Steal

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Steal
Steal

Edit Data

TYPE Spell
ELEMENT Darkness
COST 4 Darkness
ATK | HP -
DESCRIPTION Steal a permanent
SKILL
PASSIVES
RARITY Common
BUY/SELL 58/40
Improved Steal
Improved Steal

 

TYPE Spell
ELEMENT Darkness
COST 3 Darkness
ATK | HP -
DESCRIPTION Steal a permanent
SKILL
PASSIVES
RARITY Common (Upgraded)
BUY/SELL Impossible/1159


Quick Facts:

  • When you steal your opponent's weapon or shield, it replaces your own weapon and shield. So you might want to think twice before stealing those, because you don't want to replace your Eternity with, say, a Dagger.
  • Don't bother stealing cards with global effects, such as Sundial, Nightfall | Eclipse, and Flooding | Inundation. They affect the entire field, so it doesn't matter whether you own the permanent or your opponent owns it.
  • Stealing a permanent with a time counter on it does not reset the time counter. For example, if you steal a Dimensional Shield with 1 turn left, it will still be 1 turn left when it goes to you.
  • If you try to steal your own permanent, essentially nothing happens. You destroy your own permanent, then you obtain that same permanent. In other words, you just wasted your quanta and your spell.
  • Steal is an ability available to mutants. A mutant with the Steal ability can steal a permanent every turn. It is the creature of ultimate permanent control

Darkness is about crippling your opponent while strengthening yourself, and using your opponent's strength against him. Steal, a spell that allows you to take one of your opponent's permanents for yourself, exemplifies the true essence of Darkness. Steal is the best method of permanent control in the game, because it doesn't just merely destroy, it takes.

At the first glance, Steal seems to be very simple; the card text merely reads Steal a permanent". However, those three simple words can achieve a lot of things, and sometimes those three words are the deciding factor on whether the game is lost or won. Steal, like any permanent control card, destroys a permanent belonging to your opponent; however, this spell also allows you to use that permanent for yourself. If your opponent has a weapon that is hurting you, steal it and use that weapon to hurt your opponent; if your opponent has a shield that is blocking all your creatures, take it and block his creatures instead. Depending on what deck your opponent uses, this deceptively simple card can mean so much more than what the three simple words describe.

Steal is the best method of permanent control in the game, because of card advantage. It destroys one of your opponent's permanents, and creates a permanent on your side; the net gain is two, which makes Steal much more advantageous than its Fire counterpart, Deflagration. Depending on what kind of permanent is stolen, the advantage gained by Steal can be absolutely huge. For example, you and your opponent are both low on HP, and you can kill your opponent in one turn if not for his Dimensional Shield that is blocking your attacks; you use Steal to take the Shield for yourself, surviving your opponent's attacks, then proceed to kill him and win the game. In that example, Steal allowed you to win the game when otherwise you would have lost.

Another great thing about Steal is that it is adaptable. No matter what type of deck your opponent is using, as long as he has permanents in his deck, Steal is always useful. This means that Steal does not synergize with any specific cards - it works just about equally well in combination with any card. For example, against a Mono-Aether deck, Steal can take away his Dimensional Shield; against a poison-freeze deck, you can steal his Arsenic to hurt him; against a FFQ deck, you can take away an Empathic Bond to heal yourself. The list is limitless, and you can always get some use out of this spell unless your opponent uses no permanents or protect his permanents.

Because of its adaptable nature, Steal is often used in a rainbow deck against False Gods. One weakness of Steal is that when you steal a permanent with an active ability, you cannot use it if you don't have the right quanta. However, this weakness is irrelevant in a rainbow deck, because Quantum Pillars generate all types of quanta. If you steal a Pulverizer, you would be able to use its ability; if you steal a Golden Hourglass, you would also be able to use its ability. The adaptability of Steal and versatility of rainbow decks are a perfect fit, and a deadly combination.

Quanta wise, Steal costs 4 which is a bit too much to be splashed into a Duo deck via Mark of Darkness alone. However, you can always pack in a few Devourers, which, in addition to generating , also takes your opponent's quanta away. Other than this, Steal doesn't have any weaknesses, except that you cannot steal any permanents that are Enchanted.