Aggro Control recently became the best strategy in legacy thanks in large part to three creatures.
Tarmogoyf
Tombstalker
Phyrexian Dreadnought
For the first time, Lightning Bolt was not powerful enough to deal with any of the popular threats in the format, the aggro decks were just outright outmatched by aggro control threats, and control had a natural weakness towards aggro control, contributing to the surge of this archeatype.
And thus up till recently, StP was the one and only removal spell that could deal with any of these three cards that wasn't a tempo loss (didn't cost more mana to cast than the threat itself).
Now that decks have access to 8 swords between the MD and SB, possibly even supplemented by cards like Snuff Out, Smother or Edicts, will it make good removal consistent enough to push back on the dominance of Aggro Control. Is it going to be combo's turn.
Or alternatively, will it just make the problem worse. Will aggro control vs. aggro control be facing off to determine which player can best utilize the Swords variants, discard and countermagic to keep their opponents tied up, and protect their own threats.
For all those wondering about the extra 4x swords he's talking about
Path to Exile
w
Instant Uncommon
Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.
If people start playing 8 maindecked swords all I can say is Threshold will be played very much so everywhere again and instantly rise above all the other aggro control decks mainly because of Nimble Mongoose.
UR Dreadstill creator and BRx WGD Combo Pioneer
Originally Posted by xsockmonkeyx
No. If everyone ran 8 Swords, Nimble Mongoose would still be played. If anything, it would just be played harder.
I don't think it will. There is no fundamental difference, with the creatures you just listed, between Swords 5-8 and 4xSwords/4xEdict. There is plenty of removal out there, and the precarious position atop the heap that aggro control occupies is the result of a well-balanced format. Every basic deck type is viable at a tier 1 or tier 2 level, whether it be combo, control, aggro or aggro control, and aggro control happens to have the best matchup, generally speaking, against the largest portion of the field (control+combo). It acts like a foil to decks that would otherwise overrun the format, and the decks that beat it (aggro) have poor matchups against enough things (control+combo) that they aren't an issue for it.
I'd much rather vary my curve against Dreadstill. Wing Shards, anyone?
Now, if Team America ever became 40% of the metagame, yeah. But I don't see it happening.
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I'm going to laugh when someone PtE's my lackey, only to be met by a turn 2 warchief.
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All of which do nothing but attack, making them prime targets for Condemn. If you wanted 8 one-mana answers, you've had them, and they haven't made a lick of difference.
In fairness, Condemn cares about Thoughtseize a lot more than PtE does.
Also, Painter's Servant, Dark Confidant, etc.
For my confessions, they burned me with fire/
And found I was for endurance made
Condemn is too slow, thus didn't make much waves. Oh, and everything but tombstalker could be easily dealt with Smother (Goyf and Dreads are less than 3 in Converted mana costs)...
If people played 8 Swords, Counterbalance and Chalice be a lot stronger as an effect. As SpikeyMikey said, Edict is pretty much as good. Looking at the decks that run these creatures, they don't run many other creatures, making Edict pretty strong.
Smother takes care of Goyf and PD.
Grave removal slows TS and weakens Goyf.
Edict deals with all of them but does risk that they've played a Trinket Mage or something already in the case of Dreadstill.
I kinda guess it'll be hilarity in Armageddon builds.
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Heck, Terminate isn't played much, isn't it ?
But it does dodge CotV set at one, and possibly Counterbalance (+Top), and it does answer Goyf, Nought and Tombstalker, as well as Dark Confidant, etc...
Actually, IBA made a very good point concerning Dreadstill, Wing Shards looks a lot stronger than any other 1 mana answer to Nought.
I really think that PAth to Exile won't be played much than, say, Condemn. Like, which deck having access to StP would need X more ?
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One of the reasons BEB is so popular is because having Plow is pretty important against mountain aggro, and so you basically force the other guy to stick Tarmogoyf. BEB is also what's up against one drops.Like, which deck having access to StP would need X more ?
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Not to mention that BEB can counter bombs like Price of Progress or remove Vexing Shushers in play.
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I'm reading a lot of comparisons of Path to Condemn and I don't think they're as close as people are making it out to be. Removing the creature anytime you wish instead of waiting until the attack step is quite valuable. The kind of deck that would find great value in running more than 4 Swords might be a rather short list. Something like Landstill, Wombat, or Quinn come to mind, but you'd have to evaluate how it's going to affect your current matchups. If you're running Landstill, 4 more Swords isn't something I'd want in an already favorable Thresh matchup, but it is something I'd want for an unfavorable Team America matchup.
Why wouldn't they wait until your turn to Path your Lackey?
Because there is a main phase after the combat phase?
Honestly I can see Path being a flop all in all (remember Damnation and 8wrath.dec?). Maybe as Swords 5 or 6, but other than that I can't really see which decks would play that many point removal spells.
The problem with PtE is it's drawback will usually prove too great to answer a turn one lackey (or any other threat from fast aggro), and after that there are plenty of other removal options that are just as good.
What does BEB stand for?
Personally I believe that Path could see play in aggro control decks that are heavier on the aggro side. Personally I think Merfolk.dec could use this, as it tries to beat fast with some controlling elements, but has a hard time dealing with stuff like a big Goyf. It could help in other areas as well. ex. we could even see R/W goblins as this removal for Goyf doesn't slow down the aggro plan like StP does.
Edit: BEB= Blue elemental blast
Path to Exile is significant.
Swords is the only decent cheap removal that white has access to. And yes, sometimes 4 removal spells isn't enough. If you want to consistently always have an answer to threats, you're going to need more than 4.
If you want more removal, and aren't playing black, PtE is the only reasonable option.
Yes, if you're playing black, you're likely better off with Edict, Smother, or Snuff Out, but other wise, PtE is removal 5-8.
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