Yes. Tokens that are destroyed go to the graveyard for the purposes of triggers. But obviously they disappear immediately so any trigger that depends on cards being in the graveyard will not go off from a token.
Heh - Mental Note was basically my first edit after compiling the list. It was an honorable mention, but that was 37 cards long (one more than a nice even 36), and out it went, since it is underpowered. Dredge is, indeed, the only deck that would want it, but Dredge has better options, especially in Classic.
maybe its me but is mental note no longer used in dredge decks? or is it just not quality enough for classic? then i could have missed it..but i skimmed through again...
Nice insight, I updated the entry and bumped it to 2 stars. This is a deck that I haven't played, but even though I don't think it will be Tier 1 any time soon (even after a format split), it's the one I most want to see as a result of my research as it looks like a blast to play.
Also, Remand is very necessary x4 for High Tide to work properly, you cast Brain Freeze and Remand it back to your hand with the storm trigger on the stack...then you Brain Freeze Again. Its a good way to win, even when you cant cast 15+ spells this turn.
Ideas Unbound has uses for Storm decks that use blue. In that case, it's much better than Careful Study, and one mana cheaper than Meditate for one less card.
Now, the question is who would want to run a blue storm deck in classic in the first place.
mea culpa, guys - will add to the master article - thanks for the catch! Here's the entry:
Tezzeret the Seeker – Shards of Alara; mythic. One cannot stress enough how important it is for a Control deck to be able to tap out for a threat at 5-mana, get immediate return on the investment, and threaten to win the game in just a couple of turns. Compare this to Morphling which likely needs several turns to win and is a sitting duck if you tap out to play it. Unsurprisingly, then, this is the backbone of an artifact-based Control deck. Whether it's better or worse than the two other major Blue control decks is beyond the scope of this article, but untapping mana sources when it enters play, or the fact that it tutors for gas at this stage offers incredible advantages. We're talking probably two copies at a steep 17-ticket price tag (mythic), but that's mostly chump change on the Control deck radar.
Flash of Insight was used the RFG important spells in your GY (like high tide and meditate) so that you could cunning wish for them back...though you cant do that anymore.
You also got Alabaster Potion and Eightfold Mace. Almost all of those cards would lose you the game anyway, so you can`t really play around them. Thus, you swing for lethal
Impulse – Visions; common. No doubt this card's best days are long gone, it still remains to see what role, if any, this card has to offer. Though inconclusive, I lean towards 'none'. If you're playing a combo deck, a turn-2 Brainstorm sees 5.7% of your deck, while this sees 7.7% instead – a relatively small upgrade compared to a 50% spike in cost. On the other hand, if you're playing a consistent, Control deck – why not Ponder? If you really want to leave Islands untapped at all times, something like Peek makes more sense (besides Brainstorm, obviously). At 3 tickets for the set, this isn't really something I can recommend.
Back in Februray, I put Painter/Stone in an affinity shell powered by Etherium Sculptor for two top 8s. I soon realized Etherium Sculptor functions identically to Helm of Awakening. Here is my Sensei, Sensei Affinity starter list that I threw together back then (except it had 4 Demonic Consultations which I reduced to 1). I think it needs a lot of work, but it strikes me as pretty original.
4 Seat of the Synod, 4 Vault of Whispers, 4 Glimmervoid, 4 Ancient Tomb
1 Mana Crypt, 4 Springleaf Drum
1 Demonic Consultation, 1 Demonic Tutor, 1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Thoughtcast
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Arcbound Worker, 4 Frogmite, 4 Etherium Sculptor, 4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4 Skullclamp
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Brain Freeze
I am seriously impressed Ben this is a great resource. Good job something to be proud of.
It has made me re-evaluate my collection :_)
Might want to consider the following fringe blue cards: Memory Lapse, Flash Freeze,Recall.
But Tezzeret needs a mention! - This should no overshadow the take home message that this is an awesome article and I appreciate the value and the amount of work you have done here.
Brilliant Job
Hammer
now ive seen a lot of mention of a sensei,sensei deck... am i right in assuming this is the one where you play and replay tops for free only to storm into something major? If so, this could be made on a fairly cheap budget im assuming?
Fun article. I like ways of cheating cards into play such as cascade decks. Free cards FTW! Anyway, just a question about tokens...which i think was answered but still wanted clarification on. Does a token go to the graveyard for purpose of cards like the new black quest that adds a counter when a creatures hits the bin? i think the answer is yes especially since you alluded to taking 2 dmg from the hissing iquanar in game 3 when your 2 goblin tokens died, but i just wanted to be sure about this.
thanks for that, i was remembering the base lists from dredge's beginning and was always wondering if had held around..guess not
these are so great, love em, keep em coming!! don't wear down now!
Yes. Tokens that are destroyed go to the graveyard for the purposes of triggers. But obviously they disappear immediately so any trigger that depends on cards being in the graveyard will not go off from a token.
Well Done my friend, kudos to hard work for our reading pleasure. These articles will be must haves for a very very very long time. Again, well done!
Heh - Mental Note was basically my first edit after compiling the list. It was an honorable mention, but that was 37 cards long (one more than a nice even 36), and out it went, since it is underpowered. Dredge is, indeed, the only deck that would want it, but Dredge has better options, especially in Classic.
maybe its me but is mental note no longer used in dredge decks? or is it just not quality enough for classic? then i could have missed it..but i skimmed through again...
Nice insight, I updated the entry and bumped it to 2 stars. This is a deck that I haven't played, but even though I don't think it will be Tier 1 any time soon (even after a format split), it's the one I most want to see as a result of my research as it looks like a blast to play.
Also, Remand is very necessary x4 for High Tide to work properly, you cast Brain Freeze and Remand it back to your hand with the storm trigger on the stack...then you Brain Freeze Again. Its a good way to win, even when you cant cast 15+ spells this turn.
Ideas Unbound has uses for Storm decks that use blue. In that case, it's much better than Careful Study, and one mana cheaper than Meditate for one less card.
Now, the question is who would want to run a blue storm deck in classic in the first place.
ben,,.
u da man. gj sir, again.
mea culpa, guys - will add to the master article - thanks for the catch! Here's the entry:
Tezzeret the Seeker – Shards of Alara; mythic. One cannot stress enough how important it is for a Control deck to be able to tap out for a threat at 5-mana, get immediate return on the investment, and threaten to win the game in just a couple of turns. Compare this to Morphling which likely needs several turns to win and is a sitting duck if you tap out to play it. Unsurprisingly, then, this is the backbone of an artifact-based Control deck. Whether it's better or worse than the two other major Blue control decks is beyond the scope of this article, but untapping mana sources when it enters play, or the fact that it tutors for gas at this stage offers incredible advantages. We're talking probably two copies at a steep 17-ticket price tag (mythic), but that's mostly chump change on the Control deck radar.
Flash of Insight was used the RFG important spells in your GY (like high tide and meditate) so that you could cunning wish for them back...though you cant do that anymore.
You also got Alabaster Potion and Eightfold Mace. Almost all of those cards would lose you the game anyway, so you can`t really play around them. Thus, you swing for lethal
wow, and with no force of will i can actually afford it albeit over the course of a couple weeks im sure.
Here's my new entry for Impulse, one-star:
Impulse – Visions; common. No doubt this card's best days are long gone, it still remains to see what role, if any, this card has to offer. Though inconclusive, I lean towards 'none'. If you're playing a combo deck, a turn-2 Brainstorm sees 5.7% of your deck, while this sees 7.7% instead – a relatively small upgrade compared to a 50% spike in cost. On the other hand, if you're playing a consistent, Control deck – why not Ponder? If you really want to leave Islands untapped at all times, something like Peek makes more sense (besides Brainstorm, obviously). At 3 tickets for the set, this isn't really something I can recommend.
Back in Februray, I put Painter/Stone in an affinity shell powered by Etherium Sculptor for two top 8s. I soon realized Etherium Sculptor functions identically to Helm of Awakening. Here is my Sensei, Sensei Affinity starter list that I threw together back then (except it had 4 Demonic Consultations which I reduced to 1). I think it needs a lot of work, but it strikes me as pretty original.
4 Seat of the Synod, 4 Vault of Whispers, 4 Glimmervoid, 4 Ancient Tomb
1 Mana Crypt, 4 Springleaf Drum
1 Demonic Consultation, 1 Demonic Tutor, 1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Thoughtcast
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Arcbound Worker, 4 Frogmite, 4 Etherium Sculptor, 4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4 Skullclamp
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Brain Freeze
Sideboard
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
4 Engineered Plague
1 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Extirpate
Evoke doesn't really work the way you hope (what I belive you hope anyway).
You can only sacrifice stuff you control, so you will end up with you oppeonts fatty and him with your mulldrifter (I suppose that is a improvement).
echo is good though.
A very well written article. And some parts were almost funny too! (watch out, internet, this is called sarcasm)
Yes, token hit the yard (usually) and then immediately get removed entirely from the game.
p.s.
I'd take that card donation, no worries.
He did mention Tezzeret 2 times. Just not as a card ^^
I am seriously impressed Ben this is a great resource. Good job something to be proud of.
It has made me re-evaluate my collection :_)
Might want to consider the following fringe blue cards: Memory Lapse, Flash Freeze,Recall.
But Tezzeret needs a mention! - This should no overshadow the take home message that this is an awesome article and I appreciate the value and the amount of work you have done here.
Brilliant Job
Hammer
You're right about the deck idea (2x Sensei's Divining Top + Helm of Awakening + Brain Freeze).
Sensei Sensei is reasonably cheap as far as Classic decks go (especially if you run a mono blue version... except for 4x Force of Will.
now ive seen a lot of mention of a sensei,sensei deck... am i right in assuming this is the one where you play and replay tops for free only to storm into something major? If so, this could be made on a fairly cheap budget im assuming?
Cut the Sphinx Ambassador and replace them with Sharuum the Hegemon.
This is so freakin' awesome. I am ecstatic that you are taking the time and effort to put together such a comprehensive eternal format primer.
Fun article. I like ways of cheating cards into play such as cascade decks. Free cards FTW! Anyway, just a question about tokens...which i think was answered but still wanted clarification on. Does a token go to the graveyard for purpose of cards like the new black quest that adds a counter when a creatures hits the bin? i think the answer is yes especially since you alluded to taking 2 dmg from the hissing iquanar in game 3 when your 2 goblin tokens died, but i just wanted to be sure about this.
Thanks!