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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Sneak Attack 


Reviewed August 13, 2004

Constructed: 3.16
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 2.0

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 our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

One of the more fun Enchantments from back in the days.  Sneak Attack is one of our most sought after cards in stock, and it seems a lot of tricks get played with it.  You can sneak into play huge creature with a prohibitive casting cost into play.  Or something with a devastating effect, again with a high mana cost.  If you stack your deck with ridiculous creatures, and can get your Sneak into play (try Sterling Grove to go find it), it could be quite nasty. 

Casual could be extremely fun with a Sneak Attack on the board.  Casual doesn't tend to run Enchantment removal, so you could really go to town with this.  Grab anything huge you can find to sneak in (Trample creatures work well):  Polar Kraken, Colossus of Sardia, and Devouring Strossus are some large choices.  Or pick a creature with a nice ability: Dragon Tyrant, Living Hive, Scion of Darkness, Reiver Demon, Fire Dragon, Symbiotic Wurm, or Zodiac Dragon (great to always have a creature in hand).  Remember...if any of these creatures have upkeep drawbacks, you don't have to worry about them, since you sac the creature at end of turn.

In limited, not quite the powerhouse, and unreliable for stacking your deck with ridiculous cards, but it could be interesting in certain builds.  Your opponent will be forced to hold back blockers in case you might sneak in a couple creatures to finish them off.
  
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.5

   Current Price:
Sneak Attack - Urza's Saga - $18.75

   Combos Well With:
Sterling Grove - Invasion - $3.86
Polar Kraken - Ice Age - $4.65
Colossus of Sardia - 5th Edition - $2
Devouring Strossus
- Invasion - $2.81
Dragon Tyrant - Scourge - $3.42
Living Hive - Mirrodin - $1.72
Scion of Darkness
- Legions - $6.62
Reiver Demon - Mirrodin - $3.60
Fire Dragon - Portal 1 - $10
Symbiotic Wurm
- Onslaught - $1.55
Zodiac Dragon - Portal 3 Kingdoms - $100


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Friday - Sneak Attack

Ah yes, a card I mentioned on Monday. Want to have a large hasty creature in play, but don't want to pay the full mana cost? Then this is your card. Pair this with something like Recurring Nightmare, or a reanimation card like Animate Dead to get more fun out of your creatures. The backbone of a deck, and for good reason.

In limited, this does nothing. You want your creatures in play permanently, not just for one turn. You can't build your deck around this card like you can in constructed formats.

Construced: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 1


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Sneak Attack

This unlikely card from Urza's Saga became a combo deck classic as part of one of the best Urza's Saga block constructed decks. This card single handedly sent one of my teammates, Robbie "Dojo" Howell to his first Pro Tour. Some people also liked this card in limited because Sneak Attack automatically made all the big creatures in your deck more likely to help you win. As a rare, however, Sneak Attack was not a major part of the discussion of limited play in the Urza's Saga era.

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.0

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer

Sneak Attack

This is one of the more fun cards Wizards ever created. While having a combo feel to it, the card is still easy to disrupt, and the thought of throwing big monsters at your opponent at a cost of one mana each is too tempting for the Timmy in all of us to ignore. Just remember, Cloudchaser Eagle is probably not the best thing to play off this card.

Constructed:                 3
Casual:                         4
Limited:                        1


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

Sneak Attack - Friday

This is an interesting card.  I can't give a fair assessment on this one.  It's good sometimes and then a year later in the same format, it's not so good.  Sneak Attack possesses the ability to do some big damage.  It's huge in casual circles.  This is always a sought after card.  However, within the confines of limited play, I'd just skip over it, because you don't want your creatures dying on the turn they come into play.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 1

 
Paul
Hagan

Sneak Attack

Some of my earliest memories of playing Magic are of sitting in mortal fear of a buddy of mine dropping Sneak Attack and producing a horde of unstoppable, gigantor creatures.  This card is a casual player's dream: all of the coolest creatures for one red mana...at least for a turn.  Add any creature with a "comes into play" or "leaves play" ability and Sneak Attack becomes that much more fun.

I would slide this card into my limited deck, especially if I had a bomb or two to drop on my unsuspecting opponent.  The ability to swing an entire game hangs with this card, so I can't give it too bad of a review.

In constructed, I'm not sure how good this card is right now.  I see a lot of counterspells, enchantment destruction, and creature removal roaming around Extended, so the effectiveness of Sneak Attack is probably pretty low.

Constructed Rating: 2.0
Casual Rating: 4.0
Limited Rating: 2.5

 


Andy
 Van Zandt

Sneak Attack

Cards that get around casting costs always have their uses. Obviously
putting out the fattiest fatty seems the best plan, and a way to recur it seems even better. Both it and zodiac dragon should get reprinted together.

constructed 3
casual 4
limited 2
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
Message
Boards

Sneak Attack

This card seems very helpful in Extended combos for the Timmy tournament players who wanted an alternative to Reanimator/Tinker (to a lesser extent, but all in the same family) style decks. Very fun card. I never got to see it in action, but it seems deadly. One mana, and have a Serra Avatar screaming at your opponent s face. Or anything else that s big that I don t want to pay its casting cost. One the good red enchantments out there.

In limited, once again, I don't know anything abuot this, but I guess it could be deadly if you could pull a bomb rare/a big creature.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 3

w00t
Sneak Attack -

Constructed - It's generally hard to build a deck around this, where if you dont draw the sneak, it doesnt auto lose. It seems broken at first... if it weren't so darned inconsistant.

Casual - Sneak attack + Phage + stifle seems like a mean combo. Also throw in Summoners eggs, and rukh eggs... and BAM! Chicken Frapa.... I mean... Combo! Id love to mess around with these, if only I could find a playset.

Limited - Do you ever feel like paying 3RR to let one of your crits in hand swing in limited, than sac it at end of turn? No? Funny.. Neither do I. Doesn't cut it.

Constructed - 2.0
Casual - 3.0
Limited - 1.5

 

 

 

 

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