Alliances: Extensive Pontifications (part II)
ChrisMims
Gold:
Gold cards have this way of being really cool, probably to make up for
their restrictive mana requirements. Unfortunately, "cool" does not often
equal "tourney viable." Stormbind is a notable exception.
Lim-Dul's Vault (UB, Instant, look at the top five cards of your library,
as many times as you want, you may pay one life to put these on the bottom
of your library and look at the next five cards, then shuffle your library
and put these five cards on top in any order)
For all those of you who were sick and tired of eating half your library
every time you Consulted for a Hymn, your salvation is in sight. Lim-Dul's
Vault, given a little life, will get you whatever you want, especially if
you've got four of it in your deck. While I wouldn't use it to go hunting
for my Ivory Tower, I might dig for Hymns or Orders or Armageddons or
whatever. Of course, what's really amazing about this card is that, if you
come to a pocket of particularly useful stuff, you can now have all of it,
in whatever order you want. This isn't one card for one card, like a Tutor
or Consultation: this lets you sacrifice the guarantee of getting that one
card for the chance to get a hell of a lot more. Now this is library
management worth talking about.
Winter's Night (WRG, Enchant World, whenever a snow-covered land is tapped
for mana, it produces one additional mana of the same type and does not
untap during its controller's next untap phase)
Winter's Night appears, at first glance, to be a weird fringe card with
little real usefulness. (big, snow-covered burn decks?) But this is the
right card at the right time. It also happens to be exactly the right
combination of three colors. What this card is perfect for is all those
Winter Orb/Howling Mine/Icy/Stormbind decks. Every deck like that I've
ever seen or lost to has been w/r/g. It's one of those fringe archetype
deck types that gets overshadowed by Necro and Goodstuff no-brainer decks
that require a lot less skill to win with. Anyway, under a Winter Orb, I'd
love to have twice as much mana available. This even beats using Fellwars
as non-land mana that untaps.
This card is so specifically targeted to bolster that one particular deck
archetype (which I've had a lot of experience with: I used it at
regionals) that either: A: this is just a random, statistically unlikely
shot-in-the-dark booster for that deck type, or B: someone on the design
team likes w/r/g Winter Orb decks and this is his pet card. This thing's
good enough to make me consider going back to my old deck.
Green:
Green is fun, green is good, and green is creatures. Nothing more. Green
is the guns behind a white or red support color. Green is Erhnam Djinns.
Alliances changes little in this situation.
Elvish Spirit Guide (2G, 2/2 creature, if Spirit Guide is in your hand,
you may remove it from the game to add G to your mana pool)
The Spirit Guide is another one of those cards that, to my thinking, runs
counter to the whole idea of card advantage. That's the nature of speed
mana: if you Ritual out a first-turn Hyppie, and I bolt it, then you just
handed me two-to-one card economy. 'Course, if I can't do anything about
your Hyppie simply because it's going to be a while before I can muster a
Fireball or Wrath of God to deal with it, then I'm in trouble. The Spirit
Guide hands green what it's wanted all along: obscene speed. I mean, yeah,
Elves and Tinder Walls are fast, but not as fast as this thing.
The Spirit Guide would be most useful against other fast, offensive decks
that lack permanent destruction (can we say Necropotence?). Look for fast,
fast Storm Seekers and Ernies. And, hey, everyone will have their own
little story about how they lost to an Elvish Spirit Guide that was
actually on the table.
Gorilla Berserkers (3GG, 2/3 creature, trample, rampage 2, cannot be
blocked by more than three creatures)
Gorilla Berserkers is probably borderline. It's expensive, it's little,
it's bolt-bait. The essence of Gorilla Berserkers is the fact that it
can't be blocked. I mean, if someone's got out three or more untapped
creatures, and they're big enough to handle all that rampage, then you're
dead already.
Gorilla Berserkers is much like the Autumn Willow. No, really: it's
another answer to the age-old question: "How can I eliminate the ways my
opponent has of dealing with my critter?" Autumn Willow deals with the
spell/effects end of things, and Gorilla Berserker deals with your
opponent's creature's ability to deal with your creatures. Admittedly, in
the current Type II scene this probably isn't as valuable as the Willow's
ability, but if the Helm shifts things towards the creature end of the
spectrum like WoTC thinks it will, the Berserker may become more useful.
Yavimaya Ants (2GG, 5/1 trample, can attack the turn it comes into play,
CU: GG)
What is it about the Yavimaya stuff? It's like everything that comes out
of that particular realm is a crappy copy of something superior- like
they're a bunch of Taiwanese clone makers, or something. First the
Yavimaya Gnats (the green Will o' the Wisp that's more expensive!), and
now the Ants (the green Ball Lightning that's more expensive and a little
less deadly!). However, there are two characteristics of the Ants that
make them more functional than Ball Lightning. The first is the simple
fact that at RRR, it's pretty infeasible to play Ball Lightning in
anything but a mono-red deck. And besides, most everyone's packing CoP:
Red, anyway. So you might actually pull Yavimaya Ants out of an Armageddon
deck, say. Second, the Ants have the ability to go in for net 4 more
points of damage, as if you could cast them then you can pay their upkeep
for at least one round.
Finally, there's the fact that the Ants are green. This is the closest
green has come to DD since Storm Seeker or Hurricane. Few people will
anticipate them, so it's almost like 5 free points of damage. Not bad.
Honorable Mention:
Gorilla Chieftain (3G, 3/3 creature, 1G: Regenerate)
Uthden Troll has long been a favorite of ye olde r/w deck. Gorilla
Chieftain is good for the same reasons, while opening up a few
possibilities in green that probably weren't there before. (g/w
non-'geddon decks? Just more fodder for 'geddon decks?) It remains to be
seen whether the extra one colorless required to regenerate these guys
will knock them out of tourney viability. Unfortunately, the answer to
that question is probably yes.
Red
I'm beginning to realize how big this post is and how much of my time
it's eating. But, y'know, what the hey, I figure: I've only got two colors
left . 'Course, one of those colors is red, and if there's one thing
Alliances did, it was to turn red into the next OBSCENITY, so much so that
Alliances alone will probably allow heavy red decks to eclipse Necro decks
as the next copycat strategy. I'm not yet sure how I feel about this.
(forget about mono-red anti-Necro- I say let's get a head start on
white/blue anti-anti Necro, with lots of Conversion, Justice, BEB's, etc.)
Balduvian Horde (RR2, 5/5 creature, when Balduvian Horde comes into play,
discard a card at random from your hand)
Now, I could just give you a blip answer on this one, and pretty much say
what I said about the Helm of Obedience, i.e. everyone's going to use
this, get used to it, blah blah blah. I think that the Magic Press's
propensity to compare the Balduvian Horde to the Juzam Djinn certainly
doesn't help anyone's attempts to objectively evaluate this card. Here's
what I think: I think this thing is way, way over-rated. I think I'm going
to be trading off any Balduvian Hordes that come my way to rabid suckers
for the stuff I really need. Here's why:
Welcome back to the world of card advantage. We missed you. It's pretty
damn obvious that the whole idea behind Balduvian Horde is one thing: big,
big speed. Pull it out on the second turn by any of a half-dozen means,
and start plugging away with it against your hapless opponent. The price,
here, is that you discard one card at random from your hand. So, if I plow
your Balduvian Horde, I get 2-to-1 card economy. Heck, even if I don't you
dropped something possibly valuable. In the end, here's why I don't like
the Balduvian Horde: Erhnam Djinn. For one (count 'em) *one* less point of
power, I don't have to screw myself over in terms of card advantage. In
any deck where I just wanted four or less big, cheap critters, if I were
playing with green I'd go with the Erhnam Djinn every time.
Where Balduvian Horde is going to pop up is the decks for which four big,
fast bad-boys just isn't enough. We're talking rabidly offensive r/g LD
decks (see Pillage, below), here. In the end, I just believe that that
random discard hurts a lot more than everyone else seems to think it does.
I have a lot of misgivings about Balduvian Hordes, but it is, after all, a
5/5 creature for four mana. (even if it is RR- meaning heavy red decks
need only apply- no "just enough green for four Ernham Djinns" George
Baxter Goodstuff-style here) And sometimes, when you're fresh out of the
quick easy fixes (StP, etc.), that's all that matters. This thing will be
everywhere- I seriously doubt that many other people out there will
dissent as I have.
Gorilla Shaman (R, 1/1 creature, 1XX: destroy target artifact with casting
cost equal to X)
I remember someone once commenting, about Swords to Plowshares: "I just
don't think that white should have that kind of power in terms of creature
destruction- it doesn't fit white's nature." Yeah, well, buddy, next time
I'm at a Type II tourney I think I'll be saying the same thing about red
and artifact destruction. I mean, there is just *a lot* nowadays. (see
Pillage/Primitive Justice, below)
Forget Scavenger Folk. Just to put this card into perspective, imagine if
the ability read the same, except that it said "target creature". Imagine
how obscenely powerful people would think that card was. It might even
warrant restriction. Well, I don't know about you, but 90% of the time I
think I value my artifacts even more than my creatures (Zorb, Tower, Vice,
Meekstone, Icy), and, furthermore, most of my artifacts are significantly
cheaper. Significantly more Shamanable. This thing is just silly.
Guerrilla Tactics (R1, Instant, deal two damage to target creature or
player, if an opponent's spell or effect makes you discard this card, it
deals 4 damage to target *creature or player*)
OK, now this is just getting really, really insane. Now, you're telling
me that, for all practical purposes, you've created yet *another* bolt (it
looks the same to any Order/Knight/Lion/etc.). And, furthermore, that the
next time some bozo Hymns me, I get to toast him for four freebie points
of damage *or* I get to nuke one of his creatures for four points of
damage!? (Die, Sengir Vampires!) Ay yi yi! Me gusta! This card is good
enough on its own as yet another weenie-killer. It's extra ability makes
it obscene, and, in this climate of Necropotence, it makes it an absolute
must-use. Y'know, I wonder if people will just stop playing Necro
all-together as a kind of mass fear reaction? You think? (I think.)
Pillage (1RR, Sorcery, bury target artifact or land)
More artifact destruction. How droll. What this thing really is, though,
is another Stone Rain. This card, coupled with the recent restriction of
Land Tax, may have the single most fundamental effect on Type II in this
entire set. In fact, I'd bet on it. What we have, now, in a mono-red deck,
is 12 LD cards. (Stone Rain + Pillage + Strip Mine) Man, you thought r/w
decks were bad now, just wait for this angle. And hey, imagine if people
can swing the mana to use green and Thermokarst. Wouldn't that be fun?
Folks, not even your Fellwars are safe any more. Be afraid. Be very
afraid.
Primitive Justice (1R, Sorcery, for each 1R you pay in addition to the
casting cost, destroy another artifact, ditto for each 1G you spend,
except you also gain one life for each additional artifact you destroy)
I'm running out of adjectives for ridiculous. So, hey, let's call this
card ludicrous. Really, really freakin' silly. Shatterstorm is back, and
it's as ugly as I remember it. The only reason I still retain even one or
two Shatters in my significantly red decks instead of maxing out on these
guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.) Just
for laughs, the next time you hit a r/* deck at a tourney, when you
sideboard, quip: "Oh, you're playing red- let me just sideboard out all my
artifacts." Except, say it in a really bitter, sarcastic voice, and try to
hold back the burning tears.
Pyrokinesis (RR4, Instant, you can discard a red card in hand instead of
paying 'kinesis's casting cost)
This is Contagion done right. As if Serrated Arrows weren't enough on
their own to get people to stop playing with Orders, Lions, and Archers,
this'll probably help. Again, it's speed. You can nuke stuff as fast as
your red or green or black-playing opponent can get it out. For creatures
with a toughness of four or below, just pretend you Force of Willed the
little turd before it ever hit the board. And of course there will always
be those amusing occasions when you get it at just the right time and lay
waste to a quartet of critters.
Soldier of Fortune (R, 1/1 creature, R and tap: target player shuffles
his/her library)
This guy is notable simply because he's the only library management
afforded to red. But boy, does he earn his keep. In a word, Land
Tax/Sylvan Libary is back, but now it's r/g, and believe you me, it's
beginning to look like we should all give up and go back to our old
Christmas decks. In addition, this guy's a fun way to screw with your
opponent's library manipulation. ("Lim-Dul's Vault, huh? Bite me.")
Varchild's War-Riders (Trample, rampage: 1, CU: put a Survior token into
play under opponent's control, this token is a 1/1 red creature)
What's as cheap as a Spectral Bears, is bigger, has no problems untapping
normally, and negates it's own cost? The War-Riders. The War Riders will
do 15 damage over five rounds to an opponent before an opponent can
counter-attack with enough Survivor Tokens to repay the favor. Assuming
you're too stupid to have any other deterrents (hell- why not Brass Man?)
out. This guy is fast, and obscenely priced, mana-wise. I mean, things are
good when a creature's casting cost matches its power/toughness. This
thing has nearly twice the power/toughness of its casting cost. And, oh
yeah, it can't be bolted. Don't put this guy out in a stalemate situation,
but if you can drop him on one turn, he means only one thing to your
opponent: Adios, Amigos.
White
Ah, white. Disenchant. Swords to Plowshares. Wrath of God. Armageddon.
White is, and will always be, the single most solid color in all of Magic.
You know this. I know this. Wizards of the Coast knows this. So it's not
surprising that WoTC hasn't been really throwing out any more really
powerful stuff for white lately. Alliances is no exception, but, well- how
can I break this to you? They gave White *two* (count 'em: two) more
no-questions-asked creature destruction spells. Muhahahahaha!
Errand of Duty (1W, Instant, put a Knight token into play, a 1/1 white
bander)
In the realm of creature combat, this is practically another StP. Barring
Crusades, this is just one more card that basically screams: "If you're
still playing with */1 big-offense creatures, you're a gibbering loony."
Go ahead- attack me with that Order/Lion/Elvish Ranger. I'll just be
killing it in a manner that you probably didn't have the foggiest notion
even existed. First strike would have been nice, but under a Crusade the
fact that this thing bands is probably better. Erhnam coming your way?
Down to a single White Knight/Order and one Crusade? No problem: drop this
guy, block with a 5/5, make him (the bander) eat the damage, and Voila:
one-for-one, just like an StP. In case you were wondering, this wasn't one
of the creature destruction spells I was talking about. No, those are yet
to come. Muhahahahaha!
Exile (2W, Instant, Remove target non-white attacking creature from the
game, *gain life equal to that creature's toughness*)
Here it is, the Spirit Link that can't be Disenchanted. And is also a
near Reverse Damage. All rolled up into one. Woohoo! Someone once
commented about Spirit Link: "Great- but a Time Elemental doesn't hurt you
by attacking you." Yeah, buddy, and how many Time Elementals have *you*
seen at tourneys lately? Creature destruction means that spell creatures
are out, way out- it's part of the reason even a U/W mage uses Serrated
Arrows instead of the infinitely re-usable Prodigal Sorcerer. All those
Balduvian Hordes and Yavimaya Ants and Ernies and Sengirs and blah de blah
de blah- yeah, I think there are more than enough people out there trying
to cram damage up your nose to more than justify a pair of these babies in
every white deck.
Reinforcements (W, Instant, put up to three target creature cards from
your graveyard on top of your library in any order)
This thing's just fun. First off, in any weenie deck (and heck, White
Weenie is the granddaddy of them all) the #1 goal is this: keep up the
flood. Unless you're pulverizing a helpless opponent, your creatures end
up in the graveyard. Forget thinning your deck with Land Tax to increase
the number of weenies you draw: how about whatever weenies you want, in
whatever you order you want them, for the next three turns, guaranteed.
It's also good for getting back particularly annoying and particularly
prone-to-death stuff like Yavimaya Ants.
Reprisal (1W, instant, bury target creature with power four or greater)
Kiss your big critters good-bye. Alliances gives a host of new creatures
that are definitely of that size. More creature destruction. I hesitate to
say it, but it looks as if White is actually coming into a glut of the
stuff. Why complain?
Lands
Land. What can you say about it? It's god. He who controls the land
controls the Universe. Some of these are pretty wacky...
Balduvian Trading Post (when it comes into play, sac an untapped mountain,
makes 1R, tap to deal one damage to target attacking creature)
Trading Post makes up for the land you sacked to it by making an extra
mana. Once again, play with */1 creatures, get hosed. Adios, Orders. A
little dangerous vs. LD, as it allows your opponent to essentially get two
lands for one LD spell- if LD becomes as prevalent as everyone thinks it
will, none of the Alliances wacky sac lands may every be tourney viable.
Lake of the Dead (sac a swamp when it comes into play, tap and sac a swamp
for BBBB)
Now this is interesting. I can't think of many cards that will just
spontaneously make four mana of *any* color for no apparent reason. Does
everyone realize that a Black Lotus could only give you BBB. Yes? Have the
game designers finally gone Nutbar? The thing about Lake of the Dead is
that it only becomes useful on turn 3. (thank God) Turn two is the
earliest it could come out, and then you'd still be left with nothing but
BB maximum in your mana pool. On turn three, you could pull five black
mana, but you would have eaten two swamps by now, and only be ahead by BB.
At that point it would be a Dark Ritual that cost you two swamps.
No, what this thing is really for is massive mid-game Drain Lifes. Most
people will see this card, go "BBBB" (they'll be stuttering, of course,
trying to say 'Black Mana!' but failing, and so unintentionally
pronouncing what this card gives you when you sac a swamp) and then that's
it: it'll go straight into their Necro deck. This isn't speed mana, but it
is four extra when you need it, which is still nothing to shake a stick
at. Many a game will be decided by this card. Keep your Stripmines handy.
Thawing Glaciers (Comes into play tapped, 1 and tap, search your library
and put a basic land into play, this doesn't count towards your
one-land-per-turn limit)
Land Tax it ain't, but at the expenditure of one colorless every other
round, you can get one basic land every other round, and still be able to
put down any land you draw (besides Thawing Glaciers) every other round.
This thing won't fill your hand, but it will get what we all want and
need: land. It will also thin your library like Land Tax, but not nearly
as fast. Then again, you don't need to have less land than your opponent.
Furthermore, absolutely any deck can use this card. This thing is the next
Zuran Orb. Look for it in just about every deck.
OK, folks, now's the time that Unky Chris realizes that 16 pages is a good
stopping point for my words of wisdom, considering that I'm not getting
paid for doing this. Tune in next week for more Crap from Chris.
Send your
gripes/hints/tips/suggestions/burning ASCII religious effigies to:
Chri...@aol.com
Apparently ye olde Chris's posts web page got so many hits in one day that
the electrical resistance of the T1 connection into the server got so hot
that Richard Soule's whole computer research department burned down,
taking all my posts and a good portion of northern Iowa with it. I'm
expecting word from someone else who is being way too nice and is putting
the old posts on the web soon. In the meantime, a good two or three of
them are available at Magic: The Database.
"Somebody give me a book deal. Quick. And an enormous, barely-nubile
Harem, while you're at it. Am I asking too much here?" -Me
Travis McIntosh
ChrisMims wrote:
<hugely massive clip>
> Primitive Justice (1R, Sorcery, for each 1R you pay in addition to the
> casting cost, destroy another artifact, ditto for each 1G you spend,
> except you also gain one life for each additional artifact you destroy)
> I'm running out of adjectives for ridiculous. So, hey, let's call this
> card ludicrous. Really, really freakin' silly. Shatterstorm is back, and
> it's as ugly as I remember it. The only reason I still retain even one or
> two Shatters in my significantly red decks instead of maxing out on these
> guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
> respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
> effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.)
You can't stop any of those artifacts from being used by
shattering them. You could only do that if you had to sac them as part
of their activation cost.
<15 and 1 half page clip>
Michael Jason Lewis
In article <4qarsl$6...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
ChrisMims <chri...@aol.com> wrote:
}(It's nice to be able to
}respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
}effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.)
Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about here. The Icy effect, for
example, still happens, even if it's Shattered...
}Varchild's War-Riders (Trample, rampage: 1, CU: put a Survior token into
}play under opponent's control, this token is a 1/1 red creature)
}Don't put this guy out in a stalemate situation,
}but if you can drop him on one turn, he means only one thing to your
}opponent: Adios, Amigos.
And you didn't even mention the Pestilence thing? Anyway, yes, you have
to be VERY careful not to put this out when he could be blocked for a turn
or two, since that will get you into a lot of trouble. And if you're up to
three or more tokens per turn and your opponent puts out a blocker, dump the
Riders then.
- Mike
--
"To put it bluntly," Hayashi said, "I think Stanford and institutions like
Stanford produce a lot of the people who go on to screw up the world."
-- Stanford Daily, Feb. 16, 1996
Chance Harris
ChrisMims (chri...@aol.com) wrote:
: Gorilla Shaman (R, 1/1 creature, 1XX: destroy target artifact with casting
: cost equal to X)
: I remember someone once commenting, about Swords to Plowshares: "I just
: don't think that white should have that kind of power in terms of creature
....
: Pillage (1RR, Sorcery, bury target artifact or land)
: More artifact destruction. How droll. What this thing really is, though,
: is another Stone Rain. This card, coupled with the recent restriction of
: Land Tax, may have the single most fundamental effect on Type II in this
: entire set. In fact, I'd bet on it. What we have, now, in a mono-red deck,
: is 12 LD cards. (Stone Rain + Pillage + Strip Mine) Man, you thought r/w
: decks were bad now, just wait for this angle. And hey, imagine if people
: can swing the mana to use green and Thermokarst. Wouldn't that be fun?
: Folks, not even your Fellwars are safe any more. Be afraid. Be very
: afraid.
: Primitive Justice (1R, Sorcery, for each 1R you pay in addition to the
: casting cost, destroy another artifact, ditto for each 1G you spend,
: except you also gain one life for each additional artifact you destroy)
: I'm running out of adjectives for ridiculous. So, hey, let's call this
: card ludicrous. Really, really freakin' silly. Shatterstorm is back, and
: it's as ugly as I remember it. The only reason I still retain even one or
: two Shatters in my significantly red decks instead of maxing out on these
: guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
: respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
: effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.) Just
: for laughs, the next time you hit a r/* deck at a tourney, when you
: sideboard, quip: "Oh, you're playing red- let me just sideboard out all my
: artifacts." Except, say it in a really bitter, sarcastic voice, and try to
: hold back the burning tears.
Red's Anti-Artifact cards might have been over kill, but I'm still
glad its here. Before this what did we have in type II ? 4 disenchants.
4 Divine Offerings, maybe a Joven if you had lots of Red (but thats
still slow). These are 1:1 cards. There are plenty of N:1 creature
killers, but there were NO GOOD N:1 artifact killers, and that just
sucked. (And don't mention energy flux, because anybody running an
artifact deck had plenty of disenchants, and energy flux means
I can't use artifacts either). As long as we have Wrath of God
and Balance and Pryoclasm, there should be a way of killing all
the artifacts too. Amen.
Chance
cvan...@freenet.vcu.edu
>
> RE: ALLIANCES: EXTENSIVE PONTIFICATIONS (PART II)
>
> Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy
> Post a followup article to newsgroup(s)
> From: cha...@interval.net (Chance Harris)
> Send e-mail reply to: Chance Harris
> Date: 24 Jun 1996 09:34:27 -0500
> Organization: Interval Systems, Inc.
>
>ChrisMims (chri...@aol.com) wrote:
[snip]
>: guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
>: respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
>: effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.) Just
Shattering an artifact in response to its activation does *not*
counter its ability. Of course, shatter is nice vs. Mishras...
--
*****************************************************************************
Colin Van Ostern | The best trick the Devil ever pulled
Richmond, VA USA | was when he convinced the World
vano...@gsgis.k12.va.us | that he did not exsist
*****************************************************************************
John Carter
Chance Harris writes:
: Primitive Justice (1R, Sorcery, for each 1R you pay in addition to the
: casting cost, destroy another artifact, ditto for each 1G you spend,
: except you also gain one life for each additional artifact you destroy)
: I'm running out of adjectives for ridiculous. So, hey, let's call this
: card ludicrous. Really, really freakin' silly. Shatterstorm is back, and
: it's as ugly as I remember it. The only reason I still retain even one or
: two Shatters in my significantly red decks instead of maxing out on these
: guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
: respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
: effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.)
Actually, Shattering a Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk after your opponent has already
activated and paid the activation cost (including tapping it the artifact
in question for all but the Zorb) does *not* counter its use! Once they
have activated the effect, it will happen regardless of whether or not the
artifact is still around when the effect resolves. In fact, you cannot
even Shatter it before they announce it's activation and stop them from
using it, since they can respond to your Shatter by paying the activation
cost and invoking the effect. Once a Disk is untapped, there is nothing
you can do about it (short of an interrupt speed combination like Chaoslace
+ BEB) to keep your opponent from setting it off if they time things right.
You can force them to set it off at an inconvenient time, but they can
always set it off (assuming they don't tap themselves out).
Cheers,
John
--
Prof. John Carter -*- Department of Computer Science -*- Univ of Utah
Email: ret...@cs.utah.edu US mail: 3190 MEB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Alan D Kohler
In article <4qm91j$s...@vortex.interval.net>, cha...@interval.net says...
>still slow). These are 1:1 cards. There are plenty of N:1 creature
>killers, but there were NO GOOD N:1 artifact killers, and that just
>sucked. (And don't mention energy flux, because anybody running an
>artifact deck had plenty of disenchants, and energy flux means
>I can't use artifacts either).
Are you serious? Energy flux rocks. True, they may be packing disenchants,
but you can pack counterspells. I used to use a U/B denial/discard deck in
which I would sideboard out the racks for energy fluxes agaisnt a artifact
heavy deck. It tended to hose those silly "4 icy decks" and "winter orb
decks" that the talentless were winning with for a while (Chris Cade, if you
are out there, there's a card that takes no skill to put 4 of in a deck for
ya: the icy!).
But it's nice to see you don't have to play blue anymore to massively spank
artifact abusers.
--
Alan D Kohler
hwk...@poky.srv.net
"Efficiency is merely applied laziness." - me
Chance Harris
: Chance Harris writes:
: : Primitive Justice (1R, Sorcery, for each 1R you pay in addition to the
: : casting cost, destroy another artifact, ditto for each 1G you spend,
: : except you also gain one life for each additional artifact you destroy)
: : I'm running out of adjectives for ridiculous. So, hey, let's call this
: : card ludicrous. Really, really freakin' silly. Shatterstorm is back, and
: : it's as ugly as I remember it. The only reason I still retain even one or
: : two Shatters in my significantly red decks instead of maxing out on these
: : guys is the fact that Shatter is an Instant. (It's nice to be able to
: : respond to someone's activation of a Feldon's Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk, in
: : effect countering its use that one time as well as destroying it.)
: Actually, Shattering a Cane/Icy/Zorb/Disk after your opponent has already
: activated and paid the activation cost (including tapping it the artifact
: in question for all but the Zorb) does *not* counter its use! Once they
: have activated the effect, it will happen regardless of whether or not the
: artifact is still around when the effect resolves. In fact, you cannot
: even Shatter it before they announce it's activation and stop them from
: using it, since they can respond to your Shatter by paying the activation
: cost and invoking the effect. Once a Disk is untapped, there is nothing
: you can do about it (short of an interrupt speed combination like Chaoslace
: + BEB) to keep your opponent from setting it off if they time things right.
: You can force them to set it off at an inconvenient time, but they can
: always set it off (assuming they don't tap themselves out).
Actually, I'm all for Primitive Justice. Somebody else wrote the above.