Quote Originally Posted by nimkee View Post
Is surgical over macabre used bc of wasteland (and loam)?
Somewhat. The key difference between the two is that Macabre is (virtually) uncounterable. This is part of why UB Reanimator is far more dangerous for us than BR Reanimator: I've never lost a game to a Turn 1 Sire of Insanity, and I've even beaten Turn 1 Sire and Griselbrand, because against the latter you can pretty much guarantee that your shit will resolve. However, a Turn 1 Tidespout with countermagic to back it up? You probably just lose on the spot if you aren't running Macabre and they're on the play. Surgical is much more powerful against decks that rely on an engine - Lands and Dredge being two examples - because you can strip out an entire part of that engine, and then combined with Bojuka Bog and Vesuva it's usually enough. It's also stronger against decks that can't immediately kill you with their graveyard: even if your Surgical gets countered against most fair decks, it means they have one less counterspell for your big threats. It also has play against BUG and RUG decks since they sometimes run a fun-of Life From the Loam.