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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Sword of Fire and Ice 
 


Reviewed March 3, 2004

Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4.2
Limited: 4.5

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut.com

Okay, very cool artwork...thank you, Mark Zug.  Sorry I missed the last couple of days... we were in Vegas feeding our need to compete. Sometimes, when all you do is Magic all day, every day, you just need to do something else.

Hmm... damage and draw...nice!  It isn't ridiculously costed, so it's playable. Has great abilities, AND pumps your guys too.  Will it make the cut in constructed? Most likely, not.  While it's not wildly costed, it's not well costed, either.  Too much mana, even for abilities that are well-rounded, just won't cut it in competitive constructed. Not only that, but it's abilities activation cost is more difficult than it sounds.  You have to actually deal COMBAT damage to the PLAYER...not just deal any damage. That is often a lot more difficult than it sounds.  Unless you have quick evasion creatures (oh, wait... quick isn't an option here, is it...) you'll just get chumps thrown at you right and left. Yes, it's a pain in the arse. But in the meanwhile, your opponent is spending their mana more wisely and gaining advantage over you if they're half smart.

Casual is another story though.  You can come up with some fun quick evasion creatures, like Suntail Hawk, or Neurok Spy, and start the carnage.  Slap this thing on a Hawk, and you're doing 5 a turn.. on a Spy, and you're doing 6 damage a turn. Or heck, if you want to get going fast... use a Birds of Paradise... turn 1 land bird, turn 2 Sword, turn 3 equip and hit. Now add to that the fact that your opponent can't easily burn our bounce your guy, and you're probably sitting pretty.

In limited, this is a "Build your own Bomb" card. This puppy will be difficult to deal with, and your opponent better find some artifact destruction in his hand or this thing will start to hurt. Definitely higher on the pick list.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
Current Prices:
Sword of Fire and Ice $7.07
Suntail Hawk $0.20
Neurok Spy $0.20
Birds of Paradise $16.18
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Wednesday - Sword of Fire and Ice
 
Both Swords are pretty good, but this is the better of the 2. Again, you get non-blue card draw, and 2 points of damage to something is a nice bonus. The pump and protection is also great, and to have all 4 on one card is solid. It hasn't made a splash, unlike Skullclamp, because it costs 2 more to cast and 1 more to activate. So this only becomes active on turn 4, unlike Skullclamp which can come online turn 2. The slowness makes a difference in competitive constructed, where all the creatures could be gone before this gets to make a difference.
 
In limited, you play it. The repeatable burn and card draw alone make this card, and the other bonuses are just gravy.
 
In casual, I imagine I'd play this too.
 
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

* pro tour player

* Scrye writer since 2002

Wednesday - Sword of Fire and Ice
 
I once heard a rumor of a mystical item that goblins all across the land feared.  Some say it was the embodiment of a powerful wizard.  Others say that it was pure magic.  It later took the form of the sword.  Regardless, the goblins tried to harness its power and could not.  They could get near it.  However, powerful mages kept using it against them and kept slaying them two by two.  It seems that every creature on the planet that hated goblins (and there are a lot of them) were using this sword.  The goblins found out they were not alone, because the ancient dragons had trouble wielding this sword as well (well, at least the red ones did).
 
OK, that was fun.  Anyway...the ratings.
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4


Jeff Zand
i

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Level 2 Judge

Sword of Fire and Ice
When Mirrodin arrived, it didn't take long for Extended players to put
Isochron Scepter and the Invasion blue/red split card Fire and Ice together.
Tap, draw a card. Tap, do two damage to a creature or player. This piece of
equipment does both of those things at the same time and more, all for the
reasonable casting cost of three and good equip cost of two. In addition,
the Sword makes the equipped creature stronger and harder to block. This
card could be picked over Skullclamp in limited, so that means it's a pretty
good card. In constructed, this card has a more narrow appeal. Casual
players should love it, and this card probably won't remain very expensive,
which is always a consideration for the casual player.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL:            4.0
LIMITED:             4.5

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer

Sword of Fire and Ice

 

This is good stuff! Incredibly good in limited formats, a bit slow for constructed, but very fun for casual decks that use equipment. I like the flavor of this card, the costing, and the power of it. This card is just plain worth playing.

 

Casual:                         5

Constructed:                 3

Limited:                        5

Jason
Matthews


* Level 1 DCI Judge

*game store employee

* gaming for over 15 years

 Wednesday-Sword of Fire and Ice

Well this weeks cards sure are easy, because they are all good. The fire and ice sword is by far the better of the two. The Protection from blue and red allows you to not fear removal from the red mage and bounce spells from the blue mage. The bonus is actually more than I think was necessary to make this equipment usable. The add in bonus of drawing a card and doing two damage to a creature or player is just the icing on the cake. I bet that even if the equip cost was 3 it would still be usable. In casual this card is fun so I would consider it very player. In limited this card is an official bomb.

Constructed 4
Limited 4
Casual 3.5

Jonathan
Pechon


2 Grand Prix Top 8's

Multiple Pro Tour appearances

Sword of Fire and Ice

 

I believe this card could make it into the white weenie deck as a one-of or a two-of.  This slot might normally be reserved for Warhammer, but this really could take its place.  On further review, it really doesn’t have much of a place in most of the other decks in the format.

 

Once again, this is absolutely nuts in limited.  Just like Mask of Memory and Warhammer, hit once and you’ll probably be winning the game.  Skullclamp is still better, though.

 

Casual play, this might be a bit of fun.  I don’t really see it working out so well for Mental Magic, but group games this can be pretty entertaining.

 

Constructed:  3.0

Limited:  4.5

Casual:  3.0

Chase Sword of Fire and Ice

These are the kind of cards that I like to see and especially ones that get played. This one actually sees play in Constructed, generally in White Weenie. Drawing cards? Yummy. Can t be bounced. Cool. Can t be burned? Sweet. I think this card is definitely playable in Constructed but not broken. It provides good perkes at the right price.

In Casual, lots of fun. Turns little creatures into monsters.

In Limited, absolute bomb. Extremely high pick. Definitely worth the mana investment.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
 

 

 

 

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