I've been really liking Vexing Devil as a turn 4 play with Brimstone in the wings but it's just not as great at other times. Been considering cutting it, but for what?
1. What are everyone's thoughts on Gore-House Chainwalker as opposed to Rakdos Shred-Freak? I've been playing freak in my Rb version and I just don't understand what the allure of GHC is. Generally, I feel we should be min-maxing our mana consumption to damage ratio(within reason of course. I don't reasonably expect most guys to live more than 3 turns in our deck) and GHC's damage output doesn't excite me compared to having a second set of 2 mana 2 power hasty guys. I understand that GHC fares much better against 3 toughness guys, but shouldn't we just be burning said 3 toughness guys off instead?
2. For those of us playing Zealous Conscripts, would it be reasonable to slightly lower the land count and play Traitorous Instinct mainboard over it? If you compare damage output, Zealous Conscripts is only providing 1 more damage for 1 more mana, and 4 mana vs 5 mana is quite a bit in our deck.
I'll provide my current decklist in a bit, gotta get me some dinner!
this deck stands to gain a lot from the inclusion of blue. first, we have chromatic lantern and two shocklands for mana support. black can still play a lot of swamps for mutilate and liliana.
and finally, it opens up the door for more card draw options like forbidden alchemy or desperate ravings -- heck, even jace, thought architect could work.
This is fine if you don't want to play Mutilate. I just don't like the choice in sweepers if you include blue. Your sweepers are basically limited to an Overloaded Mizzium Mortars, hardcasted-more-often-than-not Bonfire, Magmaquake(which isn't terrible), or Barter in Blood(Which isn't too terrible either.)
I do think with enough rocks in the deck, we can afford to play Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker over Rakdos's Return without messing with the mana base.
You'll just have 4 spirits. Populate would have the same interaction with Seance as Parallel Lives would with it or Mimic Vat. The replica of the token is copied in full, including that "exile me at the beginning of the next end step" line.
Edit: Ruling described in Parallel Lives' rulings, amongst other places.
Not exactly. The token does not have the ability "Exile ~ at the beginning of the next end step.", the producer of the token(Seance) does. Copying the token will not grant the new token that ability because the token does not have it and the card with populate does not have it.
The reason Parallel Lives works that way is because both tokens are still produced by Seance.
I've been messing around with the Diabolic Revelation/Elixir of Immortality engine for a few days now and I like it in this sort of shell: This is what I'm messing with right now:
I think it's hilarious that just because the elemental is a 1-drop izzet hybrid means it's automatically part of the cycle. Did anybody ever stop to think that they might just, I don't know, print 2 cards in the same set with the same mana cost? It's not entirely unthinkable.
Anyway, I kinda wish Trostani had been a 1/4 or 2/4 for 3 instead. GW has a million 4-drops as is.
And, for a happy thought, though situational:Restoration Angel blinking Thragtusk with Trostani in play is kinda silly.
This works fine. Stingscourger's ability doesn't go onto the stack until after Exhume resolves (and Stingscourger is dead...again). Elesh Norn will be a legal target.
The problem with this card is not the card itself, but rather the meta. We're in a highly aggressive format, not a passive one.
Also, typically when rotation occurs, Aggro decks tend to be a higher percentage of the field because Control decks have to take some time to really get in the right numbers of answers to said Aggro decks. When those numbers are established, Control will flourish and this card will likely see increased play.
You don't ever really need to pitch more than 1 guy to make him really relevant. A second guy could be reasonable if you need to race, but dumping all the guys in your hand to this guy is just plain silly(And Azorius Charm will wee in your cheerios).
Just play this as a 2/1 and ditch the gravecrawlers that show up(And keep him below 5 power) and everyone will be happy.
3 Stonewright
3 Vexing Devil
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Zealous Conscripts
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Flames of the Firebrand
Lands: 23
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
13 Mountain
2 Swamp
I've been really liking Vexing Devil as a turn 4 play with Brimstone in the wings but it's just not as great at other times. Been considering cutting it, but for what?
1. What are everyone's thoughts on Gore-House Chainwalker as opposed to Rakdos Shred-Freak? I've been playing freak in my Rb version and I just don't understand what the allure of GHC is. Generally, I feel we should be min-maxing our mana consumption to damage ratio(within reason of course. I don't reasonably expect most guys to live more than 3 turns in our deck) and GHC's damage output doesn't excite me compared to having a second set of 2 mana 2 power hasty guys. I understand that GHC fares much better against 3 toughness guys, but shouldn't we just be burning said 3 toughness guys off instead?
2. For those of us playing Zealous Conscripts, would it be reasonable to slightly lower the land count and play Traitorous Instinct mainboard over it? If you compare damage output, Zealous Conscripts is only providing 1 more damage for 1 more mana, and 4 mana vs 5 mana is quite a bit in our deck.
I'll provide my current decklist in a bit, gotta get me some dinner!
I'm kinda interested in the Humans deck. I've always liked Elite Inquisitor.
No activated abilities anywhere on the card. Detain doesn't interact with it.
This is fine if you don't want to play Mutilate. I just don't like the choice in sweepers if you include blue. Your sweepers are basically limited to an Overloaded Mizzium Mortars, hardcasted-more-often-than-not Bonfire, Magmaquake(which isn't terrible), or Barter in Blood(Which isn't too terrible either.)
I do think with enough rocks in the deck, we can afford to play Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker over Rakdos's Return without messing with the mana base.
Not exactly. The token does not have the ability "Exile ~ at the beginning of the next end step.", the producer of the token(Seance) does. Copying the token will not grant the new token that ability because the token does not have it and the card with populate does not have it.
The reason Parallel Lives works that way is because both tokens are still produced by Seance.
3 Diabolic Revelation
4 Dreadbore
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Mutilate
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Pillar of Flame
Artifacts: 7
2 Gilded Lotus
3 Vessel of Endless Rest
2 Elixir of Immortality
3 Liliana of the Dark Realms
Enchantments: 5
2 Curse of Death's Hold
3 Underground Connections
Lands: 26
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Mountain
15 Swamp
15 ?
If I were to play Chandra, I'd probably drop the Vessels for 2 of her and a 4th Mizzium Mortars.
I am not a sideboard artist. It's something I'm rather unhappy about.
Anyway, I kinda wish Trostani had been a 1/4 or 2/4 for 3 instead. GW has a million 4-drops as is.
And, for a happy thought, though situational:Restoration Angel blinking Thragtusk with Trostani in play is kinda silly.
Also, typically when rotation occurs, Aggro decks tend to be a higher percentage of the field because Control decks have to take some time to really get in the right numbers of answers to said Aggro decks. When those numbers are established, Control will flourish and this card will likely see increased play.
TL;DR: This is good. Just not right now.
All Vraska does is -3 then die on the attack. Not a very effective speedbump in my opinion. She's terrible in this aggro format.
Just play this as a 2/1 and ditch the gravecrawlers that show up(And keep him below 5 power) and everyone will be happy.
Second. That shirt is pretty awesome.
Seems like no card spoilers sadly