A solid card, as the haste and steal effect can
really tilt the board off balance. You and your
opponent make your attacking and blocking
decisions based on the idea that you can see
which creatures your opponent has to attack you
back with next turn. Haste takes that knowledge
away from them, and taking away one of their
creatures can invalidate all of their plans by
adding a second attacker to your side even as
you deny them a blocker. If you have a way to
sacrifice creatures, then the Conscripts become
a creature and a kill spell besides.
It's worth noting though that the Conscripts let
you gain control of a permanent, not just a
creature. That really opens up your
possibilities. Steal an Equipment and have the
Conscripts wear it into battle. Steal the
Asceticism that's been keeping your opponent's
creatures safe from your Brimstone Volley. Or my
personal favorite-- let your opponent charge
their planeswalker up to ultimate range, then
steal it and use its ultimate yourself!
Even if it doesn't always make you the most
popular player in the group, there's something
fun about using your opponent's cards to
defeat them. I still have a mono-blue deck that
ramps into Eternal Dominion (if only they'd make
a new one that could steal planeswalkers). As
far as that sub-class of cards goes, Zealous
Conscripts is pretty solid, even if the flavor
is more like a press gang or berserkomancy (is
that a word?) than what the name might imply.
It's interesting in that it gets proportionally
better as your opponent's deck becomes better,
or at least heavier on creatures with crazy
attack triggers (or Griselbrand), but is never
dead the way a card like Act of Treason can be.
That definitely makes it worth a look for any
deck that can cast it and likes to attack.
Today's card of the day is Zealous Conscripts
which is a five mana Red
3/3 with Haste that gains control of a
permanent, untaps it, and gives it Haste until
end of turn. As a threat this works very well
having both Haste and stealing a blocker,
planeswalker, or whatever might best promote a
sudden victory. There is almost no situation
where this isn't useful and it is very
aggressively costed for a 3/3 with Haste and the
enhanced Act of Treason effect. A variety of
combinations are possible by either using the
effect to untap your own permanent or other
effects are activated to reuse the Conscripts
ability for an even larger advantage. This is a
powerful card that already wins games at the
tournament level and should not be overlooked
when considering the top end of a mana curve in
a deck with even a splash of Red.
For Limited the single Red on a 3/3 with
Haste is enough to get it played in most decks,
but add in the effect and it is a first pick in
any pack of Booster and should always be
main-color played or splashed in Sealed.
Anything your opponent has can be turned against
them and the combination of both threats should
end or nearly end just about any game even if
this is drawn as a topdeck.
In Multiplayer this of course can take from
one player to attack another, but using a
sacrifice engine or blink trick to keep the
target from returning to the original owner is
almost required to reduce the chance of
immediate retribution.
Welcome to another great card of the day review
here at Pojo.com. Today we are looking at
Zealous Conscripts from Avacyn Restored. Zealous
Conscripts is a rare red creature human warrior
that costs four generic and one red mana for a
3/3. Zealous Conscripts has haste and says when
it enters the battlefield, gain control of
target permanent until end of turn. Untap that
permanent. It gains haste until end of turn.
I absolutely LOVE Zealous Conscripts. The five
mana may seem a little steep, but when you
factor in what this card really does, it is
worth it! If an opponent gets a planeswalker out
and you have this in hand, just let the ‘walker
build up. Once enough loyalty is built for the
final, drop this out, snatch that planeswalker,
and activate the final yourself! Imagine swiping
a Tamiyo and getting her emblem, or even Koth,
Venser, or Elspeth’s? Or just taking Sorin, Lord
of Innistrad, and blowing up your opponent’s
things and gaining control of them yourself!
While taking planeswalkers is what I prefer to
try, some people may not use them, but it is
still nice to be able to grab virtually ANYTHING
on the board and play with it for a turn.
And when combined in the proper built deck using
Cavern of Souls, nothing is able to counter the
Zealous Conscripts so long as you chose either
human or warrior for your Cavern!
