Nezumi Shortfang
Another Magic post. Wow. I’m completely flabbergasted, blown away, amazed, impressed, excited. What a wonderful mechanic. What a wonderful card. What creativity. And Mike didn’t even mention the best part, which is that the discard happens at instant speed, which is just what my multiplayer discard deck is missing, to the point that I was considering maindecking Vedalken Orrery. It will be a fun, challenging card to play, trying to keep track of what I’ve seen in my opponents’ hands to know if I can safely activate Nezumi Shortfang if I already have one flipped.
Follow? I mean, if you play Magic, do you follow? Otherwise there’s really no chance you could follow, so go ahead and ignore the rest of this post. Here’s how it would play out: I’ve cast a Nezumi Shortfang and used it when my opponent has one card in his hand. The player discards that card, and I flip Nezumi Shortfang (if you haven’t followed the link to the card yet, do so now.) Then my opponent gets back to two cards in hand, and I have a second Nezumi Shortfang in play. What does my opponent now have in his hand? If he has an instant, I can activate the Rat, and in response he can cast the instant. Then when the Rat’s ability resolves, he’ll have one card in his hand, which he’ll discard. The Nezumi Shortfang will flip and become a second Stabwhisker the Odious (great name), but under the new Legends rule, both Stabwhiskers will die as a state-based effect. So for the cost of having his hand forced slightly, he’ll change my one-for-zero into a much more favorable (for him) two-for-two. So I’ll have to be really sure I keep track of what he’s holding, knowledge I should have received from Duresses and so forth. But what if he’s drawn a card or two that I haven’t seen yet? I’ll have to make a guess based on what he’s played so far: what are the instants he’s likely to be playing, and and what’s the likelihood of him holding one. Even if it’s a Giant Growth, it would probably behoove him to Giant Growth one of my creatures so that his hand can empty and the Rat can flip.
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