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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!


Image from Wizards.com

Desperate Ravings
Innistrad

Reviewed October 27, 2011

Constructed: 2.00
Casual: 2.33
Limited: 3.00
Multiplayer: 2.00

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Desperate Ravings

See, this is the kind of color pie bending I like to see. And you don't even notice (or complain) because the ability fits the name so well. In-game, Desperate Ravings is far from the most powerful way to draw cards, but I can definitely see its uses. There are some situations where you take pretty much any card drawing you get; there are also situations where you don't mind discarding so much, because it assists your flashback spells or your Pyromancer Ascension (it might not like the random element, but it does work with the graveyard). For a lot of decks, the graveyard is a "discard pile" in only the most nominal of ways, so it's hard to see this as having too much of a drawback, at least when used correctly.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 2/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Desperate Ravings which despite being both a low two mana to cast and having draw two cards in the text is a bit weak as the discard is random and requires Blue mana for the Flashback.  Not being able to choose what card gets discarded when this is topdecked equals just drawing another card instead of Ravings and it is unlikely to be the best play even if your hand is relatively full.  The Flashback cost isn't useful either as a Red/Blue deck could just run Think Twice or other draw options instead with generally better results.
 
For Limited this can work well as the format promotes deck thinning to get to key cards and holding land is a viable option to improve your discard odds.  In many situations you may have cards in hand that aren't beneficial and only have a single copy of one or two cards in your deck that can win the game for you, so cards like this improve your odds somewhat.  As long as it is played when you don't have a crucial card in hand it is well worth including in Red decks for Sealed and drafting after removal and major creatures in Booster.
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.0

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

      Welcome to another great card of the day here at Pojo.com! Today we look at the red uncommon instant Desperate Ravings from Innistrad. Desperate Ravings costs one generic and one red mana. Desperate Ravings allows you to draw two cards, but then must discard a card at random. It also has flashback for two generic and one blue mana.

      I personally do not like any card that says you must discard at random. The chances that you draw something extremely useful, only to watch it be sent to your graveyard as quickly as it hit your hand are too great of a risk for me. Even though a large quantity of decent spells in Innistrad have flashback, it still cost mana to cast Desperate Ravings, and that may not leave you the mana to flashback the spell you just were forced to pitch.

      It becomes too much of an effort to manage to keep something you need, if your hand is depleted, which would likely be the reason for using such a card. But, if your hand is full, you have more room to gamble.

      Nothing that really excites me about this card, and it is certainly not a game changer.

Limited: 2/5
Casual: 1/5
Constructed: 1/5
Multiplayer: 1/5


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