A clear allusion to the parable of Orpheus, this
is about as good as a straight-up Zombify effect
is likely to get at this point. In order o get
your creature back, you have to wait a turn, and
go that turn without the presence of another
creature (who presumably went to the Underworld
to go get the creature you're bringing back--
hope it has better luck than Orpheus did!) This
is best used when you've got creatures with
abilities that trigger off of entering the
battlefield or dying, since you can send them on
the Rescue and re-trigger them. It can also get
a creature out from under something like One
Thousand Lashes, though most such effects in
Standard actually exile the creature to where
you can't sacrifice it.
The Greek legends of the Underworld tell you
some interesting things about how our cultural
forebears viewed the cycle of life and death. In
all of the vast number of stories, there were
only five characters who ventured to the
Underworld and returned: the mortal heroes
Orpheus, Hercules, Odysseus, and Theseus, and
the goddess Persephone. In Magic, however, the
graveyard functions almost like a second hand,
and this is a worthy addition to the list of
cards that use it as such. Due to the timing
restrictions, this card wants to be combined
with death triggers and cards that look for
sacrifices, but there's no shortage of suitable
candidates there either.
Today's card of the day is Rescue from the
Underworld which is a five mana Black instant
with the additional cost of sacrificing a
creature that returns target creature card in
your graveyard and the sacrificed one to the
battlefield under your control at the beginning
of your upkeep, then you exile Rescue. Combined
with enters and/or leaves play effects this is a
very powerful card with a great thematic design
that can make already strong cards into
overwhelming threats. While the mana cost is a
little high, the potential benefit is worth it
and a deck built around it is a viable design
for many formats. Overall this is a top of the
mana curve support card for Devotion, mono-Black
sacrifice, and other decks that may see
competitive play and should be popular in
Commander and Casual settings.
In Limited this is a key support card to use
with the heavy hitters Grey Merchant of Asphodel
and Abhorrent Overlord that works whether they
are in play, in the graveyard, or best of all
one in each. Successfully playing this on the
right cards can win the game that turn or
drastically skew it in your favor, which gives
it high priority in Booster as a second or third
pick in most packs. For Sealed the single Black
in the cost gives flexibility as a splash if
needed to support other Devotion cards or
similar effects. This mainly works in
combination with other cards, which weakens it
in the format, but getting an advantage beyond
the one for one trade should not be difficult.
Today’s card sounds like a movie title. Rescue
from the Underworld is an INSTANT reanimation
card. This card gives a good reanimation player
a few tricky options. Rescue from the Underworld
works perfectly with “leaves” play or “enters”
the battlefield effects. Standard players have
sacrifice options like Mogis’s Marauder, Centaur
Healer and Voice of Resurgence. There are plenty
of Big creatures out there in Standard that
players can bring back from the graveyard.
Compared to the older reanimation cards, Rescue
from the Underworld is not as fast and the mana
cost is too high. I’m not just talking about the
5 mana. Sacrificing a creature is also part of
the cost. This means that a player needs 5 mana,
a creature on the battlefield and a creature in
the graveyard in order to cast Rescue from the
Underworld. This might be too much for a player
to have on a consistent basis. Overall, I like
this card’s mechanics but not the casting cost.
