Why is this not played more in Standard guys?...
Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 19, 2014, 10:30 a.m. by Prehstun
Two words for ya. Slaughter Games WHY ,-, IS THIS ,-, NOT ,-, PLAYED ,-, I hardly ever see this card, ever. It is absolutely INSANE.
- Can't Be Countered. Check.
- Decent Mana Cost? 4 Drop, all good there.
- REMOVES ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING GIVING YOU PROBLEMS. CHECK.
Let me give you a list of reasons why this card should be played more.
AEtherling Sphinx's Revelation Gray Merchant of Asphodel Jace, Architect of Thought Elspeth, Sun's Champion Thassa, God of the Sea Master of Waves
and any other bomb giving you problems! WTF PEOPLE, maybe theres something I'm missing but this card seems SO FREAKING STRONG.
That makes since, but what about Jund Midrange, I'm not exactly sure why it hasn't been seriously played since Costas' win at SCG Provence. Jund has soooo many good cards and sooo many answer's to tha big stuff in Standard atm! Mistcutter Hydra Slaughter Games Stormbreath Dragon Reaper of the Wilds Skylasher and everyone's favorite Pithing Needle jam packed with crap tons of removal and discard. I dunno, doesn't make much sense to me :/
February 19, 2014 10:40 a.m.
Jund and other 3 coloured decks aren't particularly in the meta at the moment.
Besides Jund wants to be aggro and stompy. Sometimes midrange-y. It doesn't want to be a control deck.
The problem is that the colours aren't fantastic for control (no good wraths, no good card draw) but are good for aggro. Aggro decks don't want to dilute by including control elements.
February 19, 2014 10:43 a.m.
Also the vast majority decks want to play their own threats, not react to the enemies. Control is obviously reactive not proactive but control is one deck archetype out of many.
A deck fails if it basically doesn't know which of the above two things it wants to do. You either play your own threats or react to the enemies and that's about it. Some decks have certain intricacies like they're reactive in the early game and proactive in the late (like mono-black mainly), but most aren't. Jund is a proactive deck. It wants to be the deck that people have to use Slaughter Games against because they're so scared of it, rather than the other way around.
February 19, 2014 10:46 a.m.
SharuumNyan says... #6
It might make a decent sideboard card depending on the meta. As ThatBlueMage said, BR isn't really a thing right now. Another issue is that most decks have more than one win con (except for maybe Esper Control). If you target Pack Rat in MBD, they still have a bunch of great cards to hit you with, and you're essentially giving up a turn to play Slaughter Games which means your opponent is more likely to outrace you.
February 19, 2014 10:49 a.m.
Its hard for people to use Slaughter Games , when we've had Extirpate (which practically cant be countered)and Surgical Extraction in the past, for me at least, Slaughter Games just isnt worth 4 mana, when I could be dropping my Desecration Demon or something. yeah it cant be countered, but is that really worth 3 more mana? It has a place in a lot of sideboards though i think.
February 19, 2014 10:50 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
The only time that I ever found Slaughter Games useful is when I was playing RWB midrange and I was up against Simic Stompy. Taking out Garruk and Polukranos was pretty key in winning that game. However, that whole match was extremely fringe at an FNM setting. You'll never see either of those deck at a competitive top table.
February 19, 2014 10:52 a.m.
To me slaughter games would be played more in three color decks. Probably something like RBU or RBW. Probably with RBU geared against a simic deck. :/
February 19, 2014 11:42 a.m.
Issues of RB not being a great color pair aside, I think because it's a card that sounds better in a vacuum than it does to actually play.
You're not actually 4-for-1-ing their best card, that's how the card sounds but not how a game of Magic actually pans out. At best you're casting Cabal Therapy and also having an influence on their draw steps. At worst they've already resolved one or two and you're simply wasting a card to have some minor effect on their draw step.
With the exception of some of the control lists (and that's still debatable), there are no decks in Standard that you're really going to completely cripple by removing a single card. Current Standard is incredibly boardstate dependent. So not only are you using a card, and often a whole turn, to not effect the board, you're also down a resource in relation to your opponent if you happen to not catch them with that card in hand. You're better off bringing in proactive responses rather than try to strip their deck of cards with Slaughter Games .
So the reason the card doesn't see a lot of play is because it's not very good for the current environment. For Slaughter Games to see more play RB would need to be a more viable color pairing and there would need to be a scary combo deck in the meta.
February 19, 2014 1:40 p.m.
The real reason it won't see too much play any time soon is Thoughtseize .
BR wants to hit hard and fast, dropping threats that you have to take out right away, or they win.
For 1 CMC and 2 life, they can take away your ability to drop things that threaten them before they are cast... sure, Slaughter Games can remove all versions of it from a deck, but BR can usually get away with removing it from an opponents hand, and kill before they get a chance to draw another.
As said a few times, it would be good in a slower, more control style deck, but that's just not the BR we currently see.
It may also make a decent sideboard card against control, as they draw the game out and usually only have 1-2 win conditions... but in general, you just want to smash.
February 19, 2014 2:09 p.m.
notamardybum says... #12
I've used this card for per a year now. It's fantastic, but I've found the only problem is having too many. Having more than 2 will actually hurt more than help because now you're no longer being proactive,
February 22, 2014 4:03 p.m.
I'm testing out grixis control right now, and my thought on the card is that it's sideboard material. If you're playing against control with 4 Counterflux and 3 Slaughter Games , and don't get mana-screwed, it's virtually impossible to lose. If you can slaughter out their Elspeth, Sun's Champion s, then check how many other win cons they have, then Counterflux them as they cast them, or just Slaughter Games them as well, you basically can't lose. It's really good against control, but against aggro, you lose so much tempo essentially wasting 4 mana to get rid of a card that hasn't even been played yet. Midrange it's also quite funny against, to get rid of Xenagos, God of Revels , Gray Merchant of Asphodel or something similar.
February 22, 2014 4:59 p.m.
AndyReveler says... #14
I love Slaughter Games . Every Jund deck ive built since that card has been legal has had it in the sideboard, if i can't win or just want a little reassurance then ill drop it in and get rid of the biggest threats played against me. I think Rakdos decks could benefit from sideboarding it as well. If a Rakdos deck knows it can't win early it needs to switch gears and prepare for whats preventing its win, games of slaughtering help with this. I think ultimately is not that it's not getting played as whatever is playing those colors really should sideboard it (and i hate saying should), its just that those decks aren't doing to hot right now. That and it's kinda only effective against decks that focus or rely on a card or 2, like how mono black needs Grey Merchant of Asphodel and Pack Rat as wincons, it wouldn't really be as effective against my Selesnya deck, tho it would mess it up quite a bit.
February 23, 2014 6:01 p.m.
I think the problem with Slaughter Games is that in game 1 it is essentially a dead card, since your often unsure what to take out. Until they play a card you really don't know what threats they are playing, and once they play a threat its too late, you'd rather have Hero's Downfall or Doom Blade . Game 2-3 its still a dead card because if you take out the threat which killed you in earlier games they can just play something else. It doesn't remove a threat on their board, and so isn't really an inconvenience unless you resolve multiples, or happen to hit the only threat they are going to draw.
The one time this isn't true is against a combo deck which revolves around a single combo card. Cards like this are very strong against decks which revolve around infinite combos with a single card. Sadly, these combos pretty much never show up in standard. Taking out Melira against Melira Pod in modern or High Tide in High Tide in Legacy can effectively end their game plan and win the game. However, as mentioned above, these formats have Surgical Extraction and Extirpate , so Slaughter Games isn't worth it.
I think thats essentially why it sees no play
February 23, 2014 7:45 p.m.
Off Topic a little but I saw this last Sunday, player one is playing RB Mogis Control and player two is playing UW control. Turn five or six player one plays Slaughter Games naming Sphinx's Revelation (he knew that player two had one is hand due to Thoughtseize a few turns back). Player two responds by casting Sphinx's Revelation with X=3 and draws three Sphinx's Revelation off it... lol it was amazing.
February 26, 2014 1:36 p.m.
I think even without the Slaughter Games drawing 3 Sphinx's Revelation is not that good. Its a card that gets a little less relevant in multiples anyway.
Servo_Token says... #2
While the card itself is really really good, it's colors really don't support it. RB doesn't hardly ever want to find cards to take out, it wants to smash face.
If afor some reason a RB control list comes out in the next month that dominates GPS and PTQs, you can bet that slaughter games will spike in price. I agree, it is a very good card, but not for what else is available for the deck that it would be in.
February 19, 2014 10:36 a.m.