Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Even though a few cards caused some problems, I've always liked Urza's Saga and I think the set has some real gems. It's got to be one of my favorite sets. It was the latest expansion set at the time when I finally both owned enough cards and understood the rules and strategy well enough to build cohesive decks (I got some sealed product for my birthday about a month after the set was released).
I can't be the only person who has always loved Corrupt! I never hear much about the card and it doesn't seem to come up much in discussions, but it's a respectable workhorse sorcery for casual black decks. It might have flown under the radar because tournament decks from the Urza's Block era were super-fast and Corrupt doesn't start becoming viable until mid-to-late-game. But in any environment where you can afford to sit on a six-drop damage-dealing sorcery, Corrupt is a fantastic six-drop damage-dealing sorcery.
I saw it stated by someone from WotC years later, but I suspect that it was true at the time of Urza's Saga as well, that they deliberately selected commonplace one-word card names to go on cards that they thought had potential to eventually get incorporated into core sets (probably with some regret that they wasted the name "Teleport" on a piece of junk). And for that concept, Corrupt was right on the mark. It was reprinted in 7th Edition, then later in Shadowmoor, Magic 2011, Magic 2014, and a couple of Duel Decks. I contend that it is not just nostalgia that has me preferring the trippy original artwork...
For comparison, here are the other artworks for the card...
I can't be the only person who has always loved Corrupt! I never hear much about the card and it doesn't seem to come up much in discussions, but it's a respectable workhorse sorcery for casual black decks. It might have flown under the radar because tournament decks from the Urza's Block era were super-fast and Corrupt doesn't start becoming viable until mid-to-late-game. But in any environment where you can afford to sit on a six-drop damage-dealing sorcery, Corrupt is a fantastic six-drop damage-dealing sorcery.
I saw it stated by someone from WotC years later, but I suspect that it was true at the time of Urza's Saga as well, that they deliberately selected commonplace one-word card names to go on cards that they thought had potential to eventually get incorporated into core sets (probably with some regret that they wasted the name "Teleport" on a piece of junk). And for that concept, Corrupt was right on the mark. It was reprinted in 7th Edition, then later in Shadowmoor, Magic 2011, Magic 2014, and a couple of Duel Decks. I contend that it is not just nostalgia that has me preferring the trippy original artwork...
For comparison, here are the other artworks for the card...