|
|
 |
|
Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
|
Image from Wizards.com |
|
Sword
of Fire and Ice
Reviewed March 3, 2004
Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4.2
Limited: 4.5
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
our
Card of the Day Reviews
|
|
Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut.com |
Okay, very cool
artwork...thank you, Mark Zug. Sorry I
missed the last couple of days... we were in Vegas
feeding our need to compete. Sometimes, when all
you do is Magic all day, every day, you just need
to do something else.
Hmm... damage and
draw...nice! It isn't ridiculously costed,
so it's playable. Has great abilities, AND pumps
your guys too. Will it make the cut in
constructed? Most likely, not. While it's
not wildly costed, it's not well costed, either.
Too much mana, even for abilities that are
well-rounded, just won't cut it in competitive
constructed. Not only that, but it's abilities
activation cost is more difficult than it sounds.
You have to actually deal COMBAT damage to the
PLAYER...not just deal any damage. That is often a
lot more difficult than it sounds. Unless
you have quick evasion creatures (oh, wait...
quick isn't an option here, is it...) you'll just
get chumps thrown at you right and left. Yes, it's
a pain in the arse. But in the meanwhile, your
opponent is spending their mana more wisely and
gaining advantage over you if they're half smart.
Casual is another
story though. You can come up with some fun
quick evasion creatures, like
Suntail Hawk, or
Neurok Spy, and start the carnage. Slap
this thing on a Hawk, and you're doing 5 a turn..
on a Spy, and you're doing 6 damage a turn. Or
heck, if you want to get going fast... use a
Birds of Paradise... turn 1 land bird, turn 2
Sword, turn 3 equip and hit. Now add to that the
fact that your opponent can't easily burn our
bounce your guy, and you're probably sitting
pretty. In
limited, this is a "Build your own Bomb" card.
This puppy will be difficult to deal with, and
your opponent better find some artifact
destruction in his hand or this thing will start
to hurt. Definitely higher on the pick list.
Constructed:
3
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
Current Prices:
Sword of
Fire and Ice $7.07
Suntail
Hawk $0.20
Neurok Spy
$0.20
Birds of
Paradise $16.18
|
|
Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
|
Wednesday - Sword of
Fire and Ice
Both Swords are
pretty good, but this is the better of the
2. Again, you get non-blue card draw, and 2
points of damage to something is a nice
bonus. The pump and protection is also
great, and to have all 4 on one card is
solid. It hasn't made a splash, unlike
Skullclamp, because it costs 2 more to cast
and 1 more to activate. So this only becomes
active on turn 4, unlike Skullclamp which
can come online turn 2. The slowness makes a
difference in competitive constructed, where
all the creatures could be gone before this
gets to make a difference.
In limited, you
play it. The repeatable burn and card draw
alone make this card, and the other bonuses
are just gravy.
In casual, I
imagine I'd play this too.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
|
|
DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Wednesday - Sword of
Fire and Ice
I once heard a
rumor of a mystical item that goblins all
across the land feared. Some say it was the
embodiment of a powerful wizard. Others say
that it was pure magic. It later took the
form of the sword. Regardless, the goblins
tried to harness its power and could not.
They could get near it. However, powerful
mages kept using it against them and kept
slaying them two by two. It seems that
every creature on the planet that hated
goblins (and there are a lot of them) were
using this sword. The goblins found out
they were not alone, because the ancient
dragons had trouble wielding this sword as
well (well, at least the red ones did).
OK, that was
fun. Anyway...the ratings.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
|
|
Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Sword of Fire and Ice
When Mirrodin arrived, it didn't take long for
Extended players to put
Isochron Scepter and the Invasion blue/red split
card Fire and Ice together.
Tap, draw a card. Tap, do two damage to a creature
or player. This piece of
equipment does both of those things at the same
time and more, all for the
reasonable casting cost of three and good equip
cost of two. In addition,
the Sword makes the equipped creature stronger and
harder to block. This
card could be picked over Skullclamp in limited,
so that means it's a pretty
good card. In constructed, this card has a more
narrow appeal. Casual
players should love it, and this card probably
won't remain very expensive,
which is always a consideration for the casual
player.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 4.5 |
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Sword of Fire and
Ice
This is good stuff!
Incredibly good in limited formats, a bit slow
for constructed, but very fun for casual decks
that use equipment. I like the flavor of this
card, the costing, and the power of it. This
card is just plain worth playing.
Casual:
5
Constructed:
3
Limited:
5
|
Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Wednesday-Sword
of Fire and Ice
Well this weeks cards sure are easy, because
they are all good. The fire and ice sword is by
far the better of the two. The Protection from
blue and red allows you to not fear removal from
the red mage and bounce spells from the blue
mage. The bonus is actually more than I think
was necessary to make this equipment usable. The
add in bonus of drawing a card and doing two
damage to a creature or player is just the icing
on the cake. I bet that even if the equip cost
was 3 it would still be usable. In casual this
card is fun so I would consider it very player.
In limited this card is an official bomb.
Constructed 4
Limited 4
Casual 3.5 |
Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Sword of Fire and
Ice
I believe this card
could make it into the white weenie deck as a
one-of or a two-of. This slot might normally be
reserved for Warhammer, but this really could
take its place. On further review, it really
doesn’t have much of a place in most of the
other decks in the format.
Once again, this is
absolutely nuts in limited. Just like Mask of
Memory and Warhammer, hit once and you’ll
probably be winning the game. Skullclamp is
still better, though.
Casual play, this
might be a bit of fun. I don’t really see it
working out so well for Mental Magic, but group
games this can be pretty entertaining.
Constructed: 3.0
Limited: 4.5
Casual: 3.0
|
|
Chase |
Sword of Fire and Ice
These are the kind of cards that I like to see
and especially ones that get played. This one
actually sees play in Constructed, generally in
White Weenie. Drawing cards? Yummy. Can t be
bounced. Cool. Can t be burned? Sweet. I think
this card is definitely playable in Constructed
but not broken. It provides good perkes at the
right price.
In Casual, lots of fun. Turns little creatures
into monsters.
In Limited, absolute bomb. Extremely high pick.
Definitely worth the mana investment.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5 |
|
