I love this card. There used to be this card,
from Ice Age, that was PRETTY GOOD called
Necropotence. Necropotence turned out to be so
powerful a card drawing tool that decks using it
dominated constructed formats for years. In the
time since it has revolved out of the card pools
of Standard and Extended constructed
environments, there have been several attempts
to make a (non blue) card drawing device as
useful as Necropotence. Phyrexian Etchings is
the closest thing to Necropotence yet. In
Coldsnap booster drafts, nothing is in more
short supply than ways to gain card advantage,
and Phyrexian Etchings can give you a great deal
of card advantage in just a few turns. No more
popular than black is in Coldsnap draft, you
might even get a chance to draft Etchings with
something besides your first pick. While it is
true that Etchings ties up your mana with its
cumulative upkeep, and while it is also true
that you will lose some life when Etchings
eventually goes to the graveyard, the card
advantage and power that you will gain from the
extra cards is worth all the trouble. Actually,
I have only played Etchings in booster drafts,
so far, but I think this card is capable of
being VERY important in constructed for the next
couple of years.
This card seems a little dangerous, but it could
be used in Extended and Legacy play potentially.
It's really a matter of managing your resources
and deciding if and/or when the gamble is worth
it. I'm likely going to stay away from this
card, because I'm generally not a fan of the
decks that would play something like this.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1
Limited: 1.5
Christine
Gerhardt
Phyrexian
Etchings
This is a huge double edged sword. You have to
pay a cumulative upkeep of B each turn, and if
Etchings ever hits your graveyard, it will do 2
damage to you for each counter on it.
Conversely, you get to draw like mad. But even
if you were able to keep up on the upkeep, you
could get to the point where you could actually
deck yourself. There are just too many negative
scenarios here. So unless you're able to remove
it from the game to keep it out of your
graveyard, it's just not worth whatever price
you end up paying in the end.
First of all, do NOT compare this card to
Necropotence. If you insist on letting a
11-year-old card that broke every format it was
ever legal in color your perspective of a new
card that you can actually play with in
Constructed events, then it might be time for a
little hiatus from Magic, my friend.
Anyway, this card is absolutely savage card
advantage. It's quite possible you'll win the
game on the back of all those extra cards drawn
before it dies, but playing those extra cards
requires mana, and yours will be tied up in the
Etchings' cumulative upkeep cost. In
constructed, I can sort of see this going into a
U/B control deck that can protect the Etchings
and bounce it when the upkeep cost gets out of
hand (note the Etchings' life payment takes
effect when the Etchings is put into a
GRAVEYARD). In Limited, I see this working very
well in the deck of the guy who got all 6 Feasts
of Flesh and the Soul Spike.
Constructed- 4
Casual- 4
Limited- 3.5
The Antman
Phyrexian
Etchings- Rare- Coldsnap
Probably one of my top 5 favorite cards from
coldsnap is todays card, phyrexian etchings.
This card BEGS to be broken in some way shape or
form, the only thing restricting it is the black
cumulative upkeep. I am currently testing this
card in a Black (splashing blue) deck that
utalizes a early beat or two and then it plays
this card, for usually the rest of the game.
with etchings out the deck gains enough card
advantage to use a total of 10 pitch spells (4
soul spike, 4 sickening shoal, and 2 commandeer)
without worrying about getting behind. So far
the deck loses to some of the faster decks, but
vs a control deck as long as I can resolve a
etchings it is usually GG. Also the deck gets
around etchings life loss if I cant keep it in
play by playing 4 repeals to return it to the
hand so I don't have to pay the insane amount of
life.
Ratings:
constructed- 3/5 again this card begs to be
broken, and the fact that you can just bounce or
RFG the card instead of lose life is promising
limited- 2/5 the heavy black cost and the lack
of common/uncommon pitchspells make this card
less desireable, even if it does draw tons of
cards
casual- 4/5 very fun and not too broken for the
format final thought- while this card is no
necropotence, it does have the potential to be
amazing.
Aburame Shino
Phyrexian
Etchings
As powerful as card drawing is in every format,
I just don't see this being used. Don't get me
wrong, it's a cool card that deserves to be
noticed. There's just too many reasons not to
run this card.
First off, this thing has a triple black casting
cost. That makes it pretty difficult to cast for
most multi-colored decks. Second, alongside the
triple black that you're required to cast this
thing, you also have to pay a cumulative upkeep
of one black, which has a tendency to get out of
control the longer it stays in play. This makes
it harder and harder for you to cast spells. And
finally, you lose life for every age counter on
it when it hits the graveyard. That means you'll
get smacked for quite a bit once you can't pay
the upkeep anymore, or if the opponent uses
something like Naturalize on it.
In a format where you can run Phyrexian Arena
and Dark Confidant, it's just not worth it to
use this card. The Etchings are harder to use in
every way, and is more painful than both of the
cards I mentioned.
Constructed: 1 - Like I said, you've got Arena
and Confidant to use.
Casual: 2 - You can use tricks to bounce this so
you don't take damage.
Limited: 1 - It'll be hard for you to pay the
upkeep cost.
