Pointed Discussion

When I first saw cards like this, I thought that they were bad in all scenarios, but since then I have realized that in the right deck this is really just cheap Divination. For example if you have a Gravecrawler, or a Viridian Emissary.

Just like in innistrad, the most effective way to use this is to hold on to it to fizzle a kill spell.

Man, an Augur of Skulls. Haven't seen that kind in a while. Also, I haven't really heard an MTG skeleton talk, but hey.

Normally, you'll be trading two cards for two cards, but in response to removal this feels dirty. 3.7/5.

Core-set worthy.

Even though I've been destroyed by this card plenty of times (most commonly in response to my Sever the Bloodline) I can't help liking the design.

I miss the old flavor text.

This flavor text is mostly just disappointing due to the fact that they did not reprint Augur of Skulls with this card.

Thornhillforge, you have learned a valuable lesson about Magic =)


When you see a card that asks you to pay a cost for something, and basically you can get the same effect on another without that cost, 2 things are usually true:


1. When you don't pay the cost, it costs more Converted Mana.

, Whether it's more splashable or not hardly matters in these cases because CMC really changes things a lot for most cards and because the effects that get this treatment are mostly mono-colored cards for very simple 2- or 1- colored decks.

2. What you should do is disregard the EFFECT, focus on the COST, and try to build a deck that Likes Doing That. :D Then, the effect is 'gravy', the 'cost' is what you are paying the mana to have the Privilege of doing, and you net a lot of Something-advantage (cards, life, power, whatever. usually cards.)

For those who know the rules...

Everything works on the stack in this game, right? That means if I actually "pay" the extra cost of the card and choose a target to sacrifice it the effect will still resolve, right? Even when the sacrificed creature may not be in the battlefield after choosing it as a target? So, if I cast this spell and then activate something like Bubbling Cauldron to sacrifice the same card... if that happens, both effects take place or I'm wrong?

Thanks!

@Keshiji The cost of the card IS sacrificing a creature, you cannot just choose a target for it. The target creature would be sacrificed before anyone would get a chance to respond.

This is just too situational to be very strong, but with Sign in Blood cycling out mono black might have to use it anyway if they want card draw.

3/5

@Keshiji
Not everything appears on the stack, notably, costs. Costs cannot be responded to. As I see it the scenario would play like this: you tap your 2 mana for the Altar's Reap and sacrifice the creature, THEN you take the Altar's Reap from your hand and put it on the stack. At this point the creature is long gone, and can no longer be sacced to the Bubbling Cauldron. The case would be similar if you were to use the Cauldron first, since it is a cost that activates the Cauldron's ability.

Normally, creature-saccing bothers me, especially since I started playing with a monoblack deck that utterly sucked. This doesn't, however. If you have enough creatures to repeat this with some sort of flashback shenanigans, this card is beautifully done.

@ Tamerlein

Just because Signed In Blood is leaving standard rotation soon doesn't mean you have to "settle" for this. Toil (Toil // Trouble) from Dragon Maze does the same thing but for 2B instead of BB. Which in some cases might be easier to cast because of the color weight. Altar's Reap works best for maintaining momentum with cheap and fast aggro decks were creatures are meant to be disposable.

1B: Laugh at target kill spell. Draw two cards.

Very nice.

Dont be fooled, this is actually a black counterspell.

While Tsagaglalal is close to correct (and the important piece of "you can't respond to costs" is correct) he is incorrect in how it actually works.

-You put the spell on the stack
-You choose your targets
-You pay your costs
(I'm parsing, there's a bit more technicality in there.)

Anyway; this is a grand little spell that can be used with Abyssal Persecutor, recurring creatures like Gravecrawler, or simply dodging a spell. Instant speed makes it good for simply refilling your hand off of a now-useless weenie as well.

As with all black/colorless draw, I like this next to Blood Scrivener; for *yet another* card :)

Isn't that the guy from Dark Prophecy lurking in the background? Incidentally, Altar's Reap triggers Dark Prophecy.

I like the fact that this card is in a core set, not only because it is a good card but also because it has much blacker flavor than Sign in Blood (which is also a good card). In a way, what the black planeswalker does in Sign in Blood could be considered as not being evil, because it doesn't hurt anybody other than him/her. No innocents get sacrificed. Clearly, if the black planeswalker has decided to use Sign in Blood, he/she is satisfied with losing the life in exchange for power. Everybody is happy.

However with Altar's Reap, somebody DOES suffer. The creature gets sacrificed against its will, and only the black planeswalker benefits from it. Even if the sacrificed creature wasn't any more innocent than the planeswalker, there would still be black flavor because the planeswalker doesn't care whether the creature was innocent or not.

Also, the card is good.

4/5

The flavor for this being an instant is hilarious! Good design, though.