I love to love this card back in the day, I've always been a black player and a big fat regeneration creature that hits for 6 for three was lovely when I was first starting.
These days he just doesn't make the cut unfortunately, I would run it in a weird clone.deck with rite of replication though.
You play it alongside cards that prevents the opponent from gaining life like Erebos, God of the Dead, that will keep the 6 life gone for good and allows for blinking shenanigans.
Captain of the Watch especially, since they both cost 4WW, while Armada Wurm is what I call a "square" (two mana in two colors). Again, it can be useful with Alesha, I guess, but outside of Alesha, there are so many better options. As you add more colors, it really becomes easier to cast Trostani's Summoner. Even in Alesha, there are better options.
A rather superior version of the classic Ancient Silverback colorshifted to black. This thing can beat face, but life totals are too comfortable in this format for him to be a massive threat or be considered a finisher.
Also, regarding potential abuse of Champion's triggers (sacrificing it in response to its ETB trigger), it won't work. A lot of nightmare-style trigger pairs are abusable this way because they move a card from one zone to another. If the trigger to move the card back resolves first, it can't because that hasn't happened yet. However, with Laquatus's Champion sacrificing it in response to the ETB trigger means you've already chosen the target and the card knows who "that player" is. The would gain 6, then lose 6.
I tried the Champ in an early version of my Mono Black reanimator deck for nostalgic reasons, it was pretty underwhelming. Having 40 life is too much of a cushion for it to be effective. Only having a 3 toughness was also hindered it, despite being able to regenerate it still dies to a lot of common removal line Black Sun's Zenith and even Last Gasp which sees far less play than BSZ.
Overall is say it was a 1.5/5. Cost is too high to hard cast, life drain is too low to be much help and 6/3 with regenerate just doesn't hold up well in a format that has a plethora of easy ways to drop that 3 toughness to zero for very little opportunity cost.
I want to love this, as Torment is one of my favorite sets and one of the few I own a full set of, but as folks have said it hasn't aged well. For pure nostalgia it's a 10/10, but for power the power creep has been real and even 5 years ago this thing was already outgunned. Traditionally a midrange-y monoblack deck runs what, five or six six-drops? I did think about it in my Rakdos, Lord of Riots list (since he effectively "pays for himself" with Rakdos out and that deck runs an above-average number of six drops) but even there it was just too weak compared to cards that are more resilient (Wurmcoil Engine) or that generate more value (Oblivion Sower, Ink-eyes, Servant of Oni, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Combustible Gearhulk, Duplicant, Harvester of Souls, Massacre Wurm, Triskelion, Inferno Titan)
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I'm not gonna make a Portal joke. Nope. Not gonna do it. You all do it. I won't.
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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.
I started learning to play when Saga came out, and remember being tickled by the sheer Value of this card even as a noob. It's hard to imagine why this is only played in 343 decks on EDHRECS - it is effectively 5 mana to "Draw a card", but possibly it also nets you a huge mana discount. Obviously the fact you can't stack the deck and cheat with stuff is a hit against it, but I know that for the good of all of us (except the ones who are dead), I will be digging out my old copies of this bad boy and adding them to a few non-Blue decks that need to dig deeper. For science!
EDIT: Seriously, I am so sad I forgot about this card. In addition to being good value, it is also a Portal-creating artifact with "Aperture" in its name! I mean, who doesn't love the Aperture Science song? Heartless monsters, that's who.
Intet, the Dreamer obviously references this card, but without the shuffle because that gets annoying. (Same reason Rebels are so high on the storm scale.)
The shuffle also keeps this card from really broken in EDH. I mean, it's never bad, but impulse-drawing a land or a counterspell (except, I guess, something like Izzet Charm) or something like Haze Frog isn't really what I want to do with this card, and you can't really set up a combo with it. The fairness actually makes it seem really out of place in Urza's Saga.
7/10
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
This is a good solid card. It often goes under the radar until you shuffle an Ulamog, the infinite Gyre to the top or something. You have to do it on your turn, and it helps if you haven't played a land yet, but otherwise a lot better than most Jayemdae Tome variants. You don't even lose a lot if your opponent uses a removal spell on it because the initial cost of the artifact is so low.
Always offer your opponent to cut after your shuffle. Normally it's about common decency, but with this card you're going to flip some nasty buggers, and you want your opponent to feel responsible.
SUCH a fun card. And as stated, the random nature of this makes it fair. My love for unpredictable games makes this a card I wish I had more copies of. Even having it in only one deck at present, it's still never a card I'm unhappy to make the most of.
This is one of my all time favorite MtG cards. The flavor, the nostalgia and memories of playing this in mono-red brown artifacts at the time Saga came out, and the feeling of excitement and anticipation when you are about to reveal the top card hoping to cheat something awesome and possibly clutch a game, just makes Temporal Aperture so much damn fun. It is the perfect balance between silly fun and a powerful effect. I have lived the dream and copied Temporal Aperture with Mirrorworks and friends, and had 6 Temporal Apertures and went to town with a boatload of mana each turn. So awesome 10/10.
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"People are the worst. The worst thing about music is that people play it." - Mike Patton
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.
But if you are playing it 'fairly', you are incentivized to play no artifacts or enchantments.
Then, it can get political, but if your opponents are smart, they will target Act of Authority with the ability.
It has been close to making some of my decks but I always imagine people exiling my mana ramp.
I like that it entering is fine value. And then you have options beyond that. Its great if you are running an enchantress deck because you might draw cards from playing it and you might run things to put it back into play in a situation that its ETB would be useful such as Open the Vaults.
Its cool if you can bounce it too. There are a number of things that can do that these days.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
But if you are playing it 'fairly', you are incentivized to play no artifacts or enchantments.
Then, it can get political, but if your opponents are smart, they will target Act of Authority with the ability.
Targeting Act of Authority with its own trigger is almost never the smart play. Holding on to it until there's a dangerous artifact or enchantment that needs to get answered is the smart play.
These days he just doesn't make the cut unfortunately, I would run it in a weird clone.deck with rite of replication though.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Tbf. Geist-Honoured Monk could be "Aleshable". Pending board state.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsShu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
This plus Tainted Remedy could be brutal. I'm tempted to run Champion for fun since I already want to slot in Mesmeric Fiend and Faceless Butcher.
Also, regarding potential abuse of Champion's triggers (sacrificing it in response to its ETB trigger), it won't work. A lot of nightmare-style trigger pairs are abusable this way because they move a card from one zone to another. If the trigger to move the card back resolves first, it can't because that hasn't happened yet. However, with Laquatus's Champion sacrificing it in response to the ETB trigger means you've already chosen the target and the card knows who "that player" is. The would gain 6, then lose 6.
old thread
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R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
Overall is say it was a 1.5/5. Cost is too high to hard cast, life drain is too low to be much help and 6/3 with regenerate just doesn't hold up well in a format that has a plethora of easy ways to drop that 3 toughness to zero for very little opportunity cost.
amazingly epic sig courtesy of DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Planes.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I'm not gonna make a Portal joke. Nope. Not gonna do it. You all do it. I won't.
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.
EDIT: Seriously, I am so sad I forgot about this card. In addition to being good value, it is also a Portal-creating artifact with "Aperture" in its name! I mean, who doesn't love the Aperture Science song? Heartless monsters, that's who.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
The shuffle also keeps this card from really broken in EDH. I mean, it's never bad, but impulse-drawing a land or a counterspell (except, I guess, something like Izzet Charm) or something like Haze Frog isn't really what I want to do with this card, and you can't really set up a combo with it. The fairness actually makes it seem really out of place in Urza's Saga.
7/10
On phasing:
Always offer your opponent to cut after your shuffle. Normally it's about common decency, but with this card you're going to flip some nasty buggers, and you want your opponent to feel responsible.
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.
Also great if you want to get political at the table.
If you can flicker it, it is definitely great.
But if you are playing it 'fairly', you are incentivized to play no artifacts or enchantments.
Then, it can get political, but if your opponents are smart, they will target Act of Authority with the ability.
It has been close to making some of my decks but I always imagine people exiling my mana ramp.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
You only have to worry about exiling your own stuff, if you actually pass control.
Daxos and Skybind get to abuse it.
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
Its cool if you can bounce it too. There are a number of things that can do that these days.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)