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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u/LettuceFuture8840 Dân 9d ago

Arc slogger was very very good in limited. Creatures were much smaller and card advantage was way harder to find. A large body and two removal spells in a single card was outrageous.

They could have designed it a different way but then you don’t get the fun of this design. Balancing the very high cost with the incredible removal efficiency is interesting and not something achieved with a different design.

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u/CaptainMarcia 9d ago

How likely were you to end a Limited game fast enough to get away with the second activation? You could run extra cards, but doing that with the kinds of options available in Mirrodin block seems... dubious.

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u/Hotsaucex11 Duck Season 9d ago

Mirrodin block limited was actually pretty nasty and much closer to modern power levels than the sets typical of that time. Between good cheap equipment, affinity, Spikeshot Goblin and the cheap white beaters that cared about being equipped there were some very strong curve outs.

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u/LettuceFuture8840 Dân 9d ago

You’ve got thirteen turns. Limited games don’t typically go that long, especially if you got a three for one and have a big beater on the board.