Quote Originally Posted by herbig View Post
You're not playing Opt and you cut a land? I'm skeptical.
Read back a few pages if you're actually interested in the reasoning. I maintain that Visions of Beyond is the perfect card for this deck.

Quote Originally Posted by Kanti
No one has been proved right or wrong. Until a list places well at an event we are just testing. It is like me saying "Oh yeah, well prove me wrong".

I said that a list maxing out on Mages and Snaps will have some trouble going through Spell Snare, and for that matter removal g1. It happens, and you will lose some games. That is not to say one shoudn't play Mages or Snaps, even in high volume, just that one should be careful of what he takes out of the deck. There will be some games that you are just staring at a Mage in your hand as your opponent is resolving GSZ's and Goyfs. Hell, I'll even admit that I have been testing a third Mage over FoI just to see if I can sneak another one in the deck without sacrificing too much, since he is a boss. But he sucks in the early game.

There is a lot to side out vs Reanimator, and it is not Remand. Side out 1-4 Opts, 1-2 Impulses, FoI if you run it, one of your main-deck Freezes. A Mage build will be even stronger versus Reanimator (You run bounce, and can re-cast your hate via Mage).

Of all spells to side out vs Reanimator it is not Remand though, as it's synergy with FoW, Extraction, and Fluster are all too good to pass up. It's not that hard to make room when your goal goes from comboing off on t4 to just keeping them from comboing off for as long as possible to Draw, Go into a win.
I'm not really trying to prove anything to you, kid. A big tournament win, that doesn't even necessarily say much. My saying "prove it" means prove it to yourself. Personally, I don't care in the least bit whether or not you take my advice or keep playing Remand.

The thing that I have never feared with this deck is counterspells. I'm not sure why you think replacing Snap or Snapcaster Mage with Remand is going to make you stronger against Spell Snare. All of those spells cost 2, so all are equally vulnerable to Spell Snare. The difference is, Snap and Snapcaster Mage can be used aggressively to further your combo, Remand cannot. In a combo deck, I'd much, much rather be the aggressor, since you're never going to have enough actual counterspells to control the game. Besides which, this is the first time you've said anything about Spell Snare.

If they're casting Green Sun's Zenith, I win. Plain and simple. The only guys they can get off of that are Gaddock Teeg, which I just do not care about, and Scavenging Ooze, which is annoying but, again, not a deal breaker since I don't have to lean on Snapcaster Mages to get the job done, and since he can pretty easily be bounced before going off with my 4 maindeck Snap. But in general, if it's a creature, it's much, much easier to deal with with Snap than with Remand.

Reanimator's plan against us is, very simply, T1 Entomb for Iona, T2 Reanimate Iona, scoop. Bounce does nothing. Flusterstorm gives us a fighting chance since it's difficult to counter, and Surgical Extraction completely undoes all of their setup. Any other creature that they reanimate buys us several turns and/or can be Snapped. What does remand do in this situation? If we're lucky (it doesn't get Dazed, they're using one of the 2 mana spells rather than Reanimate), it delays them a turn. Flusterstorm, on the other hand, stops them. Surgical Extraction destroys them. I will never, never never, board out more than one or two Opt effects, or any number of Impulse. The deck has issues hitting land drops as it is, so cutting any of those cards is suicidal. I will not bring in bounce against them since it does nothing against a resolved Iona. So, specifically, what six cards would you like me to cut to bring in 3 Flusterstorm and 3 Surgical Extraction? What synergy does Remand have with Surgical Extraction?

I have tested with Remands for a very, very long time. I have found that trying to be a control deck is not something that this deck is capable of doing. Besides which, Remand is not a control card, since it doesn't actually stop them, just delay them. My testing has shown that trying to control the game against any deck except for Belcher is a bad move. That said, instead of spending two mana to maybe delay them a turn, I'd choose to spend one mana to actually stop them, potentially for many turns. I'd also like to still function as a combo deck, which means trading protection spells for protection spells, not business spells. In any combo deck, the cards have to buy you lots and lots of time to be worth not being combo pieces. Remand just doesn't do that. Surgical Extraction, on the other hand, does.