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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut.com |
COMBO TIME!!!
The latest buzz at our shop has a lot to do with
Retract and
Brain Freeze, along with Zero casting cost
artifacts like
Ornithopter,
Chrome Mox,
Welding Jar,
Spellbook, plus some 1 casters (yes, most of
these are otherwise poop). You play out your
artifacts, then Retract them, replay them, then
Brain Freeze your opponent's Library away. Yeesh.
It's a fun casual
combo, though I suspect Timmy will try to make it
work at some Friday Night Magics and such here and
there. In
limited, I would consider it if I had a couple
amazing artifacts to protect AND was already
playing blue. Otherwise, eh.
Constructed:
2
Casual: 4
Limited: 2.5
Current Prices:
Retract
$4.55
Brain
Freeze $2.18
Ornithopter:
$0.96
Chrome Mox:
$21.29
Welding Jar:
$0.32
Spellbook:
$1.45
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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A one-sided Hurkyl's Recall. Since it can't
bounce your opponent's permanents, this means it
has one use: combo. The reigning combo deck
might be able to put this to good use, in that
you can re-play and imprint the Moxen to get
another mana, and any other 0 casting cost
artifacts can increase your storm count. Even if
you don't re-imprint the Moxen, it's still a
spell.
In casual, it also is a combo only card, which
is a one trick pony. So you get it off once, and
are the first player out the rest of the night
unless you change decks.
In limited, I'll pass. The benefit of saving one
of your artifacts is far outweighed by having to
cast all the rest of your artifacts again.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 1.5
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Retract
This is such a
terrible review from me, because I don't have
much to say about it. I find this card highly
uninteresting. It's only good use is really
putting it in a combo deck. Otherwise, its just
a space filler or a temporary solution.
Not much limited
value here. There could potentially be some in
casual play, but again only in a combo deck.
Constructed: 1.3
Limited: 1
Casual: 1.5
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Retract
In
the current limited environment, this card’s
ability COULD come in handy sometimes, and even be
very powerful in combination with large
board-clearing effects. Unfortunately, these
opportunities will be very rare. If this card
affected your opponent’s artifacts, this card
would be entirely better. In constructed, there
HAS to be a number of ways to BREAK THIS CARD BIG
TIME. Maybe it will be a deck with a powerful
artifact engine in Extended. This card is probably
very good in Type I (Vintage) for protecting your
own Moxen or for mana acceleration. Should be
above average for casual constructed as well.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 2.5
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Retract
The right cost, and an instant, but since there's
no real shatterstorm at
the moment, i'm not sure what this would be used
as, other than a bad
rescue. But it may see some function in the
future (probably as a sideboard
card).
constructed 2.4
casual 2.5
limited 2.6
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Retract
Well, I am playing
this card in type one right now, as I'm playing a
Mind's Desire/Tendrils of Agony deck, and combined
with the Moxen and other cheap artifacts, it
essentially doubles my spell count for the Desire
or Tendrils.
Aside from that
though, I can't see any real good uses for this
card. It just doesn't act well as a combat trick,
at best saving an artifact from destruction. It’s
also too narrow for any fun casual use. In
general, this card just falls short.
Casual: 1
Constructed:
2
Limited: 1
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Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Retract
This card is combo-licious. Play
this card in a minds desire deck and have all
kinds of fun. Its not the most useful card of all
time. It has a very definite job. In limited it
can be used to save you from losing important
artifacts that you need ot win and its very cheap
for what it does. In casual play I think it solid
because I believe this card is a casual card at
heart.
Constructed 2.5
Casual 2.25
Limited 2 |
Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Retract
Retract, meet Brain Freeze.
Brain Freeze, meet Retract.
Now that we have that straightened out, welcome to
Standard! Play those Moxes and Spellbombs again;
they’re all about milling stuff away! This card
also has some obvious uses in Type 1, but it
simply isn’t as flexible as Hurkyl’s Recall.
Other than this fairly narrow use, I don’t see it
getting much more play.
In limited, maybe I can see you saving an
occasional artifact from getting Shattered or
something, but you could just as easily bounce the
majority of your permanents back to your hand.
The uses are even narrower than in Constructed,
making it pretty bad on the whole.
Who knows what shadows lurk in the hearts of the
players of group-games? There are plenty of wacky
combos that this can perpetuate, but I’m really
not the guy to try to make sense of them. If
you’re happening to be playing Mental Magic with a
bunch of Mirrodin cards, this could be pretty
funny.
Constructed: 2.25
Limited: 2.0
Casual: derf
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Chase |
Retract Happy Mardi
Gras! Er.. whatever, just eat a lot tonight and
party with those little necklaces…. eww. Well,
anyway, today we have a definite Mardi Gras hate
card, Purge or Hurkyl’s Recall for you only. It
could be a nice way to avoid artifact destruction,
but when you’re playing blue and that many
artifacts, you’re going to lose a bunch of em in
the cleanup phase (I would think at least 5.).
Academy anyone? I doubt it but it might be worth a
shot. I will be amused if this ends up restricted
in Type 1 though. I don’t know if this works, but
I think that you can sac an artifact like a
spellbomb then in response return it to your hand
so you get the effect twice. So, 3 mana at once, 2
cards instant speed. Interesting. I don’t see any
other uses for this in Constructed though. Maybe
the other smarter-than-me team members will point
something else out.
In Casual, probably some crazy combo.
In Limited, you can avoid artifact destruction
for a turn. Not tall that good especially
considering that blue is leaning more towards
beatdown. Not that good, but a little under
average for lack of useage.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3?
Limited: 2 |
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