Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 8, 2014, 2:01 a.m. by abenz419
Could this card be the next Mono-Black 3 drop staple? I know it doesn't provide the 3 devotion like Nightveil Specter , but heads up, Herald of Torment wins. From personal experience (facing against it as I don't have any specters) the Specter's ability is irrelevant. Sure you may hit me a couple times and exile a couple cards, but rarely are you ever gonna play them and it's just pure luck if you happen to exile exactly what i'm looking for and even then I have more than one copy and enough flexability in my deck to have other cards that will work as well. I think the fact that the Herald beats the Specter heads up is a pretty big deal, so being able to bestow it when the random opportunity presents itself is just icing on the cake. Llike bestowing a gray merchant to swing through the air even after they tap down your demon to finish them off, or making it a big target so when they kill it you get a 3/3 flyer and then can whip it back the next turn. Even with one less devotion (2 is nothing to laugh at) than the specter I think this thing could really be an upgrade.
It's not a terrible replacement, but I think you're seriously undervaluing Nightveil Specter .
In a head to head, I'd much rather be on the Nightveil Specter side. WIth Herald of Torment 's life loss they race the same. So the difference ultimately hinges on bestow vs Nightveil Specter 's psuedo-draw a card. Drawing extra cards is much more likely to win you that situation than perhaps lifting some extra power in the air.
Nightveil Specter also turns off Ultimate Price . Not a sole reason to run it, but it's nice to be immune to both that and Doom Blade .
February 8, 2014 2:13 a.m.
i'd much rather have Nightveil Specter too, especially in our local meta where they play 1-2 drop aggro. sometimes all you need is 1 of their lands, and you can keep playing their spells against them
abenz419 says... #2
Also, I forgot to mention that even though the 3 devotion from the specter can turn on erebos quicker, with all of the double black mana cost in the deck I don't think swaping out a 3 devotion creature for a 2 devotion creature would cause any problems. I don't think a lot of mono black decks are even running erebos anymore. At least it feels like I haven't seen one in a while.
February 8, 2014 2:04 a.m.