Welcome back Zoners! It has been quite a while...many weeks have passed since I last posted a Super Secret Sunday. I don't like to reveal too much about myself, but I happen to live in a college town. At this time of year students, new and old alike, are returning to town to renew their scholariships and fill up my bars. In honor of their return I am dedicating this S^3 to cards that I used to believe in, but have since turned my back on...specifically removal spells; good ones at that.
I can still recall the old days. Tournament grinders who had lost their chance at glory would gather at the bottom tables and play decks too large to be competitive. We hadn't started calling it EDH; we hadn't started calling it anything, it was just what we did for fun. Same decks, same format, except this card had just been printed and I was still unsure about how good Sensei's Divining Top was. Trust me, I don't make the same mistakes I did back then. I'd never do it again. I like my keys black in case that was ever in question.
Entwine isn't the most broken mechanic. Develepment actually did a
great job of making these cards cost effective. Many are good, but none are truly insane. Tooth and Nail often stretches my definition of good into the realm of 'unfun', but oh well, sometimes you just want people to grieve. Kill the creatures, reanimate the threats; don't apologize.
So, from here on out we are under the banner of sketchy tech. This is stuff I have yet to cast in a 'real' match of Commander. Red is sorely lacking in quality removal. If you want to take out something besides a small creature you are basically up the creek. Recent years have been kind however, bringing you answers, albeit unorthodox ones, at higher rarities. I am down with this kind of card. It has variance, but the variance isn't that high. If you only have one thing you want to get rid of you are living the dream. Competitive games will require you to deal with multiple threats before you can secure a win; making this a perfectly acceptable removal spell to play when you are behind. It just so happens that is the best time to have a removal spell...
I often tend to cut situational removal spells from my decks. In fact, I cut them before I look anywhere else. Most of the time they are weak when they work and useless when they don't, so I don't have any hard feelings leaving them on the sidelines. However, like I said before, Red has trouble with plus size creatures, and this is an excellent way to capitalize on having a more aggressive start that your opponent. You can easily kill small utility guys and if you happen to land a fatty this just becomes a Red Terror.
Innistrad block brought a strict update to this card in Wrack with Madness, but what the hey, this column is about underplayed cards right? It wouldn't be any fun if the cards weren't a bit sketchy...
That's all for today Zoners! I hope you are enjoying the new set and the new content. Be sure to let us know how we are doing through likes or through the comments, we would love to hear your feedback. Until next time, enjoy the new Theros spoilers, I know I am.
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