How to use AEther vial?
General forum
Posted on March 23, 2014, 7:59 p.m. by kintighd
I've been looking at AEther Vial recently. The problem is in every deck i put it in, it's fairly underwhelming. So that leads me to ask, what is the best cmc to play with Aether Vial at?
I'm not sure. I haven't had too much experience with the card. Though, I see it played mostly in decks with an abundance of 2 drops.
March 23, 2014 8:08 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #5
It's usually used at 3, in a deck that has a heavy curve (Mostly creatutres) on 1-3.
Most Death and Taxes lists use it to get more controlling creatures out. Hatebears uses it to flash in Voice of Resurgence , among other shenanigans.
Merfolk, Goblins, Elves, Zambies, it's pretty good in just about any creature deck with a low curve.
March 23, 2014 8:20 p.m.
I'm looking at humans at 3 cmc. so many good humans at that cmc
March 23, 2014 8:25 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #7
Where's the actual deck?
You're going to need Humans that are 1 and 2 mana that are playable, as well as to stop at 3 CMC.
March 23, 2014 8:29 p.m.
okay, I haven't built the actual deck yet. I was just looking around and saw a lot of good humans at 3. I'll post a deck list in this post when i come up with one.
March 23, 2014 8:34 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #9
Set it to 2.
The card is sick. I use it in suicide black. It allows my midrange deck perform like a control deck from T3 on.
They Exist to Cease -Suicide Black-
..but yea as stated Hatebears/D&T, Merfolk, and Knights utilize AEther Vial
In my experience, decks with it usually perform better than their counterparts without.
March 23, 2014 9:51 p.m.
2 is ideal, but for decks like d&t 3 opens up a lot of strong options (hello Flickerwisp ).
March 23, 2014 11:12 p.m.
You play AEther Vial in decks where your mana is used to harass and disrupt the opponent so that you can still cast spells. For example, Legacy Death & Taxes uses its mana each turn on Rishadan Port , Wasteland , and Karakas to mess with the opponent. In doing so, it doesn't have enough mana untapped to actually play its spells, so AEther Vial helps it commit threats to the board.
Similarly, Fish wants to leave mana open each turn to play countermagic, so tapping out for creatures is a really bad idea. Fish can then flash in creatures during the opponent's end step, leading to many surprise threats.
That's the other upside to AEther Vial : you get to play all your creatures at instant speed and their uncounterable. Spirit of the Labyrinth in response to Brainstorm ? Check. Goblin Matron for Gempalm Incinerator to kill a creature during combat? Check. Randomly steal games because you Cursecatcher 'd as an instant? Check. There's so many insane plays with it.
Lastly, you can occasionally bait Stifle s and other spells against your opponent by activating it each turn. Activating AEther Vial when it has three charge counters in response to your opponent cracking a fetch scares the beegeezees out of them, even if you don't have Aven Mindcensor .
March 24, 2014 midnight
also: Huntmaster of the Fells Flip . Cheat him with vial, flip him next upkeep. Dem shenanigans.
March 24, 2014 2:05 a.m.
I've been looking into using AEther Vial in a U/G/X? Infect deck, allowing me to play my 2-drop infect creatures, while saving mana for pump/protect spells.
Having a T1 play without a Glistener Elf can be powerful.
T1: Inkmoth Nexus , AEther Vial ... followed by T2: AEther Vial for Noble Hierarch , and being able to activate and swing with the Inkmoth Nexus for 2... at T3 and on, my 2-drops (Blighted Agent , Ichorclaw Myr , possibly Plague Stinger ) no longer use up the mana needed for Groundswell , Vines of Vastwood , Rancor , etc...
March 24, 2014 9:40 a.m.
Ive seen AEther Vial in a rug deck with ooze and snapcaster.
Slayne says... #2
It's great in Merfolk where almost every creature has a converted mana cost of 2.
March 23, 2014 8:01 p.m.