This with Crystal Ball. Takes no thought. But yes, Phyrexian Arena is much better than this.
Posted By:
UltimaCenturion
(7/12/2010 11:43:33 AM)
Haha ya, I would hate to flip over an Autochthon Wurm or Emrakul. Phyrexian Arena is so much better, I'll pay one life for my fatties thank you very much!
Posted By:
EvilCleavage
(7/17/2010 2:09:19 AM)
Oh, you guys, with your hypothetical situations. Who cares if Gleemax + this = a bomb? If you build your deck like that, you're going to lose an awful lot of games and it has nothing to do with the cards. Dark Tutelage is weak in limited because they've taken out Consume Spirit in M11 (possibly because of the synergy) and there aren't very many viable lifegain cards to refuel you - it might do well if it was paired up with Elixir of Immortality, but there's nothing really really good in mono-black. In constructed, it would be marvellous if it was teamed up with any X lifegain spell and some cheap beats. Until its proven that mono-black aggro isn't viable in the next standard, save your hatin'.
Posted By:
Ogrillion
(7/18/2010 12:03:52 AM)
Great for standard and now extended since they lost bob. Easier to splash than arena, if played in UB with jace, you can effectively negate any kind of damage by making sure that your top is always a land. Crystal ball also. I tested it in a black aggro deck, turned out to be just peachy.
Posted By:
PolskiSuzeren
(7/23/2010 5:24:40 AM)
My only issue is that, unlike bob, you can't kill this if you are low on life.
I certainly prefer phyrexian arena, but this has it's uses (like, idk, card advantage) too. (and it's standard)
Would be funny (most likely in limited)
"Darn, flipped emrakul..."
Posted By:
channelblaze
(7/23/2010 5:29:14 PM)
It's pretty bad. Almost always worse than phyrexian arena. Some kind of repeatable scry effect would make it tolerable rather than just bad - I guess that means crystal ball. But even then it's not great. If mono black control literally has no other way to draw cards, I suppose, but why you wouldn't splash blue for jace (either one), I don't know. That's got to be better than running the risk of handing your opponent some seriously good burn without having to pay for it. 2.5/5.
Posted By:
cloneffect
(7/31/2010 5:41:20 AM)
Everyone is mis-appraising this card. That's fine by me. I'll run it and win with it. It is clearly not a card that you can just use blindly but it is not at all bad. At 2b it is more splashable than arena. At lose life = to cmc you can play with it to minimize your life loss. It also works well in ub, b aggro, and rb aggro. To anyone who says you can't kill it, they must not be familiar with cards like war priest of thune, naturalize, maelstrom pulse, o-ring, qasali pridemage, acidic slime, nature's cleansing, aether tradewinds, into the roil, regress etc. A mono black mage can't kill it, but everyone else but red has some way of dealing with it.
And theres always lifegain to offset: lone missionary, baneslayer angel, basilisk collar, behemoth sledge, corrupt, consume spirit, tendrils of ... (see all)
Posted By:
Divisionbyzer0
(8/7/2010 9:42:17 PM)
This looks like a watered down version of Phyrexian Arena, and in most decks, will harm you more than help you.
Posted By:
vsasntore
(8/23/2010 4:24:03 AM)
So much hate on this deck. I've tested it in a deck with Crystal Ball, Preordain and Conundrum Sphinx. Throw in some control and it works out alright. You do need a lot of mana though.
Posted By:
opinionfailure
(9/7/2010 10:55:19 AM)
just over all a bad card the only reason i was able to trade it was because the guy liked the artwork
Posted By:
thegatekeeper
(9/16/2010 9:33:00 PM)