Vorpal Sword
– D&D: ADVENTURES IN THE FORGOTTEN REALMS
Date Reviewed: July 9, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.13
Casual: 3.88
Limited: 4.13
Multiplayer: 3.13
Commander [EDH]: 3.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
One-two! One-two! And through and through! The high hope for this card is to carve snicker-snack through opponents, in a way that requires ridiculous amounts of mana and at least one unblockable creature. That’s even harder in Magic than in a bizarre mirror-dream or the First World, but I wouldn’t rule it out for the right casual deck. Black does have some good mana producers and some decently efficient creatures; still, in many decks, Vorpal Sword will effectively be a reusable deathtouch-granting card, which is kind of good in itself. You may well have noticed that deathtouch is often pseudo-evasion, because people can be reluctant to trade a large creature with something that’s much weaker on paper.
If the Universes Beyond project ever takes us to Pathfinder (and you never know, as it’s basically an extension of D&D’s third edition), you might have a chance to use it on an actual Jabberwock . . .
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5
Horrifyingly stabulous in its applications, Vorpal Blade has a rather nifty bit of rider text on it that will rarely come into play. Don’t get me wrong, it can matter in a late-game stall scenario, and it triggers off of 1 point of damage…but it’s 8 mana for a bit of flavorful going for the throat, and you should be able to come up with ways to kill opponents dead with 8 mana anyways.
That said, Vorpal Blade is a strong weapon in cases where it doesn’t end the game. The equipped creature trades aggressively and well above its weight, and while triple black is not cheap to get this onto something, it can be split over 2 turns. It also pairs horrifyingly well with trampling creatures…both normally, and if you have the 8 mana to spare for its ability. definitely no Embercleave (the current gold-standard of Standard swords), but Vorpal Blade still offers a lot to the black-heavy player.
Constructed: 3.25 (it’s very black, and it’s not for every deck, but it gives every creature the ability to trade well above its weight class)
Casual: 3.75
Limited: 4.25 (reusable deathtouch makes this rather rude)
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 3.5 (not being in the equipment colors makes this a slight bummer, but it will still pull its weight if you let it)
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