MTG Salvation

This is a card that I initially dismissed as yet another take on Pacifism. It's a one-mana Pacifism variant, which is extremely rare and has only appeared twice before - on the semi-decent Kirtar's Desire and on the rather mediocre Cowed By Wisdom. All in all, not a very good precedent.



But take a closer look. Three mana is a significant cost to attack. Or block. In terms of mana development, it stops your opponent's creature dead in its tracks for the first two turns of the game, and requires your opponent's entire mana output on the third turn. And from there on, it remains a huge drain. Which means that the cost will be unpayable for the majority of the game and this card will function like a one-mana Journey to Nowhere almost every time it gets played. Doesn't that sound too good to be true? There is a downside: Every turn beyond the third, the impact of this card goes down. But check out its closest siblings Paralyze and Slow Motion. Slow Motion costs three times as much and only gives you two-thirds of the effect, in return for a minor benefit. Would you play Slow Motion minus recursion if it cost one mana?

Paralyze is similarly promising at one mana and comes with a steeper cost for the opponent - but black is the color of death and destruction, and its kill spells are often cut for being too numerous. Paralyze also does very little to vigilant creatures and creatures with activated abilities. And that is a big blind spot. The Rays can turn off bonkers early drops like Deathrite Shaman, Grim Lavamancer, Mother of Runes, Student of Warfare, Enclave Cryptologist, Pack Rat, Firedrinker Satyr, Spikeshot Elder, Kargan Dragonlord, Wolfbitten Captive, Scavenging Ooze, Wild Mongrel, Lotleth Troll, Figure of Destiny, any mana dork... the list reads like a best-of creatures from cube, and that's just with two-drops or less.

My guess is that this card falls somewhere near Journey to Nowhere on the power scale and cubers will gradually adopt it as they realize what a powerful effect it provides for its cost and color. What do you think?

This card caught my eye when I was looking at the spoilers as well. The card is decent and that fact that it only costs one mana makes a great difference regarding its playability. That said, I'm still not sure if there is enough room for this card. White has much better removal - from staples like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile to the aforementioned Journey to Nowhere. I'm not sure if it's better (in a vacuum, and consering usual Cube play scenarios) than Harm's Way; what I'm trying to say is that I think this card will only see play in larger lists.

I think this card will shine in more aggressive decks that can take advantage from it. In my mind, this may be the aggro counterpart to Condemn - decent removal but much better in a specific archetype; I think this card is a great tempo play in earlier turns but not so good later in the game.

The card is definetely on my radar.

The nice thing about the true Pacifism effects is that even when you draw it late in the game, the removal still functions. For example, on T6, I can Pacify my opponent's Titan or Thundermaw Hellkite. Even though this effect is 1 cheaper, my opponent can simply pay the 3 on the next turn and kill me. That's a pretty significant drawback.

Paralyze is better, and it doesn't compete against Path/Swords/Journey/O-Ring/Lignt etc and still sees no play.

I would rather pay 1 more and have Pacifism.

Maybe. But that doesn't say much for a worse version in a color with better competition.

This is good in the early game but after turn 4 or 5 its value drops significantly.
All of my current white removal works at all stages of the game, so this wont be getting in.

Even in pauper, i will choose pacifism and arrest over this.