This would be such an awesome fellow for . Like that, it's rather a card that should be considered for the lategame. Which of course still doesn't make him useless nonetheless. I would at least pay for ...unless i have a Sigil Captain or something similar, of course...
PhyrexianLobbiest
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Hey Mode: He does cost XBB; as long as you can conjure yourself up a Dark Ritual.
Solid in EDH / Commander where you can easily make him huge and play all sorts of dumb tricks with him (return to hand, recast, return to hand, recast, duhhh...)
KillerNacho
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Too expensive to make it really work, IMO. But if you get to the late game, this guy can win it for you.
3/5
Paleopaladin
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(3 votes)
Would've been a great, but still balanced card if he had 2/2 baseline p/t and possibly fear as well. Even with that, it wouldn't have killed them to make him one cheaper.
As he is, though, am I going to pay for a Gray Ogre and Shock who has very meh tribal types for black? Probably not. Might be better for EDH?
Maybe his redemption will come someday when he returns to us as a planeswalker.
KenBeere
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Just a thought, in EDH I think this can be great if you playSorin Markov first and bring their life down to 10 and then play this guy. Oh what fun. :)
Gabriel422
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This saw a fair amount of constructed play, and the reason was that it was a good finisher when you have 23+ mana and can tutor (using transmute) for 3 cmc, alongside Invoke the Firemind.
The deck (Heartbeat combo) starts with Heartbeat of Spring, and then every Early Harvest nets you lots of mana. Drift Phantasm turns itself into Early Harvest (or a finisher), while Weird Harvest gets you four Drift Phantasms, eventually gaining you way too much mana on one turn.
TPmanW
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
He could've being a really sweet little card with just a little change or two. One less B in the cost or base stats over zero would've made him something people were glad to pull from their boosters. The extra cost over a drain life-type effect just isn't worth it in most cases. Pity really, I love he concept.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is as powerful as I want it to be. Yes, he's an Important Legendary creature- Yes, he's a bit overpriced.
The definition of Power Creep is wanting every White Legend to be Akroma Angel of Wrath and Vengeance and Justice and Retribution, every Blue Legend to be Arcanis, Lord of Scrolls, the Mind Sculptor, every Black Legend to be the 6th son of the 6th son of the 6th son of Griselbrand, and so on and so forth.
He's powerful. He's older now. He's not really quite worth reprinting as a Mythic. But he's nice. He's still useable. And he's pretty old to still be useable. I feel like with the mechanics they chose for him, they costed him as aggressively as they dared. Almost always when they enter with X +1/+1 counters they have to start at 0/0 to be not seriously messed up. Check Thromok and Mikaeus the Lunarch.
Could they have kept him as is and taken one black mana off, or else let you gain the life they lose? Just..maybe...but I prefer caution for situations like these. Kokusho is banned in Commander, and Maga is not-- if you like playing your cards, who then is really the better Legend? I'd rather have a B card I can play than an A++++ card that will lose me friends if I own. :P
To the plane of Kamigawa, he's very terrible and threatening. To the Multiverse in general, he ranks about as one of Bolas' Minions on 'threat level to planeswalkers'. His stats reflect roughly that and his playability history *also reflects roughly that.
Sure, it's easy to see him coming, but you'd be surprised how often people forget about him. Not to mention that Cavern of Souls set to Wizard or Human makes countering him a very difficult proposition.
Singe
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rakdos, Lord of Riots is buddies with this guy. Mana Reduction is applied after the value of X is chosen. So you could choose 9 after dealing 9 life loss to the opponent, and just pay BBB. Opponent loses another 9 life and you have a 9/9 fatty.
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
just like every other black card, this guy just got sooooo much better with the addition of crypt ghast. He goes from expensive and unplayable to probably coming out as like a 5/5 for 4 mana and you opponent loses 5 life. nice
JB_Xyooj
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He would love to work with the Simic Combine. Think of the possibility with that Biomancer.
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My EDH deck uses Wound Reflection, Exsanguinate, loads of mana producers and this as commander to completely wipe out my opponents. And it still feels really fun!
Windoozleshocky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm curious: when the ETB ability is on the stack, and more +1/+1 counters are placed on Maga, are those counted?
Example: You cast Maga, X is equal to 5. You have Death's Presence and a Splinterfright at 10/10. If you were to sacrifice the Splinterfright and put the +1/+1 counters on Maga before the ability resolves, would the targeted player lose 15 life, or just 5?
Comments (19)
Like that, it's rather a card that should be considered for the lategame.
Which of course still doesn't make him useless nonetheless.
I would at least pay
3/5
As he is, though, am I going to pay
Maybe his redemption will come someday when he returns to us as a planeswalker.
The deck (Heartbeat combo) starts with Heartbeat of Spring, and then every Early Harvest nets you lots of mana. Drift Phantasm turns itself into Early Harvest (or a finisher), while Weird Harvest gets you four Drift Phantasms, eventually gaining you way too much mana on one turn.
The definition of Power Creep is wanting every White Legend to be Akroma Angel of Wrath and Vengeance and Justice and Retribution, every Blue Legend to be Arcanis, Lord of Scrolls, the Mind Sculptor, every Black Legend to be the 6th son of the 6th son of the 6th son of Griselbrand, and so on and so forth.
He's powerful. He's older now. He's not really quite worth reprinting as a Mythic. But he's nice. He's still useable. And he's pretty old to still be useable. I feel like with the mechanics they chose for him, they costed him as aggressively as they dared. Almost always when they enter with X +1/+1 counters they have to start at 0/0 to be not seriously messed up. Check Thromok and Mikaeus the Lunarch.
Could they have kept him as is and taken one black mana off, or else let you gain the life they lose? Just..maybe...but I prefer caution for situations like these. Kokusho is banned in Commander, and Maga is not-- if you like playing your cards, who then is really the better Legend? I'd rather have a B card I can play than an A++++ card that will lose me friends if I own. :P
To the plane of Kamigawa, he's very terrible and threatening. To the Multiverse in general, he ranks about as one of Bolas' Minions on 'threat level to planeswalkers'. His stats reflect roughly that and his playability history *also reflects roughly that.
Sure, it's easy to see him coming, but you'd be surprised how often people forget about him. Not to mention that Cavern of Souls set to Wizard or Human makes countering him a very difficult proposition.
Example: You cast Maga, X is equal to 5. You have Death's Presence and a Splinterfright at 10/10. If you were to sacrifice the Splinterfright and put the +1/+1 counters on Maga before the ability resolves, would the targeted player lose 15 life, or just 5?