by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff
From a flavor perspective, Deadlock Trap is one of my favorite artifacts from Kaladesh. The art depicts planeswalkers Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane becoming trapped within the device. This card is also one of the first, if not the only, cards that actually let you tap a planeswalker. Alternatively, it can also tap down a creature. There is one issue with this card that people have pointed out. As good as it is to prevent a planeswalker from using one of its activated abilities in a turn, there are limited opportunities for this card to actually work.
When the Deadlock Trap enters the battlefield, it comes into play tapped. However, in the process, it gives you 2 energy counters. Each activation of the Deadlock Trap takes one energy counter. People have argued, why not have this ability use mana instead? I'm actually quite certain that the only reason this card exists is because of energy counters. There are enough ways to generate energy in Kaladesh that this card is actually probably better than it looks on the surface. It's also clear that there are going to be a lot of planeswalkers between Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, so this is probably more useful in Kaladesh Standard than it would be in a vacuum.
In the long run, this is going to be a curiosity and a bulk rare. But from a control perspective, especially if planeswalkers are going to be everywhere and as good as they seem to be making them now, Deadlock Trap will probably see some Standard play. At the very least, it's a cool collector's card and it will slow down an opponent in Limited.
When the Deadlock Trap enters the battlefield, it comes into play tapped. However, in the process, it gives you 2 energy counters. Each activation of the Deadlock Trap takes one energy counter. People have argued, why not have this ability use mana instead? I'm actually quite certain that the only reason this card exists is because of energy counters. There are enough ways to generate energy in Kaladesh that this card is actually probably better than it looks on the surface. It's also clear that there are going to be a lot of planeswalkers between Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, so this is probably more useful in Kaladesh Standard than it would be in a vacuum.
In the long run, this is going to be a curiosity and a bulk rare. But from a control perspective, especially if planeswalkers are going to be everywhere and as good as they seem to be making them now, Deadlock Trap will probably see some Standard play. At the very least, it's a cool collector's card and it will slow down an opponent in Limited.
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