Recurring Nightmare – Hammerfall [Archive]

GGoober

12-22-2010, 11:45 AM

However, it was slow to develop in-game, and had a reliance on a 5-mana enchantment,
MoM is 6 mana!!!

I really enjoyed the article. And I fully agree with Diminishing Returns being a more relevant card than Time Spiral in Tendrils based combo. In situations where someone is wishing for Returns, he is doing so to draw 7 cards to continue to storm on.

The problem with Time Spiral is in its most ideal situation:
1R (Wish) + 4UU (Time Spiral) = 8 mana and this is excluding any risks of Daze and assuming you are going off unprotected without Duress/Chant.

If you factor in another B/W for Duress/Chant, it's a total startup of 9 mana. If you have 2 lands, you're better off with Returns with a lower startup mana. If you have 3 lands, you are winning too slow or at best being 1 mana cheaper than Returns but still facing a steep startup mana.

The startup mana is the main problem to Wish for Time Spiral. This is a format with Daze, counter. Going off unprotected and ignoring Dazes is asking to lose. And I highly doubt the -10 cards from Returns is a draw back, because after drawing 7, you should be able to Wish/Tutor for Tendrils and win.

IMO, Time Spiral has to be played in the maindeck to be worth being played. Wishing for Time Spiral is like trying to hardcast Kozilek in Standard with ramp. Too much mana, too much risks. And the only decks that can truly be competitive with Time Spiral are Tide decks, or some rogue deck that CalebD might come up with that breaks the format again (would like to see this happen again :D)

The Big Ragu

12-22-2010, 11:11 PM

Good read. I'm going to miss my two Survival based decks, but I think this will open up a lot of new options for players. Spring tide isn't a blast to play against, but I have nothing against it receiving a push.

Guy in the comments section saying that Mind's Desire would be useless in Legacy is out of his mind.