Ok so your on the draw. Its game 1 and your opponent plays a red white duel, plays the two life and casts vexing devil. You have not scouted him or her. What do you do? Lets say you dont have path or bolt in hand. What do you do? If you have the path what then? Bolt in hand, what now?
1) no removal in hand
2) path in hand
3) bolt in hand
I know it really matters what deck your playing and whats in hand, etc. Let's just say you have a decent hand and your deck kills turn 4 or 5 usually. Please dont get into the really cant answer, because of missing info. Im purely wondering what you think is the right call generally speaking.
2) Path: pay 1 mana & 1 card, exile Devil and give opponent 1 land. EOT: I have 1 tapped white source, opponent has 2 lands. Since my opponent is most likely playing an aggressive deck, helping him accelerate his mana is bad because he can stick bigger threats faster, and is less likely to topdeck a land. Lose 4 life.
3) Bolt: pay 1 mana & 1 card, kill Devil. EOT: I have 1 tapped red source, opponent has 1 land. The fact that the Devil dies instead of getting exiled is of little concern. You're trading 1-for-1 here. The question really becomes "Would you rather take 4 damage, or turn your Lightning Bolt into R: Gain 4 life". If the deck I was playing has a good endgame, I'd consider Bolting the Devil. Otherwise, there's no point turning Lightning Bolt into Healing Salve + 1. Lose 4 life.
I agree for the most part with you guys. However I would probably bolt the devil and try to keep up with the rest of the deck.Could be the wrong play but I like the trade of bolt and a 3 toughness guy. Pluss if they happen to be playing a hyper aggro deck then paying the life just to have lynx and guide come down next turn could put your life total pretty low.
It's a crappy situation for the opponent no matter how you slice it, which is why this guy is good. When paying 4 life is the best play against any 1cmc spell, you got the short end of the stick. It's rather.. Vexing?
Early-game, people are definitely going to kill it, whether through its own effect or Bolts. Late-game, if you're racing, your opponent will let it live because Devil's lack of haste means that they have 1 turn to find an answer (i.e. kill you first, generate chump blockers - and if they can keep spitting out blockers e.g. Lingering Souls, they can keep it blocked for a long time).
This card really shines in the midgame, because the wrong decision will screw them over.
I've said this before (in a thread that currently has 1300+ replies so it may be hard to find mine): Vexing Devil is similar to Curse of the Cabal. Your opponent either loses big now or loses slowly over a long period of time. The difference being, Vexing Devil costs 1 mana and needs to wait 1 turn to show results, while Curse of the Cabal costs 4 mana and needs to wait 2 turns to show results.
Yeah I think he is gonna be real good in R/B Rakodo burn deck with Dark Confidant.
I've been playtesting with him in this build and I like him a lot. Gives me 8 one-drop creatures that I'm happy to see turns 1 & 2 when combined with Goblin Guide.
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Standard: BGMono-Black Devotion with Green SplashBG
If they bolt it, that's 3 life you gained on them. If they Path it, you get a free land drop, making it easier for your gameplan to get going. If they take the 4, I just have to do 16 then. Either way, I'm ahead already, and I only spent 1 mana. If they had no answer, well then that's an easy one, just start swinging with it until they are dead.
If I were your opponent, I would take the 4 and hope you didn't have the other 16 in your hand already.
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Legacy Decks
~~~~~~~~~
Too many to list efficiently. Find me online with the same SN if you want to play, or message me here to set up a time to play.
Modern
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Whatever pile of 75 I throw together the night before without testing. Usually: :symb::symu::symg:
If my opponent plays a Sacred Foundry into Vexing Devil, I'd peg him on Boros or Zoo and pay the 4 life. Zoo would rather have a better Wild Nacatl, and I'm not going to give that deck the big Nacatl. Most Boros decks now run only 12 non-creature spells (Bolt/Helix/Path), so I'd rather not give them dudes.
If my opponent plays a Mountain into Vexing Devil, though, I'd peg him on RDW/Burn and give him the dude, then remove it. (I'd only do that if I have removal in hand, though--if the guy connects once, then I should have paid the 4 life.) What else would I bust removal on--Goblin Guide (best-case scenario), Figure of Destiny (also pretty awesome), Grim Lavamancer (decent scenario), Keldon Marauders (boo), Hellspark Elemental (argh)? I need to keep my life total as high as possible against RDW/Burn, and using cards economically to keep my life total high is paramount.
Now the answers are coming out. Nicely done lactrys. But other decks could come. Not seeing a lot of control burn styles around yet, but who knows what is around the corner. A red white burn deck did win a states about 6 or so years ago.
Always take 4 from a first turn Vexing Devil unless you're planning to combo off with Ad Nauseam on Turn 1, or your hand is chock full of removal (and even then, I'd usually opt to take 4).
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Due to real-life obligations, I am taking a long break from Magic which may include missing the local Legacy GP. Apologies for not being able to keep my threads updated.
1) no removal in hand
2) path in hand
3) bolt in hand
I know it really matters what deck your playing and whats in hand, etc. Let's just say you have a decent hand and your deck kills turn 4 or 5 usually. Please dont get into the really cant answer, because of missing info. Im purely wondering what you think is the right call generally speaking.
1) Lose 4 life and kill it.
Since I'm on the draw, I have no lands in play yet, barring corner cases like Gemstone Caverns and Simian Spirit Guide.
2) Path: pay 1 mana & 1 card, exile Devil and give opponent 1 land. EOT: I have 1 tapped white source, opponent has 2 lands. Since my opponent is most likely playing an aggressive deck, helping him accelerate his mana is bad because he can stick bigger threats faster, and is less likely to topdeck a land. Lose 4 life.
3) Bolt: pay 1 mana & 1 card, kill Devil. EOT: I have 1 tapped red source, opponent has 1 land. The fact that the Devil dies instead of getting exiled is of little concern. You're trading 1-for-1 here. The question really becomes "Would you rather take 4 damage, or turn your Lightning Bolt into R: Gain 4 life". If the deck I was playing has a good endgame, I'd consider Bolting the Devil. Otherwise, there's no point turning Lightning Bolt into Healing Salve + 1. Lose 4 life.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
CG
This card really shines in the midgame, because the wrong decision will screw them over.
I've said this before (in a thread that currently has 1300+ replies so it may be hard to find mine): Vexing Devil is similar to Curse of the Cabal. Your opponent either loses big now or loses slowly over a long period of time. The difference being, Vexing Devil costs 1 mana and needs to wait 1 turn to show results, while Curse of the Cabal costs 4 mana and needs to wait 2 turns to show results.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
I've been playtesting with him in this build and I like him a lot. Gives me 8 one-drop creatures that I'm happy to see turns 1 & 2 when combined with Goblin Guide.
If I were your opponent, I would take the 4 and hope you didn't have the other 16 in your hand already.
~~~~~~~~~
Too many to list efficiently. Find me online with the same SN if you want to play, or message me here to set up a time to play.
Modern
~~~~~~~~~
Whatever pile of 75 I throw together the night before without testing. Usually: :symb::symu::symg:
If my opponent plays a Mountain into Vexing Devil, though, I'd peg him on RDW/Burn and give him the dude, then remove it. (I'd only do that if I have removal in hand, though--if the guy connects once, then I should have paid the 4 life.) What else would I bust removal on--Goblin Guide (best-case scenario), Figure of Destiny (also pretty awesome), Grim Lavamancer (decent scenario), Keldon Marauders (boo), Hellspark Elemental (argh)? I need to keep my life total as high as possible against RDW/Burn, and using cards economically to keep my life total high is paramount.
Mountain into devil = assume sligh and kill with removal if present. Otherwise take 4
Shockland into devil = always take 4 and deal with other inevitable creatures with removal if present.
Legacy
UWR Miracles UWR
GWB Maverick GWB
GB Elves GB
UBR ANT UBR
RG Combo Lands RG
Vintage
BUG BUG Fish BUG
Modern
GBW
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