Gift of Doom: Is it Broken?

[WizardSpartan]

So I've been giving Gift of Doom some thought, and I would like to see what everybody else thinks.

It seems really strong in any deck that doesn't mind (or actively wants to) sacrifice its creatures. At a 3 mana morph, it can come down very early, and once it's down, it's extremely powerful. Think of it this way. For the small, small "price" of sacrificing a token or random mana dork you don't need anymore, you get a very powerful effect. Here's a couple rules I'll include to support what I'm about to say.

No player may take any actions between the time you announce that you’re turning Gift of Doom face up and the time it’s attached to the chosen creature.

This doesn’t target the creature Gift of Doom will enchant, so an opponent’s creature with hexproof or a creature with shroud may be chosen this way.

So, once it's on the field, it is an instant-speed both anti-removal (a lot of them) and anti-boardwipe (most of them) in addition to being a combat trick that can allow any one of your creatures to eat an opponent's attacking/blocking creature and survive. But that's not all, folks. Your opponents can't respond to you turning Gift of Doom face up or to you attaching it to your creature. Also, you can flip Gift up in response to an opponent casting a spell with Split Second (in the corner cases where that's relevant).

I would also like to mention the mysterious aspect of Gift of Doom. Morphs as a whole disincentivize attacking because your opponents don't know what's on the other side. A Sagu Mauler? A Deathmist Raptor? Nobody knows. Even when your opponents know what's on the other side (such as in local playgroups), it's still hard to play around. 

Here are some examples of Commanders that can make good use of Gift of Doom:

• Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - Pretty much every creature in Alesha can be brought back by her, and Gift can get a creature into the gy for her to bring back, remove a blocking creature that would otherwise kill her, blank a removal spell that would otherwise send her back to the shadow realm, and ensure she can attack with impunity for the foreseeable future.
  
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth - Gift can get a creature into the gy for an experience counter and so Meren has a target for her ability at eot & can protect her from the inevitable swarm of removal spells headed her way.
• Korvold, Fae-Cursed King - Yet another high-priority target commander that likes sacrifice-themed stuff.
• Thraximundar - Nobody likes casting their 7 mana commander more than once. Gift helps protect ol' Thraxy and gives you a sacrifice trigger.

The list goes on and on, and really, there are only 2 restrictions you should consider when thinking about including Gift of Doom.

• The obvious one: Is your commander in black?
• The less obvious one: Do you have a decent amount of creatures that can act as fodder, and/or does your deck like sacrificing its creatures?

Anyway, tell me y'all's opinion of this card and/or your opinion of my take on it!

[robort]

It isn't broke but it definitely is a very good instant speed protection card unless the table see's it coming because you are playing a full on morph deck. Or the regular players know it is your only morph card in your deck and they know it is coming as well

[WizardSpartan]

I was joking when I made the title lol. I guess it wasn't obvious enough.

Even if your playgroup know the morph you are casting is Gift of Doom, it doesn't matter, really. It often comes out before the creatures you want to protect, and, in the right deck, there is a very small window where there aren't any good creatures to sac & there aren't any good creatures to enchant. Once there is a good creature to enchant and a good creature to enchant, then what are your opponents going to do?
Hit it with a creature removal spell? Just flip it into an enchantment and fizzle the spell. If there isn't anything to flip it onto, then Gift still forces your opponents to burn a removal spell that could be pointed at your important creatures.
Hit another creature with a removal spell? Flip it and protect that creature.
Wait for it to flip, then remove Gift of Doom? This is the best option in my eyes, but that still forces your opponents to burn a removal spell on Gift that could be pointed at a more dangerous permanent of yours.

[Slyvester12]

I think you're overestimating the value of indestructible. A large portion of targeted creature removal is exile or -1 counters. Also, as robort said, this will be really telegraphed. If a problem creature is out, someone can respond to you casting the morph and remove it; if you cast the morph first, they can just look for something that'll hit indestructible.

Overall, I think it's fine, but only about as good as other effects that grant indestructible. Definitely more powerful against lower powered decks since they'll have more difficulty removing an indestructible creature.

[Judaspriester]

Or the regular players know it is your only morph card in your deck and they know it is coming as well

At least at my playgroup this would work. I remember a game some time ago, I tutored for control magic, in a way my opponents got the information, which card I tutored. For 2 or 3 turns the idea that I could use this card on their precious creature prevented them for playing something good.
The social freezing effect could also work here. they know you've got a way up to protect your key creatures. so playing a single (mass) removal wouldn't help them to solve their problem with your key creature (not necessarily your commander). So why should they spend ressources on it, if they can't follow up?

I think in many (especially kitchen table) groups, this card isn't broken, but it still works well, even if it's the only morph card in your deck.

[WizardSpartan]

Lol I guess my "funny & clickbait" title didn't display what I was actually trying to say. This post is simply me saying that Gift of Doom is good in certain decks and that its current price tag of $0.40 is really good in my eyes. Obviously, it can be dealt with (it wouldn't be $0.40 if it couldn't), but cutting off almost all boardwipes (only major exceptions are Merciless Eviction & Toxic Deluge & Black Sun's Zenith) is fantastic in itself, and aside from the big 4 of Swords to Plowshares, Reality Shift, Anguished Unmaking, and Path to Exile, cutting off most of the uber popular targeted removal is also really good. I think a big reason why I like it so much is because of how unique it is. There aren't many good protection spells in black (Imp's Mischief is the only one that comes to mind), and I've found that it provides a very unique effect for its color. If it was in white, blue, or maybe green, I wouldn't be as excited about it because each of those colors already have a decent number of good options.

[dexflux]

Personally, the cmc is too high for my taste. I'd rather use an inexpensive recursion spell or countermagic.

I can see the appeal for Aristocrats with central creatures though. Double that up if you can flip it down again to create a morph speed sac outlet (a sentence I would've never thought to type down). Notable other options include:

Fight as One, Boros Charm, Withstand Death, Sheltering Light, Karametra's Blessing, Heroic Intervention, Ajani's Presence, Unlikely Aid, Inspiring Call and a powerful new addition in Flawless Maneuver (I wish it would say permanents to synergize with Armageddon).

[WizardSpartan]

All of the cards you mentioned (except for Unlikely Aid) aren't in black, and a few like Heroic Intervention & Flawless Maneuver are quite expensive. I just think people should pay more attention to it. Obviously, there are better options in other colors & non Aristocrat decks, but if it's easy to morph, then it's only 3 mana, a rate that is solid in my eyes. While an inexpensive recursion spell might be better in some circumstances, I am most interested in protecting my commander, and letting a Meren of Clan Nel Toth go to the grave can be a very dangerous proposition.

[Potato Chop]

Gift of Doom seems really effective for any Voltron deck with Black commander. It's a little expensive, but I feel like that's a fair price for what it is.

I think it's main problem is that it makes a real target for counterspells and such, and it can be completely neutralized by cards like Lawmage's Binding and Pacifism. If you do play it, avoid playing it on creatures with activated abilities that contribute to your win plan, because it will be tapped down, countered, and targeted by pacifism-type spells.

Realistically, I can't see myself playing it much, but that's mostly because I don't play a Black Voltron deck. Cool card though!

[Serberus_08]

It's not broken, I think it's fair for black. I also never see it, well not recently due to SI, in many games, leading me to think that it's a hidden gem in the game.

[WizardSpartan]

How many people play Pacifism in Commander? Might as well play Darksteel Mutation, etc.

Serberus_08, I think that's a good way of putting it. It's a hidden gem. Not broken, just criminally underplayed.

[terminalgeek]

I agree that it's really good but if it's the only morph in your deck it's a bit telegraphed and while indestructible is good, it is still vulnerable to a lot of removal as mentioned above.

As for other auras that are good answers: I like Reprobation, Imprison in the Moon, Song of the Dryads but the new Mystic Subdual is nice due to the flash for messing

[robort]

Yes it is .40 cent good. It is protection for a creature especially a creature board wipe. Works well with synergies such as Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and such. As previously mentioned it is a hidden gem especially for it's price tag

[Judaspriester]

Well, there are a little more spells that can still harm even with gift of doom. My favorite example is Tragic Slip. If you play black, the morbid trigger usually isn't a that hard condition, and -13/-13 for B is kinda cost efficient, since this can solve alot of problems with creatures.

@terminalgeek you're right, if you're aware that it's the only morph card, and you know that it's gift of doom, you can work against it. but on the other hand, you can use these spells only once, so you have to pick your target. If I'm able to force you to use some kind of removal on the gift, you can't use this against the bigger threats, I want to protect with it.
Besides that, I could still use the morph while your spell is on the stack. It may result in a non-optimal target, but it's an option, as long as I have at least 2 other creatures on the field.

for me, it's a nice mind trick. If your opponents are unaware of it, you can protect a key creature "out of nowhere", and if they are aware of it, they still got a nut to crack since they proably need to lure it out. In any case, this results in spend ressources (including time/turns) for more than just one player.