Anyone who remembers Wing Shards from Scourge
will think highly of this card, as Wing Shards
was one of the block's defining removal spells
in white. But Dispense Justice, despite seeming
similarities, suffers from some crippling
weaknesses that Wing Shards didn't.
First, the condition for Wing Shards to hit
multiple creatures was a spell having been cast
this turn. It didn't matter who had cast a
spell, so often your opponent would satisfy this
condition for you, and if not, any instant of
yours would solve that. Dispense Justice
requires you to control three artifacts. Not
every deck runs artifacts, fewer decks run
enough to reliably have three out at a time, and
your opponent will never do anything but hamper
your efforts to satisfy this condition.
Second, Wing Shards had Storm, which in theory
has no upper limit. A single Wing Shards had the
potential to take out three or more creatures.
Dispense Justice tops out at two.
And third, and most relevant to the ultimate
question of "How good is Dispense Justice?" is
the fact that Wing Shards did not share a
Standard format with Condemn or any other
one-mana white kill spell. Since Dispense
Justice and Condemn both only work on attacking
creatures, and Condemn lets you pick which
attacker to remove while costing 2 less to cast,
there is little chance of Dispense Justice
seeing serious play outside of Limited.
Dispense Justice is a very good card in the
abstract, although it requires you to build
around it somewhat. In constructed play, there
are not currently a huge number of decks based
around artifacts, but that could easily change
as we see more of the Scars of Mirrodin block.
Since it only affects attacking creatures, white
decks with a lot of equipment may not give it a
second look. Overall, the card has a lot of
potential, but it remains to be seen where the
best use for it will be.
Welcome back readers, sorry for my extended
absence health problems and such. Today’s card
of the day is Dispense Justice an interesting
Wing Shards variant. In standard metalcraft has
as of yet failed to make a large impact,
Dispense Justice requires a player to be playing
white and achieve metalcraft. As a Wing Shard
Variant this card could see play and send even
indestructible creatures to the graveyard, but
as it sits now white teams with blue and U/W
control has no room for this card. In extended
it could be possible to see play but as of now
no archetype really has the space for it. In
eternal no way. In casual and multiplayer this
card can hit two attacking creatures so it’s a
good defensive option, run a few signets and
other powerful artifacts and this card is a
powerful addition. In limited this card is a
backbreaker metalcraft is powerful in limited
and this is removal that gets around the
indestructible mechanic. Overall a powerful
replacement or compliment to Wing Shards.
Today's card of the day is Dispense Justice
which is a three mana removal for White that can
bypass Shroud, Protection, and Indestructible if
a single creature is attacking. In a
White/Artifact build this really excels as a two
for one and is definitely worth running four of
in those designs. The opponent choosing
the creature is a minor drawback, but generally
this can be mitigated by proper timing or
additional removal. An excellent card that
should see at least sidedeck play if not
maindeck play in many White builds for the
foreseeable future.
In Limited this is one of the top choices for
removal and with Metalcraft being a big factor
of the set it should often work as the two for
one. The single White in the casting cost
allows it to be played in any design running the
color and it is strong enough to consider
splashing. Dispense Justice should be one
of the earliest choices in Booster and included
whenever your pool allows it in Sealed.
