Ok boys and girls! Its that time again! I'm gonna lay out an old one today that's been around since the beginning. Im not foolish enough to call this one card of the week anymore because apparently my job doesn't always lend me enough free time. But ive been thinking about this one for a little bit now and i thought id break down Magebane today.
Now here is a candidate for most efficient card in the game right now. 5 mana, one quick action, and it demands a response. A warlock can drop that price by one with his/ her ring, but even for the rank and file non dark mages this card still pulls it's weight.
The reason its so good is several fold, insofar as its going to bone you no matter what you decide to do with it. Mages being equal (for the sake of argument, we know they aren't) its worth the cost almost every time.
Scenario one. You qc Magebane face down and it burns a nullify, (assuming neither are in school) you just burned one qc and 2 mana and 2sp to destroy one qc, 4mana, and 2 sp on the other side. Worth it in my opinion
Scenario two, you qc Magebane, it sticks, you flip it. 5 mana spent. Now it will do at least one damage to the enemy and force an immediate reaction. They must plan a dispel and then use it costing a full 5 mana and dealing one damage. Both have spent 2 sp (assuming no in school cards), 5 mana, one qc. But one takes damage and without superb planning and foresight it will probably take another turn before the enemy can undo the curse. Pretty worth it if it throws your enemy off of the plan they had at the onset.
Scenario three. The enemy counteracts spell some other way by playing a regrowth belt or something. This is a stop-gap as the two direct damage they would take will get undone at upkeep. May seem like a wash, but almost every regeneration spell will cost the same or more than you spent casting the magebane and now you've "occupied" the enemies passive healing, meaning any other damage that goes through becomes that much harder to heal. I would consider this a win as well. Further DOT or the like enhances this effect and demands another response.
Scenario four. Your enemy does nothing about it and it either does 2 damage to the mage per round or the enemy doesn't cast 2 spells per round, gaining you tempo. This might cause your enemy to commit to an all out rush in attempts to kill you before you kill him.
In every case i see value in this card. Theres even a decent case to be made for taking one of these out of school, or even from a prohibited school! This card is a model of ruthless efficiency. I know almost every druid i run plays one. Every warlock i run plays at least 2. Ive put this handy little number in a few of my priest books, and at least one (ill fated and poorly executed, but super fun to play!!!) Priestess book from last year's ADMW. It lost, but there were a bunch of reasons for that. Lol!
What do you all think? I've heard arguments that it's too good, but i think for what it does this lvl 1 spell is an absolute game changer!
Feels good to be back, dunno when the next one will come, but ill try and make it before too long. Might turn into card or the month or something. Lol!
