Faithless Looting:
Sorcery, {R}
Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
Flashback {2}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
I've had a lot of discussions already about this card, and it really is a difficult card to actually process. My conclusion? It's actually pretty darned bad in limited, but there are some specific decks where it's amazing. Let's dive into it and see.
Clearly, this is a card meant to exchange card quantity for card quality. On its own, that doesn't make it bad or good. The question is how much quantity are you giving up for how much quality? And is that difference beneficial enough (or at all) in your limited deck to be worth mana and a card slot?
Let me Rave Desperately for a moment...
First of all, Faithless Looting is just significantly worse than Desperate Ravings in almost all decks that have access to blue. Ravings starts out as even card quantity that has a chance of improving quality, but when used correctly can rarely actually cost you quality. The flashback is a +1 in card quantity, and still when used correctly has a chance to improve quality as well. Most people are on the same page that this card is just good at what it does, and if you have room for it in a R/U deck you'll likely play it.
What about Merfolk Looter (or similar)? It costs you a card to cast it, and you aren't likely to attack or block with it much, so isn't it similar?
No. Creatures that Loot have a ton of value beause they are creatures. Almost any experienced player will snap kill a looter getting you that card back almost always, and you're just getting FREE loot value out of it in the mean time. I've also poked in for free damage when my opponent had no blockers, or gained a bunch of life by blocking a fatty and looting before damage. The activation is instant speed and doesn't cost additional mana. Look at the looter(s) in this format, Civilized Scholar is miles beyond Faithless Looting, because it actually attacks for 5! Or it can block then flip and kill a juggernaut! Faithless looting can find removal just like a looter can, but it can't attack or block, and you never get that card back once you cast it.
"Ok Chad, so fine, it's not as good as a Looter, or Desperate Ravings, but that doesn't mean its not good, right?" Sure, those are both awesome cards, and being below them doesn't make it unplayable, so let's look at the instances you'd actually cast this.
Early Game:
You have a Faithless Looting, and you want to cast it on early turns (turns 1-4). You should likely have 5-6 cards in hand prior to casting it, and that brings you down to 4-5, and you eat up a mana. What are you digging for? Another dude? A piece of removal? Do you already have cards in your hand you actively are willing to pitch (not for flashback, but for irrelevance)? If so, why on earth did you keep this hand? Faithless looting makes people keep hands they otherwise shouldn't. You'd rather spend all your mana developing your board, than sacrificing Tempo(!!!) and cards to do so. Yes, Tempo. Playing this early is a tempo loss of at least a mana. Flashing it back doesn't cost you card advantage, but it does cost you even more tempo. It means when cast on turn 3, your opponent casts a 3 drop, you play this and a two drop, you're likely behind on board (and in hand). Looter didn't have that problem, because he can block, and he has a board presence, and will affect your opponents over all plan. Fatihless looting cannot do that.
Mid Game:
This is where Faithless Looting is at its best. it's turn 5 or 6, you've got 3-4 cards in hand. Why would you use looting here? To find your 5th or 6th land, or to find a business spell. If you find a business spell, you're likely pitching lands and are goign to miss land drops, or you're finding lands and pitching the spells you were hoping to cast. The only hands where this value is amazing, is when you can actually focus strictly on quality, when you maybe have a 4 card hand of a land, faithless looting, a 4 drop and a 5 drop on turn 5, with 4 lands inplay. Faithless looting here may put you into a better 4/5 drop, or filter you past some blank land draws. This is fine, but my argument is you were fine before you played it too, and if it had just been another creature (or trick or removal), this hand would be amazing.
Late Game:
This is so bad. You probably only have 3 cards in hand, and unless it's looting, land, land, you're not getting much out of this. Cashing in two lands for spells is nice, but this is a narrow situation. If you have a card that's a creature, you're playing the looting game, which isn't bad, but isn't really that much of an increase of quality even if you upgrade. how much quality can you get over any random spell in your deck this late in the game? not too much in my opinion.
"But Chad, the flashback, the flashback!"
Okay, sure, once you've played this once, and lost value, the flashback part is just fine. If it started out as a 3 mana sorcery that didn't cost a card when you cast it, then sure, this card would be okay. But the fact that you never want to play it a first time without bleeding value is a bigger drawback than i'm willign to put in my deck. While I'm sure I'll end up sleeving it up occasionally, I'll rarely be happy about it.
But when is it good?
This card is good if discarding certain cards is actually of value to you, or if a critical mass of flashback spells is neccessary to make your deck run well. Burning vengeance, adn other "combo" type decks in limited, like this spell becasue you're digging to a specific card tha twill win you the game. Decks like this, that card quality increase from any spell to loot to a burning vengeance is unbounded, and it's a strong card there. Also, this is a very tricky card ( like desperate ravings) to use correctly. I'd only suggest casting it in these decks when you don't have another play, because the mana could just be spent better. I can also see this being okay in a deck that has other looters already, so yo ucan pitch this and simply play it from yoru bin only.
When this card was first spoiled, i was excited about it, but when i started really cranking out the process, i found it to be underwhelming.
I acknowledge that there are different opinions on this, I'd be open to debate on this. But most of the arguments I've heard I feel like I've processed completely, and I just don't see the value equating to a card slot in my deck or the tempo loss of casting it. Thanks for reading.
PS. ( I'm going to start doing Archetype reviews again on this blog soon, suggestions on format appreciated)
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