Many people seem to get this card wrong. It means "target player may choose one: either book burning deals 6 damage to him/her, or he gets milled for 6". Note that if you play the card on yourself, you have instantly reached threshold (for cards like Fledgling Dragon) on turn two.
Hydrogoose
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(7 votes)
that's not what the card does at all.
FugimSky
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(6 votes)
That is what the card does actually, hydrogoose. I find it to be an awesome card. Dont know what you think it does.
Weebo126
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
That isn't what it does. "Any player may have Book Burning deal 6 damage to him or her. If no one does, put the top six cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard." That's what it does.
ESUpin
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(9 votes)
The idea is that your opponent has to either to allow you to reach Threshold or take the 6 damage to prevent it - that's the most common way to play the card. Play it on yourself, and see how your opponent responds. I suppose you could try to mill your opponent as well... but that's not what it was intended for.
wolfbear2
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(7 votes)
How can you people argue over what it does?
You cast it.
It resolves.
Starting with you and going in turn order, each play be choose to have it deal 6 damage to them.
If a player does let it deal 6 damage to them, they take 6 and that's it. 2 mana for 6 damage to the face.
If no player lets it deal 6 to them, you may THAN target a player and put the top 6 cards of their library into their graveyard and that's it.
Yes you can give your self instant threshold, but you can also just plain mill someone else. It's flexable like that.
holy shit. i just finally understand what that card means now. i feel like a dumbass. i always thought the other player must have a book burning card in their hand. i always read it as "unless a player has book burning *COMMA*, etc etc.....but no. its "unless a player LETS you do 6 damage to them, have them put the top 6 cards into there library. aka the cardmakers assume nobody wants to take 6 damage. thats why they worded it so weird.shiiiiiiiit
zositmos
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
put in a blue black and red deck with cards such as glimpse the unthinkable and grinding and insanity grinder and u have a decent if expensive burn deck
Test-Subject_217601
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Awesome flavor text. Get it? BURNING questions!? HA!
This card is terrible. It's bad as a threshold-enabler for yourself, but even worse as a means to try to deck your opponent. If you're concerned with milling, then you're not concerned with your opponent's life total -- of course they'll just take the damage, as their life total is completely inconsequential in that context.
Kryptnyt
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
So there were these guys that put this card in their burn decks for a while, and my friend always took the 6 because he was afraid of the mill... I told him "dude, its just six cards, and they're trying to burn you to death!" But no, this card is apparently his weakness.
chinkeeyong
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@wolfbear2: Not entirely correct. You have to choose the target as you cast it.
Brastus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@freedomman
hah, this isnt YuGiOh where one card is meant to target exactly ONE other card! xD
but yes.. it face shots you if you dont wanna mill.. but c'mon, a face shot in red? you'd probably rather mill if you know whats good for you..
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
so. apparently, Browbeat and Book Burning mean that Red actually used to be better at both drawing cards and at milling than either Blue or Black was at either. (If you check the banned/restricted lists and use the Standard legal card pool at the time these two cards were around. IE barring Ancestral Recall, Yawgmoth's anything, Necropotence, etc....)
Red certainly can take advantage of this, although it's still not a stellar card
(And yes, you do want to mill yourself. That's the only way the choice is going to make any player think twice at all with this card)
littleteapot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@DarthParallax no, this was a mechanic in odyssey where red got a bunch of off-color pie effects that the opponent could just replace with a super efficient burn spell. And they stopped printing cards like Necropotence LONG before odyssey.
NinjaShadow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Black/Red Dragon reanimator deck. 2 mana for 6 damage almost every time, cuz they don't want your baddies in the graveyard, and if they decide not to take 6, you'll probably kill them with your dragons in a couple turns. we're talkin turn 4-5 ish, dead if you get a good hand. don't play it til you have your reanimation tho, that'd be dumb.
Hoonster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@DarthParallax
Hahahahahahahaha
Browbeat is apparently better draw spells compared to :
Careful study, Breakthrough, Deep Analysis, and Standstill.
You must know how to play magic.
Tynansdtm
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@wolfbear2: Yeah, sorry. Targets are declared as the spell goes on the stack (i.e. you cast it). Players get priority, instants might happen, then as it resolves players choose whether or not to take the damage.
SirZapdos
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Odyssey block had some of the best (or is that worst?) flavor text. Wild Mongrel, Gorilla Titan and Werebear. I always thought it was a coincidence, then I read that Mark Rosewater was in charge of flavor texts three times: Unglued, Unhinged and Odyssey. Suddenly it all makes sense.
TheManakinTransfer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It has a purpose, but it is a very narrow purpose. Should have been uncommon.
Alsebra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@TheManakinTransfer - Two mana to either mill 6 cards or deal 6 damage? You really think that should be uncommon??
Purple_Shrimp
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
one of my worst magic memories was when my opponent in a casual game cast this, shouted "YOU DONT HAVE BOOK BURNING" and grabbed my library to put the top six in my graveyard for me while saying "also u take six". it took about 5 minutes to convince him of how the card actually worked
sogeking27
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(6 votes)
I HATE this card. I got into like a week long argument with my friends over it cuz they thought everyone took 6 damage since no one owned it (except the guy playing it). I said, no, it says right here in plain ENGLISH, this card says, unless a player has book burning deal 6 damage, not unless a player has book burning. They got really ***ed when I told them they were placing a comma where there wasn't one and to go back to school. I'm pretty sure a friend tried to fight me over it. We asked like 3 people who agreed with me, everywhere i looked online agreed with me, but they never did. Eventually my friend ripped it up cuz it was too much fighting and i had to give up cards to him since supposedly it was my fault. Worst magic moment ever! People, i can't stress this enough, PLAY WITH PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!
phew, that's my rant for the day.
BongRipper420
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Nice as a threshold enabler, but still crap. I can't believe that trees died for this to be printed.
These type of cards were really confusing me when i was starting Magic...
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Consider Wight of Precinct Six; they either pump him up 2+ before you attack or you deal 6 to them. It actually causes an interesting decision depending on boardstate and whether or not they have good removal ready. May work in the same vein with Mortivore and similar.
Altogether, not bad if you look at it from Lhurgoyf style cards.
Earthdawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Goblin Welder tested, Goblin Welder approved. Or, you know, 6 damage to their dome.
ax_morph
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What's that, you're tutoring? Is it worth 6 damage?
Nagoragama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Anyone who thinks this card deals you damage unless you own it needs to learn to read.
I like it - force the player to choose between taking 6 damage, or milling 6 cards for CMC. Wow, actually, that's pretty damn funny combined with Twincast and other cards that let you copy it.
And honestly, some of these misreadings of the card are just plane idiotic. Ugh.
Captain_Sisay_2591
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Poorly worded card. Started playing when I was eleven, thought it milled six and I took six every time this was played against me. When I was twelve, I finally realized what it actually does. I lost a lot of games before I turned twelve!
Comments (37)
Note that if you play the card on yourself, you have instantly reached threshold (for cards like Fledgling Dragon) on turn two.
You cast it.
It resolves.
Starting with you and going in turn order, each play be choose to have it deal 6 damage to them.
If a player does let it deal 6 damage to them, they take 6 and that's it. 2 mana for 6 damage to the face.
If no player lets it deal 6 to them, you may THAN target a player and put the top 6 cards of their library into their graveyard and that's it.
Yes you can give your self instant threshold, but you can also just plain mill someone else. It's flexable like that.
The flavour text...why?!?
hah, this isnt YuGiOh where one card is meant to target exactly ONE other card! xD
but yes.. it face shots you if you dont wanna mill..
but c'mon, a face shot in red? you'd probably rather mill if you know whats good for you..
The Color Pie is SUCH a lie, lmao.
Red certainly can take advantage of this, although it's still not a stellar card
(And yes, you do want to mill yourself. That's the only way the choice is going to make any player think twice at all with this card)
Hahahahahahahaha
Browbeat is apparently better draw spells compared to :
Careful study, Breakthrough, Deep Analysis, and Standstill.
You must know how to play magic.
phew, that's my rant for the day.
Altogether, not bad if you look at it from Lhurgoyf style cards.
And honestly, some of these misreadings of the card are just plane idiotic. Ugh.