3 replies to this topic

[n00bdragon]

Card of the Day for Wednesday, May 23rd 2012



Card Name » Betrayal of Flesh
Mana Cost » 5B
Expansion » Mirrodin
Type » Instant
Card Text » Choose one — Destroy target creature; or return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Entwine—Sacrifice three lands. (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.)

• none

Legal in »  Vintage, Legacy, Commander, Modern

n00b's Thoughts » One of the very few instant reanimation spells. Probably not as "good" as Makeshift Mannequin in that regard but boy is this card versatile. Both of these effects are worth around four mana so paying six for either is pretty harsh. This would have been leaps and bounds better at 5 mana. However, the entwine cost can either be too steep to consider or too cheap to complain about depending on the game state. A two creature swing is pretty huge at sorcery speed, at instant speed it becomes totally insane. This is a really good but very overlooked card. Definitely more control deck oriented though. Combo and aggro want nothing to do with it. Aggro control may have a spot though.

Art »  This is wonderfully versatile art. I love how it could either be a poor Moriok getting killed or getting reanimated.

Notes » I'm doing COTD until Gren comes back. This week's theme is reanimation.

[Gerdat14]

I like this guy. I do. Control and rez in one card is awesome. But i also like to play with huge and costly creatures. As such, my mana is either gone or too important to me to use this usually. If i really wanted to run super B/U mill though, this would be at 3-4 so i can cheat some awesome creatures into play.

[Dragonheart91]

I agree that both effects are worth about 4 mana, at sorcery speed. At instant speed they are probably worth closer to 5 mana, especially the revive. Having the option to do either is a fair reason to bump it to 6 mana, especially with only one colored mana. The entwine is just a bonus. Sadly, I still don't see this card seeing much play because 6-drops just have to be insanely game-changing to matter. It would have probably be been balanced and fair at something like 2BBB or 3BB.

[Siyanor]

I keep looking at it and asking myself if I want it in my deck, and I always conclude that I would if it cost 5 instead of 6.

As Dragonheart said, 6 really is a balanced cost for it given how WotC treats mana cost increases, except it's too high for it to be worth playing.

Entwine cards are usually overcosted for either of their effects individually, and if a deck NEEDS both effects, it's just going to use 4 each of 2 cards that do each separate effect, if any such cards are available and the deck has room for them. Hence why the number of Entwine cards actually used is very small. Then there are some that aren't really overcosted at all, but just don't have enough impact to be worth the cost (Ex. Grab The Reins).

Edited by Siyanor, 22 May 2012 - 11:47 PM.