"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." - Cliché old as time itself.
"I know what you're thinking: did I fire six shots or only five? Well I tell you, I've lost track myself in all this excitement. But seeing as this is a Wesson 44, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?" - Dirty Harry Callahan
Submitted for your approval, one Arcbound Ravager. An innocuous creature at first sight, with a poor power and toughness ratio in proportion to its mana cost. Its only activated ability comes with the price tag of the sacrifice of one of your permanents, allowing itself to reach titanic size while it rapidly scours the board of all of the rest of your cards. In the same token, various popular two-mana instants of either the Green or Red variety allow it to be cleared just as easily as the artifacts it devours for strength, potentially wiping out entire turns of work.
Let's observe one more strange construct of this magical world, not a creature per se, but an instant. Its name is Kaervek's Spite, and much like many other tools available to the Black mage, to whom sacrifice for gain is no foreign concept, it carries a hefty non-mana cost as well. It may be the truest essence of its latter word, as it completely renders its caster bereft of resources once it has been cast. Its only usage is to serve as the killing blow, and there are few ways to get around its massive drawback.
There are two things these cards have in common. The first is the obvious "eggs in one basket" nature that they take to the most extreme. The second is that, despite their one-dimensional usage, both of them have enjoyed success in tournament grade decks. Anyone who has had to endure the lasting bite of Disciple of the Vault can appreciate the power that Ravager commands despite its superficial humility, but for a true taste of unbridled and relentless offense, let's look at David Price's Hatred deck that placed fourth in Grand Prix: Seattle right around the turn of the millennium:
16 Swamp
4 City of Traitors
4 Carnophage
4 Dauthi Horror
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Dark Ritual
4 Demonic Consultation
4 Duress
3 Hatred
1 Kaervek's Spite
4 Sarcomancy
1 Spinning Darkness
3 Unmask
Sideboard
3 Cursed Scroll
4 Masticore
2 Null Rod
3 Perish
3 Sphere of Resistance
If Ravager Affinity is the current Extended deck that traded the future for the now, it only learned such tactics from Hatred. 28 out of the 60 cards in the maindeck have some sort of possible drawback, from bringing yourself down to 1 or 2 life on purpose, to potentially decking yourself, to sacrificing permanents whenever a creature is damaged. Hatred truly skirted the borders between unchecked aggression and self-abuse. A single copy of Kaervek's Spite was a natural inclusion in this deck, as by the time it was the only castable option in your hand, your opponent was either well within its reach or the game was unwinnable anyway. As an added bonus, Spite had the ability to get past Circle of Protection: Black and Worship, which have always been thorns in mono-Black's festering side, and both of which completely neutered the deck. Consulting for the lone Spite was, in a way, the trademark move of this deck, as it was an exceedingly efficient and difficult to counter life loss of 5, but always carried the risk of losing you the game outright.
It's popularity at the time was fueled by its ability to combat Trix, the combo deck of its time, which could not only kill by turn 4, but had the audacity to potentially gain 20 life in the process. Control decks were generally cut to pieces against Trix, as Trix had enough Forces of Will and Duresses to force through either its key spells (Illusions of Grandeur and Donate), or Necropotence, a tool against which the control decks couldn't keep up or deal enough damage to take advantage of. Traditional beatdown decks either couldn't deal enough damage to kill Trix before the combo went off (typically due to the 20-point life infusion Illusions provided the Trix player) or they would be fended off by the free counterspells and the zero mana removal spell Contagion. Hatred could either try to overwhelm Trix by dropping many 2 to 5 power creatures in the first few turns using Dark Ritual and City of Traitors, or it could Duress and Unmask the counters and removal out of the Trix player's hand before going for the kill with a single creature and Hatred. The Spite was the final effort, as both strategies tended to leave the opponent at a low life total if they were even somewhat successful.
This overlaps slightly with the previous example, but the relative risk of playing a card is a factor of not only the dominant deck in the format, but also the deck you happen to be playing against at the moment. For instance, let's say that you are in an Odyssey/Torment/Judgment draft. You've drafted a poor R/W deck with a few good cards, including a 23rd pick Soulgorger Orgg that just barely made the cut (we'll assume that you are really reaching for creatures). You're facing off against a R/B deck against which you've been constantly making creature trades with, but not much removal has really been used. You're at 7 life, your opponent is at 6. You've got one land in your hand, and your opponent has two. You both have exactly 7 cards in your graveyard. You have 6 lands out and your opponent has 7. The last turn, your opponent dropped a land and passed. You tap on your deck, whisper a small nonsensical word, close your eyes, and draw your card. You reopen them to see Creature - Nightmare Orgg sitting in your grip. The question that may make or break this match: do you play it?
If you answered yes, you just put yourself in the range of all of the following cards, each of which your opponent might have had reason not to play until that point, and none of which would have meant game over until then.
Lava Dart
Flame Burst
Ember Shot
Fiery Temper
Kamahl's Sledge
Breaking Point
Firecat Blitz
Lightning Surge
Browbeat (plus burn in the next 3 cards)
Firebolt
Scorching Missile
That's a total of 6 commons, 2 uncommons, and 3 rares. Since the Orgg has no evasion abilities, a creature is almost as good as a Time Walk in this scenario as a chump blocker, as you have no way to immediately remove it. While playing the Orgg may be the right scenario, the only way that it improves your chances of you winning this game is:
Your opponent does not hold burn.
Your opponent does not hold removal that will kill the Orgg.
Your opponent does not draw either in the next turn.
If your opponent holds removal, ironically, you do not want it used on the Orgg! The Orgg is a great creature right now if you can guarantee that it won't be removed or if you won't get burned. It is probably to your advantage to try to outdraw your opponent or topdeck another creature to draw the removal. If your opponent plays a good creature next turn, you still have the chance to play the Orgg as a last ditch effort and hope. In a sense, playing the Orgg is like all in-ing on a nut flush draw. You're trying to end the game in one way or another as soon as possible. If you know your opponent is weak, this is not a bad play. However, your opponent has just dropped their 7th land (as if they were building up to something like one of the aforementioned seven-mana cards) and they have not used any removal, thus their hand is probably strong. It would behoove you to find another circumstance in which to fight.
Let's contrast this with another similar scenario. You've got Soulgorger Orgg.dec facing off against a W/G deck and your opponent has been a little mana tight all game. You're at 18 life, your opponent is at 15. There are no creatures on the board except your Kirtar's Desired Mystic Zealot. Your opponent just dropped his 4th land and Narcissism, and it appears he has 3 cards in his hand he couldn't play for 3 mana. You've been a little mana glutted and have 6 lands already after a mulligan. You have your own Kirtar's Desire and one land in hand, and you draw the man, the myth, and the legend, the Soulgorger Orgg.
I wasn't kidding. He might be the best card in your deck in this particular circumstance.
You are in an excellent position to win the game right now with the Orgg, as your life total means very little right now. You are in topdeck mode and your opponent not only has massive extra resources in his hand, but can also convert future draws into Kodama's Mights with his broken enchantment. White and Green have no means of dealing direct damage, have relatively few good flyers that can attack you for your remaining life total of 1, and the combination is relatively unlikely to have any tricky effects that aren't combat oriented. Thus playing the Orgg is a deceptively good plan for you. Your opponent may not even be able to play a creature next turn, and if he does, will probably not block with it since he will expect the counterattack to kill you. This certainly won't be the case, since you can attack with the Orgg and Desire the potential creature he plays next turn. The Orgg will not die next turn, as you know your opponent will not be able to play a creature plus activate Narcissism. Unless your opponent can play creatures on consecutive turns, you run little chance of dying, and a reasonable chance of either winning the game or making card advantageous trades that could put you back in a more even position.
Some newer players that I have seen will scoff at a card if they see a drawback. One chap who was trying to build a budget Goblin deck in the far past decried my advice that he include Goblin Elite Infantry because, and I quote, "Why would I play with a card that hurts itself?" Even more experienced players initially shy away from such cards in draft until they realize that the drawback isn't so bad, and can even be a benefit, like such amazing cards in Saviors such as Barrel-Down Sozenkan. Master the circumstance in which the drawback is negated, and you will get the most use out of your cards with "baggage."
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