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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Shunt
1RR
Instant
Change the target of target spell
with a single target. |
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Shunt
Rare
Reviewed January 26, 2004
Constructed: 2.33
Casual: 2.81
Limited: 2.47
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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Card of the Day Reviews
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Monday
Welcome to
Darksteel. Over the next few weeks, we will
be going through some of the highlights of
the set. I hope all of you that went to a
prerelease this past weekend had fun. I sure
did!
Today's card is
more of the reshifting of the color pie, or,
R&D trying its hardest to nerf blue as best
it can. (Unfortunately, even if all blue had
was card draw, counterspells, and bounce, it
would still be far and away the most hated
color.)
This is an
interesting shift. As red used to have
random redirection, the total redirection
piece of the pie shifts to red.
Unfortunately, this has double red in its
casting cost, preventing it from being
effectively splashed. And as red is the
color that has most of the stuff you want to
redirect anyway, giving this to red makes
little sense. You'll want to stick to red's
traditional aggressive theme, rather than
trying to play control with a color that
doesn't know how.
(Interesting
side note though, you've now got your red
foil to counterspells, a la the
Misdirection/Deflection trick described in
my column of 18 February 2002.)
This won't be
used much in casual, I don't think .. no one
seems to pack tricks like this.
In
Mirrodin/Darksteel limited, there really
isn't that much to Shunt. Other than Consume
Spirit or Fireball, there are really no good
targets for this. So I would pass on this.
Constructed: 2.25
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 1.5
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Monday - Shunt
In theory, Shunt
should be a really good card. For some
reason I have this feeling that this card
won't get played as much as it should
starting about five weeks after the release
of the set. Historically, Magic has had a
lot of cards like this in red that do
strange things to spells being cast, but
they don't get played that often. I'm
pretty sure that this is the first one that
redirects a spell though. This could
definitely open up some doors and be
interesting. It's really going to take
finding a deck that can really use it
though. If nothing else, it's a weapon
against spell counters.
Constructed: 2.8
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Monday - Shunt
It used to be so simple. If you saw a mountain,
you had to worry about someone forking your
spell right back at you. If you say an island,
you assumed they could redirect it back to you.
If you saw a plains, it was very likely they
could prevent the damage from what you threw out
them. Not so now, now the red mage can redirect
things as well, and the world will never be the
same! Shunt is simply amazingly powerful in a
limited format, where it can turn the tables on
a combat trick or a removal spell to your
ultimate advantage. In a constructed format, it
will see some play in extended, but not a lot.
In casual format, it's a red mage's tricky
little dream come true.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 5
Limited - 4 |
Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Monday-Shunt
In casual play I wouldn’t use shunt because it
doesn’t really fit in to what I would consider a
casual deck. I wouldn’t find myself drafting it
very early or at all in some cases. In
constructed at best it’s a sideboard card. Its
very situational and limited by the fact that
there has to be only one target. I am not saying
Shunt is a bad card, but I am say it is very
limited in use which can make it less than
stellar.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 2 |
Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Shunt
Right, so, at UU1, this card has some pretty
interesting uses, helping to give….uhh…
RR1? What’re you talking about? This is a BLUE
card, right?
Not today, folks. Shunt is the first of our
Darksteel cards to reach CotD status. In
constructed, I really don’t know if this is much
more than a sideboard card for matches like the
Ponza mirror. It seems useful, just like
everything else with the same mechanic does, but
Divert only cost 1 mana and never really saw
play outside an occasional sideboard.
In limited, this card gets played. It isn’t like
there’s not an abundance of targets for it, and
it’ll be especially good in the mid-late game
when you can sit on mana for it without
hesitation. I really don’t know yet how high a
pick it is in draft, but I’m reasonably sure
it’s not a first pick (not with Barbed Lightning
and other goodies available in the common slot).
Casually, this thing is *fun*. Not only does it
provide a use for all those nasty RR1 cards in
Mental Magic, but in group games you can just
cause all kinds of trouble. It’s a good time to
be had by all.
Constructed: 2.25
Limited: 3.0
Casual: 3.5 |
Jason
Chapman |
Shunt is a card
I just don't like because it seems to be way out
of character for Red - I hate that. Having said
that, this card is really great. Changing the
target of a spell can be a game altering ability
and anything that can potentially be that
powerful is good - especially when it is
relatively cheap.
Constructed - So useful against powerful
Sorceries and Instants - 3.90
Limited - Much fewer threats - 2.65
Casual - Pretty stong but fewer real nasty
spells to reflect - 3.65 |
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Chase |
Shunt
And now, we jump ahead 10 years from Arabian
Nights to our first Darksteel card.
But before I get to the card, I hope everyone
who went to the prerelease had a great time and
got lots of good cards. Prerealses are seriously
fun. It was great to see everyone running around
trying and willing to trade anything for
Darksteel Colossus. It’s also a good break from
usual tournament Magic unto just for fun Magic.
I know that I’m glad to have been able to go to
some.
Now unto the card. Leaving 3 mana open can be
hard for any red deck and it might not be worth
it as most of the things you’ll want to target
(blue instances) are played at the end of your
turn. Still it can be worth it to target
yourself for a Thirst or some other spell but
the problem is once you play this spell you are
tapped out. (Or you should be. Red [constructed]
decks almost never leave that much mana open.)
This will then force you play your burn spells
on your turn which isn’t as you want it to be. I
would also like to mention that Grip of Chaos
type cards haven’t seen much play. I don’t
believe that this is an exception.
In Casual, it’s fun but I would just play Grip
of Chaos.
It won’t be possible for me to give limited
ratings to these cards for a while as I don’t
know the contents of Darksteel.
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 2 |
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Spooks |
Shunt
I got 2 of these
yesterday. Two rares wasted on this! And
by the way, how wierd is the wording on this
card? It's like target became thier new
favourite word.
Anyway, As a
trick, it's pretty good. It will take your
opponent by surprise, especially once they
see you are playing red. However, I dislike
the whole changing colour wheel they got
going here. This is not a red ability at
all, and I feel as if though blue is getting
nerfed big time (and once upon of time I
would of shouted with joy at this).
I canno tthink
of anything special you could use this with,
and unfortuantly you can't sceptre it. I
dont liek this card at all
Constructed
rating - 2
Limited rating -
2
Greedy red
getting hungry and stealing pie rating - 100
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