Today, we're going to be talking about the buy-a-box promo, which StarCityGames managed to get onto Facebook. It's a style of card that lots of people seem to enjoy, although in its defense, it is much more versatile than any other variation on this card that I've ever seen. Without any further ado, here's Surgical Extraction:



Yes, it's Extirpate that can be cast for free. Yes, it's about a thousand times better than Memoricide against decks that play Vengevine. Yes, it's really good in decks that play Inquisition of Kozilek and Duress. And no, I don't care.

Cards like these are always popular, and sometimes for good reason, but there's also a good reason for cards like these to keep seeing print: They don't do anything about the board, which is how they balance the cards. It feels powerful against decks like Valakut, where a single Tectonic Edge activation with this as a follow-up can take away an entire section of their gameplan, leaving them trying to kill you with attacking with Primeval Titans and Lightning Bolts. However, Surgical Extraction, like Extirpate and the many who have come before it, is very narrow in its applications, and is only really relevant against a small portion of the field.

Clearly it's fairly amazing against the more streamlined Caw-Blade lists, due to their desire to play nothing but Sword of Feast and Famine. A single Inquisition of Kozilek strips their best card against you, then this follows up and clears out that portion of their game. Regardless, this does NOTHING to deal with an active Jace, the Mind Sculptor, nothing to get you back into the game once they slam down Gideon Jura, and doesn't keep your stuff alive any better when they play Day of Judgment.

Thanks to its "catch-all" nature (I use the term very loosely) Surgical Extraction isn't a bad investment trade, and cracking them in packs is going to be like opening money. Players who have never had access to a card like this are going to play four in their sideboards, just because they want to see what it feels like. The biggest benefit of this card is the ability to play it in literally any deck, since you can play it for free by paying two life instead of its mana cost.

As I see it, the card has some value in sideboards, and the ability to actually strip away non-basic lands is fairly relevant, but I don't see it defining the format any more than the last twelve variations of this card we've had. As an investment, it's going to be great, provided you can trade to get them or open them in drafts. The promo itself will be dramatically under-priced, making the value of the one you open in boosters much higher. If you're looking for the next card that will "break" the format, you'd probably better just keep looking.

Until next time,

Adam Spain
Roeher on MTGO and The Vortex.
Roeher724 everywhere else.

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