Pithing Needle

Artifact

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Discussion (50)

Symph0nyS0ldier on Bant Stoneblade

1 week ago

MixDr0n3 I completely forgot about Damping Sphere. For some side changes what do you think about something like.

3 Damping Sphere big mana + storm hate
3 Anticognition hits the Tron targets and is more flexible than Ceremonious Rejection
2 Outland Liberator  ^Flip artifact/enchant hate
3 Ashiok, Dream Render can't be paid away like Leonin Arbiter and is harder to interact with. Replaces both RIP and arbiter with costing just 1 more mana.
2 Surgical Extraction good all around hate for problem cards
2 Pithing Needle

Yeah I am a bit land light but I have a fairly low curve and plenty of fetches to feed the Tireless Tracker I may see about upping my land count but my esper deck has a 2.97 average cmc and only one more land without problems so I don't think it's going to be a big deal.

MixDr0n3 on Bant Stoneblade

1 week ago

Symph0nyS0ldier, I'm glad I didn't come across as a jackass. I wasn't sure since it's hard to convey tone on the internet lol.

Rest in Peace is very solid especially for those dredge decks (which pains me to say because I am myself a dredge player lol). And that makes so much more sense over Stony Silence.

I absolutely agree that Teferi, Hero of Dominaria makes it hard to lose if you ult him. As someone who played against a Jeskai Control deck featuring Teferi every week throughout Dominaria standard and even into GRN standard, it is hard to win if his ultimate goes off. I would personally run 3 but it's not necessarily vital that you do.

So knowing that your intent with Ceremonious Rejection was to hose tron, there are a couple of other options that you could go with to disrupt what they want to do. For example, land hate. If you can destroy their Urza lands then that really hurts them. Then if you pair that land hate with Surgical Extraction you can permanently take away one of them, which means they can never get 7 mana from three lands. And yes, extraction is a black card but it's a phyrexian black so you don't have to have a black mana source you can just use your life. Or something like Leonin Arbiter could also be pretty useful as it prevents them from using their Expedition Map to find the remaining Urza lands. Or even something like Pithing Needle, which was reprinted in MID, could be very helpful too.

I wouldn't worry too much about Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. The mana value of 15 means that there are a very limited number of decks that can effectively run it. The only deck that's going to want to run it is tron, eldrazi, or a very good ramp deck, but even that isn't likely as the only deck that does consistently run Emrakul is tron and eldrazi. Other than those decks, it'll take minimum of 15 turns to get Emrakul out and that's if they don't miss any land drops. And with tron and eldrazi, it's easy enough to screw with their mana to where they can't get her out quicker than they should if you have land hate. Hell, I run Damping Sphere in my sideboard for my Sultai Dredge deck to help counter tron which prevents them from getting more than one mana from each of their lands at once.

Tireless Tracker is a fantastic card, if you have a lot of lands. And it can be a very dangerous threat too. But you are running only 22 lands. Most control decks run around 27 and most midrange decks run around 23-24. But that's not the end of the world. However, I feel like it would be a good idea to run at least one more copy of it, if not two more copies to maximize your chances of drawing it. But again, entirely up to you.

If you like Qasali Pridemage because he's a creature that also doubles as artifact/enchantment removal, then Outland Liberator  ^Flip might be worth looking into. It's got the same activated ability, but it's a new werewolf (daybound/nightbound) where his flip side is a 3/3 with "When this creature attacks, destroy target artifact or enchantment defending player controls" AND the activated ability too.

You've got some good things going here. I hope you find the lineup that works best for you!

jdarlin on Sexy Vampires

2 weeks ago

Hell yeah, sideboard was my next order of business. Already got some Pithing Needle’s on the way and picked up Vampire Hexmage a while back. Artifact removal did seem like a problem with monoblack while I was looking.

YamishiTheWickedOne on Sexy Vampires

2 weeks ago

Once you're comfortable with the deck, we should start looking into constructing a sideboard.

4x Nihil Spellbomb is some of the best graveyard hate around, followed by Grafdigger's Cage and Ashiok, Dream Render or if 3 mana isn't a problem, Go Blank.

Artifact hate is a little more tricky without red, I'll get back to you on that.

For anti-tokens, good options are Ratchet Bomb, Engineered Explosives, and Liliana, the Last Hope.

Anti-Tron and/or anti-land: Damping Sphere, Fulminator Mage.

Card that does a little bit in a lot of matchups: Pithing Needle

Extra planeswalker hate: Vampire Hexmage and a bunch of other stuff printed recently like Murderous Rider.

Extra hand disruption against combo decks: Duress, Surgical Extraction

Anti-Hatebears: Torpor Orb

And there are plenty of other options. Artifacts are particularly useful if you need a card for certain matchups that your color (monoblack) isn't good at handling on its own.

zetsu.nitram on Monowhite Karn Book

1 month ago

I would suggest 4 Urza's Saga, it is an alternative win con/big blockers/fetches Welding Jar, you could also run Pithing Needle over Spyglass. Still seems real soft to artifact removal and edict affects if it does not get off the ground. I do like the interactions with Karn with the investigates and book. Please let me know how it goes, I have been doing real well with Coco Shamans.

Grubbernaut on Monkeying Around

1 month ago

I think it's worth finding some room for Unholy Heat to hit walkers and beefier dudes (Omnath, in particular). Maybe -1 Spell Pierce, -1 Force, +2 Unholy Heat. As far as maindeck, it seems like you might also need a few more sorceries and/or fetches for delirium.

Regarding SB: I think Alpine Moon is MUCH better than Blood Moon, right now, and especially since the hammer matchup is usually rough. Anger of the Gods doesn't seem like where this deck wants to be; Fire / Ice or even Forked Bolt or something might perform the same function better, but honestly, I think you just want to press your card advantage and efficiently trade removal spells for threats.

Pithing Needle seems out of place, especially if you can use Unholy Heat in the same way to kill walkers, but with more flexibility. I also think Soul-Guide Lantern is better than Relic in a deck with Murktide, Snap, and DRC.

I think Chalice of the Void would be very important for rhinos, but Flusterstorm is also very good. As it sits, I'd go -2 BM, -3 Anger, -1 Relic, -1 Spell Pierce, +3 Alpine Moon, +2 Soul-Guide Lantern, +2 Mystical Dispute (or maybe Aether Gust, and a flex spot.

Cheers!

Oof_Magic on What’s your “dick move” moment?

1 month ago

As a Prison player, salt and ‘dick moves’ are a workplace hazard.

1) In response to a turn 1 Island into Aether Vial I played a Pithing Needle on Vial. That agitated the opponent but he scoffed and folded to a turn 3 Ghostly Prison. Game 2 went a bit longer but Sphere of Safety drew out a toss of the hands and a salty scoop. Not so much a story of a ‘dick move’ but lots of scoffing, eye-rolling, and shrugging.

2) Same deck going against Grishoalbrand. They went for a turn 1 Faithless Looting (back when it was legal). I saw enough to respond with a turn 1 Pithing Needle on Griselbrand. He stated that that ‘wasn’t how the deck wins’. Mkay. He managed to reanimate Griselbrand on turn 2 with Goryo's Vengeance. I responded with Runed Halo on Griseldaddy. I never got to find out how his deck wins. I’m my experience, whether it’s myself or my opponent, one player allows the other to dig their own grave. I don’t know whether he was trying to be condescending or throw me off my mental game but I had never had anyone give live commentary on my play.

3) Same deck against Bogles. I don’t want to dismiss this player but I wonder how locked into a solitaire mindset Bogles players find themselves in. I don’t recall the whole game as it had been years but I know I was 2-2 paired up against a 4-0 so perhaps this player thought they were sailing to an undefeated finish? They would be denied by what had to be the most interactive opponent they had on the night. They learned the hard way that Runed Halo and Porphyry Nodes in fact do not target. They stuck around long enough in game 1 to see a win-condition and then just folded game 2 after getting shut out by Sphere of Safety. They weren’t super salty but I had had a judge called over so many times in a game. I think they were just put out that a middling record stuck around long enough to knock them off an undefeated perch and likely top prize over a split. With a middling record, I got nothing but practice. Was that a ‘dick move’ on my part?

DawnsRayofLight on Eldrazi Tribal/Tron (Help is Appreciated)

1 month ago

@lalalalala: it is definitely getting there. I am going to make some suggestions:

I know this is going to be like "wow now I am running the same Tron as everyone else" but Karn has always been one of my favorite planeswalkers and he is ideal in a list like this

I might run

3x Karn, the Great Creator

2x Karn Liberated

1-2 Ugin, the Ineffable

1-2 All Is Dust

3-4x Golgari Signet or Talisman of Impulse

1x Blast Zone

1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

(for the lands maybe drop a crossroad or two? test the deck and if you feel you are not getting lands consistently enough run 22 or 21, a lot of the TRON lists similar to yours run only 17)

Cards to Drop:

Eldrazi Mimic: It is nice to have a 2 drop but he isn't that strong, if you want an early drop you can run Walking Ballista or Matter Reshaper

Conduit of Ruin: You can maybe be fine with 2 but 4 isn't necessary, I am honestly not a fan but it does at least fetch your big boys, but you may have enough dig with the Ancient Stirrings to drop it altogether. Wurmcoil Engine may be a better 6 drop

Titan's Presence: you may have enough creature removal with Kozilek's Return and Warping Wail. It also gives your opponents information about what you may have in hand. You could drop them to run other cards.

Set up your sideboard like this (for use with Karn)

3x Chalice of the Void: Seriously a good card, I was onto this long before it started getting put in Tron, maybe consider a 1 of in the main to, but basically it allows you to halt a lot of annoying decks in their tracks: affinity, infect, storm, they die to this card. I sided it in one game against an affinity player: played 1 for 0 then the next turn dropped another at 1 and he scooped.

1x Ensnaring Bridge

1x Crucible of Worlds

1x Relic of Progenitus

1x Grafdigger's Cage

1x Pithing Needle

1x Torpor Orb

1x Wurmcoil Engine

1x Ratchet Bomb

1x Trinisphere

1x Blightsteel Colossus: Martyr of sands is making a comeback

2x Wilt: just to counter Blood Moon

Maybeboard for the side

1x Oblivion Stone

Hope this helps!