Well, I run into decks with multiple Fetid Imps all the time. It's like the most common deck I see, somehow, so Vastwood Gorger is way down on my list of playable cards. I'm to the point where I don't even want to run something like Zendikar Incarnate in a RG deck, let alone a much worse version of the same card.
This is about as close as it gets to being truly unplayable. I guess maybe there is that one draft in a thousand where you bring it against the guy who has multiple Mage-Ring Responders and Chief of the Foundrys.
Akroan Jailer - Not a fan, very fringe playable IMO. But the pros seem to be more mixed on him, some hate him and consider him trash, others are playing him pretty regularly.
This is some kind of hate/hate card. I hate it when I have him (and almost never play him) but I also hate it when my opponent has it. I actually think it might be a aggro card, unlike most tappers which work pretty well on defense. Really fast decks don't absolutely hate 1/1s and probably are running out of cards to play. It's really hard to deal with this when you are scrambling to block.
What I think is bad about him is that he's a terrible midrange card.
Fringe sideboard... and only really against a slow black deck where you can hopefully hit an Unholy Hunger or Read the Bones. 99/100 times will not see the light of day.
Purty Turrible. Sometimes you'll whiff entirely. Other times you'll hit a target and have it be irrelevant or at least very low impact (a trick, a counter, a conditional removal spell without a target). Then when it works you will usually be breaking even AT BEST in terms of spending 4-mana at sorcery speed for the effect you are getting. For the most part Hunger/Cruel are the only single targets you can hope to hit and have be effective that are actually more expensive than this. Yes, 1/20 times (probably less) or whatever you will live the dream and actually hit two good targets with this. That will make for a cool story and possibly win you a game...but it isn't enough to offset all of the times where this thing is bad.
If you are the very rare deck that actually cares about milling the opponent then obviously it picks up a lot of value and becomes a maindeck option (and that brings up yet another drawback, the milling is actually a DRAWBACK most of the time, as all you are doing is helping the opponent fuel minor GY interactions like Undead Servant, Skaab Goliath, Revenant, Macabre Waltz, Auramancer, etc, and of course Spell Mastery). But otherwise I agree with leingod, a very fringe SB option only.
i am so disappointed with the development of this set.
it feels like Origins, more than any other core set i've played much of (ie since M11 onwards), has SO . MANY . traps. just, so many cards that don't have proper support because of poor development. they dangle mill cards and enchantment-matters cards but they don't give the proper support for them. aggro formats just compound the bad feeling because you don't even get consistently almost-close to winning; you just get trompled over before doing anything cool.
it's kinda making me upset, and i'm just reminding myself that this is just a luxury item and that it's better for me to not spend money on FNMs anyways.
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Talent was cool in the first few cockatrice drafts i forced mill, because my opponent's decks were too slow to do much with it. it would have been a wonderfully fun card in other formats, i think. so i do like its design for limited.
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Goblins have poor impulse control. Don't click this link!!
some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul "no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Yeah, I agree with that. Blightcaster, for example, is a card that ought to have been a key element of a pretty cool deck, but instead it's just a trap and you probably don't want any, ever, because there are already lots of ways to deal with overcosted 2-toughness creatures so he's both redundant and a victim of all the removal he's supposed to be better than. Why jump through hoops for payoff cards when they don't help you address the strong simple decks in the format?
Talent of the Telepath could have said "mill until you hit an instant or sorcery" and it could have been a decent card for punishing creature heavy decks, which is exactly the sort of thing mill decks want. Instead, we got an unreliable sideboard card for the control mirror.
Mediocre as a win condition. Without spell mastery, this is a pretty familiar, and underwhelming, effect. Cards that are worth investing this sort of mana into are like Pia and Kiran Nalaar, that are both fragile and give you guaranteed value, but there aren't a ton of them in this set. Just getting back a 6-drop is an unreliable plan, since a 6-drop has to actually die/get milled, which 1) is no guarantee in a fast format, and 2) is more likely to get hit with Suppression Bonds or Claustrophobia or something anyway.
Most of the time you're going to be getting back a 3-drop without spell mastery with this and it's going to be disappointing. If you drafted the nuts Undead Servant deck, this is probably pretty good in it, though.
Mediocre control finisher seems about right. Not bad if you draft the B/x kill everything deck that just has a very weak high end in terms of finishing power.
It's fine if you can reliably get spell mastery by the time you want to cast this. Don't target an opponent's creature if they have blue, getting it Dispersed is a huge blowout.
Very good. Most decks can easily afford 1 colorless land, and when you cash this in you are getting a full card's worth of value. Basically plays like card advantage once you hit the late game, and it helps that the effect being provided here can remain relevant in those late game situations. Those flyers could help finish someone or provide a turn or two of time by chumping.
I dunno. I mean, the effect is nice, but I've played enough decks that are tight enough on colored sources that I'd be leery about always jamming this. I want a handful of colorless spells in my deck, or else be pretty weighted towards one color, to loosen the colored mana requirements before this becomes an auto-include. Still really nice, just be careful when you take it that it does have a tangible effect on your consistency.
The effect really is worth a card, though, so you might honestly want to consider running this in a spell slot to get to 18 land. A lot of decks in the format already tend to want an 18th land anyway; this is a very justifiable one.
As an 18th land I'd slam this easily. If the deck is light on color requirements it's just fine as one of 17 lands. It's quite insane in that it helps you hit your land drops and is a spell later on basically always as if you can't crack it it means you're drawing spells, which is rarely bad.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I dunno. I mean, the effect is nice, but I've played enough decks that are tight enough on colored sources that I'd be leery about always jamming this. I want a handful of colorless spells in my deck, or else be pretty weighted towards one color, to loosen the colored mana requirements before this becomes an auto-include. Still really nice, just be careful when you take it that it does have a tangible effect on your consistency.
The effect really is worth a card, though, so you might honestly want to consider running this in a spell slot to get to 18 land. A lot of decks in the format already tend to want an 18th land anyway; this is a very justifiable one.
Exactly. Even in the rare deck where the colorless source is a real problem, playing this is probably going to be better than playing your 23rd card. Not always, I can easily see a RW aggro deck that doesn't want this. But that would definitely be the exception.
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Do Not Play.
What I think is bad about him is that he's a terrible midrange card.
If you are the very rare deck that actually cares about milling the opponent then obviously it picks up a lot of value and becomes a maindeck option (and that brings up yet another drawback, the milling is actually a DRAWBACK most of the time, as all you are doing is helping the opponent fuel minor GY interactions like Undead Servant, Skaab Goliath, Revenant, Macabre Waltz, Auramancer, etc, and of course Spell Mastery). But otherwise I agree with leingod, a very fringe SB option only.
It was very handy in Game 1 to look at what was in my opponent's deck before I scooped.
i am so disappointed with the development of this set.
it feels like Origins, more than any other core set i've played much of (ie since M11 onwards), has SO . MANY . traps. just, so many cards that don't have proper support because of poor development. they dangle mill cards and enchantment-matters cards but they don't give the proper support for them. aggro formats just compound the bad feeling because you don't even get consistently almost-close to winning; you just get trompled over before doing anything cool.
it's kinda making me upset, and i'm just reminding myself that this is just a luxury item and that it's better for me to not spend money on FNMs anyways.
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Talent was cool in the first few cockatrice drafts i forced mill, because my opponent's decks were too slow to do much with it. it would have been a wonderfully fun card in other formats, i think. so i do like its design for limited.
Goblins have poor impulse control. Don't click this link!!
some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul
"no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Talent of the Telepath could have said "mill until you hit an instant or sorcery" and it could have been a decent card for punishing creature heavy decks, which is exactly the sort of thing mill decks want. Instead, we got an unreliable sideboard card for the control mirror.
Most of the time you're going to be getting back a 3-drop without spell mastery with this and it's going to be disappointing. If you drafted the nuts Undead Servant deck, this is probably pretty good in it, though.
The effect really is worth a card, though, so you might honestly want to consider running this in a spell slot to get to 18 land. A lot of decks in the format already tend to want an 18th land anyway; this is a very justifiable one.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Exactly. Even in the rare deck where the colorless source is a real problem, playing this is probably going to be better than playing your 23rd card. Not always, I can easily see a RW aggro deck that doesn't want this. But that would definitely be the exception.