MTG Salvation

Spatial Contortion
1C
Instant

Target creature gets +3/-3 until end of turn.


Colorless removal and pump seems pretty decent. I'm fairly sure that I don't like it for smaller Cubes, but being able to be cast in any deck feels potent.

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It requires colorless mana not generic mana. So its not really castable in "any" deck and would require color concessions just like most other non-artifact cards.

A Nameless Inversion for a deck that can support early costs. Don't think I'll be playing this unless we have a ton of colorless-exclusive cards in the cube.

This is as about appealing as Nameless Inversion is to me, which is not at all. Pretty easy pass, colorless focus or not.

Its not bad, but I hoping for more powerful cards than this.

Nameless Inversion isn't a big enough payoff for colorless, especially if you're not going to give unlimited access to Wastes. Still a neat card to have available, since colorless removal is hard to come by.

Kozilek is a payoff card that justifies looking for mana. This card isn't. For decks already playing colorless mana, this is an easy include, but it's pretty far off in terms of power of "pulling me into" making work.

Edit: One upside to this card though, is that decks that might be trying to play sources of colorless mana for Kozilek, the Great Distortion will probably be mono green super ramp decks or mono blue big mana artifact decks. Both of those decks are super light on removal, so having an early game instant speed removal spell might be valuable to some of the potential cube archetypes trying to cast the new Kozi.

I think this card is powerful due to the colorless aspect, however, I don't think many of the decks that want it would be able to support include it in the final 40. The cube worthy colorless cards like this will likely be the higher cc cards like the new Kozilek.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Kozilek is a payoff card that justifies looking for mana. This card isn't. For decks already playing colorless mana, this is an easy include, but it's pretty far off in terms of power of "pulling me into" making work.

Edit: One upside to this card though, is that decks that might be trying to play sources of colorless mana for Kozilek, the Great Distortion will probably be mono green super ramp decks or mono blue big mana artifact decks. Both of those decks are super light on removal, so having an early game instant speed removal spell might be valuable to some of the potential cube archetypes trying to cast the new Kozi.

This was my thought also. Im not sure if that makes it good enough to include. Im hoping for more powerful cards to encourage people to play colorless, not something to just throw in if you are playing colorless.

Quote from TheTennesseeFireman »

Still a neat card to have available, since colorless removal is hard to come by.

Colorless everything is hard to come by. There are like 10 cards so far. Do you mean generic costed removal? If so, this is not that.

Edit: It occurs to me you probably do mean colorless; so yes, it is one of the few removal spells. To me this isn't worth splashing in any deck and (unless some really big and awesome things start happening with <> costed cards) I won't be supporting it as a full sixth color. So pretty easy pass.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

For decks already playing colorless mana, this is an easy include...

Really? If you are playing black would Nameless Inversion be an easy include? Or do you mean since there are so few colorless removal cards that you would play it just because it is better than nothing? Kinda like Song of the Dryads in green?

This card seems pretty bad to me. If it were generic mana maybe since then it can at least go in any deck.

Quote from bmholle »

Quote from TheTennesseeFireman »

Still a neat card to have available, since colorless removal is hard to come by.

Colorless everything is hard to come by. There are like 10 cards so far. Do you mean generic costed removal? If so, this is not that.

It's certainly not (otherwise it would be widely playable), but I would imagine there are some off-the-wall cubes that appreciate removal that can be cast off an Ancient Tomb or the like. "Mono-brown" isn't generally an archetype that gets a lot of nice tools these days.

Quote from bmholle »

Quote from wtwlf123 »

For decks already playing colorless mana, this is an easy include...

Really? If you are playing black would Nameless Inversion be an easy include? Or do you mean since there are so few colorless removal cards that you would play it just because it is better than nothing? Kinda like Song of the Dryads in green?

This card seems pretty bad to me. If it were generic mana maybe since then it can at least go in any deck.

Did you read the rest of the post? It explains exactly what you're asking.

Not super excited about this but it will probably be on my radar if I opt to include a package of colorless <> cards.

I dig the art.

A removal spell that kills through mom/swords is cool... A solid playable in G/U ramp decks that are light on removal, but think colorless is too resctrive a casting cost given this cards power level

If it cost 2 generic mana, then maybe. As is with colorless mana harder to come by than colored mana, this is a no go for me.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from bmholle »

Quote from wtwlf123 »

For decks already playing colorless mana, this is an easy include...

Really? If you are playing black would Nameless Inversion be an easy include? Or do you mean since there are so few colorless removal cards that you would play it just because it is better than nothing? Kinda like Song of the Dryads in green?

This card seems pretty bad to me. If it were generic mana maybe since then it can at least go in any deck.

Did you read the rest of the post? It explains exactly what you're asking.

Yeah, okay - I see it in your edit. My post might have crossed with it. But it is entirely possible that I just missed it.

The way the points are separated (probably because one of them is in the edit) makes them read like:

1. I would play this if I were in colorless.

2. Also - colorless is likely paired with blue or green which doesn't have much early removal. So, bonus.

Rather than:

I would play this if I were colorless but only because colorless doesn't have much removal.

If I'm in colorless, I'm probably in a big blue or green ramp deck. Meaning that both of those statements are true. That was the point.

I agree that this card is fine if you are playing colorless as more than a splash but only because there isn't any better removal in <>. And yes, it gets better if the color it is likely paired with is also removal-poor. However, if one were considering it as part of a 1-3 card <> splash in a deck then something must have went horribly wrong that you didn't get better removal in a different splash color.

At this point in time the SCDs on the new <> cards are weird because there is no established meta to discuss them in. There isn't enough currently spoiled, in my opinion, to include <> in the cube with the idea that someone might draft it as more than a splash.

If I want colorless removal, I would at least want it to be able to kill and X/2 with a sword equipped...

I'm not sure there will be enough cards for this to be relevant. However, I'm going to stash one. If is going to be an ongoing thing and not limited to this one set, we could have enough cards to make this a worthwhile include.

I got an artifact/colorless section. Will play it.

I do think it's a great trick if you're holding like CG and your opponent might be surprised.

One last thing I cannot believe some people are expecting this sort of effect to cost two generic mana. I think one needs to sit down and analyze the color pie for a bit. I believe Dismember has spoilt some people thinking such goodies (more like development mistakes) will always happen.

I don't expect it to cost two generic, but that's one of the benchlines for cubeability. One generic and one colored mana gets you Doom Blade, Lightning Strike, Mana Leak, or Journey to Nowhere. Since colorless mana functions as a worse sixth color, I'm evaluating this type of removal as needing to be better than the ones above, not equal or worse (Nameless Inversion).

Quote from PyreDream »

I don't expect it to cost two generic, but that's one of the benchlines for cubeability. One generic and one colored mana gets you Doom Blade, Lightning Strike, Mana Leak, or Journey to Nowhere. Since colorless mana functions as a worse sixth color, I'm evaluating this type of removal as needing to be better than the ones above, not equal or worse (Nameless Inversion).

Colourless is not strictly worse then a normal colour. It doesn't get the same support as other colours do, but these cards an option in all decks, not just decks with the colour of the card you compare it to. Nameless Inversion needs to be in a black deck, this card could theoretically go into any deck (as long as it has enough colourless producers).

That being said, this card doesn't interest me. Too narrow castability for an effect which is not that powerfull.