Free spells are always good. Free spells with
great abilities are even better. You can
definitely expect to see creature heavy black
decks running this card. In some ways it's going
to be tough playing against them because they
now have the possibility of burning you out.
It's an instant too...so keep an eye out.
What does a 4-point life drain typically cost?
Well, Ribbons of Night did it for 4B, at Sorcery
speed I believe. With a Consume Spirit, you
could have it for 1BBBBB. SO getting it as an
instant for 5BB seems fair. What really draws
attention to this card is the option of playing
it for free by giving up two other black cards.
But is that worth it? Having the Soul Spike and
two other black cards in hand at the crucial
moment is a tall order, but not incredibly so. A
deck with Phyrexian Arena or Seizan, Perveter of
Truth could manage it easily, in which case this
is indeed a very good card because you'll need
the life gain to offset the life loss from the
Arena or the Perverter. All told, I don't think
this card quite lives up to the hype around it,
but it's still a good card.
Constructed- 4
Casual- 3
Limited- 3.5
Christine
Gerhardt
Soul Spike
Obviously, for constructed, you would probably
rarely hard cast this for 7 mana. Its advantage
is that you can cast it without having mana
open, which tells your opponent that they are
never truly safe from a surprise in this
enviroment. But losing 2 cards isn't a great
thing either. I'm not sure if it will actually
see play. In limited, it's okay, but you may
have a hard time finding 2 black cards sittig
idly in your hand in an enviroment of mixed
color decks. Still, removal is a premium in
limited, and I would play it.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 3
The Antman
Soul Spike-
Rare- Coldsnap
Wow, who cares about 2 cards, this thing is
AMAZING, 8 point life swings, or getting rid of
your opponets target loxodon hierarch for free
is pretty good, add in phyrexian arena and you
are all set to go.
Expect to see this in plenty of fast black based
decks soon.
Ratings:
constructed - 4/5 sure 2 cards suck, but the
ability makes up for it.
limited- 4/5 any removal is good removal, plus 7
mana isnt that hard to get in limited
casual- 2/5 meh, nothing too special for casual,
i guess it could be used with a lot of card draw
Soulspike -
When I first read this card I was extremely
confused by its rarity. Yes, it has the
potential to be played for "free", but three
cards for 4 damage seems like a horrible price
to pay. My opinion was changed when I realized
that this card is a strange black analogue to
Fireblast - with one important difference. If
you can get lucky (or set your deck up
correctly), a Necropotence-style effect added to
this card can end games very fast. Suddenly I
understood the power here. However, I think that
Soulspike is evidence that not all cards in
Coldsnap can really live in the era they were
printed. Although once upon a time this may have
been huge, nowadays it's just a bit too
expensive no matter how you play it.
