Articles

Breakthrough XU
Sorcery, Uncommon
Draw 4 cards then choose X cards from your hand and discard the rest from it.

Expansion: Torment

Danesh Jogia
Email: daneshj@optushome.com.au
Forums Nic: omegaideal

Now that Brainburst has the full Torment spoiler out we're able to be fairly free in our choice of what to review. So here comes a review of Breakthrough.

Breakthrough XU
Sorcery, Uncommon
Draw 4 cards then choose X cards from your hand and discard the rest from it.

Ho hum, another card drawing effect?
To me, this really slots well into decks that try to play out threats quickly and cheaply, and then they can use in its best way. Looking at its use with various numbers of cards in hand (including Breakthrough itself) is the best way to analyse it:

1 c.i.h, x=1: A sorcery speed Impulse that fills the GY. Not bad.
1 c.i.h, x=2: Very close to the effect of a Fact or Fiction, in so far as it will probably get you the card you "need" and similar.
1 c.i.h, x>2: for x = 3 its a bit better than Concentrate, then 4 I guess its an... Allied Strategies for 4? Well, compare it to Opportunity, which costs an extra U but is instant speed. Should be about as playable as Opportunity in this manner (ie some decks use 1).

2 c.i.h, x=1: Some kind of hyper once off Cephalid Looter. Whatever.
2 c.i.h, x=2: Comparable to a cross between Impulse & Cephalid Broker etc 2 c.i.h, x>3: So it actually starts generating cards here, albeit rather slowly. Concentrate is still better at this level.

From here the pattern should be fairly obvious. The more cards in hand the more mana you gotta pump into it before it becomes any good. Hence it is not really any good for an old school control deck. Personally, I think that the optimal combination of cards in hand and mana cost is probably 1 c.i.h and 2 and 3 mana, ie the ones that emulate Fact or Fiction somewhat. It is also, in these cases, a one way trip to threshold so it could see use in low mana Mongoose style decks which often see either too much or slightly too little land.

For limited play, I think its quite good, because you very often get down to few cards and much land. This could bust a game wide open when cast for U4 or U3 at some stage. Better than Concentrate for my liking, due to its less blue intensive requirements. Gets through to the bombs quickly, and fills up graveyard while getting extra cards. I think this has got to be a 3rd or so pick in a draft.

All in all, I can't really see it being played while Fact/Fiction is still around, but after that who knows? Especially in some kind of deck that has cards it really only wants in the GY and also wants to dig through a bit...maybe a replacement for Probe in controlish reanimator decks? We shall see.

Danesh

Dan Gow
Email: manaflares@yahoo.com
Forums Nic: Deleted Member

Limited: It's no Fact or Fiction and early it's unplayable with any more than 1 or 2 cards in your hand - but late game it's 4 cards, and that's never bad. At a pinch, it's a way to get to threshold really quickly. I rate this card just a little bit higher than Concentrate. Could get really nasty if someone casts Plagiarize in response to it. I'd definitely play it in limited, as card advantage is at a premium, and with a higher land ratio than constructed you're bound to draw some chaff to throw away. The splashability is also a plus; just imagine it with Basking Rootwalla. (7/10)

Constructed: This is where I have my doubts about it.. With cards like Fact or Fiction and even Opportunity that you can cast as an instant, card drawing engines that require you to tap out in blue are always going to be questioned. I have to go back to the comment that it's only a little bit better than Concentrate and that isn't anywhere near strong enough to play in tier #1 competition, especially when it effectively costs one more. (3/10)

Probable market price: $1. Hey, it draws cards. Which is more than fine for casual play. The card itself is ok - just not optimal.

Dan

Adrian Rimmer
Email: atgr@ozemail.com.au
Forums Nic: Adrian Rimmer

After using Breakthrough in the Melbourne Pre-Release I have been convinced of the power of this card at least for limited, almost every time I used it I discarded 0 cards, if I did discard a card it was irrelevant because the card advantage was just too much for the opponent to handle.

In constructed I think this card has a lot of potential in OBC, in a deck based around Madness including cards like Breakthrough, Roar of the Wurm, Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla and Obsessive Search. In Type 2 I dont think it will see much play until Fact or Fiction rotates out. Anyway, the card definitely has potential to see constructed play and I would not be surprised to see it in popular decks at PT Osaka