The comparisons to Sift are unescapable. That
said, this is a six-mana spell that is both hand
refill and removal. By the time you get to six
mana, there's a good chance you'll have played
out a good portion of your hand and be ready for
a refill. There's also a very good chance that
by that point, your opponent will have put
something on the table that you want to kill.
The trouble is, we don't know how much damage
this will actually do. It's not a random
discard, so you can control it somewhat,
especially if you already have a card you don't
mind pitching in hand. But if you're waiting to
see what you draw to decide what you'll pitch,
well... I wouldn't, unless I was real desperate.
The problem here is that, at turn six, the card
you're most likely to want to discard is an
extra land. To get the most damage out of this,
you'd have to pitch an expensive spell, just as
you're getting in position to actually cast that
spell (and more expensive spells tend to be
worth more than their converted mana cost in
damage). The real killer is that this is
obviously intended to run in an Izzet deck,
where most of the best instant and sorcery
spells have Overload. That means they retain
their relevance late into the game, even
though their converted mana costs are low. But
then, not every card in an Izzet deck is an
Overload card. You may end up with an extra copy
of Melek, or two copies of this card, after all.
I still think this could be worth it in an Izzet
deck, especially if you've got a Goblin
Electromancer or two out. If you've already got
the card you intend to pitch and see a good
target, so much the better, but personally I'd
default to aiming it at my opponent, and focus
on getting the cards I need. Any damage is a
mere lagniappe.
I suppose this is the easiest way to design
multicolor cards, isn't it? Still, sometimes the
simplest way works well, and this is probably
one of those times. Traditional card-drawing or
damage-dealing cards just perform their one
function and don't affect anything else; doing
multiple things in radically different
categories is the kind of thing we usually go to
cards like planeswalkers to do. In their case
they give you spell-like and card-advantageous
effects while attracting damage away from you;
here you gain card advantage and quality
advantage while removing a threat or damaging
your opponent.
Today's card of the day is Blast of Genius
which is a six mana Blue and Red sorcery that
has you draw three cards then discard a card to
deal damage equal to that card's converted mana
cost to target creature or player. Six mana is
fairly high, though manageable in a Blue/Red
control and burn build where this has the
advantage of being draw and dealing damage.
Managing higher cost spells to maximize this can
be a problem that is lessened with library
manipulation and even discarding another copy of
this gains you cards and is efficient on damage
alone as a six for six. Overall this will likely
see some play in Izzet decks and Commander, but
the fairly specialized nature keeps it from
having more widespread appeal.
In Limited you may not have a six or higher
mana card available to discard, but the draw
three and discard one aspect almost gives you
the value for your mana by itself. Add in the
burn, here more likely used as removal, and you
have a very strong uncommon that can warrant a
first pick in a weak pack or when already
running Izzet. In Sealed there is no reason not
to include this in a deck with both colors and
it is one of the few higher mana cards that is
not negatively impacted by similar cost cards in
the mana curve.
Welcome to another preview of Dragon's Maze
here at Pojo.com! Today's card is Blast of
Genius. Blast of Genius is an uncommon sorcery
that costs four generic, one red, and one blue
mana. Blast of Genius says choose target
creature or player. Draw three cards, then
discard a card. Blast of Genius deals damage to
the target creature or player equal to the
discarded card's converted mana cost.
While not the best uncommon I have ever seen, I
think that Blast of Genius will see some serious
play in Modern, Vintage, and Casual formats.
After all, there is nothing like discarding
Emrakul, the Eons Torn for fifteen damage off of
six mana. The main drawback would likely be the
six mana cost associated in non-ramping colors.
However, cards such as Arcane Melee and Goblin
Electromancer sure do help you potentially get
this cast for as little as two mana.
In Standard, there really aren't a lot of really
high cast spells that would be beneficial to
pitch to Blast of Genius. The highest probably
being Skarrg Goliath. But, of course, that is a
green card.
