Thoughtseize for aggressive decks. B/Bx aggressive decks differ from W or R aggro in their disruptive elements, and this card seems to be another great piece of disruption for those decks. Even if I believe we should consider this card for its B cost, 2B may still be reasonable to pay in the late game.
Is this good enough in aggressive decks to warrant inclusion in a Cube?
I think this is pretty bad. I want to fire off my Duress effects on turn 1 so I can safely throw down my Dark Confidant / Pack Rat turn 2. This card is only usable in aggro, but even then this isn't the greatest turn 2 play. I like Divest / Despise / Doomfall much more.
I think Cubes have better options than this. Most 1cc discard spells have a restriction on what card it can target while this has a restrictive mana cost. Personally, I prefer the former.
Thoughtseize effects in powered cube are crucial in the early points of the game,
Grabbing a piece of power that cripples their mana base, or their busted combo card is a significant part of the value of duress and friends.
the 3 mana fail rate is not that bad.. but it misses the time window for broken starts. The card is still ok, but a bit too ineffecient...
and outside of hyper agro, wouldnt be cast until turn 3 anyway.
And these effects are less important in hyper agro... as much as I adhore hand disruption effects in cube, this is a miss for me
I don't think it's as good as Duress or Inquisition of Kozilek. If I was looking for a 4th card with this effect, I think I might go with Unmask or Lay Bare the Heart before this card, too.
A 3BStupor (or 2BBHymn to Tourach) with a Spectacle of 1B would be kinda exciting though; a very nice T2 play following up an aggro zombie. Maybe we'll see something like that?
Just as a thought experiment, I wonder how good a targeted discard spell that cost B but had the additional cost of 1 for each land you control you be?
Unplayable. So it basically requires you to have mana other than from lands in order to cast it? With 1 swamp out, it costs 1B. Only gets worse from there.
It'd be interesting. Assuming no other restrictions (non-creature, cmc 3 or less, lose 2 life, etc.), it'd be better than Thoughtseize turn 1 and 2, better than Distress turn 3, and equal to Coercion turn 4. Combo decks probably wouldn't be interested since it's bad at protecting them the turn they want to go off, but looks good for aggro and control since they want to fire it off early anyway. I'd test it. Pairs poorly against Force Spike, though.
Thoughtseize for aggressive decks.
B/Bx aggressive decks differ from W or R aggro in their disruptive elements, and this card seems to be another great piece of disruption for those decks. Even if I believe we should consider this card for its B cost, 2B may still be reasonable to pay in the late game.
Is this good enough in aggressive decks to warrant inclusion in a Cube?
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Grabbing a piece of power that cripples their mana base, or their busted combo card is a significant part of the value of duress and friends.
the 3 mana fail rate is not that bad.. but it misses the time window for broken starts. The card is still ok, but a bit too ineffecient...
and outside of hyper agro, wouldnt be cast until turn 3 anyway.
And these effects are less important in hyper agro... as much as I adhore hand disruption effects in cube, this is a miss for me
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[180 classic cube]
Not being able to reliably do this on the first few turns makes it more of a three-mana card with upside than a narrow one-mana card.
On a scale of Psychic Spear (1) to Thoughtseize (10), this is like a 4, along with cards like Mire's Toll and Blackmail. There are many better cheap discard spells.
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Unplayable. So it basically requires you to have mana other than from lands in order to cast it? With 1 swamp out, it costs 1B. Only gets worse from there.
[180 classic cube]