I had a game recently where I had to put two of these on the same Dronepack Kindred--my opponent had equipped it with an Ashmouth Blade and Wolfkin Bond, and had about a dozen mana to pump it. Even with a sizable graveyard, I still lost that one.
Apart from that, though, it's still a card I'm glad to have access to--maybe it synergizes better in U/B or U/G, but I wouldn't be sorry to play one in any blue deck.
Sensory Deprivation was a fantastic card in any controlling or fliers deck in original Innistrad. The thing that has me more skeptical about this is that it really doesn't fill the role of 'stop early beatdown'. If you kept a slow hand and your opponent plays a turn 2 2/2, you can Deprivation it and buy a lot of time, while this doesn't serve that role, though it is much better late game.
I had a game recently where I had to put two of these on the same Dronepack Kindred--my opponent had equipped it with an Ashmouth Blade and Wolfkin Bond, and had about a dozen mana to pump it. Even with a sizable graveyard, I still lost that one.
Apart from that, though, it's still a card I'm glad to have access to--maybe it synergizes better in U/B or U/G, but I wouldn't be sorry to play one in any blue deck.
Can't begin to tell you how crazy this gets in a deck that runs Vessel of Nascency and Grapple with the Past as primary card selection options. Drafted 3 of these along with 2 of each of the cards mentioned above, and it was consistently -4/-0 early enough for it to matter.
There's just tons of synergy for this card...Laboratory Brute, emerge, etc. Blue doom blade is undervalued by a lot of people, and does work in all of blue's color pairs.
I cannot get a poll working, so I am doing this in a roundabout way.
If you would like to see a week of Limited CotD of Conspiracy 2 next week, please like this post. If not, then leave it alone. There is no set threshold, just gauging interest.
Black's top common creature. The Unruly Mob effect is much better at turn 4 than on turn 2 since you're more likely to have some bodies to work with by the time it comes down. Plus, it comes with a respectable 2/4 stat that aims to get even bigger. Making it a 3/5 is trivial, and if it ever becomes a 4/6 and above there are so few things that can punch through it profitably. Still, it's 4 mana, which means it may have to fight with emerge creatures for a spot and besides that this is not a cmc that wants to be crowded. I would pick the first two with glee, give a good consideration for a third, and pass the rest.
I like Gavony Unhallowed a whole lot, as long as care is taken not to have too many 4+ drops in the deck and as long as there are a decent number of other creatures in the deck. It usually quickly gets to a 3/5, and/or it incentivizes you to keep attacking or blocking (or causes an opponent to hesitate to attack) for trades to occur, and it avoids most of the set's inexpensive removal due to its toughness.
Gavony Unhallowed is one of my favorite commons in the set, but I'm not sure if it's better than Olivia's Dragoon when competing for the best black creature, since the dragoon can be way more irreplaceable to your strategy as a madness or delerium enabler. The zombie type sadly is not as relevant as I would like it to be, since it turns out that Cemetary Recruitment and Graf Harvest are garbage payoffs for being in zombies, but the body and effect is pretty strong. The card suffers from being in the same format as Brazen Wolves in particular, but otherwise there are very few common cards that can actually punch through it. Solid 2.5 tier creature - this isn't quite a common pillar creature of the format (3.0) such as Brazen Wolves, Thermo-Alchemist, Ulvenwald Captive, Wretched Gryff, but it's pretty close.
Gavony Unhallowed is one of the best commons in EMN. That's for sure. Especially in draft, where you want to have a pretty creature-heavy deck. Not bad with Emerge cards, such as Distended Mindbender or Abundant Maw. If anyone has any thoughts on which colour combination(s) are best for this guy?
Gavony Unhallowed has a special place in this set of 3/2s. It's just such an insane common. I agree with the person who said 3 is a fine number.
As for Conspiracy, while I'd love to talk about cards from that set, I'm going to suggest that it not be done, simply because there are many Moto players who will get left out.
I would make the argument that you don't even need to build around the ability on Gavony Unhallowed for it to be good - a Pillarfield Ox in this format stands up surprisingly well on its own.
As for how it stacks up against Olivia's Dragoon, I think Dragoon is a stronger black signal than Unhallowed, if only because the payoff of cheap madness outlets and/or Vampire tribal is better than the payoff of "dudes that get bigger when things die" and/or Zombie tribal. To me, late Dragoons mean that black is open. Late Gavony Unhalloweds may just mean that there's a black drafter at the table who took all the Dragoons.
I actually quite like this card in grindier BW decks. IT's far from Lingering Souls, but the lifegain can compensate for that.
I didn't have the opportunity to draft UW spirits/flyers, to my surprise, so can't say if it's a good fit there.
A very midpick, 2.0 type of card. Spirits aren't really a thing (except that one time I got turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer, turn 3 Nebelgast Herald, turn 4 this), so you should only really consider this given the base rate of it giving you 2 1/1 fliers, 2 life, and a spell in the yard, which turns out to be a respectable card in most decks. It's probably at it's best in UW fliers, but even other color combinations don't really mind having a couple of 1/1 fliers to use with Borrowed Grace, Cultist's Staff, or Campaign of Vengeance.
I ended up liking this card more and more. White has a lack of good common sorceries for delirium or good common creatures at 4cmc, so this often makes a one-of quite easily. Plus there are just so few ways to deal with fliers in this set, so 2 power in the air on T4 is not as bad as it would be in other sets. Not a staple in any sense, but probably the best thing white has going on at the four mana range in its common pool for EMN.
I have yet to live the dream and go off with a bunch of these, but I've played them a few times as filler. UR doesn't mind just cycling a spell for triggers sometimes, and I've sided it in during sealed matches that I expect to go long enough that just cycling this is going to be better than the card I'm cutting.
Yeah, this card seems fine in exactly UR, where cycling a sorcery often does enough work through incidental value. I don't think I'd ever want to play this in a non-UR deck (barring magical Christmasland scenarios where you get passed 3-4 late in the draft).
If you're reading the draft well then you can usually grab these 10-12 pick for your UR spells deck. I'll play these as filler in exactly that deck, and they can actually be good if you pick up 3 which happens once in a blue moon.
This is a good mid-pick finisher for the slower black delerium decks. I've only really seen GB delerium work though since it's so hard to get it active in other color combinations, so it might just read as a GB card. Black has trouble closing out games in this format as it doesn't have good finishers at common, so this is more important in black delerium decks than it may seem.
Apart from that, though, it's still a card I'm glad to have access to--maybe it synergizes better in U/B or U/G, but I wouldn't be sorry to play one in any blue deck.
Can't begin to tell you how crazy this gets in a deck that runs Vessel of Nascency and Grapple with the Past as primary card selection options. Drafted 3 of these along with 2 of each of the cards mentioned above, and it was consistently -4/-0 early enough for it to matter.
If you would like to see a week of Limited CotD of Conspiracy 2 next week, please like this post. If not, then leave it alone. There is no set threshold, just gauging interest.
EDH:
Maelstrom Wanderer
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
As for Conspiracy, while I'd love to talk about cards from that set, I'm going to suggest that it not be done, simply because there are many Moto players who will get left out.
As for how it stacks up against Olivia's Dragoon, I think Dragoon is a stronger black signal than Unhallowed, if only because the payoff of cheap madness outlets and/or Vampire tribal is better than the payoff of "dudes that get bigger when things die" and/or Zombie tribal. To me, late Dragoons mean that black is open. Late Gavony Unhalloweds may just mean that there's a black drafter at the table who took all the Dragoons.
I didn't have the opportunity to draft UW spirits/flyers, to my surprise, so can't say if it's a good fit there.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)