The Art of Fling
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on May 16, 2012, 1:51 p.m. by Kogarasei09
Ladies and gentlemens, allow me to introduce you my favorite card ever...
always underrated, often forgotten, I want to debate in this article how awesome Fling is. There are so much uses for this little baby I can,t remember them all.There are so many uses for Fling, I want to show some I came up with, but please post your own ideas on the use
First, lets analyse the card and its effects. First, its an instant, which is good. Second, its a cheap spell which doesn't need a lot of mana to use. Then third, its a somewhat-burn effet that needs a creature.some kind of quicker Goblin Grenade ? Perhaps...
But Fling deserves more consideration than Goblin Grenade (I love the card too, don't get me wrong). Of course, 1 mana for 5 damage is awesome (who said Thunderous Wrath ?), but you have to sacrifice a specefic creature (goblins) and outside of a goblin tribal-themed deck... it doesn't have much utilities. Moreover, Goblin Grenade can only be used has a sorcery, wherehas Fling is an instant !
This being said, how do we use Fling ? You need a creature in order to deal damage, and the stronger the creature, the heavier the damages are.You basically need a big creature on your side of the field. Simple enough ?
There are plenty of big creatures to choose from. Fling Gets good, no matter which big creature you sacrifice. But there are some nice ways to use Fling in a more narrowed use.
Lets say... you want to use the undying mechanic ?
Not only do you deal damage through Fling, but you also receive a stronger creature after ! and if you combo with Flayer of the Hatebound, then here goes the life points of your opponent !
The same basic idea can be applied to Wurmcoil Engine, when he goes to the graveyard, you get a 3/3 with lifelink, and another with deathtouch ! Sweet enough ?
How about using Fling in a more creative manner then ? Lets say your opponent has a big, nasty creature on the field. I love Insurrection, and the basic idea can be used again. Lets say you use Act of Treason on your opponent's creature, then attack with it, and after Fling it ? Twice the damage ! I've seen some red decks revolving around sacrificing the opponent's creatures, and to me, Fling works percetcly in there.
How about combo decks then ?
I built a deck that I started off from the dual-deck Ajani VS Nicol Bolas, the Ajani one. It featured a three color deck (white, red and green). It had some good healing mechanics, and a ajani-pridemate. It was somewhat really easy to make him grom enormous with all the lifegain, but he wasn't trample.
who needs trample when you can just Fling him ?
the same thing goes for Ageless Entity, which can grow into a 7/7 with a Lightning Helix and then fling him ! You use the Lightning Helix for 3 damage, attack with the entity for 7, then Fling him for another 7 ! Thats 17 points of damage !
Another thought that crossed my mind has I was writing this article : Mortician Beetle, not only does it grows stronger by flinging something else, but alos becomes a great target for the fling too !
Well, I guess that covers my ideas on the use of Fling, comments are always appreciated, leave responses on how you see creative/innovative ways to use Fling
Thank you for reading !
Ohthenoises says... #4
I was always a fan of the "swing and fling" combo. Act of Treason + Attack step + Fling. That was my favorite play v.s. eldrazi decks.
May 16, 2012 3:03 p.m.
sharkhunter66 says... #5
my favorite thing i used to do before standard rotated was either Demon of Death's Gate or Abyssal Persecutor + Fling and put them on Mimic Vat. it was beautiful.
May 16, 2012 3:13 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #6
I loved going "oh you sacrifice all your tokens to play emurkl? That's nice, my turn?" "Act of treason then attack and after combat damage is dealt fling for 10"
May 16, 2012 3:19 p.m.
metalmagic says... #7
You can't act of treason an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and it would be 15 damage to fling him, lol. Maybe you mean Artisan of Kozilek?
May 16, 2012 3:43 p.m.
how about Goblin Tunneler + Kiln Fiend or Chandra's Spitfire+ Lightning Bolt + Reverberate + [[fling]. In that order, it would be 7 unblockable, 3 from the bolt, 3 from the copy, and 7 from the fling. I also really liked the Act of Treason + Fling + Reverberate combo too.
May 16, 2012 4:45 p.m.
I am playing R/W reanimator right now and loving every minute of it. I laugh at Frites, wolfrun is no problem and humans get my size 11.5 as a suppository lol.
I use Seance, I don't know if you have any of my rants about how good it is, but the card is unbelievable. Fling makes it all the sweeter. all I have to do is see which match up I have and side out 3 cards against anything i see and swap them in for certain decks that rely on what my sideboard nullifies. but for instance, this past Monday night, I was trying a human heavy variant of the deck, where I play 3x Silverblade Paladin (obviously, but not 4 of...), 4x Zealous Conscripts (UNREAL CARD, ESP with fling on your side), as well as two Hero of Oxid Ridge and the coup de gras Angel of Glory's Rise.
I had two fling in hand and I Seance on the field. He had already Day of Judgment'd me and I was left with no creatures on the board except a Fiend Hunter. my opponent then played a Fiend Hunter which exiled my Fiend Hunter which had his Sun Titan exiled, he brought back a Moorland Haunt or something stupid with his Sun Titan ETB effect lol. he passed his turn, and on my upkeep I brought in Angel of Glory's Rise, returning all humans from my graveyard to play...I had two Zealous Conscripts in the yard and a Silverblade Paladin so I stole his Sun Titan and Fiend Hunter leaving him defenseless, swung in with double strike on the Sun Titan (I had the paladin enter the battlefield last), hit him for 24 and then flung the Sun Titan at him for another 6 making it 30 lol...ALL FOR TWO MANA!
R/W is insane right now without a doubt.
May 16, 2012 6:13 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #12
Not sure your play was legit. All of your humans enter at the same time so you would have to arrange the soulbond trigger and the Zealous Conscripts trigger so that you would take the titan before the soulbond trigger resolved.
However, one of the parts to putting a spell or ability on the stack is choosing a legal target, seeing as you were not in control of the titan when the trigger was put on the stack (under the Zealous Conscripts trigger) it was not a legal target. This might be something I would take to a judge or the MTG Q&A here.
May 16, 2012 6:22 p.m.
rckclimber777 says... #13
Ohthenoises is correct. The angel's trigger must finish resolving before any other trigger will resolve. Silverblade paladin comes in and proceeds to have its trigger go on the stack. You must declare a legal target at the time of putting the trigger on the stack. Sun titan is not a legal target until after zealous conscripts finishes resolving. Though a great move nonetheless.
As to the original topic: Fling is amazing. Hands down an awesome card. I use it pretty heavily in my Slag Reborn deck and also Protean Masochism. Flinging a titan/protean hydra is always fun. and your opponent never sees it coming.
May 16, 2012 8:36 p.m.
Kogarasei09 says... #14
Wow, thanks everyone for the feedback !the "swing and fling" idea covers a big part of the uses of Fling, thanks Ohthenoises for summarizing it up.
Thanks metalmagic for the Immolating Souleater, I knew him but forgot him when writing the article.
drhumbra, you also spotted a great combo, which definitively deserves its place here.
I had another idea which uses Firebreathing + Fling
how about adding a Spikeshot Elder then ?
just a quick thought that came to my mind.
Keep commenting, thanks for the feedback everyone !
May 17, 2012 3:26 p.m.
PerfectDark64 says... #17
I've gotten a sealed pool in which I managed to Ghoultree+Curse of Bloodletting+Fling. :)
May 22, 2012 12:01 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #20
I'm a little late to this conversation, but my favorite thing to do in a previous Standard environment was to terrorize my opponent with things like Abyssal Persecutor and Wurmcoil Engine, followed up with a truly ridiculous Fling
@Ohthenoises & rckclimber777: Actually, Witteee's originally described play was totally legit. The Soulbond trigger for the creature with Soulbond entering the battlefield will only trigger if you control another unpaired creature, but the choice of which creature to pair with isn't made until the ability actually resolves. Also, Soulbond doesn't target, which is one of the main reasons the ability works this way. This interpretation is directly supported by the information in the Avacyn Restored FAQ.
May 23, 2012 9:44 a.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #21
Insectile Aberration Flip + card:Runechanter's Pike + Fling
May 24, 2012 10:35 p.m.
I don't like red, so.....
I have 6x foil DCI fling promos waiting to be traded lol
May 31, 2012 1:52 a.m.
In my burn deck I like Fling I use cards like Ball Lightning or Spark Elemental as cannon fodder for that. You have actually posted some ideas that have not crossed my mind. Thanks.
May 31, 2012 2:19 a.m.
My friend was playing EDH and had a Kresh the Bloodbraided to about 40/40. But he couldn't find a trample card. So he used Fling to end a player in response to being attacked. Man that was crazy.
June 5, 2012 10:56 a.m.
Act of Treason and Fling is my second favorite combo in red decks.
I also like to Fling creatures you want in you're graveyard, such as Anger for example.
Kogarasei09 says... #2
oh, and just like that, here's an idea I cam up with, which could be potentially be applied in standard.
Humans work really well with fling, I realized that just a few seconds ago. they are quick, aggressive, and a R/W human deck would allow us to splash red for Fling
Champion of the Parish
that grows bigger quickly + Thatcher Revolt
+ Fling
Or even with the vampires from the Innistrad block, which grows bigger too !
Stromkirk Noble
+ Curse of the stalked Prey + Rakish Heir
+ Fling
Something like this
Now, I would really like the feedback of the Tappedout community, please comment !
Thank you all for reading !
May 16, 2012 2:05 p.m.