Ominous Parcel (SNC)

Ominous Parcel
Casting Cost: {1}
Card Type: Artifact
Card Text:
2, T, Sacrifice Ominous Parcel: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
5, T, Sacrifice Ominous Parcel: It deals 4 damage to target creature.
Flavour Text:
The rest of Anhelo's assistant arrived over the following week.
Artist: Joe Slucher

Strengths:

• Flexibility: The card offers two distinct abilities, providing the player with a choice based on the current game state.
• Cheap to Cast: With a casting cost of just {1}, it's easy to get onto the battlefield.
• Mana Fixing: The first ability helps with mana fixing by letting you search for a basic land card.
• Creature Removal: The second ability can remove a problematic creature from the board.

Weaknesses:

• Sacrifice Cost: Both abilities require you to sacrifice the artifact, making it a one-time-use card.
• High Activation Cost: The second ability has a high activation cost of 5 mana, which may be prohibitive in fast-paced games.
• Tap Requirement: Since you have to tap the artifact for both abilities, you can't use it right away if it comes into play tapped for some reason.

Deck Considerations:

• Landfall: Could be useful in a Landfall deck as it allows you to search for a basic land card.
• Control: Could fit well into a control deck that can afford the high activation cost for creature removal.
• Artifact Synergies: Could benefit from artifact synergies or recursion abilities to be used more than once.

Flavor and Art:

• Flavor: The flavor text suggests a grim, even ominous, backstory, living up to the card's name.
• Artist: Joe Slucher would likely create art that captures the eerie or menacing nature of this mysterious parcel.

Overall Impression:

Ominous Parcel is a flexible artifact that can fit into various strategies but shines best in slower, more controlling decks. Its low casting cost makes it accessible, while its abilities offer valuable utility. The card's one-time-use nature and high activation cost for the damage ability are drawbacks, but its versatility can make it a worthwhile inclusion in the right deck.