It's a
cheap, colorless way to hold off an
opponent's attack for a few turns, and it's
a 1/3 with a free sacrifice ability that you
never really wouldn't want to play. Under
what circumstance would gaining 3 life be "a
waste of an ability you could've gotten more
use out of"? Never, so there's never really
a good opportunity for an opponent to try
and kill it. Good in midrange decks, decks
that care about artifacts, or decks that
want to sacrifice/recur their creatures.
Constructed- 3
Casual- 4
Limited-
4
Aethereal
Thursday - Bottle Gnomes
Another pretty classic card, and unfortunately,
another iffy card. 3 for a 1/3 is a terrible
deal, even if it's an artifact creature, and the
3 life won't help matters much. The only good
use for this is in a combo to gain infinite
life, but it's likely that there's a better (
i.e. game-winning) combo available. Life gain is
popular in casual, though, so he's OK in casual.
In limited, a pretty average card, but it might
be able to chump block and then buy you some
extra time with the life.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 3
Limited - 2.5
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Bottle Gnomes
Bottle Gnomes is a solid, if unspectacular,
card. Three life doesn't look like much, but
against aggro decks it can be important to buy
an extra turn or so. The fact that this card is
an artifact is also a big advantage since any
color deck can sideboard it. In the current
Standard environment, creatures tend to be
slightly larger and slightly more expensive, so
Phyrexian Ironfoot may be better if you can
support the snow theme. The Gnomes are also okay
for limited play; three toughness is pretty
decent for a blocker, the three extra life is
just a bonus.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 2/5
PsychoAnime
#1
Magic Noob in Canada since 2002
Bottle Gnomes
It's a 1/3 for 3 mana that gains 3 life upon
sacrifice. It's a guaranteed 3 life gain against
aggro and can either chump block a big creature,
hold small creatures off or eat a burn spell.
The first option isn't that great because it
still loses a card, but still ok. The other 2
options seriously damages an aggro deck's tempo
and that can lead to a win. The only thing is
it's mana cost is very high for it to stop aggro
making it rather ineffective, but it's artifact
so it can be splashed into any sideboard that
needs to stop aggro. It also combos with Mishra,
Artificer Prodigy so I guess you can use it
there.
In casual, I don't see any reason to play it.
In limited, it's ok, stopping small creatures,
gains 3 life and playable in any colour, but its
inefficiency makes me iffy about it.
