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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Spark
Elemental
Fifth Dawn Commom
Reviewed May 20, 2004
Constructed: 3.2
Casual: 2.7
Limited: 2.5
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
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
It a wittle
bitty Wightning Ewementoh! How cute!
*ahem*... sorry...
For 1 mana, this
little guy isn't bad. But in a time when
card economy is important, you can see why Ball
Lightning is so much better. This might fly
in a burn or Sligh deck, though.
This might be fine in
a casual burn deck, especially if you're trying to
save money. Throw it in with
Lightning Bolt,
Shock,
Lightning Elemental,
Lava Axe, etc., and you'll have a pretty fun
all common casual burn deck.
Sparky might be damn
fun in FD FD FD draft. Since it's common,
you might be able to scoop up an army of them (in
limited, you are allowed to play more than 4 of a
card.
Constructed:
3
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Current Price:
Spark
Elemental -
Fifth Dawn - $0.50
Combos
Well With:
Lighting
Bolt -
4th Edition - $2
Shock -
8th Edition - $0.19
Lightning
Elemental -
8th Edition - $0.19
Lava Axe -
8th Edition - $0.19
For
those of you that are interested in
Fifth
Dawn
cards, I have the
FULL RARE SPOILER with cardtext/pics available for your
perusal through my auctions. There are some
really amazing cards in this new set, and you'll
definitely want to stop by and take a look!
AND...as a BONUS for my loyal readers...if
you bid on and win one of my Fifth Dawn eBay
auctions this week, mention that you found it
through my Card of the Day blurb, and I'll throw
in a
Free Rare
(of my choice) with each auction you win!
(Just email me at the close of the auction with
your auction info and mention this column!)
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Spark Elemental
A mini-Ball
Lightning. You only get half the damage in, but
it only costs you one third the mana. I see this
getting a lot of play in both types of
constructed, as it is fast enough to satisfy the
fast red decks in competitive, and yet can pull
its weight in casual too. It won't see as much
play in casual, but it will see some.
In limited, this is
crap if you don't play it by turn 2. So, its
usefulness is severly diminished, almost to the
point of making it unplayable.
Constructed: 5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 2
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Spark Elemental
Lightning Bolt is back, well sort of. This card
has the potential to do 3 damage for R, but its
more like “what is lightning bolt worked like
diabolic edict, where your opponent got to choose
where the damage went.” This makes the card
significantly less good as a whole, but still an
excellent new tool for the Red Burn/Speed decks. I
foresee a pretty good future for this card in some
decks, and thing it’s a pretty neat idea.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 2
Limited: 2
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Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Spark Elemental
Literally the Lightning Bolt on legs. If a burn
deck manages to make its way into constructed,
this guy could be one of the highlights in it.
With Skullclamp, you can at least hope to get some
additional cards after he runs into your
opponent’s face. If the ‘clamp gets the ban, then
we’re looking at red burns decks as a whole new
archetype, able to put a severe hurting on
opponents in a pretty short order.
I
don’t see this having a lot of fun in group games
and stuff like that. Ball Lightning doesn’t
really make his way into those games, and the
smaller version of that old gem doesn’t bring
anything better to the table for fun games.
While, he’s fast, I don’t think that a card that
drops off the board right away doesn’t give you
much in way of solid resources. Late game, he’s
going to be pretty close to garbage, since
everything in the world blocks him; early game,
randomly throwing away a card for three damage is
one of my favorite things to see an opponent do.
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 2.0
Limited: 2.0
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Spark Elemental
Burn decks have started showing up again
lately. If they stay prevalent, then you could
expect to see this card getting played. It
seems like a neat card for casual players too.
Limited players will play this card as a way to
bust through a few more damage in a near
standoff situation during combat.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Spark Elemental
This card is half Ball Lightning, half Lightning
Bolt. Ball Lightning and
other cards like it are really considered a kind
of direct damage spell, the
trample ability makes this particularly true. This
card feels a little
overpowered for its cost. This card is a powerful
throwback to the days when
mono red decks held their own against any other
decks in their constructed
formats. In limited, I can't think of a time when
I wouldn't like this card.
While not particularly great on turn ten, its uses
early in the game make it
worthwhile. The question with this card's future
in BIG TIME Magic depends
on whether three damage is enough reason to invest
in this card.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.5 |
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Spark Elemental
When you really need your 12th-16th bolt in a
deck, I guess. ...And a good clamp target,
though everything is a good clamp target. This
is -not- ball lightning.
constructed 2
casual 2.5
limited 2.5
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Jason
Chapman |
I think the idea for Spark Elemental is cute - a
mini-Ball Lightning. Ball lightning was decent
because of the decent amount of damage it could
deal, effectively more damage than spells of
similar cost. Spark Elemental can produce as much
damage as 1 cost spells but the smaller front side
makes it less likely for some damage to go
through. Even so, it is a fast aggressive card
that will probably see some play. I don't like the
fact that you only get one shot, creatures are
great because they swing turn after turn.
Constructed - A 1/1 that stays out a few turns
is just as good but the Elemental is cheap - 2.5
Limited - Not powerful enough to break a
stalemate but a decent early drop - 2.0
Casual - Won't effect the late game but is a
nice early surprise - 2.5
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