Disdainful Stroke vs Neutralizing Blast
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 8, 2015, 10:54 a.m. by capriom85
How good is neutralizing blast going to be in Standard when it competes for slots next to Disdainful Stroke? Let's weigh some pros and cons:
What do each of this hit?
Stroke - Stormbreath, Rhino, Roc, Elspeth, Sarkhan, Whip, Polukranos, End Hostilities, Surrak, Kiora, Chandra, Nissa, Sorin, Ajani, all Gods (not Athreos), Impersonator, Butcher, to name the big targets
Blast - Rhino, Ashiok, Surrak, most Gods, Mantis Rider, Kiora, Knuckleblade, all charms, both Ajani, Fleecemane, Anafenza, Sorin, Butcher, Crackling Doom, to cover staples.
There is a lot of overlap area here...but Stroke hits mono colored finishers that we never want to see resolve. Blast hits multi colored spells that make our lives harder like Doom and Rider. They both seem a bitch niche, which is why they are sideboard tech, but can they coexist together?
Most decks run 3 Disdainful Stroke in the sideboard. I agree with this big time. When you play against a deck running Rhinos, Elspeth, and Sorin you definitely want to be able to hit those. But what if you are playing against the Aggro version of Abzan? Stroke hit Rhino and Sorin and that's it. Blast hit Rhino, Sorin, Lion, RDD, Anafenza, etc. They are basically left with Coursers, Caryatids, and Heralds, which we can swing right through pretty easily or just remove them. So, Blast proves its worth in the SB as well.
I am sure most will say its a question of meta...what do you personally see more of? But right now I think we see just as many low curve threats as higher curve threats. What about the 4 color control that runs Dictate of the Twin Gods and Deflecting Palm? Blast turns that match in your favor since it stops their Crackling Doom and Deflecting Palm. You then use the Dictates in your favor.
The problem here is how many slots do you want to give to counters in your SB? If I run 3 Disdainful Stroke already, and don't want to cut that to 2, am I really going to devote 5-6 slots to situational counters?
What are your thoughts?
I'm personally still inclined to say Stroke is better. It has more reach. Sroke's also used as more of a way to gain an edge past turn 5 or so. It's fantastic for grindy games.
January 8, 2015 11:23 a.m.
I don't think it's versatile enough. Nullify, Negate, Disdainful Stroke all seem like better 2 mana counterspells..
January 8, 2015 11:49 a.m.
Nigeltastic says... #6
I think it's better than Nullify, but worse than both Negate and Disdainful Stroke. The control I run is heavy on single target removal so negating planeswalkers is more important than nullifying creatures to me. Either way this guy isn't quite good enough currently I don't think.
January 8, 2015 11:59 a.m.
I probably won't end up sing it since I am running Temur mid, but the first thing I thought when it was spoiled was Elspeth, Sarkhan, Roc, Stormbreath, etc.
TheNinjaJesus says... #2
I think blue lacks flexibility in counterspells right now. If you're running control, you're going to want Blast, Stroke, and Dissolve all to deal with different things. You may side out blast for a mono colored counter against mono green devotion, but even then, mono-green has evolved into a Nykthos splash Sultai affair to attempt to Wealth for 30 mana. Mono black or mono red agro would require all the Bile Blights and Drown in Sorrows in the world instead of counters anyway. Hard control will probably run 1 Blast main and 1 Stroke main (playtest of DissolveDissipate), and then tweak counters accordingly via SB.
January 8, 2015 11:21 a.m.