Aven Mindcensor
Modern forum
Posted on Feb. 24, 2015, 6:01 p.m. by DarkMagician
How is Aven Mindcensor poised in the current meta?
SoggyGecko says... #3
Well, almost every deck uses fetchlands. But Lingering Souls is very popular at the current moment. This is always a good hate-bear card(even though it's not really a bear.. Eh who cares). It really depends on the shell. I think that it can do good work.
February 24, 2015 6:09 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #4
It's strong against Amulet and Scapeshift, neither of which are unquestionably Tier 1. Twin, Burn, Affinity and Abzan all don't care about the card.
February 24, 2015 6:26 p.m.
GlistenerAgent to an extent that is right. Abzan can get pretty hard when you shut off their fetches but other than that Ya sure I agree.
February 24, 2015 7:05 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #6
They just kill it. I wouldn't sideboard it in.
February 24, 2015 7:09 p.m.
They can take it form you with Thoughtseize or use Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay on it at minimum. Conservatively, let's say they have 6 spells to get rid of Aven Mindcensor. In reality, it's going to be higher. With the amount of discard the deck can force, it's also possible that you won't get value from the bird at all.
February 24, 2015 7:21 p.m.
DarkMagician says... #8
TheDevicer I hate when people use that logic because while it is completely true it also applies to every single other card so why play anything?
February 24, 2015 7:58 p.m.
Because we're talking about sideboarding here. Aven is a 3 mana 2/1 flying body with an ability. If you don't get value off of the ability, you're essentially playing an inefficient creature AND wasting a highly valuable sideboard slots. It's strictly worse than your mainboard bodies. I'm not saying don't play the bird 'because it can be killed'. I'm saying that it's not really good vs abzan because it's not worth the sideboard slot. White has other options that work better vs the deck, but it's still a tough deck to beat.
February 24, 2015 8:14 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #10
That logic applies well to sideboard cards. Siding the bird in Vs abzan literally only can punish the opponent keeping a shitty hand. By t3 they have all the land fixing they need anyways not to mention most of their attrition spells only cost 1-2 to begin with. It does almost nothing and you wasted deck space for it
February 24, 2015 8:16 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #11
it depends on ur deck. If ur playing junk midrange then it can be hard to beat amulet bloom because all of ur reactive spells cant negate the fact that they can tutor for bounce land Tolaria West transmute for Summoner's Pact and get a new titan. Aven Mindcensor can improve ur matchup post board. Its good for most non-blue, non-fast-combo decks that play white. Its good in Junk, its good in BW tokens, its bad in UWR control, UWR Geist and any other white deck also playing permission.
February 24, 2015 8:16 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #12
Here's the deal: Sideboard Mindcensor in against Scapeshift, Amulet, Tron and Jeskai Control. The first three are obvious, and the last is because you want as many threats as possible, and the flash is just a bonus.
Don't bring it in against Abzan, because it doesn't win the game or severely crimp their plans within a relevant time frame. Also, if you're bringing in creatures against Abzan they need to have a Batterskull level of resiliency. You won't get value off of them otherwise.
February 24, 2015 8:20 p.m.
Aven sees play almost exclusively in hate bears but rarely anything else. If you really need to shut down a fetch, Shadow of Doubt is my personal favorite.
February 24, 2015 9:53 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #14
If you want to snipe fetches, Shadow of Doubt is better. If you want to stop combo decks, then Aven Mindcensor is still good, but Shadow of Doubt is better.
Arvail says... #2
It has its place in a few mainboards, mainly hatebears. It's usually a 2-of there. Martyr Life and Zoo are other archetypes you may encounter it in. It's still a fine sideboard card but sees very limited mainboard play.
February 24, 2015 6:09 p.m.