[SCD] Kess, Dissident Mage

[bruizar]

I wanted to discuss Kess, Dissident Mage in Legacy for grixis control lists more thoroughly.

Yes, it's a 4 mana tricolor creature that gets bounced by karakas and dies to plowshares or a revolted fatal push.

In the right shell, you should be able to protect Kess, Dissident Mage rather well as you'll be digging into Counterspells with the flashbacked cantrips. This card just feels insanely broken. It is like a Snapcaster Mage on steroids where, if you can protect it, you will just close out the game with overwhelming CA. There should be removal, cantrips and counterspells in your graveyard. A notable difference is that you may use alternative casting costs with Kess, so you can actually pitch a blue card for a FoW in your graveyard. It also clocks for 3 damage a turn and survives delver of secrets. The card I see Kess competing for space with is JTMS. JTMS does a brainstorm each turn, also at sorcery speed, which is very good. Jace doesn't die to creature removal but does die easily to creatures so I think it is a meta choice. Also, Kess' flashback is much more versatile, being able to get rid of creature with removal instead of a -1 bounce.

What do you guys think of Kess? I think Kess will make waves in legacy in the near future.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=433280&type=card

[mistercakes]

i'd be interested in running something w/ as foretold. I don't really have the time or a desire to brew another blue deck. Would be nice to do it with a bunch of time warp effects though.

[Whitefaces]

Agree, I think the card is really powerful too, looking forward to trying it out soon!

[rufus]

...
In the right shell, you should be able to protect Kess, Dissident Mage rather well as you'll be digging into Counterspells with the flashbacked cantrips. This card just feels insanely broken. It is like a Snapcaster Mage on steroids where, if you can protect it, you will just close out the game with overwhelming CA. ...

4 > 2. Flash on snapcaster is a big deal. One card per turn is slow.

The fact that it's limited to your own turn makes the self-protection aspect particularly weak.

Suppose you had a choice between Kess and JTMS. Under what circumstances would you pick Kess?

Sure, the card is powerful, but I don't think it's powerful enough to make a splash in legacy.

[Whitefaces]

A 3/4 flying body is nothing to scoff at in Legacy, it's actually part of what draws me to play the card, despite the 'dies to removal' argument. It doesn't die to Doom Blade at least :cool:

The Jace test is really the biggest strike against it, but honestly I feel like the power level of the two is closer than the card looks at first glance. Obviously you have to build the shell right to take advantage of her, but in a Grixis control shell with more proactive discard over countermagic, I think she'll do some great work as a 1-2 of at least.

[bruizar]

4 > 2. Flash on snapcaster is a big deal. One card per turn is slow.

The fact that it's limited to your own turn makes the self-protection aspect particularly weak.

Suppose you had a choice between Kess and JTMS. Under what circumstances would you pick Kess?

Sure, the card is powerful, but I don't think it's powerful enough to make a splash in legacy.

You'd rather have a Kess when there are a lot of creatures on the battlefield that could instantly get rid of jace. The self protection is not bad at all, she can flashback a Fatal Push or Lightning Bolt, or do Ponder/Brainstorm in search for a Force of Will. You can also play another must-counter with a Force of Will in the graveyard and your Kess-flashback still open. This way, you are allowed to just pitch a blue card from your hand, pay 1 life and exile the force of will from the graveyard. It's also noteworthy that you don't target a card in your graveyard to give it flashback in your upkeep. No, you can just play a card from your graveyard, whenever you want during your turn, without passing priority. With Gitaxian Probes Kess becomes even better as you can get your card back directly if you curve out into Kess. Perhaps you should play snapcasters in addition to kess?

[Mr. Safety]

Not targeting a card in your graveyard for flashback is huge, something that Snapcaster always deals with when fighting DRS and Scooze.

[Finn]

I hate protecting my creatures. Legacy decks are stocked with throwaway creatures and decks are not designed to protect them very well. This thing, with its considerable cost still needs an extra mana or it does nothing the turn you cast it. You could Gitaxian Probe, I suppose, if you have it and the life available. But the existence of Snapcaster really seems to make it close to obsolete right out of the gate. You could redisign your Grixis, or you could just play Snapcaster and not have to experiement with likely bad cards.

[keys]

I tested the card in about 20 games over the weekend playing Grixis Pyromancer. She seems much more of a haymaker than Snapcaster ever did, even without flash or the ability to counter things on your opponent's turn. She's got a big a** and the card advantage you get if she survives is comparable to Jace.

That said, 4 mana is a lot. She gets Dazed and Pyroblasted in the face (like Jace). AND she doesn't do anything the first turn if you curve out...

In short: doesn't quite have the I WIN feeling like dropping Jace on an empty board, but much better at digging you out of difficult board positions. I think it's playable but probably won't be a staple like Jace.

[bruizar]

One more thing that's interesting. Cavern of Souls provides a favorable way to get this into play compared to JTMS, if you're playing cavern in the first place that is.

[Drzed]

It's a wincon that you can get back with kolaghan's command too. The biggest negative point is against white decks with karakas and stp. She seems pretty good in a deck with discard protection but I didn't test her so dunno.

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[twndomn]

Cavern on human with Grixis color allows you to empower

Snapcaster
YP
Kess
Dark Confidant (but do you really need DC)

[keys]

It's all about the Wizard tribal.