[SCD] Envelop

[Mark Sun]

First of all, the card that is the subject of discussion:


Envelop

For those of you who cannot see the autocard,

Envelop, Instant
U
Counter target sorcery spell.



I just mentioned this card in a thread, and it reminded me to start an SCD for it. I did a forum search and at least as far back as when the new URL system was in place, this card has not been discussed at all. A little back story to why I believe this card has potential: in February of this year, I was in the process of redesigning my version of UWr Landstill (which just became a shitty version of UWr Walkers), but when Reanimator became pretty strong and all it took was Iona on white to completely screw with your game plan, I tried to find a card that could act as a stronger answer to their game plan. The main issue had nothing to do with card quality; in fact, Negate and maybe even Spell Pierce was a fine answer. But both of the aforementioned had major problems. Negate required 1U, which meant that you needed 2U available to not get blown out by a Daze. Spell Pierce costs the same as Envelop and arguably is less "narrow" (which I will argue against in this thread), but as the game dragged on, a common symptom of playing Landstill, it lost effectiveness.

I wanted something that could get the job done early and for cheap. Gatherer produced this card. I ultimately settled on Faerie Macabre to fight Reanimator, but scrubbed out at 5-3 anyways, never getting a chance to test it out. So why bring this up now? The night before the GP I decided to redo my sideboard and take out the garbage. At the end of the night, I had put 2 of these in there, mainly designed to fight SnT/Hypergenesis decks. Ironically, without testing, I made a severe misplay against my Hypergensis opponent in R1, and never got to reap the benefits of this card, despite taking G2 pretty handily. But I still believe that it has potential. To fulfill the SCD requirements:


What deck or archetype can this card be used in and why?

Any deck that needs additional help in the countermagic suite. I mainly want to mention it as an additional tool for Landstill, because of the lack of clock / necessity to survive the early turns / need for efficient countermagic that isn't cmc2+.

Why can it be useful? Think of some of the defining Sorcery spells in Legacy. As previously stated, Show and Tell + Hypergensis come to mind. Natural Order. Burning Wish + Infernal Tutor (although both can be stopped by Spell Snare + friends). It can trade with Duress/Thoughtseize/force a blind Flashback on Cabal Therapy. It counters two of Reaniamtor's combo pieces in Exhume and Reanimate. Even Tier 1.5+ decks: Pox, Hymn to Tourach, buy another turn against Life from the Loam. Breakthrough against Dredge as well. I hope that I have made my point. These are the spells you are countering anyways, a card that costs U, is Daze-proof after t2, and isn't conditional like Spell Pierce seems pretty good.


How does this card fulfill the role of another card in an existing archetype more effectively than the card it would replace?

I suppose I answered the question above when I compared it to the two cards that resemble it the most: cards that come out of the SB to deal with certain matchups in Spell Pierce and Negate.


How has the metagame changed or what new cards exist now to make this card playable?

I stated in this thread (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?18485-%5BArticle%5D-Fixing-Legacy) that Legacy does see evolution, but mostly through the subset of adaptation. I used pure Show and Tell style decks versus Reanimator to point out a post-MT banning deck choice: instead of using the graveyard as an intermediate to get a fatty into play, it's now straight from the hand. One deck running Show and Tell managed to make it to the Top 8 of a GP. Will more players be interested in it? You bet.


Ideally, include a sample deck list (even if it's rough) that incorporates the card

I did state that this would be a sideboard card, so to be fair to me, I don't really have a decklist, per se.



I hope this fulfills the criteria for an SCD and promotes some healthy discussion on this card. I'm not saying that it's the best thing since sliced bread, but I believe the card has a lot of potential in the current metagame. I rarely post SCD's, but if I didn't have the Morbid-Seal-of-Approval, I wouldn't be posting it. Thanks,


--M

[Rune]

I don't think Landstill has room or need for this. Spell Snare is just better since it already hits a lot of the things Envelop hits, but in addition to that it also hits Survival (very important), Counterbalance, Goyf/Confidant etc. If you are worried about Show and Tell and Natural Order, just play Innocent Blood or Diabolic Edict. Hypergenesis gets stopped by Meddling Mage and Ethersworn Canonist.

[from Cairo]

Spell Pierce costs the same as Envelop and arguably is less "narrow" (which I will argue against in this thread), but as the game dragged on, a common symptom of playing Landstill, it lost effectiveness.

Sorceries while problematic, are much more present in fringe decks, than DTBs, they generally aren't going to make up as big a percentage of the meta game. Not answering Artifacts (Aether Vial, Trinisphere/Chalice, Sensei's Top), Enchantments (Counterbalance, Sylvan Library), Instants (Chant effects, Ad Nauseum, Force of Will) and Planeswalkers, I think makes it a poor choice compared to Spell Pierce. The likelihood of running up against these (CBT, Tribal, Zoo) in an average meta seems quite a bit more common than the Sorcery based decks.



Any deck that needs additional help in the countermagic suite. I mainly want to mention it as an additional tool for Landstill, because of the lack of clock / necessity to survive the early turns / need for efficient countermagic that isn't cmc2+.

While Spell Pierce loses power in the late game, Landstill as an archetype gains power and gains access to more library manipulation. Whenever I'm playing Landstill the period I'm most worried about is the first 3 turns, during this period Spell Pierce is an additional hard counter. At the point in the game when it's dead (turn 5+), one of the deck's engines should be online: shuffle it away with Top, Brainstorm, or Jace in the late game.

TL;DR: Envelop is really narrow. If you know your meta to be a bunch of Sorcery based decks: Dredge/Reanimator/Show and Tell and Black-based disruption, then I guess I could see running it. In an open/unknown meta I would run Spell Pierce since it has game vs a much larger percent of decks I'd expect to face.

[Valtrix]

Mostly, against all of the sorcery decks/cards you're afraid of, spell pierce is going to be just as effective as envelop. They're going to play scary sorceries without :2: open, therefore making pierce a hard counter. And if they do, well then you've survived to a point in which you're likely to deal with whatever they played in other ways. As such, pierce seems to not lose out versus what you want envelop against most, while at the same time allowing you increased flexibility versus other strategies. To a cite a couple examples, consider pierce usefulness against belcher and ad nauseam--Two things you wish envelop could hit. Pierce is also randomly good versuses decks like stax/stompy and enchantress, whereas envelop once again has little to no use.

[dahcmai]

My largest problem with Envelop is the decks you might want to put it in don't really want it all that much.

Let's take for instance, Landstill.

The things Landstill does not want to see resolve without another answer in hand.

Ad Nauseum
Dark Confidant
Pithing Needle
Aether Vial
Goblin Ringleader
Force of Will <when pushing a spell through>
Counterbalance
Survival of the Fittest
Sylvan Library
Knight of the Reliquary
Trinisphere
Chalice of the Void
Orim's Chant
Silence
Manabond
Thoughtseize


There's not too much on that list it's going to hit really. Even things like Sinkhole, you can live with. Hymn is already covered by Spell Snare anyway so that one is irrelevant. What that is a Sorcery that you really care about all that much? I'm not going to care about most sorcery speed spells. The only ones I really can think of that I really don't want to resolve all cost 2 and Spell Snare is flat outperforming it already. Show and tell can be a problem for some decks, but you have to remember they are not going to cast that without some form of back up against a blue deck.

I honestly think it's one of those cards that's just too narrow sadly.

Now, if they start printing Sorceries that really need answering early like a Hymn for one mana or some other such nonsense, then I will rethink this card. For now, just shove it to the back of your mind for that day.

[dontbiteitholmes]

I'm partial to Spell Pierce in that spot, really hits a lot more than Envelop and 2 mana is quite a bit in most Legacy games. I mean just off the top of my head Pierce I think most often than the 2 mana and making the difference it's going to be Envelop not hitting Artifacts, Chants, Instants, Walkers, and all that good stuff. Since you have to leave a blue open anyways you really want to get the max range from the card you are holding back for.