Au contraire, Knutson. Au contraire.
Shard Phoenix by far a superior card compared to Hammer of Bogardan. You might glance at the two cards and think they look similar, but here are the oracle texts updated for August 1st, 2004.
Shard Phoenix
CC: R4
Type: Creature – Phoenix
Text: 2/2, Flying.
RRR: Return Shard Phoenix from your graveyard to your hand. Play this ability only if Shard Phoenix is in your graveyard, and only during your upkeep.
Sacrifice Shard Phoenix: Shard Phoenix deals 2 damage to each creature without flying.
Hammer of Bogardan
CC: RR1
Type: Sorcery
Text: Hammer of Bogardan deals 3 damage to target creature of player wayyyyyy slower than Barbed Lightning and a turn later than Volcanic Hammer.
RRR2: Skip the rest of your turn. Use this ability only during your upkeep.
Technically both cards take eight mana to recur and cast in the same turn. Shard Phoenix is very superior in this regard, since it can return for only three mana, giving you access to many more options during the rest of your turn. Hammer can come down to kill a single creature on turn 3. Shard Phoenix can come down to stall the entire board on turn 5. It’s the control player’s dream – a kill condition that doubles as complete board control. Need to Pyroclasm the ground? Play Shard Phoenix. Need to stop up to a four toughness creature on the ground? Block with the Phoenix, put damage on the stack, and then sacrifice it to finish the fatty off. Gotta stall the air? It’s Phoenix to the rescue! Hammer of Bogardan can’t turn a game around on turn 5. Shard Phoenix can, and will do so with regularity.
This reminds me of a song from my youth:
My-my-my-my Magic hits me so hard makes me say Bogardan
Thank you for blessing me with three Mountains and two colorless
That’s good when you know you’re down
There’s three damage from Oaktown
And I’m known as such
And this is three damage uh u can’t touch
I told you homeboy u can’t touch this
Yeah that’s how we’re castin’ and you know u can’t touch this
Look in my eyes man u can’t touch this
And Shard Phoenix reminds me of another ditty I once gleaned from the radiograph machine:
All right stop, collaborate and upkeep
Phoenix is back with my brand new peep
Someone grabs a hold of my spasm
Then I flow like an Ice Age Pyroclasm
Will it ever stop? Yo — I don’t know
Spend just three Mountains and I’ll glow
To the extreme I rock the board like an Earthquake
Light the red zone and railgun like in Quake.
Phoenix, Phoenix baby. Stronghold Phoenix, Phoenix, baby.
When I have to choose between a bankrupt born again Christian who blew all his money on his entourage or a white-bread pretender who co-opted an entire genre of music, I’ll decline to vote. But since this vote isn’t about these hardcore dudes, I implore you to vote for Shard Phoenix, the hippingest hoppingest bopper in the fish tank. He’s the bee’s knees. The ant’s elbow. And he deserves your vote!