CardName – Crimson Vow
Date Reviewed: January 4, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 1.08
Casual: 2.67
Multiplayer: 2.67
Commander [EDH]: 2.58
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I always thought soulbond was a cool idea for an ability; but not too long after it came out, we got the bestow ability in Theros, which is a similar concept, just as cool, but probably stronger overall. Nonetheless, the various Commander sets have proven that there are still a couple of tricks that soulbond can do. Doom Weaver is a curious sort of card, coming at a mana cost that’s late-game for most formats that aren’t Commander, but providing a way to repeatably draw cards as long as the bonded creatures keep dying. Since it has eight toughness, it shouldn’t be hard to keep bonding it with something more likely to die, and it also lets you leverage any death triggers or synergies you might have in your deck. That takes a lot of doing, but if you like that kind of puzzle, Doom Weaver is your kind of card.
Constructed: 1/5
Casual: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5
Doom Weaver is part of the Crimson Vow Commander subset, so no Limited score, and its score reflects viability where it can be played.
A six-mana 1/8 with reach is a formidable enough blocker, but Doom Weaver’s main intrigue comes in its soulbond death trigger. The way this works is that you pair it with a creature as either it or that creature comes in, and the bond remains until one of them leaves play somehow. On its own, drawing a card when it dies is hardly worthwhile, but the main attraction is being able to play multiple creatures and sacrifice them into a steady stream of card advantage…or just deter an opponent who might otherwise want to kill a creature that qualifies as Mister Bigglesworth. A six-mana piece like this is hardly going to make inroads in Legacy, since it’s really only good on its own defensively, but there are definitely ways to make this pop if you build carefully, and it can definitely make an opponent think twice about where they want to aim their kill spells.
Constructed: 1.25
Casual: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.25 (it’s not a star, but it has potential)
Normally I get a kick out of the big defenders with a high toughness but I just ask myself why was this printed? Surely you don’t need the soulbound ability to draw cards do you? You can’t put this in an Arcades commander deck (the only commander deck that really cares about walls and defenders). If this card had a mana value of three then okay we are talking and having some dialogue but for SIX MANA VALUE?? Am I missing something here? Look, here’s my piece of professional magic advice, if you need this card to draw cards you’re already did something wrong when the deck was sleeved. Bad design all around with some great artwork.
- Constructed: 1/5
- Casual: 1.5/5
- Limited: 1/5
- Multiplayer: 2/5
- Commander: 1.5/5
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