While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
I'm baack! I'm back with no testing, no good news, and no major insights. Sorry.
I'm taking a year off to volunteer in israel. If you thought testing with me was hard then, it's gonna be really hard now.
Card to suggest at the moment: Leyline of the Void. Both ichorid and breakfast are affected by it and it's uncounterable if played turn 0. This is relevant vs breakfast which packs counters. Both Ich and CB can deal with it in the sb with chain of vapor/whatever but this leads me to another point.
This deck rarely has answers to non-creature threats. I've always felt helpless playing this deck, and that the only interaction I had with the opponent was assembling horror the best I could. If it wasn't a creature or something I could obviously therapy out of their hand, I was doomed.
And I just compared the recent VH list to a list of UGR Thresh. They've got gigantic counterspell and anti-creature bases, and in both respects outdoes VH. It's arguable whether they do have a better archiving system, (cantrips vs draw engines and tutors).
But I'm not here to bemoan our losses, I'm here to improve it. Here's the list that I think is a better alternative.
I forgot the mana base, but it's cool. No major changes there.
Daze and Force of Will fill the gap I'm talking about. The list isn't so drastic, really. I just dropped Sage and Cabal therapy for Force of Will and daze. Cabal therapy is too much of a bother for me, it doesn't guarantee anything.
3 echoing truth is a bit too much. I figured I'd want to neutralize cards like Pong Horror and Drake as quickly as possible. Either that, or I haven't been paying attention to the metagame enough to know which decks to gear towards...:p. Possible considerations include Counterspell. sage, jitte, parallax dementia, you think about it.
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"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." -Groucho Marx
"You're going to fight that?!"
"No...I'm going to kill that."
A GAME OF THRONES ON HBO!!!! AAAAAH~!!!!
Can this deck support Force (and Daze)? It has been the question for some time now.
Shindig, instead of the 3rd Echoing Truth, I'd rather have the 4th Pongify. And perhaps even then I'd rather play Spell Fumbling Faerie than Daze....
You've made me realize how the Faerie can fit into a version, though: It should replace Sage of Epityr role-wise, so it would replace Daze in that list.
So now, you can either play 4x Sage + 4x Therapy OR 4x Force of Will + 4x Spellfumbling Sprite.
I'll try this and other variations out, Shindig, but I don't think Leyline can fit into the sideboard, since it would have to replace Hymn to Tourach. I am glad to see you agree with Phyrexian Arena as the 5th Confidant. I liked it in the couple of games I got to play with it. I like that this version has 20 lands in it so that it can play Arena every game and support Sprite and Force. The only card I really miss in this list is Sage of Epityr, and I think he can be justified as getting the boot from this list because he is considered to be competing with Stifle for the 4 slots.
While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
tomjulioo, I definitely felt strange without having Sage. Without him, I never felt like playing/flashing-back Therapy. But still, I felt good having Sprite in the deck because I feel that, unlike Sage, it hurts when it resolves / it's a threat. The only thing I miss about Sage then is that I lost 4 one-drops, but there are still 16 other cards that cost 1, and at least this makes leaving mana open for Stifle turn 1 more comfortable because Sprite is held in hand instead of Sage in that instance.
I played one game today (only found Viroid to play on MWS) and got to counter the first spell with Spellfumbler Sprite: Brainstorm
So now that I do not like Therapy + Sprite (I only like Therapy with Sage), I will either try out Force of Will + Sprite, or (weird) Cloud of Faeries + Sprite (I doubt this will be that good).
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While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
I really like the latest list. Of the more recent builds, it's the one I like best. But personally, I'd run leyline over hymn. I know that you disagree with this, but with the popularity of thresh, breakfast, ichorid, and other GY decks, I think that it's more helpful than hymn. What do you board hymn in against, combo? We have stifle, force, and that sprite, so I think that we'd be ok against combo.
We live in a country were ~50% of the populace believe public schooling is a socialist conspiracy and that being called Einstein is an insult. We could try and fix it, but unfortunately the other 50% don't believe in euthanasia.
ApokalypseKid, I think that Leyline of the Void is competing instead with Engineered Plague. I would rather lose (most likely) ONE matchup (Goblins) than not have a good answer to Bridge decks. In fact, I have never ever faced Goblins in a real life tournament, and their popularity has sunken from that point!
So, shall I make the switch and beat 1-3 decks instead of 1? Greatness, at any cost.
Oh and about Sprite, after sleeping on it, I think that now there are 3 options: Sage+Therapy, Sprite+Therapy (disliked), Sprite+Force (disliked), and Sage+Sprite (a bit strange, makes me lose to plague, and only have 4x Sprite as disruption.... but technically Therapy was only 4x disruption, even though it was a bit stronger than "4" since Sage flashed it back). I don't know for sure how Sprite fits in, but I know it belongs. Shall it replace Sage? (Sprite+Therapy) or shall it replace Therapy? (Sprite+Sage or Sprite+Force) ...I still am not a big fan of Force of Will, due on part to Confidant flipping it without Sage around to help rearrange them.
EDIT: After testing 2 more games (total of 3 haha) vs. Viroid (and seeing how good Sprite truly is), I think Therapy can stay still. (1) It doesn't always need to be flashed back... and (2) I revealed it to Confidant and was happy to take 1 instead of 5/6. I suppose I am fine with losing Sage... Sad though, after all the hard work he did taking Pongifies and Therapies selflessly... lol
While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
You and Apokalypse kid prefer Force over Therapy as it is, so I think you guys will prefer Force+Faerie. (Isn't it nice that Faerie Mafia finally gets to play a Faerie?)
For the next few games in testing, I will use Faerie+Sage (surprisingly) and then I will try out Force+Faerie if Faerie+Sage proves ineffective.
So then I think we all agree that Leyline > Plague in the current meta. If I face Goblins (for the first time) at Flint I will cry. hahaha
What do you think of that instead? Is it better to run 4 Hymn? I think this might suffice, perhaps even just 2 Plague 2 Hymn 4 Needle, then? I guess I am just trying to say that I only need 2 or 3 Hymn to Tourach in the sideboard, I don't enjoy bringing in all 4.
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While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
I'm still thinking sprite might be overall worse than counterbalance, especially against removal heavy decks. If I understand the sprite correctly if they kill the sprite while the ability is on the stack it won't counter the spell unless you have other faeries out (but i'm not 100% sure on that, and won't be until an english version is released). And if you go sprite + sage, 1x E. Plague can shut down all of your disruption. Counterbalance is less vulnerable and it protects itself. Right now I think I would favor 3 counterbalance/4 sage/4 infiltrator. Since multiple counterbalances are useless, Sage + vial and/or riptide allows you to set up counterbalance and the 4th infiltrator gives you another shuffle effect, even if it is at sorcery speed. But even just blindly laying a counterbalance without any way to manipulate the top card of your library can be worth it. Also when it comes down early game and they haven't seen much else people will be expecting you to have even more counters to back it up and will try to play around those. In the end counterbalance seems like the better choice in the current meta.
EDIT* I'm not sure if the neo-duress is worth it. Its almost guaranteed to hit a card, but only ever hits one card. If you replace the lose 2 life with sacrifice a creature you get cabal therapy, except therapy can hit 2-3 or more cards between the first one and the flashback. So it comes down to whether or not you can afford to sacrifice creatures to take out a couple more cards in the opponents hand, but not always have at least card parity, or to make sure you have card parity every time (against most decks).
Grey_king/Bladewing, I am not sure what to do, and I don't think sleeping on it is going to help much.
Sage+Therapy is better in a meta where Goblins existed (it was one of the only UB strategies that was good vs an aggro swarm deck). And in that metagame, Counterbalance is bad and should not be in the deck in the first place.
Because this meta does not have Goblins, or more specifically, Goblins have been removed from the equation (sideboard and all) of this deck [and its worth it because I would rather just give up that matchup entirely in order to secure a win vs. Threshold, Breakfast, and Ichorid], I believe that Sprite+Duress/NeoDuress will be worth upcoming testing in the threshold+combo filled meta. [And Bladewing, I could see (in this instance) a 1x Counterbalance replacing the 20th land (2nd Echoing Truth) slot, or the Phyrexian Arena singleton slot.]
If this was the pre-HF meta in which Goblins was the best deck, I would never consider playing Sprite or Counterbalance, because they are horrible vs. goblins.
I don't love NeoDuress, but I don't love Duress either. I love Therapy, but only with Sage. Force of Will is useable, but not with Confidant. Because of all this, I am torn. When using Sprite I will either have to choose to play either Sage of Epityr (and lose to opposing Plagues) or Duress/NeoDuress (and lose the power of Therapy once and for all.)
I think that Sprite is still better than Counterbalance in this deck, even despite the fact that Sprite can be removed or Stifled (because there it still trades 1 for 1 instead of its amazing 2 for 1). Counterbalance often sits around in play, not countering anything, or worse yet - it sits in my hand because I don't have UU. If I was already playing 3 Divining Tops and then I had 4 Sage + 1-2 Riptide Lab, then I would welcome it with open deck... but without Divining Top, it seems like Sprite is better for now.
I think the thing most people forget about the deck is that Sage is oddly better than Brainstorm because of Vial, and thereby, Sprite may oddly also be better than its non-creature 'stronger' counterpart (Counterbalance) because Sprite can come through a Vial... and take a Pongify (or Therapy if I end up including it, deciding it is worth it to Sacrifice a Sprite).
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While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
"If you kill me, it'll destroy your life. Every time you close your eyes, you'll see me. I'll be in your nightmares every night, your whole life. I will ruin it."
In reference to your searching for a source of card advantage, did you ever try Hatching plans as a 1 of as a tutor target? I thought that might help if you had tried it as a four of (too much inconsistency) and if so maybe it will be the 6th bob you are looking for. I Like the synergy between sprite/therapy and I think it is one of those combinations that will always feel clunky to you but your opponent would much rather you had played something else.
2 cards and not being able to use a scepter effect for a turn is not worth +1 CA when you look at the loss in tempo and what else you could be tutoring for instead. The card is competing with cards that actually have useful utility and that you want to see in your opening hand.
When I saw the mana cost I almost cried tears of joy that it was a 2cc Wizard with a CIP effect... but it won't work out that well because the effect is not amazing, persay.
Pros:
Cheat into play with Vial.
Playing 4 copies will still alow it to come into play normally sometimes.
Riptide Lab = amazing.
Cons:
It could cost 5 sometimes or be dead = crap.
It is not a Faerie.
So Lorwyn has to either provide 2 Faeries or 2 Merfolk so that they can help their current contender (Sprite or Adept respectively) become the final choice for VH...
Magicianofthought agrees that the Faeries will be more powerful of the conntenders. They have to print a UB 2cc Faerie, don't they? hehe... I am praying it is a Wizard and is... good
It is very kind of WotC to print cards for VH.... Wizards... 2cc... 1cc.... Blue... black.... aaaah:love:
They could fit it in, but as a 2-3 of to play with AEther Vial, but I don't think that would be smart.
Even then it'd have to be a 4-of, and still... yeah, they did a good job making sure you cant just play 4 of him alone... and I guess not even with Vial
While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
Shadowmage Infiltrator (Pro//Con)
Fear, deals damage, can stop some agro assaults nearly equal to arena (in terms of speed)// only 3 toughness, only 1 power, if the opponent is playing black, they can block. Dimir Cutpurse
Two power, discard clause//no evasion, only 2 toughness
Jace Blaren
No life loss, can be replenished, pumps stolen 'goyfs//Pumps their 'goyf, replenishing causes them to get cards.
Just random thoughts I've had about some ways for us to have more card draw, and I'm still working on my report. I lost the notes for a while and just recently found them, but I have school work and college application stuff, so it's a bit difficult.
While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
I like the way the deck is progressing. I strongly agree with your speculations about Counterbalance. 1 counterbalance is a very good call since it's uncastable enough to not want it all the time, but good enuogh to tutor for.
I see your problems with choosing a disruption package. In my build, I want force over therapy because you don't need to guess or be worried about naming the wrong card. This is less true about Duress, but I'd like the ability to take things as they come, not invest mana, take out threats while tapping down mana...in other words, I dig counters.
How often do you get force with confidant?
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"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." -Groucho Marx
"You're going to fight that?!"
"No...I'm going to kill that."
A GAME OF THRONES ON HBO!!!! AAAAAH~!!!!
It seems I flip it once every two games, sometimes more How about you? If it wasn't for this, I would feel better about playing Force of Will over Therapy.
So yes, 1 Counterbalance is kinda cool... but is it stronger to have an Arena out, or to have a Counterbalance out in general...
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While netdecking and testing VileHorror i thought about Biorhythm. Sure its really expensive, off-color and crappy but still you're always the one with creatures while playing VH. That made me think.
Isamaru, have you ever done any testing with Crystal Shard? I had been thinking about it for a while now. In particular, it is better with the Drake than Scepters and such - if it can be made to work, that is. What I like about it is that it is not useless in the absence of other pieces of the combo. I bring it up now in light of the Silvergill, but I have been wondering about it for some time.
Is it worth the extra cost?
Will it work often enough to be worth it?
Does Drake/Scepter win you the game even without the added card advantage already?
It seems I flip it once every two games, sometimes more How about you? If it wasn't for this, I would feel better about playing Force of Will over Therapy.
So yes, 1 Counterbalance is kinda cool... but is it stronger to have an Arena out, or to have a Counterbalance out in general...
I really don't recommend you putting any real weight on your prior bad luck with Confidant + Force. Statistically, you should very rarely see it which is definitely how it worked in my UB build. (On a side note, there are decent builds of RB aggro in standard running 4 Confidants with 3 Hit // Run). Although I realize there's almost no room, a draw spell (either Brainstorm or Serum Visions, most likely) would nearly negate the Confidant damage.
As for the Phyrexian Arena, it seems to me like a pretty lousy choice. At 3 mana, it takes away a full turn (barring your Vial play) sometime between turns 3 and 5 in which most games are decided. Once on the table, it's a great card and compliments Bob quite well, but getting it there is just too hard on the pace of the deck when it needs it most. If the game goes long and you find it on turn 10, it's probably not needed -- VH has a decent long game, especially with a Volrath or Riptide on the table. I think I'd rather play Shadowmage in this slot to further combat Goblins, but more than that, I'd rather just add more disruption or disposable draw to index the Confidant draws and/or take advantage of shuffling.
The tournament reports for every one of the Legacy tournaments I've been to in my life (9 or so) are linked and listed on the first page.
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I'm taking a year off to volunteer in israel. If you thought testing with me was hard then, it's gonna be really hard now.
Card to suggest at the moment: Leyline of the Void. Both ichorid and breakfast are affected by it and it's uncounterable if played turn 0. This is relevant vs breakfast which packs counters. Both Ich and CB can deal with it in the sb with chain of vapor/whatever but this leads me to another point.
This deck rarely has answers to non-creature threats. I've always felt helpless playing this deck, and that the only interaction I had with the opponent was assembling horror the best I could. If it wasn't a creature or something I could obviously therapy out of their hand, I was doomed.
And I just compared the recent VH list to a list of UGR Thresh. They've got gigantic counterspell and anti-creature bases, and in both respects outdoes VH. It's arguable whether they do have a better archiving system, (cantrips vs draw engines and tutors).
But I'm not here to bemoan our losses, I'm here to improve it. Here's the list that I think is a better alternative.
3 Hunted Horror
Archiving
4 Dark Confidant
1 Phyrexian Arena
3 Dimir Infiltrator
3 Pongify
4 Gilded Drake
Counter-Base
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Aether Vial
3 Despotic Scepter
2 Tel-Jilad Stylus
3 Echoing Truth
I forgot the mana base, but it's cool. No major changes there.
Daze and Force of Will fill the gap I'm talking about. The list isn't so drastic, really. I just dropped Sage and Cabal therapy for Force of Will and daze. Cabal therapy is too much of a bother for me, it doesn't guarantee anything.
3 echoing truth is a bit too much. I figured I'd want to neutralize cards like Pong Horror and Drake as quickly as possible. Either that, or I haven't been paying attention to the metagame enough to know which decks to gear towards...:p. Possible considerations include Counterspell. sage, jitte, parallax dementia, you think about it.
"You're going to fight that?!"
"No...I'm going to kill that."
A GAME OF THRONES ON HBO!!!! AAAAAH~!!!!
Shindig, instead of the 3rd Echoing Truth, I'd rather have the 4th Pongify. And perhaps even then I'd rather play Spell Fumbling Faerie than Daze....
You've made me realize how the Faerie can fit into a version, though: It should replace Sage of Epityr role-wise, so it would replace Daze in that list.
So now, you can either play 4x Sage + 4x Therapy OR 4x Force of Will + 4x Spellfumbling Sprite.
4 Gilded Drake
3 Hunted Horror
4 Dark Confidant
1 Phyrexian Arena
4 Spellfumbling Sprite/Sage
3 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Force of Will/Therapy
4 Stifle
1 Echoing Truth
4 Aether Vial
3 Despotic Scepter
2 Tel-Jilad Stylus
2 Riptide Lab
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
2 Island
4 Pithing Needle
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Engineered Plague
4 Hymn to Tourach
I'll try this and other variations out, Shindig, but I don't think Leyline can fit into the sideboard, since it would have to replace Hymn to Tourach. I am glad to see you agree with Phyrexian Arena as the 5th Confidant. I liked it in the couple of games I got to play with it. I like that this version has 20 lands in it so that it can play Arena every game and support Sprite and Force. The only card I really miss in this list is Sage of Epityr, and I think he can be justified as getting the boot from this list because he is considered to be competing with Stifle for the 4 slots.
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I played one game today (only found Viroid to play on MWS) and got to counter the first spell with Spellfumbler Sprite: Brainstorm
So now that I do not like Therapy + Sprite (I only like Therapy with Sage), I will either try out Force of Will + Sprite, or (weird) Cloud of Faeries + Sprite (I doubt this will be that good).
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So, shall I make the switch and beat 1-3 decks instead of 1? Greatness, at any cost.
Oh and about Sprite, after sleeping on it, I think that now there are 3 options: Sage+Therapy, Sprite+Therapy (disliked), Sprite+Force (disliked), and Sage+Sprite (a bit strange, makes me lose to plague, and only have 4x Sprite as disruption.... but technically Therapy was only 4x disruption, even though it was a bit stronger than "4" since Sage flashed it back). I don't know for sure how Sprite fits in, but I know it belongs. Shall it replace Sage? (Sprite+Therapy) or shall it replace Therapy? (Sprite+Sage or Sprite+Force) ...I still am not a big fan of Force of Will, due on part to Confidant flipping it without Sage around to help rearrange them.
EDIT: After testing 2 more games (total of 3 haha) vs. Viroid (and seeing how good Sprite truly is), I think Therapy can stay still. (1) It doesn't always need to be flashed back... and (2) I revealed it to Confidant and was happy to take 1 instead of 5/6. I suppose I am fine with losing Sage... Sad though, after all the hard work he did taking Pongifies and Therapies selflessly... lol
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Made by Topher at Aether.
Come Praise Jesus!
Official Godfather of Team Faerie Mafia.
Current Decks
FM Thresh
Vial Horror
For the next few games in testing, I will use Faerie+Sage (surprisingly) and then I will try out Force+Faerie if Faerie+Sage proves ineffective.
So then I think we all agree that Leyline > Plague in the current meta. If I face Goblins (for the first time) at Flint I will cry. hahaha
4 Gilded Drake
3 Hunted Horror
4 Dark Confidant
1 Phyrexian Arena
4 Spellfumbling Sprite/Sage
4 Sage/Therapy/Force of Will
3 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Stifle
1 Echoing Truth
4 Aether Vial
3 Despotic Scepter
2 Tel-Jilad Stylus
2 Riptide Lab
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
2 Island
4 Pithing Needle
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pithing Needle
3 Engineered Plague
2 Hymn to Tourach
What do you think of that instead? Is it better to run 4 Hymn? I think this might suffice, perhaps even just 2 Plague 2 Hymn 4 Needle, then? I guess I am just trying to say that I only need 2 or 3 Hymn to Tourach in the sideboard, I don't enjoy bringing in all 4.
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Neo-Duress B
Sorcery
Look at target player´s hand, and coose a non-land
card from it. that player discard that card
you loose 2 life.
I don't think the 2 life would be any problem, really. The card might warrant some testing.
If its real...
Currently 62/265 cards.
EDIT* I'm not sure if the neo-duress is worth it. Its almost guaranteed to hit a card, but only ever hits one card. If you replace the lose 2 life with sacrifice a creature you get cabal therapy, except therapy can hit 2-3 or more cards between the first one and the flashback. So it comes down to whether or not you can afford to sacrifice creatures to take out a couple more cards in the opponents hand, but not always have at least card parity, or to make sure you have card parity every time (against most decks).
Sage+Therapy is better in a meta where Goblins existed (it was one of the only UB strategies that was good vs an aggro swarm deck). And in that metagame, Counterbalance is bad and should not be in the deck in the first place.
Because this meta does not have Goblins, or more specifically, Goblins have been removed from the equation (sideboard and all) of this deck [and its worth it because I would rather just give up that matchup entirely in order to secure a win vs. Threshold, Breakfast, and Ichorid], I believe that Sprite+Duress/NeoDuress will be worth upcoming testing in the threshold+combo filled meta. [And Bladewing, I could see (in this instance) a 1x Counterbalance replacing the 20th land (2nd Echoing Truth) slot, or the Phyrexian Arena singleton slot.]
If this was the pre-HF meta in which Goblins was the best deck, I would never consider playing Sprite or Counterbalance, because they are horrible vs. goblins.
I don't love NeoDuress, but I don't love Duress either. I love Therapy, but only with Sage. Force of Will is useable, but not with Confidant. Because of all this, I am torn. When using Sprite I will either have to choose to play either Sage of Epityr (and lose to opposing Plagues) or Duress/NeoDuress (and lose the power of Therapy once and for all.)
I think that Sprite is still better than Counterbalance in this deck, even despite the fact that Sprite can be removed or Stifled (because there it still trades 1 for 1 instead of its amazing 2 for 1). Counterbalance often sits around in play, not countering anything, or worse yet - it sits in my hand because I don't have UU. If I was already playing 3 Divining Tops and then I had 4 Sage + 1-2 Riptide Lab, then I would welcome it with open deck... but without Divining Top, it seems like Sprite is better for now.
I think the thing most people forget about the deck is that Sage is oddly better than Brainstorm because of Vial, and thereby, Sprite may oddly also be better than its non-creature 'stronger' counterpart (Counterbalance) because Sprite can come through a Vial... and take a Pongify (or Therapy if I end up including it, deciding it is worth it to Sacrifice a Sprite).
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Well, that's tribal I guess.
Currently 62/265 cards.
When I saw the mana cost I almost cried tears of joy that it was a 2cc Wizard with a CIP effect... but it won't work out that well because the effect is not amazing, persay.
Pros:
Magicianofthought agrees that the Faeries will be more powerful of the conntenders. They have to print a UB 2cc Faerie, don't they? hehe... I am praying it is a Wizard and is... good
It is very kind of WotC to print cards for VH.... Wizards... 2cc... 1cc.... Blue... black.... aaaah:love:
Yeah, he would be amazing if he was a Faerie or if his ability said "Wizard".... but now I'm asking too much.
Even then it'd have to be a 4-of, and still... yeah, they did a good job making sure you cant just play 4 of him alone... and I guess not even with Vial
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Fear, deals damage, can stop some agro assaults nearly equal to arena (in terms of speed)// only 3 toughness, only 1 power, if the opponent is playing black, they can block.
Dimir Cutpurse
Two power, discard clause//no evasion, only 2 toughness
Jace Blaren
No life loss, can be replenished, pumps stolen 'goyfs//Pumps their 'goyf, replenishing causes them to get cards.
Just random thoughts I've had about some ways for us to have more card draw, and I'm still working on my report. I lost the notes for a while and just recently found them, but I have school work and college application stuff, so it's a bit difficult.
Shadowmage Infiltrator - a Wizard, but costing 3 is too much.
Dimir Guildmage - a Wizard, awesome art, but abilities are heftily priced.
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I see your problems with choosing a disruption package. In my build, I want force over therapy because you don't need to guess or be worried about naming the wrong card. This is less true about Duress, but I'd like the ability to take things as they come, not invest mana, take out threats while tapping down mana...in other words, I dig counters.
How often do you get force with confidant?
"You're going to fight that?!"
"No...I'm going to kill that."
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So yes, 1 Counterbalance is kinda cool... but is it stronger to have an Arena out, or to have a Counterbalance out in general...
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Is it worth the extra cost?
Will it work often enough to be worth it?
Does Drake/Scepter win you the game even without the added card advantage already?
I really don't recommend you putting any real weight on your prior bad luck with Confidant + Force. Statistically, you should very rarely see it which is definitely how it worked in my UB build. (On a side note, there are decent builds of RB aggro in standard running 4 Confidants with 3 Hit // Run). Although I realize there's almost no room, a draw spell (either Brainstorm or Serum Visions, most likely) would nearly negate the Confidant damage.
As for the Phyrexian Arena, it seems to me like a pretty lousy choice. At 3 mana, it takes away a full turn (barring your Vial play) sometime between turns 3 and 5 in which most games are decided. Once on the table, it's a great card and compliments Bob quite well, but getting it there is just too hard on the pace of the deck when it needs it most. If the game goes long and you find it on turn 10, it's probably not needed -- VH has a decent long game, especially with a Volrath or Riptide on the table. I think I'd rather play Shadowmage in this slot to further combat Goblins, but more than that, I'd rather just add more disruption or disposable draw to index the Confidant draws and/or take advantage of shuffling.