I've only played this card in Magic Duels (in a Sultai control deck). It was pretty strong, even as a singleton (mythics are 1-ofs in Duels), although when they broke it (only the untap mode did anything) I took it out of my deck for obvious reasons. I think they've fixed it since, but I never got around to playing with it again.
I don't know. "Counter target noncreature spell unless an opponent pays 2." can be a huge rattlesnake. Obviously it's not that good against storm, but it can be good against everything else. The other modes aren't as good, but can be occasionally useful.
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!
The problem with the card is that if you are running enough Instants/Sorceries to make it really useful..you are probably running Kess or some other way to cast spells again.
I've always hated this card. its a weak body for its cost, and while its abilities can be effective the combination of paying mana and having to exile instants or sorceries from you yard limits its potential severely. There will be times when you get value from it, but too often its just too weak. It's counter effect is the best part about it, but you only get to use it what, once or twice before you run out of cards in your yard? Its got great potential to keep people from casting key cards so long as you have the mana and the spells in yard, but once you actually have to fire it off, well. And that precludes you from using its other, very weak abilities. Every once in awhile, under the right circumstances, they will come in handy, and I give it points for the flexibility, but at the end of the day its abilities are too weak to justify the cost, which needs to be built around. You have to be in a spellslinger deck, and those decks are already cutting better cards than this. Its a 5 mana 3/4 with mediocre abilities that has to be aggressively built around to function well enough to even be considered, and which gets shut down by graveyard hate, which is important because a lot of graveyard hate hits everyone, and is widely played due to the presence of far superior graveyard strategies. If I'm relying on the graveyard, I want to be generating a lot more value than this does or using it to win the game, simply due to the likelihood of running into hate, and even though this is too weak to hate out it gets hit with splash damage.
Sucked in draft, sucks in all formats. I'm not sure if it sucked in its standard, but given that you could get it for a quarter on modo it probably did.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Most decks that care that much about instant and sorceries probably don't want to be exiling them from the yard because they want to cast them at least once more.
She's pretty solid. I probably run more creature-tapping cards than a lot of people (Court Street Denizen with instant speed token generation, Icy Manipulator) so I've gained respect for it, and if you're doing nothing with your graveyard it's a way to expend that resource. Having your deck use your graveyard this way also makes you less susceptible to Rest in Peace effects than someone planning to pump a lot of value into reusing spells from the grave.
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 card is 100% trash imo, even in mono-black voltron decks. It has 29 appearences on EDHRec, mostly in Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon lists, and there it makes sense but is much worse than Shade's Form, Nightmare Lash, and Lashwrithe despite the loewr mana cost. Buuuut, I think it makes for another good "Oddly Specific Top 10" list: Top 10 Black Voltron Auras for 2 mana or less!
We don't see a ton of black auras see play, mostly because Monoblack doesn't need to do voltron when it can do Sorin Markov, Torment of Hailfire for one billion, or the Mikaeus the Unhallowed + Triskelion whammy, or the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond connection, or the Vengeful Dead + Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar engine - basically, black has a ton of ways to kill people without ever having to declare combat, and even more ways to rapidly drop people into single digits. There aren't many Bxy commanders with Hexproof or Shroud or Indestructible, either, meaning the incentive to voltron out is limited. Even for voltron lists, we tend to see an emphasis on equipment cards since equipment are generally more powerful and reusable and mana is no issue for the black deck. Black also has Hatred for all its Voltron needs.
Still, what if you were going to try to play a heavy amount of auras in a Bx list with the intent of voltron killing folks?
HM: Eternal Thirst - this is played in a lot of decks on EDHRecs (a lot is 775, but that beats almost every single card I'm about to list), and I certainly understand the appeal, but it is slow and limited it to only your opponents creatures hurts. I imagine almost all Voltron decks could do better if they thought about it.
10. Dark Favor - +3/+1 is a big power boost, and can make a small commander lethal. The life cost is irrelevant.
9. Grave Servitude - +3/-1 and instant speed potential make this slightly better than Dark Favor...
8. Sinister Strength - but honestly if I'm running an aura like this for a big power boost, I prefer no drawback at all. I imagine it's purely due to more recent printings that this card is not as played on EDHrecs as Dark Favor, but that seems like a mistake.
7. Sadistic Glee - in a deck with the usual sacrifice engines, this can cause a creature to grow out of control in a hurry. Admittedly that makes it a bad Blade of the Bloodchief but redundancy is good.
6. Strange Augmentation - It takes some hoops, but if you fulfill them this is +3/+3 for one black.
5. Predator's Gambit - +2/+1 and evasion for one black in any deck that is going solo with their commander. Can be strong in the right set-up.
4. Phyresis - Infect is very powerful, and while it's better as a surprise via Tainted Strike (and there's a better aura up the list), it can be a nasty way to kill people for a Black Voltron deck.
3. Dragon Shadow - Rancor it ain't, but +1/+0 is nice and the recursion ability can be relevant. Fear is also occasionally relevant. There aren't a ton of commanders I'd use this with, but there's just enough that its worth mentioning. Volrath the Fallen, Ishan's Shade, and any other 6+ CMC black Voltron commander would do well to consider this.
2. Rime Transfusion - This card don't get near enough respect. If you are monoblack, there's little reason not to run a snow mana base (other than cost and lack of full-art lands), and in that list this can take a 5-power general into the great blackjack zone AND make them more or less impossible to block.
1. Glistening Oil - a versatile, recurrable card that can kill utility dorks, feed The Scorpion God, and give stuff infect? Great aura for Voltron cards that can fill many other functions.
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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
The one thing in its favor is that given how easy it is to generate black mana in mono black, it can turn even the most unassuming commander into a voltron.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It's not exactly a corner case, though I would still prefer just Lashwrithe or Nightmare Lash first.
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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!
If I want this effect, it means I've plenty of mana. In which case, I'd pretty much always be happy to pay the 1 extra for Shade's Form. And I can't really see me wanting a backup.
I think this is the best use for Shsde's Form. It is a very niche use but isn't that why we play edh?
Well my Gonti Deck is all about ETB effects, and It has Cabal Coffers, Thespian Stage, and Vesuva..so it can trigger an ETB effect that I need again, or it can give Gonti a way to Voltron.
I think he is consuming an oni(demon) summoned using a ritual that involved those hands.
Kamigawa spell casting in general had some real strange points, which is what Made it fun. Toshiro Umezawa's spellcasting in particular was fantastically cool if not remotely efficient.
The Kamigawa Dragons all have badass art, and in my personal opinion, Jugan ranks second only behind Kokusho.
That said, Jugan is also the worst of the 5. Kokusho is a black semi-staple, Yosei is mean in control strategies, Keiga is a decent threat who can turn the tide upon death and while Ryusei isn't exactly great, it's still a boardwipe in a pinch. Jugan...yeah. The 5 +1+1 counters just don't often tend to do much, and it just tends to make another creature into a juicy removal target.
It is one of the rare mono-green fliers though.
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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 mean, I probably should get him for my Karador Spirit Tribal.. The triple green is the most frustrating part. The only one in the cycle to be that colour intensive.
It is 5 counters for Sage of Hours if you have a way to loop it.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
It also enables Charmbreaker Devils/Time Warp.
On phasing:
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
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
Sucked in draft, sucks in all formats. I'm not sure if it sucked in its standard, but given that you could get it for a quarter on modo it probably did.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Gives your creature Shadeform...eh...
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.
We don't see a ton of black auras see play, mostly because Monoblack doesn't need to do voltron when it can do Sorin Markov, Torment of Hailfire for one billion, or the Mikaeus the Unhallowed + Triskelion whammy, or the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond connection, or the Vengeful Dead + Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar engine - basically, black has a ton of ways to kill people without ever having to declare combat, and even more ways to rapidly drop people into single digits. There aren't many Bxy commanders with Hexproof or Shroud or Indestructible, either, meaning the incentive to voltron out is limited. Even for voltron lists, we tend to see an emphasis on equipment cards since equipment are generally more powerful and reusable and mana is no issue for the black deck. Black also has Hatred for all its Voltron needs.
Still, what if you were going to try to play a heavy amount of auras in a Bx list with the intent of voltron killing folks?
HM: Eternal Thirst - this is played in a lot of decks on EDHRecs (a lot is 775, but that beats almost every single card I'm about to list), and I certainly understand the appeal, but it is slow and limited it to only your opponents creatures hurts. I imagine almost all Voltron decks could do better if they thought about it.
10. Dark Favor - +3/+1 is a big power boost, and can make a small commander lethal. The life cost is irrelevant.
9. Grave Servitude - +3/-1 and instant speed potential make this slightly better than Dark Favor...
8. Sinister Strength - but honestly if I'm running an aura like this for a big power boost, I prefer no drawback at all. I imagine it's purely due to more recent printings that this card is not as played on EDHrecs as Dark Favor, but that seems like a mistake.
7. Sadistic Glee - in a deck with the usual sacrifice engines, this can cause a creature to grow out of control in a hurry. Admittedly that makes it a bad Blade of the Bloodchief but redundancy is good.
6. Strange Augmentation - It takes some hoops, but if you fulfill them this is +3/+3 for one black.
5. Predator's Gambit - +2/+1 and evasion for one black in any deck that is going solo with their commander. Can be strong in the right set-up.
4. Phyresis - Infect is very powerful, and while it's better as a surprise via Tainted Strike (and there's a better aura up the list), it can be a nasty way to kill people for a Black Voltron deck.
3. Dragon Shadow - Rancor it ain't, but +1/+0 is nice and the recursion ability can be relevant. Fear is also occasionally relevant. There aren't a ton of commanders I'd use this with, but there's just enough that its worth mentioning. Volrath the Fallen, Ishan's Shade, and any other 6+ CMC black Voltron commander would do well to consider this.
2. Rime Transfusion - This card don't get near enough respect. If you are monoblack, there's little reason not to run a snow mana base (other than cost and lack of full-art lands), and in that list this can take a 5-power general into the great blackjack zone AND make them more or less impossible to block.
1. Glistening Oil - a versatile, recurrable card that can kill utility dorks, feed The Scorpion God, and give stuff infect? Great aura for Voltron cards that can fill many other functions.
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
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Anyway, this basically has one thing over Nightmare Lash/Lashwrithe, and that is a few non-swamp sources of black mana:
Doublers
Bubbling Muck
Cabal Coffers
Caged Sun
Crypt Ghast
Magus of the Coffers
Nirkana Revenant
Others
Black Market
Bog Witch
Bojuka Bog
Crypt of Agadeem
Dark Ritual
Songs of the Damned
And of course, mana rocks. Being in black, you can at least consider Charcoal Diamond, Coldsteel Heart, and Darksteel Ingot (as insurance against wipes).
It's not exactly a corner case, though I would still prefer just Lashwrithe or Nightmare Lash first.
On phasing:
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
amazingly epic sig courtesy of DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Planes.
Well my Gonti Deck is all about ETB effects, and It has Cabal Coffers, Thespian Stage, and Vesuva..so it can trigger an ETB effect that I need again, or it can give Gonti a way to Voltron.
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
I think he is consuming an oni(demon) summoned using a ritual that involved those hands.
Kamigawa spell casting in general had some real strange points, which is what Made it fun. Toshiro Umezawa's spellcasting in particular was fantastically cool if not remotely efficient.
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
Unspeakable Symbol is a decent enchantment in place of auras, lifelink strategies, and +1/+1 counter support.
The Kamigawa Dragons all have badass art, and in my personal opinion, Jugan ranks second only behind Kokusho.
That said, Jugan is also the worst of the 5. Kokusho is a black semi-staple, Yosei is mean in control strategies, Keiga is a decent threat who can turn the tide upon death and while Ryusei isn't exactly great, it's still a boardwipe in a pinch. Jugan...yeah. The 5 +1+1 counters just don't often tend to do much, and it just tends to make another creature into a juicy removal target.
It is one of the rare mono-green fliers though.
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.
It is 5 counters for Sage of Hours if you have a way to loop it.
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
It te winner for the best home in edh is Skullbriar, the Walking Grave because his +1/+1 stay forever even in the command zone