Today I will be analyzing the mechanic of Kicker. It was first introduced around Planeshift and now has returned with Zendikar. What is kicker?

702.30a Kicker is a static ability that functions while the spell is on the stack. "Kicker [cost]" means "You may pay an additional [cost] as you cast this spell." The phrase "Kicker [cost 1] and/or [cost 2]" means the same thing as "Kicker [cost 1], kicker [cost 2]." Paying a spell's kicker cost(s) follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e-g.

Source: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Kicker

An important thing to note is that the kicker cost should not be a positive effect. Something like "Kicker--Draw 3 cards" is not a good kicker cost since it benefits you. So what are some established kicker costs?

• Mana cost - This is the most common form of kicker. By paying extra mana, you can have an extra effect of the card. See: Into the Roil
• Sacrifice a land - By sacrificing a land, you get the extra effect. See: Dwarven Landslide
• Discarding a creature card - By discarding a creature card, you get the extra effect. See Dralnu's Pet
• Paying life - By paying life you get the extra effect. See: Phyrexian Scuta
• Tapping a creature - By tapping a creature you get the extra effect. See: Blood Tribute

There's still a ton of design space for kicker. Here's some examples of kickers not yet seen:

• Sacrifice a (permanent of a specified type) - Dwarven Landslide had the effect of destroying land by sacrificing your land, adding some flavor to the card. Make the permanent sacrificed relevant to the kicker like so:
  
  Cannibal Metamorph 2UB
  Creature -- Shapeshifter
  Kicker - Sacrifice a creature
  If ~ was kicked, ~ becomes a copy of the sacrificed creature. ~ still keeps its abilities.
  
  UU: Return ~ to its owner's hand.
  
  0/1
• Discarding a (permanent of a specified type) - Same concept as the above, except discarding a card.
  
• Have the opponent gain a beneficial effect - For a good example, see Questing Phelddagrif
• Exiling a card in hand/field/graveyard - One example:
  
  Greeding Indulgence UU
  Instant
  Kicker - Exile a blue card in your hand
  Look at the top 3 cards of your library. Put one of those cards into your hand. If ~ was kicked, put another of those cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
  

Now this part will have rumoriffic spoilers about kicker so if you want to know nothing about Worldwake, stop reading now.
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Rumored according to: MTGSalvation Forums
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MULTIKICKER -- Whenever you play a spell with multikick, you may pay the kicker cost any number of times and get an effect based on the number of times that spell is kicked.

A very basic example:
Thought Process 1U
Instant
Multikicker 2U
Draw a card. Draw an additional card for each time ~ is kicked.

No official cards have been released yet.

Until next time,
ShadowSketched
shadowsketched@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/shadowsketched

Hey,

This week I'm going to cover one of my favorite cards in Standard, Obelisk of Alara:



The "tower of power" as I like to call it, Obelisk of Alara is a 6 CMC artifact which features 5 different activated abilities. Each ability is representative of the color in its activation cost, as follows:

• You gain 5 life - Great ability, stalls the game by gaining life, negates damage from burn, and is very efficient for its ability cost.
• Draw a card, then discard a card - Filtering for any color. Good to use when using colors that don't have a card draw or card filtering spell, like red or white. Also forces you to discard a card, which can be good for reanimation strategies.
• Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn - Repeatable, colorless removal, so it gets around pro-color abilities on cards such as Black Knight and Malakir Bloodwitch. Also great when paired with first strike creatures (Vampire Hexmage, Plated Geopede) to keep your creature around and make them lose theirs.
• Obelisk of Alara deals 3 damage to target player - This ability is what makes the Obelisk a great win-condition. Use it to ping your opponent for 3 damage.
• Target creature gets +4/+4 - Pumps a creature, working well for creatures with lifelink or double strike. Just be careful for your creature not to get removed in response.

As you can see, the Obelisk of Alara is like a Swiss army knife, performing various functions basic to each color. Also, it being an artifact means it can be in any deck; just make sure to have the colored mana abilities to protect it. Here are some cards I would recommend using it with:

• Rupture Spire - Able to produce any color of mana, using this one land will allow you to use any mode of the Obelisk. Downside is that it comes into play tapped and requires one mana when it comes into play. Also, beware of targeted land removal such as Goblin Ruinblaster and Acidic Slime.
• Fabricate - At 6 mana, the Obelisk is a card that's best drawn late game. Fabricate allows you to minimize the number of Obelisks while still having virtual copies in your deck. In addition, Fabricate opens up the ability to search for other good artifacts such as Mindlock Orb, Pithing Needle, or Sphinx Summoner.
• Tezzeret the Seeker - Tezzeret will allow you to untap your Obelisk during your turn, allowing you to use its abilities twice so long as you have enough mana.
  

Here is my final review on the card:
+ Colorless source of removal, efficient lifegain, efficient pump, card filtering, direct damage all in one card.
+ Cool looking art
- Costs 6 mana, meaning you must be able to survive until late game.
- Works best with nonbasic lands, which is the target of hate recently.

Until next time,
shadowsketched
shadowsketched@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/shadowsketched