Pointed Discussion

Although you have a tendency to stab yourself in the back, you still have one of the coolest cardarts in magic. blue/red FTW

I Agree With PetraHydroxide

I have no desire to play this card, but the flavor text is awesome.

hmm, well, I found a use for this:
Petrahydrox + any acticated ability + Enigma Eidolon = mill :)

quite expensive though but it works

yet another card leaving us asking: Why?

PetraHydrox combines with Tibor and Luminia fairly well - which is also in this set. Cast PetraHydrox, give Tibor and Luminia flying, do one damage to all creatures without flying, and return PetraHydrox to your hand. Next turn, repeat.

This is a cool concept, but it is very overcosted.

I agree that this card is overcosted. It can't be the target of anything, including Psychotic Fury, which in an Izzet deck you'd already be packing for your Wee Dragonauts. More often than not the can't-be-targeted part would hurt you more than help. For instance, suddenly random meh cards with cantrips like Quick Change become Pay 2: Bounce target opponent's Petrahydrox and draw a card. 3 mana wouldn't have hurt this guy, especially if they had made it 1{(U/R)}{(U/R)}. Hell, I'd even like it for {(U/R)}{(U/R)}{(U/R)}.

Petrahydroxide is right.

I guess, though, a hybrid between a Hill Giant and a Giant Octopus would be a Weird.

Hill Giant sux. Giant Octopus sux. What made Wizards think that melding the two and stapling on a drawback would make the result not suck?

Still, the art and flavour text make this at least a 3.5. Plus, it's a Weird.

@ FargoJake:

That combo you just described doesn't work; Petrahydrox's ability doesn't trigger off of Tibor & Lumia's damage ability because it doesn't target, it just hits everything.

My friend plays it in a U/R deck with Capricious Efreet and lots of counters among other things.

@FargoJake T&L's 1 damage to each creature without flying doesn't target, so it won't bounce Petragydrox back to your hand.

I understand that when it comes to Red/Blue - the designers want a player to think.. it's that "genius theme" that Red/blue has.. but.. so many of the Red/Blue cards are just.. frustrating.. meanwhile Green/Black is obviously the most favored of the enemy color combos.. Why does it seem the majority of Red/Blue cards are crippled and overcosted? C'mon design.. don't try to dissuade people from this color combination and don't think it's just counter and burn..! Think, research, study what Red/Blue can do.. yes, in Ravinica they were the heating and plumbling guild, - good job.. keeping going! It's about what happens when you mix opposites! THIS IS WHERE Violet Mana should come from.. and Violet mana should only be accessible by mixing red/blue - and allow it to create new things.. hurtful illusions, chimera - and yes the centaur is the epitome of red (passion) and blue (intellect) - but you've got them linked to the green pastoral/sylvan forest flavor.. so where' the Aesthir, the winged centaur tribe?
Cmon..guys.

This isn't a drawback, guys. It's spot-removal proof.

We need to think like real Izzet geniuses to find this card useful. I can hear this implicit message: "want to avoid receiving damage from my weird? Cast anything on it to prevent it!"
Also, blue and red don't give you 3/3 common rarity creatures for 4 mana easily, they pack a drawback. So I find this... genius!

Sarroth:
Quickchange wouldn't cantrip, as the spell would fizzle when its target was removed.

come on guys, this is clearly one of the best cards in the game. why? because it dosent die to the hidieously broken doom blade that is (acording to gather) a 10X autoinclude in every deck (yes, even mono-white lifegain has at least 5)!
5/5 for being immune to doom blade unlike virtuly every other creature in the game!

but serriously though, this needs either a cheeper cmc or an etb effect.

@FargoJake @DacenOctavio And Tibor and Lumia's ability triggers when Petrahydrox is cast, not when it resolves. The ability would go on the stack and resolve before Petrahydrox hits the field.

Riku of Two Reflections + Champion of Lambholt + Garruk's Packleader?

Terrible card. Should have cost 2R/U, and should have been a 4/4. Or should have had flying. Then we'd be interested.

Or, it should have had "Whenever Petrahydrox is the target of a spell or ability, return it to your hand and deal 3 damage to target player."

I'm with the people that says that it lacks something: +1/+1, flying, another little ability or a discount... Mirozel is a 2/3 with flying, with the same ability, from Exodus, so you may think that this one is quite balanced. But whoever played Mirozel? Where is powercreep when you need it?

Maybe use it with some equipment that becomes attached without target it? Like Grifter's Blade, Piston Sledge, Ronin Warclub, Stonehewer Giant. The best one is the Warclub, because you can attach it again without recasting the equipment...

3.5/5 because I want to like it, but it's quite hard...