This guy is like a Nettling Imp for every creature on your opponent's side. Pretty good if you design your deck properly.
altheuser
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
I love this card. If you didn't catch it: all non-wall creatures must attack or be destroyed. This means that your opponent can't cast creatures without haste during the first main phase or use mana-producing creatures without turning them into graveyard fodder. Combo with Festival to wipe your opponents board clean. Also, good for drawing creatures into your Souls of the Faultess in a Sanguine Bond deck.
It's a black Siren's Call in creature form! Use it like you'd use the Call, to wipe out all your opponent's creatures. Repeatedly.
NoobOfLore
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I like how it says "non-wall creatures" instead of "creatures without defender." There goes my defender deck right there.
This keeps bothering me. It's obnoxious how many cards are broken for modern defender decks, seeing as they discriminate against defenders and not walls.
That's because when this card came out, there weren't nearly as many defenders as walls. But they've began switching to the Defender mechanism more and more. It's not everyones out to get you, it's just that defender has taken over the slot that Walls had and they can't go back and rewrite all those cards. It's like Horsemanship, there's almost (or maybe none, I don't know) support or weapons against it outside of the expansion it was introduced in.
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ altheuser: doesn't work that way. Creatures with summoning sickness are not able to attack. Only creatures that are theoretically able to attack (-> those without summoning sickness) and that do not attack are destroyed.
willpell
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
This card is a known misprint and I am sick to death of Wizards refusing to fix such goofs. It was originally designed as literally exactly a Nettling Imp with flying, and then some goof screwed up in the editing and it came out as an utterly broken abomination against all good design sense, and now it exists in MODO with this wording. Disgusting beyond words; it should be fixed.
ScissorsLizard
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@majinara: No, altheuser is right. Even a creature with summoning sickness will be destroyed by this card, same as if it were tapped or had defender (but wasn't a wall). The rulings aren't exactly clear, so I can see how you would think that though. But ruling says "if it can't attack because of some restriction, or because it's tapped, it's destroyed."
Keep in mind though: the ability can only be activated BEFORE the opponent's combat phase. That means that the opponent can just play his creatures during his second main phase and they won't be hit by the Imp's ability. (They won't be one of "those creatures" that the ability chose.)
I'm going to go ahead and say it's strictly better than Nettling Imp. For the same cost and p/t, it hits all their creatures (getting around shroud and protection from black), kills things with summoning sickness, and has flying.
Yes, maybe one of the creatures you were forcing to attack is one you don't want to attack... but in that case, the creature would be attacking of its own free will anyway.
Avorna
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He is pretty maddening, but not in the way the designers intended...
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome way of getting rid of llanowar elves or any other pest 1 drop.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Very interesting; if they play a non-haste creature before the combat phase they'll be stuck losing the creature. Used with Darkness you have a sort-of mono-black sleep; some of which is repeatable. Used with Norn's Annex or Propaganda you impose a huge upkeep/cost on the opponent's creatures.
Great against utility creatures. No Mercy turns this into a reusable sweeper.
Best of all? Absolutely hilarious with Obliterator on the table.
nunyaJs
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
All kinds of crazy ass combo's for this guy! A friend of mine used to run him with ensnaring bridge... fun times. I'd like to see another block that has the Tempest.... Flavor? I know Time Spiral was supposed to be that, but I feel it came up a little short of that goal.
Comments (18)
There goes my defender deck right there.
This keeps bothering me. It's obnoxious how many cards are broken for modern defender decks, seeing as they discriminate against defenders and not walls.
See Animate Wall and Rolling Stones.
That's because when this card came out, there weren't nearly as many defenders as walls. But they've began switching to the Defender mechanism more and more. It's not everyones out to get you, it's just that defender has taken over the slot that Walls had and they can't go back and rewrite all those cards. It's like Horsemanship, there's almost (or maybe none, I don't know) support or weapons against it outside of the expansion it was introduced in.
Keep in mind though: the ability can only be activated BEFORE the opponent's combat phase. That means that the opponent can just play his creatures during his second main phase and they won't be hit by the Imp's ability. (They won't be one of "those creatures" that the ability chose.)
Yes, maybe one of the creatures you were forcing to attack is one you don't want to attack... but in that case, the creature would be attacking of its own free will anyway.
Great against utility creatures. No Mercy turns this into a reusable sweeper.
Best of all? Absolutely hilarious with Obliterator on the table.