4 ms·

Also, this type of ranking can be somewhat misleading. Ad Nauseum doesn't appear anywhere on the list, however all of the cards that support it do (Infernal Tut

by herbig 13y ago

Also, this type of ranking can be somewhat misleading. Ad Nauseum doesn't appear anywhere on the list, however all of the cards that support it do (Infernal Tutor, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal). This is because any deck playing the card typically only plays one copy, because it is bad to play in multiples.

sliverstorm 13y ago
That's because the cards that support it are the actually powerful cards! Without them, you can't pull it off. Without Ad Nauseum, there is doubtless a slightly less powerful alternative to be found. For example, brain geyser was an easy finisher in a deck built around generating stupid amounts of mana, and it also had secondary utility. But there are many cards that can do the same job almost as well. You'll notice the trend if you peruse lists of restricted cards. It's always the catalyst that is restricted.
- plorkyeran 13y ago
  Yeah, there have been countless combo decks built around pretty much the exact same set of support cards. Individually the support cards usually don't appear to be a key part of any given deck, but to a large degree that's because no one would ever call a deck a "brainstorm deck" even if brainstorm was the central card the deck was built around. They'd name it after the other things that go well with brainstorm, because that's the part that's actually different.
- herbig 13y ago
  The point is that this ranking factors in the number of copies of a card played, but that use as a metric can be misleading. Would Vendilion Clique rank higher on the list if it weren't legendary? Probably. It's not that it's a less powerful card than others higher up the list, it's that you get diminishing returns for playing more than one. The card text on Ad Nauseum prohibits playing more than a few copies in order to make it powerful. If the card worked a different way, such as if you paid 1 life for 1 card, you would certainly be playing four of them. Would it rank higher than the catalysts? No. But that's not the point.

by herbig 13y ago

sliverstorm 13y ago

That's because the cards that support it are the actually powerful cards! Without them, you can't pull it off. Without Ad Nauseum, there is doubtless a slightly less powerful alternative to be found. For example, brain geyser was an easy finisher in a deck built around generating stupid amounts of mana, and it also had secondary utility. But there are many cards that can do the same job almost as well. You'll notice the trend if you peruse lists of restricted cards. It's always the catalyst that is restricted.

plorkyeran 13y ago
Yeah, there have been countless combo decks built around pretty much the exact same set of support cards. Individually the support cards usually don't appear to be a key part of any given deck, but to a large degree that's because no one would ever call a deck a "brainstorm deck" even if brainstorm was the central card the deck was built around. They'd name it after the other things that go well with brainstorm, because that's the part that's actually different.
herbig 13y ago
The point is that this ranking factors in the number of copies of a card played, but that use as a metric can be misleading. Would Vendilion Clique rank higher on the list if it weren't legendary? Probably. It's not that it's a less powerful card than others higher up the list, it's that you get diminishing returns for playing more than one. The card text on Ad Nauseum prohibits playing more than a few copies in order to make it powerful. If the card worked a different way, such as if you paid 1 life for 1 card, you would certainly be playing four of them. Would it rank higher than the catalysts? No. But that's not the point.