Is it strange that I got more excited about the
fact that they finally loosened some of the
"color pie" restrictions to let a black card
effectively make mana than about anything else
to do with this card? This is the kind of
top-down design that I can get behind. The facts
that it gives black a strong answer to a lot of
creatures it usually has problems with, a way to
prevent something it kills from being reanimated
later, and a kill spell with card and mana
advantage that isn't incredibly unfair and which
is better designed and costed than Doom Blade
are almost just bonuses from that point of view.
Today's card of the day is Gild which is a four
mana Black sorcery that exiles target creature
and you gain an artifact that can be sacrificed
for one mana of any color. This is a
little high in cost for competitive formats, but
exiling instead of destroying and gaining a
Lotus Petal of sorts is close enough to the
curve that it may see play.
In Limited this is an excellent first pick in
Booster that is one of the best weapons against
a god as well as most other threats in the
block.
With a single Black and returning a source of
any color mana it is easily splashable and
should always be included when running even a
small amount of Black mana in Sealed.
Exiling a creature is always a welcome effect.
You don't have to worry about any crazy combos
from things dying, or any graveyard recursion
shenanigans. It gets around indestructible
creatures. And on top of everything else, it
comes with a mail in rebate for one free mana!
Any and every format is going to like this
effect - it all comes down to whether the cost
is acceptable.
In constructed, it's good, but four mana is a
lot to pay for getting rid of a creature when
there is Doom Blade or Hero's Downfall for less
mana. Still, there are times when only exile
will do, so it's worth keeping in consideration
if you're seeing a lot of indestructible or
graveyard reanimation.
Casual players will like this card. It gets rid
of the biggest threat on the board and gives you
some shiny coin. The flavor of the card makes
for interesting conversation around the kitchen
table as well.
In limited, this is gold. (Pun intended.)
Anything that flat out removes a creature is a
potential first pick in limited.
Sorceries in multiplayer are a little less
popular. You have to tap mana on your turn to
get rid of a creature. Leaving 4 mana tapped
while everyone else plays is a notable
consideration. Still, it gets rid of whatever
crazy monster comes up in your commander game!
Hello everyone! My name is Michael, and
I'm proud to join the Pojo Magic Card of the Day
review team. I'll be doing my best to give you a
clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of
every card we look at, as well as throwing in
any insights I might have about other details
like card art, lore, or themes and flavour.
The artifact token card Gold was actually
revealed by Wizards before any card that created
such a token was shown, leaving people to wonder
how it would work and where we would first see
it in action. Gild is the answer, and a pretty
good answer at that.
Gild is a decently solid piece of removal. Black
is traditionally the best colour at straight out
destroying a creature, although it usually
prefers sending things to the graveyard instead
of exiling them. In a colour with many removal
options, Gild needs to do something to help it
stand out, and it certainly does have one ace up
its sleeve. "Exile target creature." Not target
nonblack creature, not target nonartifact
creature, not target creature with power of 5 or
greater. Target creature, plain and simple.
Unless something has hexproof or shroud, you can
make it go away forever. That's a pretty handy
option to have, even if it costs 4 mana and is a
sorcery instead of an instant. By using exile
instead of destroy, Gild can even get rid of any
annoying indestructible Gods your opponent is
running, assuming they've managed to make it
into creature form. Expect to see this in a fair
amount of black decks in Standard.
It's a little too expensive and slow to make a
big splash in most other formats, but in
limited, this goes from a good card to a great
card. Removal is always incredibly good in
limited, no matter what. Gild is also very
splashable, only requiring one black mana, so
you can fit it into multicolour decks without
much trouble. What's even better is that Gold
token we mentioned earlier. Not only does it
give you a little mana you can use later on, but
that mana can be any colour. That could help you
out if you're not drawing the lands you need to
play the rest of your spells, especially since
black isn't really know for its colour fixing
abilities. Also, perhaps you know of some fun
"when an artifact comes into play" abilities?
Gild will help you trigger them, which can be a
lot of fun as a bonus to removing an opponent's
creature. Any card that appreciates having more
artifacts on the field will likewise get a kick
out of this.
In the end, I'd say Gild is a very solid card. I
even like it thematically. To "gild" something
means to cover it in gold, which seems like a
pretty effective way to remove something from
the battlefield. I'm sure our gold-covered
pegasus friend in the picture would agree.
