Dig through Time

[zeus-online]

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[Chubby Rain]

It's only cast-able mid to late game though.  Unlike Gifts, FoF, Jace, Dack, and other card draw options you can't leverage mana floods with this card.  A hand of mox, sol ring, island, fetch, dig, flusterstorm, force is pretty much an instant mulligan, but replace that dig with any other the other options and it's definitely a keeper.  

I would probably keep that hand. Turn 1, you can go Fetch, Mox, Sol Ring and keep up flusterstorm with Force if necessary. Turn 2, you play an island and have hardcast Force. You can cast Dig on turn 3 for the 5 mana in your hand and the 3 cards in your graveyard. That is not taking into consideration your draw steps over the first 3 turns. If you draw a blue card on turn 2, you can pitch that card to cast force and then cast Dig on turn 2 to restock (5 mana + land, fluster and Force in yard).

This should be viewed in a situation where you are behind or equal to your opponent. My experience is that my graveyard fills up much much faster in games where i am winning.

Most blue decks are winning when they are more drawing cards, and when you are drawing/playing more cards your graveyard is going to fill faster.

You are absolutely correct, but you may have missed the point.

The point being that this card is best when you are already doing well. That is not a positive quality.

Not all Blue decks are the same. Grixis and Bomberman are quite different in play style. This card is much better in Bomberman than Grixis. Is it best when you are winning the game? Yes, but so is Will. Jace is pretty good too when you are winning the game. Is Dig bad when you are behind? That I don't think is the case.

[vaughnbros]

This should be viewed in a situation where you are behind or equal to your opponent. My experience is that my graveyard fills up much much faster in games where i am winning.

Most blue decks are winning when they are more drawing cards, and when you are drawing/playing more cards your graveyard is going to fill faster.

You are absolutely correct, but you may have missed the point.

The point being that this card is best when you are already doing well. That is not a positive quality.

I understood the point.  I just wanted to be clear that it's the card draw that's probably winning you those games and putting cards into your yard.

You may have missed my keyword of most in reference to blue decks.  It's the builds that aren't necessarily winning when they are drawing a lot of cards that can benefit from this.  

To relate this back to my threshold comparison RUG Delver in Legacy is a deck that does this with nimble mongoose.  It draws a ton of cards, but isn't necessarily winning by drawing all those cards, so it compensates by playing a card that can leverage its propensity for a large graveyard a 3/3 with shroud for G.

It's only cast-able mid to late game though.  Unlike Gifts, FoF, Jace, Dack, and other card draw options you can't leverage mana floods with this card.  A hand of mox, sol ring, island, fetch, dig, flusterstorm, force is pretty much an instant mulligan, but replace that dig with any other the other options and it's definitely a keeper. 

I would probably keep that hand. Turn 1, you can go Fetch, Mox, Sol Ring and keep up flusterstorm with Force if necessary. Turn 2, you play an island and have hardcast Force. You can cast Dig on turn 3 for the 5 mana in your hand and the 3 cards in your graveyard. That is not taking into consideration your draw steps over the first 3 turns. If you draw a blue card on turn 2, you can pitch that card to cast force and then cast Dig on turn 2 to restock (5 mana + land, fluster and Force in yard).

The problem is you are reliant on perfectly curving out your counters, top decking another draw spell, or flooding out further to cast Dig in a reasonable amount of time.  Is seeing 2 more cards than FoF really worth all that trouble?

[zeus-online]

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[Chubby Rain]

The problem is you are reliant on perfectly curving out your counters, top decking another draw spell, or flooding out further to cast Dig in a reasonable amount of time.  Is seeing 2 more cards than FoF really worth all that trouble?

Flusterstorm is good against the types of decks equipped to end the game quickly as is Force of Will + Blue card (dig or one drawn in the first couple of turns). If I do not need to use these counterspells, I assume I am going to see more than 3-4 turns and that I will draw either spells or lands. Obviously, I can see circumstances and match ups in which this hand is a mulligan but I disagree that it is an instant mulligan.

Lance, you are also not just seeing two more cards than FoF but you are getting the two best cards from the top 7. With Fact or Fiction, the cards you are getting are much more variable and dependent on the composition of your deck along with your opponent's skill and knowledge of your deck. I do not know whether Dig is worth it but I will try to figure that out when the card is available online.

[vaughnbros]

I'm sure the game will go past turn 3, but almost every deck in the format can get a stranglehold on the game by then.  It seems that it will be difficult to balance multiple copies of dig with the other later game draw spells that it wants to be played with, whether that be Gush or FoF, while not conceding the first couple turns of the game.  But I'm sure if anyone can make it work as a central piece in a deck it would be you Matt.  I mean you did play a 6 mana creature in vintage that doesn't win immediately (consecrated sphinx).

[Chubby Rain]

I'm sure the game will go past turn 3, but almost every deck in the format can get a stranglehold on the game by then.  It seems that it will be difficult to balance multiple copies of dig with the other later game draw spells that it wants to be played with, whether that be Gush or FoF, while not conceding the first couple turns of the game.  But I'm sure if anyone can make it work as a central piece in a deck it would be you Matt.  I mean you did play a 6 mana creature in vintage that doesn't win immediately (consecrated sphinx).

[serracollector]

I really want to try this is a gush storm shell. I would start with:

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Street Wraith
4 Manamorphose
4 Gush
4 Digthrough Time

XxX other broken stuff + cantrips

Possibly including:
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Guttersnipe

Reaching 7 cards to eat is not at all hard with all the "free" draw in Vintage.

[brianpk80]

Wrong thread, Brian - the one talking about an Ancestral Recall riff that requires a massive graveyard is over there.

I think you're confusing me with another poster who also has the venerable Library of Alexandria as forum avatar.  

[Protoaddict]

I really want to try this is a gush storm shell. I would start with:

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Street Wraith
4 Manamorphose
4 Gush
4 Digthrough Time

XxX other broken stuff + cantrips

Possibly including:
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Guttersnipe

Reaching 7 cards to eat is not at all hard with all the "free" draw in Vintage.

4 digs is greedy. How many times in a single game do you need to resolve it to win. If the answer is more than once your playing a hell of a long game.

[zeus-online]

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[serracollector]

Exactly, to me in a deck like im suggesting it would more or less be an instant burning wish, find 2 cards instead of 1, like 1 Empty the Warrens and 1 FoW/fluster after filtering with wraith, probes, manamorphose and gush(s).

[Chubby Rain]

So I took an updated UW Bomberman list to Top 8 at Top Deck Games and ran two Digs main. The card was fantastic for me all day and was in my opinion a huge upgrade on Fact or Fiction. Basically, games typically involved trading 1 for 1 with the opponent's spells (Spell Snare, Swords to Plowshares, Misstep, etc) and then casting Dig to put the game away (sometimes literally - I Digged into Salvagers + Lotus against Greg Fenton in round 3). As opposed to Fact or Fiction, I got the two best cards out of the top 7 and every time I was able to cast it for less than 4 mana.

[gkraigher]

seems reasonable.  bomberman is certainly an archetype that benefits from this card. 

[fsecco]

Glad to hear someone is testing this out. Funny thing is that I'm also bound to play a tournament this thursday with Bomberman, and I'll also put some Digs in there.