MTGNexus

I'm going with Ancient Stone Idol. I rarely run either of these, but I did have a deck at one point that ran both, and as I improved it, Metalwork Colossus got cut and Stone Idol survived.

The flash is a big selling point, even though the cost reduction is less reliable, and the token it leaves behind extends its effectiveness on the board and has potential for shenanigans.

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Scourge of Valkas, not even close. Having it out and dragonstorming for 3 is a guaranteed win beyond any specific direct removal spells.

New Black Sacrificial Commanders:

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Definitely Yawgmoth.

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This one's tough, because I'm very fond of both cards, but also find both kind of mediocre in a technical way. Wingmate Roc (maybe) has a much better body (bodies). But, Linden's trigger is more useful for separate instances of lifegain (like Karlov of the Ghost Council, or Archangel of Thune).

I'm going to have to say Wingmate Roc. Flying, bodies, doesn't care what colour creature attacks. If there were more things like Archangel of Thune, it'd be a different story, but there aren't.

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Both are fun cards but only Mystic Confluence I actually often see in various decks. The flexibility is too good to ignore, it's literally never a dead card which Silumgar's Command can be.

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Thalia. I don't play hatebears, but generally cheaper is better.

High Market, and that's purely because it costs no extra mana itself. I prefer Miren's effect obviously, but when I'm using a land to sac, it's usually reactively, which means I'm less likely to have 3 floating.

Mirror Match!
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Heretic Cathar. 1 Mana doesn't usually matter much unless you're really piling up these effects (and you can, it's just a very specific deck). Heretic Cathar, on the other hand, will be more generally useful.

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Erebos. Indestructible and easier to recur if milled. Nicely sized body with enough devotion (though without evasion of its own).

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Swarm Intelligence. Thousand Year Storm is just... too hard to keep track of. I mean, it isn't really (everything has Storm!) but, I guess I don't want to be locked into U/R/x, and it's just so heavy-handed. Here's another one I don't think is a slam dunk and there are advantages/disadvantages to both:

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Edit: Now that it's been answered; I kind of like Cast Through Time. You can pick different modes on modal spells, you get cast triggers for the rebounded spell (like Metallurgic Summonings and ... Swarm Intelligence's, in fact), and some spells like being Rebounded more than copied, like Wrath effects.

Still Swarm Intelligence. Getting your second spell immediately is much better than needing to wait an entire turn cycle for it. I've also played through Possibility Storm with it, which Cast Through Time can't do.

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Thousand-Year Storm, for sure. I like that it's in Izzet colors and you can get way more copies out of it than by giving rebound.



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Thousand Year Storm just delivers more, and has more possibilities to pull out than Ral, who's really just watching you cast spells.

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Primordial Hydra. An x-burn spell on a body is cute and everything, but Primordial Hydra eats players.

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Echo of Eons. It allows for more tricks and you don't risk losing vital parts of your deck.

Battle of wide vs tall:

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Xenagos has had a hand in killing me numerous times. Grumgully, while having one of the coolest names in MTG, is an unexciting combo piece.

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Casualties because it doesn't require all targets and it can destroy a planeswalker. (Plus, I like Golgari a little more than Gruul.)
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Purphoros, but they'd clearly be pals who work well together. Almost like a buddy cop movie.

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RxPhantom wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Almost like a buddy cop movie.

Or a buddy villain movie? I wonder if there any good ones like that?

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Genesis Wave. Villainous Wealth can be fun, but one can be more sure of stuff from their own deck being useful where stealing from an opponent can be a gamble as far as whether it really furthers your goal.

I'm breaking out of the two-card thing briefly for a cycle:
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I'm going to go with the only one worth of a reprint: Dragon's Breath. The ones in Sultai are all more or less the same; they provide some evasion, which would be good if the creature you're tabling already has haste, but, I would much rather have Haste ahead of some kind of evasion. Like, if you cast Nicol Bolas, would you rather he have free haste, or free fear? I also like Red's penchant for looting effects, so it's sometimes just kind of a free card, as well (shout out to Wings, because it cycles).

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I was this years old when I discovered the existence of Ricochet Trap and I feel I must test it out somewhere now. The ceiling isn't as high as with Wild Ricochet but the potentional for cheap use is definitely there.

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Promise of Power by a country mile. A huge reload, or a big demon, or both. I sometimes hear about people gaming Painful Truths with Jodah, Archmage Eternal or Fist of Suns and I think to myself "these people would love Promise of Power".

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I prefer Field Researcher due to the lower CMC, the card advantage being a plus ability instead of a minus and the ultimate having a more immediate impact.

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Diluvian. It doesn't self exile and scales to your opposition, so has scope for increasing value.

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Torrential Gearhulk. Noxious Gearhulk is a removal, but the instant you flash back with Torrential could be anything - even a removal spell!

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