Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[genericco]

Maze of Ith was too pickable around here, too useful for not requiring any color commitment.

My honest take on Startled Awake is it's probably a trap in most lists, but having never tried it I have to defer to those who have.

 

[safra]

Maze of Ith is really strong and not very fun in Legacy, a format with lots of 4x Wasteland creature decks and spell-based combo decks it doesn't even touch. Even in that format it's a really, really strong card.

Our formats are typically less equipped to handle it and less consistently able to do so when they can - I wouldn't run it unless I wanted an uncounterable, free, instant-speed Prison Term. (i don't)

 

[Peter LaCara]

I've played Maze of Ith several times, as it's a staple of the powered cubes around here. My experience with the card is that it's deeply unfun, and usually one of the best cards in any given control deck. The only way to interact with it is through land destruction, so unless you're running multiple Wastelands or Armageddon, I'd stay away.

 

[sigh]

I think the land of choice for balancing the effect but still allowing all 5 colors access is:

Also applicable in the discussion on ETB's and balancing them

 

[Onderzeeboot]

This might have come up on this forum a bit, but I just opened a

(and Mana Crypt but that's already sold to a friend after he heard I had one). Now this card (Maze) looks absolutely insane but maybe in a more 'fair' cube like mine it's maybe a bit less problematic. However, locking a creature out of the game seems a bit unfun but I can see decks that want to play it. What are your thoughts on Maze of Ith, can this work or is my suspicion of it being generally unfun a common experience?

It's not a land, it's a spell, keep that in mind. How good it is depends on your list. It belongs in a cube with fast mana, silly good creatures, and broken equipment. If your cube runs, say, Grave Titan, Hero of Bladehold and Sword of Fire and Ice, run it, otherwise I would stay clear.

 

[MDT12]

Thanks for the tips, this is exactly what I thought beforehand. Definitely not including it, since land destruction is not a thing in my cube apart from strip mine.

 

[James Stevenson]

When I've seen it/played it it's been super lame

 

[Jason Waddell]

Maze of Ith is miserable to play against. It's a permanent removal spell that gets super duper OP with board wipes. They have to overcommit to get through Maze, then you wrath, then they have to overcommit to get through Maze... (I think you see where this is going)

 

[Chris Taylor]

Play it in control as free uncounterable removal.

That synergizes with OTHER REMOVAL no less

 

[Tzenmoroth]

My sweet pull in an EMA draft. I feel like I should test it for funsies since I didn't even play it. I'll probably also test Dark Petition while I'm at it. What do people actually think about it though? I don't think I've even seen many tutors in lists around here.

 

[RavebornMuse]

I like Vampiric Tutor, and am considering running it now with this reprint. I currently run Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, and Mystical Tutor in my list; I think 1-mana TOL tutors are pretty sweet, and they help to give decks just a tad more consistency, which I value pretty highly since I try to enable unique buildarounds. Having a second copy of your best card in your deck is nice too a lot of the times, but thankfully I'm of a power level where I rarely see the same goodstuff thing get tutored over and over, and tend to see the tutors used as a toolbox (and I LOVE toolbox decks). I'm really happy with my current tutor selection, so if you're wanting to ramp up support for things like Cruel Ultimatum, Feldon of the Third Path, or Eidolon of Blossoms shenanigans, tutors are a cool way to do it, I think!

 

[CML]

 

[Jason Waddell]

My sweet pull in an EMA draft. I feel like I should test it for funsies since I didn't even play it. I'll probably also test Dark Petition while I'm at it. What do people actually think about it though? I don't think I've even seen many tutors in lists around here.

I run Vamp Tutor. Fun times card, season to taste with miracles and other top of library stuff.

 

[Tzenmoroth]

Yeah know, I've been thinking Mentor of Heroes is too goodstuff and I might just try that... I have no idea what it does but I'm excited.

 

[James Stevenson]

basically doomsday

 

[vennythekid]

 

[Onderzeeboot]

A.k.a Ambitious Mana Base. Pretty vicious if it works though!

 

[sigh]

 

[Dom Harvey]

 

[Goldenpineapple]

Necrotic Ooze that you have to work for? I've never seen that card though.

 

[Dom Harvey]

from the bad Legacy deck room in the Department of Mysteries:

 

[xpistou83]

Hi all, Does anyone have any experience with Curse of Inertia ? Is it just unplayable? I like the flexibility that you can choose you or your opponent and it's any permanent. Thanks for any help!

 

[Tanner K.]

Curse of Inertia doesn't look that good. It's only useful when you're attacking, and while removing your opponent's best blocker every time you attack or granting one of your creatures psuedo-vigilance is a decent upside, how often do your blue decks really want that effect? Durdly blue decks might be able to do something interesting with the untap effect, but how often do your durdly blue decks have creatures to spare?

If you're in a lower power environment where you have aggressive blue decks, then I agree, this could be interesting. Or maybe if you're running Cloudposts, you can do some big mana shenanigans, but there are probably other cards that are better suited to that role.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Let's say you have a decent artifact theme going on (Goblin Welder, Daretti, Master Transmuter, etc.). Does this guy do anything? I know Commander players fucking love him, can he make the jump?

 

[sigh]

seems a tad slow, especially if you are planning on cheating it in. Also in commander you have access to just about every busted up ramp spell ever (artifact-wise), and the pressure of the format is lower. That being said, if you make some sort of control engine out of it, go deep, as deep as you want.