Oath and Rainbow Efreet

[dad]

After reading many discussions over the years about Oath decks, I have decided to write about what I feel is a vastly underappreciated creature- the Rainbow Efreet.  Sometimes referred to as the poor mans Morphling, the Efreet may  be considered superior under certain circumstances.  

I first became familiar with the efreet when I played Type 2 during the Mirage/Tempest cycle.  My deck was a big blue variant with Nevy disks, Impulse, counters, Man o wars, and phasing creatures.  The Rainbow Efreet was amazing.  It was too difficult to remove because of its phase out in respone ability.  Even Diabolic Edict was ineffective.  It could block, put damage on the stack, and phase.  In short, it does have its merits.  

In Oath, the standard creatures for a long time have Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver, and Morphling.  I am aware other creatures have been used (Crater Hellion), are used (Phantom Nioshiba, Akroma), and will be used (Darksteel Collosus).  Nevertheless, Morphling is still the standard.

For myself however, I have found the Efreet to be a little better with Oath because I can phase it out, denying my opponent the opportunity to Oath, or allowing me to Oath another creature if my opponent already has one.  I have used both a lot, and have come to prefer the Rainbow because I feel it has better synergy with Oath and I may be a bit sentimental.  I still have superman in the side though.

[Toad]

Morphling is better than Rainbow Efreet because a 4-turns clock is better than a 7-turns clock. Killing in 7 turns is too slow in Type One, because risks are high you fail to keep control on the game over all these turns. Furthermore, Morphling can block and swing, which you can't do with the Efreet. Granted, Rainbow Efreet doesn't die to Diabolic Edict, but you're running a deck with Oath of Druids and Gaea's Blessing for recursion, so this does not really matter. Rainbow Efreet was a stapple in blue based control decks before Urza's Era, and it's probably still one of the best blue critters ever printed, but Morphling is strictly better.

[dad]

1. Morphling is not "strictly" better. It is better under most, but not all circumstances.  This may just be semantics.

2.  Rainbow Efreet may also block and swing.

3.  Putting a counter from a spike on the Efreet accelerates your clock.  Just 1 counter moves the clock from 7 turns to 5.  That is not insignificant.

The overall point was that Rainbow Efreet should not be so readily dismissed.  Many of todays players don't even understand the phasing mechanic, which if used effectively is very powerful.  I do feel that Morphlings ability to pump is important, but what sets it apart in this case is that it takes U to be untargetable, while the Efreet takes UU to phase out.

[Eastman]

Rainbow is soo good. I still have the two that I played in my first deck!

[savekeeper]

The reason why Morphling is better is because it does everything the Efreet can do and better. It hit's harder, cost less too protect and can attack and block at the same time.

Sure you can put a counter on your efreet using a spike, it's still a turn slower and you could also have put the same counter on morphling. Sure the efreet can dodge Edict, but edict isn't the most used creature removal and Oath runs counters and Blessing.

The one thing Morphling can't do is deny you opponent of a Oath activation. Only this isn't really a valid point imo. You see, against creature based decks your opponent is the one playing the creatures and your the one Oath-ing, not the other way around. In the control matchup your opponent doesn't want to Oath because the don't run any creatures exept a Shaman. And against combo... well I think that doesn't require an explenation.  [/i]

[dad]

I am not saying Morphling isn't better overall, but can you simply dismiss the Efreet out of hand.  All too often I see cards/decks dismissed only to see someone innovative win a tournament or top 8 by tweaking them or finding their niche.  

When comparing the two, I think it is important to note they cannot do the same things necesarily.  For one thing Morphling dodges targetable effects at a lower cost than the Efreet, but the Efreet can avoid global effects such as Balance or Pernicious Deed.  Also, the Efreet is certainly easier to cast, therefore it may get to swing sooner.  I have played both many times in Emerald Alice, Turboland, and Urphid.  I would say both are very good, and in most cases I would play Morphling, but I have found the Rainbow Efreet has been slightly better in my Oath deck.

[kirdape3]

Yes, you can actually ignore the Rainbow Efreet (and the Morphling, for that matter) because of the same reasons that Toad gave.

The only proper finishers for control decks at this point in the evolution of Magic are those that kill in a single turn.  In the three major control decks in the format (Keeper, Tog, MUD/Stax), they are Decree of Justice, Psychatog, and Karn, Silver Golem.  Any other finisher is inferior to those unless it too kills in a single turn - Type One is too fast to allow for slower kills.

[greedo]

The only proper finishers for control decks at this point in the evolution of Magic are those that kill in a single turn.  In the three major control decks in the format (Keeper, Tog, MUD/Stax), they are Decree of Justice, Psychatog, and Karn, Silver Golem.  Any other finisher is inferior to those unless it too kills in a single turn - Type One is too fast to allow for slower kills.

Note that I am not trying to argue the fact that efreet is too slow.

There is a slight possibility that I am playing Keeper wrong, but I usually tend to kill in 2-3 turns with the soldiers.  Usually during those swinging turns the opponent does very little though, possibly throwing the illusion of a 1 turn clock?