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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Diabolic Edict
Image from Wizards.com

 Diabolic Edict
- Tempest


Reviewed Sep. 2, 2016

Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.67
Commander [EDH]: 3.50

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Diabolic Edict
 
This is a funny card to me, because it reminds me of the long history of Magic's evolving design sensibilities. Diabolic Edict was the first of its kind, followed closely by the sorcery-speed Cruel Edict from Portal (which didn't have instants at all). At some point, someone decided that Edicts should in fact be sorceries, so we saw things like Chainer's Edict and Barter in Blood . . . and then somebody (probably a different person) decided that they could be instants, hence Geth's Verdict and Devour Flesh. It makes your head hurt when you think about how each and every set was always held up as the pinnacle of design and balance in its day, even when the very next set contradicted its principles. Personally, I'm not much of a durational (to use Mark Rosewater's term) guy, and I look at this as having a choice in what I use in decks. Answering creatures with protection and hexproof or auras with totem armor is likely to be relevant well into the future, and sometimes the most basic iteration will work just fine.
 
Until next week, play with what you want to play, when you want to play with it.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5
James H.

Diabolic Edict

 

This is an elegant, simple card: make an opponent sacrifice a creature. This has always been a tool black has in order to duck around protection, black creatures (as a lot of black's old removal tended to not be able to hit black creatures), regeneration, shroud/hexproof, and indestructible. For this reason, it and effects like it have been a staple of formats they're playable in: remember that it hits the player, not the creature.

 

What it possesses in versatility, it lacks in precision; an opponent with a stuffed board won't be giving up their most lethal creature to this. It also, as a result of targeting the player, fizzles against effects that give you shroud or hexproof (or protection from black). In spite of its limitations, this remains a powerful card anywhere it's playable.

 

Constructed: 4.5

Casual: 4.5

Limited: 4.5

Multiplayer: 4.25

Commander: 4


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