You ever have one of those situations where someone passes you one of the set’s stranger rares, forcing you to make a rather awkward decision about whether or not the card is playable? Here the DraftMagic.com crew picks a few of their favorite fringe rares from Innistrad, sharing their thoughts on these some maybe not-so-janky cards.
Vito Gesualdi:
I’ve been pretty surprised to see Curse of Stalked Prey going as late as it does, a card I’ll sometimes first pick. I think the problem is that players have the wrong mindset when valuing this card. After all, the only way for creatures to gain the buff is if they do combat damage to a player, which would mean that they’re already a fine job of smashing face, and an extra point of power/toughness isn’t going to make or break the game. What they’re failing to realize is that this card forces an endgame, and assuming you can keep any pressure on, your opponent’s options soon become limited. Following up a decent two and three drop with this card suddenly jumps your game ahead, often forcing an awkward trade for your opponent, or acting as a red Travel Preparations (post-combat). With just a bit of steam the train keeps on barreling down the tracks, Crossway Vampire, Nightbirds Clutches or simple spot-removal continuing to evolve your dinky little Vampire Interloper into a full-on threat, and your opponent is put into spots where they simply can’t amass useful blockers, losing card advantage on risky double-blocks while the evasion / first strike / trample beats begin to add up.
In short, grab this card, along with a critical mass of the two and three drops that know how to poke in for damage. Cards like Ashmouth Hound, Vampire Interloper , Villagers of Estwald , Voiceless Spirit , etc. Pair with Nightbirds Clutches to get the final points of damage through if an opponent stabilizes, with some Pitchburn Devils at the top end to function as your “Damned if you do, Damned if your don’t” beater.
Also: you psychopaths realize that Grimoire of the Dead is basically an unanswerable version of Liliana Vess’s ultimate, right? So… please stop passing it.
Roberto Castro-Mahoney:
lol @ Vito! Curse of Stalked Prey should go 15th (yes, after the land) because it actively slows down your win. It’s ONLY playable in RW weenies with Doomed Travelers and Nightbird’s Clutches. Meanwhile, Grimoire takes four turns to activate. If I ever let you live to turn 8 after you skipped turn 4, I deserve to die. Card is also bad, but playable in heavy control or Gnaw to the Bone self-mill.
Anyhow, the secret is out about opening Laboratory Maniac and Kessig Cagebreakers being signals to force self-mill, but some people still don’t give credit to Mirror-Mad Phantasm. This card single-handedly empties your deck and means stepping on the flashback gas! Activate the Phantasm at end of turn, put two Feeling of Dread in the grave… boom, easy win. Build the rest of your deck accordingly. UW fliers should prioritize Feeling of Dread and UG self-mill prioritize Gnaw to the Bone, both of which are Phantasm’s best friends.
Vito Gesualdi:
Stromkirk Noble is awesome, and a card that makes all your guys into Noble is bad? Yeah right.
Marlon Egolf:
Curse is a pretty bad card, I’m always thrilled to see my opponent play it.
Greg Schwartz:
I’ve lost twice to activating Mirror-Mad with over 20 cards in my library to making my entire deck empty…
That curse is not as good as Vito thinks, and not as bad as ‘Burto thinks. It’s a bit win-more, but in a deck that sports a high evasion count it’s like enchanting all of your guys. Tome is a control card in a set that doesn’t like to play control much.
Geo Thornton:
Curse is a card I hope to wheel in a B/R aggro deck but is LOW on my pick orders. Like lower than Neonyte. I’d rather take a card that does something when I play it.
A card I’ve been impressed with lately has been Creeping Renaissance. While it isn’t a high pick, and can be straight-bad in a lot of decks, it can also be nigh-unbeatable in some circumstances. In most U/G variants (including self-mill but not exclusively) it gives you reach and a late game without having to have a bomb or play Kindercatch/Somberwald Spider as finishers. Renaissance is often a five-for-one or better and can give you the guys you need to alpha strike, making it playable in some G/X builds. In self-mill, it grants you access to your guys if you either don’t have one of the finishers or simply as a value play. While it isn’t a high pick, it isn’t something that should come back as often as it does and definitely isn’t a last pick, as I have seen recently.
Josh Frankel:
Crap, I’m late to the party. Creeping Renaissance was my pick, but that’s what I get for being late. How about Nephalia Drownyard? I feel like it doesn’t get the same respect that the other “spell lands” get, but it’s still a very powerful effect to get for free, and its the most efficient mana-wise. It’s insane when milling yourself or your opponent is already part of your gameplan, but even as an alternate win condition, 3 cards a turn is a pretty quick clock at the tail end of a battle of attrition.
As far as the Curse is concerned, its not a great card, but its actually pretty good in the right deck. I want to have an insane curve with multiple 1 drops before i consider it, but it can be pretty nuts in red blue with delvers and stalkers and friends. White red with 1 drops and flying tokens galore is also a great fit (as Roberto pointed out). Even in red black (which I hate as a deck), if you’re playing lots of 1s and 2s, and swarming, there’s a big difference between 2/2s and 3/3s in this format. It gives you a nice way of fighting turn 3 2/3s and 1/4s (even if you need to suicide a 2/2 in the process) which usually just destroy red black.
Brett Widmeyer:
I think Research Labs doesn’t see enough play. I believe that the +1 card draw during the explore phase is undervalued significantly, and that the consume and produce abilities are probably worth picking up a windfall yellow and a production green planet to abuse.
Jeff Greene:
It takes four explore phases to get value. Card is only good if you have yellow access.
Kevin Hulse:
Jeff here is undervalueing the 2 victory points. Which is weird because that’s how you win the game. Also I tend to develop bonus my research labs into play. Three cards is worth a draw power and 2VP.
Vito Gesualdi:
I hate you guys sometimes.
@vito that was funny as hell. almost as good as the derailing was to begin with.
This was hilarious xD
I demand more articles of this kind!
Btw.: I agree with Josh on CoSP.
i side towards vito on the curse. underrated card. i also realize agreeing with vito probably means i’m an idiot.
were are all the frick’n darfts?
When you’re trading alien goods for 5, it’s not usually necessary to draw additional production cards. Very rarely do you have a produce/consume strategy with alien worlds. If you have more than one alien world, you’ll get more cards by producing than exploring. If you have no alien worlds, really why are you playing Research labs?
Research Labs is garbage. Never play it.
It’s an awesome card in the gimmick explore build (with the expansion sets).
First picking curse of stalked prey. That whole pack has to be a pile of hot garbage to make that a viable option.
I don’t mind Vito he’s a funny dude and I appreciate that he’s created this site but if I may give some harsh criticism I don’t think Vito should be the one holding or opening things like this in the same way I think it’s inappropriate when he moderates the podcasts. Others on this site are more knowledgeable and experienced and I think that it might be a bit better educationwise but maybe it wouldn’t be as funny? :)
Thanks to all of you for your time though!
Don’t forget runechanter’s pike in a B/U or G deck this card dominates as it gets a an obvious high power additive from your an alchemy or mulch, but equips well to the first strike needing X/1s in black (i.e. fen-snake, patrician, and rats). Oh, and pumping at instant speed with a think twice, or victim of night can produce major blow-outs if your opponent isn’t paying attention.