Lovely one. i play iy in my Brion Stoutarm deck along most of the versions for the effect (I even play evangelize and debt of loyalty) and this is one of the nastiest ones. The instant speed makew a big difference
Unconditional three-mana instant Threaten. Yeah, I'd say it's the best one-shot Threaten in the game except as a combo piece. (I'm excluding ones like Overtaker, Dominus of Fealty, and Yasova Dragonclaw just because they're not one-shots, so it's a whole other discussion.)
And it's so nice for Urabrask's faction to show up to finish infecting the people of Mirrodin once the war's over. I guess that's why they call him "the hidden".
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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'm not wild about any X-mana counterspell because in EDH you'll need to pay a lot to hit anyone who plans around it and it's only good early while something like Counterspell and Swan Song and Arcane Denial is good all game long against all targets. I'd consider this worse than Condescend if I WAS going to run a counter like this (in, say, Baral or Vendilion Clique or Talrand), but probably more powerful than anything else except maybe Spell Burst. It is a great way to decisively win a control war if you have a big stack of mana.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Well the nice thing about Power Sink is that planning around it is a little harder than most counterspells. You can't just bait it out with something that you don't care about and then play the important thing after it gets countered.
That said, I agree that X-counterspells aren't the best here. It can be hard to actually counter something with them without tapping out completely and potentially leaving yourself vulnerable for several other players' turns.
I can agree with the points made here, but forcing the countered player to pay the extra mana is still a big win, and could be the difference between having them machine gun their combo or fart out one more little cantrip. And being unable to really bait it out for your advantage is also points in its favor as well...
Still, it's not nearly as powerful as the hard counters, and almost necessitates a ramped pool to draw from in order to make it good...Simic decks?
Additionally, I can't resist posting the rough draft art for Power Sink...(second panel)
I think Power Sink is okay, but doesn't work as well in multiplayer. It's a lot like Time Stop with fewer applications. It's also like a Render Silent that also taps them out. It's kind of a trump card in counter wars, really forces your opponent's hand on their turn, freeing you up on your turn. What it is not, is efficient.
Power Sink and Spell Burst were all-stars in my storm/combo Mizzix of the Izmagnus deck. For a U (maybe a bit more earlier in the game) you can shut down a player for a turn. Other than that deck, It'd be hard to run it due to how big X needs to be often enough, maybe in Kruphix where you can bank mana.
Power Sink and Spell Burst were all-stars in my storm/combo Mizzix of the Izmagnus deck. For a U (maybe a bit more earlier in the game) you can shut down a player for a turn. Other than that deck, It'd be hard to run it due to how big X needs to be often enough, maybe in Kruphix where you can bank mana.
I was going to say the same... so let me echoo those thoughts as well right here:
In Mizzix, X counter spells are really nice for several obvious reasons:
They will always give you an experience counter.
You almost always cast them for only colored mana and do not have to add to the X, though you can if you wish.
Most of the deck is played at instant speed, so you are not just holding mana up for counters. The truth is that you really wanted to chain together a series of spells which let you dig through your library.
In Mizix, counterspells are normally used to protect your commander and your spells rather than trying to play permission control.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Yeah Mizzix is certainly an exception to X-counters not being optimal.
I'd forgotten that Render Silent existed but that's exactly the card that Power Sink does an (often poor) impression of, at least against decks that operate mostly at sorcery speed. Of course it requires white mana. Time Stop at least has the downside of costing six mana while Power Sink can often be cheaper than that. Though it obviously has other upsides.
I think Power Sink is okay, but doesn't work as well in multiplayer. It's a lot like Time Stop with fewer applications. It's also like a Render Silent that also taps them out. It's kind of a trump card in counter wars, really forces your opponent's hand on their turn, freeing you up on your turn. What it is not, is efficient.
It's really a combination Clash of Wills/Mana Short, though the Mana Short only applies if you don't pay the rhystic.
(In fact, that's pretty much how the Oracle text parses. Though you must pay the rhystic, so...)
It can be useful in Stax decks (particularly decks running Winter Orb and friends), but probably not as useful as Mana Short itself. Mostly if your opponent's incompetent enough to say "Now I have enough mana, I'll just play something!" (and not considering Force Spike and friends as a possibility, srsly, you see I have a Winter Orb out and I play Daze, then Mana Leak, you should know something's up) you can get a counter and a slightly cheaper Mana Short.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Being a Hill Giant with a decent enough positive ability is still a good place to be for most draft formats. Grey Ogre not so much. Fifth Edition Hill Giant is randomly a babe.
Being a Hill Giant with a decent enough positive ability is still a good place to be for most draft formats. Grey Ogre not so much.
A Gray Ogre with a relevant removal ability, e.g. Uktabi Orangutan or reprints/colorshifts in an artifact-heavy set, would probably be a first pick in a draft. But that's really about it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Being a Hill Giant with a decent enough positive ability is still a good place to be for most draft formats. Grey Ogre not so much. Fifth Edition Hill Giant is randomly a babe.
Snu-Snu/10
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
I've long thought about making an EDH deck full of terrible vanilla creatures to troll opponents. It's probably not worth the trouble, but it could be entertaining. Maybe half vanillas, half combos? Just to keep them guessing.
One day, when there's enough tribal rewards for giants, this *might* be cheap enough to run, just because there are so few cheap giants that if you want to lower your curve its one of the only options. Not playable now, but I could see it if, and pretty much only if, a commander that rewards playing giants is printed, based solely on cmc.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
If people are sick of reading about stuff just stop taking part. You have 100% control over what you read. Simic Ascendancy isn't going to get banned just because you didn't tell someone to shut up on the internet.
One day, when there's enough tribal rewards for giants, this *might* be cheap enough to run, just because there are so few cheap giants that if you want to lower your curve its one of the only options. Not playable now, but I could see it if, and pretty much only if, a commander that rewards playing giants is printed, based solely on cmc.
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!
And it's so nice for Urabrask's faction to show up to finish infecting the people of Mirrodin once the war's over. I guess that's why they call him "the hidden".
On phasing:
Solid counterspell, especially if you can sneak the mana away from the control player on their turn before you go for a win condition.
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
That said, I agree that X-counterspells aren't the best here. It can be hard to actually counter something with them without tapping out completely and potentially leaving yourself vulnerable for several other players' turns.
Still, it's not nearly as powerful as the hard counters, and almost necessitates a ramped pool to draw from in order to make it good...Simic decks?
Additionally, I can't resist posting the rough draft art for Power Sink...(second panel)
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
Beating Face with Bane
Beatrice, the Golden Witch
I was going to say the same... so let me echoo those thoughts as well right here:
In Mizzix, X counter spells are really nice for several obvious reasons:
They will always give you an experience counter.
You almost always cast them for only colored mana and do not have to add to the X, though you can if you wish.
Most of the deck is played at instant speed, so you are not just holding mana up for counters. The truth is that you really wanted to chain together a series of spells which let you dig through your library.
In Mizix, counterspells are normally used to protect your commander and your spells rather than trying to play permission control.
I'd forgotten that Render Silent existed but that's exactly the card that Power Sink does an (often poor) impression of, at least against decks that operate mostly at sorcery speed. Of course it requires white mana. Time Stop at least has the downside of costing six mana while Power Sink can often be cheaper than that. Though it obviously has other upsides.
It's really a combination Clash of Wills/Mana Short, though the Mana Short only applies if you don't pay the rhystic.
(In fact, that's pretty much how the Oracle text parses. Though you must pay the rhystic, so...)
It can be useful in Stax decks (particularly decks running Winter Orb and friends), but probably not as useful as Mana Short itself. Mostly if your opponent's incompetent enough to say "Now I have enough mana, I'll just play something!" (and not considering Force Spike and friends as a possibility, srsly, you see I have a Winter Orb out and I play Daze, then Mana Leak, you should know something's up) you can get a counter and a slightly cheaper Mana Short.
On phasing:
Fun Fact! Hill Giant is a Hill Giant.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
A Gray Ogre with a relevant removal ability, e.g. Uktabi Orangutan or reprints/colorshifts in an artifact-heavy set, would probably be a first pick in a draft. But that's really about it.
On phasing:
Snu-Snu/10
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!
T2: Grizzly Bears
T3: Gray Ogre
T4: Hill Giant
T5: Profit?!?
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!
...thats kinda all this card has going for it.
No, it won't.
On phasing:
Usually, but it's Hill Giant! There was plenty to discuss.