I think I can sum up this card in one word: Broken.
This card is bad, bad for the game, bad for casual players on a budget, bad for control, it literally hoses WAY too many decks. Where Leyline of the Void hosed only ONE kind of deck.
This card is way to overpowered and never should have been printed... oh and it offers YET ANOTHER layer of protection for Planeswalkers... like Gideon wasn't enough.
The funny thing is how people are saying silly things like, " I would rather play a Pelakka Wurm."
The thing is this IS a good card, for certain people. THOSE people are also going to play Pelakka Wurm.
1) It's an instant.
2) It fizzles removal.
3) It draws cards when CA is needed in a color with little CA.
4) It gains life and makes opponents change their game plan.
Don't flame me because I am not blindly defending the card, I am defending the people who run the card and explaining why in their eyes it is pure gold.
Well I guess I could say that now the best deck is Faeries, followed by 5cc, Jund and Naya variants. Seems legit enough of a guess. There will be some combo but nothing tier 1 and nothing comparable to darkdepththopter.dek, the best combo deck I can see is something like 40 land Assault.dek w/ Treasure hunt... hell maybe R/U/w (Idyllic Tutor) to help search out Assault. Or maybe 40 land Swans combo... who knows how the deck will be built but I am pretty sure it's the only viable option.
1) Almost Maze of Ith good, this takes care of BSA in time to be great for a few decks.
2) Almost Jitte level good, non-mythic (though it should be... I mean Akroma's Sword for God's sakes), and non-legendary. Makes every creature a threat.
3) Wild Evocation can CAST Emrakul on turn 4 or 5. That is broken.
:symr::symg: burn deck.... someone, somewhere is going to try it
It's called R/G mana ramp, Valakut or Warp World. Also this card would not be played in any of those decks.
Still I love the flavor, screw the color pie, if we get something like this that does 2 damage at instant speed and same mana cost then I would be a lot more happy. As is still decent SB or Limited material.
You still can't target a Firewalker. Just because he's slightly less effective with the Leyline out, doesn't mean he's still not a star. He still blocks. He still can't BE blocked. He still gains me life when you cast spells. So he's still awesome.
I have rarely attacked with a Gideon, and when I have, it runs into Paths and Terminates - just the way I want it to. If you're dealing 6 unpreventable damage to Gideon, it's 6 unpreventable damage you didn't do to me.
Baneslayer is backbreaking because of the lifelink. But she's still "kick you ass and say my name" level good, because she's a 5/5 first striking flyer. Who cares if I don't gain life once or twice?
Besides, O-Ring says hi.
So all told, you're running 4x Leylines, which takes away 4x damage spells. You have to have it in your opening hand or it screws your curve. I'm sure you WILL have it in your opening hand, but the fact remains that if you don't have it in your opening 7, the U/W/x player will probably win that game. And if you DO have it in your opening 7, the U/W/x player can still deal with it with 3+ cards just off the top of my head.
By all means, run the Leyline in your red deck. I like wins I don't have to work for at tournaments.
O-Ring doesn't scare me, sorry, removal for an enchantment means that you just ignored my Kargan that is about to swing for 4 over your Wall of Omens... I will no longer even waste my time worrying about that silly Firewalker... he's a stupid vanilla bear unless you kill the enchantment which will only make me laugh at you.
Baneslayer is still a 5/5 first strike flyer, good but now I can still win a damage race because I just got rid of the best part of BSA... lifelink. Oh and I will just combust his ass when he gets annoying.
Just something like a Kor Outfitter to slap this one on for two man with a 2/2 body. Either it equips itself or give something like Kitesail Apprentice to make a weaker Baneslayer on turn 4. Turn one put out the Apprentice, 2 drop Stoneforge Mystic, 3 send the Sword out, 4 drop the Outfitter, equip, and swing with the Apprentice. Not a perfect combo but damn good in my book.
Ok first off, you can't compare any creatures to Baneslayer just because they have this equipment on them, unless of course that creature is Rhox Wark Monk or Vampire Nighthawk or any decent lifelinker...
Secondly what you are describing in your post is not a combo, it's called a curve. It's one of (hopefully) multiple possible starts and aggro plans.
I love how the U/W players are threatened enough by this card to resort to flaming and coming up with excuses as to why this card is "bad"... lol really you say you don't want me to play a card that neuters your;
Gideon Jura
Baneslayer Angel
AND Kor Firewalkers?
No I think I will run a single (4x) playset of a "bad" card so I can totally screw your plan of winning with your "awesome" cards. Thanks for the troll attempt but try again. Go tell me why Nantuko Shade is bad or something else completely foolish.
That's a lot of effort for something not really that much better than Jace's Ingenuity.
Sorry to have to tell you this but, Leyline of Anticipation is the business, and this is as well. Worth the $25 price tag... no, in fact, hell no, BUT it is legit as a blue spell can get. Drop a ☺☺☺☺ ton of ramp down and then cast this turn 3 and completely throw your opponent off their plan while replenishing your hand. Sounds good to me.
Not sure what the discussion is still going on for... the simple fact is all the *****ing and griping in the world isn't going to change WoTC's mind on this and you can look forward to a format where there is going to be 3 top decks that are easily predictable.
Honestly, I am not sure what to think of black in M11. I could be totally off but black is one of my favorite colors and it seems a bit underpowered compared to white. I know everyone is going bananas for Nantuko Shade, but the reality is that due to power creep he isn't really that impressive. And unless your opponent isn't doing anything for the first three turns he isn't.
Dark Tutelage... well you see the best thing about Dark Confidant is that he made both players make decisions. He could draw out removal, he could inflict 2 damage a turn and he could gain card advantage. Oh, and you could shut him off with the extra cards he "drew" for you. You can't do any of those things with Dark Tutelage except for shutting it off yourself because no opponent is going to run MD enchantment hate when the enchantment is going to help kill his opponent (you). And the thing about enchantment hate MD... well that just is going to weaken your deck by wasting slots since in Standard there are no real major enchantment threats.
That means if the opponent kept a hand without removal or disruption it's over. I can't tell you how many games I have gone where the opponent had no disruption for three turns... throw a "Naya Shell" on it and call it a deck.
Same here. I know this card isn't going to be some super badass since it's in the into pack, but I'd like to see what it does.
Oh yeah? And if it's a bigger better Baneslayer that would be absolutely hilarious! Not that I am predicting it will be, just that it would make me laugh until I was blue in the face.
This card is bad, bad for the game, bad for casual players on a budget, bad for control, it literally hoses WAY too many decks. Where Leyline of the Void hosed only ONE kind of deck.
This card is way to overpowered and never should have been printed... oh and it offers YET ANOTHER layer of protection for Planeswalkers... like Gideon wasn't enough.
The thing is this IS a good card, for certain people. THOSE people are also going to play Pelakka Wurm.
1) It's an instant.
2) It fizzles removal.
3) It draws cards when CA is needed in a color with little CA.
4) It gains life and makes opponents change their game plan.
Don't flame me because I am not blindly defending the card, I am defending the people who run the card and explaining why in their eyes it is pure gold.
It's a good card.
2) Sword of Vengeance
3) Wild Evocation
Reasons;
1) Almost Maze of Ith good, this takes care of BSA in time to be great for a few decks.
2) Almost Jitte level good, non-mythic (though it should be... I mean Akroma's Sword for God's sakes), and non-legendary. Makes every creature a threat.
3) Wild Evocation can CAST Emrakul on turn 4 or 5. That is broken.
It's called R/G mana ramp, Valakut or Warp World. Also this card would not be played in any of those decks.
Still I love the flavor, screw the color pie, if we get something like this that does 2 damage at instant speed and same mana cost then I would be a lot more happy. As is still decent SB or Limited material.
O-Ring doesn't scare me, sorry, removal for an enchantment means that you just ignored my Kargan that is about to swing for 4 over your Wall of Omens... I will no longer even waste my time worrying about that silly Firewalker... he's a stupid vanilla bear unless you kill the enchantment which will only make me laugh at you.
Baneslayer is still a 5/5 first strike flyer, good but now I can still win a damage race because I just got rid of the best part of BSA... lifelink. Oh and I will just combust his ass when he gets annoying.
Ok first off, you can't compare any creatures to Baneslayer just because they have this equipment on them, unless of course that creature is Rhox Wark Monk or Vampire Nighthawk or any decent lifelinker...
Secondly what you are describing in your post is not a combo, it's called a curve. It's one of (hopefully) multiple possible starts and aggro plans.
1) Why is something this awesome not Mythic?
2) Why is something this overpowered not Legendary for balance?
Screw losing Jitte, I won't run it ever again now that I can have these suckers.
Gideon Jura
Baneslayer Angel
AND Kor Firewalkers?
No I think I will run a single (4x) playset of a "bad" card so I can totally screw your plan of winning with your "awesome" cards. Thanks for the troll attempt but try again. Go tell me why Nantuko Shade is bad or something else completely foolish.
Sorry to have to tell you this but, Leyline of Anticipation is the business, and this is as well. Worth the $25 price tag... no, in fact, hell no, BUT it is legit as a blue spell can get. Drop a ☺☺☺☺ ton of ramp down and then cast this turn 3 and completely throw your opponent off their plan while replenishing your hand. Sounds good to me.
And of course quick combo decks will love it...
U/B Fae
Jund
and 5CC
Dark Tutelage... well you see the best thing about Dark Confidant is that he made both players make decisions. He could draw out removal, he could inflict 2 damage a turn and he could gain card advantage. Oh, and you could shut him off with the extra cards he "drew" for you. You can't do any of those things with Dark Tutelage except for shutting it off yourself because no opponent is going to run MD enchantment hate when the enchantment is going to help kill his opponent (you). And the thing about enchantment hate MD... well that just is going to weaken your deck by wasting slots since in Standard there are no real major enchantment threats.
Turn 1: Bird
Turn 2: Cobra
Turn 3: Fetch, Wild Evocation
Turn 4: "Cheat Cast" Emrakul - Win
That means if the opponent kept a hand without removal or disruption it's over. I can't tell you how many games I have gone where the opponent had no disruption for three turns... throw a "Naya Shell" on it and call it a deck.
Oh yeah? And if it's a bigger better Baneslayer that would be absolutely hilarious! Not that I am predicting it will be, just that it would make me laugh until I was blue in the face.