intensive, but it's a great design.

One of the most aggressive guildmages, and cheap to activate too.

Really provides solid support for Rakdos, Lord of Riots himself.

Upgrade from Spiteflame Witch?

Combat is better, life loss is one sided. However, it requires initial lifeloss.

Ok in limited, and in casual constructed. I guess for the really good constructed decks, this dude just requires too much mana to do anything.

This guildmage is an offensive support machine! Pros like me approve.

Great limited pull for Rakdos players. Your opponents are damned if they block, and damned if they don't. Sometimes the extra damage or the -1/-1 debuff can make all the difference. Not sure if it'll work in constructed, though. 4/5

It's like a better version of Wicked Akuba that can give creatures flanking.

This girl is really good. Early game, she's a 2/2 2 drop with some mildly useful abilities. Late game, when you're sitting on a big pile of mana, she's beast. Deals nicely with vamp nighthawk and some of the trick blockers like rakdos keyrune or hussar patrol.

Curse of the Pierced Heart and Stab Wound

Card of the Day, December 11th, 2012
Given that this guy is from Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace, it's a shame that this guy doesn't have more synergy with his home land. Also what exactly is a Dungeon Palace anyway?
Who this guildmage does have synergy with though, is Rakdos, Lord of Riots, as others have mentioned. And I'm willing to bet that the reason for that is that this card was designed for the "Paincast" mechanic, as was Rakdos himself. For those of you who don't know, "Paincast" was an ability that made spells you cast cost less for each point of damage your opponents had taken this turn. They had to scrap this mechanic however, because it was somewhat broken, and it also limited the players as to what cards they could play with it. That lead to the "Unleash" mechanic that we are all familiar with now. Here's MaRo's article on Rakdos Design:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/225

So, basically, they took "target attacking creature gets +1/+1" and broke it into it's most basic components?

Honestly, I approve. I love when colors break into each other's domains without technically doing anything out of character.

Rakdos loves this card. It makes those early cards that would be so much dead weight just a couple turns after they're dropped (cackler, shred shred freak, etc.) into threats again.

Her first ability is just so incredibly useful, and its helped me get passed all kinds of nasty effects like deathtouch or indestructible. And now Carnage Gladiator makes this card even more awesome, as he really makes her second ability a lot more viable. My friends always underestimate this very naughty little girl. (sigh) They'll never understand the beauty of black and red.

Having this out there and leaving a bit of mana open when you're swinging can force your opponent to choose between "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Its first ability lets your older unleashed creatures, like a 2/2 Rakdos Cackler from turn 1, be threatening again instead of sitting there not even able to chump. If they take it, the extra damage fits the aggro Rakdos is going for. Or you could just bluff and drop a Cryptborn Horror afterward instead.

In multiplayer, this gives you some interesting ways to screw with people during all of their turns as well.

She's somewhat awkward to get going, but once she's out there and you have the mana to support her, your opponent no longer feels like they can block. Great on the turns after your opponent gets his defenses up and your initial onslaught has been stymied. Your opponent has to either spew off his blockers or deal with this card instead of a more threatening one from an offensive perspective. And you get at least some extra damage in from the second ability.

Shines in certain situations, but with a 'normal' rakdos start, will act mostly like a 2/2 for 2 with an awkward mana cost.

3.5/5 for a fun and cool limited card.