I'm running Izzet Triggers (Pyromancer, Phoenix, Keranos, SBD, bunch of burn/counterspells), and tonight I got second place at FNM with it. The thing that I lost to was Bant Superfriends because I couldn't deal with the Planeswalkers, but I can rectify that by putting Negates in the sideboard.
What I can't deal with - and what I thankfully only encountered in two games - is a Mistcutter Hydra that comes in with more than 3-4 counters. I beat one by dropping two burn spells on it, and the other by being ahead enough that I could just keep swinging with fliers and blocking with tokens to win. But I'd rather not rely on something like that next time, and since blue is useless against it, I'm wondering: what red (or colorless) cards can I side in to deal with Mistcutter?
Ratchet Bomb, that's perfect! I always forget about that card... and I always forget that I have a playset. I'll stick a couple in the sideboard for sure.
Most efficient way is pyromancer tokens. I take it you're running about 15 + spells? My second choice is Ratchet Bomb. I had the exact same problem as you, even Loxodon Smiter can be annoying. I tried the bomb and pyro tokens and found while bomb is great and can deal with one hydra, it's just a matter of time before they draw another one or something more threatening. Pyro tokens solves most of your problems. You can't go wrong with the bomb in sideboard but I'd just play your normal game and side in bombs. Mistcutter isn't that scary, plus you can always race by the time they're building for that big Banefire, they could be close to dead.
One red card that does pretty well for such things too depending on your deck is act of treason. You're not exactly doing nothing and tend to be killing their board anyway so if they drop a mistcutter, hitting them back with it is often enough to just make you win the race.
One red card that does pretty well for such things too depending on your deck is act of treason. You're not exactly doing nothing and tend to be killing their board anyway so if they drop a mistcutter, hitting them back with it is often enough to just make you win the race.
Harness by Force is almost a complete upgrade. I have blown out several games by taking two creatures and leaving them nothing to block with.
Mizzium Mortars. Why is this even a question? Mistcutter doesn't have any inherent abilities that make it difficult for a red mage to deal with. I think you've got red confused with blue.
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Mizzium Mortars. Why is this even a question? Mistcutter doesn't have any inherent abilities that make it difficult for a red mage to deal with. I think you've got red confused with blue.
Mistcutter for 5 is not unheard of, and conveniently dodges Mizz Mortars as well as pretty much most relevant burn that U/R has at it's disposal.
I'm running Izzet Triggers (Pyromancer, Phoenix, Keranos, SBD, bunch of burn/counterspells), and tonight I got second place at FNM with it. The thing that I lost to was Bant Superfriends because I couldn't deal with the Planeswalkers, but I can rectify that by putting Negates in the sideboard.
What I can't deal with - and what I thankfully only encountered in two games - is a Mistcutter Hydra that comes in with more than 3-4 counters. I beat one by dropping two burn spells on it, and the other by being ahead enough that I could just keep swinging with fliers and blocking with tokens to win. But I'd rather not rely on something like that next time, and since blue is useless against it, I'm wondering: what red (or colorless) cards can I side in to deal with Mistcutter?
One way is to splash white. R/W Burn is a very powerful deck right now. And with white, you would have access to Blind Obedience, which slows Miscutter down. Also, you would have access to Chained to the Rocks and Banishing Light, which can 1-for-1 Miscutter.
Mizzium Mortars. Why is this even a question? Mistcutter doesn't have any inherent abilities that make it difficult for a red mage to deal with. I think you've got red confused with blue.
Mistcutter for 5 is not unheard of, and conveniently dodges Mizz Mortars as well as pretty much most relevant burn that U/R has at it's disposal.
Your post makes it hilariously evident that you didn't read the OP.
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
Mizzium Mortars. Why is this even a question? Mistcutter doesn't have any inherent abilities that make it difficult for a red mage to deal with. I think you've got red confused with blue.
Mistcutter for 5 is not unheard of, and conveniently dodges Mizz Mortars as well as pretty much most relevant burn that U/R has at it's disposal.
Your post makes it hilariously evident that you didn't read the OP.
I certainly did. He said a miscutter with more than 3-4 counters on it. 5 is more than 4 last time I checked. I'm actually not sure what the point of your post is; U/R strategies, from experience, have a good deal of problems with Miscutters as all of our answers require an assumption that the miscutter is fairly small. Mizz Mortars answers only those at 4, not those that get to 5+ counters.
So my post was a completely valid point about Mizz Mortars not being a great answer to Miscutter. Which it's not. Often it requires using Mortars in combinatin with other burn to take it down, which is exactly the problem the OP described.
I'm not really sure why a Mistcutter for large X is any more of a problem for red than any other large creature is (Polukranos evades burn just as well and costs 2 less than Mistcutter for the same P/T). Aside from the haste, that is. I think the general strategy in playing red is to simply accept that damage with the understanding that you're dealing damage to the opponent in larger/faster amounts.
I'm not really sure why a Mistcutter for large X is any more of a problem for red than any other large creature is (Polukranos evades burn just as well and costs 2 less than Mistcutter for the same P/T). Aside from the haste, that is. I think the general strategy in playing red is to simply accept that damage with the understanding that you're dealing damage to the opponent in larger/faster amounts.
In U/R builds you can counter Polukranos. So there is that difference.
I'm not really sure why a Mistcutter for large X is any more of a problem for red than any other large creature is (Polukranos evades burn just as well and costs 2 less than Mistcutter for the same P/T). Aside from the haste, that is. I think the general strategy in playing red is to simply accept that damage with the understanding that you're dealing damage to the opponent in larger/faster amounts.
You can counter or turn burn polly, mistcutter you can't.
If the OP meant 5 or more he should have just wrote... 5 or more.
He wrote more than 3-4 counter. Seriously now. Yes, if it's 4 counters, then Mizz mortars will work. But that's rather specific given that Mistcutter can easily get above that, and often does. Meaning that Mizz Mortars has a very short shelf life against Mistcutter. There is no point in being so incredibly literal with what the OP said, as it is pretty clear that he is implying that he has problems when it gets to sufficiently large size, which is something that Mistcutters can easily do.
Really, what is the point of your post? It's just being needless pedantic and argumentative. Mizz Mortars is not a good answer to Mistcutter, as Mistcutter can be any size they want.
The real answer is to answer Mistcutter is two fold: Pyro tokens and Act of Treason effects. Mizz Mortars answers it only in a very narrow window where X <= 4. Anymore than that, and it's not an answer at all. And it's a very bad spell in many decks that run Mistcutter as well, meaning that you are using a spell that has pretty much one decent target in only a certain number of cases.
If the OP meant 5 or more he should have just wrote... 5 or more.
He wrote more than 3-4 counter. Seriously now. Yes, if it's 4 counters, then Mizz mortars will work. But that's rather specific given that Mistcutter can easily get above that, and often does. Meaning that Mizz Mortars has a very short shelf life against Mistcutter. There is no point in being so incredibly literal with what the OP said, as it is pretty clear that he is implying that he has problems when it gets to sufficiently large size, which is something that Mistcutters can easily do.
Really, what is the point of your post? It's just being needless pedantic and argumentative. Mizz Mortars is not a good answer to Mistcutter, as Mistcutter can be any size they want.
The real answer is to answer Mistcutter is two fold: Pyro tokens and Act of Treason effects. Mizz Mortars answers it only in a very narrow window where X <= 4. Anymore than that, and it's not an answer at all. And it's a very bad spell in many decks that run Mistcutter as well, meaning that you are using a spell that has pretty much one decent target in only a certain number of cases.
Mistcutter can't be any size they want. They have to have X+1 mana. If they have 6+ mana to use on a mistcutter hydra and you don't have some sort of board presence established you lose. I don't know why this is even a question. Why is it mistcutter specifically? What is the difference between mistcutter and an arbor colossus that hits the field? It poses the same problem for red as any fatty does. So I vote that this entire thread be archived because it is utterly useless.
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
If the OP meant 5 or more he should have just wrote... 5 or more.
He wrote more than 3-4 counter. Seriously now. Yes, if it's 4 counters, then Mizz mortars will work. But that's rather specific given that Mistcutter can easily get above that, and often does. Meaning that Mizz Mortars has a very short shelf life against Mistcutter. There is no point in being so incredibly literal with what the OP said, as it is pretty clear that he is implying that he has problems when it gets to sufficiently large size, which is something that Mistcutters can easily do.
Really, what is the point of your post? It's just being needless pedantic and argumentative. Mizz Mortars is not a good answer to Mistcutter, as Mistcutter can be any size they want.
The real answer is to answer Mistcutter is two fold: Pyro tokens and Act of Treason effects. Mizz Mortars answers it only in a very narrow window where X <= 4. Anymore than that, and it's not an answer at all. And it's a very bad spell in many decks that run Mistcutter as well, meaning that you are using a spell that has pretty much one decent target in only a certain number of cases.
Mistcutter can't be any size they want. They have to have X+1 mana. If they have 6+ mana to use on a mistcutter hydra and you don't have some sort of board presence established you lose. I don't know why this is even a question. Why is it mistcutter specifically? What is the difference between mistcutter and an arbor colossus that hits the field? It poses the same problem for red as any fatty does. So I vote that this entire thread be archived because it is utterly useless.
He is talking about U/R specifically. One can answer Collossus with a counterspell. One cannot do the same with Mistcutter. Or you could use Turn/Burn on Colossus, but not on Mistcutter.
For someone who derided me for not reading the OP, it's pretty apparent you're ignoring some details in the OP.
Mistcutter is a problem specifically because you cannot counter it, unlike most other threats, you can't Turn/Burn it, unlike most other threats, *and* most of the time it requires multiple burn spells to answer.
Out of curiousity, have you ever played U/R in the current standard? Or are you assuming it's somehow similar to R/W Burn and other aggro strategies? Because frankly it seems like you have no idea how the deck actually works, and how it wants to answer threats, or the type of board presence one can reasonably get with the deck.
If the OP meant 5 or more he should have just wrote... 5 or more.
He wrote more than 3-4 counter. Seriously now. Yes, if it's 4 counters, then Mizz mortars will work. But that's rather specific given that Mistcutter can easily get above that, and often does. Meaning that Mizz Mortars has a very short shelf life against Mistcutter. There is no point in being so incredibly literal with what the OP said, as it is pretty clear that he is implying that he has problems when it gets to sufficiently large size, which is something that Mistcutters can easily do.
Really, what is the point of your post? It's just being needless pedantic and argumentative. Mizz Mortars is not a good answer to Mistcutter, as Mistcutter can be any size they want.
The real answer is to answer Mistcutter is two fold: Pyro tokens and Act of Treason effects. Mizz Mortars answers it only in a very narrow window where X <= 4. Anymore than that, and it's not an answer at all. And it's a very bad spell in many decks that run Mistcutter as well, meaning that you are using a spell that has pretty much one decent target in only a certain number of cases.
Mistcutter can't be any size they want. They have to have X+1 mana. If they have 6+ mana to use on a mistcutter hydra and you don't have some sort of board presence established you lose. I don't know why this is even a question. Why is it mistcutter specifically? What is the difference between mistcutter and an arbor colossus that hits the field? It poses the same problem for red as any fatty does. So I vote that this entire thread be archived because it is utterly useless.
He is talking about U/R specifically. One can answer Collossus with a counterspell. One cannot do the same with Mistcutter. Or you could use Turn/Burn on Colossus, but not on Mistcutter.
For someone who derided me for not reading the OP, it's pretty apparent you're ignoring some details in the OP.
Mistcutter is a problem specifically because you cannot counter it, unlike most other threats, you can't Turn/Burn it, unlike most other threats, *and* most of the time it requires multiple burn spells to answer.
Out of curiousity, have you ever played U/R in the current standard? Or are you assuming it's somehow similar to R/W Burn and other aggro strategies? Because frankly it seems like you have no idea how the deck actually works, and how it wants to answer threats, or the type of board presence one can reasonably get with the deck.
I'm the spikiest of spikes. I know how the deck plays and I know how bad it is. Anyway on a serious note. There are a bunch of ways to stop it. The problem is the U/R deck doesn't really run many ways to beat it. The card was factually designed to hose Blue decks and if your opponent has 6+ mana floating around just to drop a giant mistcutter you probably aren't going to win. If you can't deal with it you obviously die but if you can deal with it you're more than likely 2 for 1'in yourself. The best way to beat it is to race it.
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What I can't deal with - and what I thankfully only encountered in two games - is a Mistcutter Hydra that comes in with more than 3-4 counters. I beat one by dropping two burn spells on it, and the other by being ahead enough that I could just keep swinging with fliers and blocking with tokens to win. But I'd rather not rely on something like that next time, and since blue is useless against it, I'm wondering: what red (or colorless) cards can I side in to deal with Mistcutter?
Harness by Force is almost a complete upgrade. I have blown out several games by taking two creatures and leaving them nothing to block with.
Seriously, use Harness by Force instead.
Mistcutter for 5 is not unheard of, and conveniently dodges Mizz Mortars as well as pretty much most relevant burn that U/R has at it's disposal.
One way is to splash white. R/W Burn is a very powerful deck right now. And with white, you would have access to Blind Obedience, which slows Miscutter down. Also, you would have access to Chained to the Rocks and Banishing Light, which can 1-for-1 Miscutter.
Your post makes it hilariously evident that you didn't read the OP.
I certainly did. He said a miscutter with more than 3-4 counters on it. 5 is more than 4 last time I checked. I'm actually not sure what the point of your post is; U/R strategies, from experience, have a good deal of problems with Miscutters as all of our answers require an assumption that the miscutter is fairly small. Mizz Mortars answers only those at 4, not those that get to 5+ counters.
So my post was a completely valid point about Mizz Mortars not being a great answer to Miscutter. Which it's not. Often it requires using Mortars in combinatin with other burn to take it down, which is exactly the problem the OP described.
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In U/R builds you can counter Polukranos. So there is that difference.
If the OP meant 5 or more he should have just wrote... 5 or more.
You can counter or turn burn polly, mistcutter you can't.
Fated Conflagration. That's some secret esper control tech there
He wrote more than 3-4 counter. Seriously now. Yes, if it's 4 counters, then Mizz mortars will work. But that's rather specific given that Mistcutter can easily get above that, and often does. Meaning that Mizz Mortars has a very short shelf life against Mistcutter. There is no point in being so incredibly literal with what the OP said, as it is pretty clear that he is implying that he has problems when it gets to sufficiently large size, which is something that Mistcutters can easily do.
Really, what is the point of your post? It's just being needless pedantic and argumentative. Mizz Mortars is not a good answer to Mistcutter, as Mistcutter can be any size they want.
The real answer is to answer Mistcutter is two fold: Pyro tokens and Act of Treason effects. Mizz Mortars answers it only in a very narrow window where X <= 4. Anymore than that, and it's not an answer at all. And it's a very bad spell in many decks that run Mistcutter as well, meaning that you are using a spell that has pretty much one decent target in only a certain number of cases.
Mistcutter can't be any size they want. They have to have X+1 mana. If they have 6+ mana to use on a mistcutter hydra and you don't have some sort of board presence established you lose. I don't know why this is even a question. Why is it mistcutter specifically? What is the difference between mistcutter and an arbor colossus that hits the field? It poses the same problem for red as any fatty does. So I vote that this entire thread be archived because it is utterly useless.
He is talking about U/R specifically. One can answer Collossus with a counterspell. One cannot do the same with Mistcutter. Or you could use Turn/Burn on Colossus, but not on Mistcutter.
For someone who derided me for not reading the OP, it's pretty apparent you're ignoring some details in the OP.
Mistcutter is a problem specifically because you cannot counter it, unlike most other threats, you can't Turn/Burn it, unlike most other threats, *and* most of the time it requires multiple burn spells to answer.
Out of curiousity, have you ever played U/R in the current standard? Or are you assuming it's somehow similar to R/W Burn and other aggro strategies? Because frankly it seems like you have no idea how the deck actually works, and how it wants to answer threats, or the type of board presence one can reasonably get with the deck.
I'm the spikiest of spikes. I know how the deck plays and I know how bad it is. Anyway on a serious note. There are a bunch of ways to stop it. The problem is the U/R deck doesn't really run many ways to beat it. The card was factually designed to hose Blue decks and if your opponent has 6+ mana floating around just to drop a giant mistcutter you probably aren't going to win. If you can't deal with it you obviously die but if you can deal with it you're more than likely 2 for 1'in yourself. The best way to beat it is to race it.