Dress Down, is this a secret tech?

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LightningHelix
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Post by LightningHelix » 2 years ago

For reference: Dress Down

Cancels important Creature ETB's or Dies triggers (sometimes), can stop creature based combos, can screw up combat sometimes. All While replacing itself.

Another way to cheat Phyrexian Dreadnought

Is this card secretly really good?

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

No secret about it I think it's pretty powerful. It doesn't beat infinite mana walking ballista which is a big knock against it in stronger groups but it does beat many creature combos which is very nice.

Beating most blood artist effects is also really good.

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JWK
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Post by JWK » 2 years ago

Yeah, I agree with pokken that this isn't a secret at all. This is a very powerful card, standing out in a set brimming with powerful cards. It can do a lot of pretty interesting things and really mess with opponents' plans. I look forward to getting some copies and trying this out.
I have 68 active EDH decks, with more in progress. I don't consider this a problem. Do you?
I am also one of those barbarians who enjoys winning by turning creatures sideways.

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

I ordered a copy as well.

It's got proactive and reactive uses, like shutting down Craterhoof Behemoth, or breaking Indestructible from cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope.

I don't think it's crazy strong, but I don't think it's going to be dead a lot of the time.

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Hawk
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Post by Hawk » 2 years ago

I have really grown on Stifle over the years. This isn't exactly the same, but I can see this being a similar niche as a card that situationally blows people straight out. This has the advantage of "cycling" if it doesn't seem relevant in a match-up, and I should probably chase a few copies down.

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JWK
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Post by JWK » 2 years ago

Sinis wrote:
2 years ago
I ordered a copy as well.

It's got proactive and reactive uses, like shutting down Craterhoof Behemoth, or breaking Indestructible from cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope.

I don't think it's crazy strong, but I don't think it's going to be dead a lot of the time.
I think it will very, very rarely be dead, at least not against the decks I tend to play against - or play. It shuts down an astonishing amount of things, including things some of my decks like to do. This card is sometimes going to blow people out, other times it will turn their plans sideways. I think it will end up being as good as things like Sudden Spoiling, which is pretty good, in my book.
Last edited by JWK 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
I have 68 active EDH decks, with more in progress. I don't consider this a problem. Do you?
I am also one of those barbarians who enjoys winning by turning creatures sideways.

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

JWK wrote:
2 years ago

I think it will very, very rarely be dead, at least not against the decks I tend to play against - or play. It shuts down an astonishing amount of things, including things some of my decks like to do. This card is sometimes going to blow people out, other times it will turn their plans sideways. I think it will end up being as good as things like Sudden Spoiling, which is pretty good, i my book.
Considering it basically has "Cycling: " I would say it could be played with almost complete impunity and without much consideration for what your opponents are playing.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

There really is a lot to like about it.

Being able to recur it for further use will be nice, but I'm not sure there's a ton of decks that will be able to do so (Muldrotha, the Gravetide ofc). That being said, replacing itself in hand is very good, and as mentioned it's going to be able to nullify a LOT of wins.
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UnfulfilledDesires
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Post by UnfulfilledDesires » 2 years ago

Mechanically, this is my favorite card from MH2. (I'm meh on the art & flavor.) I look forward to play with it. Like folks have said, it always at least cycles & has a lot of potential to stop combo & other powerful plays from opponents.

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 2 years ago

I think secretly it's worse than people give it credit.
It doesn't stop activated abilities as they have either put the trigger onto the stack or can respond to it being cast. So mainly we are talking about ETB effects.
Stopping a single ETB effect is pretty weak. The thing is that it competes for slots like Arcane Denial which can just stop a spell altogether (rather than just the ETB).
You could argue that it can prevent certain attacks like Trample or Annihilator but I mean that is very casual play stuff.
Thinking that you can just slot it into a deck because it replaces itself is not correct. It does cost mana and it does fill a card in your hand which could easily be a Counterspell or whatever.
You could argue for days about situations when it's good like casting it in response to a Thassa's Oracle but you know so is Delay in that spot, which turn out is good in all other spots as well.
I will say that if an opponent has a bunch of mana dorks that you can cast it at end of turn before that players turn so that activated abilities cannot be used for sorcery spells. But this still highlights the fact that just stopping some abilities for a short period of time doesn't get you very far.
Overall I bet you this card will sit in peoples hands for most of the game trying to find a spot to get "value".

onering
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Post by onering » 2 years ago

I agree with Darren, this isn't worth it just as a counter spell for triggered abilities, because that's a bit too narrow. If your deck can recur it, or cares about enchantments, it gets a lot better quickly. I also suspect that it will be pretty easy to tell when this is going to be better than stifle in your meta, and when it's not. It also has a lot of side case uses, like removing hexproof or static abilities that screw over your gameplay. I'd say it's generally worse than a cheap counter, but the decks and metals where it will be significantly better than a cheap counter are common enough that it's going to have an impact on the format.

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UnfulfilledDesires
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Post by UnfulfilledDesires » 2 years ago

darrenhabib wrote:
2 years ago
You could argue that it can prevent certain attacks like Trample or Annihilator but I mean that is very casual play stuff.
Dress Down prevents way more than enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities, trample, & annihilator. It may not be able to stop activated abilities—though it can prevent them from being activated until the active player's end step if you cast it during the end step of the turn before—but the card can shut down static abilities (Archon of Emeria, Opposition Agent, Hullbreacher, etc.), death triggers (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, etc.) , upkeep triggers (Dark Confidant, etc.), attack triggers (Etali, Primal Storm, etc.), end step triggers (Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, etc.), & so on.

In cEDH, being able to stop Dockside Extortionist & other ETB abilities, shut off hatebears for a turn, & prevent all creature combos as a two-mana cantrip is actually pretty good. If any cEDH Cantrip Control decks still exist, they might well want this. It's way better than Counterspell if you use it stop at least one of your opponents' cards: at that point it's a two-mana Dismiss. In multiplayer, trading one-for-one with an opponent leaves you relatively behind the rest of the table. Cantrip answers avoid this problem.

In the format overall, creatures with abilities & ETB creatures especially see heavy play. Even just denying an ETB trigger for two mana without going down a card would be sweet. No such card exists. The closest would be Nimble Obstructionist, which costs three mana. I've been a big fan since its release.

You can additionally use Dress Down to avoid the ETB drawbacks of creatures like Phyrexian Dreadnought & Phage, the Untouchable..

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JWK
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Post by JWK » 2 years ago

I don't think I'll have much trouble finding value for this sort of card. Shutting off Zulaport Cutthroat trigger or nullifying indestructibility in response to a boardwipe.... who doesn't run into that sort of thing all of the time?

As with all things, YMMV, but I personally love these sorts of cards. I'm also a big fan of stuff like Stifle and Polymorphist's Jest , and I almost always find a use for those over the course of a game.
I have 68 active EDH decks, with more in progress. I don't consider this a problem. Do you?
I am also one of those barbarians who enjoys winning by turning creatures sideways.

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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 2 years ago

I think I'll run in Alela. I love that it replaces itself, I think it will be powerfull often and lead to some blowouts. I dont think its a staple/auto include or anytging but may be nice

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