Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

Erik Twice

Erik Twice

Dom Harvey said:
some part of me wants to believe it can be reasonable for some reason
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I'm afraid it isn't.

Even at its most fair Skullclamp can make repeateble trades a 3 for 1. It's very easy to use and will turn any mana dork, utility creature and token into a Divination.


genericco said:


fun card, leads to great matches, not remotely fair
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I like Standstill. It's a skill-testing card that requires some build-around and boosts non-control strategies. It's also very unique and makes you think outside the box.
 
Peter LaCara

Peter LaCara

Dom Harvey said:


Has this survived for any length of time in any of your Cubes? It famously was #1 on LSV's list of most overrated cards in Vintage Cube, which was fair but only because Vintage Cube is designed to be as unfair in other (and more unfun, IMO) ways as possible. The problem with most Equipment is that it makes the game all about itself and the text on your actual creatures becomes less relevant; that's certainly true with Skullclamp but some part of me wants to believe it can be reasonable for some reason
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I mean, yeah, if your cube has moxes and Sol Ring and Channel and shit, Skullclamp isn't going to look super impressive next to them. It's one of the more reasonable of Magic's egregiously broken mistakes, but it's still an egregiously broken mistake that will destroy any environment short of a totally degenerate one.

Don't get me wrong, I love me a degenerate environment from time to time. I've played my share of powered cubes and had a great time, so if that's what you're going for have at it. But if that's not what you're going for, Skullclamp has earned its reputation.
 
Featherhall

Featherhall

So in the same vein as the "Clamp", what's the verdict on this card in a higher strength but unpowered environment. I cannot tell if this does nothing or does too much?

 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
Was preparing a writeup for my thread about Balance so may as well post it here!

One of the most iconically and ironically named cards in the game, Balance is often (maybe unfairly!) maligned around these parts. It definitely is swingy and volatile: I’ve had games in many Cubes where Balance is the best possible card they could draw or one of the few cards in Magic that could rescue them from the situation – without feeling like it was too broken an effect to be included. That kind of balance conveniently wide power band for a single card is hard to come by and creates memorably unique games without being too distorting.

Sometimes it teams up with Zuran Orb or Sylvan Safekeeper as an Armageddon or Greater Gargadon for the full elbow drop but I find these much more dynamic combos than ‘Armageddon + any on-board advantage’ (especially as you need to choose and develop that advantage carefully to not have it wiped away by Balance). You can combine it with a free discard outlet (say, Wild Mongrel) to reset both hands to zero early; it works with a sac outlet as the world’s cheapest Wrath of God. The reward for breaking the symmetry is so high that it prompts decisions in drafting, deckbuilding, and gameplay. Do you hold your lands or play them out so that Balance hits them and your opponent’s hand? Do you hold threats or deploy them so your opponent has to do the same and walk into the Balance? How do you make trades that set up the Balance without telegraphing it?

It’s also a marquee card in the artifact decks I want to push in my Cube. Any card type outside Balance’s purview works the same here – it’s great in the planeswalker piles that grace Vintage Cube – but with artifacts in particular it’s easy to flood the board without actually tipping the scales for Balance.

Increasingly, even the non-planeswalker threats in Magic are powerful enough that gaining traction on the board against them is very difficult and it’s easy for the player with the advantage to ride that to the finish line. A sweeper from the other side can be followed up by another threat that demands an immediate answer, making the whole call-and-response seem futile. Balance upsets all of that and shifts the game into a completely new state for the low price of two mana.


It’s hard to find cards that explicitly overturn the disadvantage of mulligans but Balance is the best at it – and its effectiveness here scales well - without some obtrusive text explicitly designed for that purpose
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Erik Twice

Erik Twice

I just think Balance is not that hard to abuse and a 2-mana card that ranges from a bad Smallpox to one-sided Wrath, Armaggedon and Mind Twist is not something I like very much. If the card were more expensive, say, four mana it might be an interesting build-around. I would rather run Cataclysm which is more fair, less likely to end the game on the spot and a more interesting card.
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor


How obnoxious is this? I cut it years ago after a tragic session where it bricked my scary aggro deck by itself and haven't tried it since then. It's the worst offender for all my usual criticisms of equipment: you just put it on something (it barely matters what!) and it takes over the game, or that creature dies and you put it on something else and it takes ov- you get it. It's even worse than most there because it's powerful on offence and defence so you never have to decide whether to send it into combat!

That said, I want a strong artifact threat that can stabilize the game and this is the least conditional of those. What's the verdict?
 
shamizy

shamizy

I find Batterskull to be very average in most cases. A 4/4 Lifelink threat for 5 just isn't that threatening when played on curve and nowadays it's only slightly threatening when cheated in on T3 via Stoneforge activation. It gets gross once the initial body is dead and you can attach it to something evasive to clock an opponent quick, but at that point they're also paying 5 to equip at sorcery speed which I think is completely fine. I just think that there's just so much efficient removal nowadays and so many creatures with great ETBs and stats that it isn't all that difficult to keep it in check in most higher powered environments.
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

While similar, the Magus works very differently because you can recur him. I like that aspect of the card and I think it's key to making it playable but you might feel differently.
 
Rasmus Källqvist

Rasmus Källqvist

shamizy said:
I find Batterskull to be very average in most cases. A 4/4 Lifelink threat for 5 just isn't that threatening when played on curve and nowadays it's only slightly threatening when cheated in on T3 via Stoneforge activation. It gets gross once the initial body is dead and you can attach it to something evasive to clock an opponent quick, but at that point they're also paying 5 to equip at sorcery speed which I think is completely fine. I just think that there's just so much efficient removal nowadays and so many creatures with great ETBs and stats that it isn't all that difficult to keep it in check in most higher powered environments.
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This makes me really happy! I'm running Stoneforge now, and players in my playgroup have commented on the absence of Batterskull. I'll see if maybe it isn't time to add it.
 
shamizy

shamizy

I'd say a good Stoneforge starter pack in a reasonably powered cube would be something like:



You only really need 1 or two hits in a given cube deck featuring Stoneforge. The big thing for the less immediately impactful equipment like Ancestral Blade is to be able to equip at a low cost such that you can keep developing your board/have other possible actions you can take on your turn. That's the one problem I have with most equipment that have an equip cost 3 or greater. It's just too much a tempo hit in most cases unless you're clearly ahead.
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

safra said:
let's talk a mid-to-higher-powered Stoneforge package:



Some of those are quite iffy. Anyone have suggestions?
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Me acquiring cards for my stoneforge package:
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I think this is a good list to start with, although I think Deathrender feels a bit iffy.

I'm actually a really big fan of the new Giant's Skewer card from Throne of Eldraine. I think you could make it work at a higher power level by errataing it's equip cost to be 1.
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

Right now my equipment package for SFM is



I'm really happy with all of these, but I feel I am still short an equipment or two. I'm curious about a couple you guys posted namely



Sigil seems like it could be good, but you would have to play it for 3+ if you have any hope of equipping it again. Does that make it too slow? I do like the synergy with proliferate though.

Basilisk Collar I had, but was convinced to drop it due to how badly it messes up aggro decks. Do you guys have similar experiences?

The blade seems super low impact in a competitive slot. Does it really belong in mid to high powered lists?

Finally the pike seems too situational, but it's relatively cheap and first strike is nice. How many instants/sorceries do I need in my deck to make it worth it?
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Blade is legit, especially if you run a historic theme. It doesn't look like much, but as a 2/2 that gets to shift +1/+1 around, even if it dies, does a lot for the aggro deck. Certainly overperformed for me, though it's no Grafted Wargear. I think it's reasonably close to Bonesplitter though.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I cubed it, but it was consistently ignored, so I cut it again. It still gets run in a number of cubes with a higher power level than mine though, so...
 
Aston

Aston

It looks like one of those cards that takes a couple readthroughs to really understand what it does, and I find those tend to get overlooked about even if they're good.
 
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