Hushed whispers from the corners of the Internet
and backwoods cardgame shops across the globe
herald Hex Parasite as the silver bullet to
thwart planeswalkers, as the Mindsculptor's
long-overdue assassin. I say those folks have
forgotten that Hex Parasite is a 1/1 artifact
creature, the easiest thing to kill in all of
Magic. Remember, when your opponent's
planeswalker resolves, your opponent gets
priority first, meaning once the Mindsculptor
hits the table, he gets at least one ability to
go on the stack before you can even touch him.
Can't Jace 2.0 bounce creatures? Oh, Hex can
certainly do a number on any planeswalker that
lets him live. And even if Chandra Nalaar, Sorin
Markov, or Karn Liberated spend their first turn
axing the Parasite, you can still clean off a
few counters in response... if you have enough
mana open. You can't pat 2 life for the X part,
after all. But I do think that Hex Parasite will
enjoy a slot in some folks' decks. Maybe not as
a means to thwart planeswalkers, but there are
plenty of cards that acquire counters they'd
rather not have. Infect does put -1/-1 counters
on creatures, and Hex Parasite can cure them.
Hex can also drain charge counters off
opponents' artifacts, or deny quest counters to
opposing Ascensions and the like. The power
boost? Hardly relevant-- attack with it and it
gets chump blocked, and dies because it has one
toughness. At best the power boost turns Hex
Parasite from a combo cog to a potential combat
trick. But I see Hex Parasite the same way I see
Negate-- it's a good tool to have when you're
tightening up your deck's strengths and
weaknesses, and I expect to see it used, but
it's not going to bend the format extensively,
and it's not going to scare Jace the
Mindsculptor into staying home.
Hex Parasite comes as an attempt, rather late in
Magic's overall life, to fight not only
planeswalkers but also decks that manipulate
charge counters and +1/+1 counters. Despite this
card's apparent frailty, I've always been an
advocate of versatile cards, and I can't argue
against a creature that any deck can use to
fight Jace, and which can be used equally well
against more obscure threats like Darksteel
Reactor and Chance Encounter.
Today's card of the day is Hex Parasite which
is a one mana creature that can work against
anything with counters and isn't removed in the
process. For a low cost of two life and X
mana this can deal with planeswalkers, charge
counters, Infect, and many other threats.
Even if none are present it is still a one mana
1/1 which makes this an easy choice to maindeck
or sidedeck and it should see a great deal of
play.
In Limited a one mana 1/1 is always good, though
not often as a first pick, but in this case
working as a counter to many set mechanics
allows it to truly shine. Unlike other
creatures with the same cost it is probably best
to hold this until needed for the effect.
Seen as utility or removal and a creature this
is worth the first choice in Booster and should
always be included in your Sealed pool. As
an artifact it works in any color deck and at a
single mana it doesn't alter any mana curve.
There is no drawback to playing it and it should
always have some benefit as a draw for some part
of the effect and a potential blocker.
It is a possible offensive threat as well, but
using the effect when it enters the battlefield
is more likely to avoid removal and prevent the
opponent from using the counters themselves.
Welcome to today’s
card of the day here at Pojo.com. Today we take
a look at Hex Parasite from New Phyrexia. Hex
Parasite costs just one generic mana. Hex
Parasite is a 1/1 artifact creature that has x
and a black Phyrexian mana: Remove x counters
from target permanent. For each counter removed,
Hex Parasite gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Hex Parasite is being called the new Planeswalker killer, yet
I disagree. While it is very effective at taking
planeswalkers out, nothing can be deemed as good
of a Planeswalker killer as the Vampire Hexmage.
But, in terms of removing counters for multiple
reasons, Hex Parasite is quite effective. And
the ability to weaken a Planeswalker while
pumping the Hex Parasite is just fun.
Again, I feel that this card is getting too much
attention, but that is just my personal opinion.
Many think that this card is worth the hype, I
just feel it is a decent, multi-use card.
