Today's card of the day is Akroan Conscriptor
which is a five mana Red
3/2 with Heroic that grants control of a target
creature and gives it
Haste until end of turn as well as untaps it.
This is a powerful effect
as an instant speed and reusable Act of Treason
that can be triggered as
a combat trick or take advantage of an
opponent's Inspired effect. The
low toughness can be overcome with instants or
auras that improve
survival, but the casting cost puts this fairly
late in the game for Red
outside of Multiplayer or Commander. Overall it
is a decent card with
some speed and support issues that will likely
prevent it from being
seen in any competitive settings.
In Limited this is a devastating effect
whether it is used offensively
or defensively and even a single trigger can
dramatically change the
game, much like Act of Treason. Multiple uses of
the effect should win
most of the time and it makes for an excellent
early pick in Booster.
The single Red in the casting cost out of five
mana allows inclusion in
any deck using even a small number of Red mana
sources and there is
little reason not to include a copy in Sealed
when possible.
Have you ever gotten absolutely wrecked by Act
of Treason, Mass Mutiny, or some similar effect?
If you're reading this sentence, there's a
pretty good chance you have and that your
instinctive reaction to this card was similar to
mine - as in, you started thinking nervously
about getting wrecked by it multiple times in
one turn. Of course, it's suitably hard to pull
that off, and the heroic trigger means your
opponent can ambush you and turn it around with
a well-placed instant, meaning that worst-fear
scenario will probably not really pan out that
much. On the other hand, this guy makes any kind
of Giant Growth or similar effect that already
messes up combat pull double and triple duty, so
he should be respected for that.
