This card along with its extra combat brothers is straight up broken with Yidris, Maelstrom Weilder. There are also certainly enough worthwhile creatures that make the “untap 1” clause a minor hurdle.
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EDH Pantheon UBRG Yidris, Eye of the Storm WBR Kaalia, Herald of Apocalypse UBG Damia, Sage of Nightmare WBG Karador, the Bridge Between WU Grand Warden Augustin IV RG Omnath, Locus of Awakening BG Nath Addict UR Niv Mizzet, Brain Aflame B Kokusho, the Mourning Star U Memnarch is All
Goes well in voltron type decks in general - outside of Finest Hour it's probably the best extra combat spell for the decks where you're only swinging with one creature.
Particular synergies with Xenagos, God of Revels (hit for 14x base damage) and Neheb, the Eternal (gives you increasing amount of mana each main phase, part of which can be used to pay for this) along with any mass vigilance enablers, which turn this into a flashbackable Relentless Assault.
If you could combine mass vigilance with Zada, Hedron Grinder, this would be disgusting, but off the top of my head I can't think of ways to do that in mono-red (Akroma's Memorial gives prot/red), so thats probably just for those odd General Tazri 5-colour Zada decks.
Wait, doesn't this target? Targeting Zada would untap your whole team. Of course you'd need vigilance to take advantage of all the extra phases beyond the first, but she still makes it a flashback able relentless assault as it is.
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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!
Goes well in voltron type decks in general - outside of Finest Hour it's probably the best extra combat spell for the decks where you're only swinging with one creature.
Particular synergies with Xenagos, God of Revels (hit for 14x base damage) and Neheb, the Eternal (gives you increasing amount of mana each main phase, part of which can be used to pay for this) along with any mass vigilance enablers, which turn this into a flashbackable Relentless Assault.
If you could combine mass vigilance with Zada, Hedron Grinder, this would be disgusting, but off the top of my head I can't think of ways to do that in mono-red (Akroma's Memorial gives prot/red), so thats probably just for those odd General Tazri 5-colour Zada decks.
Wait, doesn't this target? Targeting Zada would untap your whole team. Of course you'd need vigilance to take advantage of all the extra phases beyond the first, but she still makes it a flashback able relentless assault as it is.
Yeah, it's still good in Zada, but vigilance would make it absolutely ridiculous
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!
I run it in my crap cube, where it can kill players. I have an aura theme in it, and its not horrible to stick it on someone's cobbled together 8/10 then pull the trigger on an overcosted kill spell, or to attack into a Wall of Stone with a weenie, only to follow up with this and Crushing Pain 2nd main phase.
I Commander though, there may be a use for this, but I doubt its something worth doing. I mean, you can Sun Titan it for multiple uses, and there are definitely plenty of juicy targets for it, but its a lot of setup, not reliable, and doesn't effect the board. Sticking this on someone's 35/35 Hamletback Goliath before hitting it with Terminate would be the sort of play EDH was made for, but I don't see how to make it reliable enough to be worth it. Though, maybe in a deck that has a lot of ways to make other people's dudes bigger as a cost, like Orzhov Advokist, and spot removal? Something political, like "here's a big dude that I'll kill if you attack me with it"? Again, a bunch of possibilities, but none of them are both good enough and reliable enough to make it worthwhile.
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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!
Nothing beats assembling a 4 card combo just to knock out one guy.
"At last, all my pieces have been assembled, now you will all witness the full power of the '**** You Gary' combo!"
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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!
This is a card I could easily see in black or red. But never blue.
Also, "is destroyed" at the time would probably mean damage or sacrificing (including edicting, had it existed back then) couldn't do it, only effects which say destroy.
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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!
Also, "is destroyed" at the time would probably mean damage or sacrificing (including edicting, had it existed back then) couldn't do it, only effects which say destroy.
It was changed to "placed in the graveyard" in Revised. I don't know that the distinction between "destroy" and "sacrifice" had really been worked out before that. That said, the Alpha rulebook does say
If the damage done to the creature in one turn is equal to or greater than its toughness, the creature is destroyed and must be put into the graveyard.
so it certainly would've worked with damage at least.
Edit: Reading further into the Alpha rulebook, it does specifically call out that you can regenerate from destruction but not sacrifice, so it's plausible that indeed sacrifice wouldn't trigger creature bond.
Was tech against buyback in Capsize block but here I don't see much benefit over the myriad of free sacrifice outlets available. Now Apes of Rath? That's a playable pun. I mean, card. Well, okay, not really, but the PUN.
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!
For creatures, sure, but when you want to counter that Flowstone Flood or Mind Games so that it doesn't return to your opponent's hand, you need a more versatile sac outlet like Claws of Gix or the rats here that hits more than just creatures. And in block constructed that doesn't leave you with much.
This was semi decent tech in limited. I drafted a lot of Tempest block in mtgo, and nerfing buyback was sometimes legit. The fact was a 2/1 for 2 in black with upside was decent enough to run. You'd just play it as a cheap critter on curve then occasionally get use out of the ability to nerf buyback and weaken certain effects. Sacrifice effects weren't as common and this hit more than creatures.
Also, slivers. Real slivers share abilities with all slivers, not just your own. If your Sliver became a liability, say winged Sliver giving your opponents slivers flying, you could kill it.
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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!
This is making me realize that I really don't understand pre-Sixth rules because I would've assumed that it would have to say "play as an interrupt" to be able to fizzle spells like that.
This was semi decent tech in limited. I drafted a lot of Tempest block in mtgo, and nerfing buyback was sometimes legit. The fact was a 2/1 for 2 in black with upside was decent enough to run. You'd just play it as a cheap critter on curve then occasionally get use out of the ability to nerf buyback and weaken certain effects. Sacrifice effects weren't as common and this hit more than creatures.
Also, slivers. Real slivers share abilities with all slivers, not just your own. If your Sliver became a liability, say winged Sliver giving your opponents slivers flying, you could kill it.
Pretty much this. Sometimes you have to view the card in the environment it was born in.
I used it in an early attempt to build a Black Weenie rats deck. Rats were hard to come by pre-Tempest so you had to work with what you had. The problem with Weenie decks in those days was keeping your hand filled. I used Howling Mine to fill my hand but the opponent might shatter my Icy Manipulator so Rats got rid of the Mine to keep it under control. I also had a Demonic Hordeand I had to be sure I had a sack outlet to keep it under control as well. Sinkhole or Strip Mine was good, but sometimes repeatable land destruction is awesome.
Most times though. I just used it to beef up Pestilence Rats.
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Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
UBRG Yidris, Eye of the Storm
WBR Kaalia, Herald of Apocalypse
UBG Damia, Sage of Nightmare
WBG Karador, the Bridge Between
WU Grand Warden Augustin IV
RG Omnath, Locus of Awakening
BG Nath Addict
UR Niv Mizzet, Brain Aflame
B Kokusho, the Mourning Star
U Memnarch is All
Wait, doesn't this target? Targeting Zada would untap your whole team. Of course you'd need vigilance to take advantage of all the extra phases beyond the first, but she still makes it a flashback able relentless assault as it is.
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!
Shu 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
I had great fun with it in a Tibor and Lumia voltron/spellslinger deck.
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Yeah, it's still good in Zada, but vigilance would make it absolutely ridiculous
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.
Voltron
Zada, Hedron Grinder (where it is hilarious, may I add?)
Decks which feature something like Heliod, God of the Sun or Akroma's Memorial or Captain of the Watch or Brave the Sands or Angelic Field Marshal
Yeah, I think I have a few options, though most of the time, I would prefer Relentless Assault, Savage Beating, and Aggravated Assault. Hell, there's even World at War for exactly two uses. If I'm in red/white, there's even Waves of Aggression.
On phasing:
Another weird old card. Zedruu, Serra Avatar, Wrath of God?
I Commander though, there may be a use for this, but I doubt its something worth doing. I mean, you can Sun Titan it for multiple uses, and there are definitely plenty of juicy targets for it, but its a lot of setup, not reliable, and doesn't effect the board. Sticking this on someone's 35/35 Hamletback Goliath before hitting it with Terminate would be the sort of play EDH was made for, but I don't see how to make it reliable enough to be worth it. Though, maybe in a deck that has a lot of ways to make other people's dudes bigger as a cost, like Orzhov Advokist, and spot removal? Something political, like "here's a big dude that I'll kill if you attack me with it"? Again, a bunch of possibilities, but none of them are both good enough and reliable enough to make it worthwhile.
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!
Nothing beats assembling a 4 card combo just to knock out one guy.
"At last, all my pieces have been assembled, now you will all witness the full power of the '**** You Gary' combo!"
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!
Also, "is destroyed" at the time would probably mean damage or sacrificing (including edicting, had it existed back then) couldn't do it, only effects which say destroy.
On phasing:
so it certainly would've worked with damage at least.
Edit: Reading further into the Alpha rulebook, it does specifically call out that you can regenerate from destruction but not sacrifice, so it's plausible that indeed sacrifice wouldn't trigger creature bond.
Well, it's like a sac outlet. I'm sure there's mileage to be had there.
Today, of course, the flavor text makes me think of a better option. Back then, though, I guess we had
Diamond Valley
Gate to Phyrexia
Ashnod's Altar
Fallen Angel
Ebon Praetor
Krovikan Horror
Altar of Dementia
Hey, Altar of Dementia is better all around.
On phasing:
Also, slivers. Real slivers share abilities with all slivers, not just your own. If your Sliver became a liability, say winged Sliver giving your opponents slivers flying, you could kill it.
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!
Pretty much this. Sometimes you have to view the card in the environment it was born in.
I used it in an early attempt to build a Black Weenie rats deck. Rats were hard to come by pre-Tempest so you had to work with what you had. The problem with Weenie decks in those days was keeping your hand filled. I used Howling Mine to fill my hand but the opponent might shatter my Icy Manipulator so Rats got rid of the Mine to keep it under control. I also had a Demonic Hordeand I had to be sure I had a sack outlet to keep it under control as well. Sinkhole or Strip Mine was good, but sometimes repeatable land destruction is awesome.
Most times though. I just used it to beef up Pestilence Rats.