SCD: Hide//Seek

[mcfarland]

With NO RUG being rampant, I threw a few Hide // Seeks in my (semi-casual) Deadguy sideboard to test on MWS and Cockatrice, and it's been pretty funny.

Seek:
Instant - WB
Search target opponent's library for a card and exile it. You gain life equal to its converted mana cost. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

I'm not sure of the card's actual viability, but it is an out-of-the-box way to preemptively deal with Progenitus, gaining 10 life in the process. As an added bonus, it can sometimes be an auto-win against ANT.

Are there any WBx Tier 1.5 decks that would actually want to use this to help out the NO RUG matchup?

[Pastorofmuppets]

I do believe IBA (or someone kind of like him) was working on an RWB midrange deck at one point, to which this card would grant a fair amount of utility.
I'm sure he'll drop in and add his two cents now that someone has mentioned him.

[Richard Cheese]

I do believe IBA (or someone kind of like him) was working on an RWB midrange deck at one point, to which this card would grant a fair amount of utility.
I'm sure he'll drop in and add his two cents now that someone has mentioned him.

You have to summon him correctly.

Jack Elgin
Jack Elgin
Jack Elgin!

Also responding to SFM trigger by taking their Batterskull seems lolworthy.

[AngryTroll]

Casting Seek in response to Natural Order is pretty funny, and it's probably just about your best chance to resolve it against NO RUG. Most decks aren't packing a second target in the main deck, but your opponent will still make another Tarmogoyf with it.


Also responding to SFM trigger by taking their Batterskull seems lolworthy.

This is a solid line of play, but unless you can deal with the Sword of Feast and Famine they fetch, you are still in trouble.

Seek looks interesting, but I think that against NO RUG and Stoneforge Mystic you are better off with a Thoughtseize.

[kiblast]

Casting Seek in response to Natural Order is pretty funny, and it's probably just about your best chance to resolve it against NO RUG. Most decks aren't packing a second target in the main deck, but your opponent will still make another Tarmogoyf with it.



This is a solid line of play, but unless you can deal with the Sword of Feast and Famine they fetch, you are still in trouble.

Seek looks interesting, but I think that against NO RUG and Stoneforge Mystic you are better off with a Thoughtseize.

Except that RWBhate.deck would very probably play Swords To Plowshares (or any other R/W good spot removal available to fight SoFaF) and Thoughtseize.

Hide/Seek is very very good. I've been in love with the card since when I saw it in various TMWA.decks / Hate.decks in Vintage.

[Deviruchi]

I remember that Gerard Fabiano used it in his Team Italia to fight ANT and NO decks. He also mentioned I belive on GGs Live that this card was useful during the tournament to fight P.Deed and equipment.

I think it's ok vs equipments but vs NO RUG I would rather play Perish. In BW decks I would not recommend this to fight storm decks because it does close to nothing vs TES.

[Dark Ritual]

Well it depends on if the ANT player can board in more tendrils to make seek worse and against TES it's obviously a meh card sans when you take their singleton ad nauseam or something but most TES lists are running 2 AdN now so taking AdN helps them in theory unless they're trying to raw draw it. And against multiple LED hands you can hide one lion's eye diamond on the bottom in response to the second one being played, screwing them up potentially.

Lulz, in response to your natural order I'll play seek targeting you. You can grab that tarmogoyf now lol. And in regards to stoneforge decks, I would probably let them have their equipment without exiling their batterskull then just use hide to put it on the bottom when they vial it in because then they end up with a 1/2 with a vial ability on it if they happen to draw any equipment.

Overall the card is solid though as a SB option since maindeck it suffers from extirpate syndrome.

[ScatmanX]

against NO RUG and Stoneforge Mystic you are better off with a Thoughtseize.

vs NO RUG I would rather play Perish.
These are true, but Hide/Seek is being discussed not only because he is a possible answer to Progenitus (and net you 10 life), but it is also good against several other MUs. Removing Firelast, a Intuition target, Ad Nauseam or Tendrils, Iona, or other cards is really good. And besides that, it also deals with Equipament, Deed, Moat/Humility, Crucible, Vial... The card is versatile as hell.

[RexFTW]

Tariff, retribution of the meek and perish all seem like better options to me. They all deal with other problems as well. Tarmogoyf, Emrakul, Noble Heirarch etc. Each one has its pros and its cons.

If you still want to play a seek style card you should be playing sadistic sacrament. That removes 3 cards for just 1 more mana. It is good enough to play in vintage so it is definately good enough for legacy. Especially if you play dark ritual. It is also pretty much auto win against many combo decks (not show tell).

[mcfarland]

Tariff, retribution of the meek and perish all seem like better options to me. They all deal with other problems as well. Tarmogoyf, Emrakul, Noble Heirarch etc. Each one has its pros and its cons.

If you still want to play a seek style card you should be playing sadistic sacrament. That removes 3 cards for just 1 more mana. It is good enough to play in vintage so it is definately good enough for legacy. Especially if you play dark ritual. It is also pretty much auto win against many combo decks (not show tell).

All three of those have to be resolved after Prog hits the field, and in many way much more narrow than Hide//Seek. Tariff will usually be too expensive or symmetrical, and none of them address the split card's ability to also weaken SFM, Intuition engines, or neuter a storm list.

Triple black for Sacrament is pretty limiting, too. I don't think three cards is that much better than one. You're looking for the deck's silver bullet, and most NO/Battleskull/Tendrils decks aren't packing 3. Also, Vintage is a format with a restricted list, meaning every deck gets hit hard by nuking three pieces, much more so than Legacy.

[Tacosnape]

I think the actual biggest knock against this card is that anything that runs Red, White, and Black runs Dark Confidant, and Dark Confidant makes this thing smack you in the face for four. However, given that you can usually regain this off Seek, who cares? Stomach that, and you've got a contender in Silverbullet.format.

As for people comparing this to Thoughtseize, have you lost your minds? Do you have any idea how terrible Thoughtseize is in Legacy these days, especially against these two decks? Each packs four copies of Brainstorm and four copies of Mental Misstep, not to mention Force of Will if they -really- want to stop it bad enough. Thoughtseize is not going to stop Stoneforge Mystic or Natural Order from happening very often.

Seek, however, does things differently. Seek isn't harmed by Brainstorm. Seek isn't countered by Mental Misstep. The drawback? Card disadvantage. The 10 life against NO Rug is pretty nice, the 5 if you hunt up a Batterskull isn't bad either. And if you're quick and know certain pretty standard lists, you can even use it to deduce what pieces of a combo your opponent has in hand.

And Hide's definitely a nice little secondary choice.

I'm all for this. BWR Confidant to the face.

[bfeingersh]

I could go for that against NO RUG, but even more against ANT. They only run a single Tendrils main, right?

[AngryTroll]

I completely missed the fact that the WR option nails Batterskull pretty well. In that case, if you're already playing WBR, I like Hide/Seek against NO RUG and Stoneforge. I would play it alongside some number (greater than four) Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize, Dark Confidants, and probably Tidehollow Scullers.

I like the sound of this.

[Tammit67]

I could go for that against NO RUG, but even more against ANT. They only run a single Tendrils main, right?

Yeah, I've lost a game to Seek back when mystical was legal (2 tendrils). I pitched the first tendrils to a chrome mox, and re responded to ad nausem by taking the last one. It's annoying, but not awesome all the time