It's very rare to see someone play Sign in Blood
and target an opponent. Giving your opponent two
cards you could've drawn yourself is a waste
just to make them lose 2 life... unless they
were at 2 already. But with Caress of Phyrexia,
that may be a different story. With the easy
proliferation available now, giving your
opponent three poison counters they can't block
is a pretty big deal, and could easily be the
killing blow in a moderatly aggressive infect
deck. Alternatively, if your opponent isn't
playing infect, you could target yourself with
this and draw three cards. We already know that
X cards is worth paying X life-- but X cards for
X poison counters? The math hasn't quite been
done on that one. I really hope this sees a fair
bit of play-- I want to know if people use it
more on themselves or their opponents.
Am I the only person who finds this card's
flavor text really, really creepy? Regardless,
I'm intrigued by the possibility of using a
mega-Sign in Blood in some way. I don't see it
displacing the original entirely, but there may
be an opportunity for it if infect decks ever
need "direct damage" that' faster than the usual
proliferate cards. Three extra mana is a lot,
but that certainly doesn't matter at the stage
when you'll be pointing it at your opponent, and
it may not be too much if it reaches the point
of targeting yourself in desperation.
Today's card of the day is Caress of Phyrexia
which is a five mana Black spell which causes a
loss of three life, gives three poison counters,
and causes the target player to draw three
cards. While this can possibly end the
game in three ways at once in an extremely
unlike scenario, it generally would be used as a
finisher for an Infect deck that stalls out or
an unconventional draw engine. In either
use it is a bit risky and high cost at five mana
and giving an opponent three cards without
ending the game that turn is rarely a good play
which leaves this as a card that can't be played
on a whim. Using it on yourself is also a
gamble, the damage may be worth the cards, but
if the opponent is using Infect the three poison
counters are a big issue and the mana cost is
too high. Overall it is a potential
finisher for Infect and can be used for drawing
if absolutely necessary in those builds, but
really shouldn't see play anywhere else as Black
has other options for less mana.
In Limited this card is again something that
should not be used unless it is going to end the
game for your opponent on that turn as three
cards too much of an advantage. If you are
drafting into Infect it can be picked up as a
finishing move in Booster and may even get
passed around if you want to risk that, but if
it is the only Infect in the pack it is worth
taking. In Sealed if you have the Infect
or Proliferate to make the theme work this is a
viable finisher as it gets around any blocking
or removal the opponent might have. It
also works to draw cards in a format that has
fewer options to enable that which makes it
valuable despite the risk in playing it.
Welcome to
another card of the day review here at Pojo.com.
Today we are taking a look at Caress of Phyrexia
from New Phyrexia. Caress of Phyrexia costs
three generic and two black mana. Caress of
Phyrexia is a sorcery that says target player
draws three cards, loses three life, and gets
three poison counters.
Caress of Phyrexia is a very interesting card to me. For
starters, it could easily finish off an
opponent. Three life, three poison counters,
either scenario could potentially be end game
quality. But what about the draw? If you fatten
an opponents hand, they could be forced to
discard, which could also set up into Liliana’s
Caress, or Megrim. The other reason I find this
card interesting is maybe the target won’t
always be your opponent. Three cards could
change the tide of any game. Those three cards
could replace the life lost, take out your
opponent, or otherwise gain you some advantage.
If you aren’t playing against a proliferate
deck, or a poison deck, then receiving three
poison counters may not be such a bad thing.
While I don’t think this card will see much in a
pro-play deck, it is a definite fun card for
many situations, and a variety of decks.
