MTG Salvation

Through the Breach 4R
Instant — Arcane
You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Sacrifice that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Splice onto Arcane 2RR (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

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I'm thinking about testing Through the Breach soon. I didn't see a SCD about it, so I figured I'd make a new thread.

I'm in agreement with all of you (I'm sure) that Sneak Attack is much, much better than this card. It stays around and the five mana is much better invested with 3R + R rather than 4R -- it allows you to play Sneak Attack on turn 4 and then activate it (possibly multiple times) on turn 5.

That being said, Through the Breach does allow us slightly more density in getting huge things out of our hand, hits both ETB and LTB triggers, and goes very well in decks that already want one Sneak Attack effect.

A couple questions for the community:

1. What cube size would you think Through the Breach is good at?
2. Do you have any experiences with Through the Breach?

I've been thinking about this card recently too. While not as good as Sneak Attack, I would imagine that most decks that play the former would want this too. It would do okay in fatty cheating decks as well as a reanimation enabler of sorts. I have no experience with the card myself (in a cube setting) but I've played Sneak Attack enough to know that often enough a single activation can be enough to dramatically alter a game, if not end it (especially if it's followed up with a reanimation spell or something). Being an instant is interesting too. Obviously when you're taking advantage of the haste it's not that relevant, but I've used Sneak Attack on my opponent's turn before, so it's not a dead ability having TTB as an instant.

Plus, you can splice it onto Kodama's Reach.

I wouldn't be opposed to testing it out, actually.

Ive considered this card in the past also. I might give it a go.

My desperate attempt to get 2/1 density for aggro one drops has made me consider my combo decks for the times I don't draw that one card. Sneak attack is one of my favorite cards and the times I don't draw it are sad. So to increase consistency I use tutors, quicksilver amulet and gilded lotus. Those are nice but this could help as well. The question I have is this good enough for a red slot since sneak is usually a splash into black or green?

I've been thinking about changing my cube to devote slots to certain strategies rather than give slots to colors. I think Sneak Attack and Through the Breach are perfect examples of how cards can be one color, but really don't fit much in things that color is doing. I'm still working on how I would organize that, and I would still want to keep a relatively even color balance.

I think its good to give colors a secondary identity. Make red something besides burn and hastey aggro dudes.

I'm playing this in place of Sneak Attack since I don't own one. My group is interested in Through the Breach but it doesn't come together, it's usually sideboarded. Maybe I'm still a few fatties and cheats short, or I draft with too few players.

How many ways do you need to run in order to cube Emrakul?

Zero because emrakul is pretty awful.

Quote from NathanZimmerer »

How many ways do you need to run in order to cube Emrakul?

It depends on your cube size. We run Emrakul here because our players love the most swingy blow-out effects available and we can cheat him into play well enough at 360 with all the cheaty stuff we run.

We've cheated him into play some odd ways before. It's doable at 360 off of:

• Channel
  
• Eureka
  
• Mind's Desire
  
• Oath of Druids
  
• Omniscience (being added next round)
  
• Shelldock Isle
  
• Show and Tell
  
• Sneak Attack
  
• Through the Breach (being added next round)

He's definitely not "pretty awful," he's just a ton of mana to try to hardcast.

We've hardcast him, although we do run a lot of land enhancement enchantments:

• Dictate of Karametra
  
• Fastbond
  
• Heartbeat of Spring
  
• Mana Flare
  
• Mana Reflection
  
• Mirari's Wake
  
• Overgrowth
  
• Utopia Sprawl
  
• Wild Growth

Ramping him out usually needs a mana doubler, along with land untappers:

• Arbor Elf
  
• Candelabra of Tawnos
  
• Frantic Search
  
• Time Spiral
  
• Treachery
  
• Palinchron
  
• Rude Awakening

Rituals can help get there:

• Cabal Ritual
  
• Dark Ritual
  
• Seething Song

As well as some other random stuff:

• Cadaverous Bloom
  
• Flash (being added next round, discard Primeval Titan to ramp, discard Palinchron for a big ritual effect)
  
• Genesis Wave
  
• Omnath, Locus of Mana

We also run literally every decent-to-good artifact mana acceleration you can think of except for Lotus Bloom, and Tolarian Academy usually taps for a lot, especially when you start untapping it via Frantic Search, Time Spiral, Palinchron, etc.

I think in this one post I shortlisted like half the cards in my cube I love.

EDIT: Cleaned up the lists of cards a little.

The bigger the cube, and if you support Reanimation/Cheaty strategies, I recommend it. Because a bigger cube cannot just rely on Sneak Attack.

I thought about this card when I added Kozilek and Ulamog. I am a huge fan of redundancy when it comes to unusual build-around cards. It sucks to build a deck around a cool card interaction, then never see it in action because you never draw that one card that makes the deck tick. Giving players the chance to draft a second or third copy of that effect makes them more willing to draft cool and weird decks. Therefore, a second Sneak Attack would be highly appreciated. That said, I shied away from including Through the Breach because it sneaks only a single creature in (let's be honest: in 99.9% of the games, this will not get spliced in cube). I would definitely run it if it had Flashback 2RR or Splice onto sorcery 2RR or something like that.

Still, with any of the two Eldrazi or over a dozen other creatures in my cube, even a single sneak might be enough to be worth it. Actually, this card reminds me a bit of Flash, only that it costs 3 more and lets you either attack or block once in addition to getting the fatty's etb/ltb triggers. I actually like Flash and getting around 6 damage and often some attack triggers (Titans!) on top of the etb/ltb effects should be worth the additional cost. Just like Flash and Sneak Attack, Through the Breach works well in reanimator and ramp decks. I think I'll give it a try.

I'm in the process of testing it out as we speak, and I'll let you all know how it goes.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Being an instant is interesting too. Obviously when you're taking advantage of the haste it's not that relevant, but I've used Sneak Attack on my opponent's turn before, so it's not a dead ability having TTB as an instant.

I wouldn't be opposed to testing it out, actually.

I'm interested to hear the results of your testing.

We frequently find Sneak Aattack is used on defence. Removing equipment at instant speed can often be a blow out - particularly when you're cheating Acidic Slime to remove a sword and the creature wielding it. SA just really messes with combat maths.

This is also where TTB falls down relative to Sneak Attack. I think it is reasonable as a one-shot means of getting a fatty into play, but it lacks the ability to repeatably play creatures with ETB abilities that can really mess with your opponent.

We got some testing in with TTB. It's been slightly worse than Sneak Attack one game (didn't have five total mana ever and got killed due to bad draws), but in every other scenario it was either as good or better. Mystical Tutor fetched it once to end a game.

Based on a very limited sample size, it's been about on par with Sneak Attack. Maybe a tiny bit worse.

It's been worse than Sneak Attack, to be sure. But, it's been a solid performer as a second copy of a similar effect. If my cube was smaller, I'd take it out.

I had an appropriate deck built and decided to grab this from my binder and toss it in at the last minute. We did not like it very much as a one-shot effect. I generally hope to get multiple activations from my Sneak Attack. I think it would have to be introduced at 450 just to give enough redundancy, however, and I guess the Splice mode is awesome if for some reason Arcane ever makes another appearance. If you're really all-in on stuff that isn't really hardcastable like Worldspine Wurm or Ulamog, you would also need it at 360 or smaller just to have enough ways to get those cards into play.

It was pretty good in our draft yesterday. Ok with Pelakka Wurm, strong with Wurmcoil Engine, devastating with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Sure, it is not as good as Sneak Attack, but it is closer than I initially thought. Firstly because one use with the right fatty is often enough to win the game and secondly because the suprise factor can be relevant. And even if a one-shot hasty Titan doesn't win you the game, the value you get from doubling up on its trigger and the immediate attack are well worth spending two cards on.

As I said above, I like some redundancy with these build-around cards and at 600 cards, I want to run as many cards with this effect as I can. Sadly, there aren't so many, but I am now running three:
Sneak Attack - The strongest card with this effect.
Through the Breach - Actually quite close to the above.
Generator Servant - A bit different and definitely weaker, but still similar enough to work in the same decks as the two cards above.

I've found Generator Servant to fit pretty well in decks that use Through the Breach and Sneak Attack as well. Definitely been testing stronger than anticipated.

Now that we have Feldon of the Third Path would you guys recommend running a package of Through the Breach, Sneak Attack, and Generator Servant at 360? It seems like it could form an archetype with Natural Order and Mimic Vat as well as help make Tinker and Reanimate more redundant and less narrow. Additionally, it also gives red something else to do.

Sneak Attack is a 360 card, but I don't know about Breach. And I don't even play Servant at 450, so I'd say no there too. And I play a lot of graveyard-based red decks. Feldon is damn-sweet though, and he should likely go in at 360, if not 450 for sure.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Sneak Attack is a 360 card, but I don't know about Breach. And I don't even play Servant at 450, so I'd say no there too. And I play a lot of graveyard-based red decks. Feldon is damn-sweet though, and he should likely go in at 360, if not 450 for sure.

Sounds about right. I think you could make a case for TtB at 360 if you were all-in on this archetype and had some Eldrazi-type stuff as well for redundancy. But 5 is a LOT for a one-shot cheat effect.

I use Through the Breach in my 450. I like it a lot, and it often goes in the same decks as Sneak Attack. Last night, one of my players drafted the Survival of the Fittest, Feldon, and Through the Breach along with Emrakul and Kozilek, amongst other fatties. It was a sweet deck.

I run Sneak Attack, Through the Breach and Generator Servant at 600 cards. Works well so far.

Quote from jrobless »

Now that we have Feldon of the Third Path would you guys recommend running a package of Through the Breach, Sneak Attack, and Generator Servant at 360? It seems like it could form an archetype with Natural Order and Mimic Vat as well as help make Tinker and Reanimate more redundant and less narrow. Additionally, it also gives red something else to do.

I don't recommend it. Requires a lot of dedication to be draftable. 450 is where I'd start to consider the card. Not a staple there either, needs support.

Feldon and through the breach have slightly different goals. Ttb wants eldrazi like creatures, feldon wants creatures like hornet queen , titans, battle sphere. Ttb can be played in the smaller decks but it's super mediocre

Breach is okay to good, depending on the deck and the situation. I think it's cubable at 450 and above and does a good job there. But ultimately, it's just waiting to be replaced by a better poor man's Sneak Attack.