Aether Vial or Descendant's Path?
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 14, 2016, 2:28 p.m. by Xica
What's more viable in modern builds that use creature?
AEther Vial is cheap, but it needs card in your hand, and time to "warm up" before it can play 2/3 cmc creatures (as it happens that it is not in the opening hand)
Descendants' Path costs a lot more, but the fact is somewhat mitigated by green manadorks, and the fact that it can cast "anything" (no restriction in terms of cmc), while it does not use your hand (so discard does not affect it), and enchantment removal is less widespread than artifact removal.(I would not say that the tribal restriction is too relevant, considering Tasigur, the Golden Fang,Dark Confidant,Snapcaster Mage are all humans - i would say this can be worked around)
So whats worth more the 
cost of AEther Vial, or the power of Descendants' Path?
I would lean towards the latter, as it solves the main problem of AEther vial... namely running out of gas (cards in hand)
AEther Vial is by far the best one. Sure you are restricted to the cards in your hand, but with an aggressive build it lets you dodge counterspells and cheat on mana. There's a reason that D&T and Merfolk both use it to great effect.
January 14, 2016 2:33 p.m.
zyphermage says... #4
Yeah I don't get the point of this thread. Comparing a $40 card played in legacy/modern to a near bulk green rare. The Descendants' Path card can be countered. and needing cards in hand for vial is not really a drawback.
January 14, 2016 2:42 p.m.
If you want to use them to cast free creatures they are quiet comparable in any tribal deck.
Yes AEther Vial protects from counterspells, but you can put Cavern of Souls in any "tribal", or near tribal deck, without sacrificing much + it helps out greatly in mana colors. (Descendants' Path also requires some level of tribal interaction)So i wouldn't rush that much to call Descendants' Path crap.
January 14, 2016 2:45 p.m.
You don't actually use the vial to cast anything. You use it to put creatures into play. At instant speed. For 1 mana.
That's so dumb I can't even begin to understand whoever though this was acceptable. The tempo the vial creates is beyond dumb. That's its primary appeal. Descendants' Path, on the other hand, generates value over time. Those are two distinct things.
One is a legacy and modern staple in the main across several decks. The other has 0 results on MTGTop8 across all formats.
January 14, 2016 2:54 p.m.
Descendants' Path needs a tribal deck to shine. It is also dependant on you having a board state. Not to mention the fact that it can screw you over if you need any type of removal spell and you top deck said spell.
Decks that use AEther Vial have the resources to abuse it. It speeds decks up. An example, merfolk has Merrow Reejerey which can allow them to dump their entire hand turn 3 by untapping vial. Another deck that abuses it is eterenal command. Cast Cryptic Command and vial in Eternal Witness to return cryptic to your hand. Bounce witness, rinse, and repeat. It's also really good cause people don't like getting their atuff countered by those pesky 
people.
January 14, 2016 3:01 p.m. Edited.
...i would have liked to get answers about people's opinions about the potentials of the cards, not citations from statistics.
Please post only if constructive as its well known that one of the cards is valuable, while the other sees ~0 play.
AEther Vial is played in legacy D&T where its mana cost shines, functions as a counterspell, and the deck has zero tribal interaction, to accomodate the other card in question. - but how is this in any way related to modern???
While merfolk just likes to keep it mono blue, and the card interacts with specific cards of the deck very well.
My question is the following:
If you want to use the 2 aftermentioned cards in a tribal* deck to play more creatures, and play them earlier which of the two is better.
(*I meant that you took some amount of consideration in choosing creature types instead of going the usual goodstuff route. - sometimes playing 2 creatures / turn is better than playing a questinably better one)
January 14, 2016 3:09 p.m.
AEther Vial is far faster, doesn't depend on your board state, and you decide when you want to use it and what you want to use it on.
However I'm more concerned with the creatures you named. Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage and the fact that Descendants' Path is an option tells me you're looking at a BUG (sultai) control/midrange deck. I wouldn't necessarily recommend either given a deck like that, but I'd have to see your list.
January 14, 2016 3:12 p.m.
zyphermage says... #10
Descendants' Path green versus colorless is a real handicap on the deck. Not putting them in at instant speed is another. Yeah you don't have to have a creature in hand but you do have to have 1 on the board. The Cavern of Souls thing is not even an argument for or against, either of these cards. If it was a tribal deck with either the artifact or enchantment it would no doubt be running cavern already. Even in a tribal deck with cavern and maybe other utility lands the vial still seems better. You can drop it turn 1 off cavern or Mutavault or whatever. I am sure Descendants' Path can pay of in a long game and is a card I might even play. But I cannot argue to make it more than a 1$ card at most either.
January 14, 2016 3:15 p.m.
COUGARMEAT says... #11
I use Descendants' Path in a Bant Sliver deck I threw together and I absolutely love it. The main drawbacks I come across are If I don't control any creatures, then I don't get the free one. The other problem is if I really need another land and it is on top of my library, it goes to the bottom then I draw a creature with a CMC out of my range. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens enough to be wary of playing it if I don't have a way to protect my board or if I haven't drawn enough lands to not care if they go to the bottom.
AEther Vial is the more powerful of the two for many reasons, but don't go out buying a playset unless you are determined to build a deck that utilizes its full potential.
January 14, 2016 3:18 p.m.
To me, it just sounds like you're looking for us to validate Descendants' Path being good because you want it to be that way.
Even if you're looking to play something like tribal in modern with green - say elves - you're usually better off casting CoCo anyways. It generates value through bodies much like the path but does so at instant speed and with immediate results most of the time.
January 14, 2016 3:19 p.m.
COUGARMEAT says... #13
addaff How does Merrow Reejerey untap AEther Vial if you are using the vial to put merfolk into play? There is no casting involved.
January 14, 2016 3:20 p.m.
Should I ignore the fact that you took a bunch of very clear, useful feedback and complained because it wasn't what you wanted to hear?
To answer your question (which has been answered by nearly everybody in this thread already) "If you want to use the 2 aftermentioned cards in a tribal* deck to play more creatures, and play them earlier which of the two is better." AEther Vial is better. It comes down earlier and gets going faster. It also has a lot of utility that can't be ignored when assessing the value it generates.
January 14, 2016 3:28 p.m.
COUGARMEAT says... #16
Oh, I was genuinely asking, not trying to call anyone out. I sometimes don't understand how some decks/synergies work at first and need a little more explanation.
January 14, 2016 3:31 p.m.
Reejerey in play, vial in a lord, cast a merfolk, unatp vial, and vial something else in. So turn 4 is when crazy stuff happens
January 14, 2016 3:34 p.m.
COUGARMEAT says... #18
I figured that was the kind of play you were referring to. When I read it, I read it as, vial everything in your hand with CMC x in because Reejerey is in play. It blew my mind and confused me equally.
January 14, 2016 3:47 p.m.
AEther Vial is an acceleration tool, which is where tribal decks (which are mostly aggro or tempo) want to be. Descendants' Path is slow because of its 
, and can get turned off by a sweeper, exacerbating one of tribal aggro's main weaknesses (on the other hand, the Vial helps you play around/recover from a sweeper). Basically, Descendants' Path is win-more, AEther Vial actively helps you win.
January 14, 2016 4:11 p.m.
Turn one land go.
Turn two, land Nest Invader
Turn three, land Descendants' Path
Turn four, flip Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Win
=D
January 14, 2016 4:14 p.m.
I'll see your Nest Invader and raise you an Eldrazi Mimic.
January 14, 2016 4:26 p.m.
Nest Invader's better because it puts 2 eldrazi's on the field. Now your opponent can't just path one or something. The spawn can potentially be used for ramp too. Maybe pay that last mana for Mana Leak or something.
January 14, 2016 4:36 p.m.
AEther Vial is good because you can activate whenever, and it helps you win, and mitigates a tribal decks weaknesses (wraths). On the other hand if you have a lot of creatures with different cmc's or high cmc's then vial doesn't help much because you have to change the number of counters on it, and you can't go back down unless you have a way to interact with the number of counters on the vial.
Descendants' Path is good because you can play anything off the top of your deck, but it only happens during your upkeep so you can't make a play like vial in lord untap swing. If you have a lot of top deck manipulation, then this is good because you can use it to keep pressure while still using your mana for support spells. On the other hand, wraths turn it off and you need to have something on the field for it to work.
EDIT: So which one is good really depends on the type of deck you're building, and your card choices.
January 14, 2016 4:57 p.m. Edited.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #24
TheDevicer I am slightly disappointed in your lack of GIF or memes for this post...lmao.
As for the actual post. There are hardly any decks that run Descendants' Path. It is too slow, and rather inconsistent. Whereas AEther Vial can be played turn 1, then by turn 2 or 3, actually put a threat into play. D Path only hits by like Turn 4 (without any help) and isn't a guarantee that you get a threat out of it.
January 14, 2016 5:06 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #25
Just going to point out that a good opinion is based on evidence, and by asking for less evidence you effectively ask for less realistic perspectives that may be more likely to corroborate some suspicion of yours. Not very impressive.
The statistics are relevant. The reason that Descendants' Path isn't played and isn't valuable is because its potential is far too low. Objectively, AEther Vial is better because it has a more relevant impact on the game, enables stronger plays, costs less, and comes online earlier. Descendants' Path may not depend on cards in hand, but it does depend on board state and on the random chance that you'll reveal (giving information away in the process) something that happens to share a type.
If your intent the whole time was to compare their usefulness in a specific deck, you should have just asked that; usefulness overall is far different from usefulness in a specific application.
Arvail says... #2
These cards do fundamentally different things. I wouldn't say they're comparable at all.
January 14, 2016 2:33 p.m.