Pointed Discussion

Never thought this would be reprinted... at least it's no longer the life work of a master artificer.

Let's just hope they reprint Conservator soon too. Otherwise there will be no answer to this OP card in Standard.

Oh, no. Not this again...

Someone, Somewhere, is going to meet this thing for the first time in a few weeks.

And they're going to hate it.

The bad news is that this takes up an uncommon slot in your boosters.

There is no good news.

Oh great, it's back.

Lots of self-deprecating flavor text in M14. I kind of like it.

MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED

Not this thing again... This is like the perfect noob trap. Compare to Scepter of Empires

"After some testing, it seems my masterpiece is, in fact, rather inferior..."

—Saldrath, master artificer

What is this... I don't even.

But just look what it can do with a little vedalken ingenuity.

This + Training Grounds + March of the Machines + Voltaic Construct + Sol Ring = Win

Use some Etherium Sculptors to get your combo going by turn 4.

Turn 1: Island, Sol Ring
Turn 2: Island, Etherium Sculptor, Training Grounds
Turn 3: Island, Etherium Sculptor, March of the Machines
Turn 4: Island, Voltaic Construct, Rod of Ruin

Then you just tap Sol Ring for 2 mana, use 1 to activate Rod of Ruin, and another to activate Voltaic Construct (untapping Sol Ring). Tap Sol Ring again for 2 mana, use 1 to activate Voltaic Construct (untapping Rod of Ruin), and the other to activate Voltaic Construct again (untapping Sol Ring). Repeat until win.

Now of course there are cards that are strictly better than this card, but why use them when you can win with one of the worst cards of all time?

Oh, and be sure to put Vexing Arcanix and Crown of Convergence into your deck. If you draw those two before the Rod of Ruin, then you can draw your entire deck until you get what you need!

I have not drafted a set with Rod of Ruin in it. Is it just never ever playable? Do you always run another land if this is your 23rd card? How badly does your draft have to have gone for this to be a 23rd card?

I liked the 9th edition art the best.

Rated it highly for the flavor text.

If it were 2 damage, I think it'd be 3/5, at least for limited, maybe 2.5/5.

lol this is so bad. Why did they reprint it again?!

How this has seen twelve core set printings out of fifteen is beyond me.

"Silence! Or I shall thrust my rod at you!"

Just saying, this thing won me two games tonight at the sealed deck pre-release. That is kinda sad.

The only thing this rod is ruining is my smile when opening a booster pack.

Useful as a firestarter?

the good news is WoTC makes money off this game so they implement quality control and balancing testing etc, keeping the game great.
the bad news is WoTC makes money off this game so they make sure to waste like 90% of the cards to keep those boosters going over the counter...

card AND field advantage for only 10 mana? wooo!

I hate this card with the passion of a thousand suns.

.5/5

I can't believe they reprinted this. POWER CREEP!

Bludgeoning your opponent to death with the piece of cardboard it's printed on would be easier than defeating your opponent with it in-game.

Well, at least they didn't reprint it as a rare... lots of trolling this set.

This card puts the other uncommon artifacts like Sol Ring, Skullclamp, Æther Vial, Voltaic Key, Sensei's Divining Top and Isochron Scepter to shame.

Rod of Ruin can kill vintage staples like Goblin Piker and sometimes even Bog Hoodlums repeatedly for just 3 mana a turn! (Vampiric Tutor your Ember Shot to win the clash). Can any of the above artifacts do that? No. Therefore, Rod of Ruin is superior, Q.E.D.

Now that I think of it, there is one uncommon artifact that can compete with Rod of Ruin... Razor Boomerang.

@troll_berserker

Yeah, it does that, but it costs 3 mana to deal one damage after paying 4 to bring it out. 7 mana to target a creature with one damage seems to be a lot when you can use 2 to hit a player with a damage that could become useful.

I lost to one of these in a draft.

You know those moments when you think you should just stop playing? Like when you're playing EDH and you keep trying to play your General, only to be constantly slapped out of play? Or when you're trying to play your win-con in constructed but it keeps getting countered?

You start to feel older than you actually are. You consider taking up different hobbies. "Maybe model trains" thought I. "At least I won't be smacked down by scrubs who play this and Pillarfield Ox".

Morel of the story: Regathan Firecat doesn't fare well against the rod.

I just got an M14 booster today on a whim. I thought, "Maybe I'll luck out and find something cool!"
Scavenging Ooze? Sweet!
Foil Air Servant? Okay, not too bad.
What's this ... ? Rod of Ruin? ... WHY DID THIS GET REPRINTED? AGAIN? WIZAAARDS

A much better card than people are giving it credit for. Killing an X/1 a turn or slowly bleeding your opponent to death in draft is no laughing matter.

The bad news is, there's no good news...
Another Rod of Ruin. Why couldn't we see something cool but similar reprinted, maybe like Rocket Launcher. I don't know all the rules of card reprinting though; but it'd be fun to see back.

Seeing this reprinted and taking an uncommon slot yet again makes me not want to buy M14 boosters.

The rod is a relic of ancient times...
...times when they had no concept of balance at all and thought this was on-par with Lightning Bolt and Time Walk.

Anti-Sporemound tech! Good sideboard card against Trained Condor and Regathan Firecat! Uber combo with Dismiss into Dream!

@ Callahan09
Lol, I love it.
Particularly how unlikely it is. Your scenario requires a perfect opening hand + four consecutive perfect draws. But that would only make your victory all the sweeter.

I know if I was beaten by ROR I would likely become clinically depressed.

Rod of Ruin, $0.05.
Building a deck around it, $150.
The look on your opponent's face, priceless.

Bad card, you say? Say it not! Here's an actual Casual deck I've built that wins regularly on Turn 4. God hand wins turn 2. First, before the game, I pull out an unsleeved copy of Rod of Ruin and put it in the middle of the table. After their look of confusion, I say, "This is the face of your doom." I leave it there while we play. The look on their faces is priceless as they try to figure out how the heck something so "bad" could ever win.

The combo is built like this:
1. Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith for unlimited colorless mana.
2. Sensei's Divining Top both to help you find the combo and to give you unlimited card draw once you have it.
3. Add Voltaic Key and Rod of Ruin for the win.

God hand:
Turn 1: Land. Sol Ring. Key. Mana Vault. Monolith. Top. Key untap Monolith. Rings. Use Top to arrange top three cards (just because you can).
Turn 2: Key untap Monolith, copy untap with Rings. Double tap Monolith. Monolith+Rings gives infinite mana. Top+Rings gives infinite card draw. Rod. Another Key. Rod+Key+Rings is infinite damage.

Details:
1. With Rings, tapped Monolith, and 5 mana (3 of which could be from the Monolith), activate Monolith for 3 and copy the untap for 2. First untap resolves and you tap the Monolith for 3. Second untap resolves and you tap again for 3. Now you have +1 mana from where you started. Repeat as needed.

2. With Rings, Top, and 3 mana, activate card draw of Top and copy with Rings. First draw resolves and puts Top on deck. Second draw resolves and puts Top back in hand. Recast Top. You just spent 3 mana to draw 1 card, and you have unlimited mana from Step 1. Repeat as needed.

3. With Rings, Key, Rod, and 8 mana, activate Rod for 3 and copy for 2. Rod zaps twice. Activate Key on itself and copy on Rod. Rod untaps, Key untaps. You just spent 8 mana for 2 damage. (OMG so broken!) Lucky you have unlimited mana. Repeat as needed.

An important thing to note is that while you'll want 4 each of Rings, Monoliths, and Tops, you only need two copies of Key and one copy of Rod in your deck, so you're really not getting bogged down. It's a 5-card combo, but it feels like a 2 or 3-card combo.

It's all colorless and leaves more than 20 slots open for other cards so you can put it in any color you want. I prefer a blue mana base for the artifact tutors (Trinket Mage, Fabricate, Tinker, Tezzeret the Seeker, etc.) and combo protection (various Counterspells). Adding Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mox Opal, Tolarian Academy, Seat of the Synod, and Minamo, School at Water's Edge will make it combo out faster. Expedition Map tutors for the Academy.

Oddly enough, the Rod is just as good or better as a win condition in this deck than many other options. Stroke of Genius and other X spells can generally only kill a single player, or least only those within your Range of Influence (multiplayer). Mindshrieker fails against Eldrazi reshuffle. Rocket Launcher costs a turn before you can use it. Goblin Cannon won't work if you're playing multiplayer with Range of Influence limitations (you have to sac the Cannon as soon as you let any damage resolve and you have to let some damage resolve before you can target players that are outside your current influence). Scepter of Empires only hits players. Staff of Nin is on par with the Rod, but lacks flair. So, the Rod is actually pretty good. Who knew?

I once saw an Epser Rod of Ruin deck. As the name implies, it intended to win by killing only with Rod of Ruin. That deck is a testament to the immense suckiness of this card, as the deck was entirely counterspells and walls outside of Rod of Ruin.
Thus, in order to win with Rod of Ruin, LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE CAN HAPPEN.
Otherwise, Rod of Ruin does absolutely nothing for you.
So, my question is not why this is reprinted. My question is why this has been printed in like a bajillion core sets, all at uncommon.

I'd totally grab this in draft if I got a Dismiss into Dream :D

It would take awhile to get online, but draft games are often slower and you'd almost always win in that situation unless they're winning really really hard or have a Naturalize.

WIZARDS. STOP PRINTING THIS. PLEASE.

Disappointed. Was hoping to hear more of Saldrath, Master Artificer's story. Maybe goblins got to him?

Never underestimate colorless sources of damage, and never underestimate the impact of one damage in general.

Ball Lightning? No thanks.

I'd rather use Razortip Whip. Sure it can't target creatures, but can benefit from same combo shenanigans used for RoR to deal infinite damage to opponent's face.

Downside: Can't target creatures.
Upside: Half the casting cost and less than half the activation cost.

Combos with your junk collection.

Works well in draft when you get a Dismiss into Dreams. There are many playable X/1's this takes out. Versatile card in limited.

Used in Standard in red decks to kill Master of Waves.

I am not kidding.

Don't pass this up in draft. This is not a card meant to sell boosters. This is a card meant to undermine the multitude of common and uncommon X/1s in draft.

I've always liked this card especially in slow decks (control, basically). It is a great colorless repeatable answer to thousands of annoying critters alike, that is a pain to remove for your opponent too (and if you play control well, they can't remove it).

Those who hate it will never understand how so many times I have paid to deal 1 damage as through it were a colorless sorcery (which most pingers cannot do), and later casted boomerang and hard-casted it again only to deal two damage by paying , or how reliable unlimited blue mana+this+capsize as win-con is. If you understand how to play control, these are hardly uncommon scenerio. For control decks, you want cards that gives you card advantage and hamper opponent progress at instant speed, this card does exactly that. When this is on the field, you won't have to worry about their fragile (but dangerous) critters anymore and can focus your counters to threats this card can't handle.

Just not being an auto-include4 doesn't mean this card suck.

It's a solid, balanced and fair artifact that is still kicking for so many years. For me, this card defines uncommon.