I always think of her as a 2/1 first strike first and foremost and can't say I've ever forgotten about that. In fact if anything I might forget about her other ability (though luckily playing online I'm quickly reminded by MTGO when my Pillar of Flames now want an additional mana).
Most people I've noticed seem to think of her as a 2/1 enchantment that just sits there
I guess the moral of the story is, always read the cards.
Both online and in real life, new players and spikes, everyone seems to forget that.
I don't know how many times I've had people block her looking to trade only to ask "Are you going to put her in the yard?" to which I kindly tap the card and tell them they just made a terrible mistake.
I can't really count on it happening, but for supposedly competitive players this kind of oversight seems crazy, and it happens a LOT.
I'm going to go insane for a little bit and test out hamlet captain I don't think he'll wow me but we'll see how it goes as a two drop. My meta has seen quite a few blind obedience show up, so siding in something for my now less then stellar lightening maulers seems fine.
the problem with Sheldon's ban list and reasoning is its inconsistent, and seems mostly focused around what him and the other rules members experience.
The reasoning behind banning Primeval Titan and Emerakul(he's a build around card, the moment he comes down the game focuses on him, everyone tries to get ahead by cloning him, rite of repping him, etc) could very very easily be applied to many other creatures. My personal peeve is Consecrated Sphinx. Since it can be put in that exact same category, not to mention if another player clones or copies it then the game becomes pretty much between those two players as they play chicken with draws.
For the record, my Animar deck ran both Prime Time and Sphinx, and while Prime Time was AWESOME the Sphinx put the game away for me far more times.
They're a fine place to start most of the time. Go the for the aggressive ones, they tend to do better.
For building competitive decks.... well I tended to draft heavily when the set first comes out, then use my drafted to stock to trade for most of what I needed, then I could pay for singles here and there to cover it.
I really hope they have some honest discussion of the ban list and maybe getting the DCI involved.
As it is the whole thing seems largely focused on what Sheldon plays against. He bans prime time because he thinks it makes decks too one dimensional, and dominates the table once it comes in, but Consecrated sphinx is fine, despite the fact it gives one player a ridiculous advantage over the rest of the field.
And don't even get me started on Tooth and Nail. It's a one card infinite combo, plain and simple. Mana cost is not a balancing factor in EDH, it simply isn't a big issue. Games go long and mana counts get ridiculous, even without trying.
I have nothing against combo, its a archetype of Magic, but we really need some consistency on whats bannable and what isn't.
My friends are bullies who play Allies and Slivers. Those should be banned. I think we need to make a honor rule where you can only use Legends block cards. But we have to ban Angus Mackenzie,
Let's see, at FNM I was playing Naya Human Aggro. I played against Junk Reanimator, Jund Aggro, Bant Control, and UWR control. The match next to me was humananimator versus another UWR control.
There were standard Eggs shenanigans going on at the table behind me, a boros deck was fighting a straight burn/vexing devil deck. And another Blitz deck got blown out by a werewolf deck casting Moonmist.
This was a 15 player FNM at a newly opened shop.
Seriously, there is nothing wrong with standard. My only complaint would be that 4 color good stuff is too easy/not greedy enough with the mana base.
As a counter to the OP I'd say the worst feature matches to watch are two control decks fighting each other trying to go over the top of each other with Successive Sphinx's Revelations.
Could be fun in a mono black deck. Using crypt ghast as a second way to hard cast your demons, and to gain life off of the extort.
I don't see it being particularly fast though. You'd have to lay nothing but apostles the first three turns to get a demon out on turn 3. Any sort of disruption stops that. Still, seems brewable.
So I've been looking for a good home for the boros reckoner, blasphemous act combo. I was trying it in a URW charms deck, running frontline medic as well, because he combo's well with the B. act, but it didn't run the best when I took it to tourneys. I think naya humans is a better home. What do you guys think of this list?
1. The combo, while cute, does nothing for the deck besides slow it down. Your game plan is to kill your opponent turn 4, turn 5 at the latest. The act is going to leave you down a card most of the time, and open you to greedy blow outs when they spear/bounce/kill your wreckoner in response to the act.
2. Huntmaster is a midrange card. He's not great because again, your trying to kill as fast as possible, he doesn't really do that. He's great stabilizing against aggro decks.
3. Boros Wreckoner doesn't fit the game plan. He's not aggressive enough. where he best serves is as a two for one road block against other aggro decks. Which you don't care about because you should be one of the fastest decks in standard. On top of that he strains the mana considerably since you can't play him off of cavern most of the time.
Sorry to talk you down, but you are wanting to play a different deck then Naya humans or Naya blitz.
Letting a dredge deck dredge without the draw back of no draws seems scary. Any sort of deck that abuses the graveyard will have a field day with this because it's almost like a ancestral recall. Your spending one card to get three usable ones.
Don't underestimate his +1 ability. It can be super effective. I have been on the receiving end of it. Forcing a key land to be tapped really sucks. That being said, it is kinda slow and there are better options like Elspeth. He could have a nice controlish feel, but I don't see myself being able to play him.
From what I tested he's fine as a one of. Most of the time he came down as a lightening helix and then got some added value from keeping a land tapped. While at the same time he represented a major threat that needed to be dealt with lest he put you out of the game.
Never really wanted to draw him, always happen when I did.
Most people I've noticed seem to think of her as a 2/1 enchantment that just sits there
I guess the moral of the story is, always read the cards.
I don't know how many times I've had people block her looking to trade only to ask "Are you going to put her in the yard?" to which I kindly tap the card and tell them they just made a terrible mistake.
I can't really count on it happening, but for supposedly competitive players this kind of oversight seems crazy, and it happens a LOT.
More then likely though he's not worth it.
Sure he dies to removal, so does hellrider before the declare attackers step.
I personally run as many as I can because he simply murders people.
The reasoning behind banning Primeval Titan and Emerakul(he's a build around card, the moment he comes down the game focuses on him, everyone tries to get ahead by cloning him, rite of repping him, etc) could very very easily be applied to many other creatures. My personal peeve is Consecrated Sphinx. Since it can be put in that exact same category, not to mention if another player clones or copies it then the game becomes pretty much between those two players as they play chicken with draws.
For the record, my Animar deck ran both Prime Time and Sphinx, and while Prime Time was AWESOME the Sphinx put the game away for me far more times.
Clearly the ponciest ponce who ever ponced past a poncing parlor.
For building competitive decks.... well I tended to draft heavily when the set first comes out, then use my drafted to stock to trade for most of what I needed, then I could pay for singles here and there to cover it.
As it is the whole thing seems largely focused on what Sheldon plays against. He bans prime time because he thinks it makes decks too one dimensional, and dominates the table once it comes in, but Consecrated sphinx is fine, despite the fact it gives one player a ridiculous advantage over the rest of the field.
And don't even get me started on Tooth and Nail. It's a one card infinite combo, plain and simple. Mana cost is not a balancing factor in EDH, it simply isn't a big issue. Games go long and mana counts get ridiculous, even without trying.
I have nothing against combo, its a archetype of Magic, but we really need some consistency on whats bannable and what isn't.
Evolving into a 2/2 is all you're really going to get out of a experiment one a lot of the time.
There were standard Eggs shenanigans going on at the table behind me, a boros deck was fighting a straight burn/vexing devil deck. And another Blitz deck got blown out by a werewolf deck casting Moonmist.
This was a 15 player FNM at a newly opened shop.
Seriously, there is nothing wrong with standard. My only complaint would be that 4 color good stuff is too easy/not greedy enough with the mana base.
As a counter to the OP I'd say the worst feature matches to watch are two control decks fighting each other trying to go over the top of each other with Successive Sphinx's Revelations.
I don't see it being particularly fast though. You'd have to lay nothing but apostles the first three turns to get a demon out on turn 3. Any sort of disruption stops that. Still, seems brewable.
1. The combo, while cute, does nothing for the deck besides slow it down. Your game plan is to kill your opponent turn 4, turn 5 at the latest. The act is going to leave you down a card most of the time, and open you to greedy blow outs when they spear/bounce/kill your wreckoner in response to the act.
2. Huntmaster is a midrange card. He's not great because again, your trying to kill as fast as possible, he doesn't really do that. He's great stabilizing against aggro decks.
3. Boros Wreckoner doesn't fit the game plan. He's not aggressive enough. where he best serves is as a two for one road block against other aggro decks. Which you don't care about because you should be one of the fastest decks in standard. On top of that he strains the mana considerably since you can't play him off of cavern most of the time.
Sorry to talk you down, but you are wanting to play a different deck then Naya humans or Naya blitz.
From what I tested he's fine as a one of. Most of the time he came down as a lightening helix and then got some added value from keeping a land tapped. While at the same time he represented a major threat that needed to be dealt with lest he put you out of the game.
Never really wanted to draw him, always happen when I did.