These cards are huge. I think they will affect many formats. No one has ever had too much trouble getting a mongoose to threshold or dropping a tombstalker, so these cards for their minimum CMC is a very real threat. Here's my list of synergies for Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise, supposing you ran multiple copies of each and really wanted to maximize them:
wonder if there's a good aggro creature that mills you....
don't know whether or not to add counters. I would imagine you'd course want Daze, Force of Will, Spell Pierce (I'm assuming Legacy here though I bet Remand would fit well in other formats.
Most people don't realize that Cruise and Dig are strong cards because you actually don't need to play a self mill deck to make them good. All that needs to happen is, you know, spells being played, lands fetched, creatures being killed by your opponents.
This week-end i've seen a match of modern where a ur twin player casted a Dig Trough Time, and the turn after snapcasted it back, and was like his sixth-seventh turn.
I'm pretty sure both Treasure Cruise and Dig Trough Time will have a big impact in modern/legacy, and see some amount of play in standard too.
The scary part of expensive Delve cards is that you can cast them on any turn you want as long as your deck is warped enough. Thought Ancestral Vision coming off Suspend on Turn 5 or being Cascaded from Shardless Agent on Turn 3 (fine, you can push it to Turn 2 with Deathrite Shaman) was scary? How about 1-mana Treasure Cruise on Turn 4 (Legacy UR Delver) or Turn 2 (Modern Jeskai Ascendancy Storm)?
When Vintage UR Pyro Delver can effectively play 4-5 (sorcery-speed, slightly slower) Ancestral Recalls instead of one, it's scary.
Wow as it turns out Cruise doesn't need any help from self-milling. RUN ALL THE TREASURE CRUISE S!! I am going to build a delver now. I love how this deck is actually conceivably affordable to those Legacy aspirants like me. Props to Wizards for making a super-powerful common!
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LegacyHelm LegacyBelcher LegacyCheeri 0 s LegacyManaless Dredge CubeDragons
I am having fun playing around with the Delve mechanic. Satyr Wayfinder just makes those Howling Mandrills come running from the jungle. The saytr provides potential mana fixing, Delve fuel and is a nice chump blocker and future Delve fuel himself. Once I get my Sidisi playset I will hone my decklist and maybe post for comments. In the meantime, love all the ideas you all are posting. Keep the brews coming!
Dig through Time and Treasure Cruise. The 2 latest reasons to hate blue even more than you already did.
Seriously though, White and Red don't even have a Delve card. What the heck? But the most powerful color in magic (blue) gets not 1 but 2 backdoor Ancestral Recalls in the same set, the 2 very best Delve cards. What I don't understand as a Red mage is how the devs justify giving blue the BEST cards for almost every single mechanic in the game, with no drawbacks. Best Planeswalker, Jace MS. 3/9 of the POWER NINE. Even in the creature column which is supposed to be blue's "weakness", Delver of Secrets is so strong that it's changed all of the formats. Merfolk tribal with possibly the most hated card in Magic, True Name Nemesis. Vapor Snag. Want to play some colored spells with Artifacts? Blue. Tinker, Power Artifact, Ensoul Artifact etc etc.
I'm clinging to my Eidolon of the Great Revel thinking FINALLY a red mage can defeat a mono-blue (or partially blue) player without having to employ the stupid goblins. Does anyone else out there feel like an idiot every time they say "Goblin Rabblemaster?" But anyway, the myth of so much inherent power in red spells manifests in cards like Eidolon and Goblin Guide - they MUST have built in drawbacks. But blue has better cards than those cards. And... no drawbacks. Still, we're getting somewhere with Eidolon and the new Swiftspear.
Then these two Delve cards come out and spit right in my Eye-dolon. Close game on Turn 3/4/5? Not anymore if they have either of these cards. Yes, they did only pay 1 or 2 mana to cast a spell but no burn control from the Eidolon cuz see it's Delve and the CMC is actually 8. Just keep on going, blue. Oh gee, they drew a Vapor Snag, a Delver, and a Ponder (I still think Treasure cruise is the better card, although I see the application for Dig - it's debateable). It's just like blue to trump the best red card that has come out in a long time IN THE VERY NEXT SET with not 1 but 2 cards that do the same thing and are the very best cards of their type. And Red doesn't even get a Delve card. I don't see one in Fate Reforged either.
I'm happy about the Swiftspear as I can finally ponder dropping Goblin Guide. Truth - That is cool. But it never fails that blue gets MORE, BETTER cards. I'll bet most players who quit Magic do so because of limp wristed blue control decks than any other reason. The last three turns of most Magic players' careers is probably spent sitting in control hell waiting for the merfolk or the delver to kill your last bit of love for the game.
**** Now that I've said my piece ****
What shall red receive one day as a delve card? 2 excellent remakes of a power nine card? Haha, what a ridiculous concept, no? The closest we have is Wheel of Fortune which also helps every other player and often drains one's mana pool for the turn. Gamble? Hmmm... A 1 cost (after Delve) Fork? I am personally hoping for a 1 cost (Delve) sorcery speed bolt for 4 damage.... an instant add to my deck just like treasure cruise.
For white, how about a board wipe Delve or a cool Angel or Soldier tribal spell to match Empty the Pits?
Faithless Looting
Careful Study
Fireblast
Gitaxian Probe
Street Wraith
Scalding Tarn
Lotus Petal
Mox Diamond
Hedron Crab
For creatures, a deck centered around these cards might run some powerful, cheap threats that they don't really care about dying.
Like maybe
Goblin Guide
Monastery Swiftspear (if you're going for a storm of card playing, she might even be better than the aforementioned
Delver of Secrets
Keldon Marauders
wonder if there's a good aggro creature that mills you....
don't know whether or not to add counters. I would imagine you'd course want Daze, Force of Will, Spell Pierce (I'm assuming Legacy here though I bet Remand would fit well in other formats.
Thoughts?
Legacy Helm
Legacy Belcher
Legacy Cheeri 0 s
Legacy Manaless Dredge
Cube Dragons
~
This week-end i've seen a match of modern where a ur twin player casted a Dig Trough Time, and the turn after snapcasted it back, and was like his sixth-seventh turn.
I'm pretty sure both Treasure Cruise and Dig Trough Time will have a big impact in modern/legacy, and see some amount of play in standard too.
When Vintage UR Pyro Delver can effectively play 4-5 (sorcery-speed, slightly slower) Ancestral Recalls instead of one, it's scary.
Legacy Helm
Legacy Belcher
Legacy Cheeri 0 s
Legacy Manaless Dredge
Cube Dragons
~
Seriously though, White and Red don't even have a Delve card. What the heck? But the most powerful color in magic (blue) gets not 1 but 2 backdoor Ancestral Recalls in the same set, the 2 very best Delve cards. What I don't understand as a Red mage is how the devs justify giving blue the BEST cards for almost every single mechanic in the game, with no drawbacks. Best Planeswalker, Jace MS. 3/9 of the POWER NINE. Even in the creature column which is supposed to be blue's "weakness", Delver of Secrets is so strong that it's changed all of the formats. Merfolk tribal with possibly the most hated card in Magic, True Name Nemesis. Vapor Snag. Want to play some colored spells with Artifacts? Blue. Tinker, Power Artifact, Ensoul Artifact etc etc.
I'm clinging to my Eidolon of the Great Revel thinking FINALLY a red mage can defeat a mono-blue (or partially blue) player without having to employ the stupid goblins. Does anyone else out there feel like an idiot every time they say "Goblin Rabblemaster?" But anyway, the myth of so much inherent power in red spells manifests in cards like Eidolon and Goblin Guide - they MUST have built in drawbacks. But blue has better cards than those cards. And... no drawbacks. Still, we're getting somewhere with Eidolon and the new Swiftspear.
Then these two Delve cards come out and spit right in my Eye-dolon. Close game on Turn 3/4/5? Not anymore if they have either of these cards. Yes, they did only pay 1 or 2 mana to cast a spell but no burn control from the Eidolon cuz see it's Delve and the CMC is actually 8. Just keep on going, blue. Oh gee, they drew a Vapor Snag, a Delver, and a Ponder (I still think Treasure cruise is the better card, although I see the application for Dig - it's debateable). It's just like blue to trump the best red card that has come out in a long time IN THE VERY NEXT SET with not 1 but 2 cards that do the same thing and are the very best cards of their type. And Red doesn't even get a Delve card. I don't see one in Fate Reforged either.
I'm happy about the Swiftspear as I can finally ponder dropping Goblin Guide. Truth - That is cool. But it never fails that blue gets MORE, BETTER cards. I'll bet most players who quit Magic do so because of limp wristed blue control decks than any other reason. The last three turns of most Magic players' careers is probably spent sitting in control hell waiting for the merfolk or the delver to kill your last bit of love for the game.
**** Now that I've said my piece ****
What shall red receive one day as a delve card? 2 excellent remakes of a power nine card? Haha, what a ridiculous concept, no? The closest we have is Wheel of Fortune which also helps every other player and often drains one's mana pool for the turn. Gamble? Hmmm... A 1 cost (after Delve) Fork? I am personally hoping for a 1 cost (Delve) sorcery speed bolt for 4 damage.... an instant add to my deck just like treasure cruise.
For white, how about a board wipe Delve or a cool Angel or Soldier tribal spell to match Empty the Pits?
One day maybe? But it's unlikely.
I think you'll be happier with magic if you don't look at it through blue hating glasses.
Them cards banned/restricted now. Thanks!