[SCD] Mother of Runes

[Digital Devil]

Mother of Runes is a woefully underplayed Tier1 card

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/fnmp/54.jpg


Creature - Human Cleric :w:
Tap: Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
"My family protects all families."
Illus. Scott M. Fischer

1/1

So here I am, talking about this "woefully underplayed Tier1 card". No irony, though. I want to exploit the hell out of this card. A turn 1 drop which vanishes your opponent's removal, makes pseudo-infinite chump blocks, and makes your creatures go through every defense.

It is indeed a defensive card, and the lack of slots many decks have never gave this card a chance to make the cut. I need your help to make this card playable (again?).
Many D&T builds (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6775&page=39) play this card; even Angel Stompy (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2635&page=76) continues to dedicate her 3-4 slots. This are the only existing archetypes which still play the 1/1. You can then say, weak decks play weak cards, but it's not always like that. I want to prove it to you. There are certain cards against which it's important to have defense from. Since there are decks which don't play Tarmogoyf and/or Force of Will (seems weird, indeed), and don't have access to protection keys, I wonder why they're not playing MoR. The potential of the card is high. Just think about this: Mother of Runes + Ethersworn Canonist. You can play only one spell each turn. If it's a removal, as soon as you play it, I blank it. Then you can't play a single spell, so I can protect both Canonist and Mother at the same time. But this synergy forces you to stay mono :w:, which arguably isn't one of the best choices in today's meta. So I wanted to shake up the whole thing by proving how effective MoR can be in a much more customizable Survival Shell.

4x Quirion Ranger
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Mother of Runes
2x Squee
2x Anger
2x Merieke Ri Berit
2x Tradewind Rider
1x Eternal Witness


4x Force of Will
4x Survival
2x Opposition

26 slots left, maybe 19 lands and 7 other spells (silver bullets, Goyf, cantrips, blue cards to up the count for FoW). The list is pretty rough, but I think it gives the idea of how much the power of Mother of Runes can be stressed. Obviously the key card is not MoR, but Quirion Ranger, although MoR is an important inclusion, since it allows you to protect your creatures multiple times (from Firespout, multiple removal spells, or from lots of attacking creatures). So, given how interesting is the effect of the card, can we build a whole new archetype, or can we at least insert her in an already existing deck. If yes, how? If no, why?

[Skeggi]

My experience with mom is mainly casual, but when I had to play against her in some form of D&T she proved she had quite some potential. Yet, I haven't seen a real good deck which can really use or abuse her. I think the main problem lies in the fact that if we have creatures, we either protect them via Counterbalance, which can do alot more than only protect your creatures, or we simply play alot more creatures that also beat hard.

[BreathWeapon]

I'm a huge, huge fan of Mother of Runes in BANT Aggro-Control, basically 4xMother of Runes, 4x Tarmogoyf and 4xRhox Warmonk, where Mother of Runes protects Tarmogoyf and Rhox Warmonk from removal and wins the damage races by pushing your threat past your opponent's defense and then chump blocking their counter attacks. She's really useful with Umezawa' Jitte, because you can protect your threats from removal while you equip, and she's also "synergistic" with Firespout because she's the only 1 drop that lives thru' it.

The only problem tho' is mom doesn't really make up for the lack of Balance/Top, Survival or NO, so while really cool it's probably underpowered. Altho' maybe you could really abuse Sylvan Library with Warmonk/Jitte and just be hugely favorably vs Zoo compared to the other aggro-control decks.

[Maveric78f]

I like it a lot in deadguy ale in order to protect my dark confidants and my nighthawks.

[DrewliusMaximus]

I used Moms in a UGW StifleNought deck and it worked really well. Probably the only safe way to still play Dreadnought with Pridemages around is with Mother of Runes.

Maybe the fact that she doesn't do damage makes her dead in some match-ups and prevents her from seeing more action, but I can't think of too many other 1-drops that affect combat like Mom.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

Like my boy Drewlius over here (hope you don't mind if I call you that), I've also been intrigued by Mom's obvious synergy with Dreadnought. I think it's a pretty good idea, but I got brushed off pretty hardcore in the Dreadstill thread when I tried to suggest a white splash.

...Now watch out. I'm about to go on a bit of a tangent:

I honestly think Mom is a strong card that deserves more play than it gets, but the problem is white is basically the worst color in Legacy right now. You can pretty much count on one hand the mono-white cards that are currently thought of as being "the bomb" in this format: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Moat... um... Armageddon... um... Ethersworn Canonist? (Granted, this is a little bit of a hyperbole and there are more awesome-sauce cards than just those, but methinks not too many more)

On the other hand, there are a fair amount of good gold cards which require white: Vindicate, RWM, Pridemage, Lightning Helix (not quite awesome but y'know), etc.

The bottom line though, is that the main reason for most decks to run white is "splash for StP." The only three viable mono-white decks I can think of are Stax, Quinn the Eskimo, and Death and Taxes. And I don't think anyone would call them tier one right now. Also, I can't really think of any decks which are mostly white and splash other colors, as opposed to being mostly another color and splashing white. I guess D&T has been running some green recently, but you know what I mean, surely.

Back to the topic at hand... Mother of Runes is good. But the main problem is there aren't a lot of white creatures worth running these days, and she needs other creatures to make her good. I don't say any of this to say people shouldn't run her, because I think people should figure out a good way to run this card. I've just been trying to explain why it is that she doesn't really see much play, and to lament how weak the color seems to me these days. (White Weenie was the first semi-decent deck I ever played, back when Tundra Wolves was a good one-drop, if that helps explain my attitude about this topic.)

Sorry if this is semi-incoherent. I'm a little wine-buzzed from a dinner party right now :tongue:

[Forbiddian]

See NoGoyf thread.

[Aggro_zombies]

The biggest issue I can see with Mother of Runes is that it can't protect another creature and itself at the same time. Tapping to save one guy from something opens Mom herself up to dying to another removal spell, especially against a deck like Zoo that has both burn and Path.

Counterbalance can protect your threats from removal in much the same way Mom can, but it also protects itself and soft locks the game.

Mom can keep the opponent from blocking, or blocking efficiently, but Qasali Pridemage does largely the same thing (thanks to exalted) in addition to having a larger body and extremely useful ability.

Any deck using Mother of Runes would need to be unable to run both Counterbalance and the color green, but would need to have enough creatures to justify using Mom to protect them. There are very, very few decks in the format that meet those criteria, and many of the ones that do probably would probably be better off running green or Counterbalance.

[Tao]

I also wanted to make a SCD about her but never found time. She is amazing and I had a few things in my mind:

- The obvious thing is of course to protect your Confidant, Goyf etc. and to act as a wall against anything without Trample or Evasion.

- She is really good if you have cards that are especially annoying if they get sworded, like a Phyrexian Dreadnought, a Marit Lage Token or an equipped creature.

- She is also one of the best turn 1 plays against Zoo. It will often make them use their removal immediately. If they do it, it will screw up their curve because usually they want to spend their first and second turn with playing their critters. And if they don't kill her immediately they have to kill her when she blocks and wants to give herself protection, but then they still lose one attack and one spell.

- Mother of Runes is also very good with Hate bears. ANT needs either Split Second or 2 bounce/removal against Mother/ Canonist or Mother/Teeg. Dredge will have tons of trouble to deal with Mother/ Yixlid Jailer, they usually need 2 spells and they often just won't get it. If you get 2 Mother + hate bear or 2 hate bear + Mother it will get really tough for these decks to do anything.

The biggest problem with her is that she does not much offensive. If you have 2 Mother of Runes in play and your opponent has nothing it gives him plenty of time to outdraw you.

[Forbiddian]

Mother of Runes can also be used to prevent your opponent from attacking, which is used much more often than she's used just to make a creature unblockable, so no, I wouldn't say that running green and having exalted in any way invalidates the strengths of Mother of Runes.

You might say that she'll just get removed in response if you use her to block a Tarmogoyf, but she's still functioning as a 1:1 that gave you a lot of benefit. If Swords is the removal of choice, and Mother of Runes died trying to block a 4/5 Goyf, Mother of Runes was a tempo-neutral, card-neutral, +5 life trade. Generally you only block when Life is important, so +5ing for free is a good thing.


The fact that she opens herself up to double removal is not usually a problem if the rest of your deck isn't total shit. She won't single-handedly win the game or blank all of your opponent's cards, but paying W for a 2:1 that your opponent is paying AT LEAST 2 for is on the power order of Ancestral Recall, especially against Zoo, which is an extremely tempo-oriented matchup.

2:1 that generates tempo? Yes, please!

Usually she's removed while sick or part of a sweep trade, but how can you see your opponent burning two removal spells to get rid of your 1 drop as a bad thing or a vulnerability? She only cost you W to stick on the table after all.


The biggest problem with her is that she does not much offensive. If you have 2 Mother of Runes in play and your opponent has nothing it gives him plenty of time to outdraw you.

QFT. This is the only problem I've found, which is why I think she can only be played in a deck with a lot of inevitability against most of the field. Mom is a giant tempo-wall if you're the control deck (generally an aggro/control deck on the control side of the spectrum). There's just no way to remove her cost-efficiently, and she continually trades with your opponent's best creature when your opponent is trying to go aggro.

Mom and another random creature will pretty much wall everything out, but you need to be looking forward to something that will bring you ahead from the creature deadlock in order to make that strategy worth it. If you're using Mom to poke a Goyf through, you're not going to win very many games, but if you're using Mom to stall into protected Dreadnought or Jitte or exponential card advantage, the stalling actually favors you.

[Tangle.Wire]

Like my boy Drewlius over here (hope you don't mind if I call you that), I've also been intrigued by Mom's obvious synergy with Dreadnought. I think it's a pretty good idea, but I got brushed off pretty hardcore in the Dreadstill thread when I tried to suggest a white splash.

...Now watch out. I'm about to go on a bit of a tangent:

I honestly think Mom is a strong card that deserves more play than it gets, but the problem is white is basically the worst color in Legacy right now. You can pretty much count on one hand the mono-white cards that are currently thought of as being "the bomb" in this format: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Moat... um... Armageddon... um... Ethersworn Canonist? (Granted, this is a little bit of a hyperbole and there are more awesome-sauce cards than just those, but methinks not too many more)

On the other hand, there are a fair amount of good gold cards which require white: Vindicate, RWM, Pridemage, Lightning Helix (not quite awesome but y'know), etc.

The bottom line though, is that the main reason for most decks to run white is "splash for StP." The only three viable mono-white decks I can think of are Stax, Quinn the Eskimo, and Death and Taxes. And I don't think anyone would call them tier one right now. Also, I can't really think of any decks which are mostly white and splash other colors, as opposed to being mostly another color and splashing white. I guess D&T has been running some green recently, but you know what I mean, surely.

Back to the topic at hand... Mother of Runes is good. But the main problem is there aren't a lot of white creatures worth running these days, and she needs other creatures to make her good. I don't say any of this to say people shouldn't run her, because I think people should figure out a good way to run this card. I've just been trying to explain why it is that she doesn't really see much play, and to lament how weak the color seems to me these days. (White Weenie was the first semi-decent deck I ever played, back when Tundra Wolves was a good one-drop, if that helps explain my attitude about this topic.)

Sorry if this is semi-incoherent. I'm a little wine-buzzed from a dinner party right now :tongue:


Haha of course you got flamed on the Dreadstill thread as you always do if you want to talk about any changes of the "current" 0815 list :wink:

I totally agree with you guys that Mother of runes is just awesome beside other control elements like Countertop or some. As i am not able to Splash White into my current legacy decks i am actually giving lightning greaves a try which nearly has the same effect as it can protect creatures like goofy,nought and of course it would be nice on a Rhino Monk but as you can play mother on white i'd keep her.

I think the strength of both of those cards is that most Legacy decks are actually tied up to run single Spells against single threats. As soon as we add aditional disruption or protection to those Decklists we're able to beat them just on the same way like rogue decks by playing unexpected cards.

I remember a time where Armadillo cloak was seen on some ***** lists just as it made the own goofy or enforcer better than theirs, same for the Jitte on many decks (i personally don't like it, as it only works good on aggressive decks)

[Fuzzy]

Mother = White Lackey.

[Skeggi]

Mother = White Lackey.
Lolwut?

[Nidd]

Lolwut?
He's talking about powerlevel, I guess.

But yeah, Mom is too different from Lackey. They aren't really comparable.

[Fuzzy]

He's talking about powerlevel, I guess.

But yeah, Mom is too different from Lackey. They aren't really comparable.

If both can't be answered in time (aka summoning sickness-less), they will be a pain in the ass during the game. But Mommy don't has to connect to screw the whole thing.

Yeah, I was talking about powerlevel, in practice both are too diferent.

[Mantis]

The biggest issue I can see with Mother of Runes is that it can't protect another creature and itself at the same time. Tapping to save one guy from something opens Mom herself up to dying to another removal spell, especially against a deck like Zoo that has both burn and Path.
I'll gladly take a 2 for 1 (or even 3 for 1 in the case of Path) for only one white mana spent as she protects a creature, saving you one card and is the target of a removal spell, another card. You actually just named Mothers best strength, forcing unfavorable trades for your opponent for just a little mana. Zoo has no choice but to spend a removal spell on her or be forced to engage in unfavorable battles every turn.

[BreathWeapon]

Mom is also A-mazing with equipment, the number of times I've protected a creature from being RFGed in response to equipping has payed off over and over, and surviving Fire Spout is retarded awesome for a 1 drop.

[Maveric78f]

I'm sure you're gonna love this MWS quote.

He wins die roll, plays taiga and Nacatl. My first turn, this happens:

Maveric78f plays Mother of Runes from Hand
<Maveric78f> End my turn
<Fowler> tiers
<Fowler> only
Fowler reveals a Chain Lightning
<System> Player Lost
Oh yeah, I'm so noob to play 1CC creatures that get chained the turn they come into play. I'm sure he thought he completely wasted my game plan.

[Vacrix]

The biggest issue I can see with Mother of Runes is that it can't protect another creature and itself at the same time. Tapping to save one guy from something opens Mom herself up to dying to another removal spell, especially against a deck like Zoo that has both burn and Path.

I've played it with Quirion Rangers and Scryb Rangers in which case it can protect another creature and itself, and Digital Devil's suggested list run x4 Quirion Ranger.


Oh yeah, I'm so noob to play 1CC creatures that get chained the turn they come into play. I'm sure he thought he completely wasted my game plan.

Yeah..there are so many noobs like that. One of the many advantages of playing with real cards. :P
I think Mom works best with vial, like with NoGoyf or DnT cause then you can vial it in at the end of turn to avoid removal if your opponent taps out.

[Jinx]

Here is my Mother of Runes deck. This is an extremely fun and tech deck to play.
16 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe

4 Pariah

1 Balance
2 Akroma's Vengeance

3 Prismatic Strands
3 Disenchant
4 Otherworldly Journey
4 Swords to Plowshares

3 Eternal Dragon
4 Auriok Champion
4 Auramancer
4 Soul Warden
4 Mother of Runes

(Let me know what you think.)

[JeroenC]

I think Balance is banned and other than that, the deck is going to lose to a lot of common Legacy decks. I don't see a real plan against Storm, decks with a fine amount of Burn, Dredge, Reanimator, Stax or anything that doesn't win with creatures?

[Skeggi]

1 Balance

(Let me know what you think.)

I think Balance is banned in Legacy. Next to the fact that this is a Single Card Discussion, not your random deck containing said card discussion.

[Finn]

I tried out MoR in early builds of DnT and found it to be blaah. But a few things happened in recent years that made it become quite useful. For one, the rise of aggro made her various roles become more important. And two, Stoneforge Mystic got printed.

When you have Mother of Runes out and Stoneforge Mystic fetches up a weapon like Sword of Fire and Ice, the opponent has little opportunity to prevent you from connecting, especially game 1. They can't remove the creature when you go to equip. And they can't touch it once you do. Then they can't block the equipped creature. All they can do is kill the equipment. This interaction is a big part of the D+T strategy now and MoR is at the center of it.

You Vial in MoR at end of turn 2. Mystic turn 3. Untap, barf out a weapon. Equip. Attack. You have a silver bullet attacking and the only spell you cast was Aether Vial.

[MDB]

I think the best place for Mom is in some revamped dreaded fish list. Mix it up with Dreadnought, Confidant, BW card remover (what's his name, artifact zombie). Vial, Counter/Top, FoW/Daze, Stifle/Wasteland, Brain/ponder + Serra/Jitte 17-18 land. But unless there is another uber-creature for the list, I don't see it happening. Meddling Mage/Duress just ain't nifty enough anymore... the pro-green Lynx maybe. Anyways, haven't really checked the last 2 sets for Fish cards.. Mystic---now there's an interesting one.

[vlz-]

surviving Fire Spout is retarded awesome for a 1 drop.

Is this true? Giving it pro red or green will save it from firespout?

[Jonathan Alexander]

Is this true? Giving it pro red or green will save it from firespout?

Why shouldn't it? In response to Firespout Mom gives herself protection from red or green until end of turn and therefore all damage from red or green sources will be prevented until end of turn. Firespout is always both colors, in all zones.

[jrsthethird]

Protection from X does the following:

D - all Damage from a source with X is prevented
E - cannot be Enchanted by things with X
B - cannot be Blocked by things with X
T - cannot be Targeted by things with X

Firespout deals damage, so pro-red or pro-green will prevent it.

Just remember, DEBT.

[TsumiBand]

You Vial in MoR at end of turn 2. Mystic turn 3. Untap, barf out a weapon. Equip. Attack. You have a silver bullet attacking and the only spell you cast was Aether Vial.

+1

MoR enables dudes like Canonist, Mystic, Tidehollow Sculler and basically any retarded W/x aggro-control strategy you can come up with to not just die to removal. And unlike Counter-Top (which can function in a similar way), you're playing threats pretty much at cost instead of saving mana for Topping. (Actually, you're probably not paying for threats at cost, you're tapping Stoneforge Mystic for equipment cards and tapping Aether Vial for guys that cost 2/3, so in addition to reducing the cost of your own threats you're letting yourself have mana for your own Instant speed answers to things)

[perm]

Protection from X does the following:

D - all Damage from a source with X is prevented
E - cannot be Enchanted by things with X
B - cannot be Blocked by things with X
T - cannot be Targeted by things with X

Firespout deals damage, so pro-red or pro-green will prevent it.

Just remember, DEBT.
Also, cannot be equipped by things with X

[luma]

Also, cannot be equipped by things with X

Or fortified.