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By: whiffy, Georgios Efelis
Feb 07 2009 8:54pm
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Hello again folks. I'M back and here to talk about some perfectly good cards that are being criminally underplayed. I would like to take a look at some cards that I feel have moderate to massive potential that just don't see the light of day when it comes time to play for prizes. I will look at where these "rouges" have been played in the past and where they could be played in the future, also what is keeping them from the lime light that I feel they deserve. These are in no particular order because as I am typing this intro Im still not sure how big this list will be.



Moat


This is one of the best cards ever printed that deals with creatures. Yea I said it, its very good at what it does. First off lets look at where this could be applied. Moat kinda makes you work around it. Like any good game state altering card you have to almost build around making sure that it doesn't shut off you main avenue of victory. Most decks that I would use this card in would also have Exalted Angel or Tombstalker as they are probably your kill condition of choice anyway so why not halt the ground while they fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Another consideration would be Faerie Conclave or (Elspeth, Knight Errant), both able to work around Moat while being a bit slow. There is also the fact that it is an enchantment and fetch able by tutors so that you don't need to clog up your deck with multiple copies of the card.


Why is it not making the PE  limelight? Well first of all, it is completely dead against any or all of the combo decks floating around. Its also a touch on the slow side at a cc of 4, however the biggest draw back I see with the card is that it actually does not remove any threats and doesn't stop your opponent from laying more on the table. The absolute best match ups for Moat are creature heavy decks such as Thresh, Zoo, and Fish. It will  dominate there deck until they play an uncounterable Krosan Grip and bash in for 10 or more with an angry and bored hoard of men.



Tezzeret the Seeker


I am kind of shocked at why this guy isn't played, at all! I'm almost positive that he has not seen a Classic top 8 since he has been available. Once you get past the fact that he is a hefty boy at 5 mana you can do some ridiculous things with him. There is a rule somewhere that any card that costs four or more should win the game, Tezz will all by himself. Without casting another spell he has won me so many games in testing. If you build your deck correctly he can stymie any strategy your opponents come to the table with. Obviously we don't dove Time Vault or Mana Drain to totally abuse him but there are a lot of options available to us when building a Tezzerator deck. The ones that pop to mind immediately are a prison shell or a Painter's combo build. Both decks can win without the big guy and win much faster with him in play.


As for why its sitting on the sidelines? He is a touch costly and the meta has not stabilized enough for him to make use of a good predator deck where you will face off against 3-4 decks you know you want to see in the swiss rounds of a tourney. I guess that as of right now he is either missing key parts to make him shine or Classic is just too open for him to make an impact.



Vendilion Clique


A 3/1 flier that will mess with your opponents plans or help dig you out of a bad situation. This little gang of misfits are making waves in Extended as a "precounterspell" with an evasive body that can wear pants. In classic they can mess up a necro spike players hand removing key cards from their hand and slowing them down while also chopping out an Ancestral Recall from them with every swing. Against Thresh builds you can flash him out on your opponents endstep effectively giving it haste to fly over there duders and setting up a safe turn getting around a counterspell or removal spell for a more important threat.At three mana he is a touch on the slow side but paired up with a Chrome Mox you have the speed to actually get in there against combo, and disrupt them.



Divert


Misderection is an auto include in any Vintage deck supporting Blue cards and Divert is a very comparable card to the Vintage mainstay. The biggest strike against it is probably the or 2 mana clause that it tacks on, but in today's Classic it is very easy to set this up so that they will not have the mana to pay and if the game goes long you can always pitch it to FoW. Here is a short list of cards that Divert would be useful against.


Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, Hymn to Tourach, Counterspell, Force of Will, Smother, Diabolic Edict, StP, Soul Spike, any burn spell and I'm sure there are more that this card can move around.



Vexing Shusher


In a format predominated by Blue spells you would think that this guy would have a much larger impact. The fact of the matter is that he will resolve no matter what your opponent is playing and if they blow a precious removal spell on him then one of your goyfs will have an easier time of rumbling into the redzone. He is a hybrid card so you can get him in decks that run Green or Red making him a pretty versatile choice when going into building your 75. If he isn't removed from play he will help you get any spells through a counterwall or a Counterbalance soft lock.



Painter's Servant+Grindstone


It has been just about a month and a half since this combo has been available and if I'm correct it has appeared 5-6 times in the almost dozen PE's we have had since Tempest was released. I may be jumping the gun here on calling this out as underplayed but a two card, colorless combo that can have the six mana required to play it broken up over three turns should be seeing more play. As of writing this it has made three Top 8's. Two of these have been wins with completely different decks and then a 4th place finish from one of the winners. The limited hate cards on the deck are very narrow and besides Darksteel Colossus entirely beatable. Speaking of Mr. 11/11 face destroyer, are there any judges out there or anyone who knows judges that can verify how the interaction of Colossus and the combo work? Will the combo player enter an infinite loop and lose on time or will the Colossus reshuffle until there is only itself in a deck, get milled and not meet the two cards that share a color requirement on Grindstone and then simply be drawn by the opponent, decking them on their next drawstep? Thanks in advance for anyone who can nail down this question pertaining to Modo.



Life From the Loam


The reasoning behind this may be the fact that some of the accompanying cards for aggro loam and control loam builds are a touch expensive to own. Other then that fact, the actual card when built into a deck will have insane synergies. You can easily out class any blue decks when it comes to card advantage and will usually be able to control the game state with 2-3 castings of the card. What do we get in Classic to work with this Extended all star? Raven's Crime, Wasteland, Countryside Crusher, Terravore, Manlands, Cycling lands, and that's just a quick start off the top of my head. I'm sure that there are other interactions worth looking at like Scroll Rack and a fetch land to draw up 2-5 new cards every turn and shuffling away all the garbage cards or dredging away dead cards when the situation permits.



Kitchen Finks


What a spectacular duder. For three mana you get a man that dodges Spell Snare, Counterbalance, works around Lightning Bolt, Smother, and Edict. He will also help gang block and kill a Tarmogoyf or just chump him twice while giving you a little life buffer. He will come back for an encore against or with Pernicious Deed, Engineered Explosives, Pox or Smallpox either gaining card advantage along the way or blunting the non symmetrical nature of these sweepers against you. These guys are typically only found in Deed Rock decks for all the above reasons, but he is also hybrid and I feel like he should either be finding more homes in main decks like Zoo at the top of the curve or at the very least sideboards against RDW or Rock.



Fact or Fiction


Talk about pedigree. This is probably one of the most powerful card draw spells printed giving you access to the top five cards of your library and giving your opponent a chance to pick wrong. Granted giving your opponent a choice in what you draw is never ideal but unless they know whats in your hand it will almost always work out for you. Disregarding that you get to dig five deep into your library either finding a crucial combo part or just generating massive card advantage you can  dump cards into your graveyard if that's what you want or need to do. The reasoning behind its exile from Classic is most likely the cc of four. At one point I would have said that it was the prohibitive cost of somewhere in the neighborhood of $15.00 but with the release of Jace VS Chandra the price has plummeted to around $5.00 if you don't already have a play set when you picked up your Dazes and Gushs I would recommend picking up a pair. In a Heavy control deck this card should see the light of day but maybe Classic is just a touch to fast for it at the moment.



Trygon Predator


The number one card that Krosan Grip comes in for is Counterbalance, Why not have a creature that Grips a card every time it connects? By the way it flies so you will almost always get through for damage. Besides the soft lock card it will kill off Crucible of Worlds, Pithing Needle, Affinity parts, Painter's Servant, Grindstone, as the chief targets. It will also keep any problem enchantments off the table and keep Sensei's Divining Top doing a little dance from zones every time he connects. I don't see a good reason why he cant be included into side boards that can support his colors, so give him a whirl and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.



Bitterblossom


The scourge of Standard sees sporadic play at best but I feel like it should be garnering more attention for what it does. It combos very nicly with so many cards like Standstill, Dark Ritual, Spellstutter Sprite, Pox, and copius amounts of discard. While slow for actually killing an opponent against any non combo decks it has to be answered or it will just generate so much tempo whether it is through infinate chump blockers are just generating an army while you sit back and nuke your opponents hand with discard or catch any spells with generous amounts of open mana to counterspell. This card was featured in the tier 1 Elf/Clamp deck that was posting good results until the release of MED II. Im not sure if it was Necro or true duals but for some reason it fell off the face of the earth. As long as the format had not evolved past it when we get Bayou I would fully expect to see this deck do well again.



Im going to stop here for cards that arn't seeing there fair share of things and although I only high lighted eleven cards each entry mentions other underplayed cards that could theorectically make an impact in Classic.These are by no means what I feel to be the most underused just some of the ones that that I thought should be mentioned. There is one bonus last card but it is unfair to call it underplayed since it hasent been printed yet. It is a Spoiler from Conflux and will be at the end of the article so if your a pureist you may want to skip that part of this entry but Im willing to bet that like Tezzeret it will not get its fare share of play.


 


In the spirit of the article  im going to sign off with a few different lists that showcase some of the above mentioned cards.

 

This deck has given me mixed results. It tore up two 8-man ques and top 8ed its first pe., Since then it went 0-2 drop and 3-2 9th place. The goal with the deck is to first of all get aggro, aggro-control, or control match ups and skip combo all together. You like to play second turn Landstill a lot, if you can get to and stay at four mana you can just steal the game against most non combo decks, as all your four or more drops will either singlehandedly win you the game or slow your opponent down so much that a few draw steps may be all you need. There is a healthy dose of board control in the deck between five sweepers four spot removals four prison type permanents and then recycling Wasteland. If you enjoy playing Dreadstill or Stifle/Nought i would heartily recommend this deck. In exchange for the quick Dreadnought kill you get a much better match up against most of the field and will probably drop percentages to most combo decks and affinity.

This is a really fun deck when it can get going. Much like Imperial Painter it has a couple of devistating first turn plays the best of which is Trinisphere. And if for what ever reason Tezz makes the table you are in a really good spot for either bogging down the game with you speacilty bullets or flat out winning by finishing up you combo or beating down for 25 damage with your assorted artifacts. There are a lot of nice things about this deck namely being on an almost even footing against everything but decks with burn and pox style decks.



The last deck is not an undiscovered gem. Far from it, it was once the deck to beat in classic and so powerful that it created the first two restricted cards. Obviously I'm talking about Flash. While remaining dead for over a year players sideboards have dropped the once auto include Leyline of the Void opening up a chance to strike hard with the deck. Javasci has in the few weeks been tearing up the Classic PE's with a retooled Flash build and has posted multiple top8's with the deck. Also since he is the only pilot of it would have to say that it is a deck to watch out for again. By the way Flash being able to do well again is a direct result of how good Necro Spike is. Lets see here, it dodges Pithing Needle, Ethersworn Canonist, and Gaddock Teeg while already side stepping the non-existing LotV. Here is a recent list where he finished in 5th place using a few cards that have not gotten enough attention in Classic.

 

Flash Sliver Kill
A Retooled Flash deck by Javasci
Creatures
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Protean Hulk
4 Virulent Sliver
7 cards

Other Spells
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Cunning Wish
4 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
1 Flash
4 Force of Will
3 Gush
1 Imperial Seal
3 Lotus Petal
2 Merchant Scroll
4 Mystical Tutor
3 Pact of Negation
2 Summoner's Pact
4 Thoughtseize
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Heart Sliver
28 cards
 
Lands
3 Breeding Pool
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
3 Underground Sea
13 cards

Sideboard
3 Duress
1 Jund Charm
2 Krosan Grip
1 Reclaim
4 Tarmogoyf
11 cards
 
Ancestral Vision

How about that. After playing the deck I have to say that Vision is the awsome sauce and am happy to Suspend it on turn one like you wouldnt believe.

 

Lastly before I go there is a really exciting looking card from Conflux that should be tested out in every format that has good artifacts, and may well just get Darksteel Colossus to see Classic play. I imagine that it is a fixed attempt at this Vintage defining Card Goblin Welder

How about this beauty? Not only is the artwork gorgous, but she may actually see play.

Thats it for this time this is whiffy penguin signing off.
whiffy penguin on modo and most boards
George Efelis
Member of Clan Magic Eternal

9 Comments

Darksteel Colossus and Grindstone by Anonymous (not verified) at Sat, 02/07/2009 - 21:35
Anonymous's picture

Just checked on mtgo putting the darksteel colossus on a deck that is going to be Grindstoned with servant on play and what happens is that the colussus will re-Shuffle itself as many times as possible until it is the only card on the deck, everytime it get dumped into the graveyard it will trigger the ability to be shuffle until all other cards are put on the graveyard, then it's ability will trigger one last time and it will be the only card on the deck.

what about with multiple by bazaarofbaghdad (not verified) at Sat, 02/07/2009 - 21:51
bazaarofbaghdad's picture

what about with multiple colossi?

good article, btw!

when having multiple colossus by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 02/08/2009 - 00:51
Anonymous's picture

when having multiple colossus on the deck and infinite loop is generated, as i don't have someone to test this, it was played on solitaire and the game was ended on a Draw after the grindstone was activated so i suppose that someone will be timed out.

when having multiple colossi by rukcuss (not verified) at Sun, 02/08/2009 - 13:34
rukcuss's picture

Gaea's Blessing is better, as long as the opponent does not have Stifle or instant targeted card drawing. The main difference between the two cards is that Darksteel Colossus has a replacement effect (doesn't use the stack), and Gaea's Blessing has a triggered ability (hence Stifle can stop it) that does use the stack.

Colossus (and also Progenitus): by Javasci at Sun, 02/08/2009 - 13:40
Javasci's picture
4

Colossus, as well as Progenitus (which has the same ability):

When painter/stoned, if there is exactly one colossus or progenitus, then the loop will end with it being the only card in the deck. If there are two, whether two of the same or one of each, it is an infinite loop and the game will end in a draw. MTGO implements this by the game server "crashing" the game, which means that your client freezes for a bit and when it unfreezes, the game has ended in a draw.

Just sayin' by walkerdog at Sun, 02/08/2009 - 23:52
walkerdog's picture

I'd just like to point out Whiffy shared the list that won the PE today...

Rouges... by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 02/09/2009 - 00:42
Anonymous's picture

Either I don't get the joke, or your article is about blush makeup.

Typo by Rerepete at Mon, 02/09/2009 - 03:10
Rerepete's picture
5

I'm thinking typo should probably be Rogues

Yeah, learn to spell. ROGUE, by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 02/09/2009 - 17:58
Anonymous's picture

Yeah, learn to spell. ROGUE, not rouge.

Rogue = a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel (or an original magic deck).
Rouge = makeup consisting of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks.

quite different.