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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Funeral Charm 
 


Reviewed March 26, 2004

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 2.6
Limited: 3.2

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.com

Funeral Charm is considered by many to be the best of the charms.  At a cost of only one mana, at instant speed, you suddenly have 3 usable abilities at your fingertips.  Versatility, as well as instant speed, as I said earlier this week, makes the difference between a crap card and a great card. 

Funeral charm was considered good enough so that it was a mainstay in the Pox decks of the past. A good card for it's time, it wouldn't be horrible now, either.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 4
Current Price: Funeral Charm $0.50
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Funeral Charm

A key card in the Pox decks of High Tide extended, as it either made you
discard a card or killed a River Boa. Its flexibility is still good today,
as the dual functionality would work in a similar type deck.

I doubt this would be a casual card, as the discard would just make people
gang up on you, and the -1 toughness does very little.

Great in limited, for many of the same reasons as in constructed. Did I
mention it kills River Boas?

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 4
 


DeQuan
Watson

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

* pro tour player

* Scrye writer since 2002

Funeral Charm
 
I liked all the charms.  Each gave you the option of three generally useful abilities for an amazingly low casting cost.  This was just great.  Funeral Charm was one of the more successful of them.  Usually the discard portion is what made the card good, but the others got used later in the game. 
 
Casual players seem to have slid away from the charms.  For whatever reason, t hey are more used by serious players.  In limited, the charms were diamonds in the rough that did get sought out.
 
Constructed: 3
Casual: 1
Limited: 3
 


Jeff Zand
i

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Level 2 Judge

Funeral Charm

Of the first generation of multi-purpose Charm cards, Funeral Charm was the best. Instant discard is virtually unheard of, and this was a favorite use of this card. However, it was used almost as often for spot removal of anything with a one toughness. The real keys to this card is the single black casting cost and the card’s instant speed. It is a great card in any format.

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

CASUAL:            4.0

LIMITED:             4.0

 

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge)

Funeral Charm

 

I’m sure a lot of people today will point out how the +2/-1 made this card a great choice for the old Pox deck, either killing a creature (hopefully a Ball Lightning) or pumping your Steel Golem for a couple extra points for the win. Personally, I have always been uncomfortable with this card because it breaks one of the cardinal rules Magic has set for it self: instant speed discard. The Pox deck often used the discard ability of Funeral Charm to better fix the “numbers” that happened when Pox was cast, but the fact that it was an instant speed discard meant that if you could recur it, you could lock someone out of their draw step for forever.  It’s the kind of card designers fear.

 

Constructed:                 3

Casual:                         1

Limited:                        2

 
Jason
Matthews


* Level 1 DCI Judge

*game store employee

* gaming for over 15 years
Funeral Charm

Instant speed discard is not fair. Instant speed Kill in black is the norm. Instant speed swamp walk is not fair either. This card is what I would consider sum good. The thing that really appeals to me about this card is the instant speed discard. You can really reek havoc in the opposing players draw step with this. I cant say much more about this card other than its just dang good.

Constructed 3.5

Casual 3

Limited 3.5

 

Jonathan
Pechon


2 Grand Prix Top 8's

Multiple Pro Tour appearances

Funeral Charm

 

Every single one of the charms from Onslaught pales in comparison to this card; it’s almost ridiculous how much better this is than any of those.  All three of these abilities would probably see use during the course of a tournament; the +2/-1 would always manage to take down a Jackal Pup or a Ball Lightning before it could do its work, the discard ability snagged the one remaining counter end-step, and the swampwalk would inevitably steal a mirror-match from beneath your opponent’s nose.  I really feel this should have been included in Onslaught rather than the sad substitute that was Misery Charm.  Maybe remove the swampwalk for the Cleric ability just to satisfy the tribal requirements, and we would have had a happier card.

 

This is such a fantastically flexible card, I don’t see how you could skip it for purposes of casual play.  It’s even fantastic in Mental Magic; both of the first two abilities work well within the game.  And it’s perfect at the cost.

 

For draft, the same rules would have to apply.  Extremely flexible cards do very well in limited, so enjoy them when you can; while this might not be a first-pick, it’s definitely a card that can probably make your deck.

 

Constructed:  4.0

Casual:  4.0

Limited:  3.0

 

Jason
Chapman
Funeral Charm is one of the single best commons around. It provides the only instant speed discard ability. In addition it can act as creature removal or as creature pump and provide evasion. Any one of these abilities is good, especially cheap discard and early removal. The ability to choose and the bredth of abilities means that the card will always find a use at any point in the game. There are few cards that have that power and utility.

Constructed: Funeral Charm is useful to such a broad range of decks it is a must - 4.0

Casual: Again the charm can add a little to a wide range of creative ideas - 4.0

Limited - Removal and Evasion? Yep I'll take it - 3.5

PEZ - A standard for Aggro/Control and Suicide, and PEZ is heavy in 1/1's - 4.5

 
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
Message
Boards

Funeral Charm

How charming. Anyways, was very useful in the old extended. Very versatile, if your opponent has swamps, the swamp walk can be a nice surprise, a quick power boost, or ditch the lone card in their hand. At instant speed too. Personally, I don’t like this card very much, especially in casual, but it can be a really good, nasty surprise.

In Limited, yeah, still versatile. It has more of a control element but it’s still good. I’d take it.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 2
Limited: 2
 
 

 

 

 

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