Memory Drain

Instant

Counter target spell. Scry 2.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (4)

ZendikariWol on Atraxa Infect/Proliferate

3 years ago

Heyya Tanman, taking a look at the list and I have some broad critiques and some smaller ones. Let's start big.

• You don't have enough +1/+1 counter cards to make it worth including payoffs for.

• If you're playing infect, you're gonna need evasion, because no one in their right mind just lets an infect creature through, and honestly they're pretty small bois to begin with. Fleshing out the +1 counter package may help with this, big creatures are more troublesome to block and effects like Tuskguard Captain and Abzan Falconer can provide evasion beyond just being big and chunky.

• You could do with a bit more ramp and a LOT more card draw.

• Cards that are probably cuttable include:

Melira, Sylvok Outcast: This synergizes with Phyrexian Unlife, yes, but what else does it do? I don't think this card does enough to justify ots inclusion.

Oko, the Trickster: I see this walker being cast for 6 mana, putting two +1 counters on one of your dudes, and immediately being focused to death by the rest of the table because its ult wins the game. You'd honestly be better off with Citadel Siege, it's harder to kill.

Arrest, Luminous Bonds, and Pacifism: in our meta, with so many creatures that either don't need to attack or can just be sacrificed, you're better off using kill spells like Mortify, Putrefy, or Swords to Plowshares (especially Swords bc exile beats recursion).

Grave Betrayal: such a sweet card, but much too slow.

Omen of the Dead and Omen of the Hunt: neither of these really do anything to further your gameplan. The fact that they're enchantments doesn't matter to this deck, and there are stronger recursion and ramp options.

Sunbond: There are 5 cards in this entire deck that gain you life. Goes great with your commander but there are a lot of things I'd rather spend my turn 4 on.

Courage in Crisis: Three whole mana for this effect? It's not a horrible card, but definitely inefficient.

Debt to the Deathless: This card would only be okay if damage was your primary win condition. As is? Not good.

Duneblast: The 7-mana slot may not be ideal for a wrath? Maybe this one is fine tho, idk.

Planewide Celebration: 7 mana to proliferate four times? No.

Storm Herd: Once again, this might be fine if damage was your wincon. You'd get a bunch of evasive attackers. As is? Probably not good.

Insidious Will and Memory Drain: probably go for cheaper counterspells, like Disdainful Stroke, Negate, or Essence Scatter.

Altogether though, great first deck, this would've kicked the crap out of my old Marath build back in the day.

defamagraphy1 on An Invitation to Help Magic

3 years ago

Determining just how broken a card is depends on how well it can be interacted with. Omanth is very easy to interact with. However I do believe Genesis Ultimatum or Escape to the Wilds should have seen the axe

The other problem is that so many players are playing it just to win.

I think the bigger problem is that it forces a player to interact with it so early which throws off an opponents game plan, that and players don't want to put more removal in their decks.

Bloodchief's Thirst, Giant Killer, Mutual Destruction, Feed the Swarm Heartless Act Legion's Judgment Murderous Rider Mythos of Nethroi Dirge Bat Hagra Mauling  ^Flip Drag to the Underworld Smite the Monstrous Triumphant Surge Angelic Ascension Dire Tactics Epic Downfall Necromentia Deny the Divine Eat to Extinction Banishing Light Skyclave Apparition Redcap Melee Thundering Rebuke Charge of the Forever-Beast Flame Spill Soul Sear Channeled Force Mythos of Vadrok Rumbling Rockslide The Akroan War Concerted Defense Anticognition Essence Scatter Jwari Disruption  ^Flip Lofty Denial Cancel Convolute Deny the Divine Didn't Say Please Mystical Dispute Mystical Dispute Memory Drain Rewind Agonizing Remorse Memory Theft Pelakka Predation  ^Flip Shatter the Sky Storm's Wrath Extinction Event

That's a whole lot of cards that can deal with Omnath decks. So its not so broken that it can't be dealt with. Does it mean you have to add more than 4 removal cards or change colors? You might have to. Does it mean you might have to change some strategy? Possibly.

Mono White has at least 12 solid answer cards for Omnath and you can still play aggro. Blue has counterspells though you might have to pair it with another color. Red has a few options as well, and the only color that is lacking is if you play mono green. With that many cards you really can't say it's so broken it's unbeatable. You have to play around it. You have to anticipate the strategy. These cards can easily be maindecked, and if youre a player that goes 38 creatures and only 22 lands then I'm sorry for you.

But I wholey disagree with the term Broken. Ive often seen Omnath players quit when they lose Cobra and Omnath. I've also seen a lot of them pass the turn and pass several turns. If you cannot answer it, its out of lack of trying, preparedness, or just a bad game which happens. Also, its not Omnath doing broken things. Omnath only produces the mana to do really really good things. IF Wizards bans Escape and Ultimatum players will have to switch to Lithoforming and while it won't kill the deck it will slow it down and I think that's a more fair approach. But yeah... as above, you don't have to limit yourself to just what's being played. Think outside the box.

king-saproling on Mugs.dek

3 years ago

This is a fun idea! You might appreciate these: Urza, Academy Headmaster, Flow of Ideas (shadowmoor art), Gaze of Pain, Memory Plunder, Advice from the Fae, Mayael the Anima, Destructive Urge, Eternal Warrior, Imposing Visage (both arts are great), Insolence, Ironclaw Curse, Mark of Fury, Orcish Oriflamme (7th edition), Kiss of Death, Memory Drain, Peer into the Abyss

JRaynor on Extreme Close-Up

4 years ago

OMG I wanted to build a deck like this when Memory Drain got spoiled a few months ago, and I realized it was a call back to art of Oracle's Insight

YESSSSSS.