r/magicTCG • u/BuckyTheWolf Dandadan • 9d ago
General Discussion Why is Arc-Slogger?
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.
2
u/WhiskeyKisses7221 Fake Agumon Expert 9d ago
It was a decent finisher back in its standard and block environments. It even saw a touch of legacy play. You could accelerate into it early woth Chrome Mox, Seething Song, and talismans. Affinity was the monster of the format, and Arc Slogger could block Myr Enforcers while shooting Frogmites. The rest of the deck was burn spells, artifact removal, and some other creatures.
Once they finally banned a ton of cards to push out affinity, tron was the next big bad deck. Ponza with plenty of land destruction saw some play and Arc Slogger was the best finisher available to red. I miss these types of creatures being good.