Clan Defiance - Why doesn't it see play!?
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Posted on March 16, 2014, 10:42 a.m. by byepolarbear
I don't really understand why this card doesn't see play, at least in sideboards of Jund or R/G Monster decks.
X damage to a flyer, a ground pounder AND a player! Not devided up, just X to each! Potential 3 for 1 and with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and mana dorks a massive Clan Defiance could just win the game...
Is there something I'm just not seeing?
travis11997 says... #3
I've been thinking about playing it in my gruul deck, but mistcutter is mostly better. With Nykthos, though, 10-20 mana can be generated. If you need to deliver that kill shot, it could basically be a rakdos return.
March 16, 2014 11:44 a.m.
casearious says... #4
when m14 first came out i was running a playset of clan defiance as the only non=sliver card in my sliver deck, and it worked surprisingly well with manaweft sliver allowing me to often clan defiance for more than 15, how ever as the sets evolved and the meta changed it became quickly apparent that slivers were just underpowered and the defiance fell into the forgotten realm....then i played g/r monster devotion and with xenagos and nykthos i rediscovered how powerful this card really was...turn 1 mystic turn 2 burning tree burning tree nykthos for xenagos make a token turn 3 clan defiance for 8 and swing the creatures for 6 more? seems pretty good to me
March 16, 2014 11:54 a.m.
thataddkid says... #5
Every deck can do amazing with the perfect hand. The problem is that cards like Clan Defiance need lots of mana to be relevant and you won't always have the ability to cast it for x=6 on turn 3. Most of the time it will be a removal spell that Lightning Strike outclasses.
March 16, 2014 2:30 p.m.
OrzhovExtort says... #6
The thing I see is Esper and U/W control are in the meta right now and counterspells and removal are everything so you tap out for a card on your turn (because its a sorcery) and then they counter it with dissolve if you didn't notice that 3rd land they had open :) so in R/G I could see it but it is definitely late and dosent hit ALL creatures just the targets kinda seems like a clunky draw and very late unless you build a deck towards it
March 16, 2014 3:20 p.m.
I like Destructive Revelry and think it should see more play.
March 16, 2014 4:20 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #8
Monsters doesn't run Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx which allows for relevant amounts of mana to be spent on Clan Defiance . Flesh / Blood is a much better card for the deck, 2 mana to deal 4+ damage to a creature or player. Relevant early and late game.
March 17, 2014 8:32 a.m.
I like Clan Defiance a lot, but I think WotC had EDH/Commander in mind when they designed the card. As others have said, it has trouble getting all three modes off. In a multiplayer game, however, it's not that hard to hit a flier, a ground pounder, and a player/planeswalker. It's especially not difficult when you have lots of mana acceleration in green for EDH.
raithe000 says... #2
Well, look at the meta. The top 3 decks (last I checked) are U/W Control, MBD, and MUD. Against U/W control, you are paying X to deal X damage to the player, or maybe a planeswalker. Your almost certainly better off with Mistcutter Hydra , as that can't be countered, and will stick around.
Against MUD, you might be able to take out some of the smaller creatures, but you'll still be overwhelmed by Master of Waves , and again, Mistcutter Hydra is a better option.
Against MBD, the only thing that it will reliably hit early game is Pack Rat and maybe Nightveil Specter . You need at least 8 mana to kill Desecration Demon , and Gray Merchant of Asphodel will negate most of the life loss.
So, it's not as good as Mistcutter Hydra in 2 of 3 big matchups, and it's also expensive sorcery speed removal. I could be wrong though, I haven't been paying heavy attention to the meta recently.
March 16, 2014 11:03 a.m.