Oh, this is the one with the weird evasion clause.
It's removal on a creature with a relevant body, which automatically makes it very good, but the evasion is usually kinda pointless. It'll basically always make your deck even if you aren't base black because one black source is enough to want this in your deck. Pretty easy first pick out of virtually any pack. I'd take it over Ultimate Price in pack 1 for no other reason than that. In later packs that pick would depend on if I was already black or not.
Sadly, this format ended up fast enough that this didn't really work. I've never seen a deck run this out and win. Kind of an indictment of the format, IMO. Cards like this should have a significant impact on the format, rather than being stuck in sideboards 100% of the time, but when WotC pushes the speed of the format to the point where cards like this are unplayable, the game feels a lot more shallow than it ever should.
Every time I've seen this played in Sealed (where the opponent didn't have ay sort of enchantment removal), the player has won. It's just really hard to outrace and it tends to get you in a position where you have a mitt full of creatures to replace with. You can even pull shenanigans like attack and then exploit your creature, giving you a pseudo-vigilant deathtouch lifelink threat.
In my view Deadly Wanderings is a bad card except in a certain rare deck. It requires too much to make it work, namely not casting your creature spells so you have only one in play, and that type of play is a losing strategy.
During spoiler season after I argued against the value of this card I worried that it would beat me, but I haven't even seen it once, including not in the hours of draft videos and pro tour or grand prix coverage I have watched. I figured pros wouldn't want it but I am surprised I haven't even faced it in a swiss draft, it can be a fun card to try to build around (unless winning = fun = winning).
There are games in which this can be very good, but that's true of many cards which are not good overall, and the frequent times when this is useless in my view outweighs the times it has some use.
It's a good card but don't warp your deck building around it. It is an unusual card that can win you games you have no chance of (eg: you can beat citadel siege with this card when all their creatures despite being huge die to anything you play) I do think it's important to have exploit outlets to deal with pacifism. And watch out to not get blown out by removal when they have a huge board. You really want to play this in a deck with good removal (spells/deathtouchers)
NFL kenji (aka NumotTheNummy) has had some good success with it in his streams. He doesn't love it but respects the power it can bring for decks). Also it did see some play in top decks at GP AC. LSV had a deck on stream a week or two ago that also did work with it.
Wanderings requires a pretty specific deck to be worth it. You need to be moderately aggressive, but not so aggressive that you don't want a narrow five drop finisher, and it also has awkward tension with dash. I've found it to be pretty good in the more aggressive builds of GB, especially if I didn't pick up any Elk Herds so there's no competition at five. You're actually looking to buff a 2/4 or greater with it, because that's usually the point where your giant idiot requires two cards to deal with. Fortunately green has Colossodon Yearling and assorted other large-assed guys to buff.
Basically I only play it in maybe 10% of my black decks, but most of the time when I do it's close to the best card in my deck.
The key to playing this card is to not be trapped in the mindset of only plyaying one creature. Even if you get to three it's not hard to trade back to one and then drop this. All you need is a couple turns of this being active to make racing impossible and engineer some nice trades.
Rootkin hit's the sweet spot of very good on it's own with high upside. 4/4s for 4 are already really good in limited. Tack on all the synergies, plus the ability that can make combat imposssible with him, and you have a premiere uncommon.
The fact that it's not just automatically the best or even 2nd best green uncommon really speaks to how deep green is in this format. Its better than Bestial Menace or Pelakka Wurm in the right deck (G/U and maybe G/B), but worse than them in the wrong deck (G/W and G/R).
Agony Warp is premium removal. Kills a creature, often gains you a couple life by reducing the power of an attacker, and can even get you an occasional 2 for 1 when Dizzy Spell will win a combat for you.
I can tell a lot of people will look at today's card, look at these responses, and go "yep, covered," so I'd like to make things a little more interesting.
Good question. I would side with Helix because it can finish off an opponent. It's never dead, although admittedly Agony Warp will only rarely do nothing.
Ultimately, I think it would depend on the format in question. In a faster format, Helix's lifegain and ability to go to the dome would probably make it better while in a slower format with more board stalls and creature combats, I think Warp would edge out.
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It's removal on a creature with a relevant body, which automatically makes it very good, but the evasion is usually kinda pointless. It'll basically always make your deck even if you aren't base black because one black source is enough to want this in your deck. Pretty easy first pick out of virtually any pack. I'd take it over Ultimate Price in pack 1 for no other reason than that. In later packs that pick would depend on if I was already black or not.
Nate: Starting Monday we will move onto Modern Masters 2015 Edition.
During spoiler season after I argued against the value of this card I worried that it would beat me, but I haven't even seen it once, including not in the hours of draft videos and pro tour or grand prix coverage I have watched. I figured pros wouldn't want it but I am surprised I haven't even faced it in a swiss draft, it can be a fun card to try to build around (unless winning = fun = winning).
There are games in which this can be very good, but that's true of many cards which are not good overall, and the frequent times when this is useless in my view outweighs the times it has some use.
NFL kenji (aka NumotTheNummy) has had some good success with it in his streams. He doesn't love it but respects the power it can bring for decks). Also it did see some play in top decks at GP AC. LSV had a deck on stream a week or two ago that also did work with it.
Basically I only play it in maybe 10% of my black decks, but most of the time when I do it's close to the best card in my deck.
I can tell a lot of people will look at today's card, look at these responses, and go "yep, covered," so I'd like to make things a little more interesting.
Color aside, is this better or worse than Lightning Helix?
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Interesting dilemma. I would go with Wrap since there's a bigger potential for a 2-for-1 but it's very close.