Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

I feel that Slave of Bolas supports sacrifice less than a regular threaten effect because you are overpaying for the effect when you are going to sacrifice the creature anyways. Furthermore, Slave is removal and thus is more likely to get snatched up by other drafters.
But other than that it's a fine card.
 
Slaving titans was my favorite standard tech- I cycle it in and out of my list on whims.

I'd like to see three-color cards that perfectly complements the archetype its colors all overlap in. Sadly a lot of the KTK wedge cards were very goodstuff, but there is hope yet!
 
I like the instant-speed options (Blind with Anger, Ray of Command). Double-duty since they can go into control decks as well as working as a typical Threaten.

Slave of Bolas... I mean, how often does the free attack AND the sacrifice clause matter? Seems like it would be something like 25% full value, 75% overcosted when you really only care about half of what the card does.
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Cruise and dig are both nuts, but Cruise is slightly better. I cast that thing for {U} pretty frequently and the discount is pretty relevant. Cruise goes into 98% of my decks that make blue, which makes me wonder if I should cut it as it offers basically no interesting play or deckmaking decisions.

Hypothetical time:



This card now costs {2}{B}{B}. Is it playable?
 
Doesn't a 4- mana Descent into Madness make it a significantly meaner and worse Smokestack? Way harder to break symmetry if it's an exile effect that keeps magnifying, and ol' Smokey is already a tough sell. I want to believe, but I think I'd rather just go for Curse of the Cabal if I wanted more of that Pox-style effect in a weirder way.
 
Yeah, I'm really looking for another force multiplier for Smokestack/Braids. Mana Breach works, something like bend or break, Scorched Earth or Tectonic break could work if I wanted to extend into red. Dropping descent to 3 (!!!) will just lead to awful, awful games so that's not a direction I want. Curse of the Cabal is significantly slower then Descent, but at least its one sided?

That was my thinking; the suspend interplay and all means it works as a weird stax effect on suspend or a potentially cool ramp target that can hit a clogged board really hard. It probably isn't good enough, though. :( I may test it anyway.

I tuned a good-ish LD kit in my Red section, and I think expanding it could be nice. Of those that you listed, I have a hard time seeing where they would often be worth the slot over 1 (or 2?) of Boom // Bust, which I'm loving so far, but if you really want the diversity, Bend or Break looks the most fun to me.
 
I complete forgot you can actually cast Curse of the Cabal! I suppose that isn't entirely irrelevant. Cloudpost black new archetype!

You're probably joking but I actually had a really disgusting B/r-Post deck that utilized Urborg to help keep the mana smooth. It was all about targetted removal, land destruction, and reanimating Avalanche Riders. It was pretty obscene. Fortunately my opponent was in a U-based self-mill deck trying to win off Laboratory Maniac so we were both making clunky rude plays and laughing our asses off.
 

CML

Contributor
Cruise and dig are both nuts, but Cruise is slightly better. I cast that thing for {U} pretty frequently and the discount is pretty relevant. Cruise goes into 98% of my decks that make blue, which makes me wonder if I should cut it as it offers basically no interesting play or deckmaking decisions.

Hypothetical time:



This card now costs {2}{B}{B}. Is it playable?


here in america smokestack continues to be hilarious
 
I was tempted to try Contamination when I was really trying to push black devotion. But I chickened out because of how un-fun I think a lock would be. The effect is interesting and flavorful though.
 
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