It's funny that they've been putting creatures
and planeswalkers together on the same removal
spells (Despise, Hero's Downfall, and now this).
Planeswalkers certainly look like creatures, but
they play somewhat more like enchantments,
except for being able to attack them. Anyway,
there are certainly a lot of situations where
you want to destroy a bunch of them at once, and
this card is quite good at that, albeit at a
high cost. That makes it something that control
decks are likely to want to hurl at each other
later in the game, especially since a lot of
creature horde decks are faster than Fated
Retribution. Don't underestimate the fact that
it's technically an instant, too: while I
suspect people will more often want to use it on
their turn and thus scry, the option of casting
it on someone else's turn is valuable, if only
for the demoralizing factor of casting it in
response to Overrun or Garruk Wildspeaker's
ultimate or something.
Today's card of the day is Fated Retribution
which is a seven mana White instant that
destroys all creatures and planeswalkers and if
cast on your turn also has Scry 2. This is
a high cost source of global removal that is
notable for being an instant which allows far
more effective timing opportunities than the
typical sorcery options. The high cost and
need to keep that many mana sources available is
enough to keep this out of most decks, but heavy
stall Blue/White control or Multiplayer decks
can certainly benefit. It is unlikely to
see much play in competitive Standard, Modern,
or older formats and overall is more of a tool
for formats with a slower pace.
In Limited the global removal is powerful
against the more dangerous creatures and
planeswalkers, but doesn't work on gods aside
from lowering devotion and leaves any number of
other indestructible or formerly bestowed
creatures in play. This can be used to
your advantage and any board sweeper is worth
having in your pool for the situational
advantages and more importantly to keep it away
from your opponents in Booster. As a hate
draft and for setting up a late game advantage
this is worth the first pick in Booster and in a
forty percent or more White deck it should
usually secure a slot in Sealed as well.
Fated Retribution is a “great” new board wipe.
I believe that the idea behind this card was to
give mono-white a way to deal with planes
walkers in Standard play. I am disappointed that
they chose 7 mana as the cost but this could
mean that a cheaper alternative is coming soon.
The fact that Fated Retribution is an instant
actually helps its playability “a lot”. Never
underestimate the ability to wipe out a horde of
attacking creatures! The Scry 2 ability doesn’t
make this card any better or any worse. If it is
turn 7 or 8 and a Planes Walker is about to bust
an ultimate all over you, then maybe Fated
Retribution will save the day!
