True_Smog is probably right, when you think about how much mana it costs, then look at Ancient Grudge which later strictly obsoleted this card so. very. badly.
And yet-- there are also pleny of artifacts I would be happy to pay that much mana to kill. Like a Masticore, or a Time Vault, to name some crazy examples. For some reason, I also find my self thinking I would flash this back against a Tinkered Darksteel or Blightsteel Colossus. Even though it wouldn't work. :P Maybe I've watched too many movies and just think that would a cool epic way to go down, and seem more...'right', somehow, than just letting it kill you..
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that this card really is playable, which makes all the cards that are strictly better 10x better than you thought they already were.
Kryptnyt
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@Tavaritz They honor his pseudonym, as anyone would. Putting his real name there might insult the man for all they know. He had his reasons, and if he wants to sign it with his name, let him do it himself.
Oh, and this card is rated pretty low for a value play, because Ancient Grudge is so, so much better.
RedAtrocitus
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Ancient Grudge is NOT strictly better. Ancient Grudge is clearly a better card in a vacuum, but when building a deck, this card will go into red deck with no green no problem. Ancient Grudge will too, but if you aren't playing green then the flashback isn't relevant and Smelt is strictly better.
Gandlodder
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Kryptnyt (two years later...): You apparently didn't read the linked article; this was a mixup with the art for Demolish, which really was illustrated by Gary Ruddell. It's not a pseudonym for Matt Cavotta, its a completely different person.
As for the card, it suffers from the general overcosting of old flashback cards, but does find a niche in places where you want flashback but don't want to or can't run some green in your deck (like EDH/Commander).
Comments (8)
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/71
And yet-- there are also pleny of artifacts I would be happy to pay that much mana to kill. Like a Masticore, or a Time Vault, to name some crazy examples. For some reason, I also find my self thinking I would flash this back against a Tinkered Darksteel or Blightsteel Colossus. Even though it wouldn't work. :P Maybe I've watched too many movies and just think that would a cool epic way to go down, and seem more...'right', somehow, than just letting it kill you..
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that this card really is playable, which makes all the cards that are strictly better 10x better than you thought they already were.
They honor his pseudonym, as anyone would. Putting his real name there might insult the man for all they know. He had his reasons, and if he wants to sign it with his name, let him do it himself.
Oh, and this card is rated pretty low for a value play, because Ancient Grudge is so, so much better.
As for the card, it suffers from the general overcosting of old flashback cards, but does find a niche in places where you want flashback but don't want to or can't run some green in your deck (like EDH/Commander).