Pariah's Shield

[Mikeymike]

Pariah's Shield - 5
Artifact - Equipment (Rare)
All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to equipped creature instead.
Equip 3

The Pariah casual deck archtype just became easier to pull off. It's not nearly as cheap as Pariah, but being a piece of equipment does allow it to become a card worth building around. I've played around with Pariah a few times, but all too often my specific target (say Cho-Manno or Voice of All) would be picked off by a standard removal spell, and I'd be up Oink's Creek. In the end it wasn't worth the effort.

But the Shield (huh, another Shield) is very unlikely to suffer the same fate. One Pariah-friendly creature dies, now you just have to wait for the next one.

On a side note, I do not think it is a coincidence that Phytohydra came out in the same set. Man, these two together? Wow.

 

[Ransac]

Pariah's Shield + Phytohydra = HOLY OINK! MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, this new set looks nice. I wish I still played.

Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Oversoul]

The Pariah's Shield thing is kind of cute, but too expensive to be efficient. Photohydra is interesting (although it also costs quite a bit and is two colors).

 

[Hetemti]

Well, it's useful on anything with regeneration, but the wonder weed is likely the best fit for a deck that wants to threaten, too.

 

[Spiderman]

The Pariah's Shield thing is kind of cute, but too expensive to be efficient. Photohydra is interesting (although it also costs quite a bit and is two colors).

I disagree. 5-6 mana is just about when the game is getting good in a typical casual game. And there's always ways to speed things up anyways.

 

[Hetemti]

Usually, my deck that makes five mana on turn 2 or 3 prefers to start knocking out Covetous Dragons and then turn them sideways.

 

[Mikeymike]

Its very likely too slow if you are playing 1 v 1 or in a power-combo-heavy group, but that's not what this card was printed for.

In a standard MP environment, this thing can definitely work.

 

[Oversoul]

I disagree. 5-6 mana is just about when the game is getting good in a typical casual game. And there's always ways to speed things up anyways.

You need 5 to cast it, 3 to equip it, and however much mana it takes to play a creature to equip the thing onto. The creature should be one that is good on its own, and complements the Shield. It's clunky.

Of course, it's not completely useless, but I don't think it'll see more use than Pariah has (which could be a lot or not much, depending on how you look at it).

 

[Spiderman]

Given that a Pariah deck is a specialized niche, as Mikeymike alluded to...

You don't need to equip the creature on the turn it comes out. So generally, you just need the five mana to cast it. You can always equip it the next turn. And by five turns (less if you're using mana acceleration), you probably have a creature out to be equipped in some fashion. And if a better one comes out later, you just equip that one.

The point is, five mana is very reasonable to come by in the games you would play with this card.

 

[Oversoul]

Of course you don't need to equip the creature on the turn it comes out, but the card would be pretty bad if it really did take eight mana. The equip cost makes it much more difficult to get it attached to a creature as soon as you can, and it also requires a mana investment, which sacrifices some tempo. And obviously the tempo loss can be worth it in games where the Mask is soaking up a lot of damage for you (especially if it's in combination with a creature that has an ability that is synergistic with the Mask).

Most roles I see this thing potentially filling are ones where the original Pariah would be better. The exceptions will probably be decks that take advantage of the Mask's ability to switch which creature it is equipping and remain in play after the creature is killed.

 

[Hetemti]

What about using that red Mirrodin warlord with CiP Equip Everything, and combine it with lots of goofy stuff like Slagworm Armor?

 

[Oversoul]

Heh. That could be fun, but probably not all that practical...

 

[Spiderman]

Just curious... have you built a Pariah deck?

 

[Mikeymike]

I know that question was for Oversoul, but I have.

The creatures that you play in Pariah decks are almost always excellent on their own, and become soft-locks when Pariah comes out. They are not expensive decks. Pariah's Shield is slow, but there is a reason why it costs so much more than its Aura equivalent.

 

[Oversoul]

I built a defensive control deck that used Cho-Manno/Pariah pretty heavily.

I've also played a B/W deck that was based around Dark Suspicions and used Pariah as one of its many defensive components and a combo deck centered around Mogg Maniac (and infinite damage) that used Pariah as one of its possible combo components. But I didn't actually build either of these. Rather, they were decks that friends built and I had experience with at some point.

Interestingly enough, all of these decks were meant for large multiplayer games. But I think that's just a coincidence. Pariah is perfectly functional in duels.

Mikeymike: So do you think that Pariah's Shield will see use in decks with more creatures, even if these creatures aren't as specialized as the ones that were normally used in Pariah decks?

Aside from the initial "Oh wow, that card is awesome" reaction, what does everyone think of Phytohydra? Pariah's Mask is an obvious synergy that it can capitalize on (although both cards cost five mana, which is slightly prohibitive). But aside from that, what kind of deck can break Phytohydra (or at least make it an impressive creature)?

 

[Spiderman]

Did you have the same experience as Mikeymike describes when playing his games with a Pariah deck?

I've played around with Pariah a few times, but all too often my specific target (say Cho-Manno or Voice of All) would be picked off by a standard removal spell, and I'd be up Oink's Creek. In the end it wasn't worth the effort.

Or did no one get Cho-Manno in time and the combo was set up?

 

[Mikeymike]

Mikeymike: So do you think that Pariah's Shield will see use in decks with more creatures, even if these creatures aren't as specialized as the ones that were normally used in Pariah decks?

No, I think it will be incorporated into existing Pariah decks, or used as the focus (replacing Pariah). Why wouldn't the creatures be 'as specialized', it would work with the same creature set?

The nice thing about Pariah decks is that typically its' creatures of choice are solid casts all on their own, i.e. they do a very good job preventing or re-directing damage dealt to them.

The bad thing about Pariah decks is that the strongest move in the deck relies on an Aura, supplying many 2-for-1's. Painful 2-for-1's. The Shield eliminates the key weakness of the deck.

Or did no one get Cho-Manno in time and the combo was set up?

Nope it would die to lots of standard removal (Dark Banishing, STP, etc.)...usually right before combat damage went on the stack.

 

[Oversoul]

Spidey: In the Pariah decks I played, the Pariah would buy enough time to set up another defensive measure. It wasn't 100% effective, but the local enchantment nature of Pariah wasn't too dangerous a constraint. For the Mogg Maniac deck, this was non-issue, as whenever Pariah hit, it was always game over (unfortunately, I do not remember what other cards the guy used with Pariah, but he had a relatively reliable infinite damage combo and some other cool tricks).

Why wouldn't the creatures be 'as specialized', it would work with the same creature set?

Pariah is rather suited to specialized two-card combos (like with Cho-Manno) than any other use. Pariah's Mask can be re-used if a good creature for it hits the board or the equipped creature is killed off. With Pariah, you have to wait until you have the creature you want to play it on, play the creature, then play Pariah. With the Mask, you can hold off on equipping it for several turns if it suits your purposes and each time you equip it, there isn't too much commitment. This makes it more conducive to being used with multiple creatures over several turns, even if their abilities don't interact impressively with Pariah's Mask. I'm not saying it won't be used with the same creatures, because it will. But the option exists to use it with a wider variety of creatures than have been used with Pariah in the past.

 

[Spiderman]

It might be interesting to see you two's decks, as I get the impression they're a bit different.

 

[Mikeymike]

Pariah is rather suited to specialized two-card combos (like with Cho-Manno) than any other use. Pariah's Mask can be re-used if a good creature for it hits the board or the equipped creature is killed off. With Pariah, you have to wait until you have the creature you want to play it on, play the creature, then play Pariah. With the Mask, you can hold off on equipping it for several turns if it suits your purposes and each time you equip it, there isn't too much commitment. This makes it more conducive to being used with multiple creatures over several turns, even if their abilities don't interact impressively with Pariah's Mask. I'm not saying it won't be used with the same creatures, because it will. But the option exists to use it with a wider variety of creatures than have been used with Pariah in the past.

OK, I gotcha now. I still think it will be used with Pariah friendly creatures more than anything, but it definitely offers flexibility Pariah does not. For instance, later game I can equip something like Mother of Runes when my opponent comes barrelling through with his trampling Serra Avatar...as opposed to Pariah, which I would likely not want to attach to MoR.