I'm not a fan of this card since both sides are good early and bad late. The flexibility just isn't there when both sides of the card want to be played at the same time in the game.
I really like this card. I like the tapland option more than cycling, and I plan on testing this. Having land options strapped to cards opens up opportunities to keep opening hands that even cycling can't make available. I value the ability to play this as a tapland on T1 and keep a hand I'd otherwise have to mulligan more than the ability to cycle a card away if it's dead late. Just my personal playstyle I guess.
Land vs cycling depends on the effect for me. On a 7-mana spell the land option is fantastic because it’s a land in your opener or high impact spell late. This, on the other hand, does not have a mode that’s good late. I would rather have the cycling on Censor when you draw the card on turn 7.
I really like this card. I like the tapland option more than cycling, and I plan on testing this. Having land options strapped to cards opens up opportunities to keep opening hands that even cycling can't make available. I value the ability to play this as a tapland on T1 and keep a hand I'd otherwise have to mulligan more than the ability to cycle a card away if it's dead late. Just my personal playstyle I guess.
I think people are missing this point. Both this and the cyling cards get dumped early but I really like this in the 3-4 land opening hands. You can counter a critical spell or hold it back if you are worried about. This seems like a card you play in a deck that might want 18 lands. While the other cards spells cards go in place of 1 of the 17. It is more screw insurance than flood insurance.
I have to agree that this card is more about improving your odds of having a good opening hand, which I like a lot. And even in the late game people still tap out often enough that a Force Spike isn't completely useless.
I have to agree that this card is more about improving your odds of having a good opening hand, which I like a lot. And even in the late game people still tap out often enough that a Force Spike isn't completely useless.
This assessment is well on point. Blue is getting some shocking love with this set. Can't wait to test these MDFCs. More are coming in the Winter and Spring 2020 sets too.
I have to agree that this card is more about improving your odds of having a good opening hand, which I like a lot. And even in the late game people still tap out often enough that a Force Spike isn't completely useless.
This assessment is well on point. Blue is getting some shocking love with this set. Can't wait to test these MDFCs. More are coming in the Winter and Spring 2020 sets too.
Supposedly in the other sets the MDFCs won't have lands as the back side
I really hate going to 3 mana for counter magic. I could see myself playing this over censor. But as of right now, I think I have too many conditional early counter magic that loses potency in the late game.
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While expensive cards like wish-giver’s boon have cycle so you can go fishing for a land if you can’t afford it, censor is a bit different.
As the card is already cheap, it is a bit more rare that you are cycling it to search for lands. More often, you are cycling it because you have left the small game window where the card is genuinely useful and are trying to get a different card... in which case a land may be the worst card you can draw.
Also, I feel that the comparison between MDDC and cycling is a bit poor as it is not instant speed, as it can generally only be done once a turn, as it has no chance of feeding reanimation or similar strategies, and it fails to actually thin your deck. While getting a guaranteed land can be good and effectively paying for the “cycling” with the land you “draw” lets you keep a wider array of opening hands, it is a genuine trade-off that needs to be measured.
I think this card is on par, or slightly worse, than Censor, since you can hold that card and cycle it away at instant speed when it becomes irrelevant.
Given that I'm not close to playing Censor, this is an easy pass for me. Could may crack really big lists like 540+ but I think this is really a 720+ card.
Replacing Censor is not hard choice to make. To me, the real question is: would you guys ever replacing Force Spike with it? (I am also running Mana Leak which I would not replace with this under any circumstances.)
Or I could just finally ditch a pet card. (That might be the best call but I'm still very curious as to your thoughts on this vs Force Spike.
I value turn one (and turn zero) countermagic extremely highly, so I would be loathe to cut Force Spike. Arcane Denial is a solid splashable hard counterspell too, which is somewhat rare. I think I prefer both to Jwari Disruption even though I think this MDFC is a good card (not having tested it yet). I think would play it over Censor for sure if I ran the latter.
I been evaluating a theory with my storm deck where it would aim to play a turn 5-6 combo deck (with 5-6 lands in play) where it aims to full utilize the untap from Time Spiral/ Palinchron more effectively by playing more lands with the ritual/ Yawgmoth will as neither half has the consistency to be competitive.
The deck wouldn't have natural ramp, but relies on 2 Sweepers + 2-3 Counter magic (similar to Rug Scapeshift) to survive to turns 5-6 rather than trying to go off hyper early.
I think this card could be ideal in that type of shell.
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Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
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ETBT. T: add U.
Seeems very playable. How does this compare to Censor?
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I think people are missing this point. Both this and the cyling cards get dumped early but I really like this in the 3-4 land opening hands. You can counter a critical spell or hold it back if you are worried about. This seems like a card you play in a deck that might want 18 lands. While the other cards spells cards go in place of 1 of the 17. It is more screw insurance than flood insurance.
I have to agree that this card is more about improving your odds of having a good opening hand, which I like a lot. And even in the late game people still tap out often enough that a Force Spike isn't completely useless.
This assessment is well on point. Blue is getting some shocking love with this set. Can't wait to test these MDFCs. More are coming in the Winter and Spring 2020 sets too.
Supposedly in the other sets the MDFCs won't have lands as the back side
Force Spike
Spell Pierce
Daze
Condescend
Miscalculation
Censor
I really hate going to 3 mana for counter magic. I could see myself playing this over censor. But as of right now, I think I have too many conditional early counter magic that loses potency in the late game.
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While expensive cards like wish-giver’s boon have cycle so you can go fishing for a land if you can’t afford it, censor is a bit different.
As the card is already cheap, it is a bit more rare that you are cycling it to search for lands. More often, you are cycling it because you have left the small game window where the card is genuinely useful and are trying to get a different card... in which case a land may be the worst card you can draw.
Also, I feel that the comparison between MDDC and cycling is a bit poor as it is not instant speed, as it can generally only be done once a turn, as it has no chance of feeding reanimation or similar strategies, and it fails to actually thin your deck. While getting a guaranteed land can be good and effectively paying for the “cycling” with the land you “draw” lets you keep a wider array of opening hands, it is a genuine trade-off that needs to be measured.
Yes this card sucks late, but the option of a counterspell or a land is a very powerful option for the early game.
Counterspell heavy hand? not enough lands? no problem.
Too many lands? Well at least I have a couple counter spells to hold up.
You wouldn't want many of these kind of effects in a deck, but one or two seems great.
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Given that I'm not close to playing Censor, this is an easy pass for me. Could may crack really big lists like 540+ but I think this is really a 720+ card.
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Replacing Censor is not hard choice to make. To me, the real question is: would you guys ever replacing Force Spike with it? (I am also running Mana Leak which I would not replace with this under any circumstances.)
Or I could just finally ditch a pet card. (That might be the best call but I'm still very curious as to your thoughts on this vs Force Spike.
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On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
The deck wouldn't have natural ramp, but relies on 2 Sweepers + 2-3 Counter magic (similar to Rug Scapeshift) to survive to turns 5-6 rather than trying to go off hyper early.
I think this card could be ideal in that type of shell.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i