Pointed Discussion

Sure, it functions well with dredge and reanimation, but at seven cards a turn? Whoever plays this had better have a way to end the game fast.

Well its a freaking 7/7 for 7, and can create a wicked combo.

other than donate, i got nothing. 10:1 they have a sacrificer.

Could get you instant treshold, but you have to do it without hardcasting cause by then you may already have threshold.....

Get the most possible cards into your graveyard, then play Forbidden Crypt. You won't have to worry about Tolarian Serpent's upkeep ability for as long as Forbidden Crypt is in play~.

A great card for pumping up the graveyard. That's clearly it's purpose, and it's a beater as well. First, goes great with "Flash". Second, a good strong body. Merely have a few cards in the deck that recycle your graveyard (if you're unlucky enough to draw whatever combo you have.)

Again, imagine you flash this second turn. You've got 8-9 cards in your graveyard already. If you have a yawgmoth's will, you've probably just set up your entire game without the use of mox's.

i thought donate too... but honestly, who wants to hand over a 7/7? like here you go... just don't hurt me... btw here's my lunch money & gun

O hai there Emrakul, I didn't see you there.

O hai

This card is strong in the Big Box format. Since players share decks, so you can mill away a color you aren't playing.

Definitely a Johnny card. Seems interesting to build around. I would have like to have seen something like this in Innistrad. Oh well. 3.5/5

What a wonderful drawback! This is definetly Laboratory Maniac's pet.
Could have been reprinted in Innistrad - a huge sea monster that slowly consumes its master's sanity. Is there anything more Lovecraftian?

"It was bad. Really, really, bad. No, worse than that. It was terrible!"

I... actually like this drawback. So wonderfully synergistic with so many things.

Hey this is not too bad of a card.
7/7 for 7 and loads your graveyard up ripe for abuse.

At the time it was printed, this was clearly their idea of a "Blue Lord of the Pit". This creature is WAY too big for Blue. (Look up Blue Creatures with Power 7 or Greater- there aren't many), and to get for "Green mana rates" that is, 1:1 mana = power/toughness, which is pretty sharp for back then, you were supposed to have a crippling drawback (not as bad in Red, but should be absolutely terrible in Blue- quite literally if the mana and P/T look playable, Blue Design back then was to make SURE the rules text made it look unplayable. Despite this, numerous old Blue Creatures were awesome and dumb, because RnD was bad at evaluating cards XD)


It's funny, because a lot of the Design theories that went into this card are just kinda bad by today's standards (for the most part, even Blue gets 1:1 mana = power/toughness WHEN it comes to either 'creature types that are supposed to be good at fighting (for blue, BIG FISH), or "Rares, most of the time".

But even though all the intentions of this card I think were flawed, the actual result trying to fill those intentions ended up with a card that I would mind seeing reprinted at Uncommon, or dare I say, Rare today! (Okay, Rare is stretching it....Rare has lost a lot of its definition as it fights to be in between Uncommon and Mythic, though. It could be a 'bad Rare', but still be Rare. Being a Blue Fattie that's useful and all.)

As bad as it looks at first sight, there are options that turn the drawback into an advantage. Oversold Cemetary and reanimation might work, same for Laboratory Maniac. It certainly kills you quickly, though. Handle with care.

Ah yes, I've once again signed in to rate a card only to realize that I already rated it. There is a pattern I follow through the Gatherer and I've reached a point on it that has already been visited once. Anyways, I love the simplicity of this card. Fun stuff.