I'm surprised to see this is a card with Mardu flavor.
They don't seem like the clan who would take out aggression with mere threats and ill intentions.
If you want to smash Sarkan's helm, why not go ahead and do it?
Is he afraid?
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I fear I won't have much time to play Magic these days.
I get to watch worlds develop around me.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
Very likely. At the least it replaces Duress as 1CMC dicard numbers 5+. It still hits walkers, and hitting creatures can be relevant to remove Coursers before they get into play.
I'm surprised to see this is a card with Mardu flavor.
They don't seem like the clan who would take out aggression with mere threats and ill intentions.
If you want to smash Sarkan's helm, why not go ahead and do it?
Is he afraid?
I'm not sure what you mean. It looks like Zurgo is in the process of doing something to Sarkhan, as he seems to be in pain. Maybe he's crushing his gibblets and we just can't see it.
Mono Black aggro can easily run both 3x Despise and 3x Thoughtseize in main deck. And some cheap removals also. This way they can also utilize a slight Delve theme too, as few cards.
It depends on the meta, but given what we're losing from ravnica block and what we're gaining from this set so far, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes. We have lots of strong creatures and planeswalkers in theros and are getting even more in KTK. We're losing the azorius control shell from Ravnica, which is what allowed the almost creature-less control decks to function these past two years. The only creature-less (or at least mostly) decks that I think could work from here on are superfriends decks, and this hits them just as hard. From the looks of it even the more controlling decks of this standard are going to be running at least 8 creatures and a handful of planeswalkers. So yeah, I think this can easily be mainboarded as thoughtseize numbers 5-8.
Maybe that playset of waste not won't go to waste after all
I'm surprised to see this is a card with Mardu flavor.
They don't seem like the clan who would take out aggression with mere threats and ill intentions.
If you want to smash Sarkan's helm, why not go ahead and do it?
Is he afraid?
I'm not sure what you mean. It looks like Zurgo is in the process of doing something to Sarkhan, as he seems to be in pain. Maybe he's crushing his gibblets and we just can't see it.
Or his Hedrons.
Wink.
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I fear I won't have much time to play Magic these days.
I get to watch worlds develop around me.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
In other formats, I'd prefer Inquisition. In Standard, Despise reprint might be better actually because of the creature-fiesta it currently is. Pretty disgusting that Thoughtseize and Despise will exist at the same time.
Too bad Duress is going out.
I love the flavor and that art!! Really captures the intense hatred Zurgo bears toward Sarkhan and also shows how badass he is. The New Phyrexia flavor was just... I mean idk what the hell was going on there.
Where is the lore behind that? I am just curious. I love reading lore! Did Sarkhan leave in bad terms with the Mardu?
He may have slightly murdered an entire Mardu army just to see them burn the last time he was on Tarkir.
Wait what? That's not what happened at all. Zurgo initially didn't like him because he decided to go on a vision quest instead of waiting around to be told when and whom to kill. Then after he came back he was given a suicide mission as punishment. While leading his forces in a losing battle, the strain and fear of that situation lead to his spark igniting just in time to whisk him away to somewhere safe while the rest of his men were completely wiped out. Admittedly he kinda also unleashed some kind of roaring elemental dragon thing on the battlefield before he left but how much friendly fire that action constituted is never explicitly stated, and those soldiers were all dead-men-walking anyway because of the aforementioned losing battle.
The Planeswalkers guide suggests that he killed basically everyone on the scene except Zurgo.
Will see play as Standard tends to be a creature heavy format. I can see it as a 2 or 3 of in mono black decks. I think with the rotation Monoblack will speed up, with a ton of solid one drops backed up with Gary, discard, and possible waste not.
I'm not personally impressed with Despise, as a player nor as a dealer. But it does point to an increasing push for mono-black builds, which have had several boosts in this set alone.
It hits creatures and Elspeth, so it's an excellent option for mid range/control decks, or on top of a Thoughtseize package. Likely playable, even if only as a sideboard card.
For what it's worth, the opposite of evergreen is "deciduous" so I suggest we start using that from now on to refer to shroud, banding, islandhome, etc.
Fantastic card to see reprinted, more maindeckable than Duress (which we're losing) between this and thoughtseize black has an excellent disruption package.
General comment...people should take the time to THINK about what other people post. If someone's comment seems painfully obviously wrong, back up and consider that YOU may not be looking at the comment in the proper context.
To wit, a few have commented that black aggro has been the "best" deck...to which a number have people have railed that no, black aggro has not been competitive and black devotion has been dominant. Now, step back and think...what sense would it make to be commenting on the current Standard relative to a card (Despise) that will not be played within it? Answer: It would make NO sense. The people who have commented on the dominance of black aggro are likely speaking of BLOCK CONSTRUCTED, which is the only format that is meaningfully predictive of post-rotation Standard. In that format, Black Aggro--alongside Junk--has been relatively dominant; given the love that black has thus far seen in Khans spoilers, it is not unlikely that black aggro will play a meaningful role in the new Standard.
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Common Sense is now a Mythic Rare.
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They don't seem like the clan who would take out aggression with mere threats and ill intentions.
If you want to smash Sarkan's helm, why not go ahead and do it?
Is he afraid?
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
Very likely. At the least it replaces Duress as 1CMC dicard numbers 5+. It still hits walkers, and hitting creatures can be relevant to remove Coursers before they get into play.
EDH Decks
BGGlissa, the TraitorGB
URTibor and LumiaRU
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticBUW
UBSygg, River CutthroatBU
RGXenagos, God of RevelsGR
UGVorel of the Hull CladeGU
GBSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
URGMaelstrom WandererGRU
I'm not sure what you mean. It looks like Zurgo is in the process of doing something to Sarkhan, as he seems to be in pain. Maybe he's crushing his gibblets and we just can't see it.
Maybe that playset of waste not won't go to waste after all
Wink.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
Too bad Duress is going out.
Mono black aggro was not the best deck, and I say that as a blackgro player. However, with all these good mono black cards, blackgro is sure to be t1.
The Planeswalkers guide suggests that he killed basically everyone on the scene except Zurgo.
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That's a little intense.
It's a bit beyond intense, methinks.
.
Still, very solid card that I am pleased to see. I do prefer the old flavor text, but the art and flavor are more fitting in this printing.
So is it safe to say that you
*puts on shades*
DESPISE IT
Quotes:
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
Despite is a good new for those brewing Waste Not
To wit, a few have commented that black aggro has been the "best" deck...to which a number have people have railed that no, black aggro has not been competitive and black devotion has been dominant. Now, step back and think...what sense would it make to be commenting on the current Standard relative to a card (Despise) that will not be played within it? Answer: It would make NO sense. The people who have commented on the dominance of black aggro are likely speaking of BLOCK CONSTRUCTED, which is the only format that is meaningfully predictive of post-rotation Standard. In that format, Black Aggro--alongside Junk--has been relatively dominant; given the love that black has thus far seen in Khans spoilers, it is not unlikely that black aggro will play a meaningful role in the new Standard.