Under the radar cards
Standard forum
Posted on Dec. 19, 2012, 5:36 p.m. by nfcnorth
what are some cards you feel are good right now that are not being seen very much right now?
Here is some of the candidates I like right now could have potential in the right builds (note these are in no particular order other than the order I thought of them) :
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight this card shuts down Nightshade Peddler builds and if those decks become more popular she could see a rise in popularity. Plus she shuts down aggro and burn decks pretty hard too and is a major threat.
Jace, Memory Adept while this one is a little more known but he is good against control and he also may have some use against frites as they do self mill a lot but it can backfire.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope This is something I am not as sure as the rest on but I feel it could be good against control decks for reanimtor decks as it makes Supreme Verdict a dead card and lets your mana dorks block all day against there Thragtusk s.
Tragic Slip while true it is sort of situational it still is a decent kill spell.
Liliana of the Dark Realms while she will definitely be better after gatecrash I still think she has tons of potential. It might be that she needs the other shocklands to be really good but there are possibilities out there.
card:Angel of Glory's Rise All I am going to say about this card is there are a lot of ridiculous humans out there that can be revived and also a lot of zombies to be exiled.
That's my list as of right now. What are your thoughts on this and which cards not on here that you think have potential but are not being used at this current moment by a lot of people?
Leaf-steel says... #3
card:Angel of Glory's Rise is seeing a bit of play in reanimator decks based around her. They mill like mad to get the angel and humans in the yard and try to win with an all-in with the humans and the angel.
December 19, 2012 5:47 p.m.
Gatecrashed says... #4
Chandra, the Firebrand I think is insane! Her +1 kills mana dorks or Snapcaster Mage , or shoots your opponent for a point. But what I think is good about her is her -2. A copiedBonfire of the Damned , card:Devil's Play ,card:Rakdos's Return, Brimstone Volley with morbid, or Entreat the Angels , even Dreadbore personally I don't understand why she doesn't see more play.
December 19, 2012 5:58 p.m.
unfortunately Gisela doesn't stop the peddler's ability (please note that he ability prevents half damage round up, not rounded down. So 1 damage halfed, then round up would be 1 damage)
December 19, 2012 6:14 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #6
@Demarge, she PREVENTS half of the damage, rounded up. She would prevent half of one, rounded up, which is just one. Basically, she makes odd numbers suck for your opponent.
December 19, 2012 6:22 p.m.
I think Cloudshift is a very good card that doesnt see much play.
December 19, 2012 7:46 p.m.
Lone Revenant in control decks. anything with blue and is a control style deck should play Lone Revenant .
why? because it's Impulse on a hexproof stick, and I'm a huge proponent of "The more cards you see, the more likely you are to win."
Another card that's coming up in the ranks is Guttersnipe . have two or three on the board and your Brimstone Volley 's become even more potent. Bump in the Night becomes 5 damage to the face. control cards like Duress and Appetite for Brains get a bonus. and the best part is, that it's whenever you cast the card. the spell doesn't actually have to hit.
December 19, 2012 8:16 p.m.
Spelltwine would be my nomination.
It's Jace, Architect of Thought 's ultimate for the graveyard.... well, not quite, as it's limited to sorcery and instant spells... but can land you the most expensive (and usually powerful) spells in each library (so long as they are put into a grave), for 3 mana each (6 total).
There are certainly combo's out there that can make this worth while. and 6 mana is usually manageable with only a little control or ramp.
Worldfire in your graveyard (use Faithless Looting ?), and any burn spell in an opponents graveyard would end the game.... and a Goblin Electromancer or 2 could really speed that up.
......
hmmm.... starting to like this idea... off to make a deck!!
December 19, 2012 9:33 p.m.
@Demarge Exactly she prevents 1 half of 1 which is .5 you round up and then prevent 1 damage, which means no damage is dealt. Lets look at another example one that makes it clearer let say you Searing Spear a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight on your opponents side of the field. The spear would do three damage normally but it is reduced to 1.5 rounded up which is 2. This is not the damage the spear does but how much it prevents so it prevents 2 out of 3 damage so 1 damage would be dealt to Gisela.
December 20, 2012 12:22 a.m.
Lightning Mauler . In most decks that would potentially run them there's small chance he might be worse than Rakdos Shred-Freak , but the upside of leaving him open to bring your 3 drop swinging T3 or bring a friend later in the game is certainly worth it.
December 20, 2012 1:06 a.m.
Lightning Mauler + Vexing Devil is a thing nowadays
December 20, 2012 1:35 a.m.
DeletedNow4ever says... #13
Vexing Devil + anything will never be a thing...Vexing Devil itself isn't a thing...such a bad card...
Anyway, I agree with Lightning Mauler . He doesn't get the props he deserves. As soon as someone realizes he's human and can go into the human reanimator decks with cards like Goldnight Commander and Champion of Lambholt to give them haste as soon as they are reanimated along with a mauler, he is going to blow up...mark my words, that deck will exist at some point.
December 20, 2012 6:04 a.m.
Made a deck based around the Spelltwine I mentioned...
December 20, 2012 10:54 a.m.
A highly under-valued card at this point is Flinthoof Boar . He can be either a Call of the Conclave or a Dreg Mangler , which are great drops for either turn 2 or turn 3 in aggro. The flexibility in setting up your plays is just amazing. Maybe he doesn't have a home in standard decks just yet, but you'll be seeing when gruul comes out, and he will be a beast.
December 20, 2012 4:36 p.m.
Gatecrashed says... #16
@ConBurnMadMan Yeah, I have to respectfully disagree about Vexing Devil . Is he an over rated card? Yeah I think so, but to say he's such a bad card, I'm not really sure how your getting that. Worst case scenario he's a 1 mana Flame Slash that can only hit players, and his synergy with Brimstone Volley is pretty good, and so is his synergy with Lightning Mauler .
December 20, 2012 5:43 p.m.
DeletedNow4ever says... #17
@GatecrashedWell any player that is worth a damned will play around all his best case scenarios. There is a reason you don't see any pro playing that card in constructed...he's a casual newbie all-star for sure. I'll always take the 4 damage on turn one...and if you wait for a later turn, he's getting countered or hitting and getting Unsummon ed or Azorius Charm ed till your dead. Vexing Devil is a bad card...once you come to that realization you're thinking on the next level of magic...not looking at the cards as the best value in magic, but the decisions to play/not play/and play around cards in the game as the most valuable thing in magic. There is such a thing as leveling up in magic on a personal scale. Brimstone Volley +Vexing Devil is easily played around...killing him or sacing him isn't the only way to get rid of him...there are tons of cards that get him off the table without triggering morbid. If you hold the mana up to use Brimstone Volley a smart player will use it against you. CARDS THAT GET RID OF VEXING DEVIL WITHOUT KILLING HIM: Detention Sphere , Pacifism , Defang , Oblivion Ring , Sever the Bloodline , Syncopate , Dissipate , Azorius Charm , Unsummon , Essence Scatter , Tamiyo, the Moon Sage ...Guarantee I missed a bunch, but you get the idea.
December 20, 2012 6 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #18
You just called Vexing Devil bad, which he is in many cases, but you don't see that he IS good in decks that are trying to win by turn 4. Four early damage in a Rakdos deck can and will be competitive, even if it is just at FNM. Not every deck has to win a PTQ.
Also, half of the cards you mentioned as answers to VD are either too expensive to stop him early, or just as bad as the Devil (I'm looking at you, Syncopate ).
TLDR: He may be overrated, but that doesn't mean he's god awful.
December 20, 2012 6:38 p.m.
the thing about Vexing Devil is that he draws out allllll those cards you mentioned towards him. that's great that you countered Vexing Devil , thanks for countering my one-drop, here's a Thundermaw Hellkite for your troubles. you Unsummon ed him? cool he only costs ONE RED, let me play him again.
the fact that you have to answer him immediately is what makes him good. you're obviously not going to let a one-mana cost 4/3 just sit on the board, you're obviously going to have to do something about it.
I understand why you think Vexing Devil isn't good, but the simple fact that you have to give him attention when he hits the field in no way makes him a "bad card".
all those cards you've named that deal with Vexing Devil , can't happen on turn one. there are no 1-mana counters, there aren't any 1-mana kill spells that can deal with him on turn one, and a few of those cards you named aren't even being played in tournaments, at the very least by pro players. And all those cards you've mentioned are all control cards. To take a leaf out of your book, any player that is worth a damned knows that aggro beats control most of the time, which is why most decks that are in the Top 8 of GPs, PTQs, or PTs are aggro decks.
December 20, 2012 6:44 p.m.
DeletedNow4ever says... #20
The last big tourney was the invitational...how many Aggro decks made the top 8 of that tourney? What deck won? Playing Vexing Devil turn 1 is exactly what I want you to do...he has no combo's for you on turn 1, I take 4 damage, then gain 5 later with Thragtusk or card:Sphinx's Revelation. Even in your aggro decks, show me some that play Vexing Devil in a top 8 deck from any meaningful tournament. I'll save you the trouble...outside of some fringe modern and legacy decks, you won't find one. As for Syncopate , any card that sends a target to exile instead of the graveyard is in no way bad, especially a 1x card at that.
December 20, 2012 8:33 p.m.
DeletedNow4ever says... #21
The fact that you never have to let him hit the board is what makes him bad...there are two cards in standard right now that would be so much better if you got to make the choice. Vexing Devil and Killing Wave . Both are flawed because of the fact that the opponent always gets to make the best choice for them. With the case of Killing Wave sometimes it doesn't matter since your just dead either way, but with Vexing Devil you get to always make the choice that works out better for you. Don't get me wrong...I love the fact that people like to play Vexing Devil , nothing like sitting down across from someone who likes to play turn 1 Lava Spike and say go...I'm all about free wins.
December 20, 2012 8:46 p.m.
I think the most succinct way it's ever been put is that Vexing Devil is a creature when you want burn and burn when you want a creature.
A four damage turn 1 play might seem strong until you consider a lowly Rakdos Cackler will likely get in for more damage over the course of the game and potentially trade off with a card down the line.
December 20, 2012 9:22 p.m.
It generally bugs me when people say "no pros use this card", because if that were the standard there would be an awful lot of fun Magic gameplaying that would be thrown out the window. Having said that, Vexing Devil does in fact have a particularly poor record when it comes to being included in decks that have placed in competitive events:
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck_search_result.asp?CardName=Vexing%20Devil
December 21, 2012 9:38 a.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #24
I think Rhox Faithmender will become beastly with Orzhov. They tend to like life drain effects (Bloodhunter Bat , Exquisite Blood , Vault of the Archangel ), not to mention the lifelink/llifegain shenanigans you can pull (card:Ajani's Sunstriker, Vault of the Archangel , card:Angel's Mercy, Chalice of Life Flip , Bountiful Harvest ).
Doubling your life for each of these guys out makes a simple card:Angel's Mercy turn a game around.
December 21, 2012 11:03 a.m.
Vexing Devil is not good. Why is this even an argument?
December 21, 2012 2:58 p.m.
DARK_r3ck0n1ng says... #26
vexing has seen some standard play in the pure red burn decks hoping they just take the 4 and the next turn you deal them 2-6 more damage. it is able to hold a decent price of over $6 for a while now so somewhere it is being played.
tragic slip has be appearing more often in the zombie deck lately in order to keep up i guess with the ramp decks and is the only spell that can kill anything for 1 mana in all formats i do believe.
Leaf-steel says... #2
card:Angel of Glory's Rise is seeing a bit of play in reanimator decks based around her. They mill like mad to get the angel and humans in the yard and try to win with an all-in with the humans and the angel.
December 19, 2012 5:47 p.m.