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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Card : |
Cranial
Extraction |
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Cost : |
3B |
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Type : |
Sorcery - Arcane |
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Text : |
Name a nonland card. Search target player's
graveyard, hand, and library for all cards
with that name and remove them from the game.
Then that player shuffles his or her library. |
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Cranial Extraction
Champions of Kamigawa Rare
Reviewed September 14, 2004
Constructed: 3.7
Casual: 3.2
Limited:
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
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
Wow... this thing
stops dead any fragile combo decks that would dare
to try to sneak their tricks in.
Lobotomy was decent, but this thing is so
good, with only one colored mana specified.
Really nice as a sideboard card, and it might even
main deck if the field warrants it. If you
can figure out what your opponent is running
quickly, you can really wreak havoc by pulling key
cards from his deck. Wow... wow... wow...
In limited, main deck
is useless, but it could be sided in if your
opponent shows a bomb game 1 that you just can't
deal with.
In casual... oh
yeah... if your friends are always playing some
heinous creature or spell against you, you now
have your weapon. =)
Constructed:
4
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 1.5
Current Price:
Cranial
Extraction -
Champions of Kamigawa - $TBA
Combos
Well With:
Lobotomy -
Invasion - $1.41
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Judge Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Lobotomy
on crack. You have to name a card, but
these days, in the days of the
netdecks, you know exactly the card
you want to name. Mono-colored as
opposed to Lobotomy, so it's easier to
cast. And in any constructed format,
you're going to get exactly what you
need. Only very fast deck (read
affinity and sligh will get around
this, as you'll be dead (or very
close) when you cast this, and they
have the cards they need out already.
In
limited, however, it's anywhere from "meh"
to awful. You get one card from this,
and only if they haven't put it in
play yet.
Constructed - 4
Casual - 3.5
Limited - 1
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Jeff Zandi
5
Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Cranial Extraction
This card is immediately good. The ability, for
only four mana, to remove
any and all occurances of a troublesome card from
your opponent's deck,
hand, graveyard is very useful. This card is much
better, naturally, in
constructed, but might be a good card for limited
in games two and three
when you know what "bombs" are hiding in your
opponent's deck.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.0 |
Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Cranial Extraction
So, it’s a Lobotomy
that doesn’t have to hit a card in hand for
effectively less cost, since it’s not two
colored….
Why am I not thrilled?
Lobotomy was only good against combo decks, of
which there aren’t many right now, and Blue
Control, if you could get lucky and nail their win
condition. And even then, using some normal cheap
black discard like Duress was much better in the
former case, and mass discard spells like Hymn to
Tourach or Mind Twist were better in the latter
case.
While this card is
likely to see play, especially in sideboards, the
card, like yesterday’s, is simply unexciting for a
player in terms of mechanics, and not strong
enough to excite a player with its power.
Constructed:
3
Casual:
1
Limited:
1
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The
Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
Wow, in stark contrast to yesterdays card, this
card is great! This card can outright crush combo
decks. If there is a sideboard card that you fear,
this card will be there to clean it out. It's also
only requires one black mana in the casting cost,
so you can easily splash into a lot of decks. I'd
be extremely surprised if this card doesn't make
an impact on constructed play.
I think casual players will eat this card up as
well. There will be a lot of Lightning Angels and
Elvish Pipers being extracted. Unfortunately, for
limited play, it's only good if your opponent got
some crazy bomb that you're worried about.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 1.5 |
Paul
Hagan |
Cranial Extraction
--
Remember that blue-and-black spell that allowed
you to look at your opponent's hand, find a
card, and strip their deck of that card?
Remember Lobotomy? What would happen if that
card cost just black (making it easier to cast),
and the card that you wanted to get rid of
didn't have to be in that player's hand (making
it easier to get)? Wouldn't that card just be
all-around better? Why, yes, yes it would.
That's Cranial Extraction in a nutshell. I can
see this card making a huge impact in
Constructed play (imagine using it against Tooth
and Nail early), but I can also see Casual
players really enjoying this card, too. Who
wouldn't like stripping their buddy's deck of
their most useful cards?
Limited play weakens this card a bit, just
because you aren't quite sure what to aim for.
It might be a decent sideboard option if your
opponent shows you a bomb.
Constructed Rating: 3.5
Casual Rating: 3.5
Limited Rating: 2.5
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Cranial Extraction
YES! Splashable lobotomy is excellent. Like
cabal therapy, knowledge of
matchups makes this card much more powerful, and
it really should solve a
lot of problems... you can never really "miss"
when you're making sure they
never draw that one spell that'll wreck you,
right? Not quite as strong in
limited though, maybe a sideboard card if you see
something really mean,
or multiple copies of a strong spell.
constructed 4
casual 3.5
limited 1.5
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