Snapback
For some reason, every time I play this card, my
opponent always seems to need to look at the
card carefully. I’m starting to wonder if I’m
the only one playing this card in Time Spiral
booster draft. While not necessarily a high
pick, Snapback is a perfectly credible creature
bounce spell that probably makes the cut for
virtually every limited deck in which blue is
more than just a splash color. I’ve played this
card many times, but not once by removing a blue
card in my hand from the game instead of paying
the mana cost. It is nice that this card has a
no-mana alternate casting cost, but it is a
feature that is probably more useful in
constructed Magic than in limited. Snapback
could be a good sideboard card for mono blue
control decks that need a way to bounce a
creature they are unable to counter.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.0
CASUAL: 3.0
LIMITED: 3.5
I'm not a huge fan of "bounce" spells. If you
are though, this one has to be the best one.
This one lets you use it for free possibly.
That's a huge bonus. Lots of neat things can
come from this card.
It's Unsummon for one more mana. Or you can
pitch a blue card to it. The alternate mana cost
is really helpful if you need to tap out and
still retain a level of control, but really two
mana isn't too much to ask for to bounce a
creature. Not very interesting, but solid.
Unsummon
has had nearly as many variations on it as
Lightning Bolt over the years. This card is a
reference to the Urza's Legacy card Snap. Snap,
like it's other land-untapping bretheren, was an
unfortunate experiment that produced more
powerful combinations than nearly any other
mechanic in history. The intention was to
produce a 0-cost Unsummon effect. And that's
what we have in Snapback. Less powerful than
Snap, certainly. But far more reasonable as
well. And, most often, you're not going to need
to remove a card. But it's a nice option to have
for an emergency situation (or just one where
your opponent thinks you don't have an answer).
It's not a card to build a deck around, but it's
always useful.
Sorry, but this Magus’ predecessor, the original
Cursed Scroll, was way better than this
Scroll-on-a-stick. The main problem with this
one is that it’s a creature. And a 1/1 at that.
That means almost anything can get rid of it.
The ability is still random, and if you really
want red burn, I will kindly point you in the
direction of far better cards like Rift Bolt and
Jaya Ballard, the REAL reusable burn. And she’s
a hottie, while Magus resembles Doctor Doom-
come on, the choice is obvious!
Constructed: 2
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 2
KC MetroGnome
Snapback
Anything that can be done for "free" in Magic
deserves a good, hard look. It can make a great
trick when you're tapped out, as long as you can
handle the card disadvantage (or use it to
create some disadvantage by putting damage on
the stack then returning your blocker). It
probably won't make the cut in constructed,
where Unsummon has never really been that big,
and a free unsommon that costs you 2 cards
probably won't be much more popular. In limited,
again, this could be a nice trick, but I
wouldn't go out of my way to play this. You can
find better cards to fill this slot. In casual
there are so many bounce spells available with
so many special abilities attached that it
doesn't really make sense to run this and take
the card hit.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 1
Limited - 3
PEZ - 1
Aethereal
Snapback
The latest Unsummon variant, and the variant of
choice right now in Standard because Unsummon
wasn't printed in Ninth. It's significantly
worse than previous variants on this ability,
though, but it's not that bad. The alternate
cost is not worth it in my opinion, as Snapback
is a tempo card, and you don't want to be
blowing your hand on using it. Stick to
Boomerang first, then take a look at this if you
need more bounce.
In casual, just play the better versions of
this.
In limited, it is a fairly versatile card, and
at its worst, it can slow your opponent's bomb
creature for a turn. I'd play it if I got it,
but I wouldn't pick it that high.
