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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Pain Seer
Image from Wizards.com

Pain Seer
- Born of the Gods

Reviewed February 13, 2014

Constructed: 3.38
Casual: 3.50
Limited: 3.50
Multiplayer: 3.31

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Pain Seer

If you're having visions of the Second Coming of Dark Confidant, think again. This needs to become untapped for it to work, and to do that, it first has to tap. Typically this is done by attacking, but Pain Seer is a "combat-vanilla" 2/2. Easy to block and kill, easy to kill with a spell. If you want to tap it reliably, you'll have to grant it a tap ability. Personally, I like Witches' Eye for this purpose, as it helps you prevent the life loss from Pain Seer's ability from being too grievous. You might even find yourself leaving lands on top of your library! Trouble is, that's a two-card combo just to draw an extra card each turn, and the second card (Witches' Eye) just isn't useful without the first card to combo off. We'll see if Pain Seer finds its niche in Constructed, but I have my doubts.

Constructed- 2
Casual- 3.5
Limited- 3.5
Multiplayer- 3.75

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Pain Seer
 
It's the new Dark Confidant! Granted, this version generally has to attack for you to get that oh-so-tempting bonus; but I would argue that if you're playing a 2/2 creature for two mana but don't want to attack, there's a fundamental problem in there somewhere. While a 2/2 creature also dies pretty easily, opponents have always tended to try and kill the original Dark Confidant on sight anyway, so the effect will sometimes be basically the same. And when he doesn't die . . . well, we already know how powerful this combination of effects can be. Also, now there's a second Dark Confidant legal in Modern. That almost scares me more than the applications for Standard.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5 
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Pain Seer which is a two mana Black 2/2 with Inspired that when it untaps has you add the top card of your library to your hand and lose life equal to the converted mana cost.  This isn't as much of a consistent ability as Dark Confidant had, but the 2/2 body and option to not use it balances that out somewhat.  Combined with other effects that tap, or removal to clear the field, this is a reliable enough draw engine in a deck that either defends with high toughness like Phenax or drains life from the opponent.  Overall a solid card that will see play, but probably not one that will join the top end of current Black decks in competitive settings.
 
In Limited this is a risky choice to run as it makes higher casting cost cards in your deck a dangerous threat in the middle to later stages of the game.  Scry can help when deciding to tap Pain Seer and the card advantage is well worth it with a low mana curve design.  As a first pick in Booster or part of a Sealed pool it can be built around or just included in most decks running Black as a 2/2 for two at worst, which isn't unreasonable in the format.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 4.0


Skid Rambo

Pain Seer is a hard card to judge. I like to draw extra cards and I like to be aggressive. I have yet to use Pain Seer in action, but I have a feeling that it can work well.  Mono-Black players are running Pack Rat right now and I think that Blood Scrivener & Underworld Connections actually work better in that deck. If you are thinking about running a B/G Heroic deck then I could see Pain Seer as solid turn 2 creature that can be followed by more low casting cost spells. This creature may not be the next Bob but it is definitely an aggressive card drawing creature. Only time will tell if Pain Seer can be a staple in Standard or the ‘future’ Modern format!
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 2.5


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