Spell Pierce might seem weird in a deck that wants to play a long game, since eventually opponents will just be able to pay the extra two mana, but its essential in those first three turns to buy the breathing room to get your plan off the ground
You can judge for yourself whether its worth it, as always, as trading card games are inherently risky if youre looking for value. But theres a world in which the prices just went up with no concessions and at least this isnt that
Price corrections are a major trend among the most expensive Sword & Shield era cards, as prices are settling down after one of the biggest booms in recent history
A close second is Dragon Shield, but you may experience some card slippage from Dragon Shield and will have to readjust your cards from time to time
Being this large for this price at the time was an outstanding deal, even if nowadays it doesn't look like much, and the bonus life points were like adding insult to injury, causing players to wince looking at their hand that little bit more and do it again when you cast additional black spells
Making sure you play with cards from the most recent sets, or at least ones that are not rotating soon, is vital in making sure that your commitment and investment in a new deck isn't lost in a few months
