Retro Magic: Shahrazad - Arabian Nights Rare Card Review - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Richard Garfield deserves a ton of credit for creating this card. There is no doubt that Shahrazad is perhaps the most fascinating card in Magic the Gathering simply because of its effect. This card is banned in every format for a reason.

Seriously, this card tells you to leave your current game of Magic to go and play a separate game of Magic with the remaining cards! Then after that game is over, you come back to your original game and the loser of the sub-game loses half of his or her life, rounded up. Then you still have to finish the original game!

That’s a pretty awesome concept: having a game of Magic inside of a game of Magic. Does it work out in a tournament setting? Absolutely not.

But, that doesn’t mean casual players can’t proxy this card and try it out just for fun. If you actually own a copy of this card, why not stick it in a deck for chuckles? Heck, what if you ran 4 copies of this in a deck? You could potentially have a game of Magic inside a game of Magic inside a game of Magic inside a game of Magic!

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And thus, because of that silliness, the ban hammer came down…

Please keep your Shahrazads sleeved and bindered, please…

Have you ever played with Shahrazad?

~ Phoenix <3