Thread by @JasonILTG

Now that we're over half a week into AFR, and 17lands has ALSA data available, I'll be making underrated cards threads again! Probably won't be daily, but we'll see. First off: Kick In the Door. 1/x

ALSA of 8.03 in Bo3, coming in as the 7th least picked card. Also looks like it's gone down since the beginning of the set, which is pretty interesting. 2/x

First off, a disclaimer: I know that various people were pretty high on Kick In the Door during spoilers; I had it as third best red common. I do think that is it significantly worse than I thought it would be, and would not advocate for putting it in most red decks. 3/x

The comparison that I and several others drew was to Guiding Voice and First Day of Class (and you know how much I like those): you get a +1/+1 counter, haste, and some value. Granted, that value is less than a card, but also is immediate, and doesn't cost more mana. 4/x

The main problem with this evaluation of Kick In is that aggressive red decks often don't venture. When you only venture 1-2 times a game, venture becomes mostly useless. And when you factor in Boots of Speed being an excellent source of haste, Kick In goes way down. 5/x

However, I still think there is a rare home where Kick In can shine (and when you end up here, you can get them essentially for free): RG pack tactics, *specifically* with a lot of repeatable venture from uncommons and rares. 6/x

RG is the main home I was imagining for Kick In initially, where you can use its haste to get Pack Tactics online early with 2s. It turns out the venture is bad enough in most RG decks that Boots just becomes way better for that purpose. But some green cards can change this. 7/x

First off: I'm not talking about Find the Path or You Find a Cursed Idol. These don't contribute to the RG gameplan very well. But the same things that make me want Kick In might also make me more midrange, and so more in want of venture+ramp. 8/x

Even Intrepid Outlander at uncommon doesn't make me want to play one-shot venture commons; the card is great, but mostly as a 2/3 reach, and the venture trigger doesn't actually happen too often. The real enablers for RG venture are Wandering Troubador, Varis, and Ellywick. 9/x

All three of these cards are strong venture engines just by themselves. Obviously this applies for all Gx pairs, but sometimes when you get these, red will be the other open color. And when that happens, you can start picking Kick In higher. 10/x

I don't think one Troubador would be enough for me to start playing Kick In over Boots, but I'd probably do so at two, and definitely at three. Again, the key point is that venture snowballs: Kick In as your fourth venture is extremely strong if you get the first 3 free. 11/x

As a final note, the reason why I focused on green here is that RW still probably wants Boots as an equipment, UR doesn't wnat the haste effect much, and RB doesn't really have good repeatable venture. I find it hard to imagine wanting Kick In in any pair that isn't RG. 12/x

Conclusion: Kick In is a card that is mostly not very good, as red doesn't generally venture much, so Boots of Speed is usually just a better version of the effect. But, it is still possible to get enough venture engines in green to justify its inclusion. 13/13

Here is the one deck that inspired this whole thread basically: 17lands.com/deck/964687bf2…

Kick In both enabling fast starts early and giving venture value later really helped the deck play both ends of the spectrum.