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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com
 

Rag Dealer 
Champions of Kamigawa


Reviewed October 6, 2004

Constructed: 2
Casual: 2
Limited: 2.6

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 


Scott
Gerhardt

Bleh.  It's a bad creature type with a bad ability.  It has uses, but they are slim and not generally good enough to play this.  If it were a Rat, I'd say it has more uses.  It's a human, so it doesn't.  I see this card seeing very little play in any format until you especially NEED a way to clearing out a graveyard.

Constructed: 2
Limited: 2.5


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

Meh.  Not very exciting, but I believe Wizards had one purpose in mind when making this guy.  Now, I didn't say it was a good purpose.  But I think that they wanted an answer to recurring Arcane and Spirit spells from the grave?  Or, maybe there is some horrible recursion thing that is going to happen in the Kamigawa subsets?  Sometimes Wizards will put out a card that makes little sense until the card it will counter shows up later.  I dunno, man.  I just work here. 

Anywho, no tournament place for it at the moment.  In casual, it has little rhyme or reason.  In limited, if your opponent tries some nasty trick with Arcane/Spirit recursion, then this could be sided in.  At the worst, it's a 1/1 for one with a possibly useful ability.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 2.5

   Current Price:
Rag Dealer - Champions of Kamigawa - $0.39
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Hi. You probably recognize me in a past life as Carrion Beetles. Yep, we Magic cards get reincarnated sometimes, to see if we can do better in a new format.
 
Unfortunately, I'm not up to snuff in any constructed format. Most decks these days don't care about cards in the graveyard. And unwanted food tastes horrible.
 
In limited, I can be quite good though. If your opponent has lots of Soulshift in his deck, I can feed off all of those delicious spirits and stop your opponent from getting back his creatures.
 
I really like to help you, and I hope I can do better in a year or so, but that's the best I can do right now. Sorry about that.
 
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.5
 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Rag Dealer
Nothing too exciting here. Still, the ability to remove three cards from a
graveyard is pretty powerful for a 1/1 creature for one mana. Inasmuch as
Soulshift has not exactly rulled limited play so far, my guess is that Rag
Dealer is a MAYBE card AT BEST for your limited decks. If graveyard removal
becomes valuable for constructed, four of this guy seems like a good way to
go.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.0
CASUAL:           3.5
LIMITED:          3.0

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

Rag Dealer

 

Rag Dealer fills in blacks limited one slot nicely for limited, and is a nice filler card, because a lot of the cards in the format CAN affect the graveyard. Note I say can, not do, because its amazing how many of them are conditional in what they do, and often this guy will not actually have anything to do. But still, he’s a 1/1 for one mana, and why not play him? In constructed he’ll be a potential sideboard card for graveyard recursion, but will likely not see a lot of play. In casual, don’t play him, not even in multiplayer. He’s really annoying, and will piss off your friends who are playing FUN graveyard recursion decks, and you will wake up one morning hung over with the word “JERK” tattooed on your forehead.

 

Constructed:             2         

Casual:             1         

Limited:            3    

 


DeQuan
Watson

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

We had all gotten used to playing with Withered Wretch. It's good to know that there is a decent card to fall back on after the rotation. I don't think casual palyers will like this effect. Honestly, this card should be *slightly* stronger in limited than constructed even, but not by much. I'd expect it to see mild tournament play, but not a lot.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 2
Limited: 2.5
Paul
Hagan
Rag Dealer --

It was pointed out to me that there are number of ways to manipulate the graveyard in Champions, but oddly, most of it involved removing cards from the graveyard. Rag Dealer is one of many such cards, but he looks like one of the weaker links.

I wouldn't be so upset with the Dealer if his ability didn't cost so much. Is pulling three cards really worth three mana? Unless WotC is planning on bringing Threshold and Flashback, I'm not sure I can think of a good reason to run this card. Even then, as long as we aren't doing it for tournament purposes, isn't Withered Wretch ten times better?

In limited, this guy gets to be a cheerleader: someone stuck on the sidelines, cheering on the cards that really make a difference.

Constructed Rating: 2.0 [unless I'm missing something]
Casual Rating: 1.5
Limited Rating: 1.5


Andy
 Van Zandt

Rag Dealer
Wee.  Carrion Beetle.  Not bad,  but not amazing either.  He does stop
eternal witnesses in type 2, and soulshift in kamigawa.  For that, he's a
very solid 23rd card in limited.
constructed 2.5
casual 2
limited 3
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
Message
Boards

Rag Dealer

Two words; too slow.  Three mana to remove three cards in from a graveyard is really slow when compared to other cards.  Of course it is a 1/1 for 1, so it might be played simply for its cost effeciency in limited.  However this card will barely make it into sideboards in constructed. 

Constructed: 2
Casual: 2
Limited: 1.5

 

 

 

 

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