Equipment has to be judged not only by its cost,
but by its equip cost. At four and four, this is
definitely a mid- to late-game play.
Realistically, it's not going to be on a
creature until turn five, and it doesn't make
the creature it's on bigger in any way. What it
does make is Angel tokens, and 4/4 flying has
historically been a very solid set of stats.
Even if the original Spear-wielder is killed by
blockers, all you have to do is swing once, then
re-equip to the new 4/4 flyer! Any Equipment
that helps prevent you from running out of
potential wielders is going to be very solid,
though I have doubts about its speed in faster
formats.
Anybody who says polearms aren't cool is not
familiar with the Swiss Guards, or with
Moonsilver Spear. You've got to love an
equipment card that provides more wielders for
itself (when the original gets killed, as is
likely to happen from time to time), and that
constant stream of attackers or blockers is
relevant against most styles of opponent. The
costs involved are high enough that the Spear
doesn't do its best work in every deck, but when
things come together, there are few things
better at what it does.
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
a solid casual equipment, Moonsilver Spear gets
no where near competitive formats so there it is
really lacking. In casual and multiplayer being
able to pump out angels is a powerful ability
and the first strike means you an push through
for damage. I like the value in this card as you
only have to pop out one angel and then equip
the spear and continue the token craze, angels
have tons of casual appeal and this is the
perfect equipment for angel lovers The ability
to also pump out blockers cannot be ignored in
multiplayer. In limited its pretty much a bomb,
uncontested it can flood the board and act as a
win condition in itself. Overall this spear is
great in casual and multiplayer and if drafted a
powerful win condition.
Today's card of the day is Moonsilver Spear
which is a four mana equipment with an equip
cost of four that gives First Strike and
whenever the creature attacks you put a 4/4
White angel with Flying into play. This is
a bit slow, but with support to get it into play
or attached without the cost it can be a serious
threat with the production of evasive tokens.
Overall it is a solid, if mana intensive card,
that won't see much play outside of Casual or
Commander.
In Limited this is a major bomb for any deck
thanks to being colorless and putting fairly
large evasive tokens into play. It should
not be passed in Booster or sidedecked in Sealed
as it can and will win games with even one
attack from an existing creature. In the format
there is no real drawback to this card aside
from the delay in equipping it after playing
it.
This week we'll be looking at a variety of
different pieces of Equipment - all of them
weapons. Some of them extremely powerful, some
of them more humble. We'll be looking at weapons
both new and old - some from sets many many
years back! But my favourite part is that every
day will be a different TYPE of weapon. Only one
sword, only one axe, etc, for all 5 days. Or at
least not the same subtype of weapon, i.e.
different kinds of swords. Shall we begin?
Today's weapon: Spear
Trivia: Spears were the most commonly used
weapon throughout history. Being able to stab
your enemy without them being able to reach you
back had definite advantages.
We begin with none other than the mighty weapon
wielded by Avacyn, Angel of Hope herself - the
Moonsilver Spear.
This card is both extremely powerful and
extremely fun. Attacking your opponent is
something you're undoubtably going to do anyway.
So why not get a free 4/4 flying angel token out
of it every time you do?
A lot of the time the downside of really strong
cards is that they're very expensive mana-wise
to play. And that's sort of the case here. But
the difference between this and other cards that
might be deemed "unplayable" because of their
cost is that Moonsilver Spear is so good that
it's worth it to try and find a way to play this
thing. It's not something you can just throw
into any deck, but with only a little bit of
work you can create something that can make it
viable. If you do get it out and equipped to
something, even 2 triggers makes it
all worthwhile, and you might just end up
steamrolling your enemy with the raw power of an
army of 4/4 flying angels.
So how can you tap into the awesome power of the
Moonsilver Spear? 4 mana to cast and 4
mana to equip means an 8 mana investment before
you can even swing with it once. Or does it? You
may remember a very popular and powerful card
called Puresteel Paladin, and he was literally
born to help you play high-cost equipment like
this. He also had a powerful ally in Stoneforge
Mystic, though that card is banned in Modern
now. What else helps this card out? Well, it'd
be a shame to swing and then have your attacker
die. Then you'll have to equip it all over
again, and that's another 4 mana if you don't
have Puresteel support. But what if your
attacking creature COULDN'T die? Ever? You might
think I'm referring to Indestructible, and yes
that can work, but actually unblockable does
too. Anything from Triton Shorestalker,
Inkfathom Infiltrator, Jhessian Infiltrator,
to Invisible Stalker. Throw a Moonsilver Spear
on any of them, and watch the Angels start
raking in.
It's a fun weapon and a powerful card, but maybe
not Constructed-level powerful. You CAN give it
a try, free angels are worth the effort, and the
support does exist. But without that support
it's pretty slow and expensive, and that loses
you games in Constructed. Absolutely run this in
Limited. Not even a question. It will win you
games. Many games. There are plenty of creatures
swinging in Limited, plenty of spare mana from
turn to turn in the mid-late game, and a lot
less removal.
It's kind of amusing to me how this spear grants
the creature First Strike, yet Avacyn herself -
who is holding the spear in her card art -
doesn't have First Strike.
