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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Domestication
Image from Wizards.com

 Domestication
- Born of the Gods

Reviewed March 13, 2014

Constructed: 2.25
Casual: 2.63
Limited: 3.63
Multiplayer: 2.40

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Domestication

An interesting wrinkle on Mind Control-- the original owner can get their creature back if the stolen creature's power becomes too high for you to control. In function, it's not as interesting as it looks. The "sacrifice clause" immediately has you dreaming about getting your creature back by playing a Titan's Strength or Giant Growth on it, but really, the colors best equipped to pull that trick are green and white-- who are also the best equipped to just destroy Domestication straight-up. Red suddenly finds themselves with options, yes, but in most cases, the sacrifice clause is really more of a targeting restriction. By the time the Blue Mage gets to four mana, the Green Mage is probably already playing 4/4's, so Domestication won't steal his best creatures anyway. You could, in theory, combo this with a card like Sensory Deprivation to widen the range of potential targets, but that's an awfully long walk for a small payout.

Constructed- 2
Casual- 2.5
Limited- 3.5
Multiplayer- 3


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Domestication

Domestication appeals to me on a lot of levels. It's obviously powerful against threatening utility creatures like Hypnotic Specter and Azure Mage. It has a very strategic mini-game involved with it, which gives the creature's owner a chance to get it back, depending on the contents of their deck. But I'm really not sure why it returned to Standard at this exact moment, sandwiched between two blocks with crazily efficient creatures, one of which also has "making creatures bigger" as a major theme. Seriously, are there any significant creatures in the Return to Ravnica or Theros blocks that it can steal permanently? That's rather sad - while Domestication is not the most powerful of this class of effect, it's still better than this environment would suggest.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 2/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Domestication which is a four mana aura that gives you control of the enchanted creature and if it has four or more power at the beginning of your end step you sacrifice the aura.  This is another in the long series of modified Control Magic cards that have either a penalty or a higher casting cost and while this is one of the easier to manage of those drawbacks it is a major detriment to playability.  Not staying on creatures of four or higher power not only prevents gaining control of many threats it gives an opponent more options for taking back their creature by simply increasing the power of it.  It may cause added damage for a turn or waste a combat trick before the end phase, but otherwise is a fairly efficient solution.  Overall this is very unlikely to be played in many decks, though could possibly gain a slot in some Commander builds.
 
In Limited this is not the best rare to open in Booster or Sealed, but it can offer a temporary swing in the battlefield state in stalemates or to help open up an offensive.  The double Blue and target limitation are drawbacks, though it still can fit into a deck with half or more Blue mana sources as many cards in the set can be controlled.  A reasonable if not overwhelming first pick and worth taking if passed when already in Blue.
 
Constructed: 2.0
Casual: 2.0
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 2.0


Skid Rambo

Domestication is an Aura that most players wouldn’t consider using. Only 4 mana to take a Boros Reckoner. That seems really good when you say it like that. What if you had a Hero of Iroas and paid 3 mana to steal Brimaz, King of Oreskos? Nobody wants to do that. Take a moment to think about all of the game changing small creatures out there that can be stolen with Domestication. Yes, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of them. Domestication helps Ethereal Armor and Eidolon of Countless Battles. It can also force your opponent to play Enchantment removal just to keep their creatures. Remember that you can take control of big creatures too, but you might want to have haste or a way to sacrifice the domesticated creature!

Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 2.5


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