This is one of my very favorite cards in Time
Spiral limited. Normally, a card like could
easily be overvalued by players. Draining Whelk
is situational, which is kind of a dirty word
among experienced booster drafters, because you
always want a card that is good in as many
different circumstances as possible. A
situational card always has to be regarded as
potentially suboptimal. However, while Draining
Whelk DOES require you to have 4UU free at the
same time that your opponent tries to play an
important spell, the current format puts a few
things in your favor. First, Draining Whelk is
in blue, a control color that means you may
indeed still be in the game at a point where you
have six mana open to play a spell like Draining
Whelk. Secondly, Time Spiral booster draft is
all about Suspend. Cards with Suspend,
particularly creatures, have become extremely
popular in Time Spiral draft. All you have to do
is make sure you have Draining Whelk mana ready
when the gem of a creature they have been
“making payments on” finally comes due, the last
time counter comes off, their spell goes on the
stack and BANG, you counter their spell (likely
an expensive one) and you gain a significant,
often gamebreaking advantage in the air. Unless
constructed decks start including a lot of
Suspend cards Draining Whelk will remain a hit
only in limited play.
I find this
card amusing, because at first glance I really
wanted to write this one off. Over time though,
I've grown to like just a copy or two in slow
control decks. Also, if you have any neat tricks
for getting creatures into play, this guy could
be alright. I'd be likely to play it in limited
formats as well.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 2
Limited: 3
Aethereal
Draining Whelk
A pretty good card for blue control. This
counters a spell and gives you a win condition
at the same time. The only catch is that if you
want this to be worth it, you need to counter a
pricy (4cc or greater) spell. It's worth
considering in blue control, but right now I
think Teferi is the better choice, as he does a
better job of swinging the game in your favor.
In casual, it's a counterspell. It is a creature
too, and a potentially large one, but this isn't
a casual card.
In limited, I'd play it. You can counter an
important card and get a good flier on the
board.
Considered a bomb in limited, but why exactly?
It's a counterspell and a creature, for 4UU. A
straight counterspell for 4UU would never get
off the ground-- remember Overwhelming
Intellect? But this thing's strength is in the
flying creature it leaves you with. If your
opponent plays a big spell, then you get a
massive flying creature and he doesn't get his
spell. But 4UU is a lot of mana to leave open,
and you NEVER want to just hardcast this thing
as a 1/1 flyer for six mana. How big of a spell
does this thing have to hit to be worth that
much mana? Traditional counterspell rules say
that the spell you counter should cost more than
the counterspell. But this isn't a traditional
counter; it gives you a win condition along with
your counterspell. If we assume two mana is a
fair price for an ordinary counterspell, then
the other four mana is giving us the creature at
instant speed. How big of a creature can we get
at instant speed for four mana? The closest
thing there's been yet is
Needlebug(pro:artifacts counts as an equivalent
for flying here), and that was a 2/2. So, if
Drainign Whelk gets more than one +1/+1 counter
on it, then it's a bargain for the cost. And
it's a bargain for teh card advantage, since
you're killing one of their cards without losing
one of your own like most counterspells. All in
all, Drainign Whelk adds up to a serious
advantage if you can leave the mana open.
