I have been testing Snapcaster Mage, and it is easily the best Blue creature ever printed. I have tried it out in UW shell with a splash of Black, and it really does dominates. Turn three, I can already Flash Ponder, and turn four, I can Flash a spent Mana Leak, or against aggressive decks I can double up on Dismember. It seems like the number of good combinations are endless, but is he only good for control, or are there good aggressive synergies as well?
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
Of course. But he was talking about flashing a Ponder, which you can't do.
I think with "flash" he meant "flashback" and you're being too technical and moving the discussion to a futile argument.
On topic, Flashcaster Mage does sound awesome and I can't wait to test it some. I haven't yet but I think he is going to be important in quite a few different shells. Ponder and Mana Leak alone are enough reasons to have him, as both a better Sea Gate Oracle and a better Mystic Snake. Then you can add 1-2 colors, White for Condemn/Protection, Green for pump, Red for burn, and/or Black for discard and removal. He is just awesome yeah.
I think what he means is that you can't flash Snapcaster Mage into play against an aggro deck and then ponder during your opponent's turn. So, you either play Snapcaster like a sorcery and then cast ponder, or surprise your opponent with snapcaster and get the ETB bonus on an instant.
Yeah, Flash is different from Flashback. Got that? Lol. You could do with the other syllable next time!! It's MTGS, you have the time!
Alright though, for real, Snapcaster Mage is good. What other shenanigans are there? It's just free value like Solemn Simulacrum.. (but there's a lot left to be spoiled still) I came into this tread hoping for shenanigans darn it!
Sorry, I'm not following ... Why is that?
Why cant we flash a Ponder with Snapcaster Mage?
Flash a ponder? You can cast a ponder with snapcaster. Ponder is still a sorcery and therefor still requires it to be cast when you can cast a sorcery even if you are using an alternate cost or method of play you are still bound by it being a sorcery.
I see it being really nuts in the eternal formats, but only good in Standard.
This is very true. He's a great 3 cmc creature in Legacy, getting you a Brainstorm, Swords to Plowshares, Thoughtseize, Mental Misstep, etc, but in Standard it doesn't do quite as much.
I guess it can be a Mystic Snake with Mana Leak in the graveyard, or it can be used to recast Despise. Doom Blade and Ponder could be used, but even those aren't especially overpowered. It's good because it can be Mystic Snake, Nekrataal, Vendillion Clique, or Sea Gate Oracle, but it's actually worse at doing any one of those things than the other four creatures are. The versatility makes him awesome, but being weaker at doing similar things than other creatures makes him just good.
Explain? Looks awful green to me. Are you saying that there are no good blue creatures? Sorry to be the guy who you have to explain the punchline to.
A lot of blue decks splash Goyf just because he's that awesome
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"If all the world's a stage, then I'm the temperamental actor refusing to leave his trailer until his ridiculous demands are met." ~Me UBR - Grixis Control UB - Faeries G - Eldrazi U - Surge Node Control RU - Dragonstorm
EDH: G - Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Key is remembering tactical use of shades. If you must double-bolt a Rhox War Monk, for instance, the phrase "I guess this time <puts on shades> lightning DID strike twice."
Oh, I thought he was talking about playing a spell that is countering a spell with counters on it as it comes into play, but I see you guys were just discussing whether he was flashing a creature with flash in order to flash a flashback or just flashing a creature with flash but not needing flash in order to flashback a spell without flash.
I think the real key strength here is that snapcaster doesn't need to be built around, but fits into any blue deck, since they already play instants/sorceries. And *that* is the real sign of a powerhouse card- that it fits like a glove into already strong archetypes and will continue to fit forever.
I wouldn't knock flashing back a dismember against aggro, though. Yes, its 8 life total. But 8 life is paltry compared to what creatures can do if they slip past an aggro deck, and you'll have a 2/1 to trade with another weenie likely. Taking out 3 beaters with 2 cards is a good way to hold them back
Explain? Looks awful green to me. Are you saying that there are no good blue creatures? Sorry to be the guy who you have to explain the punchline to.
Inside joke
Goyf is easily the best blue creature ever printed though, Wizards even made him green so you can't **** up and pitch him to Force of Will, as that would be the wrong play.
2nd best is still Vendillion Clique, and I shouldn't have to explain why.
I wouldn't knock flashing back a dismember against aggro, though. Yes, its 8 life total. But 8 life is paltry compared to what creatures can do if they slip past an aggro deck, and you'll have a 2/1 to trade with another weenie likely. Taking out 3 beaters with 2 cards is a good way to hold them back
Flashing Dismember is actually really awesome. You can take out an entire force on turn four with Snapcaster Mage; sure, it's 8 life, but in some cases that can completely cripple them. Later on, it becomes a bit less painful, so it can be an awesome way to take out Titans.
And yes, I did mean Flashback when I was talking about Ponder. It's not the best thing to do with Snapcaster Mage, but it is still a really good option.
To add some more shenanigans: Flashback Time Reinforcements. Against anyone, six creatures and 12 life is game breaking.
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
I love the possibilities of Snapcaster + Surgical Extraction. Remove 8 cards from your opponent deck for 1U and 4 life sounds good. Better yet if you use Gitaxian Probe to scout his hand
This guy is going to be nuts in pretty much every constructed format ever.
Too bad Ponder looks pretty terrible heading into this next standard with all the shuffle effects rotating out. Hopefully there are some good draw spells yet to be revealed in Innistrad. Still waiting for that Deep Analysis reprint.
Sun Titan + Snapcaster Mage + Phantasmal Image leads to some insane card advantage as long as you don't run out of targets in the yard. Also, Snapcaster + Timely Reinforcements should pretty much be the death of aggro for the next year or so.
UWR or UWB may be the best way to go with all the removal available in either splash.
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Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Oh, and Tarmogoyf is still the best blue creature ever printed.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
You're half right.
Snapcaster works on Sorceries, just cast it on your turn. You're right about 'goyf.
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If your answer is "No," then your morality does not come from God's commandments.
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Of course. But he was talking about flashing a Ponder, which you can't do.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Or he was talking about flashing it back. Didn't Chapin do an article on this topic?
I see it being really nuts in the eternal formats, but only good in Standard.
If you mean give it flashback and cast it at sorcery speed, you absolutely can.
If you mean cast it at instant speed... not so much.
U/B Control
I think with "flash" he meant "flashback" and you're being too technical and moving the discussion to a futile argument.
On topic, Flashcaster Mage does sound awesome and I can't wait to test it some. I haven't yet but I think he is going to be important in quite a few different shells. Ponder and Mana Leak alone are enough reasons to have him, as both a better Sea Gate Oracle and a better Mystic Snake. Then you can add 1-2 colors, White for Condemn/Protection, Green for pump, Red for burn, and/or Black for discard and removal. He is just awesome yeah.
Alright though, for real, Snapcaster Mage is good. What other shenanigans are there? It's just free value like Solemn Simulacrum.. (but there's a lot left to be spoiled still) I came into this tread hoping for shenanigans darn it!
Indeed. It is hard to argue with that fact. I won't argue that Snapcaster is a top 20 though with its ability.
Flash a ponder? You can cast a ponder with snapcaster. Ponder is still a sorcery and therefor still requires it to be cast when you can cast a sorcery even if you are using an alternate cost or method of play you are still bound by it being a sorcery.
This is very true. He's a great 3 cmc creature in Legacy, getting you a Brainstorm, Swords to Plowshares, Thoughtseize, Mental Misstep, etc, but in Standard it doesn't do quite as much.
I guess it can be a Mystic Snake with Mana Leak in the graveyard, or it can be used to recast Despise. Doom Blade and Ponder could be used, but even those aren't especially overpowered. It's good because it can be Mystic Snake, Nekrataal, Vendillion Clique, or Sea Gate Oracle, but it's actually worse at doing any one of those things than the other four creatures are. The versatility makes him awesome, but being weaker at doing similar things than other creatures makes him just good.
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Explain? Looks awful green to me. Are you saying that there are no good blue creatures? Sorry to be the guy who you have to explain the punchline to.
A lot of blue decks splash Goyf just because he's that awesome
UBR - Grixis Control
UB - Faeries
G - Eldrazi
U - Surge Node Control
RU - Dragonstorm
EDH: G - Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Thanks. That's what I figured, just wondered if there was anything more to it.
I think the real key strength here is that snapcaster doesn't need to be built around, but fits into any blue deck, since they already play instants/sorceries. And *that* is the real sign of a powerhouse card- that it fits like a glove into already strong archetypes and will continue to fit forever.
I wouldn't knock flashing back a dismember against aggro, though. Yes, its 8 life total. But 8 life is paltry compared to what creatures can do if they slip past an aggro deck, and you'll have a 2/1 to trade with another weenie likely. Taking out 3 beaters with 2 cards is a good way to hold them back
UThada Adel AcquisitorU
GB Savara, Queen of the Golgori BG
GR Ulasht, the Hate Seed RG
Inside joke
Goyf is easily the best blue creature ever printed though, Wizards even made him green so you can't **** up and pitch him to Force of Will, as that would be the wrong play.
2nd best is still Vendillion Clique, and I shouldn't have to explain why.
This guy (Snapcaster) is a comfortable third.
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Yeah, he is G. Which makes Snapcaster Mage the best (actual) U creature.
Flashing Dismember is actually really awesome. You can take out an entire force on turn four with Snapcaster Mage; sure, it's 8 life, but in some cases that can completely cripple them. Later on, it becomes a bit less painful, so it can be an awesome way to take out Titans.
And yes, I did mean Flashback when I was talking about Ponder. It's not the best thing to do with Snapcaster Mage, but it is still a really good option.
To add some more shenanigans: Flashback Time Reinforcements. Against anyone, six creatures and 12 life is game breaking.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Too bad Ponder looks pretty terrible heading into this next standard with all the shuffle effects rotating out. Hopefully there are some good draw spells yet to be revealed in Innistrad. Still waiting for that Deep Analysis reprint.
Sun Titan + Snapcaster Mage + Phantasmal Image leads to some insane card advantage as long as you don't run out of targets in the yard. Also, Snapcaster + Timely Reinforcements should pretty much be the death of aggro for the next year or so.
UWR or UWB may be the best way to go with all the removal available in either splash.
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- To my youngest sister when she was 6.