Is there a way make Foil or Thwart playable?

[Manroe]

I was just thinking about underplayed cards and want to try to brew these into a deck. I think there are merits to each but the card disadvantage is quite great so it'd have to be in the perfect shell.

The best think I can think of with Foil is pitching an island and a reanimator target or an island and a Life from the Loam.

Thwart feels quite a bit tougher to justify but perhaps in some mana bond or exploration deck it could work but that may just be too forced.

Have any other of the great minds here at the Source thought more about this?




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[ronco]

I use foil in my (crappy) mono-blue stasis deck. Since im skipping turns and/or drawing extras with a howler, it isn't TOO bad... but its still pretty situational. I guess by that same logic thwart might work too, as i can keep getting untapped lands. So, I guess thanks for reminding me of that card?

[Lord Seth]

The best think I can think of with Foil is pitching an island and a reanimator target or an island and a Life from the Loam.The problem is, Foil pretty much requires a mono-Blue build because it requires you to have an Island in your hand. Sure, you can discard dual lands that are Islands to it also, but if you're going into multiple colors you always end up with the dual+fetch manabase, and fetchlands can't be discarded to Foil. This makes it significantly less reliable, and thus only really works if you're in mono-Blue.

[morgan_coke]

Best I can come up with for Foil is to use it in a UGW Slide deck with the UW cycling dual that has the "Island" subtype and recur it with Loam and Witness.

And I'm still not sure that's really better than just recurring Chant or Abeyance every turn.

[Clabian]

I saw Foil in a UB Reanimator shell. It was running x4 Water Grave x4 Underground Sea for a critical mass of Islands to pitch to Foil. I think Andrea Megucci played it a while back. It didn't seem great.

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[rufus]

I saw Foil in a UB Reanimator shell. It was running x4 Water Grave x4 Underground Sea for a critical mass of Islands to pitch to Foil. I think Andrea Megucci played it a while back. It didn't seem great. ...

Yeah, I wondered about Foil in some kind of dredge deck for a while.

There are cycling islands now, so, I suppose, it could also be something to attempt with fluctuator.

[sco0ter]

I think Thwart has seen play in the orginal Turbo Land deck (in Extended back then).

Both cards are probably best in some deck with Exploration, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam and similar effects.
Landfall theme also fits nicely then, making the disadvantage to an advantage.

[Eldariel]

I saw Foil in a UB Reanimator shell. It was running x4 Water Grave x4 Underground Sea for a critical mass of Islands to pitch to Foil. I think Andrea Megucci played it a while back. It didn't seem great.

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It's not that bad. Daze also returns an Island to hand enabling Foil. Pitch counters and reanimation.dec at least has a pretty strong 2-card combo and the most disruption any combo-deck can reasonably expect to run. That certainly feels like the only real shell you can run it in though; though I suppose you could run Dredge in a similar shell (but needing Islands sucks there).

[Manroe]

The cycling idea above is certainly interesting. I figured you'd need mono islands so that does muddle a manabase slightly.

What about some janky hightide build that let you replay a bunch of lands somehow?

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[maharis]

There was a uw deck that had thwart and steppe lynx a while back:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-wur-44564#paper


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[mistercakes]

the last deck i recall playing both foil and thwart was rising waters!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/event-coverage/pro-tour-chicago-top-8-decklists-2000-01-01

[Mr. Safety]

There is some appeal to pitching an extra land rather than a valuable spell. Nobody expects to see it either, and I would be willing to say 4 mana instead of 5 makes it easier to hardcast. Still not as good turn zero however, especially if a one lander is kept and you needed that land.

[tescrin]

I think it may be possible with Life From the Loam. Keep pitching the same three cards over and over giving you a 1G counterspell that feeds the graveyard.
EDIT: I didn't mean to imply you get Foil back somehow.

[Jerry9]

There's Land Tax, but that sounds like we are using bad cards to enable other bad cards.

[morgan_coke]

Ok, my best take on a Slide list to abuse Foil:

Enchantments (6)
3x Astral Slide
3x Cast Out

Instants (12)
4x Foil
3x Censor
1x Miscalculation
2x Daze
2x Spell Pierce

Sorceries (5)
2x Supreme Verdict
3x Life from the Loam

Creatures (7)
3x Eternal Witness
4x Tarmogoyf

Artifacts (4)
4x Mox Diamond

Lands (26)
4x Irrigated Farmland
3x Tropical Island
3x Tundra
2x Island
3x Flooded Strand
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Lonely Sandbar
2x Secluded Steppe
2x Wasteland

Maybe the creatures should be changed up for Curator of Mysteries or you probably want a Jace or Teferi or something in there. Maybe the 3/1 bird wizard that cycle Stifles. Basic plan is to counter everything while you set up your combo and keep the board clear with Verdict and Cast Out for problem cards. Mabye you want an Intuition or something in here? I dunno. Your 'Goyfs will be big at least. And this is one of the few decks that probably would seriously think about Force of Will in the sideboard. So there's that.

[Jak]

I made up a few crappy lists after spending way too much time trying to make a deck with Entombs, Thirst for Knowledge, Foils, Intuition, Snapcasters, and Torrential Gearhulks work. I was intrigued by the possibility of playing some random, high-impact instants along with a 5/6 at the opponent's EOT. However, in trying to make it actually decent (at least to my eyes), I had to cut a lot of the fun for actual good cards. Still, I think Foil can fit the deck well, although I only put one in. The Gearhulks are probably shit in the deck, and they looked a lot better with the black splash, but whatever, I just want to try to make them work.

Urg Intuition Gearhulk
Mana Sources - 27
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
8 Island
1 Irrigated Farmland
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
4 Mox Diamond

Win - 9
4 True-Name Nemesis
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor

Engine - 7
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Intuition
1 Life from the Loam

Control - 16
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Vedalken Shackles
3 Punishing Fire
4 Force of Will
1 Foil
2 Counterspell
1 Forbid

[JackaBo]

I made up a few crappy lists after spending way too much time trying to make a deck with Entombs, Thirst for Knowledge, Foils, Intuition, Snapcasters, and Torrential Gearhulks work. I was intrigued by the possibility of playing some random, high-impact instants along with a 5/6 at the opponent's EOT. However, in trying to make it actually decent (at least to my eyes), I had to cut a lot of the fun for actual good cards. Still, I think Foil can fit the deck well, although I only put one in. The Gearhulks are probably shit in the deck, and they looked a lot better with the black splash, but whatever, I just want to try to make them work.

Urg Intuition Gearhulk
Mana Sources - 27
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
8 Island
1 Irrigated Farmland
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
4 Mox Diamond

Win - 9
4 True-Name Nemesis
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor

Engine - 7
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Intuition
1 Life from the Loam

Control - 16
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Vedalken Shackles
3 Punishing Fire
4 Force of Will
1 Foil
2 Counterspell
1 Forbid

Really like this list
EDIT: not foil in particular though

[Jak]

Really like this list
EDIT: not foil in particular though

Yeah the deck pays the cost of it pretty well, but you're still losing three cards. Even though it can cancel out the loss of cards throughout the game, the one time disadvantage probably isn't worth it. I like the look of it too, so I am going to throw it together and see how it runs.

[Manroe]

I've been thinking upon this concept more and more. I feel like Manabond would be pretty cool or even World Shaper or Gitrog in a Nic Fit shell

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[filln]

I feel like Manabond would be pretty cool

I think once you start talking about Manabond you're probably not going to want counterspells in your deck.

[Michael Keller]

I had worked on a draft Dredge list using Foil a few years back, and actually brought it to a local. I think it actually placed well in that single event, but I think I just migrated away from it afterwards.

Regardless, I really think you want to abuse the card in a Dredge variant. Foil itself would be the key enabler for broken plays, because you're purposely playing it to discard the other card, not really the Island. As such, Life from the Loam should absolutely be included in any list playing Foil; it's just too applicable (and, of course, it dredges).

Also, as an aside: I really like Foil. I think the card is just cool.