I would probably give this card a good review
just for the art and for how awesomely said art
ties into the rules text's use of the new
"fight" terminology. Considering that it's also
a pretty effective way to destroy every creature
somebody controls, or to wreak havoc on a
multiplayer table, or run the store out of dice
and other things you use as -1/-1 counters when
the first creature targeted has wither or
infect, I'm going to give it an even better
review. Wait - I think I just did!
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Alpha Brawl an expensive red sorcery. In
standard and extended and modern I don’t foresee
this card making much of a splash, eight mana is
a lot when it doesn’t automatically win you the
game or come close in the case of cards like
Cruel Ultimatum. People who are looking for
board wipes can look at the traditional variety
as just killing all opponents creatures is
seldom relevant and even in red cards like
Blasphemous Act are available making this card
look big and powerful but simply not suited for
constructed including legacy and vintage as
well. In casual and multiplayer this card
however is quite powerful as a political tool
that tool being a sledgehammer used to disable
the most dangerous persons board position. In
limited its pretty expensive but a bomb none the
less. Overall a powerful casual and multiplayer
tool not really suited for constructed tables
but kitchen tables.
Today's card of the day is Alpha Brawl which is
an eight mana Red that has target creature an
opponent controls deal damage equal to its power
to each other creature that player controls,
then each of those creatures deals damage equal
to its power to the first creature. This
may sound good in theory, but eight mana for a
one-sided Wrath of God is too slow for most
formats and kind of situational to be better
than other burn options. Overall this
doesn't have much place in Constructed decks and
isn't likely to see serious play.
For Limited eight mana with only two of a
specific color isn't an unreasonable cost and
the potential to clear an opponent's side of the
board in the later stages of the game is well
worth considering. This breaks stalemates
like few other cards can and turns a losing
situation into a likely win if the opponent is
threatening with a mass of creatures. As a
bomb and removal this is an easy first pick in
Booster despite not having much flexibility and
a Sealed pool with this should strongly consider
using Red as either the secondary or primary
color.
Welcome to
a new week of card of the day reviews. Hope
everyone had a great weekend. Today we kick off
the week with a look at Alpha Brawl from Dark
Ascension. Alpha Brawl is a rare red sorcery
that costs six generic and two red mana. Alpha
Brawl says target creature deals damage equal to
its power to each other creature its controller
controls, then those creatures deal damage equal
to their power to it.
If only Alpha Brawl was not eight mana, I
would love it. Sure, it’s a board wipe, but by
that time, your probably almost dead anyways.
And I mean sure, hope that there it a creature
with infect or death touch somewhere in there,
but man, if indeed there was one with lifelink,
you could help out your opponent more than you.
But, then again, should your own things be
indestructible (Elspeth‘s Emblem) and even one
of them have lifelink (or all of them if one has
it with Celestial Convergence) then it would
definitely be worthwhile to hit your own things
with Alpha Brawl.
As I said, a decent card, just a shame it costs
so much. Likely only going to see play in severe
mana ramp decks.
For the record, creatures don't get put into a
graveyard in the middle of a spell resolving.
That means that any creatures the "alpha" kills
will get to deal their damage back to it. It
also means that as long as your chosen opponent
has more than two creatures, the odds of any of
them surviving this is quite slim. Really, it's
a one-player Blashphemous Act, without the
"affinity for creatures". Except it doesn't
target a player, it targets a single creature.
Usually you want to target the biggest creature,
but watch out! A single sac outlet could stymie
this spell, downgrading it to a very expensive
kill spell.
