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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Sickening Shoal
Champions of Kamigawa
Reviewed January 31, 2005
Constructed: 3.50
Casual: 2.75
Limited: 4.25
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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our
Card of the Day Reviews
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Scott
Gerhardt
*
game store owner
(Shuffle and Cut) |
The shoals, in
general, are just sick. this particular shoal,
the Sickening Shoal, is super sick. MBC (That's
Mono-Black Control) just picked up the Weapon on
Mass Destruction. Now, they can feasibly throw
away things like extra Kokushos while blowing up
whatever might be in their way, and do it all
while tapped out. If they have the extra mana,
you can just pay the price and whack it that
way. The card is unbeleivably vertatile and is a
must play in every MBC deck.
In limited, it's also a no brainer. Things that
kill creatures must be played. This card would
fit nicely in any limited deck running black.
Constructed: 5 (type 2 MBC)
Limited: 4.5 |
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The
Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
Sickening Shoal
- Monday
This seems like a fun card for black decks. You
have to dedicate to playing a lot of black, so
this won't work for those decks that only splash
it for removal. Control decks will probably
won't four of these in their deck. It's
targeted, but being able to kill a creature for
free is always good times.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5 |
Paul
Hagan |
Sickening Shoal
--
I've always been a fan of alternate casting cost
cards, and Sickening Shoal really isn't an
exception. Usually, I immediately ignore any
form of targeted removal that involves giving
out negatives to a creature -- that sort of
ability is best left to mass removal, such as
Mutilate or Hideous Laughter. However, if I
don't have to pay for it, and I have a card that
I don't need, Sickening Shoal seems a bit
better. There is still a ton of good removal in
Type II right now, though, so don't expect to
see this card roaming around your local tourney
scene.
For casual players, unless you have placed set
restrictions on yourself, just don't play this
card. You have hundreds of good removal options,
and Sickening Shoal isn't one of them.
I would definitely play this card in limited.
Any removal is good removal, and the fact that
you can kill an absolutely massive creature by
removing an expensive spell seems decent enough
to me.
Constructed Rating: 2.0
Casual Rating: 2.0
Limited Rating: 3.5 |
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner
(Shuffle and Cut) |
Sickening Shoal
The Shoals have proven to be some of the more
popular cards of the new Betrayers of Kamigawa
set, and Sickening one of the better Shoals.
It's alternate casting cost really makes it
evil. If you can manage the normal casting cost,
great. If you can't, you don't need mana open
and can make it go off anyhow with any black
card in hand. Giving a creature negatives is
usually much more efficient than doing damage to
them, as damage has ways of being stopped, while
negs are much more difficult to deal with.
That's one reason that Sickening Shoal has come
out ahead of Blazing Shoal as a better bet. Not
that Blazing is bad...it's not, and if you're
going red, it's a nice card. It's a good bet
that you'll see Sickening in constructed,
especially in block, and it will also prove
popular in limited, both sealed and draft.
Constructed - 4.5
Casual - 3
Limited - 4.5 |
Ray Powers
"Monk" |
Sickening Shoal
This card is definitely a top card for Limited,
as a removal spell that can hit almost any
creature in the format, and is not susceptible
to Regeneration or Damage Prevention spells. It
also has some great surprise ability with its
alternate casting cost that lets you tap out but
still be able to use it, albeit at the cost of
another card. In casual play, its fine but not
amazing, and in constructed, its likely to be
played only in a control black deck, and this
card may indeed help make one possible.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 3
Limited: 5 |
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