I know we're supposed to find this card really
disturbing and confronting - and the concept is
certainly both in general - but for some reason
I keep thinking about the line from Young
Frankenstein about Abby Normal's brain. It's
possible that my mind just doesn't work in the
right way for horror; but, I am also tired of
everything being so super cereal (to quote South
Park). In any event, this is an interesting card
that promises suitably shocking plays like
casting six-mana sorceries in a color completely
unrelated to the rest of your deck, for just one
mana. The card takes a long time to get there,
but it's a spectacular enough payoff that casual
decks should love it (and you should probably
start maindecking Vampire Hexmage if you don't).
It's not like expensive sorceries need that much
help to be relevant anwyay!
Brain in a Jar
An interesting way to both cheat out expensive
spells and to manipulate your incoming draws.
Each time you activate the ability, you get to
cast a progressively more expensive spell for
free. Eventually you could be dropping Ultimata
for "1,T". Don't think your opponent doesn't
know that, though-- this pickled thinker is
bound to draw the first Shatter your opponent
comes across. But the counters have a second
use, so if you accumulate more of them than the
CMC of the card youw ant to cheat out, you can
spend however many of them you need to spend to
Scry. This would be so much better if both
abilities didn't require you to tap the Jar
(just don't tap on the glass!) but as it is,
it's a potentially-powerful but
difficult-to-exploit tool that combologists and
deck tinkers will have quit a bit of fun with
for some time yet to come.
One of those cards that seems crazy the first
time you read it, then you feel a wave of
disappointment. you read it again, and just feel
like they missed a golden opportunity for
craziness. It's okay in U/R with a tight curve,
there's a scry effect attached, which is nice,
and serves to fix just what you can cast for
almost nothin', but as it stands, it's too slow
to keep it as a contender. A lot of fun decks
are going to come out of this card though.
