[SCD] Chains of Mephistopheles

[Cthuloo]

Really? Yeah, really.

Chains of Mephistopheles 1

Enchantment

If a player would draw a card except the first one he or she draws in his or her draw step each turn, that player discards a card instead. If the player discards a card this way, he or she draws a card. If the player doesn't discard a card this way, he or she puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.


Why am I brining up this old and obscure card in a world populated by shiny brand new Mental Missteps?

Well, first of all it has an awesome flavor, and has that "old school" style that every one of us loves. This should already be a good enough reason to run the card, but for the few of you that aren't convinced yet, I still have plenty of motivations for you.

Let's make a brief summary of the more relevant cards that can be put in chains by the good old Mephistopheles:

• Brainstorm (and to a lesser extent Ponder, Preordain and "flipping" Top), which leads to...
• Jace's second ability
• Standstill
• Sylvan Library
• 50% of Spiral Tide (Cantrips, Time Spiral, Meditate)

... and, from the last SCG top 16, other smaller snacks for Mephistopheles include: Cryptic Command, Sword of Fire and Ice, Repeal, Horizon Canopy and the entire engine of the Enchantress deck. Not that bad for an old devil, right?

This card is obviously not maindeck material, except maybe as a 1-of E-Tutor target, but, since the ancient times, the devil likes to hide in the shadows, and pop up in snake form to annoy naked girls offering them fruit. Now, substitute in your mind Eve (it's easier if you stop imagining her naked) with Team America, Uw control, Time Spiral, cantrip ANT or Enchantress. Now try again, avoiding to think to naked girls + chains, you pervert, and you will see why this old piece of cardboard could be a good sideboard weapon against the aforementioned decks (and not only them).

Who could profit from a deal with the devil? Well, first of all the Dark Confidant. Wasn't he that convinced you to make the deal in the first place? Well, DC text conveniently doesn't mention the word "draw", so it will not be affected by the chains. I'm not suggesting an exact decklist, since the card is meant as a versatile tool for black decks that don't splash blue to fight blue decks (mainly), but probably decks like The Gate and Deadguy Ale could profit the most from the card, since their ways to make card advantage still work very well despite the chains (DC, Mystic, Bitterblossom, Gatekeeper).

What do the devil worshippers on this site think about the card? And don't answer "But it's 80$ on SCG". You made a deal with the devil. Nobody said it was free.

[bruizar]

It can be used as a metagame SB answer, but its tremendously dependent on the matchups you face. I'm not sure if I like Chains as a sideboard card since it doesn't force your opponent to use the Brainstorm. I think the best way to view this card is as a Chalice of the Void for cantrips/draw. Sounds pretty busted, but I can't really approve or disprove of it until I've actually used it in my sideboard to see how often it comes up.

[Forbiddian]

It's an answer to Standstill in exactly the same way that, say, Tarmogoyf is. It has the same price and has to hit the board first. Except Tarmogoyf is relevant in other situations.

I guess what you don't understand is: Card ADVANTAGE wins games, not card DRAW. The two are related, but if you're pissing a card and a lot of tempo away to stop your opponent from drawing, then you already lost the card advantage war.

Chains only shuts down Brainstorm in blue, and only Brainstorms that he didn't have in hand when you cast Chains. And they could still be pitched to FoW. Jace is still extremely strong fatesealing and bouncing dudes, and taking out Standstill is a crapshoot. You need the Chain out first (in which case he can just pitch Standstill, so you didn't-even-as-good-as-Duress him), but you get raped if he plays the Standstill first.

It's good against Spiral Tide.

[Cthuloo]

It's an answer to Standstill in exactly the same way that, say, Tarmogoyf is. It has the same price and has to hit the board first. Except Tarmogoyf is relevant in other situations.

And except enchantment removal sees a lot less play than creature removal, and Chains is relevant in other situations too (otherwise boarding it in was a wrong move).

I guess what you don't understand is: Card ADVANTAGE wins games, not card DRAW. The two are related, but if you're pissing a card and a lot of tempo away to stop your opponent from drawing, then you already lost the card advantage war.

Chains only shuts down Brainstorm in blue, and only Brainstorms that he didn't have in hand when you cast Chains. And they could still be pitched to FoW. Jace is still extremely strong fatesealing and bouncing dudes, and taking out Standstill is a crapshoot.

I am quite sure that I understand the difference between card advantage and card draw. If they don't play their braistorm or standstills and pitch them to force, I think the card accomplished its goal. It's like a maxi-pithing needle on 8+ cards vs the right deck, you can call it virtual CA if you like the expression.
I am not suggesting to play the card vs any deck that plays 4 brainstorms, but there's plenty of decks that play many targets for the enchantment (it usually hits 8-10 cards vs TA and 16 vs Gerry T Uw control, for example).

You need the Chain out first (in which case he can just pitch Standstill, so you didn't-even-as-good-as-Duress him), but you get raped if he plays the Standstill first.

I'm not really sure I understood your point here. If he pitches the Standstill (to force chains?), well, counters exist. I am not saying that the card is guaranteed to resolve. If he drops Standstill first I am raped in any case, unless my boarding plan doesn't include 4 mishra's factories.

[Skeggi]

I can't stop thinking about naked girls.

[TheShaun]

I like it. Who has 2 of them to give to me?

[menace13]

So, what I got from this is, Hoard a bunch of Chains, Put it in a Metalworker deck's 75 then top 8 the next SCG 5k with it and profit?

[DarthVicious]

I've ran Chains in a competitive environment. Yes, it owns their draw spells, etc. One guy wanted to Brainstorm to find EE and blow it up, but he only had three cards in his hand, including the Brainstorm.
(Just so everyone knows, he would've discarded 1, drawn 1, discarded 1, drawn 1, discarded 1, drawn 1, and then put his two card hand on the top of his library. The judge shook his head at me after this guy called him over.)

I even combined it with Anvil of Bogardan once my discard took their hand out. It was fun the same way microwaving the neighbor's cat is fun. And I ended up losing several matches because I had this mostly irrelevant card stuck in my hand.

I'm glad the main idea here isn't 'build a deck around this card', because it doesn't really work. As a supplement to another proven plan might be ok, like a 1-of SB E-Tutor target.