The biggest reason that Shatter doesn't find its
way into just about every Red deck ever built is
the issue that if your opponent has no
artifacts, Shatter does absolutely nothing. It's
a dead card trapped in your hand. Oxxida
Scrapmelter is just as effective as Shatter at
destroying artifacts, but for two mana more you
get a 3/3. And since you don't need a legal
target to cast a creature spell, the Scrapmelter
is never a dead card. Even if there's no
artifacts on the board, you can play it for the
3/3. If that 3/3 then blocks and kills a
creature, or gets blocked and kills the blocker,
then you've just destroyed two cards with one of
yours. And if your opponent uses removal on it,
well, he's still down two cards.
But beware, because in Scars of Mirrodin, you're
likely to have a few artifacts yourself. And
Oxxida Scrapmelter's ability is mandatory, so if
yours are the only targets for it, well, let's
just say 3R and "sacrifice an artifact" isn't
really a bargain basement price to get a 3/3
with no combat-relevant abilities.
Today's card of the day is Oxidda Scrapmelter
which is a four mana 3/3 with a destroy artifact
effect when it comes into play. The effect
isn't optional as long as there is a target
available which would leave it exclusively as a
sidedeck option if you run any artifacts of your
own. For some decks the added power and
toughness compared to Manic Vandal might not
balance out the higher mana cost, so the choice
of which to use depends on the exact slot of the
curve that is available to be filled.
Overall this is an efficient choice for artifact
destruction at a point where artifacts are a big
part of the game. Instead of just
destroying a card you also get a decent creature
which makes playing this a better card
investment compared to a simple destruction
effect that might be cheaper.
For Limited in an artifact dominated set this is
an incredibly useful card with no real drawback.
A single red in the cost, high probability of
your opponent having a target at any given time,
plus a solid power and toughness places this
among the top choices in Booster and Sealed
drafts. One or two of these go a long way
towards building a stable design and it is one
of the best topdecks in the format.
