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    posted a message on BW Tokens
    In the past two comments we've had opposite sides of the spectrum:

    "Windbrisk Heights is one of the best cards in the deck and is 100% a 4-of"

    "Windbrisk Heights" is borderline unplayable."

    I've heard it said that magic players love hyperbole, I guess this is a good example. I tend to lean towards it being quite good but with 4-of being too risky, as it's very bad to have two of your early lands be Windbrisk. I think it makes a great 22nd-23rd or 24th land, as it reduces our chances of mana screw to add it as an extra land while mitigating flood with a land-based source of card selection/advantage. The ability to cheat out an anthem after blockers are declared can be huge as well. The closest analog to a high finish with our archetype is Matt Nass GWb tokens deck that took a top 16 at GP LA last year. He ran 3, and his build was more aggressive than traditional BW tokens builds, making it even more susceptible to tempo loss (but notice he also ran 25 lands, so he's less likely to be forced to play it at a poor time due to lack of other lands in hand on a crucial early turn. He also ramps with creatures so is less punished for playing a tapped land - two reasons I think 3 is more like the max for traditional BW tokens than undercutting the "100% 4-of".) Not sure the meta is so drastically different now from then to turn the card from pretty good to "borderline unplayable"... If there are other comparable decks that placed at some big events I'd certainly be interested and open to revising my opinion, but my point is that blanket declarations on either side of the spectrum are usually pretty far off the mark.

    One additional curve consideration is how many black sources you have for your opening hand, as almost all of the BW tokens Turn 1 plays are a single black mana, a number further increased by fatal push. So depending on what other utility lands you play, I think that also limits the cap on Windbrisks you can play without adding to land count.
    Posted in: Midrange
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