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Welcome back to Weapons Week!
Today's weapon: Axe*
Trivia: Compared to a sword swing, an axe
delivers more cleaving power against a smaller
target area, making it more effective against
armor, due to concentrating more of its weight
in the axehead.
* Bonesplitter may actually be a type of
polearm called a halberd, but that's basically
an axe on a long stick anyway.
Bonesplitter has a lot of things in common
with yesterday's scimitar - the low cast and
equip cost, and creature cards it works well
with for instance - but it's generally a little
bit better across the board. And a large part of
the reason for that is it has a specialized
function that it's very good at.
It helps aggro decks. A lot.
Let's look at two classic examples. Red decks
featuring lots of small guys with haste
(Goblins, traditionally) and big green zoo decks
that feature big guys with trample. Bonesplitter,
instead of being an all-around generic buff,
helps both of those decks achieve their intended
goals more rapidly.
Let's look at an example. Turn 1, Boros
Recruit. Turn 2, cast Bonesplitter, and equip
Bonesplitter to Boros Recruit. You're now
attacking with a 3/1 with First Strike. Now
either your opponent is going to sacrifice a
creature to block, as it's very unlikely that
their guy has more than 3 toughness this early
meaning you just got a free kill, or they take 3
damage to the face. And either way, your Recruit
is ready and willing to do the whole thing again
next turn.
Next example. Let's say you have a Terra
Stomper out. Your opponent is trying to buy time
to find a kill spell by sending in chump blocker
after chump blocker. The Bonesplitter here
basically acts as "1: Deal an extra 2 damage to
your opponent every turn." Because let's say
your opponent had a bunch of 4/4's. Maybe he
made a bunch of Angel tokens with Moonsilver
Spear or something. If he blocks with one,
normally he'd lose the token and take 4 trample
damage. Bonesplitter increases that to 6, which
over the next few turns could decide the game.
Because you're not trying to wipe out his field
here, you're trying to deal as much damage to
him as possible IN SPITE of his field.
Because of trample, Bonesplitter's extra 2
damage will always be going SOMEWHERE. And
because of haste, it's very likely you could
play something scary, equip Bonesplitter to it
that same turn, and attack with an unexpected 7
damage Hellkite Charger or Demigod of Revenge.
Or do both with a 9 damage Blitz Hellion.
Even Kor Duelist would rather have a
Bonesplitter in his hands than a Leonin
Scimitar, unless he had an eye for fine pieces
of art. An extra point of power is often much
more useful in an aggro deck than an extra point
of toughness. Even if it's just a simple Raging
Goblin (or better yet, Legion Loyalist) on turn
1 and Bonesplitter turn 2, what does your
opponent do if they don't have a 1/1? Would you
sacrifice a 2/2 or even a 3/3 to stop a simple
goblin? And if not, are you willing to take
maybe 6 damage from it before it dies? Did you
end up losing the game because you took an extra
6 damage early on and weren't able to stop it?
Aggro decks with Bonesplitter, man. They really
pour on the power and the damage.
It may not be quite as good as Rancor, but
it's an inexpensive boost, both in mana cost and
because it's a common. I certainly wouldn't
recommend it for every deck out there, but if
you want to give cheap aggro-esque equipment a
try, Bonesplitter is certainly a fine choice.
Join us tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion
to Weapons Week! What will the final weapon be?
I won't spoil the surprise, but it's pretty
powerful.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
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