Devour Flesh- WHY???
Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 17, 2014, 8:20 p.m. by TheGamer
I get that it is only 2 mana and it gets rid of lots of big threats in standard but im not getting why people run it. Your opponent gains life from it and your opponent chooses so they can choose a 1/1.
Also, getting a life disadvantage equal to a removal worthy (and hard to remove otherwise) creature's toughness is likely much better than actually letting that creature at you. Case in point Swords to Plowshares
February 17, 2014 8:33 p.m.
Arachnarchist says... #4
Because it's really hard for a mono-black deck to win when the opponent has a Blood Baron of Vizkopa on the field.
February 17, 2014 8:37 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #5
doesn't help with gods and master of waves, seeing as there'd always be other creatures to sac, either tokens or devotion enablers.
But it's used because mono black wants a lot of removal, and apart from a few notable cards a lot of the removal has conditions which make them less sensible to use as 4 of's.
February 17, 2014 8:38 p.m.
In fringe cases, can also to serve to keep you alive at the cost of one of your creatures.
February 17, 2014 8:44 p.m.
if your playing black, you don't need Devour Flesh to take out Master of Waves also the only way it hit's a god card is if they have high enough devotion and sac the god instead of one of their other creatures because if devotion is not met when the god is on the battlefield then it is not a creature and therefore can't be sacrificed to devour flesh. if your looking for 2 mana removal Doom Blade and Ultimate Price are much better options. Each has it's limitations but I personally prefer Ultimate Price because even when someone is playing 2 and 3 color decks the main creatures, (i.e. Stormbreath, Polukranos, Demons, Arbor colossus, Master of waves) are all mono colored. There are things that Ultimate Price can't hit, like Nightveil Specter , but it's not as big of a threat as the other creatures and if your playing mono black then you should have other removal like Hero's Downfall to deal with it before it gets out of hand. And if your playing B/G then you have downfall, Putrefy , and Abrupt Decay at your disposal as well. Really the only time Devour Flesh becomes a necessity is if you run into Blood Baron or a Hexproof deck. But that's what sideboards are for so there is no need to hurt yourself mainboard for something you won't need in 90% of matchups IMO. And yes the life gain is relevant, even with gray merchants, because no matter how you look at it that's still extra damage you have to do. It's a lot easier to deal 20 damage than it is to deal 25 or 30 damage.
February 17, 2014 8:46 p.m.
It's a tool in black's large array of options. Decks that use it typically run sets of things like Hero's Downfall and at least 2 copies of Doom Blade or a similar spell. Adding in a few Devour Flesh allows you to wipe away harder to kill threats after killing off many other threats. It's also got many other uses that aren't immediately apparent. You can slow down green decks by systematically removing all their weenies or you can kill off your own permatapped demon to gain 6+ life.
February 17, 2014 8:48 p.m.
deathtouch_roadrunner says... #9
Kills blood baron, sinks hexproof... Even just those 2 things are pretty much more than enough reason to have them in sideboard, but you probably want 2 main anyway.
February 17, 2014 8:56 p.m.
There was a time where Diabolic Edict
was one of the strongest removal spells to ever exist.
This is the same thing with a tiny little penalty. And you can even sacrifice your own guys in a pinch to gain a bucketload of life if it happens to be a Desecration Demon or something.
February 17, 2014 10:56 p.m.
Mono-Black also runs Erebos, God of the Dead which negates lifegain from devour flesh which can be a great way to clear out a pesky Blood Baron of Vizkopa or even when it comes to T2 Pack Rat giving up one life is fine because all of your threats will negate that life gain in the long run.it's like saying Thoughtseize is bad because you lose 2 life and you may whiff on getting something good. The good outweighs the bad
February 17, 2014 10:58 p.m.
ShadowLand says... #12
Then why don't people play Far / Away instead, it performs the same function without giving them the life gain off of it
February 17, 2014 11:14 p.m.
Because its CMC is more, which allows for another Pack Rat to be made, not allow for an extra removal to take place when you need to cast 2 in fringe cases, you won't gain life from sacrificing a creature to stay alive plus mono black has a ton of 3 cost spells already, adding another one to the curve just isn't viable
February 17, 2014 11:19 p.m.
deathtouch_roadrunner says... #14
Far costs 3, so whole different ball game. It's too expensive. The 2 or less cmc is pretty important for most black creature removal.
February 17, 2014 11:22 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #15
I'll answer your question with another question: Which costs more money? Thoughtseize or Distress ?
People don't like paying mana for things. If there's a cheaper option, it will be used. Even at the cost of a life imbalance.
February 17, 2014 11:23 p.m.
Also, the life matters way less than most folks think. There's a solid argument to be made that life is the least valuable resource in magic, save that last point. Sure, there is some fraction of games you might loose because of they gained some life but there are far more that you're going to win by having a 2 mana revmoval spell that is like likely to get stuck in hand - Ultimate Price , Doom Blade , etc. And once you're swinging with a team of Pack Rat s or Desecration Demon s that life they gained is lucky to add even a turn to the clock.
It will see a little less play with Bile Blight around, but it's a better spell than most are giving credit.
February 17, 2014 11:29 p.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #17
In many Black decks (including MBD), there's tons of spot removal. Devour Flesh is there to diversify removal options to deal with Pro-Black, Indestuctible, Hexproof, etc.
Servo_Token says... #2
If you're casting Devour Flesh , your opponent probably doesn't have a 1/1 to chump sac.
Its used because it deals with big threats that your other removal can't get rid of, like blood baron, master of waves, god cards...
Its not the only piece of removal that you are running. You should also have Hero's Downfall , and something like Doom Blade in your deck.
Also, the lifegain is irrelevant because Gray Merchant.
February 17, 2014 8:23 p.m.