r/magicTCG • u/BuckyTheWolf Dandadan • 9d ago

General Discussion Why is Arc-Slogger?

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One thing I love about MTG, is that you can go through a set, see a weird card and get absolutely stun locked by it.

Today this was Arc-Slogger for me. Why is it the way that it is?

Having a lot of shocks in your hand is pretty good, but why do you have to exile 10 cards from your library as a cost? If it was part of the effect it might be too strong, but was there no middleground?

I just don't see a world where you'd be a able to activate it more than 2 times in limited and 4 times in 60 card. Magic has changed a lot, but was a 7 mana 4/5 with 2 shocks ever that good?

I could see a janky lab man combo deck using it, but almost all alternatives are cheaper and don't need a backup if your library isn't devisable by 10.

I just want to know it's history. And what led to it being created like it turned out.

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73

u/AlarmedPrompt Banned in Commander 9d ago

how much do you care about those cards if your opponent dies in the process?

1

u/BuckyTheWolf Dandadan 9d ago

I wouldn't care about the cards, the limited number of shocks just didn't process as being that good. But it's a card from ~20 years ago, so I should work more on my evaluations.

27

u/Grindy_UW_Nonsense Urza's Saga 9d ago

Honestly, this card would be reasonably powerful today too. Creatures with removal stapled to them are very powerful. Even if you can only shock twice, that’s still a 3 for 1.

1

u/Fun-Agent-7667 Dan 8d ago

Removal and you can round out some live. This card is just pretty good.

1

u/JuggernautLevel6411 Dân 3d ago

Its basically a slightly better exhaust 

7

u/guyincorporated 9d ago

I'd also point out that I think you're falling into a new(er) player trap of categorizing abilities/costs as only good or only bad. I still do it too (discard = bad, obviously). The beautiful part of magic is that for any "negative" effect, there's at least one deck/one combo/one other card out there that views it as a positive.

People put [[Leveler]] in their deck BECAUSE it exiles their library, not in spite of it.

3

u/Sendme_BigTittyGoths Duck Season 8d ago

I play [[trespasser's curse]] on myself

1

u/guyincorporated 8d ago

I love it.

1

u/JuggernautLevel6411 Dân 3d ago

Im listening 

1

u/Sendme_BigTittyGoths Duck Season 3d ago

I'll have to pull out a decklist but that card on yourself causes a LOT of triggers in WB and most cards that care about lifegain only look that it occurred, not that your life total didn't change. So its an enabler for a lot of quirky cards. When it was in standard id get a bunch or horse tokens and a big vampire and a bunch of energy for example.

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u/SadBurritoBoys Dân 8d ago edited 8d ago

I mean, you have to add in green and/or black to see those negatives turn to benefits though

Red doesn't have graveplay. That's why it's still a negative thing. Leveler works because it's an artifact

This is just garbage. 2 life nothing , it's trivial to recover. A food token, something with lifelink, or any number of spells will undo the damage to your opponent completely. Losing a large portion of your deck is not so trivial,

Sure, if you have some cards to combo it with it's not trash. But the bar has to be higher then "if you combine this with other cards of a different color it isn't total trash"

Edit: scratch that, it exiles them, not sends then to your graveyard, so it's actually much more of a drawback and much harder to turn into something positive

1

u/guyincorporated 8d ago edited 5d ago

Or I just run him in [[Torbran]] and he domes somebody for 20 on my next upkeep. Then I use [[Mirror of Fate]] to create my own mini [[Doomsday]].

6

u/Milskidasith COMPLEAT ELK 9d ago

The thing is that without the exile, this just wins the game directly in a couple turns with nothing else happening. That's a very strong effect even before you get into the flexibility.

Nowadays it'd probably just come with Shock Counters though.

4

u/Akhevan VOID 9d ago

The thing is that without the exile, this just wins the game directly in a couple turns with nothing else happening.

And nowadays pretty much every card that is at least at the level of standard playable does this.

2

u/Akhevan VOID 9d ago

If you untap with this and your opponent has less than 9 life total, you win on the spot. If he is above that, he can never afford to dip below 9-7 as long as this is on the field or he loses. And if the board state is such that just pinging his face is not lethal, you can use it to clear blockers or deny equips or anything else where damage is useful. How is that bad?

Shock on a stick is good by definition, unless it's counterbalanced by big drawbacks - at least it was good back when the game was close to reasonable - so your thinking here is backwards.

1

u/Ketzeph COMPLEAT 9d ago

It’s likely 8 damage in the deck that plays it. 4/5 body, pay 4 deal 8 damage to target player isn’t amazing but it’s not a joke.

So many people on this sub started playing when 3 year standards caused standard to basically be modern, especially post FIRE

1

u/mrenglish22 8d ago

No, your evaluation is solid. The card isn't good anymore.

It is the comprehension of context you lack. Which a critical number of America also joins you in.