You're digging into almost 1/10 of your deck. While luck is a factor, can't you find an answer every 10% of your deck or at least a way to get closer?
In the same line of thinking, why do people talk about this being only a control card? It's pretty good, maybe better, as an aggrocontrol card. I'm not up to date with standard, but a tempo deck could love this card.
I'm not sure how good this will be yet, but one of the most important things about FoF was that it enabled not only control, but aggro-control and tempo decks. Snaketongue, Lightning angel, Opposition, G/W/U, treshold, U/G control and aggrocontrol, Psychatog, and more were all fueled by FoF. This is obviously worse, but if your deck has the answers, this will find it.
I used it back in standard as a counter to Psychatog decks, but otherwise unless your meta really goes with mana tight decks, there are better options.
Still love the card. I once played it on U/G Treshold Upheaval alongside Disrupt and usummon. It was hillarious.
Why not do something like...
NeoBolt R
NeoBolt does 2 damage to target player or creature, 3 if you have any NeoBolt in your graveyard.
That idea can also be further expanded to other iconic cards.
NeoCounterspell UU
Counter target spell unless opponent pays 2, Counter target spell if you have any NeoCounterspell in your graveyard.
It'd allow a more open early game, at least.
These are interesting ideas. However, these are pretty superfluous: early game you won't have the 2 mana to pay for the counter, and late game it won't matter. I still say Counterspell is fairly balanced, obviously I'm on the minority of the current crop of players.
I tested a UGR Snaketongue deck from the Invasion era against Vampires... and I could control the match, but most of the time they would stuck a small threat and eventually overwhelm me despite running eleven counters: the only way I could actually deal with current aggro decks was via Firetongue Kavus, and it's an iffy proposition. The problem is that blue does have a bunch of powerful toys in the form of creatures and artifacts: this was clearly WOTC intent from the start.
People will always complain about blue because it's annoying. I'd say that since Affinity I haven't seen a deck that ran blue that was downright unfair, and before that, Psychatog (and it was because of Fact or Fiction, not because of the counters).
I always liked Volcanic Hammer. It was a priceless spell when it was legal. It's was a crappy burn, but it was burn in a time when you needed a two mana burn spell between Firebolt and Urza's Rage (or Madness volcanic eruption). Also, it fueled Magnivore.
That said, this is a pointless spell. It isn't like there are a huge ammount of x/3 regenerating critters around.
Well I am not going to start an argument here about mid-range aggro. The only ramp that was used back then were Birds and Elves anyway in those decks. Big creatures like the titans would only be used by dedicated ramp or control because they could either pump them out quickly enough or protect them, and those were few and far between.
I still think Mana Leak isn't that damaging if Snapcaster wasn't around, but, hey, perhaps I am truly wrong.
I don't know why you're pointing out which decks used counterspells when all the counterspells you point our are ones I listed as being played?
The only part where you contradict anything I said was in saying fires, machine head, and terminator were midrange, and the fires and the B/x(/x) decks won with a horde of creatures on like turn 4-6 and the top of the curve was 5, they were as aggro as you can get, definitely not midrange.
I was under the assumption that 4 and 5 mana creature-based decks were "mid range aggro". Am I wrong?
Maybe people played those at your FNM, but on the PT the counters I saw played during Invasion were Counterspell, Memory Lapse, and Circular Logic, with a spattering of Gainsay and Undermine. And all there was were control and aggro, combo and midrange were completely non-viable, you were either locked down by opposition or eating a Blastoderm or Psychotog.
Uh, There was R/G Fires*, R/G and U/G Madness (Which ran *four* Circular Logic and no more counters), G/W/R Aggro*, R/B/G Terminator*, U/G Treshold (Raphael Levy ran literally no counters), R/B Machine Head*, 7-up, Balancing decks, Combo Domain, to name a few if you're willing to include Odissey, not to mention MBC (A control deck without any counters).
*Midrange.
The only two real control decks were Trenches and Psychatog. And Aggro Control came in Oppsition, Snake Tongue and Star Spangled Slaughter. There were some other random decks, but to be fair I never saw them seriously.
All of them were viable at least. Psychatog dominated because of Fact or Fiction and Upheaval plus a really, really synergistic gameplan, not because of counterspells.
EDIT: Pointed out the midrange decks. Missed that.
Mana Leak is too powerful in the current meta because they happened to pair it with cheap threats in Blue also (Geist of Saint Traft, Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage).
If Blue didn't get to have such premium cheap threats, Mana Leak wouldn't be so bad. Just imagine if Spell Pierce was in the format? Few decks would be able to race turn 1 Delver.
They could also go back to the time where "efficient blue creatures" meant Morphling, instead of axing yet another counterspell.
Not everyone wants to play with a bunch of creatures.
Ive been a Control Player, since before you knew magic existed.
I Played with counterspell.
Mana Leak, is more oppressive, than Counterspell would be in standard.
Mana leak IS a hard counter, Non-Conditionally.
Mana leak, is the Single, most frustrating card to play against, and is the ONLY card, in MANY years of Standard, that has SINGLE HANDEDLY driven players AWAY from the Stores i TO for.
It is BAD FOR THE GAME as a whole, and dare i say it, the players who are rallying behind it, are as well.
Step back, look at the big picture, and stop being THAT GUY, that paints us Blue Mages, with such a negative brush.
Wow.
Is this a serious post? Are you implying Mana Leak is a more frustrating card than Counterspell? You know, that one card that annuls spells with no outs? The real hard counter?
Back in Invasion, people played with four Counterspell, four Mystic Snake / Undermine / Absorb, four Force Spikes or a combination thereof with Syncopate in THREE color decks. Yet Aggro and Combo still thrived - was that a really "oppressive" environment? Well no, because you could fight it out with efficient creatures you could force through. Nowadays, people win on the back of 6 CC creatures that are enormous and can't fight off a conditional counter?
I've heard people go out of the game because they hate counterpell. But Mana Leak? That's a new one. I wonder how would these people deal with Force of Will or Mana Drain.
This is a bad idea, but we all know that Wizards loves their Timmies.
I think it's the eternal format. I have been playing burn decks for as long as I remember, and being able to just pack the deck I love the most and burn people and actually stand a chance of winning is awesome.
Besides, it's awesome when someone shows up with the goddamn Temporal Solution and kicks ass.Competitive legacy is probably less fun, but semi-casual tournaments like the ones we hold it's a bunch of old friends meeting up and having a good time with wacky decks.
Really interesting article! I like your writing. I wouldn't agree with a few choices (Lavamancer has worked for me as a two of, but I see your point), but it's pretty good.
The problem is that many burn players have evolved their playstyle to the more familiar "play threat, burn things in the way, throw the rest of the burn at their face) due to the incredibly efficiency of Goblin Guide. If you were running creatures by that playstyle, the Lavamancer is a great choice (Figure too!). That said, it's entirely up to debate if that solid style is better than the combo feeling of the deck: throw seven cards at the opponent - Win.
BTW, I won't argue, but Vexing Shusher and Ensnaring Bridge do not belong in a burn deck since, well, they don't deal damage. If you want to go Burning Bridges (Bridge + Skullcap), by all means, but that's a much more slower and controllish deck that just might work in creature heavy metas. Or at least it did in Invasion Standard (burn stuff, finish opponent via Urza's Rage. It was a lot of fun and I think I'm gonna build that deck this month for fun!)
When I first saw it, I thought it was great, cheaper and survives Dismember.
However, after thinking about it, about what turn are you going to have 3 creatures in your yard to remove for this guy? My best guess would be around turn 5 or 6, and by then, casting a Titan as a finisher would just be better.
You're missing the point on it: you cast it and leave mana open for counters or answers.
Meh, I do agree with the general feelings about the titans. I remember playing when you had to carefully manage your mana, and you wanted efficiency out of your cards. Playing something that cost more than 4 mana had better be something game ending or nearly impossible to answer.
Nowadays you kinda drop a titan and go oops.
I personally want one Demon for my EDH deck. People are bashing the bounce spell, but if you remember a certain card named Firebolt, which was a sorcery shock for one red mana, with a flashback of 4R, you might think of it differently: It wasn't a format defining card, but was easily the best burn spell available, despite having to argue with Urza's Rage for the space.
You're digging into almost 1/10 of your deck. While luck is a factor, can't you find an answer every 10% of your deck or at least a way to get closer?
In the same line of thinking, why do people talk about this being only a control card? It's pretty good, maybe better, as an aggrocontrol card. I'm not up to date with standard, but a tempo deck could love this card.
This, guys.
I'm not sure how good this will be yet, but one of the most important things about FoF was that it enabled not only control, but aggro-control and tempo decks. Snaketongue, Lightning angel, Opposition, G/W/U, treshold, U/G control and aggrocontrol, Psychatog, and more were all fueled by FoF. This is obviously worse, but if your deck has the answers, this will find it.
Being two-colored shouldn't hurt much.
Still love the card. I once played it on U/G Treshold Upheaval alongside Disrupt and usummon. It was hillarious.
These are interesting ideas. However, these are pretty superfluous: early game you won't have the 2 mana to pay for the counter, and late game it won't matter. I still say Counterspell is fairly balanced, obviously I'm on the minority of the current crop of players.
I tested a UGR Snaketongue deck from the Invasion era against Vampires... and I could control the match, but most of the time they would stuck a small threat and eventually overwhelm me despite running eleven counters: the only way I could actually deal with current aggro decks was via Firetongue Kavus, and it's an iffy proposition. The problem is that blue does have a bunch of powerful toys in the form of creatures and artifacts: this was clearly WOTC intent from the start.
People will always complain about blue because it's annoying. I'd say that since Affinity I haven't seen a deck that ran blue that was downright unfair, and before that, Psychatog (and it was because of Fact or Fiction, not because of the counters).
That said, this is a pointless spell. It isn't like there are a huge ammount of x/3 regenerating critters around.
I still think Mana Leak isn't that damaging if Snapcaster wasn't around, but, hey, perhaps I am truly wrong.
I was under the assumption that 4 and 5 mana creature-based decks were "mid range aggro". Am I wrong?
Uh, There was R/G Fires*, R/G and U/G Madness (Which ran *four* Circular Logic and no more counters), G/W/R Aggro*, R/B/G Terminator*, U/G Treshold (Raphael Levy ran literally no counters), R/B Machine Head*, 7-up, Balancing decks, Combo Domain, to name a few if you're willing to include Odissey, not to mention MBC (A control deck without any counters).
*Midrange.
The only two real control decks were Trenches and Psychatog. And Aggro Control came in Oppsition, Snake Tongue and Star Spangled Slaughter. There were some other random decks, but to be fair I never saw them seriously.
All of them were viable at least. Psychatog dominated because of Fact or Fiction and Upheaval plus a really, really synergistic gameplan, not because of counterspells.
EDIT: Pointed out the midrange decks. Missed that.
They could also go back to the time where "efficient blue creatures" meant Morphling, instead of axing yet another counterspell.
Not everyone wants to play with a bunch of creatures.
Wow.
Is this a serious post? Are you implying Mana Leak is a more frustrating card than Counterspell? You know, that one card that annuls spells with no outs? The real hard counter?
Back in Invasion, people played with four Counterspell, four Mystic Snake / Undermine / Absorb, four Force Spikes or a combination thereof with Syncopate in THREE color decks. Yet Aggro and Combo still thrived - was that a really "oppressive" environment? Well no, because you could fight it out with efficient creatures you could force through. Nowadays, people win on the back of 6 CC creatures that are enormous and can't fight off a conditional counter?
I've heard people go out of the game because they hate counterpell. But Mana Leak? That's a new one. I wonder how would these people deal with Force of Will or Mana Drain.
This is a bad idea, but we all know that Wizards loves their Timmies.
Besides, it's awesome when someone shows up with the goddamn Temporal Solution and kicks ass.Competitive legacy is probably less fun, but semi-casual tournaments like the ones we hold it's a bunch of old friends meeting up and having a good time with wacky decks.
The problem is that many burn players have evolved their playstyle to the more familiar "play threat, burn things in the way, throw the rest of the burn at their face) due to the incredibly efficiency of Goblin Guide. If you were running creatures by that playstyle, the Lavamancer is a great choice (Figure too!). That said, it's entirely up to debate if that solid style is better than the combo feeling of the deck: throw seven cards at the opponent - Win.
BTW, I won't argue, but Vexing Shusher and Ensnaring Bridge do not belong in a burn deck since, well, they don't deal damage. If you want to go Burning Bridges (Bridge + Skullcap), by all means, but that's a much more slower and controllish deck that just might work in creature heavy metas. Or at least it did in Invasion Standard (burn stuff, finish opponent via Urza's Rage. It was a lot of fun and I think I'm gonna build that deck this month for fun!)
You're missing the point on it: you cast it and leave mana open for counters or answers.
Nowadays you kinda drop a titan and go oops.
I personally want one Demon for my EDH deck. People are bashing the bounce spell, but if you remember a certain card named Firebolt, which was a sorcery shock for one red mana, with a flashback of 4R, you might think of it differently: It wasn't a format defining card, but was easily the best burn spell available, despite having to argue with Urza's Rage for the space.