if I was a 6/1 i'd want...Trample! and haste! and to be sac'd at end of turn!....wait a minute...
VoidedNote
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(6 votes)
If I was a 6/1 I'd want to be on the side of the guy with Rage Reflection
GradiustheFox
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
Does anyone else think he looks like Stone Cold Steve Austin in this card art? Or is it just me?
TheNUUB
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
What is with the rating of this card? Is a enchantement that only costs 2 mana and gives a creature first strike and +3/+0 if you have threshold, what you almost always have
Aaron_Forsythe
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(33 votes)
Aaron's Random Card Comment of the Day #13, 10/13/10
If I was Kamahl, Pit Fighter--a 6/1 hasty brawler--it would certainly be my desire to have first strike. (I see now, upon pasting this comment into Gatherer, that someone else has already made this joke. Good one, lesserimmortal.)
Seriously, folks, there’s not a ton going on here. The only reasonably interesting factoid I could think of while staring at this card was already covered in a Magic Arcana I wrote 8½ years ago, but that’s long enough ago that I suppose I’ll retell it:
The Odyssey style guide depiction of Kamahl had him with short-cropped reddish hair, so that’s how artist Dave Dorman painted him for this card. But when Kev Walker’s magnificent art for the aforementioned Kamahl, Pit Fighter card came in, he had Kamahl as totally bald, and the creative team all felt that was a much better look for the red protagonist. That meant some nimble Photoshop work had to be done to Mr. Dorman’s piece here to remove all the hair.
Fascinating stuff, what can I tell you.
Wait, it gets better.
The art for Barbarian Lunatic, by Ron Spears, had that barbarian as bald, and suddenly he looked too much like Kamahl. So hair had to be added to that picture.
A true thrill ride.
Okay, the card itself… The “Desires” are a cycle of Auras that get better at threshold. I already talked (on Favorable Destiny) about how it is generally unnecessary to junk up Auras with clauses that make them play differently at different times--because Auras by their nature do that already--and I feel the same here, although to a lesser degree. Three of the cycle played well in limited, where both halves of the cards mattered and threshold meant something. This is not one of those three; this is what I call a “quota-filling card” as it exists merely to prop up the rest of a halfway-decent cycle. A bit of a wasted opportunity, and certainly not a way to make your main character seem like an awesome dude.
R&D has grown to dislike threshold over time; I’ll save that rhetoric for the off chance I stumble upon another card with the mechanic.
willpell
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You should have left the hair in the picture so that it would appear Kamahl's desire was for Propecia. :D
bay_falconer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
First strike and +3/+0? Awesome. Especially given red's love of high power and low toughness.
Paolino
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not so bad, also for the synergy between +3/+0 and first strike.
Bobth
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This art depicts Kamahl holding the Mirari, an artifact that grants wishes, even if they are unwanted. His inner desires were to be more barbaric or a better fighter or something. This caused him to go on a rampage and kill most of his family, while seriously injuring his sister, Jeska, Warrior Adept. This led to her being captured by Braids, Cabal Minion, who turned her into Phage the Untouchable. It's kind of an important card, storyline wise.
mflanaga
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is that Kamahl looking into a globe of himself charging into battle? So he just daydreams of looting and pillaging?
Comments (12)
Is a enchantement that only costs 2 mana and gives a creature first strike and +3/+0 if you have threshold, what you almost always have
If I was Kamahl, Pit Fighter--a 6/1 hasty brawler--it would certainly be my desire to have first strike. (I see now, upon pasting this comment into Gatherer, that someone else has already made this joke. Good one, lesserimmortal.)
Seriously, folks, there’s not a ton going on here. The only reasonably interesting factoid I could think of while staring at this card was already covered in a Magic Arcana I wrote 8½ years ago, but that’s long enough ago that I suppose I’ll retell it:
The Odyssey style guide depiction of Kamahl had him with short-cropped reddish hair, so that’s how artist Dave Dorman painted him for this card. But when Kev Walker’s magnificent art for the aforementioned Kamahl, Pit Fighter card came in, he had Kamahl as totally bald, and the creative team all felt that was a much better look for the red protagonist. That meant some nimble Photoshop work had to be done to Mr. Dorman’s piece here to remove all the hair.
Fascinating stuff, what can I tell you.
Wait, it gets better.
The art for Barbarian Lunatic, by Ron Spears, had that barbarian as bald, and suddenly he looked too much like Kamahl. So hair had to be added to that picture.
A true thrill ride.
Okay, the card itself… The “Desires” are a cycle of Auras that get better at threshold. I already talked (on Favorable Destiny) about how it is generally unnecessary to junk up Auras with clauses that make them play differently at different times--because Auras by their nature do that already--and I feel the same here, although to a lesser degree. Three of the cycle played well in limited, where both halves of the cards mattered and threshold meant something. This is not one of those three; this is what I call a “quota-filling card” as it exists merely to prop up the rest of a halfway-decent cycle. A bit of a wasted opportunity, and certainly not a way to make your main character seem like an awesome dude.
R&D has grown to dislike threshold over time; I’ll save that rhetoric for the off chance I stumble upon another card with the mechanic.