plaguelord is just so ugly...
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
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Chris Taylor
Contributor
Playgelord without the tap symbol is a card I've considered.
The art on this card is so goddamn good. Is there any universe in which she's cubable?
"Both players draw as many cards as they want, basically". I would imagine your opponent draws cards until you no longer can, and then can effectively match you. So you'd both end up with almost no cards in your deck, and massive hands. Maybe this wouldn't happen, but I could see it....
Edit for the record: I have played against this card before it was banned in EDH. And it does work that way there often. Two players Enter the Infinite for 3 total mana.
Edit for the record: I have played against this card before it was banned in EDH. And it does work that way there often. Two players Enter the Infinite for 3 total mana.
I do like the idea of symmetrical effects. One that I've liked and think has a lot of play to it is
Seems like an interesting puzzle to get this in your favor when you cast it, and can even allow powerful stuff while draining your opponents resources (dump finisher, unburial rites, another card). Trade secrets is the right idea, but it should have just been one time of draw 2/draw 4.
Edit:
Is probably delirium skeins ++. In either case symmetrical discard effects are neato
Seems like an interesting puzzle to get this in your favor when you cast it, and can even allow powerful stuff while draining your opponents resources (dump finisher, unburial rites, another card). Trade secrets is the right idea, but it should have just been one time of draw 2/draw 4.
Edit:
Is probably delirium skeins ++. In either case symmetrical discard effects are neato
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I've never actually found the stax archetype to be very good in practice, so I'm still not a big smallpox fan.
Stax is an archetype that requires full commitment. And I think you have to take it either very aggressive or heavy control to really unleash it's power. Midrange Stax is janky in my experience. Mono black control Stax is amazing.
I probably won't explain this well, but it's about maximizing the effect I feel. You need that smallpox to do something very impactful to the board. So either you are really ahead and this is a backbreaking move. Or you are behind but it's so advantageous for you (based on synergies or whatever) that it's a bargain at BB.
Death Cloud is the better card because it's scalable so there are few times you can't cast it to good effect but it only goes in the more control leaving flavor. That's OK though because I like that build more than the aggro slanted version anyway.
Braids is the best card in this archetype because it's good in any version and typically good even if you are not ideally positioned to exploit the effect. Small Pox is good as well but it can't always be played depending on the board state (and is very often a weak t2 play). Smokestack is slow so unless you really have synergies with it, it's the card I'd cut first.
I probably won't explain this well, but it's about maximizing the effect I feel. You need that smallpox to do something very impactful to the board. So either you are really ahead and this is a backbreaking move. Or you are behind but it's so advantageous for you (based on synergies or whatever) that it's a bargain at BB.
Death Cloud is the better card because it's scalable so there are few times you can't cast it to good effect but it only goes in the more control leaving flavor. That's OK though because I like that build more than the aggro slanted version anyway.
Braids is the best card in this archetype because it's good in any version and typically good even if you are not ideally positioned to exploit the effect. Small Pox is good as well but it can't always be played depending on the board state (and is very often a weak t2 play). Smokestack is slow so unless you really have synergies with it, it's the card I'd cut first.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Opinions on this family of cards?
Magus of the Wheel is extremely fun and rather popular over here. It has a lot of unique lines of play available, such as:
- Refilling aggro's empty hand versus a big-grip midrange villain (this is the usual play)
- Serving as card draw source for a draw-light deck (RW and RG can have this issue if they're not careful)
- Enabling reanimator
- Disrupting a TOL tutor during Villain's draw step
- recursive target for a mill win in a board stall
- Turning sideways with an extremely respectable body
It's been a relatively strong pick that sees lots of use, and is probably the best card from the last batch of commander decks imho.
I also really like Reforge the Soul, but I played it the most in my playgroup and ultimately cut it for something that would see more general adoption. I think it has real potential and I've had a blast with it, but it likely requires another step down in format speed to be really worthwhile.
Wheel of Fate seems too sluggish, and Wheel of Fortune is cool but I want Painful Truths or Oath of Jace far more in any deck WoF might see play in. Magus takes the nod for its extreme flexibility and fair body.
- Refilling aggro's empty hand versus a big-grip midrange villain (this is the usual play)
- Serving as card draw source for a draw-light deck (RW and RG can have this issue if they're not careful)
- Enabling reanimator
- Disrupting a TOL tutor during Villain's draw step
- recursive target for a mill win in a board stall
- Turning sideways with an extremely respectable body
It's been a relatively strong pick that sees lots of use, and is probably the best card from the last batch of commander decks imho.
I also really like Reforge the Soul, but I played it the most in my playgroup and ultimately cut it for something that would see more general adoption. I think it has real potential and I've had a blast with it, but it likely requires another step down in format speed to be really worthwhile.
Wheel of Fate seems too sluggish, and Wheel of Fortune is cool but I want Painful Truths or Oath of Jace far more in any deck WoF might see play in. Magus takes the nod for its extreme flexibility and fair body.
I like the card in EDH, at the very least. It's conveniently self-balancing in that the lower power the creature you choose, the lower power creature you get to keep. I suppose if you have 10 1/1's out it's pretty insane... but then again, so would be Dictate of Heliod or even Rally the Peasants at that point.
Cool strategic card or too swingy?
I could see running it as a cool decision-dense sweeper in an environment that forces control to utilize and have creatures in their decks. Usually though I just prefer a good ol' fashioned hard sweep. (Also I need to keep decision density lower if possible for my group)
Combos with
EDIT: If I had to choose a sweeper that gave the caster interesting options, I'd probably go with
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Please, don't!
Opinions on this family of cards?
I have to agree with Ravebornmuse. I was pleasantly surprised how cool Magus of the Wheel plays out. It's way more fun than I gave it credit for when I first saw the card and I've been really pleased with its inclusion.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Thanks guys, probably is a fun unearth target as well.
Any other opinions on actual wof?
Any other opinions on actual wof?
It's probably fine. I cut it due to concerns of control decks locking people out with card advantage (unfun), but with my current cube configuration it takes a lot of work for a control deck to get to that point. It could be an interesting counter for most other situations.
Re: Wheels
I run Wheel of Fortune. I haven't tried Magus, but I like being able to wheel immediately. If you play Magus, it signals to your opponent to play out as much of their hand as possible.
Forbid is miserable. Don't.
RE: Forbid
Word on the street is that locking people out of the game is mega lame.
It does take some effort to get there, but is the potential for such a horrific nongame really worth it?
In your environment especially, you can combo off with Life from the Loam, or pair it with powerful draw like Ancestral Vision. Seems bleh.
Word on the street is that locking people out of the game is mega lame.
It does take some effort to get there, but is the potential for such a horrific nongame really worth it?
In your environment especially, you can combo off with Life from the Loam, or pair it with powerful draw like Ancestral Vision. Seems bleh.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"I'll discard two," and then say, "No."
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Pretty much. Its just one of those cards that certain players hate the experience of losing too, which can give it a bad rep in certain playgroups.
Definitely a "playgroup mileage may vary" card. Seems to be that way for all of the degenerate negative effects. Stuff like land destruction, locks, etc. Its really interesting because a lot of the dichotomy ends up being
"Let people have fun playing the game without such swingy plays and non games"
Vs.
"It brings interesting deck building/counterplay/its a reward for assembling it/and people have fun with that"
Interesting. I am firmly in camp 1. Seeing someone newish to the game sit there dejectedly after experiencing their first upheaval was... more than enough games of that kind for a lifetime.
My favorite counterspell-with-a-kicker has got to be:
Almost undeniably lower power, but still provides a cool tech play for the U deck in the late game to get the edge or introduce a finisher.
"Let people have fun playing the game without such swingy plays and non games"
Vs.
"It brings interesting deck building/counterplay/its a reward for assembling it/and people have fun with that"
Interesting. I am firmly in camp 1. Seeing someone newish to the game sit there dejectedly after experiencing their first upheaval was... more than enough games of that kind for a lifetime.
My favorite counterspell-with-a-kicker has got to be:
Almost undeniably lower power, but still provides a cool tech play for the U deck in the late game to get the edge or introduce a finisher.