I think you might want a renounce the guilds or two somewhere in your 75.
That is really the only suggestion that I have. I've had it work wonders for me against aristocrats. It also hits a lot of threats against the Jund matchup.
i think i need more help with my side rather than main, what do you think?
Lose all of the tragic slips and replace them (2 renounce the guilds and 1 essence scatter would probably be good). Replace the detention sphere's with oblivion ring so you don't hit your d-sphere with renounce. Finally, I would make room for a couple of appetite for brains. Acidic slime on turn 3-4 is an instant lose vs reanimator. The best solution is to exile it from their hand just before they cast it (appetite is also good vs jund).
It's a meta call, but I think that rest in peace is currently better than purify the grave because it shuts down voice of resurgence and rancor (bant hexproof) and makes junk aristocrats almost insta-lose.
Now the full spoiler is up, thoughts on what we benfit from in M14?
I feel like Life Bane Zombie is a strong side board option against a number of the popular G/W/X decks.
Doom blade is obviously incredibly efficent, but I don't know if I like it more than say Warped Physique...whenever I played a previous two mana destroy spell, there seemed to be an abundant number of blow outs with indestructible which Warped Physique ignores (and I've never ran into issues with cards in hand, though that not to say it won't happen).
Celestial Flare may be worth a look but I think Far//Away is definitely our preferred edict.
I also find silence funny against Blitz...turn two silence, turn three snapcaster silence, turn four or five verdict? :L Feels cute but I laughed.
Elite Arcanist feels fun but too much chance for a two for one, but I may give it a shot because recurssive counter spells is nice. Will require some testing but I don't think he is quite good enough.
Quicken is also probably a little cute....but instant speed verdict anyone? At worse it is 1 mana to cycle.
Seems like till Rotation we haven't got a whole lot, but after rotation will be a different story, heck esper may not get anything at all.
Here are my thoughts, if they're of interest to everyone: Lifebane Zombie has a good home (possibly in the maindeck) of decks that run Restoration Angel main. Otherwise, it's sideboard at best, and you have to consider the value of turning their removal (and every removal spell hits it) on. I guess its a 2-for-1 in the classical sense but when you consider the fact that removal is dead vs. you (virtual card advantage) its a 1-for-1 against a portion of the metagame. Doom Blade is much better than Warped Physique. Not even close. Celestial Flare is bad, and when we have a Plague Wind for 3UB in Standard, why not play it? Silence is an interesting choice for Snapcaster Mage builds, but I doubt it's good enough to warrant inclusion over cards that actually do things. Elite Arcanist is a creature that we care about on board. This is not a good thing. Quicken has replaced Think Twice in my build for three main reasons.
1) Instant speed Verdicts are a Good Thing (TM). The potential for a blowout is incredible, especially in testing vs. slower decks.
2) A 1CMC instant speed cantrip is borderline playable by itself.
3) I have foils somewhere and need justification to play them.
Here are my thoughts, if they're of interest to everyone: Lifebane Zombie has a good home (possibly in the maindeck) of decks that run Restoration Angel main. Otherwise, it's sideboard at best, and you have to consider the value of turning their removal (and every removal spell hits it) on. I guess its a 2-for-1 in the classical sense but when you consider the fact that removal is dead vs. you (virtual card advantage) its a 1-for-1 against a portion of the metagame. Doom Blade is much better than Warped Physique. Not even close. Celestial Flare is bad, and when we have a Plague Wind for 3UB in Standard, why not play it? Silence is an interesting choice for Snapcaster Mage builds, but I doubt it's good enough to warrant inclusion over cards that actually do things. Elite Arcanist is a creature that we care about on board. This is not a good thing. Quicken has replaced Think Twice in my build for three main reasons.
1) Instant speed Verdicts are a Good Thing (TM). The potential for a blowout is incredible, especially in testing vs. slower decks.
2) A 1CMC instant speed cantrip is borderline playable by itself.
3) I have foils somewhere and need justification to play them.
Yep, I generally agree with your comments. I think Silence may have a place in a U/W shell (either control or Flash) packing 4 Snapcasters, but in Esper or UWR there are better options. Celestial Flare is interesting, but I think if you are playing a deck that needs it (again, likely U/W with no splash), you probably are better served by Righteous Blow or Kraken Hatchling. I might give it a try in a U/W deck.
Quicken is definitely interesting, although it doesn't quite offer the reach of Think Twice, especially if you play any Lilianas. It does work really well with Supreme Verdict, because obviously playing that at the end of your opponent's turn gives you the opportunity to take control of the board. However, if I am running multiple Snapcasters I think I'd just take Silence instead. Silence isn't really ever a dead card against aggro, and it still lets you cycle or cast instant speed removal on the turn they can't cast anything. That being said, I'm not convinced either Quicken or Silence is needed in Esper.
Doom Blade is awesome and I'll be including that in the deck for sure.
Oh, and don't forget Ratchet Bomb. I think I'll be playing that in the SB.
I still feel like traumatize is a strong 1-of in Esper for the sake of taking pressure off of Nephalia Drownyard AND its a card that interacts favorably with Augur of Bolas and Snapcaster. So I would suggest not writing that card option off just yet. I even think it replaces a 1-of jace in the maindeck (allowing for 1 extra in the board)
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I think M14 won't change my deck very much. I'll add a couple doomblades (but keep a warped or two in for jund). I'll sideboard fiendslayer paladin for gruul (something like a nighthawk that doesn't eat a searing spear). I may test traumatize, but I don't have much faith in it this time around either. I considered lifebane zombie, but appetite is more flexible and the only white/green creature I have a time with (that aren't hit by appetite) is voice and it is better dealt with via rest in peace (which pretty much turns into a bear). Ratchet bomb will probably make the sideboard to deal with auras, souls, liliana, voice/tusk tokens, and domri.
I'm currently play testing pilfered plans instead of think twice (so I can play RIP without turning my think twice into expensive cycling). Playing quicken would allow me to have instant speed divination or EOT aetherling (if only quicken affected creatures).
Doom blade, and maybe ratchet bomb in the sideboard depending. Traumatize? Why is this better than JaceMAdept? At least Jace might draw you cards and his mill effect is repeatable, and they both cost the same except Traumatize is a total do nothing card. Yuck.
Quicken? You'd really replace Think Twices with this? Why? It requires another card to actually be decent and does nothing on its own? It doesn't answer threats on board or on the stack, requires other cards to make it even playable, and by itself nothing.
At least doom blade kills things, that's relevant. Ratchet bomb kills things but is slow, so its a maybe. I thought the only other card was maybe glimpse the future.
Doom blade, and maybe ratchet bomb in the sideboard depending. Traumatize? Why is this better than JaceMAdept? At least Jace might draw you cards and his mill effect is repeatable, and they both cost the same except Traumatize is a total do nothing card. Yuck.
Quicken? You'd really replace Think Twices with this? Why? It requires another card to actually be decent and does nothing on its own? It doesn't answer threats on board or on the stack, requires other cards to make it even playable, and by itself nothing.
At least doom blade kills things, that's relevant. Ratchet bomb kills things but is slow, so its a maybe. I thought the only other card was maybe glimpse the future.
I totally agree here... until rotation unless there isn't a better instant one mana draw spell then I could slide quicken in... however my deck is already instant speed cards...it isn't going to help me much....
Doom blade, and maybe ratchet bomb in the sideboard depending. Traumatize? Why is this better than JaceMAdept? At least Jace might draw you cards and his mill effect is repeatable, and they both cost the same except Traumatize is a total do nothing card. Yuck.
Quicken? You'd really replace Think Twices with this? Why? It requires another card to actually be decent and does nothing on its own? It doesn't answer threats on board or on the stack, requires other cards to make it even playable, and by itself nothing.
At least doom blade kills things, that's relevant. Ratchet bomb kills things but is slow, so its a maybe. I thought the only other card was maybe glimpse the future.
Traumatize interacts with Augur profitably which is actually huge, it acts as a threatening card that isnt shuffled away with Augur's ability, which is big against an aggro strategy. Plus this helps the mill engine being a sizeable chunk of the library based on the situation. Im not comparing Traumatize to Jace here, its basically just a different angle of attack, that interacts with other common cards in esper lists, which has come to my attention.
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
Traumatize interacts with Augur profitably which is actually huge, it acts as a threatening card that isnt shuffled away with Augur's ability, which is big against an aggro strategy. Plus this helps the mill engine being a sizeable chunk of the library based on the situation. Im not comparing Traumatize to Jace here, its basically just a different angle of attack, that interacts with other common cards in esper lists, which has come to my attention.
If you are playing Augur then I can see the Traumatize turning into one of those skilltester cards, where your decision to play it or not demonstrates your competence as a player. I'm not saying Traumatize is never good, or that you are automatically a scrub for playing it, but to my thinking there is no doubt that it is a straight up decision between JaceMA and the Sorcery. Our decks are already really tight and Traumatize has to be considered a functional replacement for Jace.
Ask yourself this: why don't we play ANY other mill cards? It's not like we don't have options. Mill 3, Mill until you hit 4 lands, Mill X w/Flashback, Mill for 4 lands when my 2/4 dude hits you. We have a ton but they all have the same weakness. They are one dimensional and Traumatize is no different. In fact, Traumatize is arguably worse because it doesn't win the game.
On the other hand, Jace has multiple abilities and is capable of milling your oppo's last 10 (or less) cards to end the game on the spot. There is no comparison between the two for me.
Now, if you are running Jace and never getting more than one use out of him and start thinking that Milling for >11 cards would be good, then I would suggest that you probably need to cut the slot altogether and replace it with removal or a different kind of threat.
Another consideration: I am playing anything in the format and you Augur on T2 and see Traumatize and removal. You take the Traumatize because you only have one, don't want to lose it and aren't under a lot of pressure. You stabilize at 5 or 6 and mill me for 22. I STILL have 22 turns to kill you! Traumatize neither won the game, nor did it prevent you from losing.
If I am running a 5 cmc sorcery-speed card, then it has to be as dynamic as possible and Traumatize is NOT dynamic.
5 mana investment to mill maybe 22 cards... sorry I don't think so. That sort of card is maybe a limited bomb and belongs in some UB mill deck...
Totally agree.
Doom Blade is going to make my deck, but Ratchet Bomb will only see play if Tokens makes a sudden leap to the top tier in my metagame and then only in the board. In the past Ratchet Bomb was always sweeper #5/6/7, but in the current Meta we have Terminus/Planar Cleansing/even Mutilate (should usually be good for -2/-2 at least). Other than that, Quicken seems kind of cutsey. Think 2X makes my deck because you get to do it twice. I'm not sure how I would feel about using one of my 3 Snapcasters to f/b Quicken rather than Doom Blade, Far, Renounce, Revelation, Verdict, but I suspect it would be crappy.
Ratchet Bomb is much better than people give it credit for. Against anything that's not a blitz deck, it's a removal spell that you can basically "suspend" on turn 2. It also blows out the double mana dork draws, works beautifully with the turn 4 Supreme Verdict plan, etc.
It at least deserves a spot over Detention Sphere.
Doom Blade, on the other hand, seems to be outclassed by Far // Away. I think Esper is only plausible if you either go overboard with planeswalkers, i.e. the Sorin/Souls version, or if you go all in on Sphinx's Revelation. I'm all in on Revelation, and I basically only want to hit land drops so I can cast Supreme Verdict and Revelation. Straight up spot removal like Doom Blade is normally a necessary evil, since it conflicts with sweepers, but at the moment we have Azorious Charm and Far // Away, which serve as card advantage on top of removal.
"But Supreme Verdict is bad right now!"
Only because creatures are so resilient. Thing is, if they're laughing at Verdict, Doom Blade is just plain going to be bad. You either counter Thragtusk and Voice, or you attempt to trade 2-for-2 with them with Verdict and another spell. Doom Blade is always worse. Against blitz Aggro, I can see Doom Blade being good, but I feel like that's a deck that's still extremely weak to Verdict. Maybe Doom Blade is better than Far // Away here.
I was waiting for Doom Blade to come back to Standard, but now that Far // Away is here, I doubt it'll make the cut in Control.
Ratchet Bomb is much better than people give it credit for. Against anything that's not a blitz deck, it's a removal spell that you can basically "suspend" on turn 2. It also blows out the double mana dork draws, works beautifully with the turn 4 Supreme Verdict plan, etc.
It at least deserves a spot over Detention Sphere.
Doom Blade, on the other hand, seems to be outclassed by Far // Away. I think Esper is only plausible if you either go overboard with planeswalkers, i.e. the Sorin/Souls version, or if you go all in on Sphinx's Revelation. I'm all in on Revelation, and I basically only want to hit land drops so I can cast Supreme Verdict and Revelation. Straight up spot removal like Doom Blade is normally a necessary evil, since it conflicts with sweepers, but at the moment we have Azorious Charm and Far // Away, which serve as card advantage on top of removal.
"But Supreme Verdict is bad right now!"
Only because creatures are so resilient. Thing is, if they're laughing at Verdict, Doom Blade is just plain going to be bad. You either counter Thragtusk and Voice, or you attempt to trade 2-for-2 with them with Verdict and another spell. Doom Blade is always worse. Against blitz Aggro, I can see Doom Blade being good, but I feel like that's a deck that's still extremely weak to Verdict. Maybe Doom Blade is better than Far // Away here.
I was waiting for Doom Blade to come back to Standard, but now that Far // Away is here, I doubt it'll make the cut in Control.
Far//away is good, but it has it's own set of problems. If they have more than 2 creatures or if you have less than 5 mana, it's a "get rid of your worst creature" spell. At least doom blade and warped physique can target what you want.
Far//away is good, but it has it's own set of problems. If they have more than 2 creatures or if you have less than 5 mana, it's a "get rid of your worst creature" spell. At least doom blade and warped physique can target what you want.
I quite agree. Far // Away is a really good card and I am very happy to run three of them in my MD. But I have something like 12 pieces of point removal in my deck and they aren't all as good as Far // Away. I have plenty of room for some Doomblades.
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Some people like to win MtG matches in the Red Zone. I prefer to win the way God intended: on the stack.
Ratchet Bomb is much better than people give it credit for. Against anything that's not a blitz deck, it's a removal spell that you can basically "suspend" on turn 2. It also blows out the double mana dork draws, works beautifully with the turn 4 Supreme Verdict plan, etc.
I didn't say Ratchet Bomb was bad. I've used it a lot in the past and I really like the card. But right now it loses out to Terminus and that's the slot it goes in. I have room for six sweepers and Terminus is just better. I suppose you could put it in the O-Ring slot, but I'm not sure that's amazing as I think O-ring is a pretty important option to have in your deck. Once Terminus rotates out Ratchet Bombs will go in my deck. Until then They'll just have to sit in my card box waiting.
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Some people like to win MtG matches in the Red Zone. I prefer to win the way God intended: on the stack.
I still don't see what Doom Blade kills that warped physique doesn't do a better job of killing? Maybe its just me, but I don't think I've had a situation yet where I'd prefer a straight up kill spell over warped.
I still don't see what Doom Blade kills that warped physique doesn't do a better job of killing? Maybe its just me, but I don't think I've had a situation yet where I'd prefer a straight up kill spell over warped.
Basically, large creatures are a problem(AoS, thundermaw, Ruric Thar, scavange creatures, etc). Let's say that you have seven cards in hand. You play warped physique on a flinthoof boar (3/3) giving it +6/-6. In response, it's owner ghor-clan rampages giving +4/+4. Now the creature's a 13/1 with trample and you just lost the game (I've had this happen). In most of my games, there's a place between opening hand and casting revelation where I can't give more than -2 or -3 because I've spent tons of removal to simply survive against all those decks in standard which spew foth all manner of creatures.
Basically, large creatures are a problem(AoS, thundermaw, Ruric Thar, scavange creatures, etc). Let's say that you have six cards in hand. You play warped physique on a flinthoof boar (3/3) giving it +5/-5. In response, it's owner ghor-clan rampages giving +4/+4. Now the creature's a 12/2 with trample and you just lost the game. In most of my games, there's a place between opening hand and casting revelation where I can't give more than -2 or -3 because I've spent tons of removal to simply survive against all those decks in standard which spew foth all manner of creatures.
That's your fault for playing Warped Physique in the combat step.
The only other pump spell is Selesnya Charm, which I have not seen around in quite some time. But even when it is, it's pretty easy to know it's coming.
I still don't see what Doom Blade kills that warped physique doesn't do a better job of killing? Maybe its just me, but I don't think I've had a situation yet where I'd prefer a straight up kill spell over warped.
Warped Physique is better at dealing with some of the Junk Aristocrats creatures than Doom Blade, but Doom Blade is better at dealing with the bigger creatures in Naya and other mid-range guilds. Neither Doom Blade nor Warped Physique help you deal with Blood Baron or Obzedat, although Renounce the Guilds is typically the answer there. Warped Physique can often catch an Olivia if they cast her early and can't pump her to 4 immediately.
I think your meta and deck build are going to play a large part in which spell to use maindeck. I *think* if you are going the walkers and lingering souls route then Doom Blade is probably the better option because Lingering Souls can at least stall Junk weenie strategies until you hopefully get to a Jace, Architect of Thought or Terminus. Also, the Walker Esper shell is weaker against Naya or Gruul mid-range strategies and Doom Blade helps deal with Thundermaws, Resto Angels (that can kill your Walkers), Boros Reckoners, etc.
If you are going the more controlling Walker-less route, I'd probably stick with Warped Physique as swarm/blitz strategies tend to impact you more and Warped Physique can stall those.
As a side note, Ratchet Bomb should be fairly effective out of the SB against Junk 'Crats decks.
I have taken the finishers in a completly different direction. 2 atherling 2 army of the damned. Let me just tell you that AOD is a rock star. All of our builds get to 8 mana. The only problem is that sometimes when I am at 8 a typical finisher won't provide any stabililization. AOD is such a trump card. Although it doesn't stop flyers it is a 1 turn clock with flash back. It has a surprise factor as well because too my knowledge no one runs it.
On the topic of Warped VS blade, i find that the only advantage warped has, is that it's able to target black creatures. So which good black creature are there? Well there's Obzedat, blood baron (but it has pro black in the first place), sin collector, blood artist, Varolz (gets around regen to), nighthawk, Olivia, cartel aristocrat (yeah right), Falkenrath Aristocrat (take that!), skirsdag priest and deathrite. That's not a whole lot actually.
On the topic of Warped VS blade, i find that the only advantage warped has, is that it's able to target black creatures. So which good black creature are there? Well there's Obzedat, blood baron (but it has pro black in the first place), sin collector, blood artist, Varolz (gets around regen to), nighthawk, Olivia, cartel aristocrat (yeah right), Falkenrath Aristocrat (take that!), skirsdag priest and deathrite. That's not a whole lot actually.
I generally agree with Doom Blade over Warped Physique (I do play the Walkers version though). Although, I could see Zombies making a comeback with M14, and Sire of Insanity also is played here and there. A Warped Physique could be large enough to catch the Sire. The Junk 'Crats deck is the other place where you see some black creatures that you sometimes need to get rid of--Blood Artist besides the ones you mentioned. Sometimes you just need to get them off the board. Knight of Infamy has been showing up here and there.
On the topic of Warped VS blade, i find that the only advantage warped has, is that it's able to target black creatures. So which good black creature are there? Well there's Obzedat, blood baron (but it has pro black in the first place), sin collector, blood artist, Varolz (gets around regen to), nighthawk, Olivia, cartel aristocrat (yeah right), Falkenrath Aristocrat (take that!), skirsdag priest and deathrite. That's not a whole lot actually.
That actually is a pretty sizable list. Obzedat, Varolz, and Falkenrath Aristocrat (and to a lesser extent Olivia and Nighthawk) are all HUGE threats. You also forgot to mention Boros Charm and Loleth Troll.
I think you might want a renounce the guilds or two somewhere in your 75.
That is really the only suggestion that I have. I've had it work wonders for me against aristocrats. It also hits a lot of threats against the Jund matchup.
Lose all of the tragic slips and replace them (2 renounce the guilds and 1 essence scatter would probably be good). Replace the detention sphere's with oblivion ring so you don't hit your d-sphere with renounce. Finally, I would make room for a couple of appetite for brains. Acidic slime on turn 3-4 is an instant lose vs reanimator. The best solution is to exile it from their hand just before they cast it (appetite is also good vs jund).
It's a meta call, but I think that rest in peace is currently better than purify the grave because it shuts down voice of resurgence and rancor (bant hexproof) and makes junk aristocrats almost insta-lose.
12 Esper Shocks
12 Esper Checks
3 Nephalia Drownyard
Planeswalkers (2):
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
Board Wipes (6):
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Terminus
Spot Removal (9):
4 Doom Blade
3 Far // Away
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Azorius Charm
3 Augur of Bolas
2 Quicken
Creature (2):
2 Aetherling
Counterspells (2):
2 Syncopate
3 Crypt Incursion
3 Dissipate
3 Rest in Peace
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Renounce the Guilds
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Here are my thoughts, if they're of interest to everyone:
Lifebane Zombie has a good home (possibly in the maindeck) of decks that run Restoration Angel main. Otherwise, it's sideboard at best, and you have to consider the value of turning their removal (and every removal spell hits it) on. I guess its a 2-for-1 in the classical sense but when you consider the fact that removal is dead vs. you (virtual card advantage) its a 1-for-1 against a portion of the metagame.
Doom Blade is much better than Warped Physique. Not even close.
Celestial Flare is bad, and when we have a Plague Wind for 3UB in Standard, why not play it?
Silence is an interesting choice for Snapcaster Mage builds, but I doubt it's good enough to warrant inclusion over cards that actually do things.
Elite Arcanist is a creature that we care about on board. This is not a good thing.
Quicken has replaced Think Twice in my build for three main reasons.
1) Instant speed Verdicts are a Good Thing (TM). The potential for a blowout is incredible, especially in testing vs. slower decks.
2) A 1CMC instant speed cantrip is borderline playable by itself.
3) I have foils somewhere and need justification to play them.
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Yep, I generally agree with your comments. I think Silence may have a place in a U/W shell (either control or Flash) packing 4 Snapcasters, but in Esper or UWR there are better options. Celestial Flare is interesting, but I think if you are playing a deck that needs it (again, likely U/W with no splash), you probably are better served by Righteous Blow or Kraken Hatchling. I might give it a try in a U/W deck.
Quicken is definitely interesting, although it doesn't quite offer the reach of Think Twice, especially if you play any Lilianas. It does work really well with Supreme Verdict, because obviously playing that at the end of your opponent's turn gives you the opportunity to take control of the board. However, if I am running multiple Snapcasters I think I'd just take Silence instead. Silence isn't really ever a dead card against aggro, and it still lets you cycle or cast instant speed removal on the turn they can't cast anything. That being said, I'm not convinced either Quicken or Silence is needed in Esper.
Doom Blade is awesome and I'll be including that in the deck for sure.
Oh, and don't forget Ratchet Bomb. I think I'll be playing that in the SB.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
I'm currently play testing pilfered plans instead of think twice (so I can play RIP without turning my think twice into expensive cycling). Playing quicken would allow me to have instant speed divination or EOT aetherling (if only quicken affected creatures).
Quicken? You'd really replace Think Twices with this? Why? It requires another card to actually be decent and does nothing on its own? It doesn't answer threats on board or on the stack, requires other cards to make it even playable, and by itself nothing.
At least doom blade kills things, that's relevant. Ratchet bomb kills things but is slow, so its a maybe. I thought the only other card was maybe glimpse the future.
I totally agree here... until rotation unless there isn't a better instant one mana draw spell then I could slide quicken in... however my deck is already instant speed cards...it isn't going to help me much....
Traumatize interacts with Augur profitably which is actually huge, it acts as a threatening card that isnt shuffled away with Augur's ability, which is big against an aggro strategy. Plus this helps the mill engine being a sizeable chunk of the library based on the situation. Im not comparing Traumatize to Jace here, its basically just a different angle of attack, that interacts with other common cards in esper lists, which has come to my attention.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
If you are playing Augur then I can see the Traumatize turning into one of those skilltester cards, where your decision to play it or not demonstrates your competence as a player. I'm not saying Traumatize is never good, or that you are automatically a scrub for playing it, but to my thinking there is no doubt that it is a straight up decision between JaceMA and the Sorcery. Our decks are already really tight and Traumatize has to be considered a functional replacement for Jace.
Ask yourself this: why don't we play ANY other mill cards? It's not like we don't have options. Mill 3, Mill until you hit 4 lands, Mill X w/Flashback, Mill for 4 lands when my 2/4 dude hits you. We have a ton but they all have the same weakness. They are one dimensional and Traumatize is no different. In fact, Traumatize is arguably worse because it doesn't win the game.
On the other hand, Jace has multiple abilities and is capable of milling your oppo's last 10 (or less) cards to end the game on the spot. There is no comparison between the two for me.
Now, if you are running Jace and never getting more than one use out of him and start thinking that Milling for >11 cards would be good, then I would suggest that you probably need to cut the slot altogether and replace it with removal or a different kind of threat.
Another consideration: I am playing anything in the format and you Augur on T2 and see Traumatize and removal. You take the Traumatize because you only have one, don't want to lose it and aren't under a lot of pressure. You stabilize at 5 or 6 and mill me for 22. I STILL have 22 turns to kill you! Traumatize neither won the game, nor did it prevent you from losing.
If I am running a 5 cmc sorcery-speed card, then it has to be as dynamic as possible and Traumatize is NOT dynamic.
Totally agree.
Doom Blade is going to make my deck, but Ratchet Bomb will only see play if Tokens makes a sudden leap to the top tier in my metagame and then only in the board. In the past Ratchet Bomb was always sweeper #5/6/7, but in the current Meta we have Terminus/Planar Cleansing/even Mutilate (should usually be good for -2/-2 at least). Other than that, Quicken seems kind of cutsey. Think 2X makes my deck because you get to do it twice. I'm not sure how I would feel about using one of my 3 Snapcasters to f/b Quicken rather than Doom Blade, Far, Renounce, Revelation, Verdict, but I suspect it would be crappy.
/M
It at least deserves a spot over Detention Sphere.
Doom Blade, on the other hand, seems to be outclassed by Far // Away. I think Esper is only plausible if you either go overboard with planeswalkers, i.e. the Sorin/Souls version, or if you go all in on Sphinx's Revelation. I'm all in on Revelation, and I basically only want to hit land drops so I can cast Supreme Verdict and Revelation. Straight up spot removal like Doom Blade is normally a necessary evil, since it conflicts with sweepers, but at the moment we have Azorious Charm and Far // Away, which serve as card advantage on top of removal.
"But Supreme Verdict is bad right now!"
Only because creatures are so resilient. Thing is, if they're laughing at Verdict, Doom Blade is just plain going to be bad. You either counter Thragtusk and Voice, or you attempt to trade 2-for-2 with them with Verdict and another spell. Doom Blade is always worse. Against blitz Aggro, I can see Doom Blade being good, but I feel like that's a deck that's still extremely weak to Verdict. Maybe Doom Blade is better than Far // Away here.
I was waiting for Doom Blade to come back to Standard, but now that Far // Away is here, I doubt it'll make the cut in Control.
Far//away is good, but it has it's own set of problems. If they have more than 2 creatures or if you have less than 5 mana, it's a "get rid of your worst creature" spell. At least doom blade and warped physique can target what you want.
I quite agree. Far // Away is a really good card and I am very happy to run three of them in my MD. But I have something like 12 pieces of point removal in my deck and they aren't all as good as Far // Away. I have plenty of room for some Doomblades.
I didn't say Ratchet Bomb was bad. I've used it a lot in the past and I really like the card. But right now it loses out to Terminus and that's the slot it goes in. I have room for six sweepers and Terminus is just better. I suppose you could put it in the O-Ring slot, but I'm not sure that's amazing as I think O-ring is a pretty important option to have in your deck. Once Terminus rotates out Ratchet Bombs will go in my deck. Until then They'll just have to sit in my card box waiting.
Basically, large creatures are a problem(AoS, thundermaw, Ruric Thar, scavange creatures, etc). Let's say that you have seven cards in hand. You play warped physique on a flinthoof boar (3/3) giving it +6/-6. In response, it's owner ghor-clan rampages giving +4/+4. Now the creature's a 13/1 with trample and you just lost the game (I've had this happen). In most of my games, there's a place between opening hand and casting revelation where I can't give more than -2 or -3 because I've spent tons of removal to simply survive against all those decks in standard which spew foth all manner of creatures.
That's your fault for playing Warped Physique in the combat step.
The only other pump spell is Selesnya Charm, which I have not seen around in quite some time. But even when it is, it's pretty easy to know it's coming.
Warped Physique is better at dealing with some of the Junk Aristocrats creatures than Doom Blade, but Doom Blade is better at dealing with the bigger creatures in Naya and other mid-range guilds. Neither Doom Blade nor Warped Physique help you deal with Blood Baron or Obzedat, although Renounce the Guilds is typically the answer there. Warped Physique can often catch an Olivia if they cast her early and can't pump her to 4 immediately.
I think your meta and deck build are going to play a large part in which spell to use maindeck. I *think* if you are going the walkers and lingering souls route then Doom Blade is probably the better option because Lingering Souls can at least stall Junk weenie strategies until you hopefully get to a Jace, Architect of Thought or Terminus. Also, the Walker Esper shell is weaker against Naya or Gruul mid-range strategies and Doom Blade helps deal with Thundermaws, Resto Angels (that can kill your Walkers), Boros Reckoners, etc.
If you are going the more controlling Walker-less route, I'd probably stick with Warped Physique as swarm/blitz strategies tend to impact you more and Warped Physique can stall those.
As a side note, Ratchet Bomb should be fairly effective out of the SB against Junk 'Crats decks.
4 sphinx's revelation
3 azorius charm
3 think twice
2 syncopate
2 doom blade
2 dissipate
2 far away
2 jace, architect of thought
1 warped physique
1 detention sphere
1 forbidden alchemy
1 sorin, lord of innistrad
1 tamiyo, the moon sage
1 merciless eviction
1 terminus
26 lands (3 drownyards)
On the topic of Warped VS blade, i find that the only advantage warped has, is that it's able to target black creatures. So which good black creature are there? Well there's Obzedat, blood baron (but it has pro black in the first place), sin collector, blood artist, Varolz (gets around regen to), nighthawk, Olivia, cartel aristocrat (yeah right), Falkenrath Aristocrat (take that!), skirsdag priest and deathrite. That's not a whole lot actually.
I generally agree with Doom Blade over Warped Physique (I do play the Walkers version though). Although, I could see Zombies making a comeback with M14, and Sire of Insanity also is played here and there. A Warped Physique could be large enough to catch the Sire. The Junk 'Crats deck is the other place where you see some black creatures that you sometimes need to get rid of--Blood Artist besides the ones you mentioned. Sometimes you just need to get them off the board. Knight of Infamy has been showing up here and there.
That actually is a pretty sizable list. Obzedat, Varolz, and Falkenrath Aristocrat (and to a lesser extent Olivia and Nighthawk) are all HUGE threats. You also forgot to mention Boros Charm and Loleth Troll.