Well, foil can throw away extra islands but you throw away an extra Island plus one other card. 3-for-1-ing yourself can hurt.
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Foil is terrible. "Throwing away Islands" is great if it gets you something in return. But if you play that card, you MUST keep an island in your hand to cast it for free. What if you only have one Island. Will you hold it or play it? What an awful decision to have to make.
Go with Misdirection, Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce. Basically anything else. Yeah even Shoal is better.
I think Foil isn't so bad next to Cruise. It fuels almost half of a cruise, provides tempo, doesn't require blue cards. It filters garbage away so it's great if you're running a Discard suite and it's mid game.
Also, it should be mentioned that 3-for-1ing yourself, if it wins the game (in the case of Belcher or Oops) is just fine.
Again, I think Cruise has bumped this up to playable if you want FoW 5-8; since Cruise easily mitigates this. If you're some kind of tempo deck, I would say it's worth a try. Misdireciton and Divert, while good, are often better in the side since they are so conditional.
What this tells me is that Foil in the main is better than Misdirection in the main, but not necessarily in the side. I'd say Foil is better than Daze if you're a midrange build or if you can abuse the grave. Foil could be near excellent in Reanimator since it's a counter that can toss fat; the main issue being you'd have to play very light on basics and heavy on duals (probably using a third color or shock lands.)
Keep in mind that with foil you discard the cards. This is a huge distinction. Misdirection is better, but there could be a combo deck which could utilize foil as a means to get the combo.
Keep in mind that with foil you discard the cards. This is a huge distinction. Misdirection is better, but there could be a combo deck which could utilize foil as a means to get the combo.
I cannot think of how discarding an island would get a combo. Could you give me a hint?
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All of these "Let's eliminate bad cards" crusades are simply ignorant. And when they start to devolve into "WotC is conspiring to give us crappy cards," they just become embarrassing. MATH is conspiring to give you crappy cards.
It will occasionally win you a game, but Ancestral Recall is the best card or second best card in the game because a 3 for 1 puts you so far ahead it's not funny. Foil gives your opponent the Ancestral advantage, and in Legacy, you can't even get it back by casting your own Ancestral.
Force of Will is only a 2-for-1, so it's only a Divination you are down.
Misdirection is very effective as a 1-of because it is seldom anticipated, and many decks play cards that it is a blowout to Misdirect. I don't like it as a 3 or 4 of.
Misdirection is way better than foil. Misdirection has seen great success in legacy and vintage before. Foil? Never see it in winning lists because it is that bad. I would sooner run force spike than foil in legacy and I'm not itching to play force spike either.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Keep in mind that with foil you discard the cards. This is a huge distinction. Misdirection is better, but there could be a combo deck which could utilize foil as a means to get the combo.
I cannot think of how discarding an island would get a combo. Could you give me a hint?
Quote from Foil »
You may discard an Island card and another card rather than pay Foil's mana cost.
Also: The aforementioned Life from the Loam means discarding land is much less of a cost.
Keep in mind that with foil you discard the cards. This is a huge distinction. Misdirection is better, but there could be a combo deck which could utilize foil as a means to get the combo.
I cannot think of how discarding an island would get a combo. Could you give me a hint?
Quote from Foil »
You may discard an Island card and another card rather than pay Foil's mana cost.
Also: The aforementioned Life from the Loam means discarding land is much less of a cost.
These 'benefits' fall outside of a mono blue deck, which is what OP speaks of.
STATISTICS.
All of these "Let's eliminate bad cards" crusades are simply ignorant. And when they start to devolve into "WotC is conspiring to give us crappy cards," they just become embarrassing. MATH is conspiring to give you crappy cards.
Misdirection sees significant Legacy play because it can easily 2-for-2 opponents. For example, it can redirect Thoughtseize (opponent loses a Thoughtseize and loses another nonland card), Hymn to Tourach (opponent loses a Hymn and 2 random cards--heck, you just 3-for-2'd them), and Lightning Bolt (opponent loses a Bolt and likely loses a creature). Misdirection moonlights as a pseudo-Force of Will against opposing counterspells.
Unless your opponent sunk significant numbers of other cards into their particular bomb (such as rituals and mana rocks into Ad Nauseam), Foil isn't pulling off a 3-for-3 or even a 2-for-3 so easily.
Ya but what if you are at 3 life and have 2 lands in your graveyard, a KotR on the battlefield and foil, foil, loam, and island in hand, your opponent is at 8. On your upkeep they tapped out for lightning bolt, you foil discarding island and loam.... THEN you dredge 3 hit 3 lands and swing for lethal. Misdirection would have only done 7 damage. So......
Misdirection is a much better choice. 2-for-1 with the reasonable chance of 2-for-2 is quite acceptable. However, nothing is a true replacement for Force of Will. That's why it's expensive. It is the best card at what it does. Mental Misstep is the best at what it does, but it is a recent enough card that Wizards can ban it without a ton of complaints (and, in fact, cheers). My personal use of Foil is restricted to three-card deck format experimentation where it partners with Nether Spirit and an Island. I think Foil is just worse than Counterspell. I'd rather have to hold up two mana to counter things than discard (optimally) two lands to cast a card.
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Foil Misdirection
Both work well in a mono U, and I believe Misdirection stops Abrupt Decay, if there's another valid target. But Foil can throw away extra islands.
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Go with Misdirection, Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce. Basically anything else. Yeah even Shoal is better.
Also, it should be mentioned that 3-for-1ing yourself, if it wins the game (in the case of Belcher or Oops) is just fine.
Again, I think Cruise has bumped this up to playable if you want FoW 5-8; since Cruise easily mitigates this. If you're some kind of tempo deck, I would say it's worth a try. Misdireciton and Divert, while good, are often better in the side since they are so conditional.
What this tells me is that Foil in the main is better than Misdirection in the main, but not necessarily in the side. I'd say Foil is better than Daze if you're a midrange build or if you can abuse the grave. Foil could be near excellent in Reanimator since it's a counter that can toss fat; the main issue being you'd have to play very light on basics and heavy on duals (probably using a third color or shock lands.)
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Foil is a higly synergic card (not bad IMO), i can see it in a UG deck with life from the loam, treasure cruise, mox diamond, etc.
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I cannot think of how discarding an island would get a combo. Could you give me a hint?
It will occasionally win you a game, but Ancestral Recall is the best card or second best card in the game because a 3 for 1 puts you so far ahead it's not funny. Foil gives your opponent the Ancestral advantage, and in Legacy, you can't even get it back by casting your own Ancestral.
Force of Will is only a 2-for-1, so it's only a Divination you are down.
Misdirection is very effective as a 1-of because it is seldom anticipated, and many decks play cards that it is a blowout to Misdirect. I don't like it as a 3 or 4 of.
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Also: The aforementioned Life from the Loam means discarding land is much less of a cost.
These 'benefits' fall outside of a mono blue deck, which is what OP speaks of.
Unless your opponent sunk significant numbers of other cards into their particular bomb (such as rituals and mana rocks into Ad Nauseam), Foil isn't pulling off a 3-for-3 or even a 2-for-3 so easily.