There's a reason Man-o'-War was so powerful-- a
bounce effect plus a creature is a powerful
tempo advantage. You can play this basically
just like you would an Unsummon, as a spell that
might also block a creature, with no intent to
pay the echo because without that blocker, your
opponent will be dead. Or in the later game, you
get to bounce a creature this turn and (if you
choose) get to keep the 2/2. Versatility, folks,
and either way is a boon to a Red tempo based
deck.
Constructed- 3
Casual- 3
Limited- 3.5
Lincoln
Waterhouse
Stingscourger
Constructed: This could be a future utility card
in a speed red deck. Don't forget it is a
goblin. For a mere 2 mana, you can bounce a
creature. Delaying a field of blockers can be
all you need to speed out a win in a fast red
deck. Later in the game it is still an attacker
(if you need it). However, the power is in the
bounce. Does boomerang see play...yes...so will
this.
Casual: Kind of fun. No real comment here.
Average. Not a lot of flavor.
Limited: This is a great card for limited. A
creature you can keep early. A bouncer for the
big guys. With all the time counter creatures
out there, this could come in handy when the
Greater Gargadon finally comes into play. A high
pick in my mind.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 2
Limited: 4
-David N
Tuesday -
Stingscourger
Man-o'-War remade in red for one less with echo.
Man-o'-War got a lot of play back in the day.
Great for blue which had little removal. In red
there is much better removal instead of the
temporary bounce. Man-o'-War was much better
because it wasn't limited to just opponent's
creatures. You could bounce your own creatures
with come into play abilities. This might get a
lot of play in Thick-Skinned Goblin decks. 2/2
with bounce and no echo is awesome.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 2
Limited: 4
David Fanany
Stingscourger
Stingscourger seems to have sort of an identity
crisis. On the one hand, it's an efficient 2/2
creature for two mana with a tempo-friendly
comes-into-play ability. On the other hand, it
has an echo cost fully double its converted mana
cost, meaning it's unlikely to stick around long
in an aggressive deck. However, anything which
gives red an out against Blazing Archon in
reanimator-heavy metagames is worth looking at.
It also temporarily clears high-toughness walls
without incurring card disadvantage, which red
usually has problems with. It certainly shines
in Limited, where games often go long enough to
pay its echo and where its bounce ability plays
havoc with combat math. Casual players will
probably stick with Man-o'-War.
Constructed: 2/5
Limited: 4/5
Casual: 2/5
LennonMarx
Tuesday, March
6th: Stingscourger
The red Man-o-War, sort of. The 2/2 body for 2
is nice, if only it didn't have that nasty echo
of 3R. Alas it does, and that takes its ratings
down quite a bit.
Constructed:
No way. Red decks have far better 2 drops, like
Blood Knight, and that doesn't even see play.
This is just to outclassed. If red needs bounce,
it would go to Dead//Gone before this. Or just
splash blue.
2/5
Casual:
Pretty borring here as well. Outside of a
Thick-Skinned Goblin deck, its just a 2 mana
sorcery speed unsummon in red, or an overcosted
2/2 body.
Interesting, but outclassed when looked at in
regards to what else could be played. Just stick
to the origional Man-o-War here.
2/5
Limited:
Finally, somewhere that this card is good.
Stingscourger is arguable the best common for
limited in PC (if not the best, its second only
to Shaper Parasite). Not a first pick unless the
pack is extreemly weak, but there is no common
you should be taking over it if you are even
remotely red. Picking one up beyond 3rd pick or
so should be rare. It falls under that catigory
of any removal is good removal, and sence it
sticks around for atleast another turn, there is
the potential for a 2 for 1. Granted, it isn't
permanent removal, but it does buy time and
tempo and can let you push through the extra
damage needed for the win.
4.5/5
PsychoAnime
Let's say this
is brought out on turn 2. It's a 2 mana sorcery
speed bounce
spell that will probably stall you a turn of
damage, which is actually ok for
slowing down aggro, except that the bounced
creature will comeback pretty
quickly and the bounce would therefore be
ineffective.
Let's say this is brought out on a later turn.
For an extra 4 mana, you get a
2/2 Goblin. That's pretty bad. You could bounce
it back to your hand for
another use of this, but I'm pretty sure that
bounce spell can be used to do
something much better.
Red's gotten another bounce spell too called
Dead//Gone. I don't see why
anyone would play this over it because
Dead//Gone is more versatile and
instant speed bounce offers more shenanigans
than sorcery speed can ever
hoep for.
Constructed: 1.5/5, it's never going to be used.
Casual: 1.5/5, no fun, and Dead//Gone is just
funner.
Limited: 2/5, it could buy a turn by bouncing a
bomb
Arcane
Reviews by
Arcane
Stingscourger
Red takes its idea of short term solutions for
short term gains to the next level in Planar
Chaos with its new flavor of creature bouncing;
and its classic counterpart Man-o-war was always
popular with blue back in visions.
Constructed: Echo creatures have to have amazing
abilities to make them worthwhile in constructed
formats where you want to get the most out of
all your effects. Cards like Avalanche Riders
see play because not only does it take out a
land, but can also swing for two, all before
your next upkeep. Stingscourger just doesn’t
have the same appeal in my books for
constructed, only removing a creature for a
turn, which means that most likely it’ll be
right back next turn. Is the slight tempo
advantage worth it? Aggro decks like Boros may
think so as it gives them another swing out of
their low power creature and lowering the amount
of damage their burn has to do in the late game.
Bounce always had a better place in blue for
constructed though as they could counter the
creature on the way back down, an ability red
lacks on its own, eliminating some of the power
of the ability.
Casual/Multi: Tempo is harder to judge in
casual, usually only really advantageous if you
can take out another player. I myself am not a
fan of echo in multi myself as it keeps your
mana tied down the turn after. I could
definitely see a casual deck that abuses the
ability of Thick-Skinned Goblin to eliminate the
echo cost or Cloudstone Curio to allow you to
keep alternating between two Stingscourgers and
bounce all your opponents’ creatures.
Limited: Red is a strong color in Time Spiral
block limited and it comes on the back of good
cards like this. It gives you a utility ability
with a body tacked onto it. Not as effective in
the early game, unless you have some cheap
creatures you want to get in with really early
like Keldon Marauders or Lavacore Elemental (on
a side note bouncing your own Marauders will net
you two more points of damage, one when the
Marauders leave play and one when they come back
down). Also allowing to clear out your opponents
biggest fatty or wall to help you alpha strike
or get in for that last point of damage is a
nice plus as well.
