This is a great card for limited that absolutely
could have a life in constructed play as well.
While more of a utility creature in constructed,
the Grave-Shell Scarab is a very powerful card
for limited. A 4/4 body for five mana is a good
deal in Ravnica (what part of the City of Guilds
lets you keep pets like this in your apartment?)
and the combination of being able to sacrifice
him for a new card linked with the ability to
return him to your hand later in the game makes
this a very valuable limited card for the most
popular color combination in the new set.
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this card.
It is obviously useful. But is costs one more
than I would prefer it to cost. It's already a
gold card, so it should cost one less. Then
again, I could just be greedy. I think you will
see a decent amount of this card showing up in
tournament play. I don't expect it to be overly
dominant though.
Much like yesterday's Hunted Lamassu, I'm
intrigued by this card. The cost doesn't
necessarily match the power and toughness,
especially since the extra card you can get off
the first ability isn't *stellar*, considering
you just lost a five-mana investment. Dredge,
however, could swing this card from mediocre to
better-than-average.
As with many gold cards, I have to mark this
card down a bit for limited. Yes, it can be
considered somewhat of a "bomb" rare, but you do
need to be in black and green to get it to work
for you. Still, you can't ignore the overall
quality.
A 4/4 for 5 mana is okay in and of itself. But
add a couple abilities, and it becomes much more
playable. You could get an, albeit expensive,
card drawing engine going on by cast/sac/dredgeing
it over and over. Or better, cast/attack or
block/sac/dredge. While it may be too expensive
for this purpose in constructed or even casual,
it's something to definitely play if you are
going G/b in limited.
