Panharmonicon is bonkers. This is going to be a staple in everything but the highest levels of play. You might only play 1 (4 CMC card that requires support) but the card is utterly bonkers when cast on-curve in a deck filled with ETB triggers. Like, just imaging Cloneing a Sanctum Prelate to name 1, 2, 3 and 4 (yes, AND 4)
That's one thing it can't do, unfortunately. Sanctum Prelate's ability is a replacement effect ("As ..."), not a trigger ("When ..."). People are going to make tons of mistakes with this thing. I hope it has a Gatherer page a mile long to explain all the rulings.
Just imagine... if it actually did copy replacement effects, you could copy two creatures with one Clone.
Duplicant might be a touch better than Clone here....
Seriously, Panharmonican together with any EB effects is nuts. I'm still surprised this is even a card, let alone for such a low manacost.
Key to the City.. Rogue's Passage that isn't a land (-) but offers draw (+) and also enables GY/Madness (niche). Interesting.
It's not quite good enough. Shame, I kinda like the idea but the manacosting is a bit too high for what it does.
Even in the decks that might use this sort of effect I can think of, they have better options.
Seriously, Panharmonican together with any EB effects is nuts. I'm still surprised this is even a card, let alone for such a low manacost.
4 mana is basically the only way to make it fair. At 2 CMC it's broken as **** and gets played in everything. It would be way too good as a 3 mana 2/4 Dwarf so 4 CMC is the best way to make it playable without being oppressive.
This set keeps getting better and better. No we have Paradoxical Outcome which is nutty good in slower metas and Aetherflux Reservoir is going to be a competitive staple in EDH. As in, I'm going to be playing it in my cEDH decks as a "I'm playing to win at all costs" finisher. They literally printed another Storm card and it even works in mono-Blue and such. No idea what they were thinking with that one.
Shame about Noxious Gearhulk. I'm sad to see the Black creature of the cycle printed as unplayable trash.
I thought that Torrential Gearhulk was broken until I learned that it only recurs instants. Card is "fine" but not nearly as impressive as it could have been.
I agree. The last set was pretty decent too, after quite a long run of average ones.
What do you fellaz think of the new demon? Demon of Dark Schemes is the best of the energy-counter cards I think, when you consider that black generally likes to kill their own creatures, this guy can generate energy counters in a hurry.
I've not seen a huge reason to care about energy counters yet.
It might wait until this one rotates...
Stellar 6 drop, especially compared to the ultra-disappointing Gearhulk. Worst-case scenario you get an Infest and (presumably) some E and assuming that you untap with him even once you should be able to recur 1-2 creatures on average. Otherwise the stats are solid, flying defense is always relevant and the card scales well into the lategame at which point it can start to recur Battlecruisers. As with every other "engine" (think Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet there's also going to plenty of occasions where the thing doesn't immediately perish at which point it will quickly seize control the game. I wouldn't rate it as highly as Massacre Wurm but you can't complain about 6 drops such as these.
It may not be flashy but Ovalchase Daredevil looks like it may have potential to perform a similar function to Veilborn Ghoul in the right shell. Better stats and can actually block too.
It may not be flashy but Ovalchase Daredevil looks like it may have potential to perform a similar function to Veilborn Ghoul in the right shell. Better stats and can actually block too.
This card looks like it could be useful. Land Ashnod's Altar...... etc.
Aetherflux Reservoir with Tamanoa or Exquisite Blood... Tamanoa combines with Blasphemous Act, Chain reaction etc to get 50+ life easily, Exquisite Blood works with Last Laugh, Heartless Hidetsugu or simply doubling up Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Exsanguinate. Either one instantly wins you the game once you have 51 life and the Reservoir!
I'm assuming sarcasm because... this wins for the worst rare I've seen in a long time.
You're joking right? You do realize that you can run 4x Homeward Path for "free" and Green is the color with things like Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying which can always fetch Gaea's Cradle in case you've already drawn a Path right? Worst-case scenario it's a tier 2 enabler that only sees some amount of "competitive" play.
Also:
Something that continues to baffle me is people's reluctance to enter in 2-horse races in a multiplayer setting. What's a 2-horse race you ask? Imagine that you're a jockey competing in the Kentucky Derby (the world's largest and most prestigious horse racing event). You're approached by a mysterious stranger and given the option to dope your horse in a completely undetectable way that won't harm it. Neither you nor your horse can possibly suffer negative consequences as the result of accepting this deal and this new "super drug" will leave you primed to crush your opposition in triumphant fashion. The catch? If you agree to the terms then one of your adversaries will also be doped with the same drug. Do you accept the terms? The answer is unquestionably "YES!" Assuming a baseline level of competition your chances of winning at a given event is roughly 1/N where N is the number of players. While the actual number will vary based on experience, technical ability, card pool and a host of additional factors it's virtually impossible to garner anything close to a "winning" record. Even if you're the strongest player with the best deck assuming that you're playing at your skill level you're never going to be heavily advantaged over the rest of the field. This has been proven countless times at the Grand Prix/Pro Tour level as even the winningest competitors can only boast roughly a ~65% win rate in the long-run. In that sense while it may seem crazy to suggest giving one of your opponents an immense advantage from a purely competitive standpoint it makes sense insofar as you're significantly bolstering your chances of succeeding. After all, while Magic is undeniably a game of skill there's also a fair amount of luck involved which means that experience and ability can only take you so far in the world of children's card games.
The most blatant example of a card that enables you to enter a 2-horse race is Trade Secrets. While it's never seen any form of competitive play it's mysteriously banned in EDH. Why? Well, more often than not when this card is cast 2 players (out of 4, 6, 8 or more!) are allowed to draw huge swaths of their deck if-not the entire thing. On the following turn the owner is typically capable of firing off any number of instant-win combos backed-up by cheap/free interaction such as Swan Song, Defense Grid, Counterspell, Mana Drain, Mindbreak Trap, Force of Will, Misdirection and Commandeer to seal the deal on the spot. Clearly they don't always "get there" (due to sufficient disruption/interaction) at which point the other player who draws ~75 cards on turn 2-3 usually does. After all, they too have likely assembled all of their combos and now have the ability to support them with their best protection. Far more often than not one of those players would go on to win the game which pushed far too many strategies (see: all other) out of the metagame.
What a lot of people fail to understand is that even if your opponent goes on to win 35% of the time and you only go on to win 30% of the time (i.e. neither of you win the remaining 35%) that's still absolutely amazing and you should always agree to enter that contract. The notion that you can walk into a 4, 6, 8+ player multiplayer game with a ~30% probability to win is completely absurd (again, assuming a baseline level of competition) and jumping from ~17% to ~30% by resolving a single spell is an oppressive leap. This illustrates exactly why this card had to be banned in EDH (the primary multiplayer format) and why it's so utterly ridiculous that no one's playing it casually. If you can double your chances of winning by resolving a single 3 CMC Sorcery then you take that deal each and every time. Furthermore, while I'm implying that your win % could theoretically be lower than that of the "other horse's" after resolving a card such as Trade Secrets in practice that's rarely-if-ever the case. Your deck will be the one specifically designed to abuse the the card(s) whereas the same will not always be true for each of your adversaries every game. There's often weak links, people who're down-and-out, someone testing a silly brew, on and and on. You can target anyone for any reason and assuming that you put a bit of thought into it then odds are you're going to set yourself up for a very easy win if you build your deck properly.
Knowing this you should be absolutely willing to enter 2-horse races if the situation presents itself. One of my favorites curves of all time is Carpet of Flowers into Intangible Virtue into Sylvan Offering where X = 3 or 4. While it's true that I'm putting 8 power across 5 bodies into play for one of my adversaries the 13 power that I create for myself gives me a huge edge over the others. All thing being equal I try to team up with that person to pick the others off (we do have 21 power across 10 bodies in play after all) and from there I'm more than happy to duke it out in the finals even if I had to help my opposition along the way. I don't see it as "I gave them 8 power that I now have to deal with," but rather "I secured my seat in the finals and will win a ton of games as a result." After all, he has the same incentive as I do to cooperate with me since a 50% chance to win sure beats 20%. While life isn't always that simple there's generally no reason to duke it out with the only person who can seriously hurt you when you're very far ahead. This is true for any resource management game and explains why you'll rarely see big stack poker players tangle with one another unless they're holding the nuts. Back to the topic at hand that is how you have to assess these extremely powerful cards that help target opponent as opposed to all opponents and explains why you should be totally willing to jam Trade Secrets et al. in a huge % of your decks. These are extremely degenerate cards with oppressive applications and you should be willing to abuse them when needed.
Oh and before anyone asks the fail-case on an early Trade Secrets is a 3 mana draw 4 that gives the worst player at the table 2 cards. I'd still play that card in 100% of my Blue decks regardless of the other text so even if I knew that none of my opponents would agree to "enter the contract" I'd still play it. The card is ridiculously overpowered in every sense and there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be playing with them in some of your decks. If you're trying to improve your overall performance and secure some easy wins a good place to start is a nice and easy 2-horse race as opposed to trying to slug it out with 3+ worthy adversaries.
I'm assuming sarcasm because... this wins for the worst rare I've seen in a long time.
You're joking right? You do realize that you can run 4x Homeward Path for "free" and Green is the color with things like Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying which can always fetch Gaea's Cradle in case you've already drawn a Path right? Worst-case scenario it's a tier 2 enabler that only sees some amount of "competitive" play.
Also:
Something that continues to baffle me is people's reluctance to enter in 2-horse races in a multiplayer setting. What's a 2-horse race you ask? Imagine that you're a jockey competing in the Kentucky Derby (the world's largest and most prestigious horse racing event). You're approached by a mysterious stranger and given the option to dope your horse in a completely undetectable way that won't harm it. Neither you nor your horse can possibly suffer negative consequences as the result of accepting this deal and this new "super drug" will leave you primed to crush your opposition in triumphant fashion. The catch? If you agree to the terms then one of your adversaries will also be doped with the same drug. Do you accept the terms? The answer is unquestionably "YES!" Assuming a baseline level of competition your chances of winning at a given event is roughly 1/N where N is the number of players. While the actual number will vary based on experience, technical ability, card pool and a host of additional factors it's virtually impossible to garner anything close to a "winning" record. Even if you're the strongest player with the best deck assuming that you're playing at your skill level you're never going to be heavily advantaged over the rest of the field. This has been proven countless times at the Grand Prix/Pro Tour level as even the winningest competitors can only boast roughly a ~65% win rate in the long-run. While it may seem crazy to give one of your opponents an immense advantage from a purely competitive standpoint it makes sense since the jump from a 16.67% probability to win to a 40% probability to win is a gargantuan leap that you shouldn't have to think twice about. Magic is undeniably a game of skill but there's also a fair amount of luck involved which means that experience and ability can only take you so far in the world of children's card games.
The most blatant example of a card that enables you to enter a 2-horse race is Trade Secrets. While this card never has and never will see any form of competitive play it's banned in EDH. Why? Well, more often than not when this card is cast 2 players (out of 4, 6, 8 or more!) are allowed to draw huge swaths of their deck (if-not the entire thing). Afterwards the owner was typically then capable of firing off any number of instant-win combos backed-up by cheap/free interaction such as Swan Song, Defense Grid, Counterspell, Mana Drain, Mindbreak Trap, Force of Will, Misdirection and Commandeer to seal the deal on the spot. While they sometimes they failed to get there (due to sufficient disruption/interaction) all that typically meant was that the other player who drew ~75 cards did. After all, he too had assembled all of his combos at that point and could even support them with his best protection. Far more often than not one of those players would go on to win the game which pushed far too many strategies (see: all other) out of the metagame.
What a lot of people fail to understand is that even if your opponent goes on to win 35% of the time and you only go on to win 30% of the time (i.e. neither of you win the remaining 35%) that's still absolutely amazing and you should always agree to enter that contract. The notion that you can walk into a 4, 6, 8+ player multiplayer game with a ~30% probability to win is completely absurd (again, assuming a baseline level of competition) and jumping from ~17% to ~30% by resolving a single spell is an oppressive leap. This illustrates exactly why this card had to be banned in the primary multiplayer format and why it's so utterly ridiculous that no one is playing it in casual multiplayer scene. If you can double your chances to win a game by resolving a 3 CMC Sorcery you take that deal each and every time. Also let's get serious here for a second. While I'm implying that your win % could theoretically be lower than that your opponent after resolving Trade Secrets that's rarely-if-ever the case in practice. Your deck will be the one specifically designed to abuse the the card(s) whereas the same will not always be true for your adversaries. There's often weak links, people who're down-and-out, someone testing a silly brew, on and and on. You can target anyone for any reason and assuming that you put a bit of thought into it then odds are you're going to set yourself up for a very easy win if you build your deck properly.
Knowing this you should be absolutely willing to enter 2-horse races if the situation presents itself. One of my favorites curves of all time is Carpet of Flowers into Intangible Virtue into Sylvan Offering where X = 3 or 4. While it's true that I'm putting 8 power across 5 bodies into play for one of my adversaries the 13 power that I create for myself gives me a huge edge over the others. All thing being equal I try to team up with that person to pick the others off (we do have 21 power across 10 bodies in play after all) and from there I'm more than happy to duke it out in the finals even if I had to help my opposition along the way. I don't see it as "I gave them 8 power that I now have to deal with," but rather "I secured my seat in the finals and will win a ton of games as a result." After all, he has the same incentive as I do to cooperate with me since a 50% chance to win sure beats 20%. While life isn't always that simple there's generally no reason to duke it out with the only person who can seriously hurt you when you're very far ahead. This is true for any resource management game and explains why you'll rarely see big stack poker players tangle with one another unless they're holding the nuts. Back to the topic at hand that is how you have to assess these extremely powerful cards that help target opponent as opposed to all opponents and explains why you should be totally willing to jam Trade Secrets et al. in a huge % of your decks. These are extremely degenerate cards with oppressive applications and you should be willing to abuse them when needed.
Oh and before anyone asks the fail-case on an early Trade Secrets is a 3 mana draw 4 that gives the worst player at the table 2 cards. I'd still play that card in 100% of my Blue decks regardless of the other text so even if I knew that none of my opponents would agree to "enter the contract" I'd still play it. The card is ridiculously overpowered in every sense and there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be playing with them in some of your decks. If you're trying to improve your overall performance and secure some easy wins a good place to start is a nice and easy 2-horse race as opposed to trying to slug it out with 5 worthy adversaries.
I love the Offering cards but I can't love this. Homeward Path is great, yes, and Crop Rotation is awesome protection, but as good as green is at cheating valuable fatties into play, wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?
I love the Offering cards but I can't love this. Homeward Path is great, yes, and Crop Rotation is awesome protection, but as good as green is at cheating valuable fatties into play, wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?
What does it matter whether anyone loves, likes, hates or despises a deck? The question that concerns me is whether or not it can win games. Homeward Path + (Brainstorm +) Dubious Challenge can enable you to jam things like Sire of Insanity + Progenitus into play on turn 3-4. I don't care whether or not it's the best Reanimator deck in the game as long as it's competitive enough to consistently win games of multiplayer Magic. I can live with it being tier 1.5-2 as millions of decks are weaker than that. If you don't like the card, that's fine, you're under no obligation to build it, but at the same time you can't sit here and argue that jamming Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and Archetype of Endurance into play on turn 3-4 isn't totally bonkers.
Nope, no sarcasm about the card from me. I don't think this card rules out playing good creatures either.
Dubious Challenge is good because you get to choose the 2 creatures to exile, and you get to pick your opponent/mark.
It doesn't have to be good for the opponent to choose the better of the two either, as they could choose either of the two creatures, but that Bane of Progress that kills their board position is coming down regardless (for example)
Green has access to Worldly Tutor (among others) to stack what you want on top.
"Look at the top ten cards of your library. Exile up to two creatures cards from among them, then shuffle your library. Target opponent may choose one of the exiled cards and put into the battlefield under his or her control. Put the rest onto the battlefield under your control."
Given the card says *the rest*, and doesn't specifically mention putting the un-chosen 8 back into the library, I think this card might start a few kitchen table debates. Of course I'm 100% sure that the 8 unchosen get shuffled, but you guys know how seriously some *special* people can take their MTG.
I love the Offering cards but I can't love this. Homeward Path is great, yes, and Crop Rotation is awesome protection, but as good as green is at cheating valuable fatties into play, wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?
What does it matter whether anyone loves, likes, hates or despises a deck?
It doesn't. My point is that I'm not ignoring the "two-horse race" angle of this card, just that as a two-horse race card it is not inherently good. You cannot blindly jam it and net value.
I'm not saying you can't abuse it; in fact, I acknowledged that quite plainly.
It doesn't. My point is that I'm not ignoring the "two-horse race" angle of this card, just that as a two-horse race card it is not inherently good. You cannot blindly jam it and net value.
It depends on how technical that you're trying to be. In a deck with 0 creatures this card objectively sucks 100% of the time. It innately requires creature-based support so it's impossible to argue that you can blindly jam it into any Green deck and extract decent value from it. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that it's good in 100% Green decks, merely that the card is playable-if-not-competitive when you're building with it in mind.
I'm not saying you can't abuse it; in fact, I acknowledged that quite plainly.
Where exactly did you plainly acknowledge that the card is powerful when it's being abused? When you said "... wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?" you're implying that the card isn't worth building around and there's no apparent disclaimer for oppressive/degenerate combo decks.
Aether Hub - a way to use energy counters to ramp.
Midnight Oil ?
I'm not sure how to use this card. That's a lot of card draw, but that discard part? Anyone have any ideas how to use this, apart from bouncing this thing?
I'd say "donate them to charity" but then I'd feel bad for the poor saps stuck playing them. It's so bad that it's not even good in the Donate deck :/.
It's pretty bad :P. Conditional, costs mana, only gains 1 life total per activation, marginal 1-for-1 interaction, etc. The best use for this card is to dissuade attacks assuming that you're not one of those people who will show people that you have the Snuff Out (or whatever) if they seem like they might attack you.
Midnight Oil isn't Phyrexian Arena, but just how many turns do you need to draw extra cards to decide the game, win or lose? And just how many cards are you going to discard to hand size that aren't surplus lands? What sort of very specific scenario are we talking about where it's turn 8 and you still have relevant cards in your hand that you can't cast?
They took a slow card, made it slower and then they gave it a legitimate drawback. Also, what is this turn 8 nonsense? I jam Phyrexian Arena on turn 1 off of Dark Ritual all the time. Have fun trying that with the Oil. Moreover, maybe your hand is empty by turn 8 but I'm the kind of person who sees absolutely no reason why you wouldn't play things like Rhystic Study and Syphon Mind in your multiplayer decks. If you routinely find yourself sandbagging spells and/or in topdeck mode then you're doing it wrong in my book. If you're content with what you have in play then you should be jamming something to re-stock your supplies and set-up for the lategame.
No-one's mentioned Combustible Gearhulk yet? What. A. Card.
T1 Goblin Welder, any 0-1CC artifact (hi there, Sol Ring).
T2 discard the Gearhulk, somehow anyhow, Welder it into play on T2 for wreckage.
T3+ keep swapping it.
Wow.
Disrupting opposing removal also seems really bad as a side effect if someone else has a must-kill card on the table that can't be answered because of the card.
You do realize that if you put 24x Swamp 4x Dark Ritual and 4x Arena in a deck in a format where you get a free mulligan that you'll routinely draw them both right for turn 1 right?
...whereas if you hadn't cast Captured by the Consulate, they would suddenly have the two kill spells required?
You're missing the point entirely. What happens if you Console a Shivan Dragon then someone slams a Consecrated Sphinx? Now the first "real" removal spell has to be wasted on a worthless critter while a game-winning bomb remains unchecked.
Why? Did you know that there are plenty of scenarios where Midnight Oil outperforms Rashmi, Eternities Crafter (which is apparently a god-tier A+++ instawin superbomb)?
Then show us a competitive Midnight Oil deck. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, are you?
Duplicant might be a touch better than Clone here....
Seriously, Panharmonican together with any EB effects is nuts. I'm still surprised this is even a card, let alone for such a low manacost.
It's not quite good enough. Shame, I kinda like the idea but the manacosting is a bit too high for what it does.
Even in the decks that might use this sort of effect I can think of, they have better options.
It looks perfect for my durdly multiplayer madness deck.
4 mana is basically the only way to make it fair. At 2 CMC it's broken as **** and gets played in everything. It would be way too good as a 3 mana 2/4 Dwarf so 4 CMC is the best way to make it playable without being oppressive.
This set keeps getting better and better. No we have Paradoxical Outcome which is nutty good in slower metas and Aetherflux Reservoir is going to be a competitive staple in EDH. As in, I'm going to be playing it in my cEDH decks as a "I'm playing to win at all costs" finisher. They literally printed another Storm card and it even works in mono-Blue and such. No idea what they were thinking with that one.
Shame about Noxious Gearhulk. I'm sad to see the Black creature of the cycle printed as unplayable trash.
I thought that Torrential Gearhulk was broken until I learned that it only recurs instants. Card is "fine" but not nearly as impressive as it could have been.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
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I agree. The last set was pretty decent too, after quite a long run of average ones.
What do you fellaz think of the new demon?
Demon of Dark Schemes is the best of the energy-counter cards I think, when you consider that black generally likes to kill their own creatures, this guy can generate energy counters in a hurry.
I've not seen a huge reason to care about energy counters yet.
It might wait until this one rotates...
Stellar 6 drop, especially compared to the ultra-disappointing Gearhulk. Worst-case scenario you get an Infest and (presumably) some E and assuming that you untap with him even once you should be able to recur 1-2 creatures on average. Otherwise the stats are solid, flying defense is always relevant and the card scales well into the lategame at which point it can start to recur Battlecruisers. As with every other "engine" (think Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet there's also going to plenty of occasions where the thing doesn't immediately perish at which point it will quickly seize control the game. I wouldn't rate it as highly as Massacre Wurm but you can't complain about 6 drops such as these.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Want to go even jankier? Turn it into a creature and give it lifelink.
This card looks like it could be useful. Land Ashnod's Altar...... etc.
Play against opponent storm deck. I like this guy
Ha ha - this is a good card!
Obviously this could fit into any deck with lots of good perms and a heavy creature count, like Lurking Predators.deck
But imagine this in a Bazaar Trader deck, with creatures you want to give people, like Steel Golem, Phyrexian Negator, Bronze bombshell, Rust Elemental etc.
I'm assuming sarcasm because... this wins for the worst rare I've seen in a long time. Your opponent may choose one of the cards.
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas Upgrades
You're joking right? You do realize that you can run 4x Homeward Path for "free" and Green is the color with things like Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying which can always fetch Gaea's Cradle in case you've already drawn a Path right? Worst-case scenario it's a tier 2 enabler that only sees some amount of "competitive" play.
Also:
Something that continues to baffle me is people's reluctance to enter in 2-horse races in a multiplayer setting. What's a 2-horse race you ask? Imagine that you're a jockey competing in the Kentucky Derby (the world's largest and most prestigious horse racing event). You're approached by a mysterious stranger and given the option to dope your horse in a completely undetectable way that won't harm it. Neither you nor your horse can possibly suffer negative consequences as the result of accepting this deal and this new "super drug" will leave you primed to crush your opposition in triumphant fashion. The catch? If you agree to the terms then one of your adversaries will also be doped with the same drug. Do you accept the terms? The answer is unquestionably "YES!" Assuming a baseline level of competition your chances of winning at a given event is roughly 1/N where N is the number of players. While the actual number will vary based on experience, technical ability, card pool and a host of additional factors it's virtually impossible to garner anything close to a "winning" record. Even if you're the strongest player with the best deck assuming that you're playing at your skill level you're never going to be heavily advantaged over the rest of the field. This has been proven countless times at the Grand Prix/Pro Tour level as even the winningest competitors can only boast roughly a ~65% win rate in the long-run. In that sense while it may seem crazy to suggest giving one of your opponents an immense advantage from a purely competitive standpoint it makes sense insofar as you're significantly bolstering your chances of succeeding. After all, while Magic is undeniably a game of skill there's also a fair amount of luck involved which means that experience and ability can only take you so far in the world of children's card games.
The most blatant example of a card that enables you to enter a 2-horse race is Trade Secrets. While it's never seen any form of competitive play it's mysteriously banned in EDH. Why? Well, more often than not when this card is cast 2 players (out of 4, 6, 8 or more!) are allowed to draw huge swaths of their deck if-not the entire thing. On the following turn the owner is typically capable of firing off any number of instant-win combos backed-up by cheap/free interaction such as Swan Song, Defense Grid, Counterspell, Mana Drain, Mindbreak Trap, Force of Will, Misdirection and Commandeer to seal the deal on the spot. Clearly they don't always "get there" (due to sufficient disruption/interaction) at which point the other player who draws ~75 cards on turn 2-3 usually does. After all, they too have likely assembled all of their combos and now have the ability to support them with their best protection. Far more often than not one of those players would go on to win the game which pushed far too many strategies (see: all other) out of the metagame.
What a lot of people fail to understand is that even if your opponent goes on to win 35% of the time and you only go on to win 30% of the time (i.e. neither of you win the remaining 35%) that's still absolutely amazing and you should always agree to enter that contract. The notion that you can walk into a 4, 6, 8+ player multiplayer game with a ~30% probability to win is completely absurd (again, assuming a baseline level of competition) and jumping from ~17% to ~30% by resolving a single spell is an oppressive leap. This illustrates exactly why this card had to be banned in EDH (the primary multiplayer format) and why it's so utterly ridiculous that no one's playing it casually. If you can double your chances of winning by resolving a single 3 CMC Sorcery then you take that deal each and every time. Furthermore, while I'm implying that your win % could theoretically be lower than that of the "other horse's" after resolving a card such as Trade Secrets in practice that's rarely-if-ever the case. Your deck will be the one specifically designed to abuse the the card(s) whereas the same will not always be true for each of your adversaries every game. There's often weak links, people who're down-and-out, someone testing a silly brew, on and and on. You can target anyone for any reason and assuming that you put a bit of thought into it then odds are you're going to set yourself up for a very easy win if you build your deck properly.
Knowing this you should be absolutely willing to enter 2-horse races if the situation presents itself. One of my favorites curves of all time is Carpet of Flowers into Intangible Virtue into Sylvan Offering where X = 3 or 4. While it's true that I'm putting 8 power across 5 bodies into play for one of my adversaries the 13 power that I create for myself gives me a huge edge over the others. All thing being equal I try to team up with that person to pick the others off (we do have 21 power across 10 bodies in play after all) and from there I'm more than happy to duke it out in the finals even if I had to help my opposition along the way. I don't see it as "I gave them 8 power that I now have to deal with," but rather "I secured my seat in the finals and will win a ton of games as a result." After all, he has the same incentive as I do to cooperate with me since a 50% chance to win sure beats 20%. While life isn't always that simple there's generally no reason to duke it out with the only person who can seriously hurt you when you're very far ahead. This is true for any resource management game and explains why you'll rarely see big stack poker players tangle with one another unless they're holding the nuts. Back to the topic at hand that is how you have to assess these extremely powerful cards that help target opponent as opposed to all opponents and explains why you should be totally willing to jam Trade Secrets et al. in a huge % of your decks. These are extremely degenerate cards with oppressive applications and you should be willing to abuse them when needed.
Oh and before anyone asks the fail-case on an early Trade Secrets is a 3 mana draw 4 that gives the worst player at the table 2 cards. I'd still play that card in 100% of my Blue decks regardless of the other text so even if I knew that none of my opponents would agree to "enter the contract" I'd still play it. The card is ridiculously overpowered in every sense and there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be playing with them in some of your decks. If you're trying to improve your overall performance and secure some easy wins a good place to start is a nice and easy 2-horse race as opposed to trying to slug it out with 3+ worthy adversaries.
Some "light" reading if you will.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I love the Offering cards but I can't love this. Homeward Path is great, yes, and Crop Rotation is awesome protection, but as good as green is at cheating valuable fatties into play, wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?
What does it matter whether anyone loves, likes, hates or despises a deck? The question that concerns me is whether or not it can win games. Homeward Path + (Brainstorm +) Dubious Challenge can enable you to jam things like Sire of Insanity + Progenitus into play on turn 3-4. I don't care whether or not it's the best Reanimator deck in the game as long as it's competitive enough to consistently win games of multiplayer Magic. I can live with it being tier 1.5-2 as millions of decks are weaker than that. If you don't like the card, that's fine, you're under no obligation to build it, but at the same time you can't sit here and argue that jamming Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and Archetype of Endurance into play on turn 3-4 isn't totally bonkers.
4x Homeward Path
4x Polluted Delta
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Breeding Pool
2x Hickory Woodlot
1x Saprazzan Skerry
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Island
1x Forest
1x Archetype of Endurance
4x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1x Progenitus
1x Worldspine Wurm
1x Blightsteel Colossus
4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells (26)
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
2x Crop Rotation
4x Nature's Lore
4x Dubious Challenge
4x Eureka
4x Misdirection
Something like this seems relatively competitive to me for example.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Dubious Challenge is good because you get to choose the 2 creatures to exile, and you get to pick your opponent/mark.
It doesn't have to be good for the opponent to choose the better of the two either, as they could choose either of the two creatures, but that Bane of Progress that kills their board position is coming down regardless (for example)
Green has access to Worldly Tutor (among others) to stack what you want on top.
"Look at the top ten cards of your library. Exile up to two creatures cards from among them, then shuffle your library. Target opponent may choose one of the exiled cards and put into the battlefield under his or her control. Put the rest onto the battlefield under your control."
Given the card says *the rest*, and doesn't specifically mention putting the un-chosen 8 back into the library, I think this card might start a few kitchen table debates. Of course I'm 100% sure that the 8 unchosen get shuffled, but you guys know how seriously some *special* people can take their MTG.
It doesn't. My point is that I'm not ignoring the "two-horse race" angle of this card, just that as a two-horse race card it is not inherently good. You cannot blindly jam it and net value.
I'm not saying you can't abuse it; in fact, I acknowledged that quite plainly.
It depends on how technical that you're trying to be. In a deck with 0 creatures this card objectively sucks 100% of the time. It innately requires creature-based support so it's impossible to argue that you can blindly jam it into any Green deck and extract decent value from it. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that it's good in 100% Green decks, merely that the card is playable-if-not-competitive when you're building with it in mind.
Where exactly did you plainly acknowledge that the card is powerful when it's being abused? When you said "... wouldn't you rather build around something that lets you stuff your deck with creatures that do something?" you're implying that the card isn't worth building around and there's no apparent disclaimer for oppressive/degenerate combo decks.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Midnight Oil ?
I'm not sure how to use this card. That's a lot of card draw, but that discard part? Anyone have any ideas how to use this, apart from bouncing this thing?
Underhanded Designs - not broken by any means, but this isn't bad at all.
Color-fixing; not ramp.
I'd say "donate them to charity" but then I'd feel bad for the poor saps stuck playing them. It's so bad that it's not even good in the Donate deck :/.
It's pretty bad :P. Conditional, costs mana, only gains 1 life total per activation, marginal 1-for-1 interaction, etc. The best use for this card is to dissuade attacks assuming that you're not one of those people who will show people that you have the Snuff Out (or whatever) if they seem like they might attack you.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
They took a slow card, made it slower and then they gave it a legitimate drawback. Also, what is this turn 8 nonsense? I jam Phyrexian Arena on turn 1 off of Dark Ritual all the time. Have fun trying that with the Oil. Moreover, maybe your hand is empty by turn 8 but I'm the kind of person who sees absolutely no reason why you wouldn't play things like Rhystic Study and Syphon Mind in your multiplayer decks. If you routinely find yourself sandbagging spells and/or in topdeck mode then you're doing it wrong in my book. If you're content with what you have in play then you should be jamming something to re-stock your supplies and set-up for the lategame.
4 mana, Sorcery speed, conditional, 1-for-1 removal that doesn't immediately answer game-winning threats. 'Nuff said.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
T1 Goblin Welder, any 0-1CC artifact (hi there, Sol Ring).
T2 discard the Gearhulk, somehow anyhow, Welder it into play on T2 for wreckage.
T3+ keep swapping it.
Wow.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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Midnight Oil is simply unplayable.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
You do realize that if you put 24x Swamp 4x Dark Ritual and 4x Arena in a deck in a format where you get a free mulligan that you'll routinely draw them both right for turn 1 right?
Because Nature's Claim et al. are all cards. Also, what if the creature is a Conq Sphinx or a Jin Gitaxias that doesn't need to attack?
You're missing the point entirely. What happens if you Console a Shivan Dragon then someone slams a Consecrated Sphinx? Now the first "real" removal spell has to be wasted on a worthless critter while a game-winning bomb remains unchecked.
Then show us a competitive Midnight Oil deck. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, are you?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold