Stymied Hope is meant as a card you cast in the first four turns. If you need a card that will be good all game long, because you expect to play against control, you play Dissolve. Synco is just an awkward in between that serves both purposes, but isn't that good at any of them.
I think people underestimate Syncopate. The exile clause is quite relevant with stuff like Whip of Erebos, Scavenging Ooze, Chandra's Phoenix, etc. running around. It's also better on the play, and on the draw (e.g. against Domri). Sure, sometimes the Domri list will have Mystic T1 into T2 Domri on the play, but that happens. Stymied is also insanely bad against RDW and just anytime after T3-4 regardless of the MU.
It's also relevant in the control mirror since it can effectively be used as a 1U counter to Sphinx if your opponent makes a mistake or is just bad. As for Dissolve...it's good to have a few, but I'd still rather have more Syncopate just because being able to play counters early is better than later due to their very nature and some of the very good early plays available in standard. I'd rather have Syncopate in hand to play when they cast VoR, whereas with Dissolve your SOL.
Synco is not better in the first three turns, where your opponent will tap out.
After turn three and four against an aggro deck, you're not supposed to need counterspells. You're supposed to have stabilized and to be dominating the board. You're dead already if you're Syncopating burn.
If your opponent is bad, that doesn't make your card better And anyway, in that case, it's still worse than Stymied Hope (who does the same, + scry 1).
Dissolve is against Control, where they always have the necessary mana on hand. You want hard counters, not Synco nor Stymied Hope. Against aggro, Stymied is the best, countering their early and most relevant plays while setting up your draws to answer their threats.
You might get them with Stymied Hopes one time. Might. After that they will play around it. Counterspells don't magically get worse as the match goes on; I'd actually argue the opposite. You might get a counter or two off early, but it would be easier to rely on your removal early on and then counter any relevant threats later on that may disrupt what you've managed to set up on the board.
I would venture a guess that no one played Stymied Hopes in Worcester and that it will see zero competitive play during its time in the format. Hell, it probably won't see play in any format. It's even terrible in limited. Spell Snip saw no play and you could cycle it.
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States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Heliod is not good. You pay four mana to do nothing until you pay another four mana to get a measly 2/1. Yes, it gives Vigilance to your creature. We're playing control. We don't need vigilant creatures on turn four. We need to be sweeping and stabilizing.
Haven't seen many Keyrunes. They're a great answer to some 'walkers, they get from three mana to five, then six, which puts us closer to sealing the game, they work great with counters... Three of them is great.
Thassa is a trap. Scry 1 every turn is not worth three mana. On the third turn, you're trying to stabilize. Even against control, you're spending a card for virtual card advantage, and you don't have enough creature worth paying two for unblockability. Thassa would be good in Midrange or Aggro, actually, scrying to get to your burn and making some of your creatures unblockable.
Syncopate isn't impressive. Either run Dissolve, which will answer late-game threats, or Stymied Hope, for early game ones.
Jace, AoT is very good in a slower meta. He combines protection, CA and his -8 is a wincon by itself. Three or four of them is a great idea.
Esper doesn't have a good enough manabase right now, methinks, at least for the benefits.
We don't need that much early-game CA that we have to run Divination. Jace is enough.
Omenspeaker might get good in a very aggro-y meta, but Fiendslayer Paladin is what you want in that role. Lifelink, First Strike, and you can't kill it with targeted black removal or targeted burn. It's a very good blocker, especially in multiples.
Pithing Needle is good in the sideboard. It can answer opposing Aetherling (if yours are dead or MIA) and shut down 'walkers.
I don't think Render Silent is worth it over Dissolve, really. The Thoughtseize trick is less frequent than the use out of Scry 1.
Quicken? Doesn't sound very useful.
Ratchet Bomb is not good, unless you're playing against a crapload of token decks. Look at it this way : if you want to destroy CMC 1, it happens one turn before Verdict. It you want to destroy CMC 2, the same turn. CMC 3 or more? You're behind. Furthermore, you've spent your second turn doing nothing, which is very dangerous against aggro, while with a real sweeper, you were containing them to get to the point where you destroy everything. And a sweeper can be cast on turn eight, and destroys all CMC. I can't see why we'd want Ratchet Bomb at all with the possibility of a Supreme Verdict playset.
Generally agree, although Thassa and Render Silent may have some play in the right builds. Huey Jenson played 2 Prognostic Sphinx in his U/W shell this weekend. I think they are underrated (they also avoid Elspeth's sweep), and 1-of Thassa could be good in such a build.
Generally agree, although Thassa and Render Silent may have some play in the right builds. Huey Jenson played 2 Prognostic Sphinx in his U/W shell this weekend. I think they are underrated (they also avoid Elspeth's sweep), and 1-of Thassa could be good in such a build.
I'll have to try Prognostic Sphinx this weekend. I'm thinking Heliod is subpar in this type of deck where he's harder to turn on.
Synco is not better in the first three turns, where your opponent will tap out.
After turn three and four against an aggro deck, you're not supposed to need counterspells. You're supposed to have stabilized and to be dominating the board. You're dead already if you're Syncopating burn.
If your opponent is bad, that doesn't make your card better And anyway, in that case, it's still worse than Stymied Hope (who does the same, + scry 1).
Dissolve is against Control, where they always have the necessary mana on hand. You want hard counters, not Synco nor Stymied Hope. Against aggro, Stymied is the best, countering their early and most relevant plays while setting up your draws to answer their threats.
So it's turn 3, you and the op both have 3 mana, they tap 2 for BTE, you have stymied hopes and a removal spell, you get to remove something but you don't get to stop them going BTE->Gorehouse Chain-walker so the turn ends with them having a dude down. Re-do the situation with syncopate...
I could drag it on a way... The good thing about Syncopate is that it's a bridging card it's useful early game and late game, it's never great but it can be used from t2 and it remains playable up to turn 50.
Countering burn can be very relevent particularly vs RDW... Say you're on 9 life but have cleared the board they're top decking burn and casting it each turn, you're drawing counter spells and waiting for the AEtherling...
Summary: you're doing it wrong
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I think people underestimate Syncopate. The exile clause is quite relevant with stuff like Whip of Erebos, Scavenging Ooze, Chandra's Phoenix, etc. running around. It's also better on the play, and on the draw (e.g. against Domri). Sure, sometimes the Domri list will have Mystic T1 into T2 Domri on the play, but that happens. Stymied is also insanely bad against RDW and just anytime after T3-4 regardless of the MU.
It's also relevant in the control mirror since it can effectively be used as a 1U counter to Sphinx if your opponent makes a mistake or is just bad. As for Dissolve...it's good to have a few, but I'd still rather have more Syncopate just because being able to play counters early is better than later due to their very nature and some of the very good early plays available in standard. I'd rather have Syncopate in hand to play when they cast VoR, whereas with Dissolve your SOL.
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"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Synco is not better in the first three turns, where your opponent will tap out.
After turn three and four against an aggro deck, you're not supposed to need counterspells. You're supposed to have stabilized and to be dominating the board. You're dead already if you're Syncopating burn.
If your opponent is bad, that doesn't make your card better And anyway, in that case, it's still worse than Stymied Hope (who does the same, + scry 1).
Dissolve is against Control, where they always have the necessary mana on hand. You want hard counters, not Synco nor Stymied Hope. Against aggro, Stymied is the best, countering their early and most relevant plays while setting up your draws to answer their threats.
I would venture a guess that no one played Stymied Hopes in Worcester and that it will see zero competitive play during its time in the format. Hell, it probably won't see play in any format. It's even terrible in limited. Spell Snip saw no play and you could cycle it.
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.
Generally agree, although Thassa and Render Silent may have some play in the right builds. Huey Jenson played 2 Prognostic Sphinx in his U/W shell this weekend. I think they are underrated (they also avoid Elspeth's sweep), and 1-of Thassa could be good in such a build.
I'll have to try Prognostic Sphinx this weekend. I'm thinking Heliod is subpar in this type of deck where he's harder to turn on.
I could drag it on a way... The good thing about Syncopate is that it's a bridging card it's useful early game and late game, it's never great but it can be used from t2 and it remains playable up to turn 50.
Countering burn can be very relevent particularly vs RDW... Say you're on 9 life but have cleared the board they're top decking burn and casting it each turn, you're drawing counter spells and waiting for the AEtherling...
Summary: you're doing it wrong