I have to admit that when it comes
to witches in popular culture, I usually don't
gravitate towards anything darker than Sabrina.
I only watched season 6 of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer for basically that exact reason. I'll
make an exception for this card, though, because
it has the potential to do some very interesting
things. You'll notice that the creature side
encourages your opponent to kill it, but doesn't
actually require it for the effect to take
place. As such, the total package plays into
multiple of black's strengths, like killing your
own creatures for a benefit and casting
debilitating spells on your opponent. I
particularly like how Infectious Curse's wording
affects not only spells like Corrupt (multiples
per turn?!) but also the original Innistrad
block's curses, which tended to be on the
expensive side.
I like the idea that whoever kills the Witch
"inherits" her curse. The Witch itself is beyond
underwhelming-- a Giant Cockroach that actively
enables opponents to kill her. But of course,
they won't want to, because then they'll get
cursed. Which means she's a 4/2 that players
won't want to block. The Curse isn't exactly
insurmountable-- spells that target players
aren't exactly bountiful in Innistrad these
days. There's Avacyn's Judgment and Liliana's
Indignation, which each allow to you set X one
higher than you could afford if your opponent is
Cursed, and then there's Alms of the Vein, To
the Slaughter, Pick the Brain, Startled Awake,
and a few burn spells you'd probably rather use
to kill creatures. Nothing here screams "game
winner" hard enough that making it cost 1 less
excites me, but then again, most of them are
black and so is this. There's also that 1-point
life drain each turn, which can help push the
clock back in your favor if you're behind, and
of course there's nothing stopping you from
playing several of these on the same player. A
2, 3, or even 4-point life swing each turn, plus
an extra-discounted X spell, could be quite
ruinous indeed.
And of course, in a multiplayer game, the player
who bites the bullet and kills the Witch doesn't
have to be the target of the Curse, so there's
the political angle to be had as well.
