Discussion Forum

ya i'm not a fan of the "on combat damage to opponent" abilities, luckily i found someone who will trade me an Obliterator for mine.

personally im more of a fan of sword of body and mind. its so easy, or rather, was so easy, to use something like distortion strike or a nueromancer to make a creature unblockable and swing through for the free hit, free 2/2, and make them mill:) when i was playing equipment, i generally had a playset of swords (i don't have any mystics) and a set of decimator web. that with a few other mill cards, it caused a few headaches here and there:) but that was definitely more of a casual play scenario. but mine would go like this; body and mind, feast and famine, and war and peace.

How so? I find it amazing...not $22 amazing, more like $16-ish but it's amazing. Mirran crusader + Sword of War and peace = swing for death. Also, I like SoBM the most out of all 3 of the standard swords, because it hinders your opponent so much haha.

I find Sword of Feast and Famine to be the best, Sword of Body and Mind the worst, and Sword of War and Peace somewhere in between.

Untapping all your lands is great; it's the best part of a Time Walk. Additionally, it provides some actual disruption, which I'd much prefer to lifegain or mill. Two solid abilties make Feast and Famine the best, IMHO.

War and Peace is in the middle, as while it doesn't generate any actual card advantage, the life swing can be very hard to ignore. It's potentially the most damaging of the swords. And while that of itself wouldn't merit it's position, the protection it provides is from colors that like their removal spells. Red especially has a very hard time with handling protection from itself.

Sword of Body and Mind is the worst because it really only has one relevant ability. You get a bear, and that's great, but milling for ten is very weak. You're removing ten random cards from their deck, but that's not changing the fact that the opponent is still going to draw a random card on each of his or her turns; it's not effecting what the opponent has in hand or on the battlefield; it's not producing card advantage. Because most decks run multiple copies of the cards they include, it's very unlikely you're actually denying an opponent any particular resource in the future. The mill is a red herring.

[QUOTE=scumbling1]The mill is a red herring.[/QUOTE]

at worst it's a 5-turn clock that ignores life gain.

It also turns on their bloodghasts if they have 'em. I think the swords are all quite good for each of their own reasons. I think Feast and Famine does the most broken thing, with War and Peace providing an insane swing of life to stave off the aggro decks (suck it Boros). It also has the advantage of being able to shoot planeswalkers with the ability (redirect to Jace, etc.). Body and Mind makes another dude and mills your opponent, which can be relevant in longer games with life gain or something. Each has their own ups and downs and they're all quite good (+2/+2 and protection from two colors is still great). Good design overall.

[QUOTE=truegrave18]personally im more of a fan of sword of body and mind. its so easy, or rather, was so easy, to use something like distortion strike or a nueromancer to make a creature unblockable and swing through for the free hit, free 2/2, and make them mill:) when i was playing equipment, i generally had a playset of swords (i don't have any mystics) and a set of decimator web. that with a few other mill cards, it caused a few headaches here and there:) but that was definitely more of a casual play scenario. but mine would go like this; body and mind, feast and famine, and war and peace.[/QUOTE]

I like SoBM to. It's not my favorite of the 3, but I think it's quite potent. It's dropped in popularity, but I still get plenty of concedes when it hits the table.

[QUOTE=Scotty1700;25034]How so? I find it amazing...not $22 amazing, more like $16-ish but it's amazing. Mirran crusader + Sword of War and peace = swing for death. Also, I like SoBM the most out of all 3 of the standard swords, because it hinders your opponent so much haha.[/QUOTE]

I think it's a good card, and in the right situation it can be an instant win. I've just seen too many times when the second ability just did nothing. I'm typically not worried about my opponent gaining life, and if my hand is empty then I'm not worried about their sword. I've also seen times when SoFF didn't do anything either, but I still think it's better than SoWP.

[QUOTE=scumbling1;25043]I find Sword of Feast and Famine to be the best, Sword of Body and Mind the worst, and Sword of War and Peace somewhere in between.

Untapping all your lands is great; it's the best part of a Time Walk. Additionally, it provides some actual disruption, which I'd much prefer to lifegain or mill. Two solid abilties make Feast and Famine the best, IMHO.

War and Peace is in the middle, as while it doesn't generate any actual card advantage, the life swing can be very hard to ignore. It's potentially the most damaging of the swords. And while that of itself wouldn't merit it's position, the protection it provides is from colors that like their removal spells. Red especially has a very hard time with handling protection from itself.

Sword of Body and Mind is the worst because it really only has one relevant ability. You get a bear, and that's great, but milling for ten is very weak. You're removing ten random cards from their deck, but that's not changing the fact that the opponent is still going to draw a random card on each of his or her turns; it's not effecting what the opponent has in hand or on the battlefield; it's not producing card advantage. Because most decks run multiple copies of the cards they include, it's very unlikely you're actually denying an opponent any particular resource in the future. The mill is a red herring.[/QUOTE]

I understand that taking random cards from their library isn't all that strong, but I still put SoBM over SoWP just because it puts them on an extremely short clock. Even if Mill isn't your objective, they still have to deal with it quick, or that can become you win condition pretty fast.

[QUOTE=NightLoki;25052]It also turns on their bloodghasts if they have 'em. I think the swords are all quite good for each of their own reasons. I think Feast and Famine does the most broken thing, with War and Peace providing an insane swing of life to stave off the aggro decks (suck it Boros). It also has the advantage of being able to shoot planeswalkers with the ability (redirect to Jace, etc.). Body and Mind makes another dude and mills your opponent, which can be relevant in longer games with life gain or something. Each has their own ups and downs and they're all quite good (+2/+2 and protection from two colors is still great). Good design overall.[/QUOTE]

I've seen this happen, and it does suck. But lik you said +2/+2 and pro 2 colors is extremely powerful, especially for the low cost of 2 to equip.



I'm not saying that the SoWP isn't good, I just think it's overrated. I would pay 10-12 for it.

But is a five-turn clock with SoMB really that much faster than those offered by the other swords? Even on a lowly Squadron Hawk, SoWP is a four-turn clock, assuming they have a minimum of two cards in their hand. SoFF is a bit harder to quantify, but presumably that extra untap effect will help you speed up your game.

What I don't like about SoBM is that the mill doesn't contribute to the damage that your deck has already done to the opponent by the time of it's casting. It's sort of like switching over to swinging with Infect creatures halfway through the game; sometimes it'll see you through, but it's generally better to stick with a more focused gameplan.

[QUOTE=Seras]ya i'm not a fan of the "on combat damage to opponent" abilities, luckily i found someone who will trade me an Obliterator for mine.[/QUOTE]

You lucky bastard -_-

[QUOTE=surewhynot]You lucky bastard -_-[/QUOTE]

well with the price of the sword vs the Obliterator, he probably could have gotten 2 obliterators for his one sword.

how so? they're both about 20$

http://www.cardshark.com/Magic-the-Gathering/New-Phyrexia/Sword-of-War-and-Peace/Card-information/31769

http://www.cardshark.com/Magic-the-Gathering/New-Phyrexia/Phyrexian-Obliterator/Card-information/31727

Obliterator in the long run is the better card, so congrats. that said having 1 of each sword is very powerful since the printing of stoneforge mystic. Swords overall are very powerful all round cards with the 2 old swords, fire and ice and light and shadow still at the top by far.

as for power level of the current swords scumbling1 already said it

Feast and Famine is the strongest by far for its ability to untap land and make it playable in control decks.

War and Peace is a good aggro card with strong protection colors.

Body and Mind gives us a double clock, one that doesn't stack with damage. Pretty useless outside of limited. Even worse, in a game like legacy graveyards often provide solutions and fuel Tarmogoyf and Tombstalker.
That said it's still a fair card, not bad at all but the least powerful of the 3 for sure.

[QUOTE=Seras]how so? they're both about 20$

http://www.cardshark.com/Magic-the-Gathering/New-Phyrexia/Sword-of-War-and-Peace/Card-information/31769

http://www.cardshark.com/Magic-the-Gathering/New-Phyrexia/Phyrexian-Obliterator/Card-information/31727[/QUOTE]

You're right. On MTGO the sword goes for about 20, while the Obliterator goes for about 9. I just figure paper is pretty close to the same, only a little more expensive.

[QUOTE=pete_h]You're right. On MTGO the sword goes for about 20, while the Obliterator goes for about 9. I just figure paper is pretty close to the same, only a little more expensive.[/QUOTE]

if Obliterator was 9$ I would buy a set right now

Well like I said, digital cards are cheaper... lol.

actually I just looked at the online prices right now, and Sword is 15, and Obliterator is 10.