Doom Blade vs. Unmake
General forum
Posted on Feb. 4, 2014, 8:03 p.m. by InnerFlame
Is Doom Blade really superior to Unmake ?
I've never been sold on Doom Blade . Since it can only target and destroy non black creatures, I always considered Unmake better.
Not only can you have it target any creature with it, but it exiles them instead of destroying. Or does the extra one mana effect its value that much?
InnerFlame says... #3
What do you mean by splashable and trivial?
I just don't see how exile could be useless. If it;s because it cost too much then okay I can accept that. But exiling in my opinion is better since the opponent can't bring those cards back.
February 4, 2014 8:23 p.m.
Splashable means you splash shock lands or something of that nature to pay for it. For example, putting Doom Blade into a Red/White deck by splashing in some black mana. Not saying that's something anyone would ever do, but my boros deck is on my mind so it came first.
February 4, 2014 8:25 p.m.
thataddkid says... #5
It has so many different factors that you can never say one is always better than the other. Some of the factors like protection from colors, color of deck, graveyard shenanigans, 'when X dies' effects... There's too many things to consider but both certainly have their merits. If this is for EDH I'd just say run both.
February 4, 2014 8:26 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #6
Okay that makes sense.
I haven't gotten into EDH yet, it was more if just a general question, but your point is reasonable in my mind.
February 4, 2014 8:29 p.m.
I prefer doomblade since it's far easier to leave up mana for it and it still targets almost everything, the exile can be good but i don't think it's worth putting unmake in for the few decks that it will matter.
February 4, 2014 8:41 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #8
Regarding Commander/EDH, I would prefer Unmake over Doom Blade , because of the large number of ways to mitigate "destroy" compared to "exile": regeneration, indestructible, graveyard recursion as examples. All of these are pretty common in the format.
However, because of deck construction rules, there are fewer decks that can run Unmake (since they must include both white and black). Most of these decks would have the ability to run Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile instead (among others) and would probably prefer those. I do run Unmake in a deck because of budget reasons, though.
That said I don't see Doom Blade in decks very often when folks could be running something more powerful, like Sever the Bloodline , Hero's Downfall , Ashes to Ashes , and so forth... and that's just in mono-black, without trying very hard. There's a large number of alternatives that either hit harder or hit an additional target.
February 4, 2014 9:01 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #9
I love Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares . And I would prefer those to Unmake .
All the ways to avoid destroy is why I prefer exile.
BorosPlayer says... #2
They are really just different.
Unmake exiles but is a three drop. It is much less splashable and the only possible format that could play it effectively is Modern, which has better removal. Even Murder could be considered better, because is is pretty splashable and exile is pretty trivial.
Doom Blade is 2 mana and can go in pretty much any black deck. It can be played in Standard, which doesn't have much removal anyways.
I personally prefer Doom Blade , as three mana for removal is quite a bit unless it is really good like Hero's Downfall which can hit planeswalkers, but exile is rarely useful.
February 4, 2014 8:12 p.m.