Baited Arrow

Baited Arrow

Baited Arrow is a 5 Mana Cost Common Hunter Spell card from the Rastakhan's Rumble set!

Card Text

Deal 3 damage. Overkill: Summon a 5/5 Devilsaur.

Flavor Text

The card is common, but the steak is rare.

Type
Spell
Rarity
Common
Set
Rastakhan's Rumble
Class
Hunter
Cost
5
Minion Type
Mechanics
Damage, Overkill, Summon
Artist
Anton Zemskov
Collectible
Yes

Card Review & Interactions

In the best case scenario, Baited Arrow is a 5 mana 5/5 that deals 2 damage to a minion. Which would actually be quite good - probably would see some play. But the problem is that it's only the best case scenario. You NEED to hit a 0-2 health minion for the Overkill effect to trigger, meaning that if you use it on anything with 3 or more health, you just get 3 damage for 5 mana - absolutely terrible.

This card will sit dead in your hand every often, since you will wait for the moment when opponent plays the minion you can summon 5/5 from, or at least for some other spell you can synergize with. And there is actually one solid synergy - Hunter's Mark. Hunter's Mark + this will be a guaranteed kill on any minion + a 5/5 for 6 mana and 2 cards. Not absolutely crushing, but pretty good.

However, for the most part, Flanking Strike is just better. It deals 1 more damage (if you want to summon a minion, that is), and costs 1 mana less, but the biggest deal is that you CAN use it on a higher health minion. Your opponent played a 5/5? You can Flanking Strike it and hope that the 3/3 trades into a 5/2 next turn. Or you can use it to trigger your Devilsaur Egg. Plays like that happen, and you wouldn't be able to do it with Baited Arrow.

It might see some play in Spell Hunter, because the deck loves spells that summon minions. However, the deck is already pretty packed, so it might be hard to fit it in.

Overall, I'm not too impressed with this card, but it doesn't look terrible.

Card rating: 4/10

22 Comments

  1. Jed

    I love overcosted hunter shots.
    But this one’s better than most

    3/5

  2. Nidnam1252

    This could be really powerful if some kind of Odd Hunter deck emerges from Rastakhan...

    Otherwise, I think Flanking Strike is still a better option.

  3. ShaneLo

    1 more mana than flanking strike for +2/2. 4/5 stars heavier flanking strike is pretty good

    1. Kalo

      And you can't use it on anything with more than 2 health.....

  4. Piterno

    I like the powercreep on Cobra Shot, what a terrible card Cobra Shot was. Looks like it can fit into any hunter archetype that wants to go face and clear small taunts

    3.5/5, probably will see experimentation in every hunter deck and then find its place.

  5. TheRealBaker

    I think this card is a little bit overrated. It is not a flanking strike that costs 1 more for 4 total more stats, because there is the overkill part to consider. The problem with overkill is that you have to make sure to exceed the health of the minion, so all the targets that you have to hit with this card have to have 2 or less health. Let's imagine if flanking strike had this limitation, it would not be that good. The problem here is that IF you want the dinosaur you have to target smaller minions, but if you have to kill something bigger that has like 3 health you use 5 mana for just 3 damage. Still not totally sure about this card, but in general I don't t like it.

  6. iTerminator

    Why is everyone comparing this to Flanking Strike? This is Bane of Doom with 0% chance of summoning you a Witchwood Imp.

    1. Fandango

      The comparison is spot on!

    2. Tuscarora87

      Bane of Doom always deal 2 dmg, this one needs to kill a 1-2 hp minion to summon 5/5.

      1. Fandango

        ???

        Bane of Doom: Deal 2 damage to a character. If that kills it, summon a random Demon.

  7. LeonardoFRei

    prolly won't see much play as long as Flanking Strike is in Standart, since it deals the same ammount of damage and always summons a 3/3, while this costs 1 mana more, wich is already a huge difference in tempo, and while it summons a 5/5 instead of a 3/3, 2/2 of difference for 1 mana cost, being effectively a 5 mana 5/5 minion Battlecry: Deals 3 damange to a minion

    it only works if you overkill the minion

    meaning it needs to be at 2 or 1 health

    nowhere near as useful, you're better off just going with eggs to get easier 5/5s for less mana

  8. Soup And Salad

    Two health minions aren't an uncommon occurrence on turn five, especially against token decks, and it can be looked at as a better Stampeding Kodo.

    It's also comparable to Flanking Strike, which is more flexible than this even if the body isn't as good, and Bane of Doom, which has a much higher level of variance on what is summoned.

    I think Flanking Strike will be better than this but not by a whole lot, and it will shine when that card leaves Standard.

    1. DFB

      the first time a looked at it I thought the arrow shot out the tongue of the Dino XD. Then I read the name...

  9. Nidnam1252

    Couple of things to consider here.

    1) This can go face, Flanking Strike can't

    2) You can target your own minions (like Spider Bomb/Mechanical Whelp) to get the overkill effect.

  10. nickname23

    Card is just good tempo. 5 mana 5/5 beast, deal 2 damage to a minion. Hunter can make it work. I have no doubt about that. (Board presence, Candleshot, Hunter's Mark, pre-damaged from Rexxar etc.)
    Nice addition to Spell Hunter, which plays Explosive Trap, Wandering Monster. And it goes face. This card could bring back good old Midrange Hunter (has been weak in the 5-spot forever) in tempo fashion.
    I'll try it and I like it. Underrated!

    4,5/5

    1. Warptens

      If it was an unconditional 5mana 5/5 beast deal 2 to a minion, it would be nice. Still a bit worse than fire elemental imo, but nice.
      Except it's not! it's a 5mana 5/5 beast that you can ONLY play if there is a 1-2 health minion. Well you can play it but it's a 5mana dark bomb then.

  11. Buff master

    Honestly perfect card but unplayable for one reason: mana cost
    By turn 5 your opponent is most likely not going to play 2 health minions more like 4 or 5 health
    It make this card playable and have good tempo is too reduce the cost to 4 mana

    1. Soxaldinho

      Hunter' s Mark for a tempo swing

  12. SpyderBob

    You can always use it on a goblin bomb to summon a 5/5 and and smack face for 2.

  13. Soxaldinho

    This will have good synergy with Hunter's Mark. Will definitely find a place in Spell Hunter. 6 mana to remove a huge minion and summon a 5/5. Easily 4/5 card.

  14. Grimm1605

    Am I the only one that thinks this fits fairly well in deathrattle hunter just as well as creatureless spell hunter etc. having a sec set of flanking strikes that in some cases could net a free Dino you can cube later doesn’t seem too bad to me. Plus could be a auto include for people running budget version who might lack some of the legendaries for the deck

  15. Abdul Kubesh

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