One big kneecapper to these Assist spells is that only one player can help you cast them. Joined Forces cards like Minds Aglow are a bit different. Assist spells are generally at their best when you are at your lowest chance of winning, but their base cost is just so "safe." Play of the Game is the only one I'd expect someone to pay into more often than not.
I would say removal/counterspell ones, you might expect someone to pay into them, since it's not about "help me" as much as it's about "hurt the other guy". But what makes them bad is, you still need that mana available.
Shared Trauma Okay, um, why are you putting mill cards in your deck if not to exploit them?
Collective Voyage Nobody plays this just to get more mana out. It's usually just to trigger a bunch of landfall. The funny thing is, you can't force an opponent to search for more lands, so Ankh of Mishra shenanigans just ain't there.
The only one in the cycle without this issue is Mana-Charged Dragon, since you're only hurting one player at a time.
In the case of assist, a few of the assist cards do have political potential, but it's a scant few.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
This card is very good because all free sac outlets are. But I wish there was real data of card usage over time, cause I think this one took a big hit with the tuck rule change.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Even without combos, its decent enough value for lower powered decks. It was better for these decks when damage used the stack though. I remember using it to turn creatures that were already trading into counters, then 2/2s.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Many a green/black/ both mage must miss the days when Wizards of the Coast didn't realize that non-tap, mana-free sacrifice activated abilities were a terrible mistake...
This card is very good because all free sac outlets are. But I wish there was real data of card usage over time, cause I think this one took a big hit with the tuck rule change.
Remember when damage went on the Stack? I REMEMBER.
I remember! One of the few rule changes that I didn't really mind. Damage on the stack was quite easy to abuse to great advantage.
Spawning Pit is a great sac outlet when I am trying NOT to go infinite with Ashnod's Alter or Phyrexian Alter, or just need more sac outlets. Also the counters can become useful after a few turns. Great blockers at instant speed. Free sac can always find a place somewhere.
This card is very good because all free sac outlets are. But I wish there was real data of card usage over time, cause I think this one took a big hit with the tuck rule change.
Remember when damage went on the Stack? I REMEMBER.
Oh, I member! And all this membering makes me a bit fanatical.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I don't think I've used Spawning Pit anywhere. I wonder if I should rectify this mistake...
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
This is a hard card to measure effectively, 2 mana Explosive Vegetation is one of the most efficient ramp spells ever printed, but the floor is even lower late game than most ramp spells. I play it, I've had good results, but a high power, low consistency ramp spell is a strange place to be.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
When looking at Khalni Heart Expedition, I think it helps to remember that when you get your ramp is just as important, if not more so, than the rate you pay for it.
Compare Khalni Heart Expedition to Greenweaver Druid, an unassuming but still quite reasonable 3-drop that produces the same amount of mana as Khalni Heart Expedition. When played on curve, Greenweaver Druid produces an additional 2 by turn 4. When Khalni Heart Expedition is played on curve, provided you only play a single land on turns 3, 4, and 5, you don't produce 2 until turn 6. That's really bad. Granted, you can speed this up by putting additional lands in play, but in order for this card to even match Greenweaver Druid's tempo, you'd need to put all three lands into play by turn 3. Even with fetchlands, that isn't going to happen. And when you don't play Khalni Heart Expedition on curve, as will often be the case, you need to put all three lands into play immediately the turn you play it in order to match Greenweaver Druid's tempo.
Obviously, these aren't perfect comparisons. Khalni Heart Expedition can colorfix and is less vulnerable to removal as a whole than Greenweaver Druid. Even so, the downsides significantly outweigh the upsides here, even for decks that can put multiple lands into play early. You'd have to be doing something extremely specific to play this card over other ramp options.
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WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
Khalni Heart Expedition is really, really good as an addition when you're already ramping a fair bit in the deck, as it helps turn those Cultivates and Peregrinations into something really dumb by turn 4 or so. The card is definitely not the one to reach as your first or even fourth ramp card... it's when you want to go turbocharge stupid with your ramp, and need something for that 2-drop slot to achieve that.
X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
Yup, the Expedition is great in my Karametra, God of Harvests landfall deck. It's a bit odd in that it's a two mana ramp spell that I'd rather not have in my opening hand. Still a good card to have though, because it essentially lets me bank two landfall triggers in case I need them in a pinch.
If you land, bird, then khalni, land, then land, cultivate, you can pop this bad boy on turn 3. In a dedicated land/ramp deck, this fits right in and is easily abusable.
Also worth mentioning, Muldrotha can abuse this.
How i feel about competitive players and casual players in EDH: The competitive are german tourists, the casual are italian tourists, both in a italian beach. The italians asking themselves "why are the germans here?" make a legitimate question, the answer is because the beach is beautiful, no matter the country you came from. The italians wanting to ban the germans are dumb, because if the germans pay for their stay and follow the rules like everyone else, they have the right to be in the beach. Hovewer, if the germans started to ask themselves "why are the italians here?"... they would be dumb as hell.
Muldrotha aside, this card is not very good at ramping you early. But, if you play a deck that wants a million lands, this helps get to 7-8 mana very quickly.
While there are dream hands of T1: Land, Elf - T2: KHE, fetch land, crop rotation, pop KHE... my goal with this card would be to pop it on turn 4 using Cultivate, Explosive Vegetation and many other cards that do this. That way, turn 5, I have that 8+ mana.
Thinking on this, maybe I should have considered expedition for Maelstrom Wanderer, and swapped some artifact ramp for more land ramp. Now that MW has Paradox Engine though I am doubtful that this is something that should be considered.
It had a spot in my Primal Surge deck where Primal Surge was the only non-permanent card.
Beyond that...meh.
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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.
I think this card just reinforces decks that really want to ramp. It's not for every deck, but it really shines in the ones it's in. It's also worth noting that drawing even a single fetch land will make this very viable.
This is a strange card for me. It can be very good if you draw and cast it at the right time, but later in the game, it is even worse than normal ramp cards. I considered it in my Zacama deck but ended up going with more typical green ramp. I don't currently play it in any decks. If I ever do make a Muldrotha deck, I think it very likely to make the cut there.
There are certain other decks where it has a place, such as in a Sun Titan package (near the end), or an enchantress deck, or lands.dec. Also, Ghave, Guru of Spores could use it, since you're going to want a lot of mana in that deck (but you won't be casting a lot of spells), and it's a control deck too. Probably easier to just go infinite, though.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I would say removal/counterspell ones, you might expect someone to pay into them, since it's not about "help me" as much as it's about "hurt the other guy". But what makes them bad is, you still need that mana available.
Even join forces has an issue, like, is anyone going to buy into my Alliance of Arms when I have Anointed Procession or Cathars' Crusade or Suture Priest out? (Or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, to further drive the point home.) The rest of the cycle has the same issue:
Minds Aglow Okay, Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Or Chairman Meow over there. Or just Thought Reflection and Alhammarret's Archive. And that's before thinking about Notion Thief or Smothering Tithe.
Shared Trauma Okay, um, why are you putting mill cards in your deck if not to exploit them?
Collective Voyage Nobody plays this just to get more mana out. It's usually just to trigger a bunch of landfall. The funny thing is, you can't force an opponent to search for more lands, so Ankh of Mishra shenanigans just ain't there.
The only one in the cycle without this issue is Mana-Charged Dragon, since you're only hurting one player at a time.
In the case of assist, a few of the assist cards do have political potential, but it's a scant few.
On phasing:
This card is very good because all free sac outlets are. But I wish there was real data of card usage over time, cause I think this one took a big hit with the tuck rule change.
On phasing:
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Remember when damage went on the Stack? I REMEMBER.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Spawning Pit is a great sac outlet when I am trying NOT to go infinite with Ashnod's Alter or Phyrexian Alter, or just need more sac outlets. Also the counters can become useful after a few turns. Great blockers at instant speed. Free sac can always find a place somewhere.
Oh, I member! And all this membering makes me a bit fanatical.
On phasing:
This is a hard card to measure effectively, 2 mana Explosive Vegetation is one of the most efficient ramp spells ever printed, but the floor is even lower late game than most ramp spells. I play it, I've had good results, but a high power, low consistency ramp spell is a strange place to be.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Compare Khalni Heart Expedition to Greenweaver Druid, an unassuming but still quite reasonable 3-drop that produces the same amount of mana as Khalni Heart Expedition. When played on curve, Greenweaver Druid produces an additional 2 by turn 4. When Khalni Heart Expedition is played on curve, provided you only play a single land on turns 3, 4, and 5, you don't produce 2 until turn 6. That's really bad. Granted, you can speed this up by putting additional lands in play, but in order for this card to even match Greenweaver Druid's tempo, you'd need to put all three lands into play by turn 3. Even with fetchlands, that isn't going to happen. And when you don't play Khalni Heart Expedition on curve, as will often be the case, you need to put all three lands into play immediately the turn you play it in order to match Greenweaver Druid's tempo.
Obviously, these aren't perfect comparisons. Khalni Heart Expedition can colorfix and is less vulnerable to removal as a whole than Greenweaver Druid. Even so, the downsides significantly outweigh the upsides here, even for decks that can put multiple lands into play early. You'd have to be doing something extremely specific to play this card over other ramp options.
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
Off the top of my head, I play it in Damia, Sage of Stone (landfall) and Jolrael, Empress of Beasts (all about the forests).
Also worth mentioning, Muldrotha can abuse this.
Modern
URGTemur ScapeshiftGRU
EDH
WGKarametra EnchantressGW
UBGSidisi, Brood Tyrant ReanimatorGBU
UBRKess DoomsdayRBU
WBGGhave TokensGBW
WUBZur RebelsBUW
WUBErtai CursesBUW
WRFiresong and Sunspeaker Spell SlingerRW
I second this
Couple it with dreamscape artist
While there are dream hands of T1: Land, Elf - T2: KHE, fetch land, crop rotation, pop KHE... my goal with this card would be to pop it on turn 4 using Cultivate, Explosive Vegetation and many other cards that do this. That way, turn 5, I have that 8+ mana.
Thinking on this, maybe I should have considered expedition for Maelstrom Wanderer, and swapped some artifact ramp for more land ramp. Now that MW has Paradox Engine though I am doubtful that this is something that should be considered.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Beyond that...meh.
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.
http://www.commandercast.com/category/articles/generally-speaking
Follow me on Twitter: @generalspeak
Well, Harrow to you too.
There are certain other decks where it has a place, such as in a Sun Titan package (near the end), or an enchantress deck, or lands.dec. Also, Ghave, Guru of Spores could use it, since you're going to want a lot of mana in that deck (but you won't be casting a lot of spells), and it's a control deck too. Probably easier to just go infinite, though.
On phasing: