Forgotten MRD block cards, Part I

M

Mur

Guest
Okay, some goonish moderator here (heh) flogged me for not participating in the forums. All right, I'll do it, under my terms.

Here's the deal. I'm going to post here about MRD block cards that I think got short-changed because everybody ran off to get 4x Tooth and Nail and 4x Darksteel Colossus. Bleah. How boring.

I think there are undiscovered gems in the rough. Some of these got some "hot talk" when they were first on the street, but then they got set aside. (Goody for me, because the eBay price went down drastically.)

Two examples: the first is Chalice of the Void, which I dealt with in my recent Deck Article, "Purple Beast" http://www.casualplayers.org/article/get.php?action=getarticle&articleid=882.

The second is Empyrial Plate. If you slap this on an evasion creature, backed up with countermagic and some card drawing, whoosh! A very discouraging beating, for your opponent. Evasion creature, countermagic, card drawing? Sounds like the possible return of a Blue Weenie archtype. Phantom Warrior, Spiketail Drake, Neurok Spy, counterspells, card drawing, stir and serve.

Okay, now you have an idea of what I'm looking for. 60-card decklists are welcome, but not required. Standard format will be assumed, unless you specify otherwise. The only requirement is that you have to deal with the cards I pick.

This time, in the shoot is Grim Reminder. In case you have forgotten:

Grim Reminder 2B
Instant
Search your library for a nonland card and reveal it. Each opponent who played a card this turn with the same name as that card loses 6 life. Then shuffle the revealed card back into your library. BB: Return Grim Reminder from your graveyard to your hand. Play this ability only during your upkeep.

Wow, 6 loss of life, and it's repeatable? Why can't we find a way to abuse this card in the current copycat environment? Heck, it seems like you could stuff your deck with 1x of these:

Pyrite Spellbomb
Pentad Prism
Naturalize
Frogmite
Shatter
Mana Leak
...

and that's just the non-Black stuff.

Let's go, Casualties -- er, Casualites, whatever.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
I like Grim Reminder, but in my opinion it is more of a support card than a main kill condition because it takes 4 turns to kill your opponent with it. In other words, I don't think it is necessarily abusable, just obnoxious. That said, annoyance locks have worked plenty of times before.

I'm out of the Type 2 loop, so I apologize in advance for my lack of specific suggestions, but I do have some ideas for this card.

As a straight-up support card it should be able to work in a control deck, either mono-black or B/x. It needs time to work, as it needs to be cast 4 times to deal 20+ damage AND it requires your opponent actually casting one of the cards in your current deck (IOW, it is highly unlikely to work every turn).

How to build around it? Hmm, maybe if you had a way to bounce permanents every turn - this way they either re-cast the card to be dealt 6 damage, or they hold onto it. Temporal Adept could work. It is very U hungry (versus Grim Reminder being B hungry), though Joiner Adept could help there. Nah, too much work. Only if Umbilicus and/or Sunken Hope were T2, alas...

Dispersing Orb? Not so U heavy, and the sacrifice effect could potentially be turned into a positive.

Keeper of the Nine Gales is the perfect bounce, but it is creature dependent.

Another idea are cards that punish the opponent for not playing spells. Like Impatience if it were T2.

You might want to consider a way to get cards from your hand/graveyard back into your library, in case the '1 of' you needed was just played and you've drawn it.

If "Beacon of X" ever start getting bigtime play, you can co-build the deck around that card as well, since it shuffles itself back into the library after use.

I final thing I can think of, you can also reserve a few Sideboard slots for Grim Targets.

I hope this helps.
 
M

mythosx

Guest
I dunno. I think grim reminder has plenty of utility. Even though it might be hard to cast grim reminder on some one. If you use it in conjunction with the tasty equipment mentioned before it. You can constantly make sure your hand stays fatty enough to pump up a creature by returning all the grim reminders in your grave yard to your hand.

I keep envisioning a way of pitching the Grim reminder for some affect and then putting it back your hands to repeat as necessary. It is the same way Squee, goblin nabob is abused cept that card is free to recur.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Originally posted by mythosx
I dunno. I think grim reminder has plenty of utility. Even though it might be hard to cast grim reminder on some one. If you use it in conjunction with the tasty equipment mentioned before it. You can constantly make sure your hand stays fatty enough to pump up a creature by returning all the grim reminders in your grave yard to your hand.

I keep envisioning a way of pitching the Grim reminder for some affect and then putting it back your hands to repeat as necessary. It is the same way Squee, goblin nabob is abused cept that card is free to recur.
Click to expand...
Ahhh, excellent point mythosx, I forgot all about that!

Cards for this purpose...
Razormane Masticore
Thought Courier
Gigapede
Catalog/Thirst for Knowledge
Undead Gladiator
 
H

Homestar

Guest
i always sideboard grim reminder in my black decks, i never main deck it unless i need to take up space.
 
T

train

Guest
Grim Reminder should utilize a sideboard - mainly for 2nd and 3rd games of a match...

It's great in block/type 2 because of the mirrors - but that's it until it utilizes a strongly built sideboard...
 
O

orgg

Guest
I've been trying to pick up a few Reminders on MOL cheaply, but it seems that people actually DO realize its potential-- but just can't figure out how to use it. If I get a few, I'll figure it out, though. I'LL FIGURE IT OUT!

...it probably tastes a lot like Squee, though. I think it would've gotten a lot more play if only the block would've had a few more discard-for-effect cards.
 
T

train

Guest
The reason I say sideboard is because you can pull in all of the meta cards, and then run wild...

As for base-deck potential - it really needs to be common spells across the board, or a mirror for the ideal plays...
 
H

Homestar

Guest
its good and all but there is one problem

In T2 there set deck archtypes that most ppl follow, tooth and nail, big red, burn, Ravager Affinity, etc. etc.

Notice, there are no popular decks that even include Black in them, so, most of the time, its gonna colloect dust in your sideboard if you play T2.

Now extended, T1.5, T1 and all that other good stuff is another story and i cant tell you n e thing about it since i dont play it........
 
T

train

Guest
you could easily build a B/R artifact deck that allows you to use reminder for all of the meta you mentioned Homestar...

;) :cool:
 
H

Homestar

Guest
why do you have to have an answer for everything..........

whenever i think i have made a good point, Tain blasts it right back into my face.........

LoL! just kidding, yea ur right, you could do that.

500 Posts, Boo YaH!!
 
T

train

Guest
why do you have to have an answer for everything
Click to expand...
Soon you will understand the ways of the magii... and then you will not be blinded, but enlightened...

"There is always an answer..."
 
Oversoul

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Magi is the plural of magus. I was confused about "magii" because it looks sort of like an improper plural for magi. I've never heard of the need for a plural of magi, but I suppose that it would be "magis." That looks weird, but I think it might be right.
 
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