This card is basically Samite Healer, except
that if the creature you want to protect happens
to be an artifact creature, you can prevent an
additional 1 damage. That's got to make it
better, right?
Well, Samite Healer never did all that much.
Sure, sometimes in Limited it could complicate
combat math and vex burn spells, but it never
brought anyone anywhere closer to winning. A 1/1
for two mana needs to do something impressive if
it wants to see play, and this doesn't. In draft
or sealed play, you might have enough artifacts
and enough trouble finding enough playables to
justify adding this in, and it might do
something good for you, but you have to be short
on good cards to consider it.
Samite Healer hasn't been in core sets for a
while now, but its legacy lives on. While the
boosted damage prevention for artifact creatures
can make life difficult for an opponent, there's
not often space for this kind of effect in
60-card decks. It's worth noting, though, that
if you do try it out there, you're no longer
limited to just silver-framed creatures now that
Esper's cards are in circulation.
Today's card of the day is Abuna Acolyte which
is pretty much a strictly better Samite Healer
if you ever run any artifact creatures.
The main benefit of a card like this is negating
Infect or tap for damage creatures like Prodigal
Pyromancer. Even with that it is really
unlikely a card like this will see much play in
serious constructed deck as the effect is purely
reactive.
For Limited the ability to counter Infect is a
very nice ability and a two mana 1/1 isn't that
bad when there aren't many one mana 1/1 options
available. In Sealed this is a fairly easy
card to include in a White build while in
Booster this may be overlooked allowing it to be
drafted later than the actual usefulness it
provides.
In Multiplayer there is an added benefit of
being able to control the battlefield to your
liking by keeping creatures alive. Also,
having a creature like this on the board will
generally not be seen as a threat yet promote
attacking some other player to deal additional
damage.
Depending on the mentality of the table it may
become a target, but overall it can be both fun
and effective as a stalling or control mechanism
in the right situation.
