Making Manabarbs viable

[Shanghi Knights]

I came into some manabarbs recently and i started thinking how with just 1 on the field thats only a 20 mana tap limit for the rest of the game. with stuff like confidant, thoughtseize, force of will, fetchlands reduce peoples lives to the 18 or 17 range anyways. what i can't decide is what deck shell better works on this? stax which makes them have to pay more mana to get out of trouble/prevent trouble. but would it work better in a burn small aggro shell like green red beat decks.

both are on opposite ends of using manabarbs one cuts the limit of mana taps very quickly while the other is attrition and utilizes moxs and more than one mana producting land to gain leverage.

i just can't decide whats the better way to use manabarbs.

[beastman]

It seems like it's way too slow for the format. Most decks require very little mana use to kill you, except for decks like landstill. There are much more effective ways of screwing with mana.

[KrzyMoose]

Scald does the same thing for half the price against half the format (and it's on sided, no less). Yet, no one plays it.

It just doesn't do anything.

[FoolofaTook]

Manabarbs would be viable if it cost just :1::r: to cast. It's way too slow for Legacy at :3::r:.

[Wrath_Of_Houlding]

I guess some combo could throw it in as inevitability, since a lot of their mana's not from lands anyway? But they have much better things to do with their 60...

[rufus]

I tried to make it work as a 'last mile' card in burn a long time ago. There are better cards to play.

[Malchar]

I think stax is a good logical choice. Say the opponent plays a creature costing 2 mana. They take 2 damage, but you'll lose the game unless you answer the creature. You'll probably have to spend mana to answer the creature anyway, so you'll be taking damage as well.

Stax has a number of good existing synergies that tap into this theme. For example, you can keep creatures at bay with Tabernacle and Ghostly Prison. Also, Trinisphere seems like a strong synergy. Plus, you can stem some of the disadvantage of the huge mana cost by using Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors.

Seems like you could hedge your bets in a stax deck. You don't have to rely on Armageddon as much. Also, even if your opponent is able to keep paying for your cost-increasing effects, they take punishment from the Manabarbs.

It's also a great excuse to make stax with Ajani Vengeant

[TheCramp]

Braid of Fire would like to remind you that it is at the front of the red-enchantments-to-break line, and that is it hungry, thirsty, and covered in dust - "send help."

[DrJones]

Scald is far better than manabarbs. I was talking with friends about how difficult it was to find a really "unfair card" against blue (in the same vein of cards like Light of Day, Chill, or Gloom), because blue can just counter, control, or delay your hate cards until it can safely destroy them with sweepers. Of that discussion, we agreed that the only card totally unfair against blue we could think of was scald. Oh, and Teferi, but Teferi is too slow for this format.

I don't know why scold isn't played more, frankly.

[Mr. Fix it]

hey shank why not put them in a dragon stompy type deck? might be kinda cool to go trinisphere, then barbs then watch your opponent pay mana to get out of the double trouble.

[Shanghi Knights]

yes it costs 4 four but i think with the right build its viable. like fix it said a stalling stradegy like trinisphere might be most effective.

[Mr. Fix it]

lets try something like this-

4 manabarbs

4 duress
4 thoughtseize
4 remand
4 echoing truth


4 mourning thrull
2 exalted angel
4 meddling mage
2 royal assassin
4 tarmogoyf
4 waterfront bouncer

4 chrome mox
4 lotus pedal

creatures should be able to go toe to toe with aggro with goyf and assassin working together.

we need meddling mage it obvious there gunna wanna cast there combo or essential cards but more importantly we need to stop grip.

lets remand spells so they recast them and take more damage from the barbs. plus we can make them discard if its truly threatening if it can't be cast again in the same turn.

second lets use bouncer and echoing truth to keep them playing stuff.

exalted angel will hurt us under manabarbs so only playing a few would be best. mourning thrull will keep us out playing them in the mana/life race shank was speaking about.

since manabarbs is hefty in cost lets add lotus pedals and chrome mox's to speed up the work.

draw engine i'm not sure about yet cause if we go blue for brainstorm and ponder we can't use scald in the sb for the blue match up that runs the risk of hurting us double.

[MattH]

Tamanoa, I choose you!

[morgan_coke]

you can combine it with sphere of law or glacial chasm to make it one sided, but I don't think it's does enough even with those two to be worth it.

[Peter_Rotten]

Lots of stupid shit deleted.

[Fossil4182]

Its slightly too expensive at four mana. If it were at three mana, there could be something to look at with cards like Ankh of Mishra and Manabarbs. Plus something nasty like Winter Orb to actually shut decks down. However, at four mana, I would rather play Smokestacks and or a win condition. Plus, cards like Bloodmoon and Magus of the Moon offer greater disruption against most of the format and are must answers cards where as Manabarbs simply makes opponents and yourself (more so because of Tomb), make more careful decisions about playing spells.