Tasigur is the real deal in Standard
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 25, 2015, 1:59 a.m. by digger_was_taken
I've been playtesting Tasigur,the Golden Fang, and he is very powerful. Consider combining him with Commune with the Gods. For 2 cards, 3 mana spread out, you get to pick the best card of the 5 on top of your deck, and get a 4/5 creature with significant upside.
Let's talk about that upside. I've heard people trying to disparage it. No way. This ability is better than drawing a card. You set it up so that you have 1 or more non-land card in your graveyard that are really awesome. If you're lucky enough to hit 2 lands, you get two lands out of the way and an awesome card. If you hit 1 land and 1 spell, you get a land out of the way and draw a spell or get an awesome card. If you're unlucky enough to hit two spells, you lose the best (but it's in the graveyard which is useful) and draw the worst. This averages out to much better than a draw.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang fills any hold in your curve. You can play him as soon as turn 3 (or turn 2 with a mystic and commune). This can be really useful against aggressive red decks. But if you wait until turn 5 (or 4 with a caryatid) and delve 5, you're guaranteed 1 activation of his awesome draw ability, which is good in attrition match ups.
His mana cost makes him really splashable. So he can go in decks besides sultai dredge. Blue/Black control will use Dig Through Time over him, but might bring him in from the sideboard against red creature decks. 1 more delve/mana than Murderous Cut, but instead of just killing 1 little creature, you've got a big blocker with upside.
Suicide black might want him as a sort of guaranteed top end creature if you don't draw more than 2 or 3 land, but a mana sink if you get flooded to 5.
Any time that you draw Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Commune with the Gods, explosive things can happen. If you add red, there are insanely good god hands possible.. Commune with the gods on turn 2, put a Flamewake Phoenix and 3 other cards in the yard. Turn 3 play a sac land, delve for 4 and pay 2 mana to cast Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Pay 1 to bring the Flamewake Phoenix back.
Red has particularly good stuff that comes back from graveyards, but not many enablers. A Green/Red/Blue splash Black (via sac lands and Opulent Palaces and 1 swamp) might be the way to go. But cutting blue is also a possibility. Or staying with straight Sultai for consistency. I'm playtesting. But Tasigur, the Golden Fang plays in almost any graveyard strategy, or even just as a value creature if he's some of the only delve in your deck.
CommanderOfBolas says... #3
I could see him being played quite a bit. he is definitely powerful. I have been testing currently with an abzan whip deck. with the proper amount of mana, you could whip him back, activate to draw a cards and put more gas in the graveyard, and get in for a good chunk of damage. As far as U/B control goes, I think Jorubai Murk Lurker is better in that slot. My reasoning is mostly that the trouble with fast agro decks isn't about card advantage, it is about slowing the assault early and recovering quickly. Murk lurker is great on defense, and he provides a way to stabilize the life total. overall, though, I do agree that he is a bomb. he may be a good way to buy back counterspells and killspells in my Grixis control deck, as well. I guess ill test him there, too
January 25, 2015 3:11 a.m.
digger_was_taken says... #4
I think you're probably right about Jorubai Murk Lurker. With less setup cost, a body that is almost as relevant, and a more relevant ability, it's clearly better.
January 25, 2015 9:05 a.m.
NixTheThird says... #5
I'm still trying to figure out why this card is getting as much love as it is right now. I understand the synergy with his delve cost setting up his ability, but that also means it directly competes with the draw from Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise, which draw you more cards, dig you deeper into your deck, all for less mana (with delve) than tasigur's ability. If we start looking into decks like u/b control, then we even get them playing Jace's Ingenuity because just getting more cards than if we went through the hoops of playing a Commune with the Gods right into a tasigur.
Also remember what you could rather be doing than drawing a single, probably good card for four mana. The four mana spot is crowded with cards like Whip of Erebos, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, the ubiquitous Siege Rhino and even Butcher of the Horde. All those cards are key parts of decks and immediately start effecting the game. Two of those cards also act as stop signs against aggro beatdowns like you describe above. If sultai decks really needed a similar card then it would have played things like Hooting Mandrills which can cast it for the same mana cost (except in instead green instead) and it's basically the same size as tasigur. But instead they made due without it because the decks have so many other tools to use.
All that being said, I could see him as a 1 or 2 of in a graveyard deck, as he could be another way to get back key cards if you set up your graveyard and have a little bit of luck with the selfmill. I also assume I must be missing some big power level thing about him, because his price on tcgplayer quintupled over this weekend, so clearly a lot of people saw him do work at the release events.
January 26, 2015 12:52 a.m.
NixTheThird says... #6
Sorry, the price quintupled from when it was first spoiled vs now. I should have said that from Thursday to today it nearly tripled.
January 26, 2015 12:56 a.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #7
The thing is thathe is a 4/5, which is significantly better than a 4/4 when there are siege rhinos running around, and he can draw you a ton of cards. Frontier Siege is also a card seeing play in decks that play him. if you get 2 of them on board, you get to activate tasigur twice without tapping out. that could be really powerful. he is also an enabler for Whip of Erebos decks, and although he has delve, he will rarely stop you from casting other delve spells, especially if you have graveyard synergies already.
January 26, 2015 11:14 a.m.
I think that this card is a little over hyped. Play it too early, and it just dies to removal. Play it late, and it's just a body that doesn't mill fast enough. Getting back a card is neat, but it's expensive, and guaranteed to get you back the worse card in your grave. To situate your grave to get the best card means you are are waiting to play even slower delve cards, since you can't keep enough spells in the grave to use it.
The card offers some exciting possibilities. I agree. I think that a 4/5 for B is good enough to play and see standard. I just don't think it's as good as people want it to be.
January 27, 2015 2:02 p.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #9
results speak for themselves. look at the last scg event. 2 sultai decks in the top 8 running him, one of the decks got 1st (granted, he had tasigur in the sideboard). the abzan control list was also running him as a 1 of
January 27, 2015 2:26 p.m.
notamardybum says... #10
this card is definitely something to prepare for. I'm throwing 2 in my mb for standard, and 3-4 in modern.
January 27, 2015 2:28 p.m.
Ooo. A single card as an engine in a whip deck, and a sideboarded option.
Are we warping results just to see what we want to see here?
January 27, 2015 5:25 p.m.
Err... ramp. Still, less about the card, and more about the other spells, really.
January 27, 2015 5:26 p.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #13
I hardly see how that could be warping results. The fact of the matter is 3 decks had access to him in the top 8. It is all about tasigur because he helps you get those other cards. Besides, a 4/5 Is pretty relevant too.
January 27, 2015 5:55 p.m.
You are attributing victory of three decks to a 1 in 75. That is not validation. That's like saying that the solo copy of Sorin is the reason that the Abzan Aggro made it to where it did. It didn't hurt things, but it's not responsible.
It's okay to be excited by the card, the results you are excited are not validation..
January 27, 2015 7:19 p.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #15
I am not saying that Tasigur is the sole reason those decks won. I am simply saying that he sure as heck didn't hurt, and he did contribute to the victories needed to get into the top 8, even if he didn't win the game by himself. What I am saying is that his usefulness has been proven.
January 27, 2015 7:47 p.m.
Eh... He might be legendary... He might not be as unconditionally bananas as Tarmogoyf but Tasigur could be close.
January 30, 2015 11:40 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #17
BellBOY_d he is good but he isn't that close at all to Tarmogoyf's power level, at least in moder. In standard he is pretty good in the right decks.
January 30, 2015 11:45 a.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #18
I saw a match from SCG DC where the commentators specifically said "this has been a one-sided affair soley due to Tasigur" That seems to me like solid evidence that he is good. I am actually testing him as a 1 of in my Legacy Jund deck. I already put a lot of cards in the yard, and the card advantage he provides gets rather insane. I don't think he is great against some decks, but in my particular meta, he is solid
January 30, 2015 12:19 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #19
I said this card was gonna be good and everyone disagreed. I was clearly wrong about Reaper of the Wilds too!
February 1, 2015 4:31 a.m.
digger_was_taken says... #20
2 copies in the main of the deck that won the Star City open in Baltimore. Turns out that delve is good in modern. It turns Tasigur, the Golden Fang into a cheap beefy creature with upside.
March 3, 2015 10:30 p.m.
digger_was_taken says... #21
Stuntman, it is complicated. I thought he looked good, but I didn't understand his power until I playtested him a bit. I will explain it to you.
Tasigur is all things to many decks. He fills so many roles with efficiency and power. If you're playing a mid range or a control deck, you almost always want to draw one (but not two) in every game. Yes, there are other cards that are more powerful in specific matchups, but he fills an important role in every matchup. Against agro, he's a cheap beefy creature. Against attrition control or mid range with removal, he's a value generating threat. Against a mid range deck without removal, he's a beefy creature and a card draw engine.
Yes, many of the cards you mentioned are better than him in specific situations. But most of them are also bad or mediocre draws in certain matchups. Dig Through Time sucks against agro, while Siege Rhino is lackluster against control or midrange. Tasigur is a fine draw in either case.
March 4, 2015 9:06 a.m.
? Seems good.digger_was_taken says... #23
I'm up to playing four copies in my sultai dredge deck. The downside of drawing multiples is negligible compared to how much I always want to draw him. He'll often get killed and I'll want the second copy anyway. But that's for a deck with seven cards that fill up the graveyard. Most decks can't support that many copies because they can't reliably cast a second if the first gets killed.
Hjaltrohir says... #2
He is quite good, I am not sure he is insanely good though.
Also, your statement about UB control running him in sideboards is interesting. I am not sure whether they will or not but it is something I could see happening that hadn't occurred to me.
January 25, 2015 2:22 a.m.