David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Ashnod's Altar
Historically, artifacts have always been among
the most powerful cards in Magic. There may no
longer be new cards in the style of Black Lotus,
but modern artifacts still define formats
surprisingly often, even if that "format" is
casual play. You may be surprised at some of the
things we're reviewing for the first time this
week, but when it comes to artifacts, Magic
players have always been spoiled for choice.
Someone I knew from my old, old, incredibly
old-school play group got a Chronicles Ashnod's
Altar in a booster. Nobody knew exactly what it
was good for, but there was something
eye-catching about the effect to the point that
he jammed it in something that we would now call
a midrange deck. He'd sacrifice a two-cost
creature to help cast a four-cost creature, and
things of that type, and for some reason we
never put it in a deck with Ornithopter and
Fireball, even though we probably owned about
twelve of each card between us. That's the funny
thing about Ashnod's Altar, and indeed a lot of
combo cards: once you see the "unfair" use of
it, it seems obvious, like when someone tells
you the answer to a riddle, and then you see it
every time you look at the card. But until you
do, it could be almost anything.
To be fair, Ashnod's Altar is distinguished not
only for being one of the first "engine" combo
cards. It's distinguished because it remains a
significant member of that set after so many
years: more and more Magic sets have brought
more and more cards that care when something
dies, and more and more cards that want you to
have lots of mana, whether those are X spells or
other types of thing.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5
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