toctheyounger wrote: ↑3 years ago
So I guess as well as these, it's probably worth discussing Double Masters. There's at least a couple of potential additions in
Stoneforge Mystic and
Sword of Fire and Ice, as well as
Path to Exile. Not gonna lie, all three of these are tempting to grab, but from what I hear there's a very limited print run so I can't see prices dropping a ton on any of them. I'll definitely keep eyes peeled though, I've got prices in mind and if any of them get within range I'll grab some bits and pieces. Bare minimum it'd be nice to have a few copies of Path for other decks too.
If you are debating between
Stoneforge Mystic and
Sword of Fire and Ice and they cost the same, I would go with Stoneforge every time. Given that it looks like Fire and Ice is still twice as much (at least for me in the states) I would not hesitate to say stoneforge over sword.
Honestly, I often would rather have
Mask of Memory than I would
Sword of Fire and Ice in a lot of cases. Obviously if you can bully someone's commander off the table or kill an
Oracle of Mul Daya its a bit different but my average expected value I would much rather have a draw 2 ditch 1 than a draw 1 + shock. The mana cost also lets you curve from Stoneforge into a Mask play early if you draw it up that way where as Sword can feel clunky early on. Don't get me wrong, there are times where Sword of Fire and Ice is MVP but I am just saying it is a lot more dependent on what your opponents are playing which is something that is out of our control. If you can stick a SoF&I vs
Azami for instance, you are going to ruin them. The protections though aren't the best colors for evasion though and like I said, the shock value varies wildly. The value of getting Stoneforge early and getting the option to getting
Sword of the Animist and already having that body to carry it is really solid though. Stoneforge will smooth out and add consistency to your equipment plan where as I prefer having SoF&I after I have the equipment consistency because its not nearly as good early on. I would go so far as to say that I would likely add
Stoneforge Mystic and
Steelshaper's Gift to the list before I would consider buying SoF&I.
When it comes to
Swords to Plowshares and
Path to Exile I am a bit of a black sheep. I think they have their place and time but I think I am having a much harder time including them anymore. More and more combos don't involve creatures or can't be responded to by killing a creature (looking at you
Thassa's Oracle). Some things like
Walking Ballista +
Heliod, Sun-Crowned can even be a challenge given that if they have the mana to activate twice they go right past your removal. There are still times it will work and there are some things like
Consecrated Sphinx that must be answered immediately but I am getting to the point where I don't like creature only removal like this because they aren't that efficient at removing commanders and the number of non commander creatures that I need and can use spot removal on feels like its dwindling. I myself went a bit wierd lately and added more activated ability commander hate just kind of responsively based on a lot of the commanders I have seen lately. I have oddly enough been sort of hot on
Cast Out lately given the diversity in what it can do even though it is a 4 mana effect its targeting options and cycling option have all been just solid for me.