Noble Quarry

Because of the way Bestow works, this is basically two alpha swings with a Lure effect. Since one Lure effect is usually enough to win the game provided you have a sufficient army, the addition of a second swing effectively lets you end games sooner by making your alpha strikes with a smaller army. But wait! The Quarry on its own is a simple 1/1. If your opponent can kill it outside of combat, with something as simple as Spark Jolt, then you may be charging into a very unfavorable board state. The same holds true for Lure, of course, but because the Quarry telegraphs the second swing from a full turn back, your opponent can prepare a counter-strategy far more effectively. It's a risky all-in scenario. Is your deck built to take full advantage?

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 1.75

Today's card of the day is Noble Quarry which is a three mana Green 1/1 or Bestow for six mana that makes all creatures able to block it do so. 
This is a walking Lure that can open up the field for an alpha strike or in the late game allow two or more of those attacks by being Bestowed on a creature.  An Indestructible target to enchant or one with high enough attack power and Deathtouch are just some of the options available for this to support.  Overall the Bestow cost is too high for competitive formats, so it is unlikely to see play outside of Casual, Commander, or Multiplayer where it can make a serious impact by quickly bringing stalemates to an end.
 
In Limited this allowing clear attacks when you have several creatures can end a game at almost any time and is even stronger later on if Bestow can be used.  As this almost guarantees some damage it is an easy second pick in Booster and worth including in any Sealed using Green.
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.5

Noble Quarry

Unlike yesterday's card, which I was a little higher on than many other people, I'm a little less excited about this one than others. If you use him as a creature, he can help you make your other creatures unblockable for a turn, but you'd have to have enough damage to finish your opponent off, or you're just leaving yourself wide open for retaliation next turn. If you use him as a bestow, you might be able to put him on a regenerating creature, or better yet, a deathtouch creature. The problem is that it's six mana to do this! If I have six mana, I'd rather play a big threat on its own rather than something that might be a big threat if you happen to have the right cards and right board situation to go with it.

The bottom line is pretty much the same in each format: there are circumstances where this could be a game winner, but far too often, you're going to wish you had something else.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 2

Noble Quarry is another card I really like the theme of, partially because of how unexpected Lure effects can be. Yesterday we talked about a combat trick that can be used in two different ways, but this one can only be used offensively. In terms of opening a hole in your opponent's line of defense though, Lure effects are some of the best.

Noble Quarry has the additional benefit of being able to be cast as an Aura for its bestow cost. Which, unsurprisingly, is pretty expensive at 6 mana. The original Lure enchantment only cost 3 mana. Can it still be worth it, even at 6 mana, to play? The answer is yes, for two reasons.

The first reason is simply because you want to play this late in the game anyway, when you have a bunch of stuff on the field and likely your opponent does too. This card's ability is one of the best ways to break a stalemate out there. The second reason is the surprise factor. If you cast this as a creature, your opponent sees your combat trick coming. Now there may or may not still be much they can DO about it, but whatever action they can take, they will. Usually this will mean either a kill spell or attacking with everything, because why not. Might as well take some of your stuff down with him. This can still work to your advantage, especially if you have even more combat tricks to spring. The psychology of the game is very important, and if you can force your opponent to have to pick one of two bad choices, you'll be sitting pretty while they're sweating and potentially tapping their way into an ambush.

The ability to throw Noble Quarry's ability onto any of your guys gets even more fun when you put it on something powerful, like say something with deathtouch. Or indestructible. Usually when you attack with something like this, you accept that you're sacrificing it to let other things get through. Not so with indestructible!

You can, of course, play Noble Quarry just as a creature instead of bestowing it. The creature version can be helpful if you only have so many other creatures, and don't want to turn one of them into the sacrificial lamb. But there's no reason to do this in the early game, unless you're in desperate need for a 1/1 for some reason. It's a finishing move combat trick, plain and simple. And it's very good at what it does. It can break stalemates in limited, and be lots of fun in casual.

In constructed... ehhh, well, I'd really like to rate it highly and say it's great. But it suffers from the same problem as yesterday's card, which is that it's not a permanent answer. It doesn't get rid of the problem. It's a one-time (usually) use sneaking-past-the-enemy trick that will only pull off spectacular results if you're already in a relatively good field position, and you have to choose between the expensive mana cost version or the slow version that they see coming. It can be used, and it can be fun, and it can win you games. But it won't always be the card you want to see. Remember, its real strength comes from whatever else you've got backing it up.

A unicorn is a very noble and beautiful creature. And really, if one ran past you, wouldn't you try to chase it too?

Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3