First on the menu is a Blue Instant that can ruin an opponent's musings.
Thought Scour can be used in a variety of ways. For starters (see what I did there) any deck that uses self-milling can take advantage of this card to fuel their graveyard based strategy; whether it be Solar Flare or Blue/Green decks that use Splinterfright.
But the main use of Thought Scour is to ruin Ponder. Imagine your opponent looking at the top three cards of their deck and spending time arranging them into an order of their choosing; maybe its that third land they're missing or an instant or sorcery to transform Delver of Secrets, then wham! A nasty looking needle gets whacked into their brain and turns that order into chaos. You also draw a card in the process which is pretty nice.
Now that the entrée is out of the way, we'll move onto the main course. An undead wizard that can feast off creatures in graveyards.
Havengul Lich is an incredibly powerful card. For one colourless mana you can cast a creature card from any graveyard, provided you have the correct mana. Here's a quick story about the Lich's implications.
Yesterday, I played a game against David who had thrown together a standard deck and wanted to test it. I managed to win the first round by setting off Sorin, Lord of Innistrad's ultimate; stealing a Stromkirk Captain and a Stromkirk Patrol in the process. The Captain then pumped my 1/1 lifelinking tokens and gave them first strike for the win.
The final game saw both of us resolve a Havengul Lich which I followed with a Grave Titan. Dave simply used the Lich's ability to cast a Phantasmal Image copying my Titan and getting two 2/2 Zombie tokens in the process. Things got even worse when he cast another Image again copying my Titan.
I then attacked with my giant zombie factory only for it to be chump blocked by Dave's tokens. I then cast Unburial Rites in my second main phase targeting Grave Titan and then used my Havengul Lich to bring back my own Phantasmal Image copying (yes you guessed it) Grave Titan.
Dave then returned another Image with his Lich and so on and so forth.
Dave eventually won by having more zombies on his friends list than I did. That, and my inability to find a Snapcaster Mage to flashback a Day of Judgment.
Which brings me (finally) to the point. Havengul Lich and Snapcaster Mage are insane together. The activated ability of the Lich means that you can flash in a Snapcaster on your opponent's turn potentially chump blocking an attacker and allowing you to flashback a removal or counter spell all in one fell swoop.
To add insult to injury, you can always cast an opponent's Snapcaster Mage for added value.
After that hefty and somewhat gruelling plat principal, time for a card that can make you stressed. (Or desserts backwards)
Tragic Slip offers Neapolitan potential. Firstly, it kills of anything with one toughness which is a pretty blatant comment to make I know. But when that 1/1 has the potential to transform into a 3/2 flier or a 3/3 that gives other creatures +1 +1 and generates wolves this card suddenly becomes very important.
Secondly, it kills indestructible creatures. Enough said.
Thirdly, it makes chump blocking pay off. Block a titan with a 1/1 then reduce its toughness by thirteen for gross morbidity.
We hope you enjoyed your dining experience today. Don't forget, there are launch parties being held on Saturday 4th and Tuesday 7th at Kid's Dreams where more grey matter will available for testing. (Well, hopefully)
John, Thought Scourer.
No comments:
Post a Comment