Three mana for five damage is strong enough to take the hit of returning a land, and in some decks there's going to be incidental synergy with returning a land to your hand.
High value card. If you don't have another land in hand, it's basically a 2-mana spell - the added "cost" is actually a benefit. Add that to the landfall triggers you can potentially get and you have a pretty busted card. This plus Embodiment of Fury (or even Valakut Predator) is an absolute beating.
I think it's a first pick out of more packs than not. The only thing holding it back from actually being one of the top cards in the set is that red is just not that great in general.
Hard to go wrong with removal this efficient. Kills almost everything at a fair price, with a drawback that is usually not a problem. I think I'd take this P1P1 over every common except Zone/Strike.
Sweep Away - Slightly above average, happy to play one but not gonna take it or play it over good creatures or real removal. Gains value in decks where you have more instant speed stuff you expect to be holding up on their turn, or against decks that make heavy use of +1/+1 counters and/or combat tricks.
is it correct for me to believe there is no card disadvantage with Sweep Away?
is it correct of me to like this card in my control / non-tempo decks? my argument is that control decks enjoy having lots of lands, so Sweep Away takes care of a creature for two turns [the turn it attacked and the turn it is summoning sick when re-cast], and therefore buys enough time for my control deck to get more lands. is this reasoning sound?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
----------------------------
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.
is it correct for me to believe there is no card disadvantage with Sweep Away?
is it correct of me to like this card in my control / non-tempo decks? my argument is that control decks enjoy having lots of lands, so Sweep Away takes care of a creature for two turns [the turn it attacked and the turn it is summoning sick when re-cast], and therefore buys enough time for my control deck to get more lands. is this reasoning sound?
If you are putting the creature on top there is no card disadvantage. Or you can also break even by messing with combat, like if they double-block and you bounce a blocker to the hand. Or if they use a trick then you bounce the blocker. In the ideal, and not completely unrealistic, scenario you can actually go up a card if you bait them into using a trick on one of their attackers which you then put on top of the library. You also get a sort of pseuo-CA when bouncing something with +1/+1 counters, especially if it is an awakened land (I got to bounce a 6/6 land once, one that had been double pumped by walls, felt goooood).
But yeah, I think generally it gains value in more defensive decks. I especially like it in UB tempo/control, where it seems like you often have other instants or instant-speed abilities to use plus the translator to make casting things on the opponent's turn more efficient. That said, I'd be fine playing it in a more aggressive build too, especially one of those typical blue decks that creates a racing situation where you are swinging in the air and they are swinging back on the ground.
The fact that putting an attacker on top of the library rather than in hand is a "may" can actually be relevant. Yesterday I played a game where I used Sweep Away to save my Wave-Wing Elemental from an Immolating Glare. It probably would still have been correct to bounce it to my library if that clause were mandatory; my opponent was almost dead and I needed a flier to get past the huge board stall on the ground. But it's nice that it doesn't cost you an extra card to use Sweep Away like that.
Been really unimpressed by this so far. You spend one of your turns doing nothing and in return you get to delay your opponent by a turn. Seems fine but not really something you're excited about unless you're removing some support counters. I know the idea is to blow someone out during combat, but it's hard to hold up three mana while developing your board enough to force out a combat trick.
My biggest problem with it is how bad it feels to spend turn three casting this. You sweep away whatever they attack with and then they play something bigger to take its place. If you're on the draw then sometimes they have two creatures out by then, in which case you get the same exchange but also take some damage.
It's above-average filler if you're already in blue, but I don't see this as something that would pull me into the color.
is it correct for me to believe there is no card disadvantage with Sweep Away?
is it correct of me to like this card in my control / non-tempo decks? my argument is that control decks enjoy having lots of lands, so Sweep Away takes care of a creature for two turns [the turn it attacked and the turn it is summoning sick when re-cast], and therefore buys enough time for my control deck to get more lands. is this reasoning sound?
Yea it's an even 1-for-1 trade as long as you don't consider a land to be a dead draw for you. Even in the late game you can sometimes make it an even trade if your opponent is alpha striking. Sweep away a bad creature and your opponent's next draw will get replaced with that bad creature.
I like Sweep Away but it is just average in my view, not a reason to play blue in particular. There are times when it is a two-for-one when the opponent attacks and tries to play a combat trick, but there are also times when it is dead in hand on a stalled board when just bouncing a creature does not give you an advantage and the opponent is attacking, as an example.
Also, there are a good number of creatures with enter the battlefield effects, and you usually don’t want to bounce those.
It’s a decent card but not above average, in general.
One of those cards that seems fine but just never seems to end up in my decks. I just checked to be sure, and yeah, I've drafted B/x 8 times in 8-4's on MTGO now...and I've never had a Tar in my main, and only drafted one total among all of those decks. I guess it is just a very low priority for me compared to other drafters, as I don't put much of a premium on removal this expensive that misses on so many important targets. I'm usually taking a decent creature or a non-waste colorless land at the point in a pack where I'd probably need to take this if I really wanted it.
It's fine, kills some things that need killing that don't usually get into combat (Prophet of Distortion, Mindmelter, Dragonmaster Outcast, Nettle Drone, Ruination guide), kills the two common white 3 power allies, and is a decent combat trick but I would sure rather have Grasp or Oblivion Strike
Hardly a kill spell in this format, but a rather decent combat trick. Overall weaker than I expected, and not an auto-include even if I am playing black.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Not hitting zone turns means this is almost never a reasonable card even to side in. An exhaustive list of cards in the format that are decent to hit with Natural State: Containment Membrane, Hedron Crawler, Quarantine Field, Stasis Snare, Tightening Coils, Visions of Brutality, and maybe Stoneforge Masterwork or Molten Nursery. In each case you get a 1 for 1 and some minor mana advantage if your State collides with their target, and a dead card if you draw it without a target. Killing Field, Snare, Coils, or Visions could at least let you ambush something for a 2-for-1, so I'd only consider this with at least 4 targets, at least one of which was one of those. Considering the rarities and color distribution involved, you will probably never play against such a deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I think it's a first pick out of more packs than not. The only thing holding it back from actually being one of the top cards in the set is that red is just not that great in general.
is it correct of me to like this card in my control / non-tempo decks? my argument is that control decks enjoy having lots of lands, so Sweep Away takes care of a creature for two turns [the turn it attacked and the turn it is summoning sick when re-cast], and therefore buys enough time for my control deck to get more lands. is this reasoning sound?
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.
If you are putting the creature on top there is no card disadvantage. Or you can also break even by messing with combat, like if they double-block and you bounce a blocker to the hand. Or if they use a trick then you bounce the blocker. In the ideal, and not completely unrealistic, scenario you can actually go up a card if you bait them into using a trick on one of their attackers which you then put on top of the library. You also get a sort of pseuo-CA when bouncing something with +1/+1 counters, especially if it is an awakened land (I got to bounce a 6/6 land once, one that had been double pumped by walls, felt goooood).
But yeah, I think generally it gains value in more defensive decks. I especially like it in UB tempo/control, where it seems like you often have other instants or instant-speed abilities to use plus the translator to make casting things on the opponent's turn more efficient. That said, I'd be fine playing it in a more aggressive build too, especially one of those typical blue decks that creates a racing situation where you are swinging in the air and they are swinging back on the ground.
My biggest problem with it is how bad it feels to spend turn three casting this. You sweep away whatever they attack with and then they play something bigger to take its place. If you're on the draw then sometimes they have two creatures out by then, in which case you get the same exchange but also take some damage.
It's above-average filler if you're already in blue, but I don't see this as something that would pull me into the color.
Yea it's an even 1-for-1 trade as long as you don't consider a land to be a dead draw for you. Even in the late game you can sometimes make it an even trade if your opponent is alpha striking. Sweep away a bad creature and your opponent's next draw will get replaced with that bad creature.
Also, there are a good number of creatures with enter the battlefield effects, and you usually don’t want to bounce those.
It’s a decent card but not above average, in general.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
playable but unexciting.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
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).