[SCD] Crystal Ball

[Infinitium]

Crystal Ball - 3

Artifact Uncommon
1, {T}: Scry 2.

Clean. Simple. I noticed this on the Salvation spoiler a week back and is frankly quite surprised that it didn't spark any discussion whatsoever as it, to regurgigate an old spoiler cliche, could be good in a stax shell.

Yes, I just went there.

Actually scratch what I just said, this is the mother of all potential stax cards spoiled in the last few years since it actually addresses the single most glaring shortcoming (and ultimately the reason why it kind of sucks) of the deck: consistency. The fact that it allows you to potentially dig 3 cards each turn is fucking huge in a deck that needs to draw and deploy a very specific set of cards to effectively lock the game down yet lacks any sort of card quality engine sans mulligans. To top it off it's even colorless which means that it further promotes consistency as it allows you to keep starting hands devoid of colored mana and actually not be punished for it.

Furthermore, it has some serious synergy with other permanent card advantage generators such as Sylvan Library, Jace 2.0 as well as M11's Dark Tutelage.

And that was all. Hate it away Skeggi..

EDIT: Oh yeah. Manacost. Fix'd.

[jrsthethird]

You should probably include the mana cost.

[Sims]

You should probably include the mana cost.

3 colorless.

[kinda]

I will be trying it in quinn as a 2 of probably...

[(nameless one)]

I will be trying it in quinn as a 2 of probably...

What are you going to replace? SDT? SDT is good enough unless you're running low on budget.

I think Crystal Ball is a great budget alternative to SDT.

[Volrath]

Are you really looking for budget versions of a 5$ card?

Man, the recession has hit you people harder than i could ever imagine.

[Skeggi]

could be good in a stax shell.

<snip>

Hate it away Skeggi..

I'll just include a German picture of it:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=106632&d=1277419878

I agree. Potentially a good card for Armageddon Stax. I'd love to hate but I'm just not gonna :wink:

I've always said Armageddon Stax (and Dutch Stax too) are aching for carddraw. Horizon Canopy was a card that comes close to helping out, however, it means you have to weaken your mana base or leave out important utility lands like Wasteland or Mishra's Factory. Next to that, the lifeloss next to Ancient Tomb's lifeloss may be a bit too much to bare. Also, you need Crucible of Worlds and enough mana already in play to make it work.

Crystal Ball isn't a card draw engine like Horizon Canopy + Crucible of Worlds, but it looks like a good filter. The :3: shouldn't be a problem for Stax builds, in fact, it's preferable over Sensei's Divining Top's :1: because of Chalice of the Void. All-in-all I must say this card actually has potential, and yes, for Stax. It's not some random cute thing we usually see when people start chanting 'could be good in Stax', but actually does something Stax wants.

Another thing: they're actually good in multiples if you're really digging for a specific card.

[kinda]

What are you going to replace? SDT? SDT is good enough unless you're running low on budget.

I think Crystal Ball is a great budget alternative to SDT.

I'd be running them w/ top...the filtering is so important I think it's worth it...but we'll see after testing.

[kinda]

Are you really looking for budget versions of a 5$ card?

Man, the recession has hit you people harder than i could ever imagine.

Lol I was doing that in high school...played treasure trove over tidings, :D.