Dark Deal

[Protoaddict]

A new wheel effect in black. Interesting as its not truly a wheel but more of a winds of fate, but its a unique effect with a lot of potential upside.

[zeus-online]

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[TheWhiteDragon]

Nice modern combo with spirit of the labyrinth in the right deck....but that's about it.

[Protoaddict]

Wow, is it reprint time again?

Don't think being black makes much of a difference here.

It isn't either of those cards. It is a non optional draw discard and it's -1 net for your opponent and -2 for you if you count the card itself. I mean my guess is no it wont see play but it is a new effect in a new color.

In standard or something maybe you will see this with waste not, which in all honestly is actually really good in that format. Like really good as it can really put you ahead. Not sure if there is a home for it in vintage but the effect is new and novel.

[zeus-online]

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[MisterFoote]

Closest to windfall I'd say.  With storm not really being a thing right now its tough to say if it has a home in the current meta, but this abundance of draw sevens along with notion thief, seems like there is some potential here.

[Samoht]

Am I reading this wrong (probably) or is actually it the total amount of cards discarded -1 that is drawn for each player (ie 5 + 6 -1 = 10)? The text is a little ambiguous to me on that front, as it easily could be that it only counts each players discards (ie 5 - 1 = 4 and 6 - 1 = 5) as everyone seems to believe but the wording seems a little off to me.

[zeus-online]

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[gkraigher]

"in his or her hand" makes the card drawing unique to each individual.  

If the card read, "each player discards all the cards in their hands, then draws that many cards minus one"  It would reference the group and the cards would be totaled and the card would be bonkers.

[JACO]

Winds of Change at 1 mana can't see play because it's so bad, so how is this (which is even worse) going to see play at 3 mana?

[Smmenen]

It looks to me like this is a case of syntactic ambiguity.

The intended meaning is fairly evident, and I doubt many players will misunderstand it's intent, but the templating is not ideal.  Templating should be done to reduce that kind of ambiguity.  

[Protoaddict]

Winds of Change at 1 mana can't see play because it's so bad, so how is this (which is even worse) going to see play at 3 mana?

I am not going to pretend I know that this card will see play, but once again the cards are not comparable just like its not flux or Tolarian winds. It is not strictly worse, it's strictly different. Key differences:

Different color, black is typically stronger
Cards go to the discard for both players, not back into the deck. Powers Delve
Players draw less cards than they had, not the same amount.

[zeus-online]

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[StanleyAugust]

Winds of Change at 1 mana can't see play because it's so bad, so how is this (which is even worse) going to see play at 3 mana?

I am not going to pretend I know that this card will see play, but once again the cards are not comparable just like its not flux or Tolarian winds. It is not strictly worse, it's strictly different. Key differences:

Different color, black is typically stronger
Cards go to the discard for both players, not back into the deck. Powers Delve
Players draw less cards than they had, not the same amount.

How is black typically stronger than blue? 

[vaughnbros]

Two likely best case scenarios:
Land->Dark Ritual->Dark Deal:  The card reads:  Discard 4, draw 3 and forces your opponent into a psuedo mulligan.
Land, Mox, Mox->Dark Deal: The card reads: Discard 3, draw 2 and forces your opponent into a psuedo mulligan.

Considering these are best case scenarios this doesn't seem very good to me, but if you value the psuedo mulligan highly I can see how you might like it.

[Wagner]

Megrim decks have always been pretty popular in the casual crowd, this card seems to be made exactly for that kind of deck. It is also on color with Megrim and the newer cheaper Megrim, and contrary to Flux and Wind of Change, will force your opponent to discard.

Not made for vintage at all, but clearly made with to appeal to certain players.

[xouman]

I cannot see this card played in any deck that does not play Notion Thief. And there are some better options than this.

[Protoaddict]

It is on color with notion thief, so if your looking to build the notion thief wheel deck with 3 mana wheels, isn't this a good card? You would want timetwister and windfall first but they are currently boh restricted, and wheel of fortune is off color, Flux is optional so your opponent does not have to do anything, and winds is also off color. In a pinch this can also strip the last card from your opponents hand.

And I know the megrim deck gets called casual very often, but I think everyone is forgetting when Megrim/Memory Jar decks were literally the most broken combo in standard. Not saying that could happen in vintage but in formats as far back as legacy there are enough pieces available that something like that could happen.

[Chubby Rain]

It is on color with notion thief, so if your looking to build the notion thief wheel deck with 3 mana wheels, isn't this a good card?

No. Your draw 7's should be good enough without Notion Thief to justify playing them. Dark Deal is frankly horrible without Thief - and you can't even pitch it to Force of Will.

[MaximumCDawg]

Yeah, this card is real bad.  It's Winds of Change.  The problem with that family of cards is that it is not feasible to break the symmetry in the way you could do it with Wheel or Windfall or those kind of cards.

[evouga]

I don't think there's a single characteristic I like about this card: the casting cost, the color, the  Sorcery speed, or the -1 penalty to cards drawn. Even in a toy mono-black Megrim deck I'm pretty sure I'd rather just Mind Twist for two.

Sure, it combos with Notion Thief. So does Dack Fayden at the same CMC, and Dack has tons of utility on its own without the Thief.