kokusho is still cool, just not good
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
The assasin is a prime example of how hard it was in the early days to play mono green. Those pesky utility creatures were a pain. Still, it is a very fair card.
is your heart
?!Totally. Always loved Black. Its playstyle fits like a glove.is your heart
Even if you decide on team Bant you‘ll find out later that you only did so because of Bolas‘ machinations…
If you're a cube designer and not named @Brad it is helpful to learn appreciate each color for what it can do for your format. I've had a hard time with white for a while and it's probably still my least liked color, but I've really started to appreciate it through cubing and I think I've managed to respect each color's needs equally when making design decisions.
Black consistently disappoints me as a color. Want reanimation spells to sit at 3 mana? Hope you like exclusively playing Necromancy. Want some cheap cantrips? Strategic Planning is the best we can offer you. We're a secondary flash color, want some instant-speed beaters? Don't worry bud, there's like, three cards to choose from. Also half of our removal spells suffer from a legacy of not being able to hit black creatures, much less planeswalkers, so I hope that doesn't bother you too much. Here, take this hot-off-the-presses 4 mana tutor as an apology.
This one seems a bit harsh. But I mostly agree with your other points (although cards like Persist and infernal grasp seem to indicate we might be turning the corner).
black is uh… really good
Why do you need/want that? Blue is literally right there. UB decks. And there are multiple options for black draw spells at one mana if you insist that's the only way you want black draw to be. Village Rites, for instance, draws twice as many cards as any of the blue options you list, is an instant, and only requires a measly sacrifice.
You should consider a career in marketing!
But in all honesty: Yes, I think all colors should get decent card draw, that's why I cube Mentor of the Meek. But blue's unconditional card draw and it's huge amount of cantrips really define the color's identity. I don't want every color to get Sleight of Hands and Ponders. Just like I don't want every color to get Lightning Bolt or Llanowar Elves. It's essential to magic and it's color pie system that each one has their jewlery.
Because I like the gameplay effect it provides and therefore want it to be more prevalent across the different colors, just like how I wouldn't want every color to have to splash red or black to have ways to deal with creatures.
But every color has ways to deal with creatures. They do it differently and aren't equally good at it, but when you start with giving every color Preordain and Infernal Grasp, why even bother having a color system at some point?