This is a pretty funny card. Put on an
opponent's creature, it says "Yeah, sure, you
can still attack and block with it. But if it
dies, I steal it." On the one hand, if you've
got black mana up (suggesting a kill spell), or
combat goes down and you might have a trick,
your opponent is really discouraged from really
doing anything with it. And in multiplayer, you
have a bigger selection of creatures to choose
from and a greater chance that an opponent will
see fit to kill the enchanted creature for you.
Additionally, unlike "aura removal" like
Clinging Darkness or Nightmare Bond, the
opponent can't safely use a sacrifice ability on
his debilitated creature. On the other hand,
putting this card on an opponent's creature is
undeniably an aggressive act, yet it doesn't
actually stop the creature from attacking you,
so you could end up just aggravating people for
no gain.
The other option is to play this on your own
creature, and take solace in the knowledge that
it now has to be killed twice. You can attack
and block with relative impunity, knowing you've
already proactively "countered" their kill spell
or traded your Aura for their blocker instead of
your creature. You could also cast the Pact on
the best creature on the table-- regardless of
whose it is-- in anticipation of your own Life's
Finale or Black Sun's Zenith. Even better on a
creature like Rune-Scarred Demon, that has an
ETB trigger. You could even use the trigger to
search up another copy of the Pact!
It amuses me how many colors this effect has
appeared in over the years. That's kind of a
different story, though. The main point is,
Unhallowed Pact is actually pretty good as
effects like this go. Black has enough ways of
getting things off the table that you can use it
to steal almost any creature you decide you want
or that you forgot to put in your own deck, and
there are lots of nasty creatures you could play
yourself and your opponent really doesn't want
to see get a second wind (Massacre Wurm,
anyone?). I'm pretty sure it makes a combo with
Evershrike, too.
Today's card of the day is Unhallowed Pact
which is a three mana Black aura that returns
the enchanted creature to the battlefield under
your control if it dies. This can work on
your creatures as a way to deal with removal or
to activate comes into or leaves play effects
again.
When supported with removal, an easy thing to
find when playing Black, this also works on most
threats and works as a two for two exchange
which is at least playable when compared to a
one for two play. Overall this may see use
in several different themes and is fairly
versatile in the right build.
For Limited this is far less likely to be used
on an opponent's creature, but is a decent
stalling method or source of repeating effects
on your own. In Sealed the single Black in
the casting cost allows this to be played in any
build using the color and should be as it
preserves the primary commodity in the format.
In Booster this can be drafted as an on-color
pick later in the pack as it really isn't worth
a first or second slot and may even have
competition in the third or fourth range.
In Multiplayer this has a fairly interesting
application as you do not have the remove the
creature it is targeting when it is a threat to
other players. Anyone wanting to destroy a
creature enchanted with this will wind up having
it return and possibly under new management
which leads to difficult decisions and potential
temporary alliances.
Welcome to the Pojo.com card of the day
section. Today we are looking at Unhallowed Pact
from Avacyn Restored. Unhallowed Pact is a
common black enchantment-Aura. Unhallowed Pact
is a creature enchantment that says whenever
enchanted creature is put into a graveyard from
play return it to the battlefield under your
control. Unhallowed Pact costs two generic and a
black mana.
I love these sorts of cards. One of my
favorite of all time had to be Shade’s Form.
While Unhallowed Pact doesn’t offer any sort of
pump, it is still simply amazing. The reasons
why is how versatile it really is. If you put it
on one fo your creatures, should it die for any
reason, you get to put it right back on the
battlefield. Now obviously you’ll want to use it
on something big and worthy of the Unhallowed
Pact. But here is what makes it even better. You
can put Unhallowed Pact on your opponents
creatures, too. Then you can cast Go For the
Throat or any number of other kill spells and in
essence gain control of one of your opponents
best creatures!
