Splinter Nin
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 9 | 18 COMMENTS | 6070 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS
Wincons: Casting a Wider Net —July 8, 2015
Over time, Twinflame had become one of the worst cards in the deck. The intent was for it to be another way Dualcaster Mage could combo off, but with recent changes, Twinflame has looked less and less like the right card to play.
Though it is efficiently costed and scales well, Twinflame can only target creatures that I control, and chances are slim that I'll want to trade a combo piece for a temporary creature. This has left me stuck holding onto an awkward, narrow combo piece. Heat Shimmer is much better (it can target an opposing creatures and it has 3CMC, so it can be tutored for with Drifting Phantasms). Due to this being the lesser of two redundant effects, I began looking for a replacement that could serve another purpose.
Dragonmaster Outcast can be reasonably played on the first turn, and it’s threatening enough to force opponents into using their removal early, and if it lives, there’s a good chance that I’ll be able to start generating dragon tokens on turn six or seven. Dragonmaster Outcast is also a great topdeck; I can play it and still have enough mana to recast Nin; it can block, and it’s a pretty decent clone target. Though the Outcast may not propel the combo gameplan, it potentially could win the game on its own, which Twinflame cannot do.