People who whine about the random factor of this card: Would we REALLY want yet ANOTHER way too easy way to cheat Emrakul onto the field in Legacy and co with the help of the pleathora of topdeck tutors, WHILE GETTING ACCESS TO ITS TIME WALK? I think not.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
This also wouldnt be bad in just a plain old Simic Evolve deck, but you only cast it when its the last playable card in hand and treat it as a draw spell like Think Twice or Divination, however, instead of drawing 2 cards (both of which could be disappointing lands) it could 'draw' AND PLAY lands forever or, if it draws a spell, it casts it for free.
This also wouldnt be bad in just a plain old Simic Evolve deck, but you only cast it when its the last playable card in hand and treat it as a draw spell like Think Twice or Divination, however, instead of drawing 2 cards (both of which could be disappointing lands) it could 'draw' AND PLAY lands forever or, if it draws a spell, it casts it for free.
Or hit Enter the Infinite. Which in turn allows you to put Omniscience back into your library and cast this again to put it into play. The fact the card allows a complete 180 turn from getting dominated to instantly winning the game with no rhyme or reason is what I hate about. Gamble does not do that because you still need to cast the card.
Or hit Enter the Infinite. Which in turn allows you to put Omniscience back into your library and cast this again to put it into play. The fact the card allows a complete 180 turn from getting dominated to instantly winning the game with no rhyme or reason is what I hate about. Gamble does not do that because you still need to cast the card.
If you've got any chance of hitting Enter the Infinite or Omniscience in Standard and you're playing this card, you're probably not going to win the game any other way. Super-fragile Standard combo decks a-go-go! It'll probably be at least as good as the double-striking Immolating Souleater!
I think this is just an overhyped card. I think it's good and cool flavor wise, but unless you're deck builds around it (i.e. having tons of big spells and this card) it won't be anything more than alright. Mainly because you shuffle first...
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Sig by myself! If you'd like a banner done, pm me! Avvie by DNC from Hero of the Planes Studio
you can generally tell the easiest road to victory by how many players congregate on it; and the road of counterspells/control has been the freeway of choice in magic for quite some time.
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What I find offensive is not that Wizards is endeavoring to make the game more accessible, but the attitudes of elitists who act as though no one of any age should show their face in the Magic public without first having mastery over the complexities of the game.
O boy I hate this sort of design.. Cards with huge variance based on sheer randomness should never ever be designed again. Magic is already a game of mostly luck (well playing constructed mostly, deck design and limited are other cases) and these sort of cards only enforce that. What does everyone hate in magic? Losing to manascrew or incredible luck mechanisms like miracle, cascade and this type of effect.
Fortunately it's not that good so won't be seeing play.
Hitting a land is costly acceleration with a draw effect, not terrible but definately not what you want to be doing at that stage of the game. Hitting something else though is only great when it's expensive and useful for the situation which will be quite rare. You simply can't build a decent standard deck now that abuses this, it sort of needs the same type of deck cascade does. You want a high average mana cost to abuse it to the max and you want spells to always be useful, absolutely no counters or X spells.
As it stands some of the best stuff are X spells and a blue based deck will need some counters or what not. The variance just kills this card because you will be getting stuff you don't need way too often, sweepers on an empty board, lands when you need a blocker etc. etc. Playing a deck with average cmc > 4 is just asking to lose as well without cards with effects like evoke or phyrexian mana etc.
Fortunately it's trash because i'd hate it to be good.
WotC should NEVER design high variance cards like these again, they dilute all sense of strategy and tactics that is left in this game and turn it more into yahtzee or whatever your favorite dice game is. There is already enough randomness in drawing the deck..
Do people realize that you only return it to your hand if you flip a land? So these crazy plans of using it twice a turn to flip Omni or whatever don't really work.
In the same way you can tell someone is from the XVIII century because he is arroused by ankles, you can tell someone is from USA because he feels nipples disturbing.
Funnily enough, usually when you see a crappy card you think "if only this costed 1 or 2 less etc.".
However with this card the border between overpowered and crap is very harsh between 3 and 4 mana I think, which you don't see often. At 3 mana this would basically be rampant growth + cantrip OR a free spell more expensive than 3 on average if you build the deck around it, pretty good deal. For example at 3 a ramp / midrange deck could use this quite well because you either get a ramp spell you paid 1 to much for, or you get land + cantrip or you get an awesome fattie which is always ok and often great.
At 4 however this crumbles as the running into land or running into a cheaper spell than this get more likely and suck bigtime then.
Nifty card but I don't see how it's going to be insane without making a bad deck to begin with, at least in Standard. Really nice in EDH but that's not really much of an honor.
And a preview card from Forbes? That's ... unexpected. :/
File this one under "*someone's* gonna have fun with it".
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
You know, one way this card might be good is in a deck with Overload spells... Couldn't you cast an Overloaded spell for free when this resolves? Resolving Cyclonic Rift overloaded at four mana would be pretty backbreaking...
You know, one way this card might be good is in a deck with Overload spells... Couldn't you cast an Overloaded spell for free when this resolves? Resolving Cyclonic Rift overloaded at four mana would be pretty backbreaking...
No, you can't. Overload is an alternate mana cost, "without paying its mana cost" is an alternate mana cost. You can't pay for Overload if you're casting the spell for free.
This might be one of my favorite cards spoiled so far. You can cheat anything out! And even if you hit a land you get it for free. The best part is, it's always going back to your hand! Ahh
Cards with huge variance based on sheer randomness are awesome and there should be some in every set.
Fix'd.
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
what have you become mtg
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Standard: W/R Aggro
Yes, it can hit Christmas cards like Thragtusk and Prime Speaker Zegana, but it could also hit your Cloudfin Raptor.
So could a Think Twice.
Or hit Enter the Infinite. Which in turn allows you to put Omniscience back into your library and cast this again to put it into play. The fact the card allows a complete 180 turn from getting dominated to instantly winning the game with no rhyme or reason is what I hate about. Gamble does not do that because you still need to cast the card.
If you've got any chance of hitting Enter the Infinite or Omniscience in Standard and you're playing this card, you're probably not going to win the game any other way. Super-fragile Standard combo decks a-go-go! It'll probably be at least as good as the double-striking Immolating Souleater!
Standard: W/R Aggro
That aside... I guess it's good for EDH.
Sig by myself! If you'd like a banner done, pm me! Avvie by DNC from Hero of the Planes Studio
Fortunately it's not that good so won't be seeing play.
Hitting a land is costly acceleration with a draw effect, not terrible but definately not what you want to be doing at that stage of the game. Hitting something else though is only great when it's expensive and useful for the situation which will be quite rare. You simply can't build a decent standard deck now that abuses this, it sort of needs the same type of deck cascade does. You want a high average mana cost to abuse it to the max and you want spells to always be useful, absolutely no counters or X spells.
As it stands some of the best stuff are X spells and a blue based deck will need some counters or what not. The variance just kills this card because you will be getting stuff you don't need way too often, sweepers on an empty board, lands when you need a blocker etc. etc. Playing a deck with average cmc > 4 is just asking to lose as well without cards with effects like evoke or phyrexian mana etc.
Fortunately it's trash because i'd hate it to be good.
WotC should NEVER design high variance cards like these again, they dilute all sense of strategy and tactics that is left in this game and turn it more into yahtzee or whatever your favorite dice game is. There is already enough randomness in drawing the deck..
However with this card the border between overpowered and crap is very harsh between 3 and 4 mana I think, which you don't see often. At 3 mana this would basically be rampant growth + cantrip OR a free spell more expensive than 3 on average if you build the deck around it, pretty good deal. For example at 3 a ramp / midrange deck could use this quite well because you either get a ramp spell you paid 1 to much for, or you get land + cantrip or you get an awesome fattie which is always ok and often great.
At 4 however this crumbles as the running into land or running into a cheaper spell than this get more likely and suck bigtime then.
And a preview card from Forbes? That's ... unexpected. :/
File this one under "*someone's* gonna have fun with it".
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
Club Flamingo Wins: 1!
No, you can't. Overload is an alternate mana cost, "without paying its mana cost" is an alternate mana cost. You can't pay for Overload if you're casting the spell for free.
Standard: W/R Aggro
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Timmies love randomness. Too bad that this card was made for Timmies and not for you. Luckily, it's not the only card in the set.
Fix'd.
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!