CS card experiences thread! !BU! [Archive] - Wizards Community

CS card experiences thread! !BU! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jaydee
08-09-06, 04:09 AM I started some playtesting with Coldsnap cards and I think my experiences might be usefull for those play with Black & Blue!
Therefor this topic, to share experiences of Black & Blue cards in our decks :D

In order to keep this topic ordered, I suggest we work like this:

*Card: explanation and experience

and so on...

Anyway, this is what I experienced so far!

*Blizzard Specter: aaah Blizzy, so good :D Pure evil! If they cannot answer blizzy, our chances grow every round! You bounce something and you make them discard it...This one can change the game!

*Rune snag: Solid Sexy Counter , if you play the 1st one fast, the others will be waterproof, cause paying 4-6 mana extra is really hard!

*Deathmark and flashfreeze ,good sideboard stuff, thats for sure

*Vexing Sphinx:is a good headbanger to stomp once or twice, but the card discarding hurts too much...The upkeep where you have to discard 2 cards was in my case too hard...Anyway had to sac him to do an opponent's spell..

*Commandeer was the only rare I bought myself from the Coldsnap serie, but I never managed to use it good! Or I countered the spell in cases with flashfreeze where I could have used the Commandeer (on supply lol) which was stupid from me cause an army of tokens never hurts, or I had only 1 blue card in my hand and not enough mana...The costs are high....But I'm gonna test him more!

Does anyone have similar or other experiences with Black & Blue Coldsnap cards?
mars
08-09-06, 07:28 AM :u:/:b:/:w: Blizzard

Ah yes... :sighs: Blizzie is ace. Here is my :u:/:b:/:w: standard (post-rotation) deck. It has removal, counter, transmute and quite a few dangerous creatures.

Lots of draw cards as well. This, and Grim Harvest and Adarkar Valkyrie mean that you can cycle through the creatures, as long as you have the mana (and the Valkyries) to keep reviving and re-casting them. Ghost Council of Orzhova and Gristle Grinner form the Ghost Husk-type combo :)

I actually have almost all of these cards - except for the lands; I need to finalise the mana base. I borrowed the land setup from a pro deck and modified it a little to make it standard-legal.

Land (24)
3 Plains
2 Watery Grave
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Underground River
2 Azorius Chancery
3 Island
2 Orzhov Basilica
2 Godless Shrine
3 Swamp
1 Spectral Searchlight (artifact)
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
Non-Creature-Spells (20)
2 Counterbalance
2 Vanish into Memory
2 Mortify
2 Remand
2 Grim Harvest
4 Rune Snag
4 Compulsive Research
4 Clutch of the Undercity
Creatures (16)
3 Gristle Grinner
4 Blizzard Specter
2 Sky Hussar
2 Vexing Sphinx
3 Ghost Council of Orzhova
2 Adarkar Valkyrie

Sideboard
2 Mortify
2 Remand
2 Grim Harvest
3 Wrath Of God
3 Spectral Searchlight
3 Perplex
Jaydee
08-09-06, 10:02 AM mmh, gristle grinner , is that one usefull? Cannot imagine hehe!

And have you playtested counterbalance , or not yet?
Jaydee
08-10-06, 04:04 AM *Heidar, Rimewind Master has been tested as well and has been approved :D The bouncing is really fun, good thing against counters on creatures! This one especially rocks if you have the next card in play as well:
*Rimewind Taskmage: Not much of a use himself, but he can untap the master, who can bounce back a 2nd permanent if your mana pool allows it :D

Very annoying to play against, I can assure you!
(but very fun to play with ;)
XIII13Thirteen
08-10-06, 10:28 AM I can't review all the cards, but I can point out some cards of interest to me. These cards are my top 5 cards for your requested colors. I try to keep in mind some of these will just have limited potential within the restraints of a particular deck

:u:Blue:u:

1.) Heidar, Rimewind Master -Some say a slightly better Temporal Adept, but I say a much improved Temporal Adept. Heidar can disrupt deck strategies and create mana screwage if he isn't dealt with quickly. He's not a terrible beater or blocker either. While his cost is discouraging blue has enough of it's sleeve to buy time and keep mana open. Heidar works great in limited play as well. I think he will see some constructed play. He's generically costed activated ability makes him easy to splash as well

2.) Rune Snag -Rune Snag is a "better than" Mana Leak. This is a great card with constructed potential definately. It can be your replacement easily it also creates the option of creating more 2 cc counters in that slot. I still prefer Remand, but our hard counterers will definately want to check this pretty out

3.) Perlious Research -Instant card draw? Yes yes yes please. This card does the obvious combo with Hatching Plans, but even alone can turn your chump into 2 cards. Great stuff

4.) Counterbalance -This card is a bit overrated in my opinion, but when it does work it works well. At it's worse it is atleast annoying to see on the other side of the board. I think it still deserves a place here. It's 2cc slot makes for a bit of crowding, but of course makes it a tempting early game nuisance

5.) Flashfreeze -A 2 cc hard counter for Gruul? Sounds great to me. This card is of course sideboard material, but highly recommended. Great card to shut down those troublesome enemy colors

Honorable Mentions - Rimewind Taskmage and Martyr of the Frost

:b:Black:b:

1.) Deathmark -This is THE sideboard card for your black or black splashed deck. A 1 cc creature removal is extremely powerful even at sorcery speed. Whilst it is also receiving a bit of overratage this is well warranted, but don't expect it to replace Putrefy or Mortify anytime soon if the mana sources are available to you in a deck as they have more utility

2.) Stromgald Crusader -Hand of Cruelty's successor is getting alot of attention and it's well warranted. If Mike Flores says good, than you best listen. This may very well be your new 2cc black drop. Don't neglect him you WILL pick up 4 or just decide against creating a heavy black deck for the duration of the Coldsnap cycle

3.) Haakon, Stromgald Scourge -This a pseudo-Yawgmoth's Will on legs is getting attention with good reason. Wrath of God is easy to recover from. :w::b: has a new bedmate. Current interest lies in :w::u::b: builds, but I think :w::b: will have a viable deck for this guy

4.) Rime Transfusion -I usually hate auras, but I forgive this one. Granted it's not a great card because it is an aura and it is still inferior to Moldervine Cloak (which is of course apples to oranges because of color.) You can't deny a 2cc splashable boost with heavy evasion as a great combination

5.) Phyrexian Etchings -I've addressed this card time and time again. While it is limited to particular decks, this is a nasty nasty card in the hands of a smart player. No I don't mean by donating it. Think good ole' card advantage as it was intended. In my experience suck it up and take your spanking for it otherwise your looking at a combo deck and let's be honest they suck

Honorable Mention -Phobian Phantasm and Soul Spike

I don't really like any of the multi-colored cards
Jaydee
08-10-06, 11:45 AM *Blizzard Specter you don't like at all?

*Phyrexian Etchings sounds great, but it can be your death as well...

*Perilious Research, not convinced either...I'm currently looking after something to create card advantage...Phyrexian Arena and Compulsive Research are the best possibilities imo...
XIII13Thirteen
08-10-06, 01:30 PM *Blizzard Specter you don't like at all?

*Phyrexian Etchings sounds great, but it can be your death as well...

*Perilious Research, not convinced either...I'm currently looking after something to create card advantage...Phyrexian Arena and Compulsive Research are the best possibilities imo...

Blizzard Specter is too mana intensive for a discard or bounce of their choice. Hypnotic Specter is superior. It might be a counce that helps them. Want another Jester's Scepter coming at ya? He looks cool and I like the flavor, but I'd not play him in an environment other than limited

Phyrexian Etchings is a good card, but I don't think anyone knows how/when to play it

Perilious Research is an excellant card. Like I mentioned before it just has to be played intelligently
Robbin_the_hood
08-11-06, 10:12 AM Hehe. I had some fun with senseis divining top and counterbalance.

Must have been annoying for the other guy....
Jaydee
08-11-06, 10:54 AM Aha, the sensei & counterbalance...Mmmh, can you guess how many % of his cards you countered that way?

Has anyone tested controvert so far?? The cost is lol way too much but i wanna find out if it's recover ability is worth it... :eek:
Sestze
08-11-06, 06:43 PM Aha, the sensei & counterbalance...Mmmh, can you guess how many % of his cards you countered that way?

Has anyone tested controvert so far?? The cost is lol way too much but i wanna find out if it's recover ability is worth it... :eek:
Tested it out in a mono blue tron deck with Martyr of Frost as a sacrifice outlet. Works rather well, as I managed to sacrifice the martyr, recover a Controvert, and counter another spell that turn.

Mind you, I managed to do a full 20 points of damage with a Martyr of Frost in one game. Hoo boy, that was funny.
Jaydee
08-12-06, 05:23 AM Tonight another testnight for me :D
I added 1x grim harvest, which when recoverable, is a very decent card I believe! Hopefully it comes out lol!

Also 2x Controvert, 1x Counterbalance, 4x Commandeer and 1x Phyrexian Etchings will be tried out :cool:

I would love to test Martyr Of frost as well, but have him only once.. :(
Jaydee
08-14-06, 01:32 PM Another testsession to report :cool:

*Phyrexian Etchings : Unless you keep a bounce card in your hand this one is too dangerous...I paid it's mana costs 5 times and then sac'ed...Luckyly I didn't die since I had commandeer'ed a worship looool :D Anyway, the phyrexian etchings is very dangerous...But offcourse huuuuuuge card-advantage...Had to discard like 5-land cards...

*Commandeer: One hell of a card if you can play it out :eek: :D , amazing! Late in game you can pay the mana and early game you can discard! Though it's learning to use this card optimal! This a game-swinger, he can turn a loss into a win!

*Rune snag: What i thought is confirmed: a better version of mana leak! Seriously, use the first one early game and the rest are almost waterproof!

*Controvert: Used it, but not it's recover costs...Terribly high! The same can be said from grim harvest! Might be very usefull in decks with lots of sac'able creatures where you can incalculate 3/4 mana for recovering them!

Does anyone else have Black or Blue card experiences? Similar ones or different opinions?
The_Forger
08-16-06, 10:46 AM Is it worth buying the snowscape deck if you're a :b: :u: player? :blink:

I mean you get a blizzy :shocked: and some other stuff don't you...

(and another very very ignorant question: How do you actually get snow mana :confused: )
Jaydee
08-16-06, 11:43 AM Is it worth buying the snowscape deck if you're a :b: :u: player? :blink:

I mean you get a blizzy :shocked: and some other stuff don't you...

(and another very very ignorant question: How do you actually get snow mana :confused: )

I think you get more profit from buying a "Coldsnap Fatpack": It includes 6 boosters!!, 40 snow land cards ;) , 2 coldsnap boxes, the colsnap catalogue etc...

The sad part of snowscape is that lots of cards are reprinted from ice age ,aka no T2, aka not much use...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jaydee 08-09-06, 04:09 AM	I started some playtesting with Coldsnap cards and I think my experiences might be usefull for those play with Black & Blue! Therefor this topic, to share experiences of Black & Blue cards in our decks :D In order to keep this topic ordered, I suggest we work like this: Card: explanation and experience and so on... Anyway, this is what I experienced so far! Blizzard Specter: aaah Blizzy, so good :D Pure evil! If they cannot answer blizzy, our chances grow every round! You bounce something and you make them discard it...This one can change the game! Rune snag: Solid Sexy Counter , if you play the 1st one fast, the others will be waterproof, cause paying 4-6 mana extra is really hard! Deathmark and flashfreeze ,good sideboard stuff, thats for sure Vexing Sphinx:is a good headbanger to stomp once or twice, but the card discarding hurts too much...The upkeep where you have to discard 2 cards was in my case too hard...Anyway had to sac him to do an opponent's spell.. Commandeer was the only rare I bought myself from the Coldsnap serie, but I never managed to use it good! Or I countered the spell in cases with flashfreeze where I could have used the Commandeer (on supply lol) which was stupid from me cause an army of tokens never hurts, or I had only 1 blue card in my hand and not enough mana...The costs are high....But I'm gonna test him more! Does anyone have similar or other experiences with Black & Blue Coldsnap cards?
mars 08-09-06, 07:28 AM	:u:/:b:/:w: Blizzard Ah yes... :sighs: Blizzie is ace. Here is my :u:/:b:/:w: standard (post-rotation) deck. It has removal, counter, transmute and quite a few dangerous creatures. Lots of draw cards as well. This, and Grim Harvest and Adarkar Valkyrie mean that you can cycle through the creatures, as long as you have the mana (and the Valkyries) to keep reviving and re-casting them. Ghost Council of Orzhova and Gristle Grinner form the Ghost Husk-type combo :) I actually have almost all of these cards - except for the lands; I need to finalise the mana base. I borrowed the land setup from a pro deck and modified it a little to make it standard-legal. Land (24) 3 Plains 2 Watery Grave 2 Caves of Koilos 1 Underground River 2 Azorius Chancery 3 Island 2 Orzhov Basilica 2 Godless Shrine 3 Swamp 1 Spectral Searchlight (artifact) 2 Hallowed Fountain 1 Ghost Quarter Non-Creature-Spells (20) 2 Counterbalance 2 Vanish into Memory 2 Mortify 2 Remand 2 Grim Harvest 4 Rune Snag 4 Compulsive Research 4 Clutch of the Undercity Creatures (16) 3 Gristle Grinner 4 Blizzard Specter 2 Sky Hussar 2 Vexing Sphinx 3 Ghost Council of Orzhova 2 Adarkar Valkyrie Sideboard 2 Mortify 2 Remand 2 Grim Harvest 3 Wrath Of God 3 Spectral Searchlight 3 Perplex
Jaydee 08-09-06, 10:02 AM	mmh, gristle grinner , is that one usefull? Cannot imagine hehe! And have you playtested counterbalance , or not yet?
Jaydee 08-10-06, 04:04 AM	Heidar, Rimewind Master has been tested as well and has been approved :D The bouncing is really fun, good thing against counters on creatures! This one especially rocks if you have the next card in play as well: Rimewind Taskmage: Not much of a use himself, but he can untap the master, who can bounce back a 2nd permanent if your mana pool allows it :D Very annoying to play against, I can assure you! (but very fun to play with ;)
XIII13Thirteen 08-10-06, 10:28 AM	I can't review all the cards, but I can point out some cards of interest to me. These cards are my top 5 cards for your requested colors. I try to keep in mind some of these will just have limited potential within the restraints of a particular deck :u:Blue:u: 1.) Heidar, Rimewind Master -Some say a slightly better Temporal Adept, but I say a much improved Temporal Adept. Heidar can disrupt deck strategies and create mana screwage if he isn't dealt with quickly. He's not a terrible beater or blocker either. While his cost is discouraging blue has enough of it's sleeve to buy time and keep mana open. Heidar works great in limited play as well. I think he will see some constructed play. He's generically costed activated ability makes him easy to splash as well 2.) Rune Snag -Rune Snag is a "better than" Mana Leak. This is a great card with constructed potential definately. It can be your replacement easily it also creates the option of creating more 2 cc counters in that slot. I still prefer Remand, but our hard counterers will definately want to check this pretty out 3.) Perlious Research -Instant card draw? Yes yes yes please. This card does the obvious combo with Hatching Plans, but even alone can turn your chump into 2 cards. Great stuff 4.) Counterbalance -This card is a bit overrated in my opinion, but when it does work it works well. At it's worse it is atleast annoying to see on the other side of the board. I think it still deserves a place here. It's 2cc slot makes for a bit of crowding, but of course makes it a tempting early game nuisance 5.) Flashfreeze -A 2 cc hard counter for Gruul? Sounds great to me. This card is of course sideboard material, but highly recommended. Great card to shut down those troublesome enemy colors Honorable Mentions - Rimewind Taskmage and Martyr of the Frost :b:Black:b: 1.) Deathmark -This is THE sideboard card for your black or black splashed deck. A 1 cc creature removal is extremely powerful even at sorcery speed. Whilst it is also receiving a bit of overratage this is well warranted, but don't expect it to replace Putrefy or Mortify anytime soon if the mana sources are available to you in a deck as they have more utility 2.) Stromgald Crusader -Hand of Cruelty's successor is getting alot of attention and it's well warranted. If Mike Flores says good, than you best listen. This may very well be your new 2cc black drop. Don't neglect him you WILL pick up 4 or just decide against creating a heavy black deck for the duration of the Coldsnap cycle 3.) Haakon, Stromgald Scourge -This a pseudo-Yawgmoth's Will on legs is getting attention with good reason. Wrath of God is easy to recover from. :w::b: has a new bedmate. Current interest lies in :w::u::b: builds, but I think :w::b: will have a viable deck for this guy 4.) Rime Transfusion -I usually hate auras, but I forgive this one. Granted it's not a great card because it is an aura and it is still inferior to Moldervine Cloak (which is of course apples to oranges because of color.) You can't deny a 2cc splashable boost with heavy evasion as a great combination 5.) Phyrexian Etchings -I've addressed this card time and time again. While it is limited to particular decks, this is a nasty nasty card in the hands of a smart player. No I don't mean by donating it. Think good ole' card advantage as it was intended. In my experience suck it up and take your spanking for it otherwise your looking at a combo deck and let's be honest they suck Honorable Mention -Phobian Phantasm and Soul Spike I don't really like any of the multi-colored cards
Jaydee 08-10-06, 11:45 AM	Blizzard Specter you don't like at all? Phyrexian Etchings sounds great, but it can be your death as well... *Perilious Research, not convinced either...I'm currently looking after something to create card advantage...Phyrexian Arena and Compulsive Research are the best possibilities imo...
XIII13Thirteen 08-10-06, 01:30 PM	Blizzard Specter you don't like at all? Phyrexian Etchings sounds great, but it can be your death as well... *Perilious Research, not convinced either...I'm currently looking after something to create card advantage...Phyrexian Arena and Compulsive Research are the best possibilities imo... Blizzard Specter is too mana intensive for a discard or bounce of their choice. Hypnotic Specter is superior. It might be a counce that helps them. Want another Jester's Scepter coming at ya? He looks cool and I like the flavor, but I'd not play him in an environment other than limited Phyrexian Etchings is a good card, but I don't think anyone knows how/when to play it Perilious Research is an excellant card. Like I mentioned before it just has to be played intelligently
Robbin_the_hood 08-11-06, 10:12 AM	Hehe. I had some fun with senseis divining top and counterbalance. Must have been annoying for the other guy....
Jaydee 08-11-06, 10:54 AM	Aha, the sensei & counterbalance...Mmmh, can you guess how many % of his cards you countered that way? Has anyone tested controvert so far?? The cost is lol way too much but i wanna find out if it's recover ability is worth it... :eek:
Sestze 08-11-06, 06:43 PM	Aha, the sensei & counterbalance...Mmmh, can you guess how many % of his cards you countered that way? Has anyone tested controvert so far?? The cost is lol way too much but i wanna find out if it's recover ability is worth it... :eek: Tested it out in a mono blue tron deck with Martyr of Frost as a sacrifice outlet. Works rather well, as I managed to sacrifice the martyr, recover a Controvert, and counter another spell that turn. Mind you, I managed to do a full 20 points of damage with a Martyr of Frost in one game. Hoo boy, that was funny.
Jaydee 08-12-06, 05:23 AM	Tonight another testnight for me :D I added 1x grim harvest, which when recoverable, is a very decent card I believe! Hopefully it comes out lol! Also 2x Controvert, 1x Counterbalance, 4x Commandeer and 1x Phyrexian Etchings will be tried out :cool: I would love to test Martyr Of frost as well, but have him only once.. :(
Jaydee 08-14-06, 01:32 PM	Another testsession to report :cool: Phyrexian Etchings : Unless you keep a bounce card in your hand this one is too dangerous...I paid it's mana costs 5 times and then sac'ed...Luckyly I didn't die since I had commandeer'ed a worship looool :D Anyway, the phyrexian etchings is very dangerous...But offcourse huuuuuuge card-advantage...Had to discard like 5-land cards... Commandeer: One hell of a card if you can play it out :eek: :D , amazing! Late in game you can pay the mana and early game you can discard! Though it's learning to use this card optimal! This a game-swinger, he can turn a loss into a win! Rune snag: What i thought is confirmed: a better version of mana leak! Seriously, use the first one early game and the rest are almost waterproof! Controvert: Used it, but not it's recover costs...Terribly high! The same can be said from grim harvest! Might be very usefull in decks with lots of sac'able creatures where you can incalculate 3/4 mana for recovering them! Does anyone else have Black or Blue card experiences? Similar ones or different opinions?
The_Forger 08-16-06, 10:46 AM	Is it worth buying the snowscape deck if you're a :b: :u: player? :blink: I mean you get a blizzy :shocked: and some other stuff don't you... (and another very very ignorant question: How do you actually get snow mana :confused: )
Jaydee 08-16-06, 11:43 AM	Is it worth buying the snowscape deck if you're a :b: :u: player? :blink: I mean you get a blizzy :shocked: and some other stuff don't you... (and another very very ignorant question: How do you actually get snow mana :confused: ) I think you get more profit from buying a "Coldsnap Fatpack": It includes 6 boosters!!, 40 snow land cards ;) , 2 coldsnap boxes, the colsnap catalogue etc... The sad part of snowscape is that lots of cards are reprinted from ice age ,aka no T2, aka not much use...