[Single Card Discussion] Boom//Bust

[Zuriya]

Why does no one (even in Standard) play Boom//Bust ?
If you are playing fetchlands, isn't this like a better version of Sinkhole with a nice
alternative of Armageddon ?
I don't have much time right now (sorry) , just wanted to know.

[Hummingbird TG]

Because with LD costing 0(Wasteland) and 1(Stifle) in the format, there isn't really a place for a 2cc LD spell; even Sinkhole is hardly played anymore...

[etrigan]

If you're using this with fetchlands, then it becomes a turn 3 card. Still better than Stone Rain mind you, but still not playable in this format.

[ClearSkies]

Basically, it is a conditioned Stone Rain unless you decide to Stone Rain yourself too, which is card disadvantage (and lost of tempo for you). Since people don't play with Stone Rain, there isn't much point in playing this.

Armageddon is much better than the other part of Boom//Bust since it doesn't have the ridicious mana cost.

[bigbear102]

I fooled around with an LD list with Boom//Bust in it for a couple of days, never actually did anything with it, just played on MWS. It's turn 3, and just isn't game changing enough on turn 3. You can play with 8 fetches and 4 wastes as your targets, and it still will just be a raze some of the time, which isn't very good either.

I have seen it in standard in some w/r decks with flagstones. It's mostly out of the board to deal w/ Urborg and Factory though, so it's still not played as disruption really, just removal that can possibly 'geddon if the timing is right.

[thefreakaccident]

the only deck that likes to have a card like this is aggro-loam... but it already has devastating dreams... which is like 100 times better in that deck.

[Phantom]

It looks like it could fit into old style mono red Goblins but the fact that it has to be cast turn three and not two kills any chance it had (since Goblins has little to do on turn two but a ton on turn three).

[Tacosnape]

Because with LD costing 0(Wasteland) and 1(Stifle) in the format, there isn't really a place for a 2cc LD spell; even Sinkhole is hardly played anymore...

That pretty much summarizes it.

[SpikeyMikey]

You could turn it into playable turn 2 LD, but in order to do so, you're going to have to run some form of at least 2 of the following 4: Fetchlands, Flagstones, Simian Spirit Guide, Chrome Mox. SSG could be workable, depending on what you're doing, as could Chrome Mox. Flagstones is very iffy in this format, although it would be nice to turn 2 Boom and fetch out a Plateau.

While it would be feasible to create a deck that can consistantly drop the turn 2 LD with Boom, it simply doesn't do enough. Land destruction can be effective in the format, because land counts are low to get the maximum ratio of goods to chaff. That having been said, land destruction by itself is pointless, since eating 3 lands isn't much good when you're staring down 2 thresholded 'geese or a 5/6 Tarmogoyf.

Light LD is nearly pointless, decks in Legacy these days are designed to run on 2 mana, for the most part. Unless you've got enough LD to keep someone locked out, they're going to have access to 90% of their spells. Heavy LD is just as bad as light. Much like a heavy discard deck often draws dead midgame, so the heavy LD deck will draw dead as well. If you can eat every land as soon as it comes down, but do so at the cost of 12-16 slots of LD, you lose to topdecked Forest, because it generates the Nimble Mongoose that you just can't peel to deal with. Yeah, the Forest dies right away, but the damage has been done. Or someone will open with a fetch, and not pop it until later, when they have a threat to cast, and you're stuck hoping they can't fetch their way into something you can't deal with.

Finally, one shot cards, like Boom/Bust, really need to fit an existing strategy. You can plan your strategy around a card that has a sweeping effect on the game, like Replenish or Price of Progress or Vedalken Shackles, and you can plan your strategy around a card with a high degree of utilitarian usefulness, like Trinket Mage or Gamble or Survival of the Fittest, and you can plan your deck around self-recurring cards like Ichorid and Life from the Loam, but you can't plan your strategy around a 1R LD spell. It simply doesn't give you enough bang for your buck to make it central to the theme of the deck. On turn 3, with a fetch, or turn 2 with a fetch and an accelerant, you can Stone Rain. Or you could run Stone Rain, and on turn 3, or turn 2 with an accelerant, you can Stone Rain. Not exactly busted, eh?\

Edit: To clarify, when I say LD can be effective, I don't mean as a general rule, I mean in some specific instances, when you get a double waste opening or something of that nature and your opponent can't find the land to recover, or if your opponent were to keep say a 1 land hand because they had Brainstorm and caught no lands off the 'storm. Also, in some circumstances, it's worthwhile for a deck to include 4 Wastelands, because of recursion with Life from the Loam or Crucible of Worlds, or because it's a mono color deck, or because it's heavy black and black without Duress and Sinkhole is like a cat without fur(and if you've got the sinks, might as well run the Wastes too, right?). Yeah, there are a few out there, but nobody in their right mind wants anything to do with them.

[HdH_Cthulhu]

I have desingd a deck with 4 stifls 4 sinkholes 4 wastlands 4 smallpox, and i have to say it was a realy bad deck!
The only way LD is usefull is to buy tempo and kill your opponent with a fast clock, like deadguy or the UG *****-list