Pointed Discussion

Pretty awesome card. Protects from pretty much all the removal out there, and makes it harder to burn the creature. The life gain and creature return is just icing on the cake.

Put this and sword of fire and ice on one creature (Gemini Engine) the creature is practically unstoppable, a neat mechanic would be if they are both equiped to the same creature, that creature has protection from green too.

The two darksteel swords (this and ice/fire) together with an unblockable creature equals epic win. 'Nuff said.
Actually, it doesn't even need to be unblockable. The protection practically shields it from being blocked anyway.

These swords make Kor Duelist great

More balanced than the overwhelming Fire and Ice. The protections are possibly a bit better on this one, no exiling (almost).

kor duelist? what a waste, you need to use something that has synergy with it hitting their face, like one of the dragon legends, useing both is basicly unblockable save artifacts and green, a way around that is to make the creature you put these on pro green or artifacts

So incredibly broken in EDH.

Aaaaah! Disembodied arms!

Equip this and Sword of Fire and Ice on Zombie Outlander, and we're game.
These equipments make me happy Deadly Recluse is green.

Really really hoping to see this reprinted in the Scars of Mirrodin set coming up. The recent spoiler for Sword of Body and Mind(google it for information) gives me hope that there might be a complete cycle of these swords, complete with(names I made up) Sword of Heart and Soul(RW) and Sword of Life and Death(BG).

@ Gwafa, those are good names.

It's a shame they didn't make it a complete cycle of the three opposites by making a Protection from artifacts and form green sword. Magic has had a history of a B/W, R/U and G/A being more opposite than other opposites.

this and sword of fire and ice are the best equipments I'd say. If I were pressed to choose a favorite it would be fire and ice, but love this one too.

Replace the Healing salve effect with something more "on-white", like Path to exile.

Kami of False Hopes

Epic

can't believe i actually traded one of these for Hero of Oxid Ridge D:

face, meet palm.

oh well, the smug moron i traded with had yellow teeth so joke's on him.

@Vedalken_Arbiter
ignoring the fact that they made three new swords, of course, since your post is old... Wouldn't protection from artifacts make an equipment herpy derp?

Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace

Dude, I'd love to see a sword that gives the equipped creature pro artifacts. Most useless equip ever.

@kryptnyt

If that was all it did, yes. But you could easily tag on a "this does not unattach ~name here~" kind of like with pentarch ward

I know I'll catch flak for this, but I think this is the weakest of the sword cycle. I'm not saying it's bad, though. The Pro- and +2 toughness make most creatures only susceptible to bounce. Troll Shroud (Not Hexproof >.<) could do the same thing, but this route gives both a power boost and unblock-ability in some cases.

So all the swords are more or less equal up to this point. The abilities are what underwhelm me. Yeah, revival is nice. But we already established that this thing protects from most removal. So if you are playing this card correctly, your graveyard will be empty most of the time. Next is the lifegain. It has been pretty widely established that lifegain is negligible in most constructed cases, especially one-shots like spells and unreliable abilities (like this, you may not be able to get a hit in). You need something that takes advantage of it or you are just delaying the enviable.

The sword in the cycle from the same era, Sword of Fire and Ice, offers massive card advantage if played right. A card draw and possible kill shot. Then you have their degenerate cousins in standard right now, not even going to bother comparing those...

I can see your point OmegaSerris, at first glance, it may seem inferior to the other swords like Sword of Fire and Ice. Its abilities may seem irrelevant or underpowered in constructed. But in the Legacy format, when you're running Dark Confidants and Bitterblossoms, having life gain effects without clogging important slots in your deck is important.
Slapping this onto a Vampire Nighthawk puts your opponent on a serious clock.
Try looking up the deck "THE GATE"..
And don't worry about getting flak, I respect people's opinion enough not to give them that.

Please pardon my English, I'm not a native speaker.

Thanks.

I see your point zenitramleirdag about OmegaSerris, at second glance, it may seem superior for life gain in the legacy format. But in the modern format, Sword of War and Peace has a possibility of gaining more life while dealing more damage. When you're running Geist of Saint Traft's, you can deal a maximum of 15 damage (if your opponent has 7 cards in hand). Life gain is still necessary, especially when you usually start with 17 life, thanks to Fetch-to-Shock turn ones.
Slapping it onto a Mirran Crusader is nothing to laugh at either, since it is pretty much Progenitus junior.
And don't worry about worrying about getting flak, I respect that you respect people's opinions enough not to give them that.

BTW, I am a native English speaker. And had too much fun writing this :D

Turns any creature into a champion.

@zenitramleirdag: And yet your English is better than most native speakers.

I actually like this one over Sword of Fire and Ice. It's not a matter of power (no matter how much I worry that people might be over-valorizing card draw; it's just a catalyst, not a weapon in and of itself!), just that the creature recovery is the sort of thing that REALLY draws my interest.

On another note, it's confirmed for Modern Masters along with the UR sword. With the same sort of art as the Scars of Mirrodin block swords, to boot. (The bad news? They got "promoted" to mythic.)

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this. But please take care swinging this sword or you may end up without your own hea...... -_-