Why Utter End, and cards like it are bad. APRIL FOOLS
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 1, 2019, 11:01 a.m. by SynergyBuild
What are some of the most popular instants and sorceries according to EDHREC?
Putrefy , Utter End , Terminate , Mortify , Krosan Grip , Hero's Downfall , Crosis's Charm , Bant Charm , Sylvan Reclamation , Go for the Throat , Doom Blade , Murder , Grixis Charm , Cancel , Dreadbore etc.
What do these have in common? Well, they are bad removal (or countermagic... or both), all of which are overcosted.
Why? Well, these all fall under different categories, however, I will go from the easiest to explain to the hardest.
Cancel is too expensive, countermagic should be one or two mana so you don't have to clearly have a sign up that you are holding countermagic. This is really cheap, and I can't compete with that, but Mana Leak or Counterspell would be better in the spot tenfold.
Murder is the same, as creature removal, but at least can be cast on endsteps. The issue lies with that many spells cost less, like even Doom Blade , which I also don't like, or do more, like Terminate , another I also don't like.
Disdainful Stroke is way too specific, so many spells costs 3 or less you may hold up the mana multiple turn cycles in a row without a target, wasting mana and a card. Too expensive considering cards like Swan Song , Spell Pierce , Red Elemental Blast , Flusterstorm , etc. exist. Even at a low price Mana Leak , Negate , etc. do work.
Doom Blade and Go for the Throat are the same, except they still have application when used on an endstep. Too expensive despite that, as Swords to Plowshares , Path to Exile , Dismember , Fatal Push , etc. exist if you can spend the money, while on a budget Murderous Cut , Tragic Slip , etc. do a lot.
Hero's Downfall is just a worse Ruinous Path , another Murder with slight upside. All of these are bad. Go with any of the options in Murder or Go for the Throat / Doom Blade .
Grixis Charm and Crosis's Charm cost Grixis, 3 mana, and are just too hard to cast to be worth the half Vindicate esque effect they do. They bounce anything, kill some things, and one has a minor benefit like 2 extra power. It just doesn't serve consistent enough for removal. 3 mana in Grixis is too much altogether.
Bant Charm is nearly the same, with the counter upside. It has a Dispel attached to it, making it the least bad, but for 3 specific mana, it is simply too much to hold up easily.
Dreadbore is a sorcery, costs two specific mana, and doesn't hit many permanents. I'd rather a Terminate , though I dislike both.
Terminate only hits so many permanents, and costs 2 mana. I'd replace it with most of the cards mentioned at Go for the Throat / Doom Blade above.
Sylvan Reclamation five mana is too much unless it is a sweeper. This has utility, hitting two permanents, and is an instant with landcycling, but the mana cost needed to be 1 lower to be efficient. Nature's Claim , Return to Dust , Disenchant , Natural State , Naturalize , etc. are all better.
Krosan Grip is sweet against some decks, don't get me wrong, however, is too specific and too high mana cost to be argued better than a Beast Within or Nature's Claim or Natural State .
Utter End is too high mana cost to be worth it. It is a worse Anguished Unmaking , another bad card, and is just too much to warrant using it over a card like Chain of Vapor , Swords to Plowshares , Nature's Claim , Dismember , or any of the other 1 cmc removal spells.
Putrefy / Mortify staples for price, not because they are good. For better options, look at the ones listed at Go for the Throat / Doom Blade or the ones listed at Sylvan Reclamation .
Thoughts?
(BTW this was an April Fools, all of these cards can be good or bad in specific metagames or decks.)
By saying chain of vapor is better then utter end because it only cost 1 wouldn't a dog be even better as it will protect me from a lot more damage? And I'd gladly pay 1 more mana for being able to hit creatures of any color plus another card type over playing doom blade. Either your a troll or just play against super aggro cedh decks that try and win turn 2 or 3
April 1, 2019 11:38 a.m.
A) these are generally cheap money wise. Like a lot of them are available for the majority of players who aren't will to shell out big cash for tons of A++ removal.
B) a lot of them are aimed as a way to be versatile, so that you aren't wasting space in your edh with multiple cards for each effect.
C) a lot of them can also be used as back ups for removal effects. It's not bad to run one or more cards of a similar effect, even if space for those cards are limited (refer again to versatility).
D) cards aren't either Mana Drain level of good or trash. There's a lot of different space and tbh if everyone thought the way you did, no one would play magic except people rich enough to afford $15000 decks with the same exact cards as their friends deck.
April 1, 2019 11:49 a.m.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-forum/commander/why-utter-end-and-cards-like-it-are-bad/
From last year
April 1, 2019 12:08 p.m.
Your opinions are noted.
I would like to point out edhrec takes into account the 90% who don't play cEDH. And by looking at your other "X is a bad spell" threads points to the fact you play mostly in the 10% who do cEDH. I have decks that do both. So I understand the major difference in which cards are playable.
I agree Cancel is bad considering the number of 1, 2 cmc counter spells that are not cost prohibitive, unless you are already using those in a control heavy deck.
Doom Blade / Go for the Throat are also to restrictive in many metas as artifact/black creature can be seen in most casual ones and many cEDH games.
Hero's Downfall is better than Ruinous Path due to instant speed. I'd rather have instant speed in any game I'm playing. The higher costing ability is irrelevant most games.
The charms are played for their flexibility. But the more competitive the meta, the less the felxibity of the card justifies the 3 colored mana.
Yes, Dreadbore is worse than Terminate . And they all hit walkers, which is relevant in many metas, but not many in cEDH ones.
But Anguished Unmaking is better than Utter End in either casual or cEDH, as I gladly pay 3 life to use it at instant speed. And hitting any permanent and exiling it is more than worth the cost, unless in cEDH where stopping a combo, in turns 2-5 are things that need to be done. I used to play food chain prossh, and I'm building tazri, which will have only 15 cards above 2 cmc (and I don't proxy at all, my lgs does not allow them to be played in the store).
But from cEDH stand point (which is where I'm assuming you play most), most things that are not played in legacy are not good enough to be considered for a deck. And most metas are not that competitive, nor do they wish to be. A lot of groups don't like combo or stax, which is what most tend to become the more cooperative you become. That's not to say that a less competitive player shouldn't play more cost efficient spells, but in casual games that usually go much longer in general, the higher cost spells with fexlibilty might be better choices in the decks.
April 1, 2019 12:47 p.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #10
I've read your articles for a bit now, but I've gotta say:
You really need to figure out the difference between "There are situationally better cards" and "This card is bad."
April 1, 2019 4:03 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #11
TypicalTimmy you know, I have similar issues, and while I respect and appreciate your hindsight, I actually don’t think your post came off as hostile or aggressive. A bit of passive aggressiveness isn’t horrible in online interactions, is more an issue with personal relationships. I think you were still respectful, but were dealing with someone making blanket statements that left little room for debate (X card is bad versus X card seems bad to me, for example) so it’s tough to rebut from the get go. Either way, just thought I’d offer some feedback.
SynergyBuild the question you’ve posed is interesting, I just wish it was more of a jumping-off point for debate than a lecture. As has been previously mentioned, many of your “better” comparisons are not Strictly better but rather better in your opinion. For example, Hero's Downfall is strictly better than Murder because it’s the same cost and cast speed but also hits planes walkers. So while Ruinous Path seems better to you, there are a multitude of situations in which the instant speed of Downfall is far superior. I think context is huge and with so much variety in strategy and card selection there really aren’t “bad” cards in the format. Cancel seems bad, but what if your commander was Baral, Chief of Compliance ? Just saying...
April 1, 2019 7:05 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #12
xD
Ya'll need to see what day it is.
I've been lmaoing all over this.
Nah, I just wanted to talk about a few cards I like that are replacements for the status quo. These cards can be bad or good in specific decks or metagames.
April 1, 2019 8:56 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #13
SynergyBuild funny thing is one person guessed it and yet we all glossed over it and got panties twisted lol
April 2, 2019 10:29 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #14
I told them they were right if you click on their profile xD
Boza says... #2
Most of those you mentioned are played for one reason - they do more than remove a creature. Putrefy deals with 2 different, very powerful card types, while Mortify does the same. These are all bad cards, I agree, until the situation requires them. Then they are suddenly good cards.
Think about them as insurance - if you never use it, it is simply money down the drain. Similarly with these cards, you pay the "cost" of a slot in your deck that helps you avert a bad situation. If that situation never comes up, good. But otherwise, you really hope you have them.
April 1, 2019 11:13 a.m.