If this didn't have the words "you control" on it, there might be something interesting you could do with her - though probably not as a commander, as you'd want more colours. But as is, Anthousa is just plain bad.
If this didn't have the words "you control" on it, there might be something interesting you could do with her - though probably not as a commander, as you'd want more colours. But as is, Anthousa is just plain bad.
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!
Yeah, no question there are better options for that kind of thing, but at least it's something. Being able to, say, Capsize her in response to a board wipe to take out a few of your opponents lands would make her a fair bit less bad. Not close to good, but not quite as bad as she is now.
Another shade in a short time span, I think I prefer this one. Mana sinks and easily recurrable on board removal are both welcome by me. Only working in multi-colored decks is a bit of a point against a black mana sink, but I can live with that.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
Recurred by Alesha. Hey, her activation is hybrid so you can build her mostly R/B if you want, and this starts looking pretty... mediocre as I think about it.
Honestly, you can recur it, but I'd stick to phyrexian reclamation effects. Usually, I'd rather have Shriekmaw for the repeated kill effect, or that phyrexian that drops 3 -1/-1 counters whose name escapes me. Where this is ok is when you actually want to use it as a shade that can turn into removal in a pinch.
Note that the magic 2010 rules update ruined this cards original intended functionality: dealing damage then saccing. You could make this a two for one when damage used the stack by dealing lethal combat damage to a creature then saccing it with damage on the stack to kill something else, and you could also use both combat damage and its effect to kill a much larger creature than you could otherwise (block and 8 toughness attacker, pump it to 4/4, deal 4 combat damage, then sac it to deal another 4 to kill the 8/8, for a 3 Mana discount over what it would normally cost to get a 1/1 shade to trade with an 8/8).
Also, late but: Emmara Tandris is a better commander than Anthousa. Higher p/t, gives you access to white, her effect is actually useful though underpowered, and she doesn't need convoluted bs to work. Anthousa was only ok in draft when you were looking for a decently sized vanilla latte. Like, you weren't happy to run her, but she was passable enough to make the cut. I ran her a couple times, and her effect was relevant a couple times by turning a topdecked aura into a couple extra attacking bears. Her effect scales exceptionally poorly
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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!
I make a pun and then there's a card that already exists.
Personally, I prefer Carrion Ants for a shade in Alesha first, but that's just because I can use all my mana. (And of course there's Wall of Blood, but that's not so much a shade as Channel/Fireball on one card.)
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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 could be decent in Edgar Markov builds. One of the few places that Bob is justified in EDH, and if you can't afford Bob there's always Tutelage of Bob.
Less devotion than Phyrexian Arena (but easier to cast), variable life lost, and cheaper to purchase. Arguel's Blood Fast lets you draw whenever as long as you have mana. Sylvan Library costs 4 life for one card. Most of my decks have an average cmc of 3 (that's not counting lands, too).
I need to consider this card for enchantress. I think I had it in there but removed.
Bob is underrated in edh. He's not good in every deck, but pretty sweet in anything low cmc. You should have a 40% chance or better of losing no life, what is your average loss actually going to be even without top etc? And you get to get in some early damage if your an aggressive deck, and he's easy to both recur if needed and sacrifice if you start to get low on life. Unlike all the enchantments, he actually effects the board, even if he is just a 2/1.
This, is just worse than every alternative but the goody ones like phyrexian etchings. You are probably going to have a higher cmc if you're running a 3 Mana enchantment that does nothing until your next turn, your obviously trying to grind out long term advantage, which means its far more likely that this will make you lose enough life to be relevant in your defeat. I look at Bob in commander as an early drop that will swing in a few times for early damage while drawing you 2-4 cards before being sacrificed for value. I'm expecting to lose 2-3 life in the decks that run him do to a 40% chance of revealing 0 cmc and generally low curves in aggro. This, this is too slow for the risk. If I'm trying to grind out value, I'd rather have P Arena, or Erebos, or Greed, or Arguel's Blood Fast. I don't need to dig any deeper for this effect, but I'd always run Bob before this even in a grindy deck. Depending on what I'm doing, I'd choose Gravestorm over this, just play politics or nuke graveyards and its better (though clearly this card is better in a vacuum than GStorm, the keys to making GStorm perform better are things black will usually be doing anyway), or Dark Prophecy if my deck is right. And that's all if you are mono black. If your blue black, this doesn't belong near your deck. Outpost Siege and similar deserve deck slots before this in red. Green has plenty of alternate draw, only white sucks for it.
Really, this is only good for a small subset of decks that Bob is good in. Low to the ground enchantress seems like it should want it, but you should already be drawing enough in other ways, including all those better black enchantments I mentioned. In Edgar, your curve is so low that you may very well be averaging less than 1 life per draw, I haven't done the math, but even if you're on par with Arena its got an easier mana cost for a three color deck. Otherwise, its the bargain bin version of the effect.
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!
Yeah, while Bob is worth running in many (though certainly not all) black EDH decks, this isn't that exciting. It's easier to cast than Phyrexian Arena but is generally going to be noticeably more costly on the life front, not to mention you've also got Necropotence at the same CMC (which should be in almost every black deck, even 3+ colour ones, as it's still busted even if you can't cast it 'till T5-6).
The only decks I can see really wanting this are those that are actively looking to interfere with drawing cards, and so having card advantage that puts the card into your hand can help break the symmetry. If you're making heavy use of things like Chains of Mephistopheles or Possessed Portal, then Dark Tutelage can do some work as a second Bob (although you don't want to hit the Portal with this...)
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!
If people are sick of reading about stuff just stop taking part. You have 100% control over what you read. Simic Ascendancy isn't going to get banned just because you didn't tell someone to shut up on the internet.
An interesting political counter. If you hit a game-ender like tnn or omniscience or a combo you can draw a ton of hate against them. That said I'd rather have delay or even ertai's meddling. Or more likely just kill the spell permanently.
I do really like delay, but they do eventually get that card. With Memory Lapse, there are easy ways to make that spell not come back again (shuffle/mill), and a non-insignificant number of ways to steal someone's top deck.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
It's definitely sweet with uw daxos. Otherwise I think it's a tough sell for a conditional 2 mana counter, even if you're playing phenax or w/e, since there are a decent number of unconditional 2 mana counters.
I like Memory Lapse. It's an interesting counterspell. Having said that, I don't think it's the best counterspell. For the same cost, I'd put hard counters like Mana Drain, Counterspell, and Arcane Denial above it, but it's certainly interesting.
Personally, I prefer exile effects on my counterspells, Void Shatter, Dissipate, and Delay being my favorites. They're all still reasonably cost efficient, and if I absolutely have to counter some spell for whatever reason, I consistently find it worthwhile to make sure my opponents won't jump a few hoops to recur whatever problematic card it is that I countered in the first place.
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WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
I think it's a good middle-of-the-road counterspell, not the best but far from the worst and is a budget option for those just getting into the format. As someone else mentioned, it's also great in Daxos of Meletis.
It's the type of card that's a solid combo-breaker and it seems like it's always there when you need to survive just one more turn.
You counter our own spell in order to salvage it from another counter spell. Remember, there are better counter spells like Dissipate and Power Sink printed in the same set and the meta, IIRC, still had good ol' Counterspell and Force of Will bopping around. Remand wasn't printed yet.
Essentially, the card was printed at a time when there wasn't as broad a selection of counter spells so it was relatively important to be selective with what you did with your counterspells. There was a lot of value getting a failed card back.
With all that said. Are there better cards I would pick? You betcha.
While in 1v1 this and Remand break even on card count, in multiplayer Remand keeps you and your opponent at parity with your opponents, while Memory Lapse sets you both back one card while your other opponents sit tight. Just something to consider.
In a deck loaded with counterspells, Memory Lapse is pretty fantastic for hitting those big expensive spells that you can counter later anyway. If you've got 1-4 counters in your entire deck it's less appealing.
The best part about Memory Lapse is that it sets your opponent back a draw. It can be a fantastic tempo play 1v1, but not in multiplayer. Its at its strongest when you want to stop the spell now, but aren't concerned about them getting it back next turn, so its a great way to counter a counter, or a pump, or something defensive.
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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!
You mean like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite? The big problem for us in Commander is that Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Jolrael, Empress of Beasts both exist, and do this effect better by letting you target opponents' lands. Nissa, Vastwood Seer doesn't do this per se, but she does have more utility. (At a bare minimum, you're getting Lay of the Land.)
On phasing:
Another shade in a short time span, I think I prefer this one. Mana sinks and easily recurrable on board removal are both welcome by me. Only working in multi-colored decks is a bit of a point against a black mana sink, but I can live with that.
Honestly, you can recur it, but I'd stick to phyrexian reclamation effects. Usually, I'd rather have Shriekmaw for the repeated kill effect, or that phyrexian that drops 3 -1/-1 counters whose name escapes me. Where this is ok is when you actually want to use it as a shade that can turn into removal in a pinch.
Note that the magic 2010 rules update ruined this cards original intended functionality: dealing damage then saccing. You could make this a two for one when damage used the stack by dealing lethal combat damage to a creature then saccing it with damage on the stack to kill something else, and you could also use both combat damage and its effect to kill a much larger creature than you could otherwise (block and 8 toughness attacker, pump it to 4/4, deal 4 combat damage, then sac it to deal another 4 to kill the 8/8, for a 3 Mana discount over what it would normally cost to get a 1/1 shade to trade with an 8/8).
Also, late but: Emmara Tandris is a better commander than Anthousa. Higher p/t, gives you access to white, her effect is actually useful though underpowered, and she doesn't need convoluted bs to work. Anthousa was only ok in draft when you were looking for a decently sized vanilla latte. Like, you weren't happy to run her, but she was passable enough to make the cut. I ran her a couple times, and her effect was relevant a couple times by turning a topdecked aura into a couple extra attacking bears. Her effect scales exceptionally poorly
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!
Personally, I prefer Carrion Ants for a shade in Alesha first, but that's just because I can use all my mana. (And of course there's Wall of Blood, but that's not so much a shade as Channel/Fireball on one card.)
On phasing:
Bobchantment. In a format with lots of bug CMCs floating about.
Arguel's Blood Fast lets you draw whenever as long as you have mana.
Sylvan Library costs 4 life for one card. Most of my decks have an average cmc of 3 (that's not counting lands, too).
I need to consider this card for enchantress. I think I had it in there but removed.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
This, is just worse than every alternative but the goody ones like phyrexian etchings. You are probably going to have a higher cmc if you're running a 3 Mana enchantment that does nothing until your next turn, your obviously trying to grind out long term advantage, which means its far more likely that this will make you lose enough life to be relevant in your defeat. I look at Bob in commander as an early drop that will swing in a few times for early damage while drawing you 2-4 cards before being sacrificed for value. I'm expecting to lose 2-3 life in the decks that run him do to a 40% chance of revealing 0 cmc and generally low curves in aggro. This, this is too slow for the risk. If I'm trying to grind out value, I'd rather have P Arena, or Erebos, or Greed, or Arguel's Blood Fast. I don't need to dig any deeper for this effect, but I'd always run Bob before this even in a grindy deck. Depending on what I'm doing, I'd choose Gravestorm over this, just play politics or nuke graveyards and its better (though clearly this card is better in a vacuum than GStorm, the keys to making GStorm perform better are things black will usually be doing anyway), or Dark Prophecy if my deck is right. And that's all if you are mono black. If your blue black, this doesn't belong near your deck. Outpost Siege and similar deserve deck slots before this in red. Green has plenty of alternate draw, only white sucks for it.
Really, this is only good for a small subset of decks that Bob is good in. Low to the ground enchantress seems like it should want it, but you should already be drawing enough in other ways, including all those better black enchantments I mentioned. In Edgar, your curve is so low that you may very well be averaging less than 1 life per draw, I haven't done the math, but even if you're on par with Arena its got an easier mana cost for a three color deck. Otherwise, its the bargain bin version of the effect.
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!
The only decks I can see really wanting this are those that are actively looking to interfere with drawing cards, and so having card advantage that puts the card into your hand can help break the symmetry. If you're making heavy use of things like Chains of Mephistopheles or Possessed Portal, then Dark Tutelage can do some work as a second Bob (although you don't want to hit the Portal with this...)
I can see it being actually better than Arena in The Gitrog Monster.
On phasing:
Fine card. One more reason to play Knowledge Pool.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Personally, I prefer exile effects on my counterspells, Void Shatter, Dissipate, and Delay being my favorites. They're all still reasonably cost efficient, and if I absolutely have to counter some spell for whatever reason, I consistently find it worthwhile to make sure my opponents won't jump a few hoops to recur whatever problematic card it is that I countered in the first place.
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
It's the type of card that's a solid combo-breaker and it seems like it's always there when you need to survive just one more turn.
Essentially, the card was printed at a time when there wasn't as broad a selection of counter spells so it was relatively important to be selective with what you did with your counterspells. There was a lot of value getting a failed card back.
With all that said. Are there better cards I would pick? You betcha.
In a deck loaded with counterspells, Memory Lapse is pretty fantastic for hitting those big expensive spells that you can counter later anyway. If you've got 1-4 counters in your entire deck it's less appealing.
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!