Find someone who is better at Magic than you, lose to them, laugh at yourself for taking a game so seriously, then reassess the situation.
As humorous and sarcastic this may sound, it's a very relevant solution. I very frequently fall under the whole 'must win to have fun' spell along with my brother (both VERY competitive at the games we play - from Pokemon TCG to Super Smash Bros, to Magic, to Halo, to LoL............), but we've learned to catch ourselves and reassess the fundamental reasons as to why we play what we play.
Generally, the quickest solution is to realize that you are NOT the best, never WERE the best, and never WILL be the best. No matter what you think, no matter what rankings you have, there is ALWAYS going to be someone somewhere that can outplay you. I like to build 'for-fun' decks, decks that create weird board states, and take them to FNMs. I know I'm not gonna do "the best", I may not even win any games for that matter. I'm just going to have the most fun I possibly can. This ALWAYS revitalizes my core interest in Magic.
I was suckered in when this card was spoiled but then I realised - a 6/6 for 4 mana is unplayable in any format with Supreme Verdict and a reasonable number of high-quality one-for-ones.
Then it has a minor drawback on top of that.
Did you seriously just say a 4CMC 6/6 WITHOUT a drawback is unplayable? Go home sir, you're drunk.
Find a current standard budget deck and order the cards from an online dealership. You will be able to build the whole deck (minus the dual lands) for $5, $10 max. I spend $5.65 on my first deck and had a 2:1 win ration with it. Actually I was surprised by the low skill level from average opponents in the 'just for fun' section. But no doubt, you will definitely lose if you don't have enough cards to build even the cheapest of budget decks.
So, in a world of high IQ players... everyone would play Alms Beast. But since NOT everyone has a high IQ... No one plays Alms Beast? Please reevaluate your logic, it's hurting me.
Secondly, the card is pretty bad. Has a couple possimaybe side deck spots. That is... if those spots weren't already taken by much better cards. Anyone who thinks this card is a hidden gem must have a super low IQ, or something.
Like Aetherling, Blood baron is nigh unkillable, but unlike Aetherling, also gains you life! On paper, this card looks amazing, but I can't figure what kind of deck he fits in. He still just trades with Thragtusk, and 4 life a turn isn't enough to race a lot of decks out there. His pro-white makes him hard to pump up or protect with Restoration Angel, so he doesn't feel like the centerpiece of whatever deck he'll go in. But what will?
4 toughness is pretty popular this set. Mizzium mortors should become rather popular.
I would just like to chime in here as this seems to be the only mention of Blood Baron in this thread. I was more than skeptical to his playability in standard, but after some play-testing, I think the card is fantastic. He has more than just a little opportunity to outperform Thragtusk, and he is exponentially harder to kill. Mizzium Mortars seems to be his only fear in this format.
That said, Thragtusk still trumps Blood Baron in the sense that thraggy is instantly more advantage in nearly any deck that includes green. Still, in the right deck, I think you'll find Blood Baron to be a game changer.
As a first-world (they're ALL so good!) problem for creative deck building - sure, I see where you are coming from. I've found myself jumping around ideas like that as well.
As a fundamental meta problem, I see it as being the opposite. It would be WAY worse to have a lot of decent cards and just a few really good cards. Talk about destroying the balance.
thisisfun has the correct answer, given that by lethal, you were referring to 9 or less damage.
A second interpretation of your question would assume that by lethal, you are referring to 20 or more damage. In this situation you might be asking if, in response to having received 20+ damage and hit 0 life, can you blink Magister Sphinx to bring your life back up to 10. In this situation, the answer is no. Once your life has hit zero, the game ends immediately. Any change in life to prevent from ever hitting zero must happen before receiving lethal damage.
I find it very vital to play Rogue's Passage in the deck. A successful Immortal Servitude followed by an unblocked Bloodthrone Vampire is almost always lethal, while the Blood Artist triggers are simply icing on the cake.
I've probably spent too much time testing this combo, tweaking it endlessly to see if it could possibly be competitively played. The deck can do very well against certain match-ups, but just as often fall flat on it's face.
The thing is, the deck ends up being 1 of 2 things: Either you focus too much on hoping you'll draw into an Immortal Servitude, or you try to level out the deck to be able to stand on it's own, in which case it's too weak to ever be lethal, even IF the combo is pulled off.
If Immortal Servitude had flashback, or there was a more consistent way to quickly draw into the card (Consider Augur of Bolas and Forbidden Alchemy) then this deck could be consistently scary and lethal. This, of course, being subject to complete ignorance of Rest in Peace.
As humorous and sarcastic this may sound, it's a very relevant solution. I very frequently fall under the whole 'must win to have fun' spell along with my brother (both VERY competitive at the games we play - from Pokemon TCG to Super Smash Bros, to Magic, to Halo, to LoL............), but we've learned to catch ourselves and reassess the fundamental reasons as to why we play what we play.
Generally, the quickest solution is to realize that you are NOT the best, never WERE the best, and never WILL be the best. No matter what you think, no matter what rankings you have, there is ALWAYS going to be someone somewhere that can outplay you. I like to build 'for-fun' decks, decks that create weird board states, and take them to FNMs. I know I'm not gonna do "the best", I may not even win any games for that matter. I'm just going to have the most fun I possibly can. This ALWAYS revitalizes my core interest in Magic.
Did you seriously just say a 4CMC 6/6 WITHOUT a drawback is unplayable? Go home sir, you're drunk.
Or, more realistically, Skullcrack.
Fortunately this is not 4chan. "Troll threads" are very limited, and for good reason.
Secondly, the card is pretty bad. Has a couple possimaybe side deck spots. That is... if those spots weren't already taken by much better cards. Anyone who thinks this card is a hidden gem must have a super low IQ, or something.
I would just like to chime in here as this seems to be the only mention of Blood Baron in this thread. I was more than skeptical to his playability in standard, but after some play-testing, I think the card is fantastic. He has more than just a little opportunity to outperform Thragtusk, and he is exponentially harder to kill. Mizzium Mortars seems to be his only fear in this format.
That said, Thragtusk still trumps Blood Baron in the sense that thraggy is instantly more advantage in nearly any deck that includes green. Still, in the right deck, I think you'll find Blood Baron to be a game changer.
As a fundamental meta problem, I see it as being the opposite. It would be WAY worse to have a lot of decent cards and just a few really good cards. Talk about destroying the balance.
A second interpretation of your question would assume that by lethal, you are referring to 20 or more damage. In this situation you might be asking if, in response to having received 20+ damage and hit 0 life, can you blink Magister Sphinx to bring your life back up to 10. In this situation, the answer is no. Once your life has hit zero, the game ends immediately. Any change in life to prevent from ever hitting zero must happen before receiving lethal damage.
1. Massive Lotleth Troll
2. Massive Bloodthrone Vampire
3. Copious amounts of Skirsdag High Priest triggers
4. Copious amounts of Blood Artist triggers
I find it very vital to play Rogue's Passage in the deck. A successful Immortal Servitude followed by an unblocked Bloodthrone Vampire is almost always lethal, while the Blood Artist triggers are simply icing on the cake.
I've probably spent too much time testing this combo, tweaking it endlessly to see if it could possibly be competitively played. The deck can do very well against certain match-ups, but just as often fall flat on it's face.
The thing is, the deck ends up being 1 of 2 things: Either you focus too much on hoping you'll draw into an Immortal Servitude, or you try to level out the deck to be able to stand on it's own, in which case it's too weak to ever be lethal, even IF the combo is pulled off.
If Immortal Servitude had flashback, or there was a more consistent way to quickly draw into the card (Consider Augur of Bolas and Forbidden Alchemy) then this deck could be consistently scary and lethal. This, of course, being subject to complete ignorance of Rest in Peace.
Apparently burger king in Japan was running a special that would add 15 bacon strips to your whopper for $1.24, and some guy just decided to go crazy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/burger-king-japans-bacon-_n_1437052.html