A lot of people have been looking at MBA/MBC being revived by the new living weapon: Lashwrithe. How is this card any different than Strata Scythe in that deck (aside from the fact that its a living weapon)?
1. Living weapon: This means it comes into play with a body to either block or swing if you don't happen to have anything else.
2. The ability to equip for 4 life, 2 life and 1B, or BB: Allows you to both kill something your opponent has in the air like a squadron hawk and swing with a flying infect creature, or something of the like for massive infect damage. Or onto a nighthawk for massive life swing and not have to worry about the cost paid to equip.
Half of it you already said, the second part is the very cheap and also flexible equip cost relative to Strata Scythe. Equip costs can rack up quickly, especially if you want to equip once each turn (as you would need to do with a manland like Inkmoth Nexus for example). Being able to equip for life frees up a lot of mana.
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Commander R Ashling, the Pilgrim Mono Red Wildfire Control GBW Karador, Ghost Chieftain Abzan Dredge Rock WBR Tariel, Reckoner of Souls Mardu Aggro-Reanimator Midrange
Take your monoblack deck, then set aside 14 swamps. Add 4 Creeping Tar Pits, 4 Darkslick Shores, 4 Drowned Catacombs, and 2 Jwar isle Refuge and add 4 Jace, the Mindsculptors. Your monoblack deck is instantly better. Better yet, drop those refuges, throw in some islands and some mana leaks, and lo and behold, you're now playing a real deck. Congratulations. Welcome to the world of competitive M:TG.
All of the above, plus the fact that you don't have to exile a land. From a pure card advantage standpoint, Strata Scythe costs you one more card when it's played (the swamp), and Lashwrithe gives you one (the germ token).
Play tested it and I always liked having it out, swinging for 10 with Phyrexian Obliterator is always a nice thing to do against a tapped out Poison Deck
Unless people haven't noticed yet, if you build mono-black Infect, this card becomes an MVP, making your t2 Plague Stinger or T3 Phyrexian Crusader deadly on T4 with this card. +4/+4 on T4 in a poison effectively means your opponent HAS to deal with it or it is over quick. Also, you want to do something neat, try T5 Lashwrithe (leave it unequipped and there as a blocker or something for now) and drop a T6 Skittles, pay 2 life to equip, pay B for haste. Seems slow, but if you can get rid of counters and removal early, this is a viable late game strat.
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Unless people haven't noticed yet, if you build mono-black Infect, this card becomes an MVP, making your t2 Plague Stinger or T3 Phyrexian Crusader deadly on T4 with this card. +4/+4 on T4 in a poison effectively means your opponent HAS to deal with it or it is over quick. Also, you want to do something neat, try T5 Lashwrithe (leave it unequipped and there as a blocker or something for now) and drop a T6 Skittles, pay 2 life to equip, pay B for haste. Seems slow, but if you can get rid of counters and removal early, this is a viable late game strat.
That doesn't actually seems slow to me, as you're not actually building your deck around and relying totally on that 2-card "combo" (Skittles and Lashwrithe), but it just happens to give the deck a rather surprising and powerful lategame (oops I win!) using cards that are good alone and that you would already be playing.
It isn't "slow", but it can be stopped by chump blockers (Caw-blade comes to mind) but, if you use your first few turns getting rid of those hawks or other various fliers, these cards could become insane in the right deck.
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Unless people haven't noticed yet, if you build mono-black Infect, this card becomes an MVP, making your t2 Plague Stinger or T3 Phyrexian Crusader deadly on T4 with this card. +4/+4 on T4 in a poison effectively means your opponent HAS to deal with it or it is over quick. Also, you want to do something neat, try T5 Lashwrithe (leave it unequipped and there as a blocker or something for now) and drop a T6 Skittles, pay 2 life to equip, pay B for haste. Seems slow, but if you can get rid of counters and removal early, this is a viable late game strat.
And it's not like these are bad cards to begin with. You always want to play Lashwrithe and Skittles isn't the worst even in aggro infect.
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That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating. Take it back!
And it's not like these are bad cards to begin with. You always want to play Lashwrithe and Skittles isn't the worst even in aggro infect.
Yeah, that does sound right. I guess early game just might feel awkward, but Infect might be the midrange aggro deck that this standard environment needs, maybe even adding in U for counters, G for raw power, access to a 1 drop and an overrun-esque spell, or stay Mono B for raw removal and diverse hate for any deck.
Choices choices choices....
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Well with the new Edict you can still kill their Hawk even if it has Pro Black... IF only you could equip at instant speed... that would be so sexy right now...
Yes. Play Red Deck Wins for the first couple weeks after NPH comes out - until people realize that life costs can add up when you pay them often enough, fast aggro will beat face.
Of course, cards like Lashwrithe are good - even if it wasn't phyrexian mana, that equip cost for that effect isn't so bad. Just, if you're banking on equipping this for free 1-3 times, you're giving up a substantial portion of the game right up front. Smart players just won't pay the life against fast aggro, but that leaves you at risk of having totally dead cards (if you played off-color phyrexian mana cards) and/or cards that are relatively inefficient (phyrexian mana cost cards aren't quite as good as you would get for that mana if it wasn't phyrexian - e.g. Extirpate vs Surgical Extraction) in the kinds of matchups in which efficiency matter most.
A lot of people have been looking at MBA/MBC being revived by the new living weapon: Lashwrithe. How is this card any different than Strata Scythe in that deck (aside from the fact that its a living weapon)?
It's a lot less of a tempo loss in an aggro build. Generally aggro decks don't like equipment because it's expensive, but Lashwrithe comes with a body (it will be 3/3 or 4/4 by the time you play it) and has a low equip cost, Phyrexian mana or no.
Ah I guess the Living Weapon part of the card is very substantial and adds to its flexibility. Thanks for the clarification everyone!
Lashwrithe also allows you to swing for big poison counters out of nowhere. Say they tap out for Jace turn four.. you cast Lashwrithe, immediately equip it and bash with your Necropede/Plague Stinger/[infect guy] for half their "life total." That's not even an unreasonable example. At the very least, the threat of the card will make control players play differently. Other than that, yeah, straight value with the Living Weapon thing..
This card can really turn Infect into a very potent deck for mono black. It just turns every infect creature you have into a monster that needs to be dealt with. If it is left unchecked, it WRECKS your opponent. I tested my version on MWS a little, and I haven't lost to anything other than maybe 2 games of Caw-Blade and a game to RDW where he just outraced me somehow.
It really shines in a meta where cards like Despise, Duress and IoK shine. Taking out their hand T1 is important while you set up for your aggro to take control of the field.
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Realize that exiling a basic land with Strata Scythe in a MBC deck is actually a good thing as you are thinning your deck, even if it is just that little bit. I used scythe before and tried the 2 together but I just prefer lashwrithe now. The flexibility makes it far superior in my experience.
This card is simply a game winner in MBC in this standard. A must answer. I swore I would not lose anymore games to this ****ing card so I am main and sideboard probably more artifact hate than I should!
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2. The ability to equip for 4 life, 2 life and 1B, or BB: Allows you to both kill something your opponent has in the air like a squadron hawk and swing with a flying infect creature, or something of the like for massive infect damage. Or onto a nighthawk for massive life swing and not have to worry about the cost paid to equip.
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Gleemax shall take over the world. Go Gleemax.:D
That doesn't actually seems slow to me, as you're not actually building your deck around and relying totally on that 2-card "combo" (Skittles and Lashwrithe), but it just happens to give the deck a rather surprising and powerful lategame (oops I win!) using cards that are good alone and that you would already be playing.
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Gleemax shall take over the world. Go Gleemax.:D
And it's not like these are bad cards to begin with. You always want to play Lashwrithe and Skittles isn't the worst even in aggro infect.
Yeah, that does sound right. I guess early game just might feel awkward, but Infect might be the midrange aggro deck that this standard environment needs, maybe even adding in U for counters, G for raw power, access to a 1 drop and an overrun-esque spell, or stay Mono B for raw removal and diverse hate for any deck.
Choices choices choices....
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Gleemax shall take over the world. Go Gleemax.:D
Infect version:
Plague STinger
Crusader
Vatmother
Skittles
Lashwrithe
IoK
Geth's Verdict
GftT
Non infect versoin
IoK
Geth's Verdict
Gatekeeper
Nighthawk
Hexmage
Obliterator
Lashwrithe
GftT
Both seem really really good.
Of course, cards like Lashwrithe are good - even if it wasn't phyrexian mana, that equip cost for that effect isn't so bad. Just, if you're banking on equipping this for free 1-3 times, you're giving up a substantial portion of the game right up front. Smart players just won't pay the life against fast aggro, but that leaves you at risk of having totally dead cards (if you played off-color phyrexian mana cards) and/or cards that are relatively inefficient (phyrexian mana cost cards aren't quite as good as you would get for that mana if it wasn't phyrexian - e.g. Extirpate vs Surgical Extraction) in the kinds of matchups in which efficiency matter most.
It's a lot less of a tempo loss in an aggro build. Generally aggro decks don't like equipment because it's expensive, but Lashwrithe comes with a body (it will be 3/3 or 4/4 by the time you play it) and has a low equip cost, Phyrexian mana or no.
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Lashwrithe also allows you to swing for big poison counters out of nowhere. Say they tap out for Jace turn four.. you cast Lashwrithe, immediately equip it and bash with your Necropede/Plague Stinger/[infect guy] for half their "life total." That's not even an unreasonable example. At the very least, the threat of the card will make control players play differently. Other than that, yeah, straight value with the Living Weapon thing..
It really shines in a meta where cards like Despise, Duress and IoK shine. Taking out their hand T1 is important while you set up for your aggro to take control of the field.
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