This little guy is a first pick in Ravnica/Ravnica/Guildpact
drafts, in a number of color combinations
chiefly including UB+R, RW+U and RG+U. You just
have to think ahead and, if you are drafting red
in the Ravnica packs, remember the great blue
and red/blue cards that are awaiting you in the
Guildpact booster pack. Don't worry about
Gelectrode's 0/1 body, it couldn't matter less.
Gelectrode is worth the spot in your deck even
if you aren't playing a deck full of pinging
creatures. Gelectrode is worth the spot in your
deck even if you don't have that many sorceries
and instants with which to activate this card's
special ability to untap. In constructed, only
time will tell. I'd like to think that there
will be some good blue/red decks in the Standard
constructed format, but I think it's a bit of a
long shot at this time.
This guy is likely to end up as the win
condition for some combo deck down the road. But
for now, I think he's just not going to cut it.
Gelectrode is likely to get a couple of damage
in during the course of a game, but he's likely
nothing that will scare your opponent.
Gelectrode -
Once upon a time, there was a card called
Prodigal Sorceror. The ability to ping things
was blue. Then someone realized that direct
damage wasn't blue in the least. So they moved
it off to red. And red got lots of cool little
pingers. Now we've come full circle, and the
ability finally graces a blue card again. Of
course, blue's contribution to this Weird is
probably a bit more for the untapping ability -
which is considerable - but at least the
nostalgic connection is there. As far as pingers
go, this one is no-nonsense. No effort was
wasted giving it a power of 1 or any protection
abilities or clever remove-from-game clauses.
Gelectrode does damage and lots of it. It works
perfectly with the Izzet and it's fun, too.
Clearly a high pick in limited, it's constructed
effectiveness is somewhat unproven. But that
doesn't mean it won't ever happen.
I’m not too sure about this guy in constructed.
“Tim” hasn’t always been that viable due to it’s
cost vs fragility. In this case, though, Tim can
go off and take down large things by himself. Of
course, this is to say that he will ever even
become active. In constructed most decks will
have some way of dealing with a 3 drop 0/1. For
this reason I don’t know if he can make the main
deck. Now in the sideboard against weenie decks
and things that will have a hard time dealing
with him, I think he will be good. Don’t get me
wrong, he’s one of the best Tims printed in a
long time, but then again, being the best of a
mediocre bunch still makes you somewhat
mediocre, or “good” at best.
In limited, he is a very early pick and almost a
reason to play U/R. He is much harder to deal
with here, and left unchecked, he can run a
board pretty easily. If they can deal with him,
they’re generally wasting a spell they’d rather
use on a better creature, so he’s a really good
bullseye as well.
Constucted: 3
Limited: 4.5
Christine
Gerhardt
Gelectrode
How annoying... not amazing, but worth playing
in limited if you're going RU. It can get the
job done, sometimes, and is just a nice little
pinger anyways.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 3
Limited - 3.5
BMoor
Gelectrode
Anyone who remembers Goblin Sharpshooter will
understand the potency of this pinger. Not quite
good enough in Constructed to edge out
Electrolyze and Wee Dragonauts, the two other
best cards that cost 1UR, but an absolute
nightmare in Limited. The potential to have
every instant and sorcery you play come with 1
damage, plus 1 more damage a turn, adds up
fairly quickly, especially when you throw combat
tricks into the mix.
