March 18, 1998
The Card of the Day is...
Banshee
The Dark, Chronicles Uncommon
2BB Summon Banshee
0/1
"X, T: Banshee deals X damage, half (rounded up) to you and half (rounded down) to target creature or player."
A brief rundown of the card:
Reuable black direct damage is a very handy tool, especially in an all black deck. Black is great at removing creatures, unless they are black too. Banshee doesn't card what color anything is--just pay and tap it (and brace yourself). Banshee is a good replacement for Pestilence, Withering Wisps, or Crypt Rats in most decks. They all have pros and cons, its jsut a matter of which one works for you. Here are a few cards I've used to help out my Banshees before:
- Circle of Protection: Black/Prismatic Circle
Simply save an extra mana for preventing the Banshee's damage to yourself. This combo kinda gives you a reusable double costing Disintegrate every turn. Sure, Banshee is frail. If you do get to keep him out for even 2-3 turns though, what out!
- Spirit Link
Spirit Link is awesome on Banshee--turning it into a resuable Rocket Launcher in a way. If you add COP: Black to the mix, you'll be gaining life/dealing damage at unprecidented rates. This combo came to us from Ben Carter.
- Furnace of Rath
Get a slight life advantage over your opponent then go nuts with Banshee. You should be able to whittle your opponent's life down to 0 before you do so with your own life. Maybe add some of the more radical finishing moves to your deck also, like Forbidden Ritual or Kaervek's Spite.
- Heartstone/Ashnod's Transmorgrant+Power Artifact
If you're looking to keep the cost of using Banshee down, try Heartstone--it reduces activation costs of creatures by one. If you really want a better bargain, turn Banshee into an artifact with the transmorgrant, then play Power Artifact on Banshee. This will cut the activation costs down by 2!
- Shadowbane
Turn Banshee's damage into life with Shadowbane. For example, with 8 mana, you could deal 3 to your opponent, and gain 3 thanks to Shadowbane. By itself that's not too great, but the Banshee will be around next turn for more action.
- Ali from Cairo/Sustaining Spirit...
Even though being at 1 life isn't a good thing overall, knowing you're not going to take anymore damage is a great thing. Banshee is one of the better cards to have in play with any of the mentioned "life-savers".
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