This card is great for my burn deck. It's already basically a Searing Spear (to an opponent), and life gain is a burn deck's worst enemy.
ThisisSakon
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Hard to argue with a mallet to the back of the head, lulz
Redgurr
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
A much needed tool for Mono-Red decks. I foresee being wracked on the head a lot this up coming standard.
Goatllama
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
CHOKE ON YOUR CLEVERNESS AND DIE, LAWMAGE!
Dream_Twist
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
This is a great card, exactly what Red needs and wants now! Compare with Flames of the Bloodhand. I think this card will see play in plenty of decks in different formats.
djflo
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Definitely going to see play, probably more in legacy than standard funnily enough.
Like every card I've seen from this set, amazing flavour text too. Definitely a bonus.
lorendorky
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(4 votes)
This is a cool card but I don't think it will be as format defining as its reveal article hyped it up to be. We also got shafted with Mugging to be able to have this so ugh.
Paladin85
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(6 votes)
If I have to crack some skulls I will..
The Soldier, Team Fortress 2
Dabok
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
Somehow, a smash to the opponent's skull clears the way of Fogs.
SRSFACE
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would this overwrite any effect naturally on a creature (say, something enchanted with Ghostly Possession)?
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This will be feared.
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Flavor matches Break Open :)
There are two ways to resolve puzzling situations: thoughtful contemplation or force. After thoughtful contemplation, most barbarians choose force.
As a Turbofog player, this saddens me; as a Naya aggro player, I am heartful of this. So much cognitive dissonance!
Buridan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@SRSFACE when a "do this" and a "don't do this" ability collide, the "don't do this" always wins - in this case the damage is not prevented
this one is good for a stick against white or green
Purplerooster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nice finisher against someone counting on an instant life gain spell; a nice component in the arsenal of red burn.
wicked_pick
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
added to my modern mono red.. additon to my anti-pro-red surprises.. I can now crack my foe's skull and drown kor firewalker into the river of lava.. bwahahaha
Doaj
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
3.6? Must be getting hate-rated. This card is a 4.2-4.3 at least. Will see play in at least Standard and Modern. Maybe even Legacy. Probably not Vintage though. But maybe.
MightySqueeth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not just fogs, this can help you smash through your opponent's Fog Banks. You get a free 3 damage to boot.
Odee
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Negotiations the RED way.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(4 votes)
@Lifegainwithbite.....um....whut. u. smokin.
the way Burn decks work is that they want to keep the pressure on as much as possible. one way to relieve pressure is to gain life. This card makes Orzhov a Sad Panda.
but even if you aren't running lifegain of some kind (between 4 different W/x guilds, plus DRS, and Huntmaster of the Fells, you really should, but that's besides the point),
it does 3 damage to the player for 2 mana. Imagine that like a 2 mana creature that was a 3/1 with haste, flash and unblockable and had "when this creature deals damage to an opponent, sacrifice it".
Sure, 3 dmg for 1 mana is preferable, but 3 for 2 is enough to be played. Being able to hit creatures and doubles as removal IS an important feature to look for on Red cards, but if I want to beat my opponent, I have to damage THEM, which is why if I had to choose, I'd rather damage players than creatures.
Red cards that only damage creatures are only runnable next to creatures, things with an ATK stat. y'know, something to actually win the game with.
The Enemy's Gate is BURNT DOWN
tehsquirrely
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Stops fog, life gain shenanery, and does direct damage? All for a measly two mana? AND it's hilarious? Yes, yes skullcrack, you are amazing.
pedrodyl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Card of the Day, February 1st, 2013 Now that Gatecrash is all spoiled, I guess I can start doing these again. Skullcrack. Where to start. Well I guess I can observe that burn decks, or just RDW in general seems to be playable every other standard. Scars-Innistrad RDW was pretty bad, probably because Zendikar-Scars was so good (how could it not be with Lightning Bolt around, along with all those delicious burn spells Zendikar Block had?) This card, along with Vexing Devil et. al. gives me hope that we can soon once again start the countdown from 20, or should I say 18 with all these fancy shocklands? Shuts down half of Sphinx's Revelation, Thragtusk's bonus, and Trostani for a turn, among other lifegain in standard. And then it cracks their skull for 3. Pretty good I'd say. 4/5
Vandarringa
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I hope this really does make Thragtusk just a little bit less powerful, as it seems intended to do. This card might go a long way toward making beatdown viable in standard again.
@Lifegainwithbite: Do you realize this card stops your username?
SgtSwaggr
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
I feel like the "lawmages" in Washington today deserve very similar treatment...
doombladez
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Lifegainwithbite Because Leyline of Punishment is not in standard, costs two more mana, and deals no damage... This card knocks down Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation, and turns off fog. Is it main deck worthy? Probably not, but in a sideboard it is worth the slots.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This will see play in standard, idk the eternal formats though 3.5/5 Stars
I guess it's usefulness depends on the amount of creatures with protection that get played.
Doghealer
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I give it a 4/5.
It's useful in limited just for the pure burn. There's a little bit of Johnny potential in there, but the most clever thing I can think of is preventing the lifegain from Extort. (Just make sure to respond to the Extort trigger(s). Skullcrack's gotta resolve first.*)
However, I see a much better use for this card. Allow me to state it in an exclamation: "**** YOU, TURBOFOG!"
*And on that note, if YOU have any Extort triggers, they'll go on top of Skullcrack and resolve first; thus, you can gain life from those Extort triggers before Skullcrack prevents it.
Leuitikos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Flames of the Blood Hand meet your son Skullcrack.
when i first saw it i was like meh, i already have flames of the blood hand in my draw-to-burn deck. but after actually substituting flames out and giving skullcrack a go... wow. 1) the mana cost is lower--1a. izzet guildmage can copy this; 1b. you can put it on a stick; 1c. ...the mana cost is lower! 2) nullifying life-gain and damage prevention doesn't just work for this card, but for all of the burn cards for the rest of the turn, for every player. all this for only -1 damage. solid trade-off and works better for tempo... mostly because... the mana cost is lower! for izzet, you'd be surprised at how much that 1 mana makes a difference--it becomes a matter if i can throw an extra lightning bolt that turn or drop another brainstorm, which guttersnipe sees to using that choice oh-so well.
james2c19v
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Pretty sweet upgrade to Unstable Footing. Aside from {1}{R} for the effect and 3 damage being a solid upgrade to {3}{R}{R} for the effect and 5 damage, the effect includes lifegain and not just damage prevention.
djpraiseadelik
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is the kind of card I don't like when I have an Elderscale Wurm down because it gets around it. Hence the reason I run 3x Spell Rupture in the sideboard of my Gruul Deck (with 2 Hinterland Harbor and 2 Sulfur Falls in the main board to get access to blue as well as red/green) to counter Spellcrack and other spells going against my bigger threats (such as Elderscale Wurm, Gruul Ragebeast, Clan Defiance, and Rubblehusk among others)
Just realized this lets you break through creatures with protection from your color! They can be dealt damage from creatures of your color because all damage can't be prevented for the turn.
VampireChild85
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ Forgetremembering You still can't target the thing that has protection from your color. Other than that, it'll make the person controlling creatures with protection think before blocking as they will take the damage.
Urto
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Blunk for police commissioner 2014!
mugshot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
quick question if there is no legal target will the two other abilities fizzle? (the can't gain life and damage can' be prevented) for example witchbane orb is in play and i casted thragthusk
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Mugshot: You can't CAST it if there are no legal targets, and if they manage to flash in something and are made an illegal target, yes, the whole spell fizzles.
Now, if they had one up and you really wanted that anti-prevention, you could always crack yourself in the face...
RamenAwesome
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmmm...Fog Bank prevents damage. Skullcrack, meet Fog Bank. I think you two will get along nicely...keheheheh...
RetroGamer3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
People who say not in standard with this card are dumb. I play 2 main deck with 2 in sideboard. It's so satisfying playing this in responds to Thragtusk. For every expensive card there is an inexpensive card that rapes it.
TowerDefender
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Use with Notion Thief to deny Sphinx's Revelation.
Tamerlein
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Three damage for two is decent in a RDW deck, and the two abilities make it a very good mainboard card, especially considering how many decks these days run Kitchen Finks. It has a fair amount of use is Standard as well stopping Sphinx's Revelation from gaining its owner any life.
4.5/5
LordRandomness
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@TzarChasm: That's not how cognitive dissonance works, that's just two conflicting opinions. Cognitive dissonance is where you think of yourself one way but act contrary to this, and thus have to rationalize the "dissonance" in how you see yourself and how you acted. This can lead to either justifications or changing of your self image, generally not for the-
*gets hit in the head with a hammer, falls over*
Mprime818
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Flavor text is crackin me up!!!
Master__of__Nature
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like the fact that this card punishes turbo fog and other fog-esque tricks your opponent may have up their sleeve. It's also a crushing response to a SR in most scenarios due to the huge swing in life total. It may stop lifegain in its tracks, but it will eventually lose out to lifelink as the chances you will be "skullcracking" your opponent every turn is unlikely. In most matchups this is going to be just another searing spear that targets your opponent. The fact that you can't target a creature hurts the versatility of this card. In any type of burn at instant speed you almost always want that option. Love the art by the way. It makes skullcracking look like a fine skill considering the precise location of the actual crack. How about this for flavor "Court is now in session".
SithRemy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Only thing stopping this is cancel or other counter cards.
SirZapdos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Like Matt Sperling opined, I find it a bit of a flavour failure that if my opponent has Witchbane Orb or Leyline of Sanctity, I can skullcrack myself to counter his Fog.
Still, sweet card and I love the non-hexproof flavour. Blunk the Irrefutable, coming in Time Spiral 2!
DoctorGii
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I have a friend who hates it when people play foreign-language versions of cards, and loves running every variant of fog he possibly can in every single deck he has (all of them have white or green in them).
I got a Japanese version of this card just to deal with him.
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love how even though this card's text essentially says, "If this spell resolves, target opponent loses 3 life or else Richard Garfield will punch you in the face." you can still counter it.
Stuflames
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"A message from da boss: Ya no lessen to Krenko ya got bashed like de rest!"
Was playing a game against someone who was at 3 life using a control deck. They went to drop Sphinx's Revelation to gain 4 tapping themselves out at the end of my turn, they started drawing the cards, then I said "No, Skullcrack...you lose"
shotoku64
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Used at the right moment, this can have an effect equal to or greater than Lava Axe for less than half the price.
Tygrbuny
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite use of skullcrack was when one of my opponents tried to gain a ton of life (tapping, sacrificing, and whatever, but it was obvious that he'd been saving up for this move) to try get out his Voracious Wurm with an insane amount of +1/+1 counters on it. I happened to have this in my hand and was able to counter all of that with one card, as well as deal direct damage to him. ^_^
scorpious1109
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can't wait to use this in response to W/G Ajani's -8 ability.
Manite
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Opponent: I have Aegis of the Gods and I'm activating Ajani, Mentor of Heroes' Ultimate. What are you gonna do about it? You: I'M GONNA HIT MYSELF ON THE HEAD! Opponent:...What.
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great card. Still wondering if it deserves 3 spots in my Legacy sideboard for mono Red burn. Only problem I have is how often can you afford to hold this and two mountains open in case they prevent damage or gain life?
Comments (61)
Like every card I've seen from this set, amazing flavour text too. Definitely a bonus.
The Soldier, Team Fortress 2
There are two ways to resolve puzzling situations: thoughtful contemplation or force. After thoughtful contemplation, most barbarians choose force.
As a Turbofog player, this saddens me; as a Naya aggro player, I am heartful of this.
So much cognitive dissonance!
when a "do this" and a "don't do this" ability collide, the "don't do this" always wins - in this case the damage is not prevented
this one is good for a stick against white or green
the way Burn decks work is that they want to keep the pressure on as much as possible.
one way to relieve pressure is to gain life. This card makes Orzhov a Sad Panda.
but even if you aren't running lifegain of some kind (between 4 different W/x guilds, plus DRS, and Huntmaster of the Fells, you really should, but that's besides the point),
it does 3 damage to the player for 2 mana. Imagine that like a 2 mana creature that was a 3/1 with haste, flash and unblockable and had "when this creature deals damage to an opponent, sacrifice it".
Sure, 3 dmg for 1 mana is preferable, but 3 for 2 is enough to be played. Being able to hit creatures and doubles as removal IS an important feature to look for on Red cards, but if I want to beat my opponent, I have to damage THEM, which is why if I had to choose, I'd rather damage players than creatures.
Red cards that only damage creatures are only runnable next to creatures, things with an ATK stat. y'know, something to actually win the game with.
The Enemy's Gate is BURNT DOWN
Now that Gatecrash is all spoiled, I guess I can start doing these again.
Skullcrack. Where to start. Well I guess I can observe that burn decks, or just RDW in general seems to be playable every other standard. Scars-Innistrad RDW was pretty bad, probably because Zendikar-Scars was so good (how could it not be with Lightning Bolt around, along with all those delicious burn spells Zendikar Block had?) This card, along with Vexing Devil et. al. gives me hope that we can soon once again start the countdown from 20, or should I say 18 with all these fancy shocklands? Shuts down half of Sphinx's Revelation, Thragtusk's bonus, and Trostani for a turn, among other lifegain in standard. And then it cracks their skull for 3. Pretty good I'd say. 4/5
@Lifegainwithbite: Do you realize this card stops your username?
3.5/5 Stars
http://www.theonion.com/articles/heads-need-to-be-cracked-in,11003/
It's useful in limited just for the pure burn. There's a little bit of Johnny potential in there, but the most clever thing I can think of is preventing the lifegain from Extort. (Just make sure to respond to the Extort trigger(s). Skullcrack's gotta resolve first.*)
However, I see a much better use for this card. Allow me to state it in an exclamation: "**** YOU, TURBOFOG!"
*And on that note, if YOU have any Extort triggers, they'll go on top of Skullcrack and resolve first; thus, you can gain life from those Extort triggers before Skullcrack prevents it.
They can be dealt damage from creatures of your color because all damage can't be prevented for the turn.
You still can't target the thing that has protection from your color. Other than that, it'll make the person controlling creatures with protection think before blocking as they will take the damage.
for example witchbane orb is in play and i casted thragthusk
Now, if they had one up and you really wanted that anti-prevention, you could always crack yourself in the face...
I play 2 main deck with 2 in sideboard.
It's so satisfying playing this in responds to Thragtusk.
For every expensive card there is an inexpensive card that rapes it.
4.5/5
*gets hit in the head with a hammer, falls over*
Still, sweet card and I love the non-hexproof flavour. Blunk the Irrefutable, coming in Time Spiral 2!
I got a Japanese version of this card just to deal with him.
"If this spell resolves, target opponent loses 3 life or else Richard Garfield will punch you in the face."
you can still counter it.
-a foundry street denizen, to Lavinia
You: I'M GONNA HIT MYSELF ON THE HEAD!
Opponent:...What.