I have to admit that this card seems fairly decent in certain combo decks. Let's say you want to play a Shape Anew, but you know that your opponent would never want you to play that card. Well, you can always search for another part of the puzzle, like Master's Call. This isn't ideal, but can nonetheless help you, as it lets you either search for one part of a combo or draw 3 cards, which helps you dig deeper into the library for that much needed combo piece.
I have to admit that this card seems fairly decent in certain combo decks. Let's say you want to play a Shape Anew, but you know that your opponent would never want you to play that card. Well, you can always search for another part of the puzzle, like Master's Call. This isn't ideal, but can nonetheless help you, as it lets you either search for one part of a combo or draw 3 cards, which helps you dig deeper into the library for that much needed combo piece.
A decent bluffing tech, but only decent. Should I say that Jace is much better?
Edit: There are also budget options. I would consider Foresee over this, since it digs deeper and doesn't depends on your opp's decision.
A decent bluffing tech, but only decent. Should I say that Jace is much better?
I would agree with this person. But seeing how Jace 2.0 is chilling around $85, Distant Memories can serve as a budget option. I do believe it is every combo players dream, as you can gain card advantage by having your opponent exile a piece of your combo, especially if that piece is already in hand.
I would agree with this person. But seeing how Jace 2.0 is chilling around $85, Distant Memories can serve as a budget option. I do believe it is every combo players dream, as you can gain card advantage by having your opponent exile a piece of your combo, especially if that piece is already in hand.
Or, as the poster above you said, you can play Forsee, which is much better... dig up to 6 cards and get 2 in hand without giving your opponent options.
I'm going on record right now and stating that before the end of 2012 we will see foil dual lands in booster packs (The real, Alpha dual lands). You can quote me on that.
Am i missing something. Cause Distant Memories doesn't say search, then reveal, then exile, it just says search, then exile? Where is it sated that the exiled card must be revealed? Is that just in the rules for exiled cards? If so i am sorry for asking these questions.
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"If it wasn't a blackened, stinking, melted abomination before, it certainly is now." - Koth of the Hammer
Am i missing something. Cause Distant Memories doesn't say search, then reveal, then exile, it just says search, then exile? Where is it sated that the exiled card must be revealed? Is that just in the rules for exiled cards? If so i am sorry for asking these questions.
Yes. Any time a card is exiled and the effect exiling it doesn't specify face down, you assume face up. This is why there are tons of cards that say "exile face down" but none that say "exile face up" (at least in the oracle text).
EDIT: Ok, not "none". For some unknown reason, Uba Mask specifies "face up" in both the printed and oracle texts.
Ah, gotcha. Damn, and i had high hopes for this card. haha. (I'm a fairly new Magic player btw, just started right before the Alara block rotated out.)
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"If it wasn't a blackened, stinking, melted abomination before, it certainly is now." - Koth of the Hammer
I'm just not wanting to use Distant Memories. I like the fact that blue can tutor like this, but I never cared much for Diabolic Tutor anyways and this new card has the same cmc, rather unappealing. I'd usually rather just draw three cards.
I wouldn't be surprised if the opponent usually let you get the card you searched for, after all you paid four mana to find it. Doesn't seem as good as drawing three.
For the record, I'm all for cards that are good one way or the other. If either choice benefits you, even if the opponent makes a choice it's still good. Like Browbeat. I respect that card, if your deck is packed with burn you either draw some or deal five to the face. Just my two cents.
Whether or not it worked does not validate the play. That's hindsight probability. Let's say I offered you a bet -- I'm going to flip a coin and if it's heads, I'll give you 1 dollar but if it's tails, you'll give me 2 dollars. This is obviously a terrible bet for you. Accepting it is a bad decision. You can't justify it afterwards by arguing that you won the flip, therefore you made the right decision.
I can understand why this wasn't really a good card in most of the other formats, but I feel the need to beat on the dead horse when I say, that I have no idea why you wouldn't run this in EDH. In my opinion, Distant Memories can trump most of these cards...though I say most.
I would have to first agree that the overall better card would be Library of Lat-Nam, both in form and in function. DM requires you to first show the opponent what you're searching for, putting it face-up in exile and letting them decide if it's better for you to have it or to risk forgoing it and letting you draw three.
The problem it presents here for players in EDH, is that in such a format in EDH, most have to assume, especially from blue players, that no matter what you're making them, or letting them, do is going to help them get out on top. It's the idea of Fact or Fiction, but I'm going to explain why you should run DM if you can't get the Library for whatever reason.
First off, let's talk about what it's opposition can't do and what DM or Library, CAN do. Cards mentioned like Gifts Ungiven, Fact or Fiction and Intuition give all the options to the opponent. You're not allowed to pick what you're getting rid of. The piles mean that unless you're playing against an opponent who doesn't understand that function well enough or understand which cards are truly of value enough for the player in question, you're going to lose out on potential cards. Sure, if you have the ability to recur anything you lose, have at it. The problem becomes though is balancing what you're getting and what your board state is.
If you're low on mana and you're trying to pile up mana generators, a keen opponent will take advantage of that. They will dump the mana generators in one pile and force the better cards on the other, essentially breaking your choice of whether you want the better cards and hope for the best, or if you go for the safe option and take the generators with potentially a much later pay-out. Especially for mono-blue, if you don't have the ability to play instants or sorceries from your graveyard (and if you're mono-blue, why don't you?), dumping those cards into your graveyard is a horrible trade-off.
The problem is worse for Commander. A well-built Commander deck doesn't necessarily care about these questions, but if luck is not your mistress and you Fact or Fiction into a Snapcaster Mage or equivalent card in that pile and the rest are duds for your current board-state, you're looking at a lose-lose situation. Players will use your card to punish you and, more than likely, you're not going to retake the Snapcaster if you require the other pile that much more.
It's problems like these that make me second guess playing with cards that function like F-o-F. Once in awhile you get an ignorant player or you're playing in a new play-group, but especially these days, most people understand the function of F-o-F and know how to read between the lines of those few cards. Carefully considering what cards to put in what piles, compared to your board state, can make it very hard for EDH players to get the best use out of these spells. Several of my play groups have simply stopped running them for the simple fact that unless someone is being obnoxiously generous, you're not going to get what you want, rendering it moot.
At absolute worst, people don't want to risk you having cards at all and many will simply decide to counter it on the off-chance that they won't be sure what to do with it or look at your board-state and decide it's best for you to get nothing out of it anyway.
With a card like Distant Memories, if you're playing with it, you're at the advantage. You can trick a player or show them a threat you may not need entirely to win and grant yourself three extra cards or an opponent may consider the card a fair trade for three cards. As previously stated, a well-built Commander deck won't care at all what kind of threat they show the player. You put them into a lose-lose situation, not the other way around.
Which is why Library of Lat-Nam overall, yes, is the better card to use here. You don't show and tell, you just ask them what to do and unless they know your deck inside and out, like say from Jester's Cap, they're going to be put against the wall. Give you a threat? Or give you three cards? DM is just being polite about it.
We can discuss the what-if's all day long, but at the end of the day, Distant Memories and Library of Lat-Nam are the better cards to run. Playing footsie with an opponent in a game of cards, especially in EDH, simply is going to end badly.
If you want to discuss an old card, it's best to just open a new thread instead of revive a long-dead thread.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
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A decent bluffing tech, but only decent. Should I say that Jace is much better?
Edit: There are also budget options. I would consider Foresee over this, since it digs deeper and doesn't depends on your opp's decision.
I would agree with this person. But seeing how Jace 2.0 is chilling around $85, Distant Memories can serve as a budget option. I do believe it is every combo players dream, as you can gain card advantage by having your opponent exile a piece of your combo, especially if that piece is already in hand.
WR Heroic
Modern
FISH
Legacy
FISH
EDH
Hanna, Ship Navigator - Enchantments
Sygg, River Guide - Fish Tribal
Mayael, the Anima - Power5orGreater
Zedruu, the Greathearted - Gifts
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker - 1 Power Recursion
Roon of the Hidden Realm - ETB Triggers
Edric, Spymaster of Trent - TurboFog
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind - Shapeshifters *IN PROGRESS*
Krenko, Mob Boss - Goblins *IN PROGRESS*
Or, as the poster above you said, you can play Forsee, which is much better... dig up to 6 cards and get 2 in hand without giving your opponent options.
Then Distant Memories, and you're getting the card no matter what.
Yes. Any time a card is exiled and the effect exiling it doesn't specify face down, you assume face up. This is why there are tons of cards that say "exile face down" but none that say "exile face up" (at least in the oracle text).
EDIT: Ok, not "none". For some unknown reason, Uba Mask specifies "face up" in both the printed and oracle texts.
I wouldn't be surprised if the opponent usually let you get the card you searched for, after all you paid four mana to find it. Doesn't seem as good as drawing three.
For the record, I'm all for cards that are good one way or the other. If either choice benefits you, even if the opponent makes a choice it's still good. Like Browbeat. I respect that card, if your deck is packed with burn you either draw some or deal five to the face. Just my two cents.
I would have to first agree that the overall better card would be Library of Lat-Nam, both in form and in function. DM requires you to first show the opponent what you're searching for, putting it face-up in exile and letting them decide if it's better for you to have it or to risk forgoing it and letting you draw three.
The problem it presents here for players in EDH, is that in such a format in EDH, most have to assume, especially from blue players, that no matter what you're making them, or letting them, do is going to help them get out on top. It's the idea of Fact or Fiction, but I'm going to explain why you should run DM if you can't get the Library for whatever reason.
First off, let's talk about what it's opposition can't do and what DM or Library, CAN do. Cards mentioned like Gifts Ungiven, Fact or Fiction and Intuition give all the options to the opponent. You're not allowed to pick what you're getting rid of. The piles mean that unless you're playing against an opponent who doesn't understand that function well enough or understand which cards are truly of value enough for the player in question, you're going to lose out on potential cards. Sure, if you have the ability to recur anything you lose, have at it. The problem becomes though is balancing what you're getting and what your board state is.
If you're low on mana and you're trying to pile up mana generators, a keen opponent will take advantage of that. They will dump the mana generators in one pile and force the better cards on the other, essentially breaking your choice of whether you want the better cards and hope for the best, or if you go for the safe option and take the generators with potentially a much later pay-out. Especially for mono-blue, if you don't have the ability to play instants or sorceries from your graveyard (and if you're mono-blue, why don't you?), dumping those cards into your graveyard is a horrible trade-off.
The problem is worse for Commander. A well-built Commander deck doesn't necessarily care about these questions, but if luck is not your mistress and you Fact or Fiction into a Snapcaster Mage or equivalent card in that pile and the rest are duds for your current board-state, you're looking at a lose-lose situation. Players will use your card to punish you and, more than likely, you're not going to retake the Snapcaster if you require the other pile that much more.
It's problems like these that make me second guess playing with cards that function like F-o-F. Once in awhile you get an ignorant player or you're playing in a new play-group, but especially these days, most people understand the function of F-o-F and know how to read between the lines of those few cards. Carefully considering what cards to put in what piles, compared to your board state, can make it very hard for EDH players to get the best use out of these spells. Several of my play groups have simply stopped running them for the simple fact that unless someone is being obnoxiously generous, you're not going to get what you want, rendering it moot.
At absolute worst, people don't want to risk you having cards at all and many will simply decide to counter it on the off-chance that they won't be sure what to do with it or look at your board-state and decide it's best for you to get nothing out of it anyway.
With a card like Distant Memories, if you're playing with it, you're at the advantage. You can trick a player or show them a threat you may not need entirely to win and grant yourself three extra cards or an opponent may consider the card a fair trade for three cards. As previously stated, a well-built Commander deck won't care at all what kind of threat they show the player. You put them into a lose-lose situation, not the other way around.
Which is why Library of Lat-Nam overall, yes, is the better card to use here. You don't show and tell, you just ask them what to do and unless they know your deck inside and out, like say from Jester's Cap, they're going to be put against the wall. Give you a threat? Or give you three cards? DM is just being polite about it.
We can discuss the what-if's all day long, but at the end of the day, Distant Memories and Library of Lat-Nam are the better cards to run. Playing footsie with an opponent in a game of cards, especially in EDH, simply is going to end badly.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.