Love the new art. The old art did have a nice 'back alley' type of look to it, which fit the theme of the card beautifully, but this new art screams pain. "Give me my cards or suffer!" Unfortunately, I'd almost always rather have three cards. It's kind of like casting Dash Hopes. You're probably going to use it against a spell you really want to counter, and they're probably just going to take the five damage, which leaves you saying, "Well, I guess them taking five damage is better than nothing." Otherwise, if you use Dash Hopes against some spell they don't care about, they let it counter, and now you've just done a 1 for 1, but you'd rather have had them take the five damage.
Here just as well, I can't imagine anyone saying, "I sure hope they take the five damage so I don't draw my next three burn spells."
M0NGUS
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Rated this a 4, 0.5 higher than the other ones because of the better picture.
(I gave the original 0.5 total because of the awful wording.)
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
yeah, but Tibalt himself is kind of cheesy. I find lorendorky's comment true but appropriate. :3
I could see this art coming back in Modern Masters by the way. Perhaps.
Shredmonster
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Love the reprint, can't believe the rating is so low. Gotta use it creatively, throw it down with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight on the field. Your opponents when faced with 10 direct damage will almost always let u draw 3 cards. Plays really well with Rakdos, Lord of Riots aswell. Amazing card, but the old art is definently better.
I really like the whole "great effect unless..." theme in Tibalt's deck. I also the semi-appretiation of devil tribal in the deck, but it FRUSTRATES me so much that Vexing Devil, the perfect overlap of these two themes, is not included. I don't care if it would unbalance the deck, I just want PERFECTION!
Nonprofitparrot
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Does anyone else think this is made to be a partner to the new brainstorm art? Faces in the clouds, draw three cards. If nothing else they're quite similar.
psychichobo
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
What I love most about this card is that there are a lot of people out there who think it sucks because they see the opponent getting the choice and give up there.
More for meee!
Ezuna
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can this card, together with Blazing Salvo, damage a planeswalker?
pedrodyl
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Browbeat Verb Intimidate (someone), typically into doing something, with stern or abusive words: "a witness is being browbeaten under cross-examination"
...Pretty much.
TheWrathofShane
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Very strong card. 5 damage for ? Burn heaven. 3 cards for ? Just what red deck needs.
LordRandomness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The opponent choice thing can be bad, but in this case both outcomes tend to be the same: either this card burns them in the face, or you draw cards that you then use to burn them in the face.
Draw three card for three mana in red? Great! Has the option of dealing 5 damage instead? Even better! Having your opponent choose what the card does? ....um. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good card, but that is what takes this card down so much. That five damage your opponent just took doesn't matter when you're out of cards and you lose on their next turn.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is meant for really fast, aggressive decks. Use this as a finisher, or a nice starter. Early game, it's a lava axe for 3 mana. Late game, they choose to take a lava axe, or risk giving you 3 more burn spells which will probably total to even more damage.
Opponent chooses is usually a major drawback to a card. To make up for it, the card should do a lot more for its cost. This card does that well. A red draw spell that is better than divination? That would be stupid. Lava axe at 3 mana? That would also be stupid. Opponent chooses? Okay it's fair now. This card is good.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oddly enough I think drawing 3 cards is typically weaker here. They *may* draw 2 burn spells, but more than likely they'll have to wait a turn to use them. If you can manipulate the draw (black or blue) then you have a better chance of knowing what to pick.
Giving a burn deck 5 damage is not something you want to do; giving it cards at least gives you a chance to live (unless they have 5 mountains, in which they just burn you anyway.)
Better for them to have to use more mana and cards for burn than to just give it up to them. Think about it. Same with vexing devil; use a bounce or kill spell on it. Don't let that burn deck hit your life total!
Veggeh
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I quite like the look of this card actually. Either this card will burn them in the face for 5, the burn spells I draw will burn them in the face for a nice amount, or I can target them with the card draw and let Tibalt/Trouble/Runeflare Trap/etc. burn them in the face for their hand size (at least 3 each).
Very nice potential burn value on all sides if your deck plays to those strengths.
TowerDefender
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
.. because this would have been too brutal in the Izzet vs. Golgari deck, 5 life or draw 3 cards, which with Niv-Mizzet out would also do three damage. It would have been silly with Replicate in that deck too! Imagine this with a smug smirk from Niv-Mizzet as the artwork!
TheBringer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Whether it's positive OR negative, I don't understand the people talking about this giving the opponent the choice. You're running this in mono red burn! When you get them down to 4 or so and are completely out of gas, you use this to refuel and finish them. Because they CANT take the five!
Mazakur
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have this card in a black/red deck, but I think that I might switch it into my Izzet deck. If I can combo it with Melek, Izzet Paragon and a Guttersnipe on the field, you get to cast it twice, doing 2 damage per cast with Guttersnipe. If your opponent doesn't want you to draw, he takes 14 damage. At best he takes 4 damage and you draw six. If you have a Chandra, the Firebrand on the field you could copy it again, for 6 damage from a single Guttersnipe, and any combination of draw 9 cards/do 5 damage draw 6/do 10 damage draw 3/or do a grand total of 21 damage.
It's a win/win. Either do 5 damage for 3 mana (compare to lava axe for 5 dmg for 5 mana) or draw 3 for 3 mana (in a burn deck) while most draw 3's have a CMC of 4.
Lamaboy4
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I play red/black control. To play control you need some cards in your hand, but sometimes you have cards and you just want to kill an opponent. People say that your opponents get the choice, which is technically true, but you can easily influence them to the pick the option you want.
Want to draw three cards? Get them around or below 10 life and they will not want to take the damage, so attack first, then cast this.
Want to deal damage? Save your damage spells and attack after you cast this.
Works nicely with traitorous instinct because they won't be expecting the damage from their own creatures (if you have enough mana).
Great card, never feels useless. 5/5
SarpNasty
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Play this in a deck where you would rather draw three cards than deal 5 damage, but would rather deal 5 damage than have a card in your hand with three mana open. The choice doesn't matter.
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Although I dislike any card that gives your opponent a choice that affects you, this does it pretty well, especially in multiplayer. I played this in a five-player game once and I had a deck full of cheap burn spells, and everyone just kinda looked around the table waiting for someone else to take the damage. I got the three cards.
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
These "punisher" cards (Vexing Devil,Temporal Extortion,Dash Hopes, this) are amazing "skill testers." Some n00bs will see the powerful effects and think they're auto-includes (they're not). Some net-decker twits will think they don't work at all because they aren't common sights in top 8s.
What I will say is this: these cards can be circumstantially amazing. You have to put some thought into the rest of your deck, yes, but these cards will reqard you if you design properly for them.
Believe it or not, they work pretty well together too!
Gummibears
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Browbeat really is disappointing. I see a lot of people across the "punisher" themed cards' comment sections arguing for their effectiveness by pointing out that each mode is heavily undercosted, but that comparison is irrelevant. You're not getting the mode you want, you're getting the mode you don't want, and whoever thinks that's irrelevant should consider the cases when you're playing the card. Most people here seem to like this card for a straight burn/RDW, so let's entertain some possibilities.
Example 1: You're against a control player who has four cards in hand by turn 3. You have three cards in hand, this, a Skullcrack, and a Lightning Bolt, and three mountains in play. Let's say they've got a creature on the board that's giving you grief, e.g. a Meddling Mage, and you want it gone. Your opponent has two islands open. You would have to tap out to play the Browbeat, and there's no chance of sneaking it in at the end of their turn since it's a sorcery. Obviously any card can be countered, but getting a sorcery that costs all of your mana shut down leaves you completely flat-footed for your opponent's turn. It loses you both tempo and card advantage. You either sit on the Browbeat hoping for your opponent to tap out so you can play it on a future turn and play your other two cards with your open mana, or you chance the Browbeat into a potential (and highly likely) counter. Even if you do resolve it, your opponent will probably take the damage, draw up to five, and be ready to deal with the burn you throw at them next with whatever they've been developing over the past three turns. You don't want to give a control player too many options, control is all about creating a situation that favors them. You have to assume they will know the situation that best favors them and will twist it to their advantage given enough time. Browbeat will give them, if nothing else, time because of its sorcery speed awkwardness and relatively high cost for a burn spell. This is just one case where I'd much rather have a Flames of the Blood Hand, a Magma Jet, or a Arc Trail.
Example 2: You're playing against zoo with a fully developed board and it's turn 5. You have four mountains open. You're facing down ten power of creatures at less than ten life. They have four life. You topdeck a Browbeat, play it, and they let you draw three cards. You don't draw anything that can deal four damage for one mana. They proceed to kill you with their creatures and the burn in their hand. This is one case where you'd much rather have that four damage out of a Flame Javelin.
I could give you more examples and more matchups, but these two examples highlight my main problems with the card. It's inflexible, it's awkward, and it always gives you what you want less. You have to assume your opponent is intelligent and knows what mode will benefit their deck more at the time you play it. I'd like to like Browbeat, it's a flavorful and interesting card, but ultimately it's not a particularly good one. If you want to play a "punisher" themed card in a burn, Vexing Devil is much better.
Comments (29)
Here just as well, I can't imagine anyone saying, "I sure hope they take the five damage so I don't draw my next three burn spells."
(I gave the original 0.5 total because of the awful wording.)
I could see this art coming back in Modern Masters by the way. Perhaps.
More for meee!
Verb
Intimidate (someone), typically into doing something, with stern or abusive words: "a witness is being browbeaten under cross-examination"
...Pretty much.
5 damage for
3 cards for
Opponent chooses is usually a major drawback to a card. To make up for it, the card should do a lot more for its cost. This card does that well. A red draw spell that is better than divination? That would be stupid. Lava axe at 3 mana? That would also be stupid. Opponent chooses? Okay it's fair now. This card is good.
Giving a burn deck 5 damage is not something you want to do; giving it cards at least gives you a chance to live (unless they have 5 mountains, in which they just burn you anyway.)
Better for them to have to use more mana and cards for burn than to just give it up to them. Think about it. Same with vexing devil; use a bounce or kill spell on it. Don't let that burn deck hit your life total!
Very nice potential burn value on all sides if your deck plays to those strengths.
It's a win/win. Either do 5 damage for 3 mana (compare to lava axe for 5 dmg for 5 mana) or draw 3 for 3 mana (in a burn deck) while most draw 3's have a CMC of 4.
To play control you need some cards in your hand, but sometimes you have cards and you just want to kill an opponent. People say that your opponents get the choice, which is technically true, but you can easily influence them to the pick the option you want.
Want to draw three cards? Get them around or below 10 life and they will not want to take the damage, so attack first, then cast this.
Want to deal damage? Save your damage spells and attack after you cast this.
Works nicely with traitorous instinct because they won't be expecting the damage from their own creatures (if you have enough mana).
Great card, never feels useless. 5/5
I got the three cards.
What I will say is this: these cards can be circumstantially amazing. You have to put some thought into the rest of your deck, yes, but these cards will reqard you if you design properly for them.
Believe it or not, they work pretty well together too!
Example 1: You're against a control player who has four cards in hand by turn 3. You have three cards in hand, this, a Skullcrack, and a Lightning Bolt, and three mountains in play. Let's say they've got a creature on the board that's giving you grief, e.g. a Meddling Mage, and you want it gone. Your opponent has two islands open. You would have to tap out to play the Browbeat, and there's no chance of sneaking it in at the end of their turn since it's a sorcery. Obviously any card can be countered, but getting a sorcery that costs all of your mana shut down leaves you completely flat-footed for your opponent's turn. It loses you both tempo and card advantage. You either sit on the Browbeat hoping for your opponent to tap out so you can play it on a future turn and play your other two cards with your open mana, or you chance the Browbeat into a potential (and highly likely) counter. Even if you do resolve it, your opponent will probably take the damage, draw up to five, and be ready to deal with the burn you throw at them next with whatever they've been developing over the past three turns. You don't want to give a control player too many options, control is all about creating a situation that favors them. You have to assume they will know the situation that best favors them and will twist it to their advantage given enough time. Browbeat will give them, if nothing else, time because of its sorcery speed awkwardness and relatively high cost for a burn spell. This is just one case where I'd much rather have a Flames of the Blood Hand, a Magma Jet, or a Arc Trail.
Example 2: You're playing against zoo with a fully developed board and it's turn 5. You have four mountains open. You're facing down ten power of creatures at less than ten life. They have four life. You topdeck a Browbeat, play it, and they let you draw three cards. You don't draw anything that can deal four damage for one mana. They proceed to kill you with their creatures and the burn in their hand. This is one case where you'd much rather have that four damage out of a Flame Javelin.
I could give you more examples and more matchups, but these two examples highlight my main problems with the card. It's inflexible, it's awkward, and it always gives you what you want less. You have to assume your opponent is intelligent and knows what mode will benefit their deck more at the time you play it. I'd like to like Browbeat, it's a flavorful and interesting card, but ultimately it's not a particularly good one. If you want to play a "punisher" themed card in a burn, Vexing Devil is much better.