"Hmm, this big creature needs a drawback." "How about costing nine mana?" "That's a good start I guess." "How about having no protection from removal?" "Getting there..." "How about it also destroys your resources?" "PERFECT!"
No matter how bad they were, having stuff like Leviathan or the infamous Polar Kraken in your deck made you the the coolest guy in school back in 1995. There was no downside big enough to prevent you from putting a creature in your deck that was bigger than 3 polar bears or even a building. Still love those cards today, even though I wouldn't use them in a deck anymore.
I vaguely remember an old Scrye magazine talking about one player's success in Ice Age tournaments with his Polar Kraken deck. It sounded like the most intimidating deck ever.
Man I've been slack on checking for these notifications, mostly because I've been rather ill with a head cold, or maybe it's COVID-19. I'll mention that I actually run The Unspeakable in my Kami tribal deck, as well as the three Arcane spells required to cheat it out. I have played many, many games with that deck, and have not summoned him *once.* Not by hard casting it, not by cheating it out. It's fucking awful, and I've attached it to my deck like a voluntary tumor. Somehow, this is my segue to "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)" though.
You are very wrong, At 1 mana it would be north of $1000 and considered one of of the power 10! As you could draw and extra card a turn an cycle through a library in 5 which amounts to a permanent tutor. Find a way to untap it and it is absolutely broken
Tbh it should just be a 3 mana artifact that passively exchanged your draws for "look at top 3, select one". That would be a solid card, and if underrealm lich has shown me anything, it is that its really nice to not get landscrewed.
Casting those three spells to bring out the unspeakable reminds me of summoning Spirit of the Night by sacrificing feral shadow, breath stealer and urborg panther...the good ol days of magic..😊😊
To be fair Zodiac Dragon could see some serious play in the new Purphoros lists - a hasty 8/8 for 3 every turn is good and can be abused with altars and such... The problem is that Zodiac Dragon costs way too much due to having only one print, in P3K. If it was a 1 dollar card, as it should be, it would see plenty of play in the new Purphoros lists.
I used to play zodiac dragon in a janky sneak attack deck, and it's not horrible in this kind of situation. Of course, there are better targets, but the recursion on such a big body is not that common.
I've been keeping my lamp in my "Good Cards" trade binder for the last 8 years and refuse to get rid of it! I tell people its the worse card WOTC has ever printed, and i take pride in it Lol. I'm glad it made the list
It's used as a trivia point at this one local game store. The question is something like "which card has the highest listed mana cost." Worded a bit better. But the joke is that the lamp costs 55. Same place I learned that mountains are the most common card in the game
Rampage and Lure effects makes Teeka Dragon pretty cool actually. Still 11 mana for one way board wipe, but someone wanting to make bad cards playable could have some fun with it.
If you're using the lure enchantment it's a board wipe that comes every round. And added bonus is that if your opponents cards don't have an average toughness of four and more each creature they had adds to the damage they take from the trample. I kinda like this dragon.
Except it's not a board wipe, because your opponents creatures without Flying still can't block it. It's the rare instance where Flying is a downside to the card.
@@TheShinyFeraligatr There are ways. Admittedly it makes the combo more complicated, but there is Gravity Sphere, Chaos Sphere, Mystic Decree, White Out, or Windshear. Hell, things like Colossus Hammer and Battlehammer would also be fun for some more recent choices.
Since Dichotomancy is in Blue, it's not unreasonable to imagine a deck that suspends it for 3, then at the end of the opponents' turn right before it goes off, cast a spell that taps a lot or all of your opponents' creatures.
My biggest problem with The Unspeakable is the weird vagina orifice it has. It doesn't even have that "innuendo horror" aspect to it (like xenomorphs or the gaping dragon in dark souls), it just looks goofy. When Niz said his favorite thing about it was the design I nearly spit out my water before he went on to talk about it's mechanical design.
Obviously people who have a way of giving opponents token copies of their best things, tapping those token copies and then being able to shuffle the originals back into their deck before casting a 9 mana spell in order to steal them. Either that or they have it just in case someone is playing a deck with you can have (between 2 to any) number of these cards in your deck.
Oh man, Dichotomancy was the first rare I ever opened 4 copies of. I was always tempted to make a deck out of it because of that, but even then I knew it couldn't be good.
I'll admit, I have a soft spot for a lot of these cards from the past myself. Polar Kraken and Leviathan especially. Oh, and memories of putting Lure on Teeka's Dragon. Simpler times.
Even if prophecy is considered one of the worst set ever, I will always have a soft sport for it since i began playing magic at that time. Those 9 mana winds, 8 mana avatars, legendary spellshapers were speaking to my Timmy vibe.
Funny thing. I actually run leviathan in my tromokratis sea creature deck. That deck has lots of ways to cheat the leviathan in with artifacts like quicksilver amulet, or enchantments like quest for ula's temple. From there, the leviathan's main role is to contribute devotion for things like nykthos or nyx lotus. Generally it also has the secondary effect of completely disarming people. Once they see such a bad card in your deck, they no longer think of you as a threat. Thanks to that, I actually managed to get some surprise kills with the thing.
I've seen the Aladdin's Lamp played in several Old School-decks (format with only 93/94-cards legal). Combine it with Basalt Monolith/Power Artifact it has been in winning lists in that format more than once. Also in Treasure Island-decks (also Old School-decks where you utilize Ring of Ma'rûf) it is played. Therefore I do not like it on the list... Also in the old days I saw several reanimator decks playing Polar Kraken. Sure it eats your land, but not until you have attacked at least twice with it - and how many attacks do you need with a 11/11 trample? I do not understand though how Dichotomancy is played in EDH? Is it not singleton? How can you get any effect from it then? :o Nice list though. I expected to see less creatures on it, since the always do "something" and maybe some insane red sorceries instead :P
lol, I played Polar Kraken for awhile. I forget how I got it into play. Once someone cast ‘desertion’ on it. It turned out to be far bigger when it was sitting in the other side of the board. I’m sure I was generally trying to reanimate it. .and I had to find Some way to get it in the graveyard. I remember there was Tefari’s Familiar. They say, if you do nothing, sometimes you can discard it as a ‘my hand is full’ discard on turn 2.
When I was a kid, I had a deck centered around cheating out Teeka's Dragon, making it lose flying, then tossing a lure on it. It.... Sometimes worked? It was one of those "I know this can work!" decks from when we were kids.
An aspect of Magic Wotc seemed to not understand for a long time is that mana cost scales as a cost exponentially, not linearly. Yes, the number scales linearly. However, as a card's mana cost increases, not only are you spending more mana, you also can't play the card for longer throughout the game and you have to draw more lands and mana sources and play them. All these factors make it so that the difference between 4 and 5 mana is greater than 1 and 2, for example. Thankfully, wizards seems to recognize this now. 5, maybe 6 mana seems to be the cap for draft chaff and those cards are starting to get better or have alternate uses which require less mana. Cards which cost more than 6 are usually designed to guarantee value or be incredibly powerful if not dealt with. This isn't true for them all of course but overall card quality has improved from this a lot.
I use three of these card, in actually quite decent decks: Teeka's Dragon is in my Zirilan of the Claw EDH deck. I mean, it's from Mirage (same set as Zirilan and Crimson Hellkite) and has super cool artwork. Auto include flavorwise. Polar Kraken and Thing from the Deep are both in my oathbreaker sea monster deck (Kiora/Whelming Wave). There is no better feeling in MTG than to attack with a beefy Polar Kraken!
I actually had a deck with Leviathan, Polar Kraken, and The Unspeakable in it, but also Fling. I believe I also used black for various reanimation effects. Needless to say, it was a deck purely for fun with friends.
I have to admit, Sneak Attacking a Zodiac Dragon sounds fun. Basically an 8/8 with Dash 1 Red that gets around several types of removal. Then with Enter the Battlefield payoffs in a Dragon Tribal deck, could be better then it appears.
slapping Lure on Teeka's Dragon is 1 of my fav things to do in mtg. I have the original Aladdin's Lamp n played it in a mono blue control deck but ya I noticed how lack luster it was
Zodiac seems amazing for a Kaalia deck. You can use it to block or attack and you can always cheat it into play from your hand with Kaalia. Your opponents will know you have an 8/8 blocker that is willing to trade with anything they swing at you.
Why on Earth did _thirteen people_ put Dichotomancy in their EDH decks? Even in "bad card tribal," I'm pretty sure you'd want a card that actually _does something_ in EDH...
A bunch of old creatures, and spells from Prophecy? Honestly the only surprise on this list is Dichotomancy, because, wow that card truly is hilariously awful, to the point that I had no clue it existed at all
In defense of the rampage mechanic, I believe there is a worthwhile use when enchanted with an effect to make all defending creatures block it. Niche, but Teekas Dragon thusly is good for effectively wrathing the opponents board to clear a path for your other dragons, in addition to likely trampling through regardless
The ceiling on Dichotomancy is completely insane. I understand that potential effect being expensive because you could potentially steal many cards from your opponent, leaving only lands and a few other cards left, flooding them out while also getting a bunch of cards all at once… But the odds of all of that are probably less than one in a thousand. The ceiling is very high, but the floor of doing almost nothing is very, very likely and the investment isn’t ever going to be worth it, because of how narrow it is.
Okay, The Unspeakable is cool! Never heard about it until now. I mean, it's not super good, but the combo to bring it out just feels... weirdly exciting!
Dichotomancy seems like a fun Against the odds type of build around card. Just Sleep the opponent the turn before it comes off suspend or some kind of prison deck seems fun.
Leviathan was my first big pull when I was little. It took many games for me to realize its lack of worth. Of course, if it starts on the battlefield when you're playing the MTG Shandalar game, it's pretty awesome, but no other context.
One of my favorite things to do in TCGs in general is to take a bad card, and magnify its effect to see what it takes to make it playable or even good without breaking it. Two of the cards in this video are cards I'd like to give this treatment: Blessed Wind 7WW Sorcery Target player's life total becomes 100. I think magnifying this effect fivefold makes it an interesting timmy-magnet, but it still won't win you a game on its own. The effect is quite powerful defensively, but, if it matters that much to you, you're probably still losing the game. Dichotomancy 7UU (same regular effect) Suspend 3 - 1UU Whenever a time counter is removed from Dichotomancy while it's exiled, tap target permanent: that permanent doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step. This is now a card that is mostly guaranteed to copy at least one thing, and it isn't completely worthless while suspended (and also suddenly combos pretty well with Jhoira of the Ghitu in much the same way Aeon Chronicler does).
I think denying wind in EDH makes a lot more sense when you realize a lot of decks are built around fishing out a combo and winning off it. Mana's also a lot easier to come by, especially if you're also playing red (Dockside Extortionist gets *a lot* of mana of everyone's rocks) or green.
There would be a really easy fix for Aladdin's Lamp to turn it from bad into possibly worth the 10 mana. Whenever you draw a card, you may instead search your library for a card and put it into your hand. EDIT: Obviously afterwards the library would be shuffled.
@@SangerZonvolt That could also be remedied: "If Aladdin's Lamp entered the battlefield and you didn't cast it from your hand, pay 10. If you don't, sacrifice it."
Tbh, I fight with myself about building decks around The Unspeakable and the Arcane combo that shortcuts it into play. It is terrible for sure, but it is always hilarious to play 3 spells and get a free giant flyer as well as draw some cards and even get an Arcane back. It also builds a nice Storm count, even though it is kind of a terrible way to do it 😅 Also, it should be noted that Teeka's Dragon might be a budget alternative to Draco in some Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow lists because it is a huge CMC creature that doesn't have downsides and even comes with evasion. Not that I think it is amazing, I just think that could be why it is in so many lists besides dragon tribal.
As a new player back in 95, I too was lured in by those huge stats on Leviathan when I got one. I don't think I actually ever resolved one in play. So terrible. Also tried to play with Deep Spawn a lot, which was also awful. Strangely, Deep Spawn is actually a better card now due to the massive number of ways to use the graveyard as a resource in the modern game...although its still awful. I am not sure how Dichotomancy could do anything in EDH.
@@matthewutech5970 But that requires you to have FIVE different basic land types in play. I guess you could cheat it out with prismatic omen like effects but it still just takes too much effort. Any deck running this most likely would have to be five colors, meaning you would completely skrew up your mana base just to play a bad card. Only time I think it could see play is in a budget Ur dragon deck with a really cheap mana base. You can also be very sneaky and run wastes to make it cost 4.
Draco is good in a deck that uses cards like Pyromancy, Heretic's Punishment, and Riddle of Lightning in order to deal damage equal to the CMCs of cards, though.
@@charlied.310 first, Waste, surprising enough, do NOT have a basic type, so do nothing for domain. (surprised me too when I found out.) If your playgroup is willing to play the constructed illegal "test cards", you CAN run Barry's Land, which does have an addtional basic land type ("Cloud") Second, T1 Tricycleland (likely fetched) into T2 enemy colour land (probably fetched) that shares no type with the tri-land gives you all five basic land types turn two without needing to resort to prismatic omen. The only issue then (other then bloodmoon type effects) is that there is cheaper and better domain/ domain like cards to abuse (I.e. Tribal Flames) in enternal formats. But the fact it's easy to get all 5 basic land types fielded before turn 6 would imply Draco isn't quite "the worst". A 9/9 for 6 mana with Flying isnt half bad. Of course, when running 5 color type shenanigans, better win cons aren't hard to find, with cards like Niv-Mizzet Reborn & collation victory around.
@@matthewutech5970 Didn't know that about the wastes. I also didn't think about the new trilands, sorry! I originally thought it only counted basics, instead of it sharing the subtype.
Before the rules clarification errata, Zodiac Dragon was an infinite source of discard cost, since the OG text doesn't specify dying, only being put into the graveyard. You could just discard it over and over again infinitely.
I like dichotomancy. I understand that it isn't in EDH and it really has nothing to do in that format. I have no idea why 13 decks use it. But in other games it has its clear uses. If you for some insane reason have 9 mana you can just cast it. I have done this, and its fun. More realistically you're using suspend. If you have timebugs, you tap your time bugs and voila - copy stuff. If you don't have time bugs it buys you a round of little activity from your opponent as they don't want to tap things. I think this alone can be worth three mana. But also, you're blue. And blue means Turnabout, Blustersquall, Cryptic command, Deluge and Ensnare. And probably more. Instant speed, 3-4 mana "tap everything others have". And then Dichotomancy happens. As a two-card combo it's not super powerful, but each piece is fine on its own anyway.
I ran dichotomancy successfully even with suspending it. I ran a deck with twiddles and it worked out really well most times. It's just very specifically useful
Aladdin's Lamp was over priced, but I'm not sure that it's ability is overpriced. Think of it this way. Suppose the text read: Whenever you would draw, before the draw you may pay X. If you do, you may Scry X. That sort of effect would be played. You'd just have to find a fair price for the containing object.
Teeka's Dragon could be kinda interesting with a lure effect... maybe. Give it deathtouch and firststrike and its a boardwipe... though lots of setup for small reward
For most of these cards, things were different back then. Creatures were much less efficient in general. Lol i've owned like, half of them at one point in time or another... mostly in middle school about 20 years ago.
Why would Dichotomancy ever be in those 13 EDH decks? It's a singleton format, you couldn't possibly find a nonland permanent with the same name. Is there some rogue strat you could use with it?
The Unspeakable mechanic was in the worst Duel Deck ever released. I didn't understand how they launched this, the deck stood no chance against the other one.
okay but Teeka's Dragon + Nemesis Mask is the most swag way to beat an infinite token combo that didn't get to attack immediately ...except it only works on flying tokens! Yeesh.
Omg I need Denying Wind in my Yennett deck! :D I don't play much anymore but I'm sure most metas have some combo decks and getting it for no mana would be cool!
Honestly I can see Aladdin's Lamp having some potential. Sometimes you go infinite but just can't do anything with it. But if you could just had just one draw card you can pull whatever you need to finish off the game. I could see commander potential with it.
I was totally expecting there to be some big dumb chaotic demons in the mix. Your Lord of the Pits and Infernal Denizens. Its weird how much nerfed all their giant creatures back then.
My brother made a deck waaayyy back in the day that was "mono-red" and would play Furnace of Wrath and Pandemonium. Then he'd use Triassic Egg to through down Leviathan. Every one laughed at a) this big blue guy in a red deck b) that he no way to hard cast it or untap/attack with it. They stopped laughing when Leviathan dealt the 20 damage from Pandemonium and inn multi-player dealt another 20 damage with Fling
Zodiac Dragon is a "must have" for literally Purpherous Bronze Blooded which is a new "legendary creature" in Theros beyond deeeth where your never casting the zodiac dragon for more than 3 mana.
Dichotomancy feels like it was specifically made to fuck up aggro decks to steal all those creatures the opponent hasnt played yet, although it does so very unpredictably. Maybe your opponent already played his 4 copies of some stuff, maybe he didn't tap whatever you want to steal from him, maybe (by turn 10 when you have enough mana to cast it) all his creatures already dealt so much damage that you've basically lost.
Denying winds is a little better in EDH where just beating for game is almost impossible and most decks rely on combo wins, being able to remove all of an opponents win-cons can basically write them out of the game. Also zodiac dragon is kinda cute with sneak attack. But yeah, too much mana is too much mana
Yo! You should do a video on the top 10 mythic-rare lands. I've only been playing for 3 or 4 years now and prior to the current spoiler season, I'd never seen a mythic-rare land. Even though I know Bazaar of Baghdad exists. I know. Anyway, I think that'd be a cool video. Love the content! Keep it up, ya beautiful mensch.
Bazaar of Baghdad is not REALLY a Mythic. It was printed like 15 before that rarity existed. Some newer versions have a mythic symbol, but they are not available in boosters so it doesn't count.
"Hmm, this big creature needs a drawback."
"How about costing nine mana?"
"That's a good start I guess."
"How about having no protection from removal?"
"Getting there..."
"How about it also destroys your resources?"
"PERFECT!"
Nizzahon when he makes a point:
I mean SURE
No matter how bad they were, having stuff like Leviathan or the infamous Polar Kraken in your deck made you the the coolest guy in school back in 1995. There was no downside big enough to prevent you from putting a creature in your deck that was bigger than 3 polar bears or even a building. Still love those cards today, even though I wouldn't use them in a deck anymore.
I love the fact that Polar Kraken's flavor text is referenced by Big Furry Monster (Unglued) and from the same NPC no less.
Omg if that made you the coolest kid in school I imagine the school was filled with uncool kids hahha (I would have fitted in there.. Sad)
I vaguely remember an old Scrye magazine talking about one player's success in Ice Age tournaments with his Polar Kraken deck. It sounded like the most intimidating deck ever.
@@stickershock66wtf
The Unspeakable seems like a very cool card to build a deck around... not good, but very cool
I have that kind of deck
I have one. Not a Commander, but a modern deck
I run it in a casual commander deck... It is not good but I love it
Seems like a sick kamigawa block constructed deck
The Unbuildable
ive seen the unspeakable go off in draft, and boy is it majestic
Man I've been slack on checking for these notifications, mostly because I've been rather ill with a head cold, or maybe it's COVID-19. I'll mention that I actually run The Unspeakable in my Kami tribal deck, as well as the three Arcane spells required to cheat it out. I have played many, many games with that deck, and have not summoned him *once.* Not by hard casting it, not by cheating it out. It's fucking awful, and I've attached it to my deck like a voluntary tumor.
Somehow, this is my segue to "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)" though.
Love that you called it a voluntary tumor 🤣
Drew, you have a cool writing style. I hope it attracts enough attention to get the video we all need
@@caseywellington4761 Cheers, one day!
Props for the commitment, too.
The unspeakable was in one of the duel decks, and in that deck he could be cheated out relatively consistently
You should do a top 10 list comparing competitive vs. EDH usage of cards, like top 10 cards that are useless in competitve but popular in casual.
I would rather be top 100.
Yeah, like Scrambleverse
So top 2 cards then
@Dr. Phil's creampie lounge yes, asking for a single top 10 list to highlight EDH is "everything has to be about EDH" gtfoh
I'm actually interested in the other way around. Which cards are busted/strong in competitive but does relatively nothing in casual.
Aladdin's Lamp is just so funny to me... if it was *one mana*, I probably still wouldn't play it in even my jankiest EDH decks.
There is a 1 mana version: Soothsaying
You are very wrong, At 1 mana it would be north of $1000 and considered one of of the power 10! As you could draw and extra card a turn an cycle through a library in 5 which amounts to a permanent tutor. Find a way to untap it and it is absolutely broken
Tbh it should just be a 3 mana artifact that passively exchanged your draws for "look at top 3, select one". That would be a solid card, and if underrealm lich has shown me anything, it is that its really nice to not get landscrewed.
dkz nikolaj yep that would have been proper game design and play test.
true, but it's 55 mana..... definitely not worth it.
Forget sleep it’s time for another MTG top 10!
I don't need sleep, I need information.
I work night shifts so its good lol
...Its 10 minutes my guy!
@@TiagoSilva-zl8sc you underestimate 10! Minutes!
Tiago Silva what I’d do for an extra 10 mins of sleep every night zzz
Casting those three spells to bring out the unspeakable reminds me of summoning Spirit of the Night by sacrificing feral shadow, breath stealer and urborg panther...the good ol days of magic..😊😊
Top ten overcosted creatures that die to doom blade for 2
As soon as I read the title I said “Leviathan has to be on here somewhere” and I was far from disappointed. Great video!
To be fair Zodiac Dragon could see some serious play in the new Purphoros lists - a hasty 8/8 for 3 every turn is good and can be abused with altars and such... The problem is that Zodiac Dragon costs way too much due to having only one print, in P3K. If it was a 1 dollar card, as it should be, it would see plenty of play in the new Purphoros lists.
I used to play zodiac dragon in a janky sneak attack deck, and it's not horrible in this kind of situation. Of course, there are better targets, but the recursion on such a big body is not that common.
I've been keeping my lamp in my "Good Cards" trade binder for the last 8 years and refuse to get rid of it! I tell people its the worse card WOTC has ever printed, and i take pride in it Lol. I'm glad it made the list
It's used as a trivia point at this one local game store. The question is something like "which card has the highest listed mana cost." Worded a bit better. But the joke is that the lamp costs 55.
Same place I learned that mountains are the most common card in the game
I bought a copy when I first started playing because it looked so terribly bad. I had to have it. Best buy ever.
Rampage and Lure effects makes Teeka Dragon pretty cool actually. Still 11 mana for one way board wipe, but someone wanting to make bad cards playable could have some fun with it.
If you're using the lure enchantment it's a board wipe that comes every round.
And added bonus is that if your opponents cards don't have an average toughness of four and more each creature they had adds to the damage they take from the trample.
I kinda like this dragon.
Except it's not a board wipe, because your opponents creatures without Flying still can't block it. It's the rare instance where Flying is a downside to the card.
@@TheShinyFeraligatr Fuck me, I didn't even think of that. What a truly terrible card
@@TheShinyFeraligatr There are ways. Admittedly it makes the combo more complicated, but there is Gravity Sphere, Chaos Sphere, Mystic Decree, White Out, or Windshear. Hell, things like Colossus Hammer and Battlehammer would also be fun for some more recent choices.
Since Dichotomancy is in Blue, it's not unreasonable to imagine a deck that suspends it for 3, then at the end of the opponents' turn right before it goes off, cast a spell that taps a lot or all of your opponents' creatures.
The big problem with Dichotomancy is that EDH is a singleton format
My biggest problem with The Unspeakable is the weird vagina orifice it has. It doesn't even have that "innuendo horror" aspect to it (like xenomorphs or the gaping dragon in dark souls), it just looks goofy. When Niz said his favorite thing about it was the design I nearly spit out my water before he went on to talk about it's mechanical design.
Weird Vagina Orifice would be a band to see
🤣
Yeah, the other printing of it makes the card look a lot better
When I was reading I thought maybe, just maybe, you'd get to cast those 7 cards 🤣
Teeka's Dragon!!! Mega OP!
Back in the day I loved using animate artifact on the lamp to make a 10/10 creature lol
Denying wind, copied 2-3 times or so... Thats a game changer
Okay, I have to know, who are the thirteen people running Dichotomancy in EDH decks?
Obviously people who have a way of giving opponents token copies of their best things, tapping those token copies and then being able to shuffle the originals back into their deck before casting a 9 mana spell in order to steal them. Either that or they have it just in case someone is playing a deck with you can have (between 2 to any) number of these cards in your deck.
@@makotoxchihiroyaoifangirl8409 game ending move of copying one shadowborn apostle from your opponent
I'm so angry just thinking about someone playing that in EDH.
@@makotoxchihiroyaoifangirl8409 More likely is it's just 13 decks that are taking the piss and are deliberately full of the worst cards in magic.
Whenever i see Leviathan all I can think of is that the picture of Leviathan is him screaming after he just stubbed his toe.
Dichotomany in EDH?? I.. guess it could find a bunch of pack rats or seven dwarves?
Oh man, Dichotomancy was the first rare I ever opened 4 copies of. I was always tempted to make a deck out of it because of that, but even then I knew it couldn't be good.
Don't forget that with flying, Teeka's Dragon's rampage is already a lot less useful that it otherwise could be.
I'll admit, I have a soft spot for a lot of these cards from the past myself. Polar Kraken and Leviathan especially. Oh, and memories of putting Lure on Teeka's Dragon. Simpler times.
Even if prophecy is considered one of the worst set ever, I will always have a soft sport for it since i began playing magic at that time. Those 9 mana winds, 8 mana avatars, legendary spellshapers were speaking to my Timmy vibe.
Nizzahon seeing Leviathan back in the day: T H I C C
Funny thing. I actually run leviathan in my tromokratis sea creature deck. That deck has lots of ways to cheat the leviathan in with artifacts like quicksilver amulet, or enchantments like quest for ula's temple. From there, the leviathan's main role is to contribute devotion for things like nykthos or nyx lotus. Generally it also has the secondary effect of completely disarming people. Once they see such a bad card in your deck, they no longer think of you as a threat. Thanks to that, I actually managed to get some surprise kills with the thing.
The Unspeakable... such great memories I have of turbo arcane on my casual table lol
I've seen the Aladdin's Lamp played in several Old School-decks (format with only 93/94-cards legal). Combine it with Basalt Monolith/Power Artifact it has been in winning lists in that format more than once. Also in Treasure Island-decks (also Old School-decks where you utilize Ring of Ma'rûf) it is played. Therefore I do not like it on the list... Also in the old days I saw several reanimator decks playing Polar Kraken. Sure it eats your land, but not until you have attacked at least twice with it - and how many attacks do you need with a 11/11 trample?
I do not understand though how Dichotomancy is played in EDH? Is it not singleton? How can you get any effect from it then? :o
Nice list though. I expected to see less creatures on it, since the always do "something" and maybe some insane red sorceries instead :P
you can put dichotomancy in your deck before playing someone you know has 50 copies of relentless rats in their deck
lol, I played Polar Kraken for awhile. I forget how I got it into play. Once someone cast ‘desertion’ on it. It turned out to be far bigger when it was sitting in the other side of the board. I’m sure I was generally trying to reanimate it. .and I had to find Some way to get it in the graveyard. I remember there was Tefari’s Familiar. They say, if you do nothing, sometimes you can discard it as a ‘my hand is full’ discard on turn 2.
M: well guess it's sleep time.
Nizzahon: posts
Me: well..........10 more minutes won't hurt
When I was a kid, I had a deck centered around cheating out Teeka's Dragon, making it lose flying, then tossing a lure on it. It.... Sometimes worked? It was one of those "I know this can work!" decks from when we were kids.
An aspect of Magic Wotc seemed to not understand for a long time is that mana cost scales as a cost exponentially, not linearly. Yes, the number scales linearly. However, as a card's mana cost increases, not only are you spending more mana, you also can't play the card for longer throughout the game and you have to draw more lands and mana sources and play them. All these factors make it so that the difference between 4 and 5 mana is greater than 1 and 2, for example.
Thankfully, wizards seems to recognize this now. 5, maybe 6 mana seems to be the cap for draft chaff and those cards are starting to get better or have alternate uses which require less mana. Cards which cost more than 6 are usually designed to guarantee value or be incredibly powerful if not dealt with. This isn't true for them all of course but overall card quality has improved from this a lot.
I use three of these card, in actually quite decent decks:
Teeka's Dragon is in my Zirilan of the Claw EDH deck. I mean, it's from Mirage (same set as Zirilan and Crimson Hellkite) and has super cool artwork. Auto include flavorwise.
Polar Kraken and Thing from the Deep are both in my oathbreaker sea monster deck (Kiora/Whelming Wave). There is no better feeling in MTG than to attack with a beefy Polar Kraken!
I actually had a deck with Leviathan, Polar Kraken, and The Unspeakable in it, but also Fling. I believe I also used black for various reanimation effects. Needless to say, it was a deck purely for fun with friends.
I have to admit, Sneak Attacking a Zodiac Dragon sounds fun. Basically an 8/8 with Dash 1 Red that gets around several types of removal. Then with Enter the Battlefield payoffs in a Dragon Tribal deck, could be better then it appears.
slapping Lure on Teeka's Dragon is 1 of my fav things to do in mtg. I have the original Aladdin's Lamp n played it in a mono blue control deck but ya I noticed how lack luster it was
5:27 you can see 6 fingers. WotC must have AI generated that card art.
AI art was almost nonexistent before 2023.
Zodiac seems amazing for a Kaalia deck. You can use it to block or attack and you can always cheat it into play from your hand with Kaalia. Your opponents will know you have an 8/8 blocker that is willing to trade with anything they swing at you.
Why on Earth did _thirteen people_ put Dichotomancy in their EDH decks? Even in "bad card tribal," I'm pretty sure you'd want a card that actually _does something_ in EDH...
You’re on fire with these “worst” lists. Always very entertaining.
A bunch of old creatures, and spells from Prophecy? Honestly the only surprise on this list is Dichotomancy, because, wow that card truly is hilariously awful, to the point that I had no clue it existed at all
Why would someone put it in a commander deck?! Is everyone they know playing Shadowborne Apostle?
I think the point of casting Blessed Wind is to try to make your opponent laugh themselves to death.
In defense of the rampage mechanic, I believe there is a worthwhile use when enchanted with an effect to make all defending creatures block it. Niche, but Teekas Dragon thusly is good for effectively wrathing the opponents board to clear a path for your other dragons, in addition to likely trampling through regardless
The ceiling on Dichotomancy is completely insane. I understand that potential effect being expensive because you could potentially steal many cards from your opponent, leaving only lands and a few other cards left, flooding them out while also getting a bunch of cards all at once…
But the odds of all of that are probably less than one in a thousand. The ceiling is very high, but the floor of doing almost nothing is very, very likely and the investment isn’t ever going to be worth it, because of how narrow it is.
Okay, The Unspeakable is cool! Never heard about it until now. I mean, it's not super good, but the combo to bring it out just feels... weirdly exciting!
Bet jokulmorder is here
Dichotomancy seems like a fun Against the odds type of build around card. Just Sleep the opponent the turn before it comes off suspend or some kind of prison deck seems fun.
Leviathan was my first big pull when I was little. It took many games for me to realize its lack of worth. Of course, if it starts on the battlefield when you're playing the MTG Shandalar game, it's pretty awesome, but no other context.
One of my favorite things to do in TCGs in general is to take a bad card, and magnify its effect to see what it takes to make it playable or even good without breaking it. Two of the cards in this video are cards I'd like to give this treatment:
Blessed Wind 7WW
Sorcery
Target player's life total becomes 100.
I think magnifying this effect fivefold makes it an interesting timmy-magnet, but it still won't win you a game on its own. The effect is quite powerful defensively, but, if it matters that much to you, you're probably still losing the game.
Dichotomancy 7UU
(same regular effect)
Suspend 3 - 1UU
Whenever a time counter is removed from Dichotomancy while it's exiled, tap target permanent: that permanent doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step.
This is now a card that is mostly guaranteed to copy at least one thing, and it isn't completely worthless while suspended (and also suddenly combos pretty well with Jhoira of the Ghitu in much the same way Aeon Chronicler does).
I know this comments a year old almost but Id like to see you do the rest of the cards on the list if you wouldnt mind
Denying wind? That card can wreak havoc on EDH decks. Some decks are unable to win after being subjected to it. Weird choice for this list.
I think denying wind in EDH makes a lot more sense when you realize a lot of decks are built around fishing out a combo and winning off it. Mana's also a lot easier to come by, especially if you're also playing red (Dockside Extortionist gets *a lot* of mana of everyone's rocks) or green.
There would be a really easy fix for Aladdin's Lamp to turn it from bad into possibly worth the 10 mana.
Whenever you draw a card, you may instead search your library for a card and put it into your hand.
EDIT: Obviously afterwards the library would be shuffled.
That sound really overpowered. You can cheat the lamp into play and then you basically win because you can search for any combo you want.
Or casting cost of 0 or 1.
@@SangerZonvolt That could also be remedied:
"If Aladdin's Lamp entered the battlefield and you didn't cast it from your hand, pay 10. If you don't, sacrifice it."
Tbh, I fight with myself about building decks around The Unspeakable and the Arcane combo that shortcuts it into play. It is terrible for sure, but it is always hilarious to play 3 spells and get a free giant flyer as well as draw some cards and even get an Arcane back. It also builds a nice Storm count, even though it is kind of a terrible way to do it 😅
Also, it should be noted that Teeka's Dragon might be a budget alternative to Draco in some Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow lists because it is a huge CMC creature that doesn't have downsides and even comes with evasion. Not that I think it is amazing, I just think that could be why it is in so many lists besides dragon tribal.
Ahhhh...... my favorite list
As a new player back in 95, I too was lured in by those huge stats on Leviathan when I got one. I don't think I actually ever resolved one in play. So terrible. Also tried to play with Deep Spawn a lot, which was also awful. Strangely, Deep Spawn is actually a better card now due to the massive number of ways to use the graveyard as a resource in the modern game...although its still awful. I am not sure how Dichotomancy could do anything in EDH.
My guess: Who//What//When//Where//Why
My backup guess: Draco. At best it's a 6 cmc 9/9 flyer, at worst it's a 16 cmc 9/9 flyer with a 10 mana upkeep.
A 6 mana 9/9 isn't too bad, and especially not bad enough to be considered the worst. And silver border cards are excluded form these kinds of list.
@@matthewutech5970 But that requires you to have FIVE different basic land types in play. I guess you could cheat it out with prismatic omen like effects but it still just takes too much effort. Any deck running this most likely would have to be five colors, meaning you would completely skrew up your mana base just to play a bad card. Only time I think it could see play is in a budget Ur dragon deck with a really cheap mana base. You can also be very sneaky and run wastes to make it cost 4.
Draco is good in a deck that uses cards like Pyromancy, Heretic's Punishment, and Riddle of Lightning in order to deal damage equal to the CMCs of cards, though.
@@charlied.310 first, Waste, surprising enough, do NOT have a basic type, so do nothing for domain. (surprised me too when I found out.) If your playgroup is willing to play the constructed illegal "test cards", you CAN run Barry's Land, which does have an addtional basic land type ("Cloud")
Second, T1 Tricycleland (likely fetched) into T2 enemy colour land (probably fetched) that shares no type with the tri-land gives you all five basic land types turn two without needing to resort to prismatic omen. The only issue then (other then bloodmoon type effects) is that there is cheaper and better domain/ domain like cards to abuse (I.e. Tribal Flames) in enternal formats. But the fact it's easy to get all 5 basic land types fielded before turn 6 would imply Draco isn't quite "the worst". A 9/9 for 6 mana with Flying isnt half bad. Of course, when running 5 color type shenanigans, better win cons aren't hard to find, with cards like Niv-Mizzet Reborn & collation victory around.
@@matthewutech5970 Didn't know that about the wastes. I also didn't think about the new trilands, sorry! I originally thought it only counted basics, instead of it sharing the subtype.
Before the rules clarification errata, Zodiac Dragon was an infinite source of discard cost, since the OG text doesn't specify dying, only being put into the graveyard. You could just discard it over and over again infinitely.
I said as much in the video.
I like dichotomancy. I understand that it isn't in EDH and it really has nothing to do in that format. I have no idea why 13 decks use it.
But in other games it has its clear uses.
If you for some insane reason have 9 mana you can just cast it. I have done this, and its fun. More realistically you're using suspend.
If you have timebugs, you tap your time bugs and voila - copy stuff.
If you don't have time bugs it buys you a round of little activity from your opponent as they don't want to tap things. I think this alone can be worth three mana.
But also, you're blue. And blue means Turnabout, Blustersquall, Cryptic command, Deluge and Ensnare. And probably more. Instant speed, 3-4 mana "tap everything others have". And then Dichotomancy happens. As a two-card combo it's not super powerful, but each piece is fine on its own anyway.
I ran dichotomancy successfully even with suspending it. I ran a deck with twiddles and it worked out really well most times. It's just very specifically useful
iname as one. i expected it to at least make the list.
Aladdin's Lamp was over priced, but I'm not sure that it's ability is overpriced.
Think of it this way. Suppose the text read:
Whenever you would draw, before the draw you may pay X. If you do, you may Scry X.
That sort of effect would be played. You'd just have to find a fair price for the containing object.
Denying wind have got to be the most underrated card of all time. It can literally shut down decks, especially in singleton formats.
Pass
Teeka's Dragon could be kinda interesting with a lure effect... maybe. Give it deathtouch and firststrike and its a boardwipe... though lots of setup for small reward
It has Flying, making it hard to do
Polar kraken is in my top 10 artwork of all time
Teeka's Dragon Lure combo was epic back in the day. but yeah, very expensive and with selective use.
I think it would be cool to see worst lists for the representative races and iconic creatures for each color
It shows how different the vanilla test has become that a 9 mana 9/9 is not considered to pass the vanilla test.
Blessed Wind is far more blessed in Yugioh.
Thing from the Deep does have nice art though.
Teeka’s Dragon and “all creatures able to block target creature do so” tribal.
For most of these cards, things were different back then. Creatures were much less efficient in general. Lol i've owned like, half of them at one point in time or another... mostly in middle school about 20 years ago.
destructimus yeah I’ve been killed by leviathan back in the day.
It's a stretch but dichotomancy combined with sleep or similar tap effects does work I've done it before
I know Friday starts at 12 but damn 12 AM sharp is impressive... I'm still watching now
Why would Dichotomancy ever be in those 13 EDH decks? It's a singleton format, you couldn't possibly find a nonland permanent with the same name. Is there some rogue strat you could use with it?
Pack rats, persistent petitioners, that one cleric. All cards you can have any number in your deck
Time for the 3 colored guilds to begin.... maybe with bant or temur...
Thanks for the great content
isn’t zodiac dragon used in a popular cedh combo?
Top ten wolves? (Without werewolves)
Top ten four mana 4/4?
Top ten snakes/serpents?
Man this series will really never run out of topics
The Unspeakable mechanic was in the worst Duel Deck ever released. I didn't understand how they launched this, the deck stood no chance against the other one.
okay but Teeka's Dragon + Nemesis Mask is the most swag way to beat an infinite token combo that didn't get to attack immediately
...except it only works on flying tokens! Yeesh.
in 1998 big creatures for reanimators were very rare. I used to run merfolk looter and animate dead into 4 copies of Lord of the Pit ffs.
Spirit of the Night was the main reanimation target in those days.
Omg I need Denying Wind in my Yennett deck! :D I don't play much anymore but I'm sure most metas have some combo decks and getting it for no mana would be cool!
Honestly I can see Aladdin's Lamp having some potential. Sometimes you go infinite but just can't do anything with it. But if you could just had just one draw card you can pull whatever you need to finish off the game. I could see commander potential with it.
Why not just have a Mana sink that does something instead?
I was totally expecting there to be some big dumb chaotic demons in the mix. Your Lord of the Pits and Infernal Denizens.
Its weird how much nerfed all their giant creatures back then.
My brother made a deck waaayyy back in the day that was "mono-red" and would play Furnace of Wrath and Pandemonium. Then he'd use Triassic Egg to through down Leviathan. Every one laughed at a) this big blue guy in a red deck b) that he no way to hard cast it or untap/attack with it. They stopped laughing when Leviathan dealt the 20 damage from Pandemonium and inn multi-player dealt another 20 damage with Fling
Zodiac Dragon is a "must have" for literally Purpherous Bronze Blooded which is a new "legendary creature" in Theros beyond deeeth where your never casting the zodiac dragon for more than 3 mana.
hmmm...no draco?
Dichotomancy feels like it was specifically made to fuck up aggro decks to steal all those creatures the opponent hasnt played yet, although it does so very unpredictably. Maybe your opponent already played his 4 copies of some stuff, maybe he didn't tap whatever you want to steal from him, maybe (by turn 10 when you have enough mana to cast it) all his creatures already dealt so much damage that you've basically lost.
Denying winds is a little better in EDH where just beating for game is almost impossible and most decks rely on combo wins, being able to remove all of an opponents win-cons can basically write them out of the game.
Also zodiac dragon is kinda cute with sneak attack.
But yeah, too much mana is too much mana
I know it doesn't always cost that much, but you need, like, 3 creatures in play for Volcanic Salvo to even be worth casting.
It's really good in limited.
Oh yeah my favorite type of videos, really shows how the game has changed.
POLAR KRAKEN!! I love that thing. IIRC it was the biggest creature around when it first came out
Colossus of Sardia, Leviathan, Polar Kraken, Phyrexian Dreadnaught and the BFM. A bigger one each year from 93 to 98.
@@rashakor eventually we got the infinity elemental, I think its called?
Back then: 9 mana 10 10 with a ENOURMOUS downside.
Now: 5 mana 10 10 without down or upside
Which card does that?
@@haikumagician4363 giganotosaurus i reckon
Pipemax32 ye, and its five green, which is no problem in mono green or even simic
Yo! You should do a video on the top 10 mythic-rare lands. I've only been playing for 3 or 4 years now and prior to the current spoiler season, I'd never seen a mythic-rare land. Even though I know Bazaar of Baghdad exists. I know. Anyway, I think that'd be a cool video.
Love the content! Keep it up, ya beautiful mensch.
Bazaar of Baghdad is not REALLY a Mythic. It was printed like 15 before that rarity existed. Some newer versions have a mythic symbol, but they are not available in boosters so it doesn't count.
Krosan Cloudscraper from my favorite block sets Onslaught.
So edh is commander right? So why would anyone run Dichotomy?
I want to know what's going on with those 13 EDH decks that play Dichotomancy.
Some people just like to watch their world burn.