Actually, burn is sorta good here for closing out the game, problem is that you have the fast stuff that only works as removal (Harnessed Lightning), the good stuff that's sorcery speed (Incendiary Flow), and then Fiery Temper which demands a better Madness engine to make the most of.
We're in the market for a Lightning Strike, though. 2CMC, instant speed, can close the game just as well as it can clear stuff off the field.
But theoretically Liliana, and planeswalkers in general, should easily get stuffed by something like Fleetwheel.
Collected Company.
Huge amount of support between the two Innistrad blocks.
Collected Company.
Collected Company.
Confirmation Bias.
Collected Company.
Did I mention Collected Company?
Past that, knowing the difference between the two is like knowing the difference between Murder and Stasis Snare. On the surface they functionally come off as the same class of card, and sometimes one may be seen as better than the other due to the context of the metagame, but as you dig deeper into their nuances you start to realize how they're worlds apart. Spirits has Collected Company which has powerful synergy with their nature as a tribe that disrupts in the form of static on-field permanents, Faeries has the Cryptic/Mistbind crossup which thoroughly dismantles entire chunks of the opponent's turn in an archetype that gets a lot of value out of devaluing the opponent's turns as much as possible.
So I'll be honest, I haven't touched Standard in the years since original Zendikar was legal (picked a great time to return to a manlands+fastlands format, I guess), but I had Depala.dec as a Kaladesh Sealed pool and one thing led to another and well, RW vehicles!
I was wondering if Collective Effort has any place in the deck, or is the Smuggler's Copter staredown such a big deal that 3cmc sorcery speed spells are a liability?
Honestly, it's Beleren's lack of doing anything but drawing cards that serves as both his greatest strength and greatest flaw.
He's real good about being a Blue Phyrexian Arena, and unlike PA which whittles your life down Beleren just complicates decisionmaking for the opponent by offering a card that can be interacted with through damage sources (the hidden mode of all planeswalkers, being able to take a hit and save you some life in the process), but that's all he does. Relying on a Planeswalker to be some kind of damage shield is poor Magic, because it relies on the opponent doing something they're under no obligation to do (unless it's Gideon), they're going to tank a hit based on how much of a threat they are and the opponent's threat evaluation process isn't guaranteed to line up with yours. This is arguably the root of why Planeswalker abilities that impact the board are so important, they shift the agency back to the controller's hand.
So if you're in the market for drawing cards repeatedly, Beleren is really up there, but between his low cost and being the original Blue Planeswalker, you don't get anything else out of him. JVP sorta almost gets the ideal mix of low cost and crossup of card draw (albeit in the form of looting) with boardstate influencing abilities but it splits it across two mutually exclusive sides, one of which is a very fragile creature. Those caveats kinda add up if you're not abusing him to hell and back in a Thoughtscour deck.
IMO sorcery speed hurts it more than you'd expect. Remember Void Snare vs Echoing Truth? Fragmentize doesn't get Nexuses, and you can't float mana and destroy Blood Moon on your opponent's turn compared to Disenchant.
Void Snare vs Echoing Truth has the problem that Echoing Truth has the echoing text on it, not that it's merely instant speed.
Sure, you can always let that Arcbound Ravager put its helmet on and let it hit you just thiiis one turn, what's the worst that could happen?
This card has its merits and I'm pretty sure it will see play in Standard, but I wouldn't be so sure for Modern or other high-power formats.
That's a very poor example to cite considering the very nature of Affinity is to outmaneuver removal and blockers to push as much damage through as possible, instant speed doesn't change much unless the Affinity pilot here is grossly incompetent.
Someone on the source noticed that with instants and the 50 life card, you can do this:
Cast an instant, trigger goes on the stack. Hold priority.
Cast another instant, put it on stack above the trigger. Trigger on the stack. Hold priority.
So your life gain is:
Spells cast^2
So if you cast the 50 life card, then next turn cast 6 instants at once, gain 36 life, and probably win.
I need a Judge to chime in on at what exact point the game sets the value for "each spell you've cast" on the trigger, whether it's when pushed to the stack or popped off of it.
Convoluted cards are nice and all except for when Magic Math is involved.
Genrepunk tends to paint The System / The Man / whatever your choice name is as adversarial and something the rebellious heroes stand in conflict with (or is seen as a necessary institution by those who serve as part of The System). Considering Tezz has embedded himself within the Kaladesh society as a cog within the machine, it points towards him showing a White-compatible attitude.
Plus the guy's from Esper, he's got room to wiggle around in the WUB shard.
He's definitely very Black-aligned at heart, considering his rather unhappy backstory that instilled within him the quintessential Black philosophy "the world answers only to those with power," but that doesn't prevent him from being White at any point in his life story. It sure as hell hasn't prevented him from waving his Blue flag as well, which is where his knowledge seeking and artifice talents are made apparent.
Hell, maybe Tezzeret truly believes in The System, and that's what gets him to shine White in Kaladesh.
I actually feel like torrential gearhulk is playable in UW control lists. If you use it to flashback a cryptic command its the same mana cost of doing so with a snapcaster mage, except instead of getting a wimpy 2/1, you get a massive 5/6. Gearhulk can also hit Ancestral Vision while Snap cannot. I don't know if he'll be a 4 of, but I think he'll definitely see play.
Torrential Gearhulk only works with instants.
Slight nonbo there but the bulk of what you're doing in Control will be instants anyway.
6 mana is fine when you consider it's pretty much everything a Blue mage wants wrapped up in a single package
>flash
>free instant spell
>blue artifact, for those who play with old and powerful cards
Though, as I understand it Standard has been pushing Sorceries rather hard so it's probably not at its strongest at the moment.
We're in the market for a Lightning Strike, though. 2CMC, instant speed, can close the game just as well as it can clear stuff off the field.
But theoretically Liliana, and planeswalkers in general, should easily get stuffed by something like Fleetwheel.
Huge amount of support between the two Innistrad blocks.
Collected Company.
Collected Company.
Confirmation Bias.
Collected Company.
Did I mention Collected Company?
Past that, knowing the difference between the two is like knowing the difference between Murder and Stasis Snare. On the surface they functionally come off as the same class of card, and sometimes one may be seen as better than the other due to the context of the metagame, but as you dig deeper into their nuances you start to realize how they're worlds apart. Spirits has Collected Company which has powerful synergy with their nature as a tribe that disrupts in the form of static on-field permanents, Faeries has the Cryptic/Mistbind crossup which thoroughly dismantles entire chunks of the opponent's turn in an archetype that gets a lot of value out of devaluing the opponent's turns as much as possible.
I was wondering if Collective Effort has any place in the deck, or is the Smuggler's Copter staredown such a big deal that 3cmc sorcery speed spells are a liability?
He's real good about being a Blue Phyrexian Arena, and unlike PA which whittles your life down Beleren just complicates decisionmaking for the opponent by offering a card that can be interacted with through damage sources (the hidden mode of all planeswalkers, being able to take a hit and save you some life in the process), but that's all he does. Relying on a Planeswalker to be some kind of damage shield is poor Magic, because it relies on the opponent doing something they're under no obligation to do (unless it's Gideon), they're going to tank a hit based on how much of a threat they are and the opponent's threat evaluation process isn't guaranteed to line up with yours. This is arguably the root of why Planeswalker abilities that impact the board are so important, they shift the agency back to the controller's hand.
So if you're in the market for drawing cards repeatedly, Beleren is really up there, but between his low cost and being the original Blue Planeswalker, you don't get anything else out of him. JVP sorta almost gets the ideal mix of low cost and crossup of card draw (albeit in the form of looting) with boardstate influencing abilities but it splits it across two mutually exclusive sides, one of which is a very fragile creature. Those caveats kinda add up if you're not abusing him to hell and back in a Thoughtscour deck.
Void Snare vs Echoing Truth has the problem that Echoing Truth has the echoing text on it, not that it's merely instant speed.
Disperse hasn't been a thing in like forever.
That's a very poor example to cite considering the very nature of Affinity is to outmaneuver removal and blockers to push as much damage through as possible, instant speed doesn't change much unless the Affinity pilot here is grossly incompetent.
At 1cmc, sorcery speed is quite trivial.
RETURN THE SLAAAAAAAB.
OR SUFFER MY CUUUUUUUURSE.
I need a Judge to chime in on at what exact point the game sets the value for "each spell you've cast" on the trigger, whether it's when pushed to the stack or popped off of it.
Convoluted cards are nice and all except for when Magic Math is involved.
Plus the guy's from Esper, he's got room to wiggle around in the WUB shard.
He's definitely very Black-aligned at heart, considering his rather unhappy backstory that instilled within him the quintessential Black philosophy "the world answers only to those with power," but that doesn't prevent him from being White at any point in his life story. It sure as hell hasn't prevented him from waving his Blue flag as well, which is where his knowledge seeking and artifice talents are made apparent.
Hell, maybe Tezzeret truly believes in The System, and that's what gets him to shine White in Kaladesh.
Torrential Gearhulk only works with instants.
Slight nonbo there but the bulk of what you're doing in Control will be instants anyway.
>flash
>free instant spell
>blue artifact, for those who play with old and powerful cards
Though, as I understand it Standard has been pushing Sorceries rather hard so it's probably not at its strongest at the moment.
It does.
But Mind Sculptor tho.
I'm having the 'Nam flashbacks.
I'm getting really bad flashbacks to Mind Sculptor, I dearly hope they're completely off-base.