This is a funny card to me, because it reminds
me of the long history of Magic's evolving
design sensibilities. Diabolic Edict was the
first of its kind, followed closely by the
sorcery-speed Cruel Edict from Portal (which
didn't have instants at all). At some point,
someone decided that Edicts should in fact be
sorceries, so we saw things like Chainer's Edict
and Barter in Blood . . . and then somebody
(probably a different person) decided that they
could be instants, hence Geth's Verdict and
Devour Flesh. It makes your head hurt when you
think about how each and every set was always
held up as the pinnacle of design and balance in
its day, even when the very next set
contradicted its principles. Personally, I'm not
much of a durational (to use Mark Rosewater's
term) guy, and I look at this as having a choice
in what I use in decks. Answering creatures with
protection and hexproof or auras with totem
armor is likely to be relevant well into the
future, and sometimes the most basic iteration
will work just fine.
Until next week, play with what you want to
play, when you want to play with it.
This is an elegant, simple
card: make an opponent sacrifice a creature.
This has always been a tool black has in order
to duck around protection, black creatures (as a
lot of black's old removal tended to not be able
to hit black creatures), regeneration, shroud/hexproof,
and indestructible. For this reason, it and
effects like it have been a staple of formats
they're playable in: remember that it hits the
player,
not the creature.
What it possesses in
versatility, it lacks in precision; an opponent
with a stuffed board won't be giving up their
most lethal creature to this. It also, as a
result of targeting the player, fizzles against
effects that give you shroud or hexproof (or
protection from black). In spite of its
limitations, this remains a powerful card
anywhere it's playable.
