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Tom Rogers on Duel Masters
Reap & Sow
 December 30, 2009

Reap and Sow
Set/Rarity :     DM-11 Blastosplosion of Gigantic Rage Uncommon
Card Number :     55
Civilization :     Fire/Nature
Card Type :     Spell
Cost :     5
Card Text :     (This spell is put into your mana zone tapped.)
Choose a card in your opponent's mana zone and put it into his graveyard. Then put the top card of your deck into your mana zone.
Flavor Text :     "Only those who don't understand call it chaos. The rest call it life." -Gonta, the Warrior Savage
Illustrator :     Norikatsu Miyoshi

Reap and Sow is a powerful card which slips right into one of the game's most powerful decks: four color control. It also has various uses in aggression and rogue strategies alike, as it's power lies within positioning and distance.


-The Basics-


With a casting cost of five to gain a mana seems like it's a bit much, but once you factor in the destruction of your opponent's mana it seems like almost nothing. The returned mana card essentially reduces the casting cost to four, making it utterly ridiculous.  This also creates an invisible fifth mana, because the opponent will still at the same turn count they were last move provided they charge mana (which they usually will).  The advantage in having the invisible mana is that your threats are essentially all under a Pseudo- Reduction spell of each costing one less for the rest of the game. You're always going to be up a turn, no matter what the opponent does. The gain of your own mana assures this, as well as provides you with the ability to be ahead [i]two[/i] turns against a platter of strategies which don't play mana acceleration.


-How This Affects The Game-

This drastically gives the upper hand to four-color control, in a returning of previous order in the shift for power between it and DWF Control. The balance had been shifted for some time, somewhat equated with Soulswap, and now the old choice reigns supreme. With the ability to destroy a card in the mana zone, four-color control holds new ground against Bombazar-based strategies and allows you to respond to the never-ending time bomb. Combining this with other mana destruction effects or acceleration further widens the gap. This card even works in Bombazar strategies, especially the mirror-match, by disabling the opponent's ability to keep up with your ever-expanding Battle and Mana Zones, while pumping up the latter. It's enough to consider holding off a summon in order to drop the Destiny Dragon on the following turn.

In the matchup against DWF control, Reap and Sow simply means "I'm getting to Lost Soul first. No matter what." There's not enough time to recover from your own mana loss while the opponent is accumulating resources or decreasing what you have left, let alone play according to an additional gain in the opponent's mana. The four-color control player is guaranteed to win the infamous race to the card which gives a significant edge in the game, as well as other various turn seven candy.

Reap and Sow reems lower-level aggression. Trying to create a "Speed Attacker" victory with no hand can be difficult, and incredibly so with two mana. You'll need to devote a topdeck to resources late-game while the opponent is given a "free turn" to deal with any possibility of you drawing it or building up their own forces. Drawing a "Speed Attacker" can actually become a problem after Reap and Sow, because you'd have to hold it in your hand a turn where it's susceptible to discard!  For slightly slower yet notably aggressive strategies, losing a mana is still a huge hit --  especially in decks which attempt to regain their resources through the mana zone, utilizing creatures such as Sniper Mosquito, Spark Chemist, Splash Zebrafish, Shtra, or Earth Ripper, Talon of Rage.

Gimmick decks which base their strategies around card combinations including One Turn Kill, Deckout/Mill, and alternate victory conditions such as Ultimate Galaxy Universe benefit from using Reap and Sow for the distancing it creates from the opponent. Propelling them faster to the desired (and usually late-game) situation, Reap and Sow also slows down the opponent. This way, they're closer to creating the combo or packing on the heat, and also stopping the opponent from doing anything but watch it happen.


-How This Affects You-


You should definitely be using this thing if you're running Fire and Nature. Consider running it if you run one and splashing these to create mana for the other copies. Run it in Bombazar. Run it in four-color control. Run it in One Turn Kill.

If you're not running Fire and Nature, you're going to need to do two things. You're going to want to minimalize the damage created by this card, and you're going to want to create a similar effect in your own strategy. Duel Masters will eventually result in all decks becoming one style which encompasses the optimal functions of the game. This may very well be one of them. Start seeking various alternatives for other colors; Divine Riptide, Miraculous Plague, and Glory Snow come to mind. Chargers of all colors and acceleration tactics fit into the picture for prevention. Early-game mana destruction of your own to pre-emptively shut down the casting of this spell on turn five may even help. It depends on you, and what you're playing, and how you can fit this niche of the game into your own.



Reap and Sow is a big deal in Duel Masters -- it's reshaping the meta and breathing life into old strategies which either are or were heading to retirement. There's something to be said about a card which can gain so much momentum on both sides of the spectrum simultaneously -- that is, progressing whilst hindering the opposing force. The 'flow' in Duel Masters dramatically falls into your favor with the power of Reap and Sow, and forces you to prepare for the force of nature itself if you're playing against it.


 


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