Seems like there should be a home for Ghost Quarter in standard now with all the greedy mana bases that has no basic lands. Or is the effect too weak in standard because most of the time you play more lands than in modern or legacy?
people rather play things then to destroy lands and if you do use the ghost quarter you just set yourself a turn back inless you play standard eggs and then abuse it on yourself
Just seeing all of these control decks with basically no basics at all, or if any it's like a 1-2 off. Seems like there should be a place for Ghost Quarter, now more than ever, since all of the utility lands see play in some deck or another.
It would crush a number of the decks at GP gatecrush atm... including the leading deck (splashing red just for Kessig wolf run).. and all the esper control mill decks nephelia drowyard is a thing.
It is t the environment where it is effective to lose a land to off someone else's in hopes that they have NO basics.
Are decks greedy right now?
Most certainly, but in this environment where creatures create game swing after game swing and tempo is lurking in the shadows, popping a land is just a bad use of a land. It means you are not swinging the game where it needs to be swung and you are making a potentially game ending play by taking that chance.
TLDR;
Just make consistant plays with expected results and move on rather than trying blind odds.
I run GQs in my UB control primarily for defended vs special lands, but in some curcumstances I turn to strip mine mode, it doesn't help if the op is ahead on board, but at the right times it is devastating.
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I'm a control player, because I like to reserve the right to say no.
Seems like it could be a thing in a mono color or 2 color aggro deck, with alot of cheap creatures and the tempo you get from destroying colored land could mean the game could be good, but I'm no deck wizz so I don't know really.
I think this card is still limited to killing caverns, ability lands, and people trying to utilize underworld connections. Outside of that set of circumstances I don't think you gain enough value by trying to prey on a decks colors unless you're absolutely certain that they run no basics.
However what deck right now really wants to run no basics? Borderland Rangers requires you to have basics in green and Rangers Path doesn't mind a few basic forests in the build.
Black based decks are going to want high swamp count for Mutilate which means they will have some basics.
Red and White variants are running very stable mana bases to support Boros Reckoner and avoid shocking themselves and losing races.
Any deck that I would care about being down a land to early (aggro) can't afford to run the colorless. All of the aggro decks are dropping color demanding threats at this point in time. Esper runs ~27 lands and Bant has farseek, so if you aren't killing them off the bat you likely won't color screw them or land screw them.
If you can afford GQ its probably best for utility lands or cavern as someone previously said.
The problem is, Ghost Quarter is too slow in the format. It's only best if it can take out an opponent's Kessig Wolf Run or Nephalia Drownyard at late turns in the game. It also puts you down a land, a land that you have finite number of in your deck, and takes one of your land drops, it's just not good in this format. I agree that there should be some nonbasic land hate in Standard right now to keep things interesting but Ghost Quarter isn't it. Too bad R&D has voted that land destruction isn't a fun way to play Magic. It kind of sucks that the only thing that's fun in Magic is the creatures which just isn't the case. How many times do we have to see EtB effects get abused by Restoration Angel? I digress...
I've been running 3 ghost quarters Maindeck in a junk build with Deathrite Shamans. Nullifies the tempo loss and provides early fixing. A lot of times even if they're running only basics I'll blow a ghost quarter turn 3 to help fix my early mana to get a nighthawk or a smiter out. A LOT of decks are running no basics now too.
It would crush a number of the decks at GP gatecrush atm... including the leading deck (splashing red just for Kessig wolf run).. and all the esper control mill decks nephelia drowyard is a thing.
being potential strip mine is even better.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
(P/R)(P/G) Infect (P/G)(P/R)
UWU Fish UWU
WB Disruption BW
Standard:
WBR Junk Aristocrats WBR
WWW Humans WWW
Commander:
BBB Marrowgnawer and Friends BBB
GGG Thrun Tron GGG
WBR Kaalia of the Vast RBW
Why is desperate ravings a good card?
Are decks greedy right now?
Most certainly, but in this environment where creatures create game swing after game swing and tempo is lurking in the shadows, popping a land is just a bad use of a land. It means you are not swinging the game where it needs to be swung and you are making a potentially game ending play by taking that chance.
TLDR;
Just make consistant plays with expected results and move on rather than trying blind odds.
Or just play Unexpected Results!
However what deck right now really wants to run no basics? Borderland Rangers requires you to have basics in green and Rangers Path doesn't mind a few basic forests in the build.
Black based decks are going to want high swamp count for Mutilate which means they will have some basics.
Red and White variants are running very stable mana bases to support Boros Reckoner and avoid shocking themselves and losing races.
If you can afford GQ its probably best for utility lands or cavern as someone previously said.
It's weak sauce if you just plan to color screw your opponent
I've been running 3 ghost quarters Maindeck in a junk build with Deathrite Shamans. Nullifies the tempo loss and provides early fixing. A lot of times even if they're running only basics I'll blow a ghost quarter turn 3 to help fix my early mana to get a nighthawk or a smiter out. A LOT of decks are running no basics now too.
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc