RCotD #27

Random Card of the Day #27:

Slave of Bolas - 3{U/R}B

Sorcery

Gain control of target creature. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at end of turn.

Initial thoughts:

I read this card and thought it was really good. It's a 5-cost steal, swing, possibly trade, and sacrifice if it lives. More importantly, sacrificing gets around indestructibility.

The more I began to think about this card, the less I was excited with it. For 5-cost you can also get Mind Control. Mind Control is more easily removed though through Oblivion Ring or Naturalize, and on a high-priority target, if you stole it, you can expect they will steal it back.

But then you also have to consider leave the battlefield effects. If they have a Kokusho, the Evening Star, hot damn, thats a major life swing. If you steal an Elvish Champion... meh. If the shards block were in standard I could see Grixis control making a comeback with this card. Especially with all the Titans and Wurmcoil Engines floating around. It still won't stop the manland Inkmoth Nexus from winning the game, but it does deal with a lot of things.

With the recent rise of token decks (thanks to Intangible Virtue and Parallel Lives) though, it's really a hit or miss card. This card really depends on the deck your opponent plays, so it would be a sideboard card--but probably an auto-include in and Grixis EDH decks.

I also feel that card is lacking something for a five-cost. I'm glad they fixed Act of Treason with Traitorious Blood--giving it trample really helped out. (Or maybe giving it instant speed like with Act of Aggression.) Maybe that's what this card needs. Seems like a 3/5 to me but it could be especially effective against things like Solar Flare going on right now. Stealing a Wurmcoil Engine to sacrifice it so you get the two 3/3's is a pretty sweet deal. It's also kind of like a Terminate that gets around indestructibility. A 3/5 but especially effective against some decks.