Curby
08-07-2007, 09:51 AM
Hi, I'm just returning to Magic after some time and trying to get up to speed on the game mechanics again.
Why do people who play first activate a first-turn fetchland on the end of opponent's turn? While it's often good to do instant-speed things at the end of an opponent's turn, I see at least three reasons why you shouldn't do this.
1) Assuming you have nothing to do with turn-1 mana, couldn't you fetch and then bluff with a mana-producing land? Maybe you have a Stifle, a Swords to Plowshares, a Bolt, an anything?
2) At the end of opponent's turn, he's got a land down, and has the option of Stifling your fetchland as you sacrifice it.
3) At the end of opponent's turn, he's got an extra card that he drew during his draw phase (he's drawing first). That's an extra possible threat against your fetchland.
I imagine the answer has to do with Wasteland tricks, but I can't quite see it. If he plays Wasteland, he doesn't have to Waste the fetchland. He can wait till your dual comes into play. Is the idea here to fetch a nonbasic if he plays Wasteland, but a dual otherwise? To counter that, why wouldn't the opponent drop another land first turn and wait until the Dual/other-nonbasic comes online before playing Wasteland?
One situation I can see is the following: (1) you're playing a deck with all nonbasics (this seems unusual in the modern meta), (2) you drew a hand with two fetchlands, or a fetch and a nonbasic, (3) you know he's playing Wasteland but not Stifle, and (4) everything in your hand needs at least 2 mana (a horrible draw in any aggro deck, not sure about control/combo). In this somewhat unlikely situation, you could play the fetch and activate it on your second turn, all but guaranteeing two mana on the second turn.
Anything else? I feel awfully blind cause there must be some compelling reason that overrides the three points named above. I'm ready for my cluestick beating now. :tongue:
Why do people who play first activate a first-turn fetchland on the end of opponent's turn? While it's often good to do instant-speed things at the end of an opponent's turn, I see at least three reasons why you shouldn't do this.
1) Assuming you have nothing to do with turn-1 mana, couldn't you fetch and then bluff with a mana-producing land? Maybe you have a Stifle, a Swords to Plowshares, a Bolt, an anything?
2) At the end of opponent's turn, he's got a land down, and has the option of Stifling your fetchland as you sacrifice it.
3) At the end of opponent's turn, he's got an extra card that he drew during his draw phase (he's drawing first). That's an extra possible threat against your fetchland.
I imagine the answer has to do with Wasteland tricks, but I can't quite see it. If he plays Wasteland, he doesn't have to Waste the fetchland. He can wait till your dual comes into play. Is the idea here to fetch a nonbasic if he plays Wasteland, but a dual otherwise? To counter that, why wouldn't the opponent drop another land first turn and wait until the Dual/other-nonbasic comes online before playing Wasteland?
One situation I can see is the following: (1) you're playing a deck with all nonbasics (this seems unusual in the modern meta), (2) you drew a hand with two fetchlands, or a fetch and a nonbasic, (3) you know he's playing Wasteland but not Stifle, and (4) everything in your hand needs at least 2 mana (a horrible draw in any aggro deck, not sure about control/combo). In this somewhat unlikely situation, you could play the fetch and activate it on your second turn, all but guaranteeing two mana on the second turn.
Anything else? I feel awfully blind cause there must be some compelling reason that overrides the three points named above. I'm ready for my cluestick beating now. :tongue: