This card is getting a lot of hype. I'm not so
sure I agree with many of the predictions for
this one. Personally, I think it's a good card,
but unless the deck relying on those card in the
graveyard, what good is it? It could end up
being a stellar sideboard card though.
I'd love to see this card get played in response
to Resurrection. But other than the "surprise,
no reanimation for you!" factor, I'm not seeing
it. This card doesn't effect the board at all.
In limited, you don't really have multiple
copies of any particularly frightening cards,
because in Sealed you're lucky to get two Search
for Tomorrow, and in draft if there'd been that
many copies of something good in the card pool,
someone else would've taken them. But in any
constructed format, I guess it could work, since
you're likely getting multiple cards for your
one, with Split Second, for a mere B. And about
Split Second; is this card really that much more
playable with it? It is if the card you're
removing has Flashback; this way they can't just
play the card in response. Which is probably
what this card is going to be used for the most.
Reanimator decks will hate it, but most of them
use singletons of a variety of large creatures
and so this will rarely cost them more than one
card. And besides, nobody in casual will bother
with this unless they specifically want to break
up a Flashback deck, reanimator deck, or combo
deck (and can't afford Cranial Extraction).
Basically what I'm saying is, it does a very
narrow job very well.
Constructed- 2.5
Casual- 2
Limited- 1.7
KC MetroGnome
Extirpate
This card is exciting. The price (B) is right.
The ability is strong, completely hosing many
decks in every format. It can even get lands!
(just not basic ones) And it can't be countered.
By the way, it can't be countered. This really
messes with Firemane Control, Ichorid variants,
and all kinds of Type I ("Vintage") decks that
like to fill the graveyard and bring things
back. While this by itself probably won't keep
you from losing to a resolved Yawg's Will, it
can take a little edge off the offending Will
and give you a chance to survive the turn using
other forms of defense. Kill the right goblin
early on and this will let you pull all of the
Piledrivers/Warchiefs/Ringleaders from the deck
(obviously this carries over to other aggro
decks). This is a card that I expect everyone
will want to have four of, regardless of their
preferred format or style of play.
Leave it out of your limited deck.
Constructed - 4+ (do I dare say 5?)
Casual - 4-
Limited - 1+ (maybe out of the sideboard?)
Aethereal
Extirpate
The block Lobotomy. This is made a lot stronger
by the fact that it has split second. Also, the
low cost is a huge turn on. The big downside is
that the card you want to hit already has to be
in their graveyard. Against some decks this is
no big deal, but against a combo deck, where
you'd want to hit a combo piece, this can be
problematic if a combo piece never hits the
graveyard. This is no doubt a good card, and it
will probably see plenty of play for the next
couple of years, but the graveyard restriction
weakens it a lot in my opinion.
In casual, if you can get it, play Cranial
Extraction over this, especially against a
Johnny.
