One of the game's original big bombs, it's kind of outclassed these days but still playable, especially these days when there are so many ways to turn sacrificing creatures into an advantage. I considered running him while coming up with the original list for my Meren deck, but the high ends of my mana curves are usually competitive, so he just didn't make the cut. If I ever get around to doing demon tribal, he'll be there.
One of the game's original big bombs, it's kind of outclassed these days but still playable, especially these days when there are so many ways to turn sacrificing creatures into an advantage. I considered running him while coming up with the original list for my Meren deck, but the high ends of my mana curves are usually competitive, so he just didn't make the cut. If I ever get around to doing demon tribal, he'll be there.
We must share the same thought, 'cause he IS in my wife's demon tribal, lol.
I usually ran this guy exclusively with Breeding Pit back in the day. Look forward to seeing my wife drop him at our LGS meta and the accompanying, "What's this guy do?". Having a bunch of old cards, I live for moments like that.
This came in the Divine vs Demonic deck. So did pacifisim and Fate's Fetters. Guess which creature you did NOT want to cast in that deck?
That feeling in old school magic when everybody owned Icy Manipulator.
I ask myself... was this card ever any good for anyone?
===============
Conversely, I actually got millage put of Liege of the Pit because of the surprise morph. Kill a blocker and still trample through, then keep swinging because that Standard format didn't pack the proper removal for it.
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"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
This came in the Divine vs Demonic deck. So did pacifisim and Fate's Fetters. Guess which creature you did NOT want to cast in that deck?
That feeling in old school magic when everybody owned Icy Manipulator.
I ask myself... was this card ever any good for anyone?
When Legends came out, this guy and Juzám Djinn had a new archnemesis: Spirit Link. Notice that Spirit Link's controller is the one who gains life, not the creature's. (This, by the way, is one fundamental difference between Spirit Link and lifelink.) It didn't help matters that, prior to Sixth Edition, you only died at the end of a phase or step, so, even if I'm at, say, 5 life, I go down to -2 and then back to 5. (This was actually how Mirror Universe decks worked originally: Go down to 0, then swap life totals.) And if you didn't sac a creature next turn, I'd go up to 12.
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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!
Ghastly Demise is like, a decade (and a few months) older.
Anyway, I had experience with this in a token v. token match, Ghave v. Rith; the other two guys weren't playing token, but they're irrelevant for this story. Rith played Wild Beastmaster, and she's actually good in Rith in most cases; if you have, say, Collective Blessing out, each of your creatures gets +3/+3, and Wild Beastmaster gets +3/+3 and now gives your other creatures +4/+4 when she attacks. (And you're in red, so multiple attacks aren't out of the question.) So, Rith would be 13/13, the saprolings would be 8/8, etc. Except, I hit Wild Beastmaster with Tragic Slip before her trigger resolved, so she's -9/-9, so now all Rith's creatures get -9/-9. This makes Rith 0/0, and makes the saprolings -5/-5.
So, yeah, basically a one-sided boardwipe, my Blood Artist gained me a lot of life and got huge.
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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 hit Wild Beastmaster with Tragic Slip before her trigger resolved, so she's -9/-9, so now all Rith's creatures get -9/-9. This makes Rith 0/0, and makes the saprolings -5/-5.
Unfortunately this doesn't work, as per the oracle ruling...
Tragic Slip is one of my favorite cards. It and Snuff Out have won me more games vs a nasty Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind control/combo deck than I can count. Nothing better than their flying epic dragon tripping on a sky banana with Ophidian Eye on the stack.
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My Decks:
Aggro: WUBRGHorde of Notions Goodstuff, RUBCheesy Aggro, GR Xenagod Gruul Goodstuff
Control: GWBGhave, Guru of Adaptability, UBWrexial, Milling Deep UAzami, Lady of No Infinite Combos GWU Derevi, Tempo Beats
Other: URGRiku of Too Much Mana, WUBRG Sliver Queen Enchantress
Shoo-in for Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer (as is the red one in the cycle, Tempt with Vengeance). Anything that makes token copies of typically nontoken creatures is probably usable somewhere.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
I've given and taken Wood Elves many times before with this. My favorite use was when some madman used it on a Prophet of Kruphix and made everything go crazy. (Back when she was legal. RIP.)
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My Decks:
Aggro: WUBRGHorde of Notions Goodstuff, RUBCheesy Aggro, GR Xenagod Gruul Goodstuff
Control: GWBGhave, Guru of Adaptability, UBWrexial, Milling Deep UAzami, Lady of No Infinite Combos GWU Derevi, Tempo Beats
Other: URGRiku of Too Much Mana, WUBRG Sliver Queen Enchantress
I've given and taken Wood Elves many times before with this. My favorite use was when some madman used it on a Prophet of Kruphix and made everything go crazy. (Back when she was legal. RIP.)
I heard that game was actually what got her banned.
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.
I hit Wild Beastmaster with Tragic Slip before her trigger resolved, so she's -9/-9, so now all Rith's creatures get -9/-9. This makes Rith 0/0, and makes the saprolings -5/-5.
Unfortunately this doesn't work, as per the oracle ruling...
Yes, but the match in question was in 2014, so it did work then. ⚔️ (Closest we have to a "duel" emoji.)
Before that, negative numbers were negative numbers at least when dealing with P/T and life totals. The only rule was you couldn't pay negative life. It did mean that cards like the soul cycle or Viridian Joiner did nothing, but that's it. Seems like an obvious patch to avoid feel-bad moments.
Anyway, Tempt with Reflections is one of those cards that can either be excellent or screw you over. It's usually good, though, since you control everything about it. (For instance, obviously cloning your own Master of Waves benefits you more than anyone not playing blue.) But with experienced players, if they accept a tempting offer, watch out.
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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!
Meta dependant. More competitive groups tend to have worse targets than more casual groups.
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"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
Bribery tends to be played often since you'll almost always get full value (i.e., a creature of CMC 6 or more with an instant effect) out of it, whereas I've never run this. This shouldn't completely miss very often, but it feels bad to pay five mana for a Sol Ring or Lightning Greaves, and some expensive artifacts are not necessarily great to steal if you aren't yourself a heavy artifact deck (Darksteel Forge, Planar Bridge, Unwinding Clock). True it can snag stuff like Blightseel Colossus and Wurmcoil Engine...but so can Bribery. If your meta is full of big artifact effects like The Immortal Sun, Caged Sun, Staff of Nin, and Gilded Lotus it gets a little better.
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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 used to run this card at times, but I ended up cutting it for the exact reasons Hawk7915 mentions. Often people either don't have stuff worth spending 5 mana to steal (is using Acquire to get Sword of the Animist that much better than using Bribery to get someone's Farhaven Elf?), or aren't particularly strong outside the deck they were built to be in. For every time I got a Gilded Lotus or even something as good as a Mimic Vat, there were other times I didn't get anything better than a Sol Ring or a Signet.
This card will always be cool.
We must share the same thought, 'cause he IS in my wife's demon tribal, lol.
I usually ran this guy exclusively with Breeding Pit back in the day. Look forward to seeing my wife drop him at our LGS meta and the accompanying, "What's this guy do?". Having a bunch of old cards, I live for moments like that.
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)
Post him to r/oldschoolcool and get literally dozens of upvotes
That feeling in old school magic when everybody owned Icy Manipulator.
I ask myself... was this card ever any good for anyone?
===============
Conversely, I actually got millage put of Liege of the Pit because of the surprise morph. Kill a blocker and still trample through, then keep swinging because that Standard format didn't pack the proper removal for it.
When Legends came out, this guy and Juzám Djinn had a new archnemesis: Spirit Link. Notice that Spirit Link's controller is the one who gains life, not the creature's. (This, by the way, is one fundamental difference between Spirit Link and lifelink.) It didn't help matters that, prior to Sixth Edition, you only died at the end of a phase or step, so, even if I'm at, say, 5 life, I go down to -2 and then back to 5. (This was actually how Mirror Universe decks worked originally: Go down to 0, then swap life totals.) And if you didn't sac a creature next turn, I'd go up to 12.
On phasing:
All the times I've been blown out by this card, I might suggest it's black's best spot removal in the format.
Nothing is more satisfying than making almost anything in the universe die by slipping on a banana peel.
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.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Older brother of Ghastly Demise.
- Rabid Wombat
To be fair, the werewolves can literally be disabled by one of the block's mechanics.
Ghastly Demise is like, a decade (and a few months) older.
Anyway, I had experience with this in a token v. token match, Ghave v. Rith; the other two guys weren't playing token, but they're irrelevant for this story. Rith played Wild Beastmaster, and she's actually good in Rith in most cases; if you have, say, Collective Blessing out, each of your creatures gets +3/+3, and Wild Beastmaster gets +3/+3 and now gives your other creatures +4/+4 when she attacks. (And you're in red, so multiple attacks aren't out of the question.) So, Rith would be 13/13, the saprolings would be 8/8, etc. Except, I hit Wild Beastmaster with Tragic Slip before her trigger resolved, so she's -9/-9, so now all Rith's creatures get -9/-9. This makes Rith 0/0, and makes the saprolings -5/-5.
So, yeah, basically a one-sided boardwipe, my Blood Artist gained me a lot of life and got huge.
On phasing:
Unfortunately this doesn't work, as per the oracle ruling...
- Rabid Wombat
Aggro: WUBRGHorde of Notions Goodstuff, RUB Cheesy Aggro, GR Xenagod Gruul Goodstuff
Control: GWBGhave, Guru of Adaptability, UBWrexial, Milling Deep UAzami, Lady of No Infinite Combos GWU Derevi, Tempo Beats
Other: URGRiku of Too Much Mana, WUBRG Sliver Queen Enchantress
Depending on the target, it might even be correct to take this offer occasionally. Weird.
Aggro: WUBRGHorde of Notions Goodstuff, RUB Cheesy Aggro, GR Xenagod Gruul Goodstuff
Control: GWBGhave, Guru of Adaptability, UBWrexial, Milling Deep UAzami, Lady of No Infinite Combos GWU Derevi, Tempo Beats
Other: URGRiku of Too Much Mana, WUBRG Sliver Queen Enchantress
Yes, but the match in question was in 2014, so it did work then. ⚔️ (Closest we have to a "duel" emoji.)
Before that, negative numbers were negative numbers at least when dealing with P/T and life totals. The only rule was you couldn't pay negative life. It did mean that cards like the soul cycle or Viridian Joiner did nothing, but that's it. Seems like an obvious patch to avoid feel-bad moments.
Anyway, Tempt with Reflections is one of those cards that can either be excellent or screw you over. It's usually good, though, since you control everything about it. (For instance, obviously cloning your own Master of Waves benefits you more than anyone not playing blue.) But with experienced players, if they accept a tempting offer, watch out.
On phasing:
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Bribery for artifacts.
Meta dependant. More competitive groups tend to have worse targets than more casual groups.
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