You pay one mana, the creature dies, the
opponent probably has more life than you. Sounds
a little like Swords to Plowshares, doesn't it?
(I still can't believe I didn't give that
card five out of five when we reviewed it a few
months ago. I don't know what I was
thinking.) Four life seem pretty steep at first
reading, but a lot less so when you consider
that it lets red decks kill Silver Knight, green
decks kill Peacekeeper, and blue decks kill at
all. What it does to the color pie is a question
for a different space, but there is no question
that this card is a powerhouse.
Today's card of the day is Dismember which is a
three mana Black or one mana and four life spell
that gives a target creature -5/-5 until the end
of the turn. This is a bit of a bigger
removal than Grasping Darkness with a higher
cost for mono-Black, but available to any color
willing to pay the life points. The extra
cost is a tough call for Black itself as
Grasping Darkness will usually do the job, but
this can be a solid sidedeck choice should the
opponent be running a creature with five
toughness. In general this is one of the
strongest removal choices available, if a little
expensive, and is likely to see play both in and
outside of Black decks.
For Limited this should be the kind of card
picked as early as possible in Booster as a top
removal choice as it can handle nearly any
threat.
In Sealed it can be placed in almost any build
as even if the life points are paid in a
non-Black deck the price should be worth it
compared to letting the creature getting in an
attack or two.
Welcome to this week’s
last card of the day, due to VACATION!! So we go
out in style this week with one of the best
cards from New Phyrexia, and what is best is it
is only an uncommon. The card we discuss today
is Dismember. Dismember costs one generic and
two black phyrexian mana, meaning two black,
four life, or one black and two life. Dismember
gives target creature -5/-5 until end of turn.
Hands down one of the best cards in the set. It is an instant
answer for some of the baddest cards in the
game. Baneslayer Angel, dead. Phylactery Lich,
dead. Grave Titan, killed by a 1/1 token. Not
much can stand up to one of these, so imagine
two of them firing off. With use of Infest, or
Shrivel, and two Dismembers, even a Darksteel
Colossus or Blightsteel Colossus comes crashing
down.
Simply put it is a creature killer through and through.
And with how many large sized creatures there
are, three mana is a good answer, but being able
to get it out for one mana if necessary is just
as vital. One mana can do a lot these days, you
just have to be willing to spill some of your
own blood to do so. And the best part is,
Dismember can go in any deck, due to the fact
that you can pay life instead of mana, and just
pay one generic mana in the end. And in a decent
life gain deck, which the new block blossomed
abilities to gain life, paying some just doesn’t
seem like a bad idea.
All in all a great card. Very useful, very cheap, very
lethal.
