I have a number of hobbies, and my interest in them comes in waves. Every once in a while I start brewing Magic: The Gathering decks again. Recently moviegoing has taken a back seat to this addictive card game. So I thought I’d write something about Magic.
Here are a couple of my favorite cards.
Swerve
Why do I like messing with people's plans in this game? I think the flavor text on Swerve speaks to the question. As a blue player, I'm not usually going to enjoy the biggest board, or most dangerous creatures, and I sort of don't want to. That's easy, common, and boring. I'd prefer to build and play in a way that is more oblique. Turning my weaknesses into strengths feels great, and Swerve is like a judo throw, redirecting my opponent's power against them.
Swerve can redirect a Lightning Bolt back atcha, sure. But it can also divert an aura from your creature to mine. It's an answer to a threat, but it also gives me that threat.
My favorite use of Swerve though was in the counterspell-heavy meta I learned to play in. If I wanted to Blightning a control player, I could expect a counterspell in response. Swerve backs up my play; changing the target of the counter to Swerve. In a funny paradox, even though Swerve is countered by counterspell, it still has its effect; my Blightning hits their face.
Impact today
Swerve has been outmoded by newer cards, most directly by Untimely Malfunction which is one color, and modal.
Looter il-Kor
Rather than going head-to-head with bigger, nastier creatures, Looter il-Kor sneaks in with shadow. Why muddle about with combat at all? Your blockers are irrelevant. His sting is not bad enough to draw removal though, dealing just 1 damage per turn.
Obliqueness in creature form, his real angle is filtering; letting me see more cards so I can select those most appropriate for my context. I’m usually brewing in blue, and after placing the initial cards that inspired the deck together and laughing maniacally, the next card I usually want to include is my boy, Looter il-Kor, as filtering never seems like a bad idea.
He does double-duty in strategies where placing specific cards in your graveyard matters, such as reanimation. Cheating bombs into play is one of the ways I try to work around blue’s relatively weaker ramp and creature power. Sacrificing Looter with Victimize for Iona, Shield of Emeria is the kind of cheeky payout that bookends sneaking in that initial 1 shadow damage.
Impact today
Shoreline Looter is potentially an upgrade here, for example in a long commander game where eventually its filter turns into a draw. Plus it's from Bloomburrow, so it's cute as a button.
End step
I enjoyed writing about these little guys. Maybe I'll do a part II some time.
