The top three ways to make sure you always have multiple Shining Shoals in your hand:
1. Pray to the Japanese god of arcane. If you have led a noble life, you will draw it when you are in need. If you have led an evil life, a donkey-cart full of turnips will fall onto you head.
2. Eat your vegetables.
3. Play with 7 of them in your deck.
Few cards are such a mindfuck and make your opponents more timid quite like shining shoal, especially when you have multiples in your hand and your opponents run into it multiple times in a row. How else could I beat Tommy's mono-red deck in a match with a spiritcraft deck that prominently features Oyobi? What other time has such a fast red deck lost to such a slow deck featuring dovescape?
Granted, there have been times I have been lucky with shining shoal in multiples to help me win (especially in the situation above). However, these situations stand out in your memory because they do end up being so incredible due to the way multiple surprise shining shoals can turn a game into a blow out for you. We don't remember the many games where I didn't draw shining shoal or only drew one. However, even in those cases part of brilliance of shining shoal is the fear it induces in your opponents, encouraging them to attack other people or stay home. Like the best combat tricks, it's a dirty mind game and makes me feel a little sleezy playing it. But only a little.
Alright, so this card was fairly obvious, but you all still have not guessed the next one.
