Lonk joins us once again to go over the mythic cards that are (reasonably) safe to uncraft for that extra rare, set of uncommons, etc that you're missing for the next big deck.
Today, I’m going to go the extra mile just for you. I’m going to give you some crafting advice to help you improve your collection. I know I just did my must-have crafting list for each color a few weeks ago, but this list was even harder to come up with.
Today ladies and gentlemen, I present to the first ever uncrafting guide. I am going to give you a list of cards that you can uncraft to give yourself more essence, and not feel bad about it.
This list was difficult to come up with because “bad” is such a relative term. Everybody plays for their own reasons. Some might consider a card to be “bad” because it's not a good competitive card. Someone else may see potential in it and enjoy the challenge of building a deck around it. So it's tough to find cards that are universally considered bad that people would all be ok with getting rid of.
The other problem is that new sets come out, and "bad" cards may get buffed at some so they may go from irrelevant to relevant seemingly overnight.
With those things in mind, the main thing I asked myself was "is there something fundamentally flawed with this card"? Maybe it tries to make you do things you'd rather not, or maybe it's trying to do something its respective colors don't really want to do. But as long as it's going against the grain, it lessens the chance that it will ever wind up being good.
The other thing I asked was "is this card at least fun?" Cards like Cognate of Eratos and Koschei, The Deathless may not be very good, but they are at least unique and interesting enough that I get why people would want to play them. So cards like those aren't on this list.
In general, you should hang on to your mythic rares since they are protected from opening a second copy when opening your packs. But if you really need the essence, here's my opinion on what's safe to uncraft, take it with a grain of salt.
And speaking of salt...
Salt The Fields
First off, you have to be playing deserts in order to be able to use this, so that narrows down the number of decks you could use it in. And if your opponent isn't playing any enchantments, then this card has no text. It's just a dead card no matter how much sand you throw on the battlefield.
At least Enchanteater and Feng Shui Master are minions. At the very least, you'll have a body you can put on the battlefield. But in a game where there is no sideboarding, playing a spell that only targets enchantments is a bit too risky.
I’m not trying to be salty, but you can do a lot better than this card.
Revolutionary Totem
Oddly enough, in a vacuum, this is not a terrible card. I like the idea of it at least, but unfortunately, it’s in the wrong colors.
Yellow and green are the two most controlling colors in the game, and both of them like to stall out the opponent until they can throw down a few giant minions and stomp all over them. The totem puts a kibosh on all of that. Yes, it stops your opponent’s big minions, but it also halts your win conditions. You’d have to create a deck that relies on cards like Yahui and Gallows Boy to carry the day, and that’s not a winning, or fun, proposition.
Red is a color chock full of smaller, aggressive minions. Having a card like this would be a fantastic tool to hose control decks. Instead, the totem is stuck with the two most controlling colors in the game making it rather unappealing and unfun to use.
Temple At Delphi
In general, sacrificing power on the board to slowly draw a few cards doesn’t sound like the best of ideas. It sounds especially bad when you’re trying to play aggressively and take out the opponent as fast as possible, as red tends to do. So this is an enchantment that may actually go against your gameplan.
And if you are playing a bunch of rush minions, why are you playing this card instead of doing the fun thing and smashing them into your opponent’s face?
Now, if this was in yellow or green, it might be… wait, I just made this argument for Revolutionary Totem. Although I think the central idea for the Temple is a bit more iffy than Totem’s, I also think it's another card that would be a little more feasible if it were in a different color.
There are also a lot better ways to draw cards, so if you need the essence, feel free to dust this for something else. Even Apollo will forgive you.
Familia Sprite
The first few cards on this list are not good, but I could still see scenarios where somebody might want to try them. The sprite however, is a different story. This card is either actively bad or just aggressively mediocre.
First of all, why is this a mythic rare? Mythic rares do things that are cool, unique, or interesting. The Sprite does next to nothing. It’s not even a fun, janky mythic rare to play. Indestructible may be a powerful ability, but you have to place it next to a witch in order to get it. Cards that require you to place it next to other units are generally pretty questionable since positioning is so important in the game.
Also, why is one of this card’s colors purple? I have as many honorary degrees as purple has witches, and that is none at all.
This mythic is kind of a mess. Unmake it and try again.
War Fan
Safe to say, I am not a fan of this card.
Do you want your opponent to play a Celestial
Dragon, or one of the Twins, or a Traitorous Murmur as early as turn 4? Would you like to spend your turn casting this while your opponent gets all the benefit of having their mana ramped? Does any of this sound like a part of a winning strategy?
I think the idea behind this card was it would make pretty much all the equipment free to play so you could throw out a bunch of minions and equip them on the same turn. But giving your opponent the benefit of also ramping their mana is a good way to get yourself wrecked.
The other cards on this list required some sort of explanation, but War Fan speaks for itself. If you cast this on turn 4, you will have done nothing to improve your board, and your opponent has a turn to catch up to you. You'll be hurting yourself in terms of tempo, and I think that's reason enough to avoid this card altogether.
Just do me a favor, when the next patch comes along and all these cards are suddenly good, please don't send me any hate mail.