Where michaelj puzzles over the strange Alara Reborn rare, Soulquake.

Aesthetics:
I don’t understand anything about this card, really.

Who would want it?

Timmy I guess? It is very oomph-tacular… assuming that there is lots of stuff on the board (or at least once was lots of stuff on the board?). But now what? You spent seven mana (and lots of it in the good colors) for… You get to pass the turn and the opponent potentially has a hand full of the same?

Spike? I don’t think Spike would touch this unless…

Jonny? He is such a rat bastard, that Jonny.

Here is a thought: If you have some way to convert cards in hand to mana (think Cadaverous Bloom) then this card becomes very interesting. You can potentially discard lots of cards to make mana, which in turn can cast the very expensive Soulquake, which in turn can become more mana still. Some kind of effect like this may turn the card into a combo piece.

However for conventional Magic? The obvious application is to somehow recover from sweeper spells when you are a creature deck… and that doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. You can’t play this unconditionally to recover (what if you have a clock in play that would be annoying); plus it costs a bajillion for a creature deck; plus it’s in the wrong colors.

And rare?

I guess it has to be rare?

Actually I could see Soulquake as uncommon potentially. A very puzzling card. Anyone have any better ideas [that I will inevitably co-opt if they are any good]?

Where can I see this fitting in?
It’s not a very convenient Upheaval, so I am going to have to vote combo deck for now.

Snap Judgment Rating: I plead the fifth.

LOVE
MIKE