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Pojo's Duel Masters Card of the Day

splinterclaw_wasp
Image from Wizards Duel Master site
 

  Splinterclaw Wasp
Stomp-a-trons

Card # DM10


Date Reviewed: 06.03.05

Constructed Average Rating: 1.50
Limited Average Rating: 3.15


Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

 

cecillbill

(Top 4 at
2004 GenCon - Indy
Championship)
Splinterclaw Wasp

[Effects]
1. Power attacker +3000 (While attacking, this creature gets +3000 power.)

When Wasp attacks it does so with 7000 power. That's enough to overrun many creatures and match wits with the ubiquitous Twin-Cannon Skyterror. But, I think that Power Attacker is better on cheaper creatures. By the time the lategame rolls around you really don't want to dump a lot of mana on expensive power attackers that have summoning sickness and that can be killed on the rebound by many creatures costing half the mana. Why bother?
Because Wasp can attack with the power level it should already have at 7 mana? Why not just play Twin-Cannon Skyterror? This guy can't even kill behemoths like Lancer, but can be killed be something like Sword Butterfly on the rebound. Yes, it escapes Searing Wave, but so does Avalanche Giant.
Sure, mana gain can get this guy on the board to make its Power Attacker status applied sooner, but I'd still rather just use the mana gain on tossing out a slew of cheaper guys or something like Twin-Cannon Skyterror.

2. Double breaker (This creature breaks 2 shields.)

Two shield breaks by one creature is nice card economy--one guy to do what normally takes 2 creatures to accomplish. But, Double Breaker is far more impressive on creatures without summoning sickness or that have additional effects like...

3. Whenever this creature becomes blocked, it breaks one of your opponent's shields.

Okay, this is a tad better. Just like Avalanche Giant, Wasp gets to break a shield even if it's blocked. It has psuedo-unblockability. But Wasp will likely only do its trick once due to being a 4000 power sitting duck if you don't run blockers yourself. When you think of the type of blockers that see play in most metagames, I'd rather play Xeno Mantis over Wasp. No one really plays 5000 or more powered blockers in my meta, so Xeno Mantis is basically unblockable and breaking 2 shields--with 2000 more power than Wasp when tapped. Even so, if you're playing a Giant Insect deck and are worried about blockers then you really should be playing Ultra Mantis, Scourge of Fate instead. Again, given the commonly played blockers in the current evironment, Ultra Mantis is basically a 9000 power Crystal Lancer (it can't be blocked by creatures of 8000 or less power), can be a 7 mana investment (Mantis + plus Sniper Mosquito), and comes sans summoning sickness. If you play in a metagame that sees beefy blockers like Gran Gure or several blocker-heavy decks, then run Paladin.

[Power/Cost]
4000 for 7 mana. For 7 mana I want a bigger body, simply because that further limits the type of kill my opponent can use to send it packing and the number of creatures that can kill it when the creature is tapped.
Needless to say, this ration elaves a lot to be desired.

[Where To Deck]
Wasp is a Giant Insect, which means it could evolve into Gigamantis or Ultra Mantis, so it makes more sense to slap the creature into decks running a Giant Insect focus than those that don't. But wait--there are a lot of cheaper Giant Insects to run over Wasp for the purpose of evolving like Sword Butterfly, Three-Eyed Dragonfly, Bloodwing Mantis, Obsidian Scarab, Sniper Mosquito, and the oft-overlooked Trench Scarab. I don't like the prospect of slapping the 4 mana Gigamantis on the 7 mana Wasp--that's just me. The Giant Insects aren't exactly straved for double breakers, and the best one to run is Ultra Mantis anyway. I guess if you want to pile on the double breaker threats in a Giant Insect deck and have mucho problems with blocker decks, then a few Wasps in your Giant Insect deck wouldn't hurt too badly. But, still...

[Format Ratings]
Constructed: 1.5/5. Just play Ultra Mantis or even Avalanche Giant over it.

Limited: 3/5. It has much more playability in this format--less things to kill it here and that kill blockers so its "still breaks a shield" effect is a huge plus. Still, I'd concentrate on finding cheaper double breakers where possible.
White Wolf Today we're reviewing Splinterclaw Wasp. Being Green, 7 mana is nothing at all to accomplish (you can have it out by as early as turn 4 or 5). But is the Wasp worth it?!

If you all remember from Survivors, there was a Very Rare called Avalanche Giant. When he came out, people were going ga ga over him because of the sheer ownage he could dish out. This all stopped when people realized that he was just a weaker King Depthcon, who is in turn weaker than Crystal Paladin.

This card is the card that's below Avalanche Giant. It has Double Breaker, a plus, but because it costs 7, that's expected. 4000 for 7 is really bad too. I know it has +3000 Power Attacker, but that's also only when it's attacking - which won't be until the turn AFTER it's summoned.

There are so many better things going for green. Just don't use this...

Constructed: 1/5
Limited: 3/5 - Double Breaker is always welcome, but ALOT of creatures can kill it by as soon as turn 4 when your drafting.
Mohamed Alhendy

I haven’t done this in forever, but now that summer’s been on for me for quite a while, I think I might return to writing up these reviews every once in a while (No promises though). Anyway, today’s card is Splinterclaw Wasp, a Very Rare from the new set known as Stomp-A-Trons of Invincible Wrath. The Question is, is it an amazing new kind of card, or just a cheap knockoff. Well, let’s find out!

  • First of all, Splinterclaw Wasp, on its own, is a 7 for 4000 creature. That already is gonna need some serious effect boost to make it warrant play. The only good thing about a power level like that is that it won’t die to searing wave, but it still holds the chance of getting flamed, and a 7 cost fattie getting flamed is just a disgrace.
  • The first effect of Splinterclaw Wasp is +3000 power attacker. This means that it’s a 7 for 7000 creature when attacking. Not bad, but the era of fatties is long gone. It’s gonna need more than that to be welcomed into any good player’s deck.
  • The second effect is Double Breaker. A regular fattie effect. Let’s not forget the loveable, yet now outdated Gatling Skyterror. Up to now, Gatling beats this card in ever category possible, and is also a very rare. We’re gonna have to hope this last effect saves the card.
  • It breaks a shield when blocked. Wow, that’s great! It’s a 7 for 7000 db that breaks a shield when blocked. However, when you look around you, you find that that is nothing in our wonderful game of Duel Masters.

The first card to compare this too is Avalanche Giant. While he may be harder to get, he’s worth it. 1 mana less, 1k more power (and that’s when Splinter’s attacking!), and much more solid. Yet, even he is passed up by many duelists because of summoning sickness. In a land of creatures like crystal lancer and Barkwhip, who outpower Wasp for 5 less mana, this card just doesn’t belong. Leave it in your collection for trade bait. There’s always hope that you can use it in some kind of unblockable deck w/Avalanche Giant, but just guess the curve of that deck. All in all, just avoid decking this card.

Limited: 3.5/5 (Fatties are always good, but the power is pathetic, and there are few blockers in limited for you to make good use of the blocking effect.)

Constructed: 2/5 (Tons of Better Cards out there.)

Toilet
Head
Brett
Today we review splinterclaw wasp:

Splinterclaw wasp
cost 7
giant insect
power 4000
power attacker 3000
double breaker
When this creature becomes blocked, it breaks a shield anyway.

This could possibly be my least favorite card in the game... It has a bad name, art, cost to power ratio, and two of the effects suck. I really don't know why this is the very rare. Bliss totem should have switched rarities with it. I would love to sit here and tell you how much this card sucks, but it would take days for that. There are better choices that cost less cough**FDF**cough.

limited: If you have the acceleration, then use it. If not well........don't.... 3/5

constructed: There are MANY better choices then this that cost less. 1.5/5

Toiletheadbrett@aol.com is the email

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