Pointed Discussion

Statistically, you break even on life totals when used enough times. However, it does have interesting interactions with cards such as Rhox Faithmender

Although far from a great card, the flavor text is wonderful and any card that requires a coin flip is simply a fun card, let alone how much flavor this card has. Of course, any card that oozes flavor like this makes it impossible for me to hate.

Also. it's a black bear. Better than Walking Corpse, and often better than a lot of the vanilla green and white ones as well.

Tavern Swindler is to Walking Corpse as Torch Fiend is to Goblin Piker. Uncommon for a situational boon.

I am extremely upset at Wizards for this card. Coin flip is RED! Not black! How am I supposed to use this in my Blue-Red Coin Flip EDH deck! I know what your going to say, "but red doesn't have life gain." In the past red coin flip cards have cause life gain: Game of Chaos Now theirs two non Un-set cards that I cant put in my EDH deck! The other being Odds // Ends Why Wizards? Why!

Funny but in the end, it's just a bear.

Lifegain is then important if you have nearly no life left. In that case though, you don't want to risk losing another three or six because you have bad luck at coin flips.

Flip is dead and unfun. Its also definitely not a black ability. Try again wizards. 2/5 rating for the 2/2 for 2cmc body. Yawn.

I did the math and I ain't buyin' yer wares, lady.

And for the goofuses saying coin flips ain't black, black can get whatever the hell it wants if it pays life or sacs creatures. DEAL WITH IT

5 stars just for flavor alone.

If you didn't have to tap her then she'd be....a VERY intriguing common that in theory should be safe at common, unless Math Stops Working.

Sometimes to stay alive you gotta tap her.

Sounds dirty doesn't it?

I love the art.

...this thing is really cool. There are plenty of ways to cheat at her little game (from Krark's Thumb to the aforementioned Rhox Faithmender to effects like Tainted Sigil (simply use it just before you'd crack the sigil anyway)), and Sanguine Bond makes winning a hell of a lot more dangerous. Plus, you can just tell someone somewhere will bring a Limited final down to the flip of a coin with her.

Pros like me know that you have a 50% chance of winning that coin flip. Those odds sound pretty good to me.

Her ability has its use. Picture this. You're at 4 life, and you've got 5 damage incoming. You activate her ability. You now have a 50/50 chance of not dying, significantly better than the guaranteed death you had before.

And, if all else fails, she still a bear.

Every single thing about this card is Red. That is a fact. Once again WotC cuts another sliver of Red's ever-decreasing slice of the colorpie and gives it to someone else.

I'll be honest, i'm more surprised about the cost of instead of than i am about this fair lady's ability.
I'm even more surprised that nobody used the word "power creep" yet.

She looks like a fun card for a Sanguine Bond deck.
Then you can tap her and you'll increase the difference between you and your opponent's life totals either by 3 for his favor, or by 9 for your favor. Now those are some lop-sided tavern games of chance :D

Odds say you are tapping her every turn for no net gain. Can be cheated a bit, but it's just lifegain, so the value in cheating is pretty low. So she's almost always best played as just a black bear. And if you absolutely need the life, she gives you a shot. Seems fine.

I was going to say WoTC needs to commission more art from Miss Sheppard, but I see she's been doing art since Innistrad. I see the resemblance in the face on Trusted Forcemage, now.

It's a pretty nice black bear, and that ability can save your rear when you're about to die at 4+ life. 3.5/5

She kinda looks like Pink.

I see some decent points here, but you're all missing the really big question:
Does she have a Cajun accent?

Rings of Brighthearth

I like the card, its interesting! And this card is black. Sacrifice and paying life is totally black!
This would be red flavor if you didn't have to pay life, and if you won it dealt damage.

I'd tap that... but I bet I'd end up regretting it.

I like how the flavor text insinuates you're bad at math if you use her ability.

If you lose the flip, she had a *** the whole time!

Wow, two transphobic comments in one discussion :(

is that Gwen Stefani?

She looks to me like Sharon Needles.

2/5. A 2/2 for 2. Great for filling out a curve but the ability requires more time and patience.

Perhaps use it with Vizkopa Guildmage to start hitting your opponent for 6 every turn on turn 4 for only 3 mana.

With the Vizkopa Guildmage Exquisite Blood combo that nets you an instant win if gain at least one life, I have to wonder if this will start showing up in decks. It's more reliable than extort and any plan B that comes with a decent body attached is worth looking into.
EDit- Didn't notice she needed to tap to use her ability. Still at least worth consideration.

If you're at 4 life and being attacked by a 4/4, you can use this ability with no downside. It's best to use this card in those situations.

Vizkopa Guildmage and Illusionist's Bracers spring to mind

If this didn't require you to tap I would give it a 4/5, it would be great then. Though as of right now, 1.5/5.

She looks a bit like P!nk to me! Interesting card. Edit: marek_m beat me to it!

Hot bod. :D
Manly face. D:

Krark's Thumb. Edit: she's holding cards, I actually wish it was a wager for drawing cards to fit in with Dangerous Wager or Wilg Guess which I may run together with this for mainly flavour reasons. I do like the Discworldy vibe on Ravnica :-).

Decent in Limited, as she is at least a bear. Still, don't get greedy with her ability, as it will likely cause you to lose more games than it will let you win.

Oddly, your opponent could always say, "This is stupid! You're stupid! I'm not playing you games anymore, woman!" and get the police and kill her before you gain the life.

An odd imagining of "Rage Quit".

Play with Angelic Accord
"Angel or no angel?"

It's not the net 3 that's important, it's the six gain.
If you read that you probably think I'm crazy.
What I'm trying to say is, this card is worth quite a bit more since it says "gain 6" instead of "heads, you lose 3, tails, you gain 3".
This is actually quite crazy, considering cards such as Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, Well of Lost Dreams, Life's Cradle, Angelic Accord, and more.

This card brings to mind the Gambler's Ruin paradox. Imagine you decide on an amount of money, and then on a coin flip either you or the casino pays that amount. Try this trick: if you lose, double the amount.

Bet $100 if you win, get $100!
if you lose, bet $200, then if you win, you gain a net of $100!
if you lose, bet $400, then if you win, you gain a net of $100!
if you lose, bet $800, then if you win, you gain a net of $100!
and so on.
So you're pretty much guaranteed to win $100. You can't flip tails forever, you'll eventually have to win, right?

Not really. There is the possibility of catastrophic failure-- you could eventually lose enough to bet your entire life's savings and still lose. So playing this game has a large chance of a modest payoff and a small chance of disaster. And here's where the Ruin part comes in-- if you keep playing, you'll eventually find that disaster. You won't break the house's bank, the casino has so much more money than you it might as well be infinite. Your bank will be the first to break. You can't be greedy, you'll need to stop before you burn up all your money. It would be a good idea to never start, if you're only trying to get more money.

The Tavern Swindler is almost the same thing (but the math is messier because you can't increase the amount of the bet, you'll need to play twice, and work out what to do when only one flip wins...) Your "bank" is your life points, and the Swindler's "bank" is infinity minus that number. In this case, the house's bank really is infinite.

So playing the Tavern Swindler's ability is not a good idea if you're trying to increase your life points. But from a game perspective, there are times when you still might want to play. As EyeballFrog mentioned, this can turn guaranteed death into a 50% chance of survival (losing by one is just as bad as losing by four) and if you have effects that trigger from losing or gaining life, the Swindler can give you fairly dependable value.

...And you might want to play for the thrill, but I personally think that's all kinds of stupid. You'll be decreasing your chances of winning on average, but you'll be getting a more varied play experience, which you might enjoy, I guess. You'll be robbing Spike to pay Timmy.

This might be the most subtly poetic card Wizards has produced.

"Tap and pay three life to flip a coin. If you win the flip, you gain 6 life."

Perfect iambic pentameter.

I'd Swindle her Tavern ;)

2/5 Stars

I got one signed by the illustrator at a convention. She was a very nice lady, and the art is great. As for the card, how can I complain? Its a 2/2 for in a color that still doesn't get that often. The ability is a neat bonus and begging to be broken with Sanguine Bond, Krark's Thumb or what-have-you.