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Plunder the Trollshaws

common Instant

Draw a card. If this spell was cast from a , draw two cards instead.

(You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then it.)

B Grade from the win rate

Win rate when drawn 58.5% +2.3 vs average 50,977 games

Win rates and picks

55.8% 80,250 games
Average pick ()
7.1

By deck

  • Draw Two 60.3% 31,400 games
  • Elf Landfall 54.6% 6,508 games
  • Removal Control 55.8% 5,997 games
  • Burn and Draw 58.0% 2,507 games

Win rates from , 323,114 games. This card is compared with the set average (56.2%).

Reviews

Back in the day, I was always a big fan of Think Twice. Plunder the Trollshaws feels like the second coming of the Time Spiral classic, a Think Thrice if you will. It's never that great to cast this from your hand; it's really the part that we like the most, but that just means that it's a great option to discard to a ability and get that 1/1 out of it.

Blue has incredible tools in this format (Plunder the Trollshaws and Bilbo Baggins, Burglar), letting it out-draw most midrange/aggro decks.

The money shot to discard is Plunder the Trollshaws, which is miles better than either Moment of Glory or Eagle's Rescue. I've also liked playing 16 lands in any deck with a decent amount of cheap , as it feels bad to have to discard lands to it too often. I tend to discard spells early to play around Crude Bent Blade, then lands later on.

How to draft it

One of the 20 cards to memorize. Draws a card for 2 mana. Later, cast it again from the to draw 2.

Roles in each deck

  • Draw Two Gets you extra cards

    This 2-mana draws one card, and lets you cast it again from your for 4 mana to draw two, then exiles it. On your turn the single draw is card two, and the flashback's two draws trigger your payoffs on either player's turn. Removal Control (55.8%) and Elf Landfall (54.6%) get much less from it, so take it early only for Draw Two.

    How to play it

    From your hand, cast it in your main phase after the draw step so it counts as card two. it back at the end of the opponent's turn when you have 4 spare mana, and its second card still triggers Bard the Bowman and Apothecary.

    Learn the Draw Two deck

  • Removal Control Gets you extra cards

    One card gives you three draws at speed, one from your hand and two more from . That fits a deck that keeps mana up for on the opponent's turn and often doesn't use it.

    How to play it

    Save the for a turn with to spare after your . If the opponent plays Gollum the Abandoned, it back sooner, because Gollum's enters ability can it from your .

    Learn the Removal Control deck

  • Burn and Draw Gets you extra cards

    One card becomes three, a draw for 2 mana from your hand and two more for on . The flashback is the half you want, so no card in your deck is a better discard to Óin's ability, or a hit from Bilbo, Luckwearer.

    How to play it

    it back at the end of the opponent's turn with the mana you kept up for Pinecone Strike or Uneasy Partings. With no discard in sight, cast it from your hand at that same moment and keep the for later.

    Learn the Burn and Draw deck