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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!
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Image from
Wizards.com |
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Soul
Spike
- Coldsnap
Reviewed
June 15, 2017
Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 3.00
Limited: 3.75
Multiplayer: 3.00
Commander [EDH]: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible 3 - Average. 5 - Awesome
Click here to see
all of our
Card of the Day Reviews
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David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Soul Spike
Recently, we were talking about how easy it is
for colors to become typecast. Black has not one
but two mechanics that have been at risk of
being overused at times - when losing life is as
good as equal to drawing cards, and losing cards
can gain you life, you have a vicious circle
that ends up being not only boring, but
overpowered because whoever draws the most cards
tends to win.
That's an overly pessimistic assessment, because
Soul Spike isn't really that bad an offender in
that category and doesn't have a history of
major impact on competitive play. It's not
because it's a bad card; quite the opposite, as
the surprise factor can be devastating and
doesn't force you to make a trade-off between
playing cards to the table and using an answer.
I recall it wasn't the most popular option in
the Ravnica era because of the versatility of
Putrefy and Mortify on the one hand and the
multicolored nature of the environment on the
other (which kind of doesn't make sense, because
multicolor means you have more cards with a
part-black color identity to choose from). I
tend to think more of its flexibility and less
of its high cost, and thus say that it has a
niche in certain decks.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5 |
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James H. |
Soul Spike (6/15)
Seven mana for a "drain four" effect is
expensive, though it's about on-par with what
black usually gets. It's expensive, but it's a
good way to kill a creature or finish off a
weakened opponent in a pinch…
...particularly since, like Commandeer, it's
able to be cast for zero mana. Three cards for
four damage is a not the greatest rate of
return, but it gives the spell an element of
flexibility and makes it a dangerous threat at
almost any point in the game. It's a decent
spell, but it will rarely be an MVP.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3 |
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