Deepfire Elemental+ Mcyosynth Lattice= pay 1 to destroy target land.
Deepfire also is a Rakdos answer to token decks and essentially hoses Populate.
I run it in my Tymaret, the Murder King deck and find it works just fine. Unlike Steel Hellkite you can activate it as an instant (where S.H. has to be ON your turn AFTER combat damage).
the only thing going for this is it hits both creatures and artifacts, there are several cards that do either better. It has solid utility against decks that make larger tokens rather than swarms of 1/1's. If a meta has that, and enough cheap artifacts and creatures that need dying, this can put in word. It will kill rocks cheap enough, and repeatably, and deal with a slew of utility creatures and hate bears, all while taking out 5/5 Wurms from Sandwurm Convergence at 1 mana a pop. You are paying a steep price for the flexibility though.
This doesn't belong in 75% metas or better, at all. It serves a purpose in more casual metas though, especially new metas where people are playing slightly upgraded precons.
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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!
Slayer of manlands, tokens, and moxen. He's a bit expensive to cast, but he's got that Elemental creature type going for him, there's some good tribal support for thicc elementals.
Reminds me of the old Mox Monkey. And while repeatable removal is good, unfortunately, unlike said monkey, by the time this comes down, the kind of thing it's good at killing - i.e. cheap stuff - is becoming less relevant to the game. There are some good uses for it - taking out tokens as has been pointed out - but overall, it's too expensive to be a particularly good card.
With that flavor text, I always wondered why Mox Monkey isn't green instead of red. I know, early color pie. Oh, well...
Anyway, repeatable removal is stronk. Repeatable removal that doesn't tap is stronkr. You'd be surprised how many low-CMC creatures and artifacts remain relevant, too. Especially creatures.
I've run it in Jund decks with Seedborn Muse and a bunch of mana sinks. I was never disappointed.
The other Jund secret tech is this and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. "1G: Destroy target land."
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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!
I'd submit this card in the "satisfy all 5 psychographics" competition. It's a big 3 headed hound, it has a death trigger that begs to be built around, it's a low mana cost for a creature of that size and evasion, it's name/type/all 3 abilities nail the flavor, and it's a mechanically unique card that can create satisfying game interactions.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
I now want to make a labors of Hercules deck. It's too bad Hero of Iroas 1) isn't legendary, and 2) is only white when I know I'd need green for the apples and a hydra and red and black for this at a bare minimum. (I'm sure Harrow could be cleaning the Augean stables. A Mercadian Masques Lure could be the Apples of Hesperides. And so on.)
Anyway, this is nice. Above curve, check. Mostly upside (unless you want to use something like Dire Fleet Daredevil), check. Flavorful and elegant (no triple strike, revising the entire combat step for one card), check. Death trigger with some synergies (I like Nihil Spellbomb.), check. Hits all the spots.
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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!
I’ve just played against too many decks where the value just isn’t adequate enough to justify putting all creatures back into hands of my opponents. It’s a very cool card, but being an above curve beater just interesting enough if I can’t profit off the additional abilities consistently enough.
Yeah, the flavor fairly drips from this card, but letting my opponents get all the creatures in their graveyards back to their hands makes this potentially not a good deal. If the second ability didn't apply to you, maybe, but even then it would require a lot of building around, and this card isn't worth building around.
I’ve just played against too many decks where the value just isn’t adequate enough to justify putting all creatures back into hands of my opponents. It’s a very cool card, but being an above curve beater just interesting enough if I can’t profit off the additional abilities consistently enough.
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’ve just played against too many decks where the value just isn’t adequate enough to justify putting all creatures back into hands of my opponents. It’s a very cool card, but being an above curve beater just interesting enough if I can’t profit off the additional abilities consistently enough.
Thanks, I’m well aware that GY hate exists. But having hate available, having this on the field, having a way to sacrifice it, and having enough value in the yard seems like quite a few hoops, no?
Did it exist in Standard with Top at the time? That was before I got back into MTG. Also, the Limited usage of this card would have been...limited. Without heavy manipulation, it would just be Heart of the Cards every time.
I've never seen anyone bold enough to play this in edh... side note: why did they make this an uncommon?
We used to get a lot of really cool and powerful and even wacky cards at uncommon before rarity inflation took the wheel.
Counterbalance goes down in value in Commander because spell CMC ranges are a lot higher than in Vintage, Legacy, and Modern (where all of your cards are typically 0-3 CMC with a few exceptions like Force of Will) but Counterbalance also goes up in value in multiplayer (more spells being cast means more likely to randomly counter some of them)
Did it exist in Standard with Top at the time? That was before I got back into MTG. Also, the Limited usage of this card would have been...limited. Without heavy manipulation, it would just be Heart of the Cards every time.
I remember CounterTop was one of the premier Extended decks before one of the cards was banned, and Extended was kind of like Standard I guess. Closer to that day's standard than Modern is to today's Standard at least.
Champions of Kamigawa was released in fall 2004 and Coldsnap in summer 2006. So both cards were only for three months in the same Standard environment.
I have no idea if there was a deck for the cards. I only remember the Ghostdad deck from that time.
To be honest, i think it isn't even worth it there. For one if he rearranges his top deck in favor of an additional counter the card on top might not what he would want there for his commandtress in the first place. Worse, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter's triggered ability works best, if your avg CMC is a tad on the higher side, meaning Counterbalance doesn't work too well - at least in my meta.
Bottom line; great card, but too many hoops to jump through to make it worth it in EDH, i guess.
With Top and other repeatable instant-speed digging, good. Without that, pray to the Gods of Plot Contrivance every time.
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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!
One advantage to Counterbalance is that since it's a triggered ability, it can counter Split Second spells. Unfortunately, you can't do something like Sensei's Top in response to the split second, so you're down to luck (or knowing in advance the split second is coming). If your goal is to counter split second, you're better off going with morphs (Kheru Spellsnatcher, Silumgar Spell-Eater, Stratus Dancer, Voidmage Apprentice, Willbender for targeted split second spells, Mischievous Quanar if copying the spell is enough) or something like Perplexing Chimera.
Deepfire also is a Rakdos answer to token decks and essentially hoses Populate.
I run it in my Tymaret, the Murder King deck and find it works just fine. Unlike Steel Hellkite you can activate it as an instant (where S.H. has to be ON your turn AFTER combat damage).
This doesn't belong in 75% metas or better, at all. It serves a purpose in more casual metas though, especially new metas where people are playing slightly upgraded precons.
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, repeatable removal is stronk. Repeatable removal that doesn't tap is stronkr. You'd be surprised how many low-CMC creatures and artifacts remain relevant, too. Especially creatures.
I've run it in Jund decks with Seedborn Muse and a bunch of mana sinks. I was never disappointed.
The other Jund secret tech is this and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. "1G: Destroy target land."
On phasing:
I'd submit this card in the "satisfy all 5 psychographics" competition. It's a big 3 headed hound, it has a death trigger that begs to be built around, it's a low mana cost for a creature of that size and evasion, it's name/type/all 3 abilities nail the flavor, and it's a mechanically unique card that can create satisfying game interactions.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Anyway, this is nice. Above curve, check. Mostly upside (unless you want to use something like Dire Fleet Daredevil), check. Flavorful and elegant (no triple strike, revising the entire combat step for one card), check. Death trigger with some synergies (I like Nihil Spellbomb.), check. Hits all the spots.
On phasing:
Which is far more red, and is in my Jaya Ballard deck.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I'm sure you'll think of something.
On phasing:
Thanks, I’m well aware that GY hate exists. But having hate available, having this on the field, having a way to sacrifice it, and having enough value in the yard seems like quite a few hoops, no?
I've never seen anyone bold enough to play this in edh... side note: why did they make this an uncommon?
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
I have, but I think they were also running top at the same time, however that was years ago, I can't recall a recent game with it.
We used to get a lot of really cool and powerful and even wacky cards at uncommon before rarity inflation took the wheel.
Counterbalance goes down in value in Commander because spell CMC ranges are a lot higher than in Vintage, Legacy, and Modern (where all of your cards are typically 0-3 CMC with a few exceptions like Force of Will) but Counterbalance also goes up in value in multiplayer (more spells being cast means more likely to randomly counter some of them)
I remember CounterTop was one of the premier Extended decks before one of the cards was banned, and Extended was kind of like Standard I guess. Closer to that day's standard than Modern is to today's Standard at least.
I have no idea if there was a deck for the cards. I only remember the Ghostdad deck from that time.
To be honest, i think it isn't even worth it there. For one if he rearranges his top deck in favor of an additional counter the card on top might not what he would want there for his commandtress in the first place. Worse, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter's triggered ability works best, if your avg CMC is a tad on the higher side, meaning Counterbalance doesn't work too well - at least in my meta.
Bottom line; great card, but too many hoops to jump through to make it worth it in EDH, i guess.
On phasing:
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
I guess being thrown under the bus makes you a bit less solemn.