I remember hearing this card's name sometime
before Return to Ravnica came out, and thinking
it might be an experimental white counterspell
of some kind (cf. Mana Tithe). But now I see
that when Mark Rosewater says they're "dabbling"
in something, it really means about once a
decade, which seems like an odd sort of policy
for a game that has a popular tournament format
with an annual rotation and where the articles
on the official website have stuff about "saying
good-bye" to rotating sets (as though the cards
in your collection physically migrate to Tirion
or Tir na nOg). That aside, there's definitely a
niche for this card. While it's not a reliable
form of mana denial, you get a pretty favorable
outcome regardless of which of its possible
choices your opponent makes. It may find it
slightly hard to be considered the top tables as
long as Oblivion Ring is around, but it deserves
consideration if only because it's slightly less
reversible; plus, seriously, when was the last
time white could forcibly limit somebody to
using just what he had on the table at that
exact time? Sixth Edition or so?
Today's card of the day is Soul Tithe which is
a two mana White aura that enchants a nonland
permanent and at the beginning of the upkeep of
the permanent's controller forces them to pay
mana equal to the converted mana cost or
sacrifice it. Even with low cost threats
this is a noticeable annoyance and with higher
cost cards, particularly ones brought out
earlier with effects, it works as a two mana
removal for any nonland. This will be a
very popular card and frequently seen in a
variety of builds using White mana.
For Limited the frequent excesses of mana will
work against this, but even locking down three
or more mana can have an impact. As an
uncommon this is well worth a second or third
pick in Booster or White mana guilds in Sealed
and there is no major drawback to running it as
a somewhat unreliable removal option. Low
cost targets and late game this is a fairly weak
card, though it shines in the middle stages when
tempo and mana make the most difference in the
format.
