A Harrowing Experience

Yeah, too easy on that title there. This weeks card is Harrow. What doe Harrow do? Good question. Harrow's stats:

2G
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Harrow, sacrifice a land.
Search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

Harrow does a few things, actually. Let's list them:
1) Harrow helps you smooth your mana.
2) Harrow accelerates your mana.
3) Harrow thins your deck, helping you to draw business cards that can use your now smoothed, accelerated mana supply.
4) Harrow helps you get to threshold.

Harrow is pretty good. OK - let's face it. If I'm fondling it, the card is probably at least one, if not more, of these things: Powerful (or you could say pretty or really good), highly versatile, highly flavorful, or highly memorable, meaning that I used it at some point and poignantly remember the situation. I have used Harrow in several decks for, usually, at least two of the stated things that it does. I use it in one of my decks because it does everything that I listed for that deck. See, along with Fact or Fiction and Sakura Tribe Elders, Harrow lets my UGW Multiplayer Threshold/Crystal Witness deck rock out hard. It helps get those three colors of mana in a deck I decided to NOT use mad Duals in, builds Threshold, and provides acceleration for a few beefy spells like Phantom Nishoba and kicked Routs. Certainly helps this deck out.

One of the things I like most about Harrow is it's card type: Instant. You can hold off on using it until you have extra mana. This isn't likely to happen on the third through fifth turns of a multiplayer game, but can be useful to do in turns after that. You can wait with some of your reactive cards in hand on other players turns and then pop off the Harrow if it makes it back to you without having to use those resources. Then you build your mana and thin your deck for your next turn.

But it's not like you have to cast it at the end of your opponents turn to get great use out of it. It puts the lands onto the battlefield untapped. You can use them right away, unlike a creature with flash, which, when trying to use it as a surprise attacker, you will often play at the end of your opponents turn. Because those Harrowed lands enter the battlefield untapped, Harrow essentially only "costs" one mana to play. Another reason to love it.

Harrow first appeared in Tempest as an Uncoommon. It made a repeat appearance in Invasion at common as a much welcomed mana fixer in a block that had a fair share of gold cards. We have had a few sets that were strongly multicolored since, but no reprint of Harrow in them (because we got mad color fixing lands). However, I would wager strongly that Harrow will make an appearance in Zendikar based on early evidence that the set will have a "land matters" theme. There are seven Zendikar cards spoiled so far as I write this. Two have abilities that reference lands. One creature has an ability called Landfall, where it will spit out token critters whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control. The newest card spoiled is a land that deals damage when a Mountain comes into play once you control five Mountains. These abilities just scream out for a card like Harrow. I also wouldn't put it past the designers to make a functional reprint of Sakura Tribe Elder, but I think Harrow is more likely.

Harrow. One of my favorite cards that deals with lands. Versatile, Powerful, and has decent art. A winner in my book.

Phyrexian Splicer (and an introduction)

This is The Weekly Fondle. Each week this blog will highlight a Magic: the Gathering card. That's it, pretty much. I will either pick a favorite card, a powerful card, a popular card, or a random card (if need be) and write about it. Well, I'll write about it after I fondle it (think Data and Picard touching the Phoenix in First Contact, my wife might even walk in on me and throw out Troi's line).

This weeks fondle is, as the title so aptly indicates, the Phrexian Splicer. Ah, the nice cardstock of the Carta Mundi days. Feel the rounded edges of the card. Contrast it to the sharp pain of the subject of the art. This, my friends, was some Magic card.

Phrexian Splicer only really matters in a world of creatures. That world can be found very easily at the kitchen table games I am so fond of. Better, still, it can be found today in several formats. For a while there, competitive Magic cared very little for having critters duke it out. That is less the case these days. Creatures are beautiful, lovely things with all manner of interesting abilities. Why not steal some. That's right. Phyrexian Splicer steals abilities. Four abilities, actually. Well, actually your choice of one of four abilities - Flying, Trample, First Strike, and Shadow. It removes it from one creature and gives it to another. How cool is that?

Splicers are great answers to big finisher creatures in Multiplayer games. Let's think of a few of them. Akroma? Lose that trample and get stopped kold by a Birds of Paradise speedbump! Or better yet, a trampling Fog Bank! That's irony for ya! All the other Angels aren't so hot when they have to contend with a flying Wall of Roots or Beloved Chaplain - No miss Angel, do not mess with the Beloved Chaplain when he takes your wings for a short trip around thudville. Dragons - same thing. Much less scary when they no-fly.

Finally, that splicer can get your big finisher through. It makes a hole in your opponent's defenses big enough for Optimus Prime to drive through. Make that a flying (or trampling, or shadowy) Optimus Prime. First Strike can come in handy too, sometimes. As if I had to tell you all that.

Thanks for reading. Now go fondle your own Splicer!