Hall of Shame Nominations: Alpha/Beta/Unlimited

B

BigBlue

Guest
Here is where you'll post your nominations - with reasoning... (I'll post my own nomination later)... Nominations will close 23:59 GMT on 7/18. We'll vote on them in the voting forum.

For reference:

Air Elemental
Ancestral Recall
Animate Artifact
Animate Dead
Animate Wall
Ankh of Mishra
Armageddon
Aspect of Wolf
Bad Moon
Badlands
Balance
Basalt Monolith
Bayou
Benalish Hero
Berserk
Birds of Paradise
Black Knight
Black Lotus
Black Vise
Black Ward
Blaze of Glory
Blessing
Blue Elemental Blast
Blue Ward
Bog Wraith
Braingeyser
Burrowing
Camouflage
Castle
Celestial Prism
Channel
Chaos Orb
Chaoslace
Circle of Protection: Black
Circle of Protection: Blue
Circle of Protection: Green
Circle of Protection: Red
Circle of Protection: White
Clockwork Beast
Clone
Cockatrice
Consecrate Land
Conservator
Contract from Below
Control Magic
Conversion
Copper Tablet
Copy Artifact
Counterspell
Craw Wurm
Creature Bond
Crusade
Crystal Rod
Cursed Land
Cyclopean Tomb
Dark Ritual
Darkpact
Death Ward
Deathgrip
Deathlace
Demonic Attorney
Demonic Hordes
Demonic Tutor
Dingus Egg
Disenchant
Disintegrate
Disrupting Scepter
Dragon Whelp
Drain Life
Drain Power
Drudge Skeletons
Dwarven Demolition Team
Dwarven Warriors
Earth Elemental
Earthbind
Earthquake
Elvish Archers
Evil Presence
False Orders
Farmstead
Fastbond
Fear
Feedback
Fire Elemental
Fireball
Firebreathing
Flashfires
Flight
Fog
Force of Nature
Forcefield
Fork
Frozen Shade
Fungusaur
Gaea's Liege
Gauntlet of Might
Giant Growth
Giant Spider
Glasses of Urza
Gloom
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Goblin King
Granite Gargoyle
Gray Ogre
Green Ward
Grizzly Bears
Guardian Angel
Healing Salve
Helm of Chatzuk
Hill Giant
Holy Armor
Holy Strength
Howl from Beyond
Howling Mine
Hurloon Minotaur
Hurricane
Hypnotic Specter
Ice Storm
Icy Manipulator
Illusionary Mask
Instill Energy
Invisibility
Iron Star
Ironclaw Orcs
Ironroot Treefolk
Island Sanctuary
Ivory Cup
Jade Monolith
Jade Statue
Jayemdae Tome
Juggernaut
Jump
Karma
Keldon Warlord
Kormus Bell
Kudzu
Lance
Ley Druid
Library of Leng
Lich
Lifeforce
Lifelace
Lifetap
Lightning Bolt
Living Artifact
Living Lands
Living Wall
Llanowar Elves
Lord of Atlantis
Lord of the Pit
Lure
Magical Hack
Mahamoti Djinn
Mana Flare
Mana Short
Mana Vault
Manabarbs
Meekstone
Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
Mesa Pegasus
Mind Twist
Mons's Goblin Raiders
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Natural Selection
Nether Shadow
Nettling Imp
Nevinyrral's Disk
Nightmare
Northern Paladin
Obsianus Golem
Orcish Artillery
Orcish Oriflamme
Paralyze
Pearled Unicorn
Personal Incarnation
Pestilence
Phantasmal Forces
Phantasmal Terrain
Phantom Monster
Pirate Ship
Plague Rats
Plateau
Power Leak
Power Sink
Power Surge
Prodigal Sorcerer
Psionic Blast
Psychic Venom
Purelace
Raging River
Raise Dead
Red Elemental Blast
Red Ward
Regeneration
Regrowth
Resurrection
Reverse Damage
Righteousness
Roc of Kher Ridges
Rock Hydra
Rod of Ruin
Royal Assassin
Sacrifice
Samite Healer
Savannah
Savannah Lions
Scathe Zombies
Scavenging Ghoul
Scrubland
Scryb Sprites
Sea Serpent
Sedge Troll
Sengir Vampire
Serra Angel
Shanodin Dryads
Shatter
Shivan Dragon
Simulacrum
Sinkhole
Siren's Call
Sleight of Mind
Smoke
Sol Ring
Soul Net
Spell Blast
Stasis
Steal Artifact
Stone Giant
Stone Rain
Stream of Life
Sunglasses of Urza
Swords to Plowshares
Taiga
Terror
The Hive
Thicket Basilisk
Thoughtlace
Throne of Bone
Timber Wolves
Time Vault
Time Walk
Timetwister
Tranquility
Tropical Island
Tsunami
Tundra
Tunnel
Twiddle
Two-Headed Giant of Foriys
Underground Sea
Unholy Strength
Unsummon
Uthden Troll
Verduran Enchantress
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Veteran Bodyguard
Volcanic Eruption
Volcanic Island
Wall of Air
Wall of Bone
Wall of Brambles
Wall of Fire
Wall of Ice
Wall of Stone
Wall of Swords
Wall of Water
Wall of Wood
Wanderlust
War Mammoth
Warp Artifact
Water Elemental
Weakness
Web
Wheel of Fortune
White Knight
White Ward
Wild Growth
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Winter Orb
Wooden Sphere
Word of Command
Wrath of God
Zombie Master
 
M

Melkor

Well-known member
Farmstead. In order to gain 3 life (Healing Salve), you merely have to spend 9 White over 4 turns. Not to mention it is an Enchant Land, so it is more vulnerable than a regular Enchantment and to top it all off, it is indeed, Rare. Good thing they limit it to once an upkeep, otherwise you could gain all sorts of life. This is truly a beauty to behold.
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
Word of Command, because the art is worse than Stasis, and there isn't any situation in which this card would actually be of use...
 
D

DarthFerret

Guest
I am going with Lich. I do not think I ever saw it work in a deck. It was a rare that everyone wanted, and yet no one could ever play effectively. I would say that this card was pretty shame-worthy.
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
This is a lot harder than I thought it would be...

All three of those cards were ones I've been considering...

I'd like to add this gem to the list -

Personal Incarnation For 3 White and 3 Colorless I get a 6/6 which I get the privilege of redirecting damage to myself from... And if he's sent to a graveyard (like with Terror - a common), I lose half my life. Plus he's Rare... At least Farmstead doesn't cost me half my life...

To Recap, he's expensive, painful, and only moderately useful (no evasion or trample).

Lich = Loss imho... Lich was sooooo bad, they made an "Improved" lich later... which still didn't work. I can only hope my opponent has one in his hand when I play Word of Command on him... :) You can pair it w/ Mirror Universe though... I think Lich was an early attempt at Necropotence... life for cards...
 
Oversoul

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Melkor has a good pick with Farmstead. It does stand out as one of the most disappointing cards in the original set.

Word of Command? Modus, are you insane? Here's a situation in which Word of Command is useful: Fireball. Sure, it's not the most godlike card ever and for the powerhouses in this set, it's pretty mild, but it's not terrible.

Lich is actually an example of why I was saying cards shouldn't be judged just be the sets they were in. It's better than any examples I thought of at that time, because in A/B/U it's pure crap. Four black mana all to buy a little time. With this set, there's really no way to make it anything more than a highly situational gambit at keeping yourself alive in a close game. But with later sets, that changed--a lot. Anyone else here ever play against TurboLich? Sure, no one would play it in competitive Vintage now, but still, under the right conditions, Lich is a monstrous combo engine.

My nomination goes to Gray Ogre. Its cousins in the other colors are bad too, but there's an important difference: Gray Ogre is completely outclassed by other red creatures and was from the very beginning. In first edition, there were already red creatures that had the same power and toughness, the same mana cost, and had beneficial abilities.
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
The problem with Word of Command is that the targetted players gets to respond, so you can only play sorceries, and even then only if it's controller has no way of spending mana (on an instant perhaps?). You can't get them to use for example Crystal Vein, as they can simply tap it for a single colorless in response, so in the rare occasion that your opponent has a lot of mana, and a fireball in hand, why wouldn't he just point it at your head in the first place? Sure, there is a 1% chance that you strike gold, but most of the time it's just a waste of cards and mana.

Some other cards worth considering:

-Island Sanctuary (no rly, it is not good)
-Burrowing (mountainwalk-granting abilities should be limited to pony's ;))
-Animate Wall (no explanation needed)
-Sea Serpent (islandhome just isn't what it used to be)
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I thought all of these discussions on the merits of cards was to be for the actual voting :)

I'll nominate Purelace, just because most of the cards I consider useless have been nominated so this is in the next tier. I'm not sure why a rare card would be spent to change a card's color - I think it can have its uses, but not as a rare. So that's more why I'm nominating it than it truly being useless.
 
Mooseman

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
I'll nominate Birds of Paradise... I mean who wants a creature the can fly, but do no damage? And the mana thing is just a waste, since you can't attack with a tapped creature.... What moron made this card?




OK, just kidding. I think the worst cards have been nominated and there isn't another I would feel would be "better/worse"

I second word of command...... the rules text would have been clearer if it said, "Play any card in opponents hand if it's Tuesday and raining".

The only way this card works is if they were to give it split second.
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
To Recap so far....

Melkor - Farmstead
Modus, Mooseman - Word of Command
Darthferret, Ransac - Lich
BigBlue - Personal Incarnation
Oversoul - Gray Ogre
Spiderman - Purelace

(Updated - Added Ransac to Lich)
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
Island Sanctuary? Seriously? It doesn't hurt you, it combos w/ other cards where you don't want to draw... The effect is situationally useful...

I agree w/ all the actual nominations so far... Richard Garfield (wasn't he pretty much the sole designer of A/B/U?) had a color wheel vision... It's obvious when you look at cards like Grizzly Bear vs Gray Ogre vs Scathe Zombies (who had a lord in the beginning) vs Pearled Unicorn vs (well, blue doesn't have a common vanilla 2/2 I recall)...
 
D

DarthFerret

Guest
so, when is this gonna happen....are nominatons closed? Are we gonna vote?...come on Bigblue...you started this...
 
B

Budget Player Cadet

Guest
Farmstead and the Laces are completely useless. At least there was Turbolich.
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
It'll be ready for voting after Friday (when nominations close)

Are you gonna nominate a card BPC?

Should non-nominators get a vote?
Is it too harsh to say you can't vote for your own card? I just didn't want this to ever degenerate into each nominator voting for their nominee...
 
M

Melkor

Well-known member
Non-nominators (or seconders) should absolutely be allowed to vote.

I think people should be able to vote for their own card, it's better that way than people refusing to vote in order to prevent an inferior (superior?) card from going into the Hall of Shame.

If there is a tie, then there should be a run off of the top vote getters. If there is literally a three-way, 1 vote tie with everybody voting for "their" card, then I would favor crossing that bridge when we come to it, but if we must have "rules" then just go to a ranked choice system among the voters.
 
Shabbaman

Shabbaman

insert avatar here
I'll nominate Power leak. You can't play the card like... ever, and even then it's effect is marginal at best. You play a situational card and you get a situational effect that will hardly affect game state. Crappp with a capital C (and not only because it's the first word of this sentence).

A card like Lich is surely poor, but at least it has a powerful effect. Sure, it has a powerful drawback as well, but such an effect could tickle your inner Timmy. I could imagine building a deck around it, unlike Power leak.
 
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