Does standard card with this effect exist?
Standard forum
Posted on March 28, 2013, 2:40 p.m. by Tomodachi01
There was a card that I really enjoyed, called Mindcrank , but it's not standard, so I can't use it in tournaments around here. Is there a currently standard card that has the same or a similar effect?Thanks for the help.
Tomodachi01 says... #3
Well yeah, it's more like the opposite of Mindcrank . Duskmantle Guildmage causes life loss whenever cards are milled, and Mindcrank causes milling whenever life is lost. That's why I wanted a standard card that does what Mindcrank does, it would cause an infinite loop.
March 28, 2013 2:58 p.m.
Undead Alchemist is the closest thing you'll find, I believe
March 28, 2013 3:07 p.m.
Tomodachi01 says... #5
Hm. Not what I was looking for, but that looks like a decent addition to my deck. Thanks for the suggestion, Saber993.
March 28, 2013 3:17 p.m.
Bigburlybill says... #6
Undead Alchemist is the closest. You won't find an infinite mill combo in standard. The developers are too smart to let something like that exist. The best way is to just use Jace's Phantasm , Wight of Precinct Six , and other cards to use a mill aggro. I'm speaking from a competitive stand-point though.
March 28, 2013 3:32 p.m.
Tomodachi01 says... #7
But there are other infinite combos in standard that are just as bad, like the second mana ability of Vizkopa Guildmage combined with Exquisite Blood , which let's you essentially drain your opponent's health and increase your own infinitely.
March 28, 2013 5:03 p.m.
Tomodachi01 says... #8
Or how about this deck: How Many Infinite Combos? A Lot it's standard and apparently has a lot of infinite combos, including infinite mill.
March 28, 2013 5:08 p.m.
@Bigburlybill: There was an infinite mill combo in Standard; a Mindcrank and an active Bloodchief Ascension were all you needed.
March 29, 2013 5:51 a.m.
Bigburlybill says... #10
If you look, that's only focusing on one certain aspect. Infinite Mana. From that, you can basically break the game with the right amount of cards. This is because infinite mana can abuse any X cost spell or any repeatable ability, such as deadeye navigator. Therefore that's a really big combo that is very inconsistent and takes quite a while to achieve without ramping in there. The infinite life-loss and life-gain combo is nice, but also, it takes too long to get going and it can easily be disrupted. I'm merely saying that if the developers made two cards that were the exact opposite of each-other and they were both easy to get out, then that's bad.
Usually they don't want that and they don't want standard to be disrupted by easy, powerful combo decks. Of course, I'm not a developer. What do I know, right?
zandl, that's interesting. If I'm not mistaken, then it would still take quite a while to set that up. You need at least three turns of dealing 2+ damage to the opponent. If you played both cards on turns 1 + 2, then that still means that you would need to hold off until at least turn 5 to start it up. By then you run the risk of enchantment destruction. You could hold off on the artifact until turn 5.
What I'm getting at is that you will most likely never find a combo in standard that is as easy as Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage . It's an infinite combo that can be done by turn 4 with two cards. It's one turn faster, but much more consistent with less independent variables.
Btw, I know that the splinter-twin combo was in standard, but that was only during the week before eldrazi rotated out. lol
March 29, 2013 2:54 p.m.
One week? Try 4 months.
It was from New Phyrexia in May 2011 (Deceiver Exarch ) to Innistrad in October 2011 (when Splinter Twin cycled out).
We had zero Blue/Red dual-lands (okay, one, if you count Scalding Tarn ) and it was still the only deck that could take down Caw-Blade with a hint of consistency.
March 29, 2013 2:58 p.m.
Bigburlybill says... #12
Hmm ok. I started around that time and was under the impression that it was a new thing thanks to three blocks being in rotation at the same time. Whichever does not matter. I still stand on what I said. If they were to make a card that does what Mindcrank does, while having the duskmantle guildmage in standard at the same time, it would either be overcosted to avoid the combo in competitive, or place restrictions on it because a 2 drop artifact with a Duskmantle guildmage would be too strong.
Of course, I'm always open to counterarguments. I'm also merely thinking about competitive play as well. Therefore, I would go with the Undead Alchemist . It's the best that you can get right now.
March 29, 2013 5:38 p.m.
Tomodachi01 says... #13
That's fair. I was just curious. I only started playing a few months ago so I don't know anything. I didn't think they would let me break the game that easily in standard anyway, but a guy can dream, right?
My deck is almsot as fun even without breaking the game, though. Can't wait to test it in competitive.
March 30, 2013 3:35 a.m.
Bigburlybill says... #14
Haha I understand. I'm all about life-gain personally and just love the Guildmage/Blood combo. If only it was a little cheaper. =D
Glad to hear it's coming along nicely. Mill is so fun to play. =3
Bigburlybill says... #2
Duskmantle Guildmage is very similar. If you want to play standard with mill, then that's the closest that you'll get.
March 28, 2013 2:45 p.m.