The Wurm has EDH uses, especially with Sangromancer out...booyah! Definitely mythic-worthy...but I hope the cost isn't crazy.
It shouldn't be. It's competing with Grave Titan for the slot, and the Titan is better in almost every scenario where you'd want the Wurm. And a lot better in scenarios you don't want the Wurm.
Maybe Dream Halls would love this card as a singleton. Conflux searching 4 cards and this one, and then if you can't finish your opp for some reason (lets say 2 FoWs) then you re-use all your card and the discarded ones!! I really like it in this deck. But now is time to find it a home!
Dream Halls already had All Suns' Dawn though. I mean, I get that this is better. But not by an amazing amount in that deck.
Seriously .. Why do people think this is ridiculous and "pushing it" ? Black should be the best at removal . NOT white . Please compare Doom Blade and Go for the Throat to Path to Exile -- They're strictly inferior to the latter. Destroy VS Remove. 2 CC VS 1 CC. Restrictions VS NO restrictions.
Land ramp your opponent v no land ramp your opponent.
Really ? What has black become ? What happened to the days when B was dominating like no tomorrow ? Yawgmoth's Will? Necropotence? Diabolic Edict ? Dark Ritual ? Demonic Tutor ? Even Damnation and Dark Confidant ?
Will and Necropotence were hideously broken and nobody with any sense desires their return to Standard. Or Extended. Or Legacy. I've heard convincing arguments that Yawgmoth's Will should become the only non-ante/manual dexterity card banned in Vintage. It is without a doubt the strongest card ever printed.
Demonic Tutor is stupidly undercosted, Dark Confidant exists in the form of Dark Tutelage, and Dark Ritual does not belong in type 2.
Damnation would be cool though. But it's one of those Timeshifted cards you see. Asking for it back is like asking for red Akroma back.
Seriously, there has been a time before UB became popular that Black wasn't seen in standard AT ALL. I read through all Top 8 deck lists, the only "Black" card they played is Bojuka Bog in side board. Really ? What has the mightiest of colors become?
When was this time? Lorwyn Block had Ub Fae, Alara/Zen was dominated by Jund, and even into the opening months of M11 Jund was heavily played. There was about a monthlong period where everybody playtested their decks and ran Valakut Titan because it was just good, and then black was back in top decks.
Black needs a comeback.
Comebacks imply things ever left.
Now, back to the topic at hand. GFtT has a special place in my heart because I used to play a Beast Mastery Huntard in WoW. And GFtT made ma Wind Serpent, PEWPEWLAZARS, shoot out lazars like he was an entire batallion of the Imperial Guard. Also it's amazing removal and I will probably end up acquiring a playset in foil.
Lol how is it NOT card advantage? You stated nothing to support your statement. Preordaining into 2 lands, putting them both at the bottom, then draw a threat has happened tons of times for me. Opening hands will not always be great. Being able to dig early game without taking a mulligan is great.
Card Advantage is when you trade one card for multiple cards. Preordain does not do this. You spend one card, Preordain, and draw one card.
Preordain is card selection, not advantage. There is an important difference.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor+Alara+M10: Jank elf build using Overrun as the win-con. Grew to hate Fallout with a passion. Deck contained nothing worth more than $2. Loved BBE.
Alara+M10: Putzed around with elves, wasn't the same without WWV, built Jund. GRAVY TRAIN HOOOOO
Alara+M10+Zen: Jund, HOOOOO
Alara+M10+Zen+M11: Played my first deck ever that did not run Bloodbraid Elf: Ur Pyromancer. Next week I built Valakut Titan, which did run BBE. CASCADE INTO CULTIVATE, HOOOOO
M10+Zen+M11: Moved to Japan for 4 months, played Elves on MODO. It's okay. It's missing something. Something that rimes with "rudraid.'
Balanced but still strong. This is what a walker should be.
Agreed.
I think he'll see a lot of play at the tier 2, tier 1.5 level for now. He's just an interesting card that has a lot of potential, and a lot of people (including myself) are going to want to see what we can do with that potential. And as we see more cards revealed, he can only get better.
Don't think he's tier 1. He seems to be somewhere between Venser and Gideon in power. But, by existing, he guarantees that Blue/Black Artifacts will exist. Should be fun.
I definately agree with throwing in an Eldrazi or two. Neat idea, makes tons of mana, and Eldrazi's would end the game much quicker than stalling endlessly for Planeswalkers.
And instead of bouncing Mnemonic Wall to get back counterspells, why not try Silence to soft-lock them? Once you get Venser + Mnemonic Wall + Silence in the graveyard the opponent is only dropping lands and playing whatever instants they can respond with.
Lands can be a real threat, seeing as this deck has 0 outs to Creeping Tar Pit.
I wish I'd been playing Magic longer so that I could answer this better, but here goes:
You won't have a clear "best" deck. You'll have a few decks that are the best of their archetype - and the power of the archetypes shifts from season to season. So it's sort of a question of which Magic archetype has been the most powerful...and I have no idea.
This gives me an idea for a Super-Standard format, where you pick a Standard season and build a deck from it. It would be awesome...I'll have to talk to my friends and see about doing this on MWS. We've got Worlds reports going back to the dawn of time, so we should be able to have fun with stuff we've never heard of before.
Clamp the ghast, return traitor, clamp it, lay fetch, clamp ghast, return traitor and clamp it, pop fetch return ghast and clamp it, return traitor and clamp it. That's 12 cards drawn for 8 mana, and you can do it every turn. It makes Mind's Eye look like a chump.
Little synergies...Land Tax and Scroll Rack is good. Also solid is Contamination and any sort of recurring creature or token producer. Academy Rector into Animate Dead is one that nobody sees coming. I remember the days when I had sucker opponents who would actually let me kill the thing without interfering. Ah well.
I'll make the obligatory recommendation for Vendilion Clique, though it's terrible in multiplayer.
Doran is solid. He gives you a lot of really great stuff, and if you want to do reanimation in those colors you can always run Teneb, the Harvester. He's fun. But BGW Rock in general is a solid deck with access to some of the best tricks in the format.
I play a Mox Opal and 2 memnites. I tap the mox for white, and play a Glint Hawk, bouncing the mox. I play it again, tapping for red and playing Kuldotha Rebirth, sacrificing the opal. Play a second opal and a mountain, tap for 2 red, drop Goblin Bushwacker kicked. Swing all.
Me: 20
You: 5
So, what you're getting at is, he needs to put another Mind Sculptor in, right?
It shouldn't be. It's competing with Grave Titan for the slot, and the Titan is better in almost every scenario where you'd want the Wurm. And a lot better in scenarios you don't want the Wurm.
Yeah, only someone who is totally silly would run 4 Ingenuities. There's no way a deck like that could do well at a competitive event.
*cough*
Dream Halls already had All Suns' Dawn though. I mean, I get that this is better. But not by an amazing amount in that deck.
Land ramp your opponent v no land ramp your opponent.
Will and Necropotence were hideously broken and nobody with any sense desires their return to Standard. Or Extended. Or Legacy. I've heard convincing arguments that Yawgmoth's Will should become the only non-ante/manual dexterity card banned in Vintage. It is without a doubt the strongest card ever printed.
Demonic Tutor is stupidly undercosted, Dark Confidant exists in the form of Dark Tutelage, and Dark Ritual does not belong in type 2.
Damnation would be cool though. But it's one of those Timeshifted cards you see. Asking for it back is like asking for red Akroma back.
When was this time? Lorwyn Block had Ub Fae, Alara/Zen was dominated by Jund, and even into the opening months of M11 Jund was heavily played. There was about a monthlong period where everybody playtested their decks and ran Valakut Titan because it was just good, and then black was back in top decks.
Comebacks imply things ever left.
Now, back to the topic at hand. GFtT has a special place in my heart because I used to play a Beast Mastery Huntard in WoW. And GFtT made ma Wind Serpent, PEWPEWLAZARS, shoot out lazars like he was an entire batallion of the Imperial Guard. Also it's amazing removal and I will probably end up acquiring a playset in foil.
Card Advantage is when you trade one card for multiple cards. Preordain does not do this. You spend one card, Preordain, and draw one card.
Preordain is card selection, not advantage. There is an important difference.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor+Alara+M10: Jank elf build using Overrun as the win-con. Grew to hate Fallout with a passion. Deck contained nothing worth more than $2. Loved BBE.
Alara+M10: Putzed around with elves, wasn't the same without WWV, built Jund. GRAVY TRAIN HOOOOO
Alara+M10+Zen: Jund, HOOOOO
Alara+M10+Zen+M11: Played my first deck ever that did not run Bloodbraid Elf: Ur Pyromancer. Next week I built Valakut Titan, which did run BBE. CASCADE INTO CULTIVATE, HOOOOO
M10+Zen+M11: Moved to Japan for 4 months, played Elves on MODO. It's okay. It's missing something. Something that rimes with "rudraid.'
I miss BBE. sadface.jpg
Agreed.
I think he'll see a lot of play at the tier 2, tier 1.5 level for now. He's just an interesting card that has a lot of potential, and a lot of people (including myself) are going to want to see what we can do with that potential. And as we see more cards revealed, he can only get better.
Don't think he's tier 1. He seems to be somewhere between Venser and Gideon in power. But, by existing, he guarantees that Blue/Black Artifacts will exist. Should be fun.
Lands can be a real threat, seeing as this deck has 0 outs to Creeping Tar Pit.
You won't have a clear "best" deck. You'll have a few decks that are the best of their archetype - and the power of the archetypes shifts from season to season. So it's sort of a question of which Magic archetype has been the most powerful...and I have no idea.
This gives me an idea for a Super-Standard format, where you pick a Standard season and build a deck from it. It would be awesome...I'll have to talk to my friends and see about doing this on MWS. We've got Worlds reports going back to the dawn of time, so we should be able to have fun with stuff we've never heard of before.
Skullclamp also loves Buried Alive + Bloodghast + Nether Traitor. I run those and Bitterblossom in every black deck I build, because the card draw is insane.
Clamp the ghast, return traitor, clamp it, lay fetch, clamp ghast, return traitor and clamp it, pop fetch return ghast and clamp it, return traitor and clamp it. That's 12 cards drawn for 8 mana, and you can do it every turn. It makes Mind's Eye look like a chump.
Little synergies...Land Tax and Scroll Rack is good. Also solid is Contamination and any sort of recurring creature or token producer. Academy Rector into Animate Dead is one that nobody sees coming. I remember the days when I had sucker opponents who would actually let me kill the thing without interfering. Ah well.
Doran is solid. He gives you a lot of really great stuff, and if you want to do reanimation in those colors you can always run Teneb, the Harvester. He's fun. But BGW Rock in general is a solid deck with access to some of the best tricks in the format.
Teeg is probably better though, to be honest.
So, what you're getting at is, he needs to put another Mind Sculptor in, right?