Maveric78f
07-28-2009, 08:48 AM
Bounces are card disadvantage by nature. So, why are we so many to play them?
- tempo card: gain 1 turn or 2 and kill before your opponent can recover. Main targets: defensive creatures and chumpblockers.
- removal before a big turn in combo decks: deal with hate. Main targets : a bit everything from artifacts (Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Thorns of Amethyst), enchantments (Counterbalance, Runed Halo, Solitary Confinement) and creatures (Meddling Mage, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Cannonist).
- free yourself from a lock: unlock the game. Main Targets: enchantments (Moat, Blood Moon, Ghostly Prison, Counterbalance), artifacts (Ensnaring Bridge, Chalice of the Void) and Glacial Chasm.
- synergies with your deck: bounce your own cards (Gilded Drake, Smokestack, 0CC artifacts in order to create storm, creatures with Aluren), or in addition to mana denial.
- opportunity offered by your opponent cards: disruption when your opponent plays cards that take a lot of resources (Phyrexian Dreadnought, Tombstalker, Isochron Scepter, Glacial Chasm, Leylines, Moxen, cards that were not actually played/playable for instance with Academic Rector, Show and Tell or Eureka), cards that take several turns to be effective (Aether Vial, Smokestack, Powder Keg) or to make their token cease to exist (Empty the Warren, Worm's Harvest).
- save your permanents' ass: another opportunistic use, save a killer permanent in response to opponent's removal.
Boomerang: probably outdated. The UU cost makes it sometimes difficult to play and it is almost always weaker than Echoing Truth, because there is a low interest in bouncing lands in legacy: you can't counter them, the resource they cost is light compared to UU, especially, it makes you lose tempo. Daze is huge in legacy, so what's the use in bouncing lands? Ok, Glacial Chasm. But who plays that?
Echoing Truth: a bit cheaper than Boomerang. Its strength can be annoying sometimes, so that it should be played only in decks that do not play tarmogoyf. Its weakness is that it can be forbidden by Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance. Its strength is its ability to deal with all the Empty the Warren tokens. It sees play in some Merfolks builds, even if I think it's not optimal.
Wipe Away: the perfect boomerang. It's 3CC and split second. As boomerang it's universal. However the bounce effect is a bit weak to justify to spend 3CC on a single target. It can appear in legacy as a wish target or in 1 slot in tempo thresh, even if I personally think it's an error to prefer it over other 3CC bounces that do more.
Chain of Vapor: Chain of vapor has 2 unique features: 1/generate storm or cheat with your own permanents and then bounce it back to the opponent as you have nothing worth targetting, 2/non-land universal for 1CC. Despite that, it's only regularly played in Aluren (cheat with your own creatures) and Ichorid (low CC). The drawback of getting your own stuff bounced is not the only explanation to that: the 1CC feature is as much a weakness as a strength. Indeed, chalice and counterbalance are immuned to it and being able to bounce these 2 lock pieces is actually the main reason to play bounces in legacy.
Rushing River: My favourite bounce. I play a lot of tempo aggro controls (not thresh) and it's clearly the best contender for these decks, that play quite a lot of lands (20+) and a lot of mana denial. It's also great with standstill. In combo decks, it has also the advantage to bounce any 2 threats. It's never affected by chalice. It dodges counterbalance quite reliably.
Repeal: I used to like it too because it cantrips which makes it the perfect escaper for your own permanents as well as being a good disrupter to most. But it's inability to deal with Chalice of the Void, Leylines and Tombstalker make it incomplete. And generally, when you play a bounce, you want it to be effective against anything. It's good with Gilded Drakes too (I know no one cares but I do). Except in MUC I don't see it much nowadays. It's quite underrated in my opinion.
Consign to Dreams: it's a card I've just discovered (call me noob if you wish). I've not tried it yet but if you can figure out what your metagame is, it can be played MD quite easily. At least I would recommend it to be played instead of Wipe Away in Tempo Thresh (or play 2 Rushing River, it works too).
Submerge: not really a bounce. It applies only to creatures but it's great in SB, as it can be played for nothing and it dodges Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance. Actually, I'll describe a bit more what it can do when I compare anti-green creatures options for SB in blue (with Mind Harness and Threads of Disloyalty).
Cryptic Command: More than a bounce, iut's a swiss army knife. As a lot of other bounces its high CC is a strength at the same time being a weakness. It is immune to Chalice of the Void and probably counterbalance too. The high requirement in blue mana and it's high CC limits its use to very specific mono-U decks: Solidarity and MUC. Some people tried it in Tempo Thresh but as far as I understood the gap between 3CC and 4CC is huge in a deck less than 20 lands (and no mana accelerator).
- tempo card: gain 1 turn or 2 and kill before your opponent can recover. Main targets: defensive creatures and chumpblockers.
- removal before a big turn in combo decks: deal with hate. Main targets : a bit everything from artifacts (Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Thorns of Amethyst), enchantments (Counterbalance, Runed Halo, Solitary Confinement) and creatures (Meddling Mage, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Cannonist).
- free yourself from a lock: unlock the game. Main Targets: enchantments (Moat, Blood Moon, Ghostly Prison, Counterbalance), artifacts (Ensnaring Bridge, Chalice of the Void) and Glacial Chasm.
- synergies with your deck: bounce your own cards (Gilded Drake, Smokestack, 0CC artifacts in order to create storm, creatures with Aluren), or in addition to mana denial.
- opportunity offered by your opponent cards: disruption when your opponent plays cards that take a lot of resources (Phyrexian Dreadnought, Tombstalker, Isochron Scepter, Glacial Chasm, Leylines, Moxen, cards that were not actually played/playable for instance with Academic Rector, Show and Tell or Eureka), cards that take several turns to be effective (Aether Vial, Smokestack, Powder Keg) or to make their token cease to exist (Empty the Warren, Worm's Harvest).
- save your permanents' ass: another opportunistic use, save a killer permanent in response to opponent's removal.
Boomerang: probably outdated. The UU cost makes it sometimes difficult to play and it is almost always weaker than Echoing Truth, because there is a low interest in bouncing lands in legacy: you can't counter them, the resource they cost is light compared to UU, especially, it makes you lose tempo. Daze is huge in legacy, so what's the use in bouncing lands? Ok, Glacial Chasm. But who plays that?
Echoing Truth: a bit cheaper than Boomerang. Its strength can be annoying sometimes, so that it should be played only in decks that do not play tarmogoyf. Its weakness is that it can be forbidden by Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance. Its strength is its ability to deal with all the Empty the Warren tokens. It sees play in some Merfolks builds, even if I think it's not optimal.
Wipe Away: the perfect boomerang. It's 3CC and split second. As boomerang it's universal. However the bounce effect is a bit weak to justify to spend 3CC on a single target. It can appear in legacy as a wish target or in 1 slot in tempo thresh, even if I personally think it's an error to prefer it over other 3CC bounces that do more.
Chain of Vapor: Chain of vapor has 2 unique features: 1/generate storm or cheat with your own permanents and then bounce it back to the opponent as you have nothing worth targetting, 2/non-land universal for 1CC. Despite that, it's only regularly played in Aluren (cheat with your own creatures) and Ichorid (low CC). The drawback of getting your own stuff bounced is not the only explanation to that: the 1CC feature is as much a weakness as a strength. Indeed, chalice and counterbalance are immuned to it and being able to bounce these 2 lock pieces is actually the main reason to play bounces in legacy.
Rushing River: My favourite bounce. I play a lot of tempo aggro controls (not thresh) and it's clearly the best contender for these decks, that play quite a lot of lands (20+) and a lot of mana denial. It's also great with standstill. In combo decks, it has also the advantage to bounce any 2 threats. It's never affected by chalice. It dodges counterbalance quite reliably.
Repeal: I used to like it too because it cantrips which makes it the perfect escaper for your own permanents as well as being a good disrupter to most. But it's inability to deal with Chalice of the Void, Leylines and Tombstalker make it incomplete. And generally, when you play a bounce, you want it to be effective against anything. It's good with Gilded Drakes too (I know no one cares but I do). Except in MUC I don't see it much nowadays. It's quite underrated in my opinion.
Consign to Dreams: it's a card I've just discovered (call me noob if you wish). I've not tried it yet but if you can figure out what your metagame is, it can be played MD quite easily. At least I would recommend it to be played instead of Wipe Away in Tempo Thresh (or play 2 Rushing River, it works too).
Submerge: not really a bounce. It applies only to creatures but it's great in SB, as it can be played for nothing and it dodges Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance. Actually, I'll describe a bit more what it can do when I compare anti-green creatures options for SB in blue (with Mind Harness and Threads of Disloyalty).
Cryptic Command: More than a bounce, iut's a swiss army knife. As a lot of other bounces its high CC is a strength at the same time being a weakness. It is immune to Chalice of the Void and probably counterbalance too. The high requirement in blue mana and it's high CC limits its use to very specific mono-U decks: Solidarity and MUC. Some people tried it in Tempo Thresh but as far as I understood the gap between 3CC and 4CC is huge in a deck less than 20 lands (and no mana accelerator).