Granted it takes a total of 6BWG to keep it going, but hey Dragonstorm needs just as much. Not to mention that you will likely have a handful of tokens for the first few turns of lockdown, so as long as you don't need more than a few turns of locking to get fully set up you can do it for a measly 4B and a saproling.
Me: During your upkeep, create a saproling. Sacrifice it to the Guildmage to return Oriss to my hand. Grandeur Oriss to deny you a turn.
You: Damn!
I don't think it's fair to compare the mana needed to run Dragonstorm to the mana needed to maintain Oriss. Dragonstorm has access to Seething Song, Rite of Flames, and can better utilize Lotus Blooms for a win once it sets off. Oriss' effect, while powerful, doesn't guarantee that for 9 mana. It's more vulnerable, and more intensive. Isochron Scepter and Orim's Chant are powerful in Extended because it's such a powerful play early in the game. They use it to lockdown their opponent so as to win using other methods. At the 9 mana to sustain this combo, this seems harder to do, if you can even get that far.
too bad such beautiful art gets hemmed in and cut off by the atrocious new borders which i hate more everytime i see them.
meh card. i don't play much with the dragons, other than occassionally bringing Nicol out of retirement.
Atrocious borders? Really? I think the new borders really bring out the art, rather than confine it. To each his own, I guess. Tarox Bladewing...I can see some people playing him with his daddy for the Vorthos factor more than anything else.
My eyes just exploded; that's how awesome those two cards are. I was a bit skeptical at first about Magus of the Vineyard. Turn 2 Solifuge just seemed too good to be true! And that Wish! Boy, don't you all wish that the Ravnica block could stay for a bit longer? See, this is what previews are supposed to be like; get us psyched for the set, not with boring cards like previous years.
My mind's been blown. The pre-release version of the card, with its alternate art, new card frame and foiliness, just screams awesome. Seriously, the only words that can express my anticipation right now would be those not appropriate for polite company, but I digress.
The stats of the card, however, I'm not so impressed with. It needs something more than Regenerate to make it viable in current decks. This will not be the finisher that mono black decks are looking for.
If nothing else, they should KEEP the enemy color pains. When Ravnica rotates out, taking the duals with her, we'll still have Coldsnap's ally snow lands. We'll also have the storage lands from Time Spiral. While neither are substitutes for duals, allied colored decks will live. I think enemy pain lands need to be in Tenth, without question.
If I have a Chronozoa in play, and a facedown Vesuvan Shapeshifter, I can flip it over to copy my Chronozoa in play which allows me to have a Vesuvan Chronozoa which allows me to flip it face down during my upkeep. If my Vesuvan Chronozoa dies however, does my Chronozoa tokens still allow me to flip it face down, and if so, do I also get to unmorph it, thus copying another creature? My Chronozoa tokens should be exact copies of my Vesuvan Chronozoa, so I think I should be able to.
No one likes to lose, it's a lousy emotion; but I try my best to rise above it, and in the end I try to be sincere in my defeat. I'm not merely parroting platitudes, I'm also trying to fight my instinctual desire to act upset and downtrodden, and ruin everyone's mood; like the actor we all are, if you will. If you can catch on to the fact that the other person wants to "stab your throat", then he's not hiding his desire very well, and not really displaying any definition of "class".
"Class" is not doing the things you want to do, saying things you'd rather not say, and putting on false smiles when all you want to do is sulk and moan.
It's the hypocrisy of life. The sooner people realize the necessity of such social niceties, the better.
Anyways, while an awesome card by itself, the reasons why it is so badass are the art and flavortext. If only she could actually throw decapitated heads at opponents in the form of a pinging abilitiy she would be perfection.
Snake Cult Initiation
:3mana::symb: Enchantment - Aura(TS) Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has poisonous 3.
Slap this on a creature with evasion, like Shadow, for instance, and it's a 4 turn clock. I think it'll be nutty if it's cumulative.
I don't think it's fair to compare the mana needed to run Dragonstorm to the mana needed to maintain Oriss. Dragonstorm has access to Seething Song, Rite of Flames, and can better utilize Lotus Blooms for a win once it sets off. Oriss' effect, while powerful, doesn't guarantee that for 9 mana. It's more vulnerable, and more intensive. Isochron Scepter and Orim's Chant are powerful in Extended because it's such a powerful play early in the game. They use it to lockdown their opponent so as to win using other methods. At the 9 mana to sustain this combo, this seems harder to do, if you can even get that far.
The stats of the card, however, I'm not so impressed with. It needs something more than Regenerate to make it viable in current decks. This will not be the finisher that mono black decks are looking for.
Oh, and the card is pretty awesome as well. Bye Dredge! Bye Flashback! Bye Firemane! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
It's the hypocrisy of life. The sooner people realize the necessity of such social niceties, the better.
Psyche!
Anyways, while an awesome card by itself, the reasons why it is so badass are the art and flavortext. If only she could actually throw decapitated heads at opponents in the form of a pinging abilitiy she would be perfection.
Won't that kill them both?