Green pretty much always - ALWAYS - gets a pump
spell that adds the block mechanic to it. Why?
Because creature pump is a very simple mechanic,
and an essential one. Green needs to get a
creature pump spell every block, for the sake of
Limited. But "+N/+N until end of turn" is so
simple, how do you keep it fresh? Well, by
adding in the block mechanic! And here, it works
fairly well. Your soulbond creatures will
already be powering each other up fairly well,
and likely attacking and/or blocking at the same
time, so being able to give both a further pump
is a pretty good trick. Usually players expect a
combat trick to only affect one creature,
especially if you only left one mana up/had only
one card in hand.
Why do they make this card, but not something
along the lines of "Target creature gets +4/+4
if it's enchanted"? Soulbond is basically the
same thing as Enchant Creature, except using a
creature instead of an Aura. Oversight? Not
thinking about the feelings of (the higher than
you expect) number of people who like Auras?
Regardless, a card that lets paired creatures
stomp over pretty much anything and acts like a
Giant Growth in other circumstances is fine from
a gameplay standpoint. It becomes somewhat less
appealing outside of a dedicated soulbond deck,
but you could say similar things about lots of
cards down the years, many of which have won
tournaments and dominated casual tables.
Today's card of the day is Joint Assault which
is a one mana Green that gives target creature
+2/+2 and if paired it gives +2/+2 to that
creature also. This is very situational as in
any deck without Soulbond there are other
options in the Giant Growth family available
which include Mirran Mettle, Mutagenic Growth,
and Titanic Growth for pure power and toughness
increases. If using a Soulbond creature this
becomes a bit better, but still attacking or
blocking with both is needed to make this any
better than similar cards. Overall this isn't a
bad choice in the right deck it just rarely is
the best choice.
For Limited the likelihood of using Soulbond
and either attacking or blocking with both
creatures is drastically increased which
combined with the somewhat removal nature of it
if used as a combat trick makes it a great card
in the format. Any copies in Sealed are worth
using if Green mana is available, particularly
alongside Soulbond creatures, and with or
without support is a solid early pick in
Booster. Adding support or drafting this as
support just make both components stronger and
is worth the investment as either side will
still work individually.
Welcome to another
awesome card of the day review here at Pojo.com!
This time around we are looking at Joint Assault
from Avacyn Restored. Joint Assault is a common
green instant that costs just one green mana.
Joint Assault says that target creature gets
+2/+2 until the end of turn. If that creature is
paired with another creature, that creature also
gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Not really a big fan outright of Joint Assault.
It is a decent pump, and if you are running a
Soulbound deck than it may in fact be perfect.
But that is of course the main problem. While
there were some good cards with Soulbound, there
weren’t tons. And the mana you’ll invest would
likely be best spent elsewhere. Use with
caution, that’s all I have to say.
