let me start by saying i did not read all 12 or so pages but good call op. second i think it will be a new plane as much has already been said in that regards.
hook line sinker seems to me they might be looking at a waterworld type plane or some such thing nice and bright cheerful and the surface with dange and dankness underneath.
I Like the Falkenrath Noble followed by the Ambush Viper, Travel Preperations then Divine Reckoning. Reckoning by turn four if they have a good creature unless you have managed to clear everything else they going to keep it. So it becomes more situational
Math I already admitted not great at. That being saifd I disagree with the equation in a vaccuum. Not the math. Logic as the post above above I do agree with. If a pure mill concept was the goal that would probaly be the better choice.
We are talking and arguing about a single variable or two in a stack of 40. I'm working under the math and experience here that is like this.
90 cards cut down to about 22-24 usable add land 16-18 avarage.
If the blade swings 2-3 in a match gets through 1 time for damage gets blocked once and killed once then it has given me card advantage. by a factor of 2-3 lands and whatever goes to the graveyard. We can hypothosize whether the cards in the graveyard are a pro or a con we do not know. not all cards in the set have flashback. not all creature type will be relavant, artifacts can go to the yard. We also have matches 2-3 whether match 1 is a win or loss we have seen that much more of our opponents deck for sideboard.
I will close by saying. I do not think the card should be an uncommonm I think it is format warping, and a busable, but I don't think I am screaming that the sky is falling it is just a piece of equipment the can be shattered,naturilized, or killed many ways.
No the arument isn't that it can beat a man screwed opponent if you cant do that then you have other problems.
the blade forces several things to happen. BTW your math is beyond me. but this is how i see it in limited.
1. it forces your opponet to use limited removal resources on a cheap creature becasue of the unstable size and effects of the mill. The sword stays. gets reqequiped. I would not put it on my best creature BTW.
2. It takes playable cards from his ibrary and deposits them in the graveyard.
3. It takes spells hopefully not all them have flashback.
4. it is a clock for cards and life if the opponents doesnt trade creatures. At no turn would i not attack een if it was suicide for the creature.
5. it cost him land drops. We disagree about the efficiancy of this but lets look at some of the cost CMC of 6+ in this set does exist. Flashback of 6+ does exist. I will attempt to deny that if I can.
6. Every creature that my opponent chumps the blade is one less he can chump my other creatures.
I respectfully disagree with your arguments to how powerful in constructed and can only say time will tell.
Cards in your graveyard can matter. Flashback is back on what 15 percent of the cards ? 20 tops. Creatures can be brought out of your graveyard under the right conditions. There is even a green card that brings all cards of a type back its all true. In an age where the mono color deck is rare and that being Red and in limited which is where I said this was a house almost never seen. mana fixing is slight most decks are dual if not tri colored. This isn't the limited of Zen or Scars it will go longer we are talking 40 cards and average of 18 land. Less of buff a for more land but ore damaging to the deck if you get 2 or 3 of one color.
In constructed people will try to run this next to Sword of Body and Mind and put on the Invisible Stalker with the blue lord from scars for mana and boost add in counters and the deck is there.
Will it work I don't know it depends on how fast it speeds up with card draw and the how the meta shifts.
I'm just saying its coming.
You can say the same thing for Greatsword, only it was even more reliable than Trepanation Blade. And Greatsword is not even playable in many M12 decks.
I really don't see why so many people would first-pick the Blade. I'm willing to bet a good chunk of them will stop once they've actually tried playing it and realizing that on average, you're probably only getting +2/+0 more often than not, and that paying a bunch of extra mana for a less reliable Darksteel Axe probably isn't worth passing on decent removal.
Or you could not realize that, and just pass me the removal instead.
Then again, I'm expecting the rest of the people who like Trepanation Blade to remember that one time when it milled 5 and gave their creature +5/+0 for the win, and forget about the many more times when it revealed a land first. Best Case Scenario ftw?
There is a world of difference between this blade and other pieces of buffing equipment. the +x is irritating to the controller I admit.
In reality though the equipped creature is a garunteed to cost at least 1 land thats huge. So for every time the creature attacks it cost you a land + x cards milled + x damage to either a creature or a player.
Chances are for the most part you have to kill the creature with a spell and if its not on hexproof creatures anyway ( It will be ). People are trying to compare the blade to the Swords and there are in different catagories and different effects. In a way people were spoiled by the swords cycle. This may not be cawblade but you will see it in a different archtype of deck and i predict you will hate it as much if not more.
Trepanation Blade meet Nihil Spell bomb
Agreed. I used to think that we Magic players as a whole had figured out that random effects were not a good thing. I was wrong, I guess...
No you are not wrong. I do not like randomness at all. I play no flip a coin. Not to crazy about the werewolf flip cards. The others are tolerable becasue ast least we control the terms of the flip.
The Blade is not at it's heart random. it is X=1 + for effect Y= undefined.
now that is not random. it is undefined. Thats is as random as calling fireball random. undefinmed is not random.
I declare attack. you mill 1 card = swamp I get 1 temporary +1 bonus you lose 1 land from your library.
i Decalre attack you mill 3 cards = X X swamp i get tem +3 you lose 2 cards and a land.
Guys if you been playing for a while how many land does it take to lose from your deck to really disrupt your deck. Now what if I make you shuffle after a couple attacks? That would even further mess the land distribution of your deck.
I see this as strong pack
my gut says take the fiend hunter but i took the CURSE of stalked prey because its new and shiney and if it works it could be awesome.
Fiend hunter
Trepanation Blade
Rebuke
Test Subject
I like the bonds but as a first pick with nothing great riding on it the blade is a house why this card is aan uncommon is beyond me. I think this card in limited fomts is totally warping. I would run 2-3 in pre release and hope to get that many. if you get it on a creature with any sort of evasion it game over unless they draw removal.
I like the spectral rider with a pack light in white minus the spirit and heavy in green I might get a good pass the other direction. White going to come regardless. It plays well off of green and black.
2exile X cards from your graveyard you gain x life 2exile a creature card from your graveyard; put 2/2 zombie token onto the battlefield 2target instant or sorcery in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn; its flashback cost is equal to its converted man cost in life.
hook line sinker seems to me they might be looking at a waterworld type plane or some such thing nice and bright cheerful and the surface with dange and dankness underneath.
We are talking and arguing about a single variable or two in a stack of 40. I'm working under the math and experience here that is like this.
90 cards cut down to about 22-24 usable add land 16-18 avarage.
If the blade swings 2-3 in a match gets through 1 time for damage gets blocked once and killed once then it has given me card advantage. by a factor of 2-3 lands and whatever goes to the graveyard. We can hypothosize whether the cards in the graveyard are a pro or a con we do not know. not all cards in the set have flashback. not all creature type will be relavant, artifacts can go to the yard. We also have matches 2-3 whether match 1 is a win or loss we have seen that much more of our opponents deck for sideboard.
I will close by saying. I do not think the card should be an uncommonm I think it is format warping, and a busable, but I don't think I am screaming that the sky is falling it is just a piece of equipment the can be shattered,naturilized, or killed many ways.
the blade forces several things to happen. BTW your math is beyond me. but this is how i see it in limited.
1. it forces your opponet to use limited removal resources on a cheap creature becasue of the unstable size and effects of the mill. The sword stays. gets reqequiped. I would not put it on my best creature BTW.
2. It takes playable cards from his ibrary and deposits them in the graveyard.
3. It takes spells hopefully not all them have flashback.
4. it is a clock for cards and life if the opponents doesnt trade creatures. At no turn would i not attack een if it was suicide for the creature.
5. it cost him land drops. We disagree about the efficiancy of this but lets look at some of the cost CMC of 6+ in this set does exist. Flashback of 6+ does exist. I will attempt to deny that if I can.
6. Every creature that my opponent chumps the blade is one less he can chump my other creatures.
I respectfully disagree with your arguments to how powerful in constructed and can only say time will tell.
In constructed people will try to run this next to Sword of Body and Mind and put on the Invisible Stalker with the blue lord from scars for mana and boost add in counters and the deck is there.
Will it work I don't know it depends on how fast it speeds up with card draw and the how the meta shifts.
I'm just saying its coming.
There is a world of difference between this blade and other pieces of buffing equipment. the +x is irritating to the controller I admit.
In reality though the equipped creature is a garunteed to cost at least 1 land thats huge. So for every time the creature attacks it cost you a land + x cards milled + x damage to either a creature or a player.
Chances are for the most part you have to kill the creature with a spell and if its not on hexproof creatures anyway ( It will be ). People are trying to compare the blade to the Swords and there are in different catagories and different effects. In a way people were spoiled by the swords cycle. This may not be cawblade but you will see it in a different archtype of deck and i predict you will hate it as much if not more.
Trepanation Blade meet Nihil Spell bomb
No you are not wrong. I do not like randomness at all. I play no flip a coin. Not to crazy about the werewolf flip cards. The others are tolerable becasue ast least we control the terms of the flip.
The Blade is not at it's heart random. it is X=1 + for effect Y= undefined.
now that is not random. it is undefined. Thats is as random as calling fireball random. undefinmed is not random.
I declare attack. you mill 1 card = swamp I get 1 temporary +1 bonus you lose 1 land from your library.
i Decalre attack you mill 3 cards = X X swamp i get tem +3 you lose 2 cards and a land.
Guys if you been playing for a while how many land does it take to lose from your deck to really disrupt your deck. Now what if I make you shuffle after a couple attacks? That would even further mess the land distribution of your deck.
Double post merged. -viper
my gut says take the fiend hunter but i took the CURSE of stalked prey because its new and shiney and if it works it could be awesome.
Fiend hunter
Trepanation Blade
Rebuke
Test Subject
i think its a cool card anyway.
2exile X cards from your graveyard you gain x life
2exile a creature card from your graveyard; put 2/2 zombie token onto the battlefield
2target instant or sorcery in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn; its flashback cost is equal to its converted man cost in life.
That is the dream or maybe a nightmare.
faster ways to do it but it would be funny.