Casting cost aside--in before complaints about it costing 7--this allows for a free eternalize once per turn, even if the creature innately has eternalize. Could be very handy.
Just for fun, run this in a deck with Eldrazi creatures and Coax From the Blind Eternities. Okay, at the beginning of combat I exile Thought-Knot Seer to get a copy of it, then next turn I will bring it back to my hand and summon it.
I was thinking of switching from black/white zombies to mono-black zombies this morning but now I am going to keep the deck like it is and find a way to jam 4 of these into it.
If you can ramp some mana dorks and Hedron Archives then you can have Overwhelming Splendor out on turn 5; a GW tokens deck with Cryptolith Rite and Hedron Archive can, under ideal circumstances, land the curse on turn 4. A risky plan either way, to be sure, but not outside the realm of possibility.
I am uncertain if Champion of Wits will be good even in Limited unless you simply have to have a chump-blocker at some point. In Constructed, it most likely isn't worth trying to use the Embalmer's Tools to reduce the cost of eternalize.
Torment of Hailfire
The card is not confusing; if x = 0 then nothing happens, but perhaps they should have phrased it as "perform the following process x times". I can see some form of BW or BU control using this with x >= 4 to annihilate an opponent.
Torment of Venom
Maybe a little costly, but it is instant speed and will usually result in removing a creature plus something else or remove a creature then force a discard.
Torment of Scarabs
The first one is annoying; the second one is probably lethal.
Farm // Market
Ridiculous name; reasonable effect. The aftermath portion isn't too bad, either.
Struggle // Survive
Not a bad burn spell; at worst it deals a minimum of 3, as did Welding Sparks in the correct deck (even though no one uses that spell). The aftermath portion is a very blue green spell, but I didn't design the card.
Ignoring the first clause, this is a slight improvement over either Transgress the Mind or Lay Bare the Heart. The first clause becomes much better after you cast Yahenni's Expertise, but I am not sure mono-black control has enough tools right now to be a viable option.
Hypothetically speaking, you could turn 2 mana dork, turn 3: land, Champion of Rhonas, turn 4: attack with Champion, exert it, and put Razaketh onto the battlefield.
The biggest drawback is the "with different names" clause but I could see casting it for x = 2 then grabbing a couple of mana dorks or decent chump-blockers like Sylvan Advocate and Winding Constrictor (or anything else that is 2/3 or x/4 on the ground).
Love this card. Would love for it to fit in to Standard. BG? Zombies? BR or BW aggro? Seems excellent with Thalia's Lieutenant.
Zombies for certain. Only yesterday I was thinking that I might put Raise Dead--legal in Standard, thank you Welcome Deck--into Zombies because 1) it's inexpensive and 2) I can recur a creature and cast it for 2 to 4 mana. That idea is now off the table because this card is much better, even if I am not using red for the aftermath.
But I find negativity toxic and draining. That's why I try to focus on having fun posting decklists and speculation. Quite frankly, I'm happy cards like this come along. I'm happy that Standard is more balanced now than it used to be. I'm happy that cards are dialed back to allow a little more breathing room. I don't always want my 3-damage burn spells to be Lightning Bolt. I was happy with Lightning Strike. I can handle Open Fire. I'm happy we don't have to deal with as many unfun cards in Standard. I'm not demanding, I just want to have fun talking about the cards we have now, the decks we get now, and the themes they represent.
I was being facetious with the whole "fateseal 3" thing.
I concur. My typical mode of thought is to figure out how a card can be used as opposed to how it cannot. If I am playing blue/red control in Standard I will be quite happy to use Reason // Believe because I probably don't have any other turn 1 plays, and scrying 3 will make certain that my next couple of draw steps are what I want, not turn 2 draw Torrential Gearhulk. Even if I draw the card later in the game, well, I can afford U on turn 5 and still leave up mana for counterspells or Glimmer.
The whole "omg this card sucks, standard sucks, Wizards sucks, how could they design such a stupid card, what were they thinking?, don't they know that *I* know how cards *should* be designed, why can't cards be like they were back in the good old days of whatever set it was when I first started playing?!?" gets really old really quickly. It happens with every new set spoiled now--each set is "the worst set ever made" and it forces people to declare "I am going to quit playing Magic". Oh, you are conceding? Not a problem.
Just for fun, run this in a deck with Eldrazi creatures and Coax From the Blind Eternities. Okay, at the beginning of combat I exile Thought-Knot Seer to get a copy of it, then next turn I will bring it back to my hand and summon it.
I am uncertain if Champion of Wits will be good even in Limited unless you simply have to have a chump-blocker at some point. In Constructed, it most likely isn't worth trying to use the Embalmer's Tools to reduce the cost of eternalize.
The card is not confusing; if x = 0 then nothing happens, but perhaps they should have phrased it as "perform the following process x times". I can see some form of BW or BU control using this with x >= 4 to annihilate an opponent.
Torment of Venom
Maybe a little costly, but it is instant speed and will usually result in removing a creature plus something else or remove a creature then force a discard.
Torment of Scarabs
The first one is annoying; the second one is probably lethal.
Farm // Market
Ridiculous name; reasonable effect. The aftermath portion isn't too bad, either.
Struggle // Survive
Not a bad burn spell; at worst it deals a minimum of 3, as did Welding Sparks in the correct deck (even though no one uses that spell). The aftermath portion is a very blue green spell, but I didn't design the card.
No worries. Downfall was a very strong card. Technically I suppose it still is but I haven't seen anyone using it lately.
Being able to grab a copy of the best creature from an opponent's graveyard can be a good thing, though.
It is ridiculous that Liliana can resurrect him onto the battlefield but it is what it is.
Bizarrely, Rhonas's Last Stand allows Rhonas to attack or block.
Zombies for certain. Only yesterday I was thinking that I might put Raise Dead--legal in Standard, thank you Welcome Deck--into Zombies because 1) it's inexpensive and 2) I can recur a creature and cast it for 2 to 4 mana. That idea is now off the table because this card is much better, even if I am not using red for the aftermath.
I was being facetious with the whole "fateseal 3" thing.
I concur. My typical mode of thought is to figure out how a card can be used as opposed to how it cannot. If I am playing blue/red control in Standard I will be quite happy to use Reason // Believe because I probably don't have any other turn 1 plays, and scrying 3 will make certain that my next couple of draw steps are what I want, not turn 2 draw Torrential Gearhulk. Even if I draw the card later in the game, well, I can afford U on turn 5 and still leave up mana for counterspells or Glimmer.
The whole "omg this card sucks, standard sucks, Wizards sucks, how could they design such a stupid card, what were they thinking?, don't they know that *I* know how cards *should* be designed, why can't cards be like they were back in the good old days of whatever set it was when I first started playing?!?" gets really old really quickly. It happens with every new set spoiled now--each set is "the worst set ever made" and it forces people to declare "I am going to quit playing Magic". Oh, you are conceding? Not a problem.