One of the few multicolor cards in Coldsnap that
actually compliments its corresponding Ravnica
guilds, Blizzard Specter will go great along
with its older brother Hyppie in U/B control.
The bounce effect is probably much preferable to
the discard, but it would depend on the
situation. Also, get two of these to swing at
once against a player with an empty hand, and
you can stack the abilities so that the opponent
returns something to their hand and immediately
discards it. This guy's definitely better in a
flock (or would it be called a murder?)
I've become accustomed to opening this guy in my
first pack, and I rarely pick anything else.
Black/Blue is a great combination in CCC
drafting and the specter helps immensely. If you
can get this guy out on turn 4 (or earlier) he's
a wrecking ball. You can pretty much ignore the
discard ability because in the early game the
real beef comes with the bouncing. If you can
start bouncing your opponent's land (or even
creatures) before they get in a position to
defend themselves, he can go all the way. And if
they manage to find something easily bouncable
(or something you don't want them to be casting
every turn), then you can switch to discard
mode. This is one of the best specters ever.
Gawd, this thing is irritating as hell to play
against in limited. Coldsnap doesn't have a lot
of removal, nor great ways to deal with flyers.
If you wasted your little removal on other
things, Specter will beat you up and set you far
enough behind to matter.
Don't see it in constructed, but a nice add to
casual Specter decks.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 3.5
Limited - 3
Aburame Shino
Blizzard
Specter
As much as I want to like this card, there's
just not enough about it that makes it amazing
to me. The discard effect can be a nuisance if
left unchecked, but if I wanted recurring
discard I'd use Hypnotic Specter or Nezumi
Shortfang, both of which cost less than this
card with the prior discard ability being out of
the opponent's control. Yet again the return
effect can be annoying, but the problem is that
the opponent gets to choose what to return to
their hand. So the return ability won't be all
that hot if they're returning a Loxodon Hierarch
everytime you choose to bounce something.
This card only shines in two ways; the first one
being if there are two copies in play while the
opponent has no cards in hand. You attack, force
the opponent to return something, then with the
other specter discard it. That may seem good,
but it's actually not as easy to do as you may
think. The other situation is if you grab him in
limited, because repetitive discard is a pain to
deal with.
Constructed: 1 - We've got Hypnotic Specter, why
do we need this?
Casual: 1.5 - The point of Casual is to have
fun. This card is just annoying.
Limited: 2.5 - It's a flier with recurring
discard.
