The Swords of past blocks were notorious for
having profound effects on the game state once
their wielders snuck through. Fire and Ice could
pick off smaller creatures and keep your hand
filled. Body and Mind generated tokens as it
milled. But I fear War and Peace won't catch on
as well as those did, since the triggers here
basically amount to a large swing in life
totals-- not that that's a bad thing, of course.
The +2/+2 is a nice perk, or course, allowing
even a lowly 0/1 to wield it and deal damage.
And the protection from red and white are
arguably the most useful of any pair of
protections any Sword grants-- and arguably the
least useful. Red and white are two of the three
colors most likely to point a kill spell at that
creature you just suited up for battle, and this
Sword protects it from them. But red and white
are also two of the three colors most likely to
just destroy the Sword, and then deal with the
creature at their leisure. The Sword's
usefulness is further limited by the fact that
the strength of its triggers are dependent on
the size of each player's hand. If your opponent
plays out his hand, he takes little or no extra
damage beyond what he took from letting the
Sword-wielder through. And if you play out your
hand, you gain little or no life from it.
Though, that only matters if you can equip a
creature and get it through to the enemy
stronghold, which means if you're worried about
diminished strength from the triggers, you're
probably already ahead.
Personally, I would have named the equipment
that gave protection from red and white "Sword
of Heart and Soul," but beyond that minor point,
I don't have too many complaints about how this
turned out. Red and white are arguably the
colors it's most useful to have protection from,
and extra damage a la Sword of Fire and Ice is
almost always relevant. Interestingly, the
life-gaining ability was seemingly designed for
control decks with equipment, which would
once have been an oxymoron of some sort - talk
about being in the right place at the right
time!
Welcome to another awesome review at Pojo.com’s
card of the day. Today we are taking a look at
Sword of War and Peace from New Phyrexia. Sword
of War and Peace costs three generic mana to
cast and is an artifact equipment with equip
cost of three generic. The Sword of War and
Peace gives the equipped creature +2/+2,
protection from red and white, and has whenever
the equipped creature deals combat damage to a
player, that player takes damage equal to the
number of cards in their hand, and you gain life
equal to the number of cards in yours.
The Swords from the new block have been really
powerful, and Sword of War and Peace is no
exception. All it takes is fattening a hand with
things such as Howling Mine and Font of Mythos,
and hands are fat and happy, ready for the Sword
to do it’s thing. No drawbacks to using Jin
Gitaxias to fatten your hand for the life gain
either. Lots and lots of ways to exploit the
Swords, and plenty of things that have fun with
Metalcraft. For instance, putting the Sword of
War and Peace on a Spiraling Duelist that has
metal craft is just mean, especially if it hits.
Then it’s twice the number of cards in each
hands effect, do to double strike.
The Swords altered the way certain decks play,
and will continue to do so. Any of them are
worthy to go in any deck. It is all a matter of
preference.
Today's card of the day is Sword of War and
Peace which is a three mana equipment with an
equip cost of two that gives a creature +2/+2,
protection from Red and White, deals additional
damage and life gain based on cards in hand.
The last effects are fairly minor compared to
the power of the other swords, but protection
from Red and White which have a large collection
of single target creature removal is quite nice.
Overall this is a bit weaker than Sword of Feast
and Famine or Sword of Body and Mind as it
doesn't quite give you the same potential
advantage when the creature actually deals
damage to the opponent.
In Limited any of the swords make for a good
choice to equip to a creature and this one is no
different. The small damage and life gain
effects aren't likely to make a big difference,
but the protection may be a benefit if the
opponent is using one of the colors.
Easily worth including in any Sealed and an
effective first pick in Booster to be played
alongside any color deck.
