MTG Salvation

so basically, loads of good cards are being bashed/not seeing any or limited amount of play, because jace/titans/caw* are better...

Quote from Fooly Cooly

@OP- you seem to think that just because its casual means you get to play terrible cards

not at all, i just like to see decks people have made that dont follow the usual cawblade/jace decks. makes the game slightly more surprising, dont you think...?

Quote from CorrodedTemplar

Yes i'd gladly swap metas lol.

And as you said above, I also miss the days when red decks were cheap and fun. Everything now is "mythic rare this, mythic rare that", when there's a stackload of perfectly fine rares sitting in bargain bins not seeing play because "fails the Jace test, dies to Baneslayer, eats Doom Blade".

If you don't play cards because something might kill them, then why are you playing Magic? There's an answer to everything in one way or another.

even though this is in standard... im pretty sure there was a card from the previous block, where all creatures shared every ability they had (like lifelink and flying etc), if only that was back in play, then it would make so many decks more robust against the arguement "it can be countered by this and a gajillion other cards"

thing is, there is always a chance cards wont get countered... sometimes people dont have the card in hand, and sometimes they dont have the mana. saying something can be countered seems like an excuse for wizards to print cards that cant be countered, and instantly make stacks of money from it because players are obsessed with cards that stick

at the very least, even if something doesnt stick, it might have changed the battlefield, and hell, when i go against a U/* deck, i always play my cards thinking they will get Cancelled, then drop out an Eldrazi Conscription on a 1/1 that's been no threat on the battlefield for 5 turns (just as an example)

Quote from xChaospherex

It isn't my intention to bash Royal Assassin in a vacuum. In fact, I ran it as sideboard tech in my Grixis deck to trump Vengevines from Next Level Bant. Under the right conditions, it can dominate a board. However, achieving those conditions in this metagame is a losing battle. It requires far too much effort and resources. It has no place in this format.

true enough, in most meta's i can see it just doesnt meet the cut. guess ill be greatfull about how "basic" my meta is compared to whatever your guys metas are like!

Quote from CorrodedTemplar

Yeah, I usually build on a fairly strict budget.

I get beaten down for playing Hellkite Charger in my Big Red deck, why not? Your turn 4 jace can't do much about my turn 5 5/5 hasty flying beatstick that cost me 50p each.

I have 2 royal assassins which I put in the odd casual deck, but black isn't my favourite of colours to mess around with, but when you utilize him to literally stall the game until you can draw your way into your win-con, thats good enough for me.

nothing wrong with a hellkite in red decks!
if you can drop a feast and famine on a hellkite you've won instantly! even without the sword, i remember when red used to be fun beatdown in the old days, before everyone started screaming that every single "good" card could be countered by this that and everything else, hence the price drop to 50p

Quote from CorrodedTemplar

I think the problem here lies within the fact you posted in the Standard section of MTGs.

This is why there are many elitist members who will beat you down for playing a sub-par card.

Frankly, when you move away from tier 1 net-decks, Assassin is a very good card, he comes down nice and early (seen it turn 1 off a dark ritual a couple of times and facepalmed) and does a really good job of holding off attackers, or baiting out removal.

If used right he can be a fantastic little control card. As mentioned somewhere above, combining it with tumble magnet can be a great little combo (I do the same with Gideon which frankly, isn't quite as good in that aspect, but does the job).

Tbh, I wish I had your FNM meta. It sounds like more fun, I prefer to be experimental and think outside of the box, but can't when my meta is Caw/X decks, Valakut, Eldrazi Ramp, Knights, Boros, RUG, NayaBlade and QuestVine

finally someone with less of a flat faced ego!

and yeah, over here the game is way more fun, people dont just drop a popular deck down with 38 mythics and fetchlands. way more interesting imo...

k, a more specific way to put things:
in a casual green/black deck where my opponents are not u/w, valakut, kuldotha red, nor do they have 4 primeval titans along with the appropriate deck. i think you're putting this guy under the pressure as if he were being used against the decks that will remain in the top ten in tournaments...
point is in casual, its making the opposition decide whether or not to use control on the assassin, or control on the beatsticks, and makes it even more difficult when in synergy with asceticism

Also, doomblade does not make that investment worth it... its nonblack creatures only

yeah had no intentions of playing him in a meta game, but the decks i play against usually involve black or blue removal, and they tend to focus on the removal of the big guys until they realise ive just dropped 2 of the assassins on the field.
and the whole thing of people not attacking and prolonging the game is better for me. like i said its a casual ramp deck, and by the time they have some kind of removal, i can drop more beatsticks on the field, and if i have to, wait for my overwhelming stampede. usually once that gets played it's game over

EDIT: no one i play with has any of the mythic swords, except me in my w/b which i have 2of each. as a matter of fact no one can afford cards like that or Jace 2.0, it's more of a classic casual crowd, featuring very few mythics of the sort

I'm currently running them as a 4of in my G/B aggro deck, and everytime i stick one on the field, my opponents always *facepalm*'s, and becomes increasingly dubious about attack or blocking.
In any case, my G/B and W/B Decks have beaten almost all of my opponents in FNM and casual play 95% of the time, and despite the irritation of removal from all the other decks, opponents seems to be torn between using the removal on my massive beatsticks, or the irritating Royal Assassins i throw on the field to cause mass disruption among the ranks.

So, question is, is it worth including it as a 4of in a deck for its ability? or is it just a little too weak to removal for an aggro deck with minor control? (bare in mind i run asceticism in my g/b deck)

Quote from Luminis

I'm saying that aggro needs to be really fast to win against control right now

Asceticism, Gaea's Revenge, Obstinate Baloth etc (granted most are green) would like a word with you

In any case, PO is not in the slightest broken, it is neither a BSA, a Titan, or Jace 2.0... matter of fact it doesnt even compare to any of them, and will not compare until they rotate out (have fun waiting a year). it does however add some slight improvement to mbc, or some kind of B/* deck with dual lands if that's what you like to play

highly doubtful we'll see it in any tournies in winning decks anytime soon though...

Well, on the art is says all will be one... maybe it's a machine version of things like Phyrexian Rebirth, sacrifice a number of permanents, and put a X/X on the battlefield where X is the total power of all creatures sacrificed.
then drop infect on it just for kicks... and trample... and hey presto! blightsteel all over again ;D