Practice · stable or situational

For each of the nine cards, answer the two questions of the stability test. Then see how the test answers it, and why.

The two tests, in short

• Frequency. How common is the situation in which you can use this card at its best? The more often that situation comes up, the more stable the card. Terror scores well here: an opponent with a creature worth killing is the normal state of the game.
• Flexibility. How much is the card still worth when those conditions do not arrive? The less its value falls, the more stable the card. Terror scores badly here: with no target it does nothing at all.
• Both good makes a card particularly stable. One good makes it relatively stable — and frequency is the more important of the two, which is why Terror is generally rated above Afflict even though each passes one test and fails the other.
• Nothing here says a situational card is unplayable. It says you should know which kind you are picking.

This exercise practises Stable versus Situational Cards.