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Editor: Yaro Starak. Sunday 28 July 2002.
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 Card Review: Breaking Point
Destroy all creatures unless a player has Breaking Point deal 6 damage to him or her. Creatures destroyed this way can't be regenerated.
"Enough!"
Expansion: Judgment
Has red finally gotten a good Punisher card? I personally don't think so...
Limited: The punisher cards are largely things that you have to design a
deck around, and thats pretty hard to do in Limited. The only way I'd
consider playing this would be to side it in against a type of deck that
often gets down to low life then gains control of the game and wins...but
since there are only three games in a match you don't really get large
sample sizes to work out if you're playing such a deck.
Constructed: I think that, in general, the punisher cards that MAY have an
effect on the actual board are worse than those that don't because the
opponent has more information on which to base their decision. So by this
reasoning Browbeat and Skullscorch would seem to be the punishers of
choice, although a problem with Skullscorch is just that it's not overly
devastating. But back to Breaking Point, if the opponent is about to hit
you back with 2 Wurm tokens then clearly he'll take the six barring any
deaths that this would bring on. I don't think this is useable in any deck
that doesn't just go for an all out burn/haste guys strategy (except for as
a Burning Wish target perhaps) but in the burn style deck, you will
generally run out of cards to actually kill the opponent with pretty
quickly, as 20 life is a fair amount to get rid of unless you have the
reusable creatures going for it. Not to mention that casting Firebolt many
times to kill them becomes inefficient quickly. The final problem with this
card is the rest of the Type 2/OBC format; there are a fair few things that
are just bad for a very red approach. Firstly Roar of the Wurm and secondly
Solitary Confinement. Anyone playing these can probably expect to
annihilate a red approach, leaving red largely as whites companion in the
bad colour department.
Value: People often just randomly like red, so I guess it should still be
worth $7 or so, the cost of a booster seems fair enough.
Yarkshamarsh
Danesh
Jason Street
Breaking Point is interesting, assuming you're playing the fast and hard
type of game that sees a lot of attacking from both sides of the table.
When you're pounding your opponent into the ground you can be sure of
getting off the Wrath of God effect, clearing the board for a final run, and
early in the game they will likely take the six damage rather than lose a
creature or two - Remember, I'm assuming an agressive opponent. In this case
you just Ball Lightninged them and kept yourself in the damage stakes.
Polish off the critters or just pummel back harder.
Bad points? First: A deck with no creatures will let you wipe the board, so
it's not a definite damage source. On the other hand if you're taking a
pounding and have done no damage this will not help you in any way - Six
life is nothing if you're on 20 and winning.
However, this card is pretty cool. I would love to have some to play with,
it's a card that offers situational tactics in late and early, and I could
see it fitting in my good old burn deck. It's no must-have card, but if you
think your deck can use it no matter what the outcome then I'd give it a
try.
Jason
Red gets a cheap Wrath of God effect with a punisher
drawback in the form of Breaking Point. All of the
punisher cards give your opponent a choice of taking
damage or letting an effect resolve. The more powerful
the effect the more damage you could potentially
take...
Limited - The problem with Breaking Point is that 9
times out of 10 your opponent will quite happily pay
the 6 life and the other 1 time it won't be worth
casting as you would lose more creatures than your
opponent. Mass removal (or reset cards) in limited
need to work everytime otherwise you shouldn't be
playing with them. That being said it still has it
uses and if your deck packs a lot of burn then you may
give your oppponent no choice, just don't count on
it.....
Constructed - Type 2 - I think red has been shafted as
of late with all this tog madness going around and I
can't see things changing with Judgement in the mix.
R/G decks should be playing Browbeat over this as it
is more efficient, costs only 1 red mana and it may
yet let you draw some cards. If you want creature removal
then play Flametongue Kavu not Breaking Point.
OBC - Limited card pool, more options for this card
right?? Wrong as Browbeat again will be taking the
slots over this and lets face it you don't want to be
casting this when you are facing multiple roar of the
wurm tokens with your opponent on 20 life. All hope is
not lost however as I think you could build a mono red
deck in this format that is very fast (Firecat Blitz,
Rites of Initiation, Reckless Charge etc) with
Breaking Point and/or Browbeat bring used as the
finisher. Check out Scott Hunstad's decklist as an example.
Breaking Point is not a bad rare and should fetch
around $6.
Until next time
Dan
Enough!
Kamahl has had it and has decided that all your
creatures should go to the graveyard... unless you
wanna take a big hit so you can keep your creatures on
the board and in which case you will probably win
because your smashing face already. However I think
this card is viable... in the right deck.
Limited: Straight away creating the 'right' deck for
this card is 'limited' by the card pool of the
packs you open however, I still believe this card
is a high pick in the judgement packs. It's not
something you can splash for but if you are in the
colours, take it, because after all it is a wrath effect
so it's gotta be good right?
Constructed: Mono red burn has never looked so
inviting, but the red decks can't do much against a
creature rush except use the burn they should be using
on the opponent, on their creatures instead. Except
red is the colour of quick, unexpected damage, so
taking six may be just what you want.
Just think what is worst at the time 6 damage or all
his creatures gone. More times than not it'll be the
six damage so he can keep pounding you.
In this situation the first couple of turns you can
get them down to 12-15 then taking 6 makes them
6-9.... thats enough to throw a couple of 3 damage
spells like sonic seisure (used in frog) fiery temper,
urza's rage, volcanic hammer, or even violent eruption
and firecat blitz. They hit you the next turn which
brings you down to a very low life total, however
because you are red and you have all the burn,
nothing short of life gain (not a viable archtype in
the current environment), or CoP: Red (only after
board and again only if they are white) will stop you.
Now look at the other scenario. They let all their
creatures die because they know you have a tonne of
burn and don't wish to give you an early win. In
which case, it's done its job and you should be
pleased that your not going to be taking the damage.
If creatures are big where you are then I suggest a
burning bridge deck with breaking point and ensnaring
bridges to shut them down.
Price: minimum $7... its not had a chance to prove
it's self as of yet but I think given time it could
reach a height of $9, but don't hold your breathe.
- Scott Smith |
Breaking Point (Rare)
Danesh Jogia
Dan Turner
Scott Smith