Originally Posted by
Qweerios
Sorry to call you out on this, but Venser is much more "awkward" than Restoration Angel. He really only shines against SnT. 4 CMC is unrealistic vs. most non-SnT combos as a line of disruption. As for all the other fair matchups, he is either a very conditional "catch-all" or an over-costed body with a turn 4 tempo effect, which is lousy to say the least. You get to do silly things with him once you manage to pair him up with a Karakas, but that's all very late, narrow, and intensive. Clique is a real threat and has a relevant ability in every matchup, the fact that it couples with Karakas is a bonus and clearly not why we play the card. Take away Clique's ability and legendary status and she is still great in this deck. Flash, Flying, and 3 power for the cost of 3 is key here. Looking back at how you described Restoration Angel, I fail to see how your test group came to its conclusions because it obviously has value in this deck.
Concerning the RUG matchup, she doesn't only deal with a Delver, but a fully able Mongoose profitably. At 4 CMC she will take away the pressure from 8/12 of their threats which is more than reasonable for its cost. Resto Angel hits a blind spot vs. RUG that they have to FoW/Daze because otherwise, they cannot deal with her 1 for 1 outside of outsizing her with a Goyf or a scarce Dismember. I think she is very relevant to this matchup, or at least, more so than Venser by any means.
@KobeBryan,
You can't exactly take down a Lily or a Jace by digging out a Grim Lavamancer, it is too late at that point. Besides, it's not like Grim Lavamancer, once active, prevented PW's from being fruitful. If your argument here is that Lightning Blade decks packing Grim Lavamancer are already equiped to deal with Planeswalkers consistently, I urge you to reconsider.
I don't feel like the pros of Grim make up for his cons. "Beating Deathrite Shamans" isn't all that relevant for a deck packing 7-8 1CMC removal spells and 3-4 Snapcasters. DRS is a non-issue for this deck, and that is in part why it is so successful.
