Magic: The Gathering

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I don't think red aggression beats devotion to blue at the moment (not consistently, anyhow). It's not like decks with Master of Waves just sit around waiting for you to attack them; they're pretty aggressive in their own right, and are more than capable of keeping up with a red deck. They also pack enough light counterspells to shut down simple tricks like Seismic Stomp. In any case, in general the idea is that you do race them to 0 first, and for that I "get" why you want to stay aggressive even in the sideboard rather than slowing the deck down to play at someone else's pace (something which a mono red deck isn't typically well equipped to do in any case).

I still think Perilous Vault keeps defensive decks honest, though, particularly those that are combo-based. Not that there are many defensive decks in Standard at the moment, mind you, what with Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation rotating out (and taking esper control out with them).


Icemage

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

As if there's not going to be a card to replace Verdict, if not a reprint of Verdict itself (given that the upcoming block, I'm told, is also multicolored). Revelation may or may not be replaced by something completely different, however.

At any rate, IM, I have sincere doubts on your qualifications on giving Red aggro deck advice. Which is fine; I'd be similarly unqualified to give advice to a Black control player. I will say that the only Blue deck that gave me any sort of problems was an Esper Superfriends build, and I've only ever had one such matchup (probably the only guy around who could afford to build it). Most of my problems were either Green or Black deck variants, with the combinatory problems of fast fatties, tons of removal, and perhaps some incidental lifegain (especially out the sideboard). You know, all that good stuff that makes Jund so wonderfully fun to play against. [/SARCASM]

[Melody]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Nerds.

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

So we got some new cards revealed and while this guy isn't particularly good, I love the concept behind the mechanic:





That is basically the key ability Goblins have been begging for since their inception.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

That mechanic is broken as fuck, mark my words. We're gonna see an explosion of Red aggro decks if that mechanic is widespread enough.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Didn't we already see this mechanic previously via cards like Ghitu Slinger? Granted, that had Echo, but it was 2 damage to any target for 2R with the option to keep the 2/2 next turn.


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

The two aren't remotely comparable on anything besides a superficial level. Ghitu Slinger having Echo completely changes how you have to evaluate the card.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

The two aren't remotely comparable on anything besides a superficial level. Ghitu Slinger having Echo completely changes how you have to evaluate the card.

Sure, but I wouldn't call a 2/3 with conditional Shock-into-play for 3R as particularly efficient either. Unless there's a cheap creature with Raid on it, it won't be anything more than a curiosity.


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

It's not really a conditional shock though. Any Red deck that's playing this is going to be attacking every turn anyway, and the worst case scenario is that you chump attack with some 1/1 you played on the first turn. Also keep in mind that this is the mechanic specific to the Red wedge in this set, so we can safely assume it's going to be a little more widespread than just this one card. Put together a bunch of cards with this and if they're not all sandbagged with high mana cost it's going to be brutal.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

It's not really a conditional shock though. Any Red deck that's playing this is going to be attacking every turn anyway, and the worst case scenario is that you chump attack with some 1/1 you played on the first turn.

I guess, though at that point it becomes a really crappy Goblin Grenade if you have to chump attack.

Also keep in mind that this is the mechanic specific to the Red wedge in this set, so we can safely assume it's going to be a little more widespread than just this one card. Put together a bunch of cards with this and if they're not all sandbagged with high mana cost it's going to be brutal.

I think you're probably right; usually when it's a predefined mechanic instead of just text on a single card, there's always at least one standout example. Odds are good that there will be at least one red card that has Raid and a decent mana cost for its abilities. I think it's unlikely to be a Goblin card, though, as it's not particularly a Goblin-ish mechanic (but maybe they'll do it anyway).


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

My point was more about Raid as a mechanic - you merely have to have attacked that turn, it's not reliant on combat damage or anything else. That's huge, especially if (and I'm sure we will) we see any Raid cards that also have Flash.

Also apparently Morph can be done at any time now? I could have sworn it used to be sorcery speed back during Onslaught.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Pretty sure Morph has always been at least instant speed, though I remember reading something a while ago that indicated it was actually a special mechanic in that it didn't really have an activation speed and the act of morphing couldn't be responded to, while the triggered abilities could be. Kind of like how you can tap lands for mana whenever the fuck you want and no one can do anything about it.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Cid has the right idea here. Morph is a "special action" that doesn't use the stack, as opposed to an actual activated ability. (This is because of some weird possible rules interactions that came up during Onslaught block, IIRC.)

As a result of this, it's possible to, for example, Morph Willbender and have Willbender's triggered ability target a Sudden Shock on the stack.[1][2]

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

So morphing doesn't use the stack but any triggered effects as a result of said morph do?

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Yes.