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[MTG] Manabarbs


.Nu-13

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It's like trolling on a stick... just like most red non-Aura enchantments (and some red Auras as well).

It being four mana turns me away. For some reason, I feel like I'd play it if it were three mana, but I don't exactly know why....

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Flame Dragon' timestamp='1311885354' post='5396338']
[img]http://magiccards.info/scans/en/m12/30.jpg[/img]

Obvious combo is obvious.
[/quote]

It looks like she's saying "I'm not even mad". Anyways, its a fun card. Still, this is definately more black than red. My friend pointed out that a lot of colors were starting to steal what black did, which is partly true. Black is definately the "Double-Edged Sword" color.

Also, my friend played this against my green deck. It ended up only hurting him, since I had a bunch of llanowar elves and overgrown battlements out

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[quote name='King of Nothing' timestamp='1313187169' post='5437179']

It looks like she's saying "I'm not even mad". Anyways, its a fun card. Still, this is definately more black than red. My friend pointed out that a lot of colors were starting to steal what black did, which is partly true. Black is definately the "Double-Edged Sword" color.

Also, my friend played this against my green deck. It ended up only hurting him, since I had a bunch of llanowar elves and overgrown battlements out
[/quote]

I wouldn't call Black the "Double-Edged Sword" color. Granted, most of its cards hurt the user, but that's Black's favor: paying your own long-term resources to gain long-term power. Whether or not Black is helping itself or hurting its enemies, if the play is going to have a lasting impact, a Black planeswalker is going to have to hurt himself/herself. However, a Black planeswalker will also usually have a way to recover from a plan failing, and so one plan failing doesn't have to be the end of the world.

Red also has a sacrifice theme, but Red sacrifices short-term resources for a short-term gain. When Red sacrifices, it's often to nail the opponent in one big attack; if a Red planeswalker gives up everything it has for one attack and its attack fails, it's lights out for the Red planeswalker.
Manabarbs seems fine in Red. I never would have thought of it in a black frame, while red feels natural.

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[quote name='Mystery Guest' timestamp='1313188900' post='5437312']
I wouldn't call Black the "Double-Edged Sword" color. Granted, most of its cards hurt the user, but that's Black's favor: paying your own long-term resources to gain long-term power. Whether or not Black is helping itself or hurting its enemies, if the play is going to have a lasting impact, a Black planeswalker is going to have to hurt himself/herself. However, a Black planeswalker will also usually have a way to recover from a plan failing, and so one plan failing doesn't have to be the end of the world.

Red also has a sacrifice theme, but Red sacrifices short-term resources for a short-term gain. When Red sacrifices, it's often to nail the opponent in one big attack; if a Red planeswalker gives up everything it has for one attack and its attack fails, it's lights out for the Red planeswalker.
Manabarbs seems fine in Red. I never would have thought of it in a black frame, while red feels natural.
[/quote]

[img]http://magiccards.info/scans/en/shm/74.jpg[/img]

It feels a LOT like this card, to me. Sure, it's pretty different in the long run, but I think some obvious connections can be made. Black isn't just about punishment, it's about suppression too. That, and forcing your opponent to second guess themselves. Black is a combination of red and blue (it really is). Mana Barbs makes the enemy think about whether or not they want to tap mana to play a powerful creature or spell, which seems more black to me. That, and it's way too slow for red, but a perfect fit in black.

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[quote name='King of Nothing' timestamp='1313189150' post='5437328']

[img]http://magiccards.info/scans/en/shm/74.jpg[/img]

It feels a LOT like this card, to me. Sure, it's pretty different in the long run, but I think some obvious connections can be made. Black isn't just about punishment, it's about suppression too. That, and forcing your opponent to second guess themselves. Black is a combination of red and blue (it really is). Mana Barbs makes the enemy think about whether or not they want to tap mana to play a powerful creature or spell, which seems more black to me. That, and it's way too slow for red, but a perfect fit in black.
[/quote]

Every color could be said to be almost a combination of its two friend colors, when taken in a certain light. However, like all other colors, Black has differences from Blue and Red:
• Blue cares about the world's progress; Black cares only for its own power.
• Blue is unexist anything to be sure it can continue its great scientific work; Black doesn't care to kill anything that isn't living.
• Red is quite altruistic; Black doesn't care about others.
• Red only understands immediate gratification; Black understands patience and will make its agendas stretch further than any other colors'.

Anyway, back to the cards. There are many fundamental differences between these cards:
• Polluted Bonds makes your opponent choose between playing a land or not, a choice that can be either really impactful or not make any difference in the world. Manabarbs is a constant pressure of useful impact. However, I've never seen a game where a Manabarbs was really the deciding factor in whether or not somebody was going to play a big creature or not. If the opponent of a Manabarbs is at 8-9 life so and his/her deck relies on bringing out big creatures, the red player has practically won; the oppoennt not casting their big creature won't change the outcome.
• Polluted Bonds is self-serving, like Black. Manabarbs hurts everyone, not like many of Black's cards.
• Polluted Bonds is life loss; Manabarbs is damage.
• Overabundance agrees that Manabarbs is red.

Even if it said "that player loses 1 Life", I still couldn't feel it being in black. If it costed an additional mana or two and said "If an opponent taps a land for mana, that player loses 1 Life", then I could see it in Black.

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Black does have a lot of cards that were originally designed to hurt the user but ended up being abused for whatever reason in whatever combination. It has a lot of environmental enchantments that affect both players and hurt both players. Not ever black enchantment is designed to hurt the enemy and just the enemy.

I feel like Manabarbs would be more red if it was an instant that costed 1R. I've always been against red enchantments...they never made sense as an enchantment to me.

Of course, this isn't as bad as red's mana ramping creep, so I guess I should just stay quiet for now. New Phyrexia made everything have a hint of black, so that's probably why I'm bias towards this

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[quote name='King of Nothing' timestamp='1313191302' post='5437437']
Black does have a lot of cards that were originally designed to hurt the user but ended up being abused for whatever reason in whatever combination. It has a lot of environmental enchantments that affect both players and hurt both players. Not ever black enchantment is designed to hurt the enemy and just the enemy.

I feel like Manabarbs would be more red if it was an instant that costed 1R. I've always been against red enchantments...they never made sense as an enchantment to me.

Of course, this isn't as bad as red's mana ramping creep, so I guess I should just stay quiet for now. New Phyrexia made everything have a hint of black, so that's probably why I'm bias towards this
[/quote]

Actually, not many black enchantments are designed to hurt the enemy; most are designed to purely help the user, if at a cost. A considerable amount of black enchantments do hurt both players, but that drawback can usually be alleviated with a certain deck build (an all-Zombie build running Call to the Grave, for example). Polluted Bonds is rare in such that it helps the user and hurts the opponent at the same time.

A two-mana instant whose effect lasts until end of turn would be an interesting variant. That way, a burn player could use this during the opponents' upkeep. I never really like Red non-Aura Enchantments either. To me, non-Aura enchantments are supposed to be like rules, something red hates.

New Phyrexia screwed with the color pie in such that it gave every color the 'Suicide Black' philosophy: "It doesn't matter if you have to go down to 1 life, sacrifice all your permants, and discard your hand. If your opponent hits 0, you win."
A philosophy found in the entire game and especially prominent in black: the only Life that matters is the last one. Sure, this philosophy is bad to use when going against Red Deck Wins but rather effective against almost any other type of deck.

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