should a card actually be rated low just because you don't like the card? i consider with my rating any situations in which format and deck this card could be useful, not whether i like it or not. and this guy is definitely a playable, strong card.
Tsabo_Lives
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
I agree with mode, even if you hate a card doesn't mean its bad. This is by far one of the best one drops of all time.
stygimoloch
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
My most successful early pick for a sleeper hit. Normally cards I look at and think 'this will be huge' end up as tier-2 roleplayers or casual & limited stars at most, but this one ended up banned. So not actually that successful at all, now I come to think of it.
Chrisrawr
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(15 votes)
What?! A 1/1 black creature for B? 5star.
Th3_Dark_On3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Too bad they banned it. I had to take my 2 out of my Affinity deck along with 3 skullclamps... If they banned this, then why not do the same to Jitte?
I love the combo that this card comes with in the mirrodin theme deck (sacrificial bam). It involves the epic Megatog as well as a bunch of other artifact sac cards, even a nice pentavus. that deck destroyed! Until this was banned. :(
Raveknight
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(4 votes)
@ Th3_Dark_On3
because this card is incredibly more exploitable then the jitte in so many ways also legendary status is what keeps the jitte from being banned..
the jitte cant just end games they way this card has or made them so rediculously one sided as this card did for a time until it's banning the jitte is annoying and troublesom and in the right deck DEVASTATING but not on the same level as this guy was/is the jitte almost always needs a creature to equip to if it's goign to be effective in anyway and it's susceptable to a lage block of artifact removal, ability countering, equipment stealing, that was available during that time on top of that you needed the creature to deal combat dmg if you were'nt getting charge counters on it through other means. like a Core Tapper
where this guy hits the board for a single B mana needs no equiping is not targetable by a huge block of removal that cant hit black creatures his ability is static affects "all" graveyards in the game does not need to be powered by mana or charged with counters...
I still remember the first time I sac'd my whole board to an arcbound ravager as my opponent sat in disbelief that Wotc actualy allowed this to all happen in the same block of cards truely epic ^_^
a balanced version of this card may have said pay one colorless or one black for each loss of life. I guess wizards thought that artifacts going to the graveyard as the activation was so linear they would'nt need to add a mana cost
but I guess we'll never know either way it's still an amazing card and more deserving of a 5 star rating then almost any common out there
Esprel
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(11 votes)
.... A common got banned? That has to be epic win right there.
kilovortex
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
combo this card with myr retriever and ashnod's altar. infinite damage delt to opp. !!
MrQuizzles
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Do you seriously have to ask why they didn't do the same to Jitte when you "had to take my 2 out of my Affinity deck along with 3 skullclamps..." ?
ion1000
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Guys it can do infinite damage with this combo Krark-Clan Ironworks or Ashnod's Altar Dross Scorpion Nuisance Engine Disciple of the Vault
i guess it's a good thing that this card got banned,i mean, remember the thopter foundry with sword of the meek combo, tap 5 land , get 5 1/1 flying creatures , gain 5 life AND have target opponent lose 5 life, it's game over.
TheMoustacheCame
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(5 votes)
only banned in extended (and its block which i think is no longer played), considerating that this card is even more broken in legacy and vintage it should be banned there too
Luke_BPC
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
The Disciple doesn't need infinite combos, just artifacts hitting graveyards anywere. Do it fast enough, or just drop more than one, and you win. Simple overpowered card, like many others from it's block, which had quite a few other commons banned (all artifact lands got the axe, mostly thanks to him and the fearsome monstruosity that is the Arcbound Ravager working together).
Perfect_Genetics
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Terrible card, in the sense that it had too many broken synergies when it was released.
A3Kitsune
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
At least one first-turn win has been acheved using this guy. The full story is in the Latest Developments column for 20 August. The thing that made the win epic, it wasn't his first turn the guy won on, he let his opponent have the first turn, and then won on his opponent's first upkeep.
GrimjawxRULES
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ trowa_barton03: Saying that, you just got me thinking of combining the Thopter Foundry deck with the Affinity deck... It would be some kind of concoction involving Disciple of the Vault, Thopter Foundry, Krark-Clan Ironworks, Sword of the Meek, Archbound Ravager (more or less - those things are expensive), Cranial Plating, Thoughtcast, and the black and blue artifact lands... I know it wouldn't be tourney legal, but it sure sounds powerful...
By the way, could someone please explain the Affinity Ravager deck that was banned to death in the Mirrodin block? I've never really fully understood how it could be as broken as it probably was.
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
One of the classic broken Mirrodin cards. Not much more for me to say here. But get a few.
Totempariah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@GrimjawxRULES: In mirrodin block there was no effective way to stop Ravfinity from destroying people in 3-4 turns. A typical run of the first turns was something along the lines of Turn 1 : Seat of the Synod, Ornithopther, Arcbound Worker Turn 2: Vault of Whispers, Arcbound Ravager Turn 3: Great Furnace, Frogmite, Thoughcast, Myr Enforcer, Disciple of the Vault Turn 4: Myr Enforcer, Swing with Ravager and Ornithopter, pump whichever they don't block for 8, they lose 8 life, drop a Shrapnel Blast and it's 21 points of damage.
The issue was that there was no other deck in Block format that could even remotely begin to answer to Ravfinity's speed and damage. A lot of tournaments became a question of who's ravager could kill the other player first, and thus the game was no longer fun.
@feeble That would be because it is banned in tournaments.
P.S. They did not ban this guy or his best friend in Modern. Affinity will rule once again.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This isn't quite as Top Down as M10, but I see it.
Anybody else look at this guy and think of the Millenium Items from Yu-Gi-Oh? Yeah. Cursed Artifacts that do something when they go to the Shadow Realm. Or in this case, the Graveyard. Mind you, the creative team almost certainly didn't think of it like that, but since it just happens to fit...
>:)
By the way: There is no reason for the From the Vault Series to exist if this guy doesn't eventually make it. Mark my words.
ExarVes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Every time I see this card I am completely overwhelmed with disgust.
Axelle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Currently not used in Modern Affinity decks.
I am amused.
turbler
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Axelle: I believe the problem is that without the coloured artifact lands, you can't just go 'I sac my board, you lose 1 life for everything that was sitting here. Oh, and since it's a cost, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. U Mad?' It's still good, but at this point people would rather have Galvanic Blast, Thoughtcast and the like. It could see play... but somebody will have to find a new use for it.
agentvirgo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have to admit I hated this card but still give it a 5 anyway. I put a Followed Footsteps on this dude once, and got a copy on my next upkeep, and my opponent proceeded to kill us both anyway.
somegeek
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is it me or does it look like this guy is performing?
Saxophonist
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
Soon to be reprinted in From the Vault: What the Hell Were We Thinking?
mykatdied
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Great card. Been on both sides of this shenaniganry it's fun and then not fun. In response to a few earlier comments about clerics and being evil... Let's not forget in onslaught block they got really evil. My friend and I built a mono black cleric deck that ate everything for breakfast, lunch and dinner... Kinda like bagel bites... On that note going to my freezer I'm hungry.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is it bad that when I heard it's name I thought Mana Vault? Since when does Geth have a vault?
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When I first started playing magic in the mirrodin block, I didn't think this was powerful at all. Same thing with Skullclamp. Easy for new players to miss subtle overpowered stuff unless an opponent beats them over the face with it.
Buderus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Badazz firstdrop, i think they ain't more to say to it...
theNinja-degozaru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
OMG, after witnessing the Eggs, Second Sunrise deck, I wonder, why wasn't this in the deck? The entire deck's theme is sacrificing artifacts and bringing them back until you draw into your win condition. This card could make the sacrificing the win condition.
pedrodyl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I mean this card's good, but let's be honest, the only reason it's that good is because of Arcbound Ravager
MaRonade
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Better at direct damage than red will ever be.
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Disappointing that they didn't reprint Flash in From The Vault: Exiled. It managed to be more broken than Balance.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Bambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambam you dead. It makes me laugh at how little I knew about the power of this card back when I got the b/u precon. My money was always on the power and effective evasion of Nim Shrieker! Oh how Magic teaches.
Trygon_Predator
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The theme deck this came in sums it up very well. "Basically, if artifacts are being smashed, the Disciple is one unhappy guy. When the Disciple is unhappy, your opponent is unhappy. And that should make you very happy."
BobbySinclair
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You're forgetting an easy infinite damage AND infinite mana of any colour combo: Composite golem and Nim Deathmantle. I use this combo in my EDH deck, which isn't artefact-heavy, so people always ignore a lowly 1/1. Next turn, everyone's dead.
Aquillion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is another one of those cards that shows how heavily a card's power can be defined by its environment. In any block without Affinity and Arcbound Ravager, he would have been a minor curiosity, maybe useful in a few odd artifact-focused decks, but nothing special.
konokono
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Interesting, this seems to be one of the few cards that's banned in his own block, but not in wider formats.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I just realized he combos ridiculously well with Baubles. You quickly get through your deck and find them while burning through artifacts at a fast pace. Quite easy to deal 10 damage between them and a couple of baubles and other artifacts.
Well guys, you don't HAVE to make them lose 1 life. See? Not broken at all...
sweetgab
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Totempariah that was excellent demonstration; however, I need to point out that the example you gave would actually be one of the weaker starts of a fully-powered Affinity deck (with only Skullclamp banned). There were Chrome Mox draws and Ravager into double Disciple draws that could go even faster than in the sequence you described, and then there's Cranial Plating which basically turns an Ornithopter or a Blinkmoth Nexus into a Goliath Sphinx for one mana, repeatably.
ThinkThrice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
morrow chomper, thropter assembly, and this can create some pretty big swings.
Comments (57)
and this guy is definitely a playable, strong card.
because this card is incredibly more exploitable then the jitte in so many ways also legendary status is what keeps the jitte from being banned..
the jitte cant just end games they way this card has or made them so rediculously one sided as this card did for a time until it's banning the jitte is annoying and troublesom and in the right deck DEVASTATING but not on the same level as this guy was/is the jitte almost always needs a creature to equip to if it's goign to be effective in anyway and it's susceptable to a lage block of artifact removal, ability countering, equipment stealing, that was available during that time on top of that you needed the creature to deal combat dmg if you were'nt getting charge counters on it through other means. like a Core Tapper
where this guy hits the board for a single B mana needs no equiping is not targetable by a huge block of removal that cant hit black creatures his ability is static affects "all" graveyards in the game does not need to be powered by mana or charged with counters...
I still remember the first time I sac'd my whole board to an arcbound ravager as my opponent sat in disbelief that Wotc actualy allowed this to all happen in the same block of cards truely epic ^_^
a balanced version of this card may have said pay one colorless or one black for each loss of life. I guess wizards thought that artifacts going to the graveyard as the activation was so linear they would'nt need to add a mana cost
but I guess we'll never know either way it's still an amazing card and more deserving of a 5 star rating then almost any common out there
A common got banned?
That has to be epic win right there.
Krark-Clan Ironworks or Ashnod's Altar
Dross Scorpion
Nuisance Engine
Disciple of the Vault
It would be some kind of concoction involving Disciple of the Vault, Thopter Foundry, Krark-Clan Ironworks, Sword of the Meek, Archbound Ravager (more or less - those things are expensive), Cranial Plating, Thoughtcast, and the black and blue artifact lands... I know it wouldn't be tourney legal, but it sure sounds powerful...
By the way, could someone please explain the Affinity Ravager deck that was banned to death in the Mirrodin block? I've never really fully understood how it could be as broken as it probably was.
Turn 1 : Seat of the Synod, Ornithopther, Arcbound Worker
Turn 2: Vault of Whispers, Arcbound Ravager
Turn 3: Great Furnace, Frogmite, Thoughcast, Myr Enforcer, Disciple of the Vault
Turn 4: Myr Enforcer, Swing with Ravager and Ornithopter, pump whichever they don't block for 8, they lose 8 life, drop a Shrapnel Blast and it's 21 points of damage.
The issue was that there was no other deck in Block format that could even remotely begin to answer to Ravfinity's speed and damage. A lot of tournaments became a question of who's ravager could kill the other player first, and thus the game was no longer fun.
"Ouch. I wish this was something that could stand to a lightning bolt or the like. Maybe a 0/4?"
Words cannot describe...
This card was definitely designed "bottom-up"; R&D took an idea they wanted on a card, and smeared a cleric over top of it.
"8"
"Ok, sacrifice 8 artifacts to Arcbound Ravager gg"
P.S. They did not ban this guy or his best friend in Modern. Affinity will rule once again.
Anybody else look at this guy and think of the Millenium Items from Yu-Gi-Oh? Yeah. Cursed Artifacts that do something when they go to the Shadow Realm. Or in this case, the Graveyard. Mind you, the creative team almost certainly didn't think of it like that, but since it just happens to fit...
>:)
By the way: There is no reason for the From the Vault Series to exist if this guy doesn't eventually make it. Mark my words.
I am amused.
"Basically, if artifacts are being smashed, the Disciple is one unhappy guy. When the Disciple is unhappy, your opponent is unhappy. And that should make you very happy."
Also, tangle wire and smokestack could be a weird way to go.