Although this is hardly a strong card, it's not entirely unplayable - The best use I ever saw of it was in a 250-card deck which seeks to Traumatize itself then work as a toolbox from the graveyard. One of the most formidable tricks was having a couple of these drop in with the Traumatize and flashing them back for something like 200 life a pop - putting the player far beyond the reach of your average creature-based deck.
Weretarrasque
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
....But for most decks, it's unplayable, especially in white.
True_Smog
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Highly too expensive.
pwdrrider
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
250 card deck and 200 life!! now that's why I love magic :) LOL
Kilroyroy
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
If you can produce mana very quickly, its a winning card in a red-white deck!
mrredhatter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Useless.
KikiJikiTiki
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Gabe Walls sideboarded this card at the 2003 World Championship for potential use with burning wish. (This would be the part where the person says something to the effect of "I think that says it all", but you can just pretend that I didn't)
GrimjawxRULES
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@ Stygimoloch: I'd like to see that guy run Sanguine Bond and possibly some way to get it into your hand from your graveyard like Argivian Find.
I think the insanely high flashback cost might be intended to prevent combo potential with dredge.
ICEFANG13
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
But Dredge wasn't until after this was printed.
DarthParallax
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
What I like about this card is how it looks, at first glance, like a pretty small effect.
It's got an old frame.
And the mana cost is absurdly high and color dense.
In other words, it looks ancient. It's primitive. It's almost obsolete.
.........
.........
And it's really, really, powerful. Cards like this teach you the game. Like Necropotence. Necropotence is, from the narrowest perspective, a Howling Mine on lots and lots of crack. This is Healing Salve on lots and lots and LOTS of crack. Cards like that....they're just so simple, but in a resoundingly colossal way. Like a volcanic eruption. The opposite of cards like Time Reversal, which just does a lot of stuff in general, and the textbox would SOUND impressive even without the 'PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER' artwork. This does almost nothing, and it's still daunting to read. I don't know if I said what I wanted to say. Being eloquent is kind of the opposite of the idea of stuff like this. It's like a reverse Fireball. Pump a horribly inefficient amount of mana into a giant spell, but you know what? It wins you the game when you do it right.
One of these days, I really want to see someone use Fireball like a Wrath of God, against an army of actually tough creatures, like 3/3s, 4/4s and up. I just really really want someone decide to actually pump that much mana into Fireball. I think it would be totally awesome :)
I've had fun times with Gnaw to the Bone in a dredge-like scenario, but I can't tell which one is better, that or this.
Lifegainwithbite
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The worst way to spend 12 mana I've ever seen.
SAUS3
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@DacenOctavio Gnaw to the bone is way better. This card is WAY too expensive. You'll almost never be able to cast it. If you spent the time to make your graveyard big enough to make this card even slightly effective, you'd be either dead because it's too slow, or better off just reanimating crazy monsters out of your graveyard.
Gnaw to the bone can actually be played in the early and mid game and can allow a slower, graveyard-oriented strategy to survive really fast decks.
Comments (18)
It's got an old frame.
And the mana cost is absurdly high and color dense.
In other words, it looks ancient. It's primitive. It's almost obsolete.
.........
.........
And it's really, really, powerful. Cards like this teach you the game. Like Necropotence. Necropotence is, from the narrowest perspective, a Howling Mine on lots and lots of crack. This is Healing Salve on lots and lots and LOTS of crack. Cards like that....they're just so simple, but in a resoundingly colossal way. Like a volcanic eruption. The opposite of cards like Time Reversal, which just does a lot of stuff in general, and the textbox would SOUND impressive even without the 'PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER' artwork. This does almost nothing, and it's still daunting to read. I don't know if I said what I wanted to say. Being eloquent is kind of the opposite of the idea of stuff like this. It's like a reverse Fireball. Pump a horribly inefficient amount of mana into a giant spell, but you know what? It wins you the game when you do it right.
One of these days, I really want to see someone use Fireball like a Wrath of God, against an army of actually tough creatures, like 3/3s, 4/4s and up. I just really really want someone decide to actually pump that much mana into Fireball. I think it would be totally awesome :)
Gnaw to the bone is way better. This card is WAY too expensive. You'll almost never be able to cast it. If you spent the time to make your graveyard big enough to make this card even slightly effective, you'd be either dead because it's too slow, or better off just reanimating crazy monsters out of your graveyard.
Gnaw to the bone can actually be played in the early and mid game and can allow a slower, graveyard-oriented strategy to survive really fast decks.
This card is so bad. 0.5/5