Why don't people use Pithing Needle?
Standard forum
Posted on March 1, 2014, 8:37 p.m. by Iceygod
Now I'm not a very experienced MTG player but I've grown fond of Pithing Needle. It deals with plainswalkers, pack rats, and Underworld Conenctions in standard. So why does no deck sideboard it?
Lots of deck sideboard it. It sees a lot of play... not sure what you're talking about.
March 1, 2014 8:47 p.m.
I never see a deck that has a sideboard not run it, so yea, i have no clue what you're talking about.
March 1, 2014 8:50 p.m.
To be honest there are a lot of better options for most decks than pithing needles but in the cheap casual community on this site pithing needle is very popular since it has a ton of uses and it's a cheap card.
March 1, 2014 8:51 p.m.
because it's too slow and it's too to specific.
Planeswalkers? Dreadbore is stronger, and Hero's Downfall is even better.
Pack Rat ? Bile Blight , Detention Sphere , and Supreme Verdict . it's a easily removed creature, just a pain to deal with.
Underworld Connections ? there's so much enchantment removal in this format, you don't need to worry about it. Revoke Existence , Unravel the Aether , and a lot of counterspells.
If there were ways to bounce Pithing Needle it would be much better, but as it is, it gets on the field, and only saves you from one target. Not to mention there is a solid base of artifact removal available, much of which is the stuff that removes enchantments as well. Another big problem that Pithing Needle presents is that it doesn't remove it's target, just disables some of it. they still have a plainswalker they will probably be able to use again. they still have a (hopefully) 1/1 or 2/2 rat trump blocker, and they still have an enchantment on the field. and all of these will still count towards the metagame's biggest deck types: Devotion.
March 1, 2014 8:57 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
It's starting to see less play in competitive because there isn't much of a need for it when you have other cards that deal with the meta better, but for an event that you're going into blind (fnms, local level things), it's pretty much the option that everyone uses.
March 1, 2014 8:58 p.m.
Thanks everyone for the clarifications, from the answers I received I concluded.
- There are better options to Pithing Needle.
- Other cards does it's job better.
March 1, 2014 9:11 p.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #12
I keep a pair in my Devoted to Obliteration.. sideboard..
March 1, 2014 11:30 p.m.
Sorry for the confusion but this question pertains to standard and specifically Top8 Decks and Grand Prix decks. At most I'll see 1 Pithing needle and I was curious why not more and for what situations.
Bellock86 says... #2
I always have had that as part of my sideboard in the current standard because of all the things you listed. I havent played a lot of standard recently though.
March 1, 2014 8:43 p.m.