A heroic ability that directly leads to card advantage is nice, but discard effects are significantly worse when your opponent can see them coming and thus empty their hand out as quickly as possible.
A3Kitsune
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Discard at instant speed makes up for the fact that your opponents can see it coming.
Coolclaytony
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So, anyone else curious as to why a minion of Ashiok is heroic?
RedJaron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Yes, your opponent may guess it could be coming a turn or two away, but that doesn't really change things. They can also guess it's coming if they know you're playing a discard deck as well. And their reactions aren't any better. You cast Duress, they can still respond with an instant to try to clear their hand first.
With this, you can trigger heroic in response to their casting a spell. If that's their only card, you've effectively countered it since they have to discard it before it's cast.
And the 1/3 body is significant. He's out of ping damage range and can even bounce a 2/2 in combat. Not a lot of downside here.
Yukikah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@RedJaron
Actually, if they have one card in hand and you trigger this ability in response to them casting said card, it's still cast and you've wasted a heroic trigger; Just like a counterspell, responding to someone casting something occurs after the card has left their hand but before it's resolved. AS it's being cast you put something on the stack ahead of it.
StreamHopper
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If your opponent empties their hand just because this guy hit the field, that's not all that bad. My favorite position in a game is when my opponent is top-decking, and I'm slowly regaining control of the board by pacing myself with my spells. It feels good to have 3 or 4 cards when my opponent has none. It also forces them to play whatever they draw, since they know it can be discarded at any time you choose, effectively locking them in top-deck mode. The text, "Whenever you cast a spell that targets Ashiok's Adept, each opponent discards a card", doesn't just do what it says. It's a mind game as well, and you can't overlook that. The 1/3 body is pretty nice too. There are quite a few 2 power creatures in BotG that can clog up the board early. This card seems like it was carefully crafted, and I like that.
Instant-speed buyback spells during an opponent's upkeep will soft-lock them out of the game. Unfortunately, when they draw instant-speed removal, you get 2-for-1'd.
Target him with an instant after their draw when they're top decking and it's like a time walk. They still get to attack but hey, pseudo time walks are still time walks.
Comments (9)
With this, you can trigger heroic in response to their casting a spell. If that's their only card, you've effectively countered it since they have to discard it before it's cast.
And the 1/3 body is significant. He's out of ping damage range and can even bounce a 2/2 in combat. Not a lot of downside here.
Actually, if they have one card in hand and you trigger this ability in response to them casting said card, it's still cast and you've wasted a heroic trigger; Just like a counterspell, responding to someone casting something occurs after the card has left their hand but before it's resolved. AS it's being cast you put something on the stack ahead of it.
3/5