David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Gaze of Granite
I spent a lot of time, back when I still had
faith in reprints (long story - ask me about it
some time), wishing for Pernicious Deed to
return in modern frames. That was partly because
of its power level and partly because of its
association with Freyalise, a planeswalker who
broke stereotypes of nature mages in general and
elves in particular and was always portrayed
with a compelling style and manner. Gaze of
Granite has a very different visual style from
Freyalise, but as far as power goes, it's very
nearly the same as her iconic weapon. I would
actually argue that in some situations it's
better, because most decks don't have the
ability to look at your hand, while anyone can
look across and see what's on your side of the
table.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
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Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno |
Today's card of the day is Gaze of Granite
which is a two Black, one Green, and X sorcery
that destroys each nonland permanent with a
converted mana cost of X or less. This is an
excellent three mana sweep against token decks
and with additional mana can pretty much clear
the board. In competitive formats getting to the
level of mana needed can be difficult if Green
isn't the primary color and ideally your own
cards will avoid the effect somehow. Arranging
that can strain the design of the deck which may
leave this as a sidedeck choice or Multiplayer
sweeper.
In Limited this isn't the kind of card you
want to pass and it can easily change the course
of any game that is stalled or being won by the
opponent. The single Green can allow this to be
splashed into guilds with Black mana aside from
Golgari and the threat to Selesnya's tokens and
low cost with Evolved toughness Simic shouldn't
be ignored. A sometimes useful and sometimes
dead weight first pick in Booster that should be
able to take a slot in Sealed as the potential
gives it enough value.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 4.5
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