Two cards for two life is an equitable trade.
It's rare you'd want to target anyone but
yourself, or possibly a teammate, but having the
freedom to hit anyone with it is nice,
especially given cards like Underworld Dreams,
and that sometimes, opponents are at 2 life and
could kill you next turn.
Night's Whisper was always playable, and Sign in
Blood is just as good. Maybe better once you
notice you can point it at the opponent (flavorwise,
how are you supposed to be forcing them to sign
the contract?), and when you consider that it
will never kill you like Phyrexian Arena could.
If you like playing black, almost any deck, you
will certainly want to consider at least a few
of these.
Constructed:
Good card for solid black decks. There are some
good mono black decks out there, but just not
good enough. Or some players are not willing to
give them a try. Not much Standard action going
on until next year. Ooops forgot about FNM.
Casual & Multplayer:
Fun with Underworld Dreams. We had it go off
with a Underworld Dreams in play and someone had
Hive Mind out. Talk about some interesting
targets, one player had a Twincast in their
hand, but was tapped out. Close one.
Limited:
Great common to pick up for card drawing. It's a
common. I seen it draft with red for some extra
burn. Oh yeah... A top pick for fun, but I would
normally pick it low, after selecting good
creatures and removal.
Overall a great reprint sort of.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Limited: 3
Later
Miguel
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno
Today's card of the day is Sign in Blood a twist
on the pain for profit mechanic that Black tends
to feature frequently. Two cards for two life
and one card is not a horrible trade and used
properly is certainly an advantage. The
interesting part is being able to target an
opponent with this effect and have them not only
draw the two cards, but also lose the two life
instead of you. With the right support such as
Underworld Dreams or Kederekt Parasite this can
be an effective offensive card.
In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this can
be a useful card drawing utility or a somewhat
fun damaging effect. Either way it is played
Sign in Blood is a decent addition to the right
deck.
For Limited this is more likely to be played to
draw cards for yourself, but sometimes that two
damage can help win a close game. Just be
careful when using it against untapped mana as
your opponent can easily draw into an instant.
The true power depends entirely on your card
pool and it can find a home in pure Black or
even Black/Blue builds, just be sure to have
enough Swamps to field the double Black mana
cost. The draw power alone is enough to earn a
spot in most half Black decks in sealed, but the
choice on when to pick this in a draft is more
difficult as by itself it won't win the game. If
you have Underworld Dreams I'd consider this a
pretty high choice for the potential combo,
otherwise pick it before mediocre creatures and
after any destruction effects.
