Like many of the best gold cards from the
Invasion block, what makes Recoil so good is
that you get TWO cool effects in a single card.
Most of the time, you played Recoil to bounce a
creature back to its owner's hand, not
necessarily because you needed them to discard a
card. However, it NEVER bothers you to see your
opponent throw away a card. Best of all, if your
opponent's hand is empty when you play Recoil,
they will be forced to throw away the creature
that your bounce with this spell, making Recoil
as good as removal. This card was very powerful
in Invasion block constructed (a format in which
I qualified for Pro Tour New Orleans, I'm proud
to say) and Recoil was also quite good in
Invasion block limited. No block to date has
made such good use of multi-colored cards as
Invasion did. Of course, some people say that
the upcoming Ravnica block will offer a lot of
the same multi-colored opportunities as
Invasion...
I've always been a fan of this card, and I don't
really have a great reason. It can serve as
removal for any card in play if you catch your
opponent without a card in hand. However, even
when that doesn't happen, I'm generally happy to
remove any card from the board *and* have my
opponent discard a card to boot. Recoil can
often give you that little extra time you need
to set up a win, and it doesn't hurt that you
are damaging your opponent's hand in the
process.
So where's the drawback? Well, you do have to be
in blue and black to play Recoil, and then there
is the issue of finding a slot for it. Though I
can easily say it is a good card, finding space
for it in a competitive deck is an entirely
different matter. Oftentimes, Recoil doesn't
make the cut not because it isn't good, but
because other cards are better.
Recoil is exceedingly simple, elegant, and
effective. Basically, it is what a good common
should always be. The one drawback to Recoil is
you aren’t usually anxious to cast it on your
own permanents, yet you could do so given you
have cards in hand less important than the one
you are trying to save from an opponent’s
targeted or mass removal. This is also an
extremely strong card in limited play, usually
allowing you to keep up the tempo advantage and
also force your opponent to lose a valuable
spell on turn four or five.
A decent bargain, Recoil takes 2 abilities with
good synergy and puts them into one nice
package. Catch your opponent with no cards in
hand, and Recoil becomes a destruction spell.
Works nicely in discard theme decks...splash a
little Blue and you're all set. Fun times for
casual, and a nice pick if you're going the
colors in limited.
