Your opponent should never be throwing this back at you. Except for using it as a reanimation enabler, it's a mind rot for 2 mana that comes with the downside of being marginally worse against other aggro decks.
You're right, it shouldn't come back at you. But the reason it has escaped inclusion for so many people for so long is that people fear that it will. My point was that even if it does come back at you, you still come out ahead.
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While I want this card to be good, it does seem like it's going to have quite a relevant downside on an already fairly costed card (by cube standards). Whenever they have exactly two cards in hand, it costs you two additional cards to cast this - and that's when Mind Rot effects are normally the most valuable.
Whenever they have exactly two cards in hand, it costs you two additional cards to cast this - and that's when Mind Rot effects are normally the most valuable.
I would imagine they would throw it back with three cards in hand most times as well, but I think the idea is to mostly play it in decks that want to have it thrown back at them.
Still, it is a only a slight power and cost boost over Wrench Mind in exchange for a much more narrow card. Cubes that regularly do high player, high power drafts might be interested.
Got to see this card in action on Saturday. Was impressive, definitley needs more testing, but good first impression. My opponent was playing B/R Sneak Attack/Reanimator, and I was playing U/G Super Ramp. Everytime he played it, was a 1B discard 2. As a control deck this hurt me everytime. Will let know how it continues to perform.
Thanks for the update. I have a foiled copy sitting in my on-deck binder, but every time I ponder adding it in, I struggle to find a cut for it I like.
Thanks for the update. I have a foiled copy sitting in my on-deck binder, but every time I ponder adding it in, I struggle to find a cut for it I like.
Perhaps over Inquisition of Kozilek? Inquisition is good, but Chain of Smog could be better. Or over Reassembling Skeleton? That card looks fairly unexciting.
I almost added this the other day since we support pox and reanimation in black. Instead I decided to add Rotting Rats as that just felt like a better fit for those decks. Anyone else considered this one before?
I almost added this the other day since we support pox and reanimation in black. Instead I decided to add Rotting Rats as that just felt like a better fit for those decks. Anyone else considered this one before?
Rats looks terrible. If you want to self-discard, Putrid Imp and others are better.
Chain of Smog either stops without any copies or probably empties both player's hands. Pretty sure in most instances it's a 1B Mind Rot.
I think Rotting Rats is just what my black section needs (an therefore far from terrible). I'm all in on pox and Reanimater. So much so that those are the only black decks drafted lately outside of splashing (for removal). Chain of Smog seemed like a good addition, but it seems like you would almost always want to discard yourself, which it doesn't do reliably unless targeting yourself first ...
Rats gives disruption (it can hit 2 of their cards btw) with a discard outlet plus it's recursive and 2 bodies to sac ... No playtesting yet with it, but in my mind the scenarios in Pox/Reanimater seem to make it much better IMO.
I may be wrong obviously, but I'm fairly optimistic it's going to do good work.
Just wanted to update and say that Chain of Smog had been great so far. It's reliable 2 discard for 2 mana, and sometimes it has just nuked both players hands, which has ALWAYS been the upside for the active player. If your not pushing a discard theme, or looking for discard cards to put in, I wouldn't recommend it, but overall it has been solid (not to mention filling your GY by targeting yourself first than the other player).
Costs BB instead of 1B and can't be used as a discard outlet on yourself (aka 1B "You discard 2 and target opponent discards 2"). The "downside" of the card has never been a downside either, most of the time just causing play errors on the part of the opponent.
With all these recurable creatures, graveyard based decks, Sedgemoor Witch, and now Currency Converter, we plan on testing Chain of Smog. It may be really solid in these decks. Tho its probably a discard 2 for your opponent most of the time, that is still good value for 1B. If the situation calls for it, you can target yourself to get graveyard going, then target your opponent. And goes infinite with the witch.
As you mention, Chain of Smog goes infinite with Sedgemoor Witch. But there are plenty of other cards from Strixhaven that does the same, which could be added to give some redundancy to the "combo". It's a combo I sometimes see drafted in vintage rotisserie drafts.
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My assessment is that Chain of Smog isn't good enough in pushed cubes, but can be a pretty wicked combo to support in B/GB if one is trying to support more combo or simply look a bit outside the common archetypes/themes.
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I played Chain of Smog ~5 years ago. I quite like it interaction-wise, but ultimately found it lacking, because it is only ever cast when you are on 0-1 cards in hand or your board state is clearly favourable. I am not sure the new cards will break the symmetry in a meaningful way to warrant including it again, but I am looking forward to people's opinion about it nowadays.
There's a set of creatures that I always wanted to build around with Chain of Smog- Obstinate Baloth, Loxodon Smiter, Nullhide Ferox. So if you're already running those, I'd consider that additional pressure to include Chain of Smog in the cube. In any case I highly prefer it to the double black cost and failure case of Wrench Mind and the combo potential is there.
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You're right, it shouldn't come back at you. But the reason it has escaped inclusion for so many people for so long is that people fear that it will. My point was that even if it does come back at you, you still come out ahead.
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I would imagine they would throw it back with three cards in hand most times as well, but I think the idea is to mostly play it in decks that want to have it thrown back at them.
Still, it is a only a slight power and cost boost over Wrench Mind in exchange for a much more narrow card. Cubes that regularly do high player, high power drafts might be interested.
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Perhaps over Inquisition of Kozilek? Inquisition is good, but Chain of Smog could be better. Or over Reassembling Skeleton? That card looks fairly unexciting.
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Rats looks terrible. If you want to self-discard, Putrid Imp and others are better.
Chain of Smog either stops without any copies or probably empties both player's hands. Pretty sure in most instances it's a 1B Mind Rot.
Rats gives disruption (it can hit 2 of their cards btw) with a discard outlet plus it's recursive and 2 bodies to sac ... No playtesting yet with it, but in my mind the scenarios in Pox/Reanimater seem to make it much better IMO.
I may be wrong obviously, but I'm fairly optimistic it's going to do good work.
EDIT: it's also a zombie ... twice
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No. BBis way harder to cast turn two compared to 1B.
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Costs BB instead of 1B and can't be used as a discard outlet on yourself (aka 1B "You discard 2 and target opponent discards 2"). The "downside" of the card has never been a downside either, most of the time just causing play errors on the part of the opponent.
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If you want a discard card, then throw this in. It's good.
I cut it from my cube, but that's because I couldn't find any other cuts. It was a lot of fun having it in the cube, and did what I wanted it too.
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