Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Devastation Tide
Image from Wizards.com

Devastation Tide
Avacyn Restored

Reviewed May 10, 2012

Constructed: 3.65
Casual: 3.75
Limited: 3.90
Multiplayer: 4.17

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

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Devastation Tide

Evacuation has been terrorizing tables as an instant-speed board "wipe" for years now. The Tide is a sorcery, which makes it a little less scary (it's not a combat trick, for example) but it's also a Miracle, which means that it could be cast for a mere 1U at the beginning of the Blue mage's turn. Getting this for three mana fewer means that the caster has an additional three mana to spend re-casting all of his bounced permanents (and if he has a Spellbook, he doesn't need to worry about discarding anything) as long as he can get good board position back. And of course, he saw the Tide coming so he was prepared for it, right? Still, your opponent will get just as much chance to recast everything, so unless you plan to follow up your Devastation Tide with a battery of counterspells you're not accomplishing much.

Then again, Evacuation can't get an opponent out from under the Delaying Shield/Phyrexian Unlife combo. A player relying on artifact mana will find his ability to replay spells severely hamstrung by the Tide. And planeswalkers building up to their Ultimates can be set back several turns.

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4
Limited- 3.5
Multiplayer- 4.5

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Devastation Tide
 
Guys, do me a favor? Don't build a deck specifically designed to cast all its miracle cards for their reduced cost. The high-level competitive crowd does enough variance reduction for all of us, and the fact is that most miracle cards' full prices are not exactly exorbitant. Five mana for a mass-bounce spell is quite good, and if you just happen to be playing green and/or have artifact mana and can recast more things than your opponent, all the better. Try it with Ebony Owl Netsuke.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5 
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Devastation Tide which is a five mana Blue or two mana with Miracle that returns all nonland permanents to their owners' hands.  This is a powerful effect even at five mana, but the Miracle cost is amazing when triggered.  Two mana should leave quite a bit available for casting additional spells, either to refill the field or counter what the opponent tries to cast.  While the Miracle isn't a sure thing, even with library manipulation, the full cost is manageable in a control deck and it shouldn't be a surprise to see this in various builds for a while.
 
In Limited this is an interesting first pick option when counted as removal and is easily playable even without the Miracle cost.  Aside from drawing it in your opening hand the format should make the trigger fairly reliable and an amazing topdeck in many situations.  That potential justifies the first pick in Booster and can be supported with Haste or enters the battlefield effects.  A Sealed build should also play this whenever running Blue and should be able to take advantage of the effect more often than not.  The only real concern is the potential to be a dead draw when your opponent can recover faster than you from the effect through a large supply of lands, low cost permanents, or a combination of the two.
 
For Multiplayer there is always the benefit of clearing the board for everyone, but having a deck built with that in mind gives you a decided advantage in recovering.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 4.0

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

     Welcome to another great card of the day review here at Pojo.com! Today’s card of the day is Devastation Tide from Avacyn Restored. Devastation Tide is a rare blue sorcery that costs three generic and two blue mana. Devastation Tide returns all nonland permanents to their owner’s hands. Devastation Tide also has Miracle cost of one generic and one blue mana.

     The new Miracle ability is simply amazing! And Devastation Tide is an amazing card even without it. While not the most over powered card from the set with Miracle, it is certainly a game changer. With any luck, you would be casting it for it’s Miracle cost, and then have a bunch of hasty critters in your hand to then swing away with. This is though also nice in a mono-blue deck, where you may not have answers for things like Planeswalkers, or big creatures, and bouncing the whole board is your means of a deterrent.

Limited: 4/5
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Multiplayer: 5/5


Copyright© 1998-2012 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.