The latest in Red's newest shtick-- burning
through your deck. Attack successfully, and you
get to pitch the worst card in your hand to get
a random top card in return. If there's a card
in your hand you don't need right now, it's
usually worth it to pitch that card and hope for
one that's more relevant to the current game
state. This is a hard lesson for TCG neophytes
to learn. You put that card in your deck because
you want to play it. What will you do later,
when the time is right to play it and you
discarded it? That may happen, or it may not.
But if your hand is full of cards you can't or
don't want to play now, you may not get a chance
to play them later, as your opponent's plays
knock you out of the game.
The damage that the Raider does to your opponent
as he enables you to filter your hand isn't
much, and it doesn't take a lot to kill a 1/1,
but Intimidate will usually let him sneak
through at least once or twice. By that time,
you should have at least found a better card to
play.
I love how we now have a "draw a card"-type
saboteur ability in almost every color now, with
different concepts for almost every one. This is
the first in mono-red, and at first glance, it's
perhaps difficult to see where it will fit in.
It's not quite efficient enough or fast enough
to be in the most aggressive red decks, and the
slower sorts of red decks can switch to more
expensive options in a secondary color and/or
have a very different type of game plan. Still,
the effect is quite appealing in itself - just a
couple of hits will improve your hand and/or
graveyard greatly - and it's definitely worth
trying out somewhere.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
an interesting red looter that has little chance
of seeing play outside of limited. The body on
this creature is somewhat frail but the mana
cost of three is killing it as it becomes
outclassed easily and merely filters too slowly
to benefit any competitive decks in standard and
other formats as well. In casual and multiplayer
this is a decent red looter it has relevant
creature types and provides filtering in a color
often lacking it, also this triggering madness
is relevant for red decks utilizing those cards.
In limited its a solid guy who can draw into
your more powerful spells and can hold equipment
and enchantments and become a serious threat on
its own. Overall a card strictly for limited
which has some casual potential as well.
Today's card of the day is Academy Raider which
is a three mana Red 1/1 with Intimidate and
whenever it deals combat damage to a player you
may discard a card and then draw a card. This is
not a great card in and of itself as a 1/1 for
three plus the order of discard then draw being
weaker than the opposite order. Supported with
cards that benefit from being discarded or power
enhancements can work more reliably with less
inefficient cards. With multiple other options
available costing the same or less mana and the
mediocre benefit of the effect this is not a
card that is likely to see much play in any
format.
In Limited the evasion is okay and the hand
adjustment can be useful at times, but many
other creatures in the set offer more for a
similar or lower cost. Finding a slot for this
is probably not worth the effort when cards like
Dragon Hatchling are available at the common
level. In Booster this is safe to pass until it
is the only on color or viable card left in the
pack and in Sealed it is generally best to
sidedeck it, even if Red is your primary color.
The first rare I ever pulled was a Blistering
Firecat and ever since I’ve been a big fan of
sneaky red creatures. Academy Raiders may not
have very much power or toughness, but you
should be afraid of his key word: intimidate
(boo!)
This card is surprisingly good in draft if you
look at his fellow competitors Of the fourteen
red common or uncommon creatures in m14 he will
trade with four of them if he is blocked. His
ability to cycle through your deck if you
connect is very useful and it’s a great way to
get rid of extra lands in your hand. At last
Friday’s draft I had some great synergy with
him, Shock, Hive Stirrings, and Elixir of
Immortality.
Constructed: 3 (too mana costly for Boros)
Casual: 3.5 (Reminds me of Kamahl Pit Fighter on
the card Book Burning, good times, gooood times)
Limited: 4 (cycle through dead draws)
Multiplayer: 3.5 (greater chances for someone to
be unable to block)
