[Card Discussion] Holy Card Advantage Batman: Mystic Remora

[Lucentspirit]

Here's a card long since packed away and forgotten about: Mystic Remora. I was browsing though some old cards when I came across this. It really struck me as something that might just have potential in Type 1.

For those of you that hate clicking links:

Mystic Remora
U
Enchantment
Cumulative Upkeep: 1
Whenever target opponent successfully casts a non-creature spell, you may draw a card. That player may pay 4 to counter this effect.

  Although this card has it's limitations I'm seriously considering it for a  couple of decks (Tog, Stax, Slaver, Mono Blue Control.....). Since most Type 1 decks tend to be VERY light on creatures it's not oftan a dead card. Against fast "poop your entire hand onto the table and draw some more cards" decks like Belcher and Draw7.dec Mystic Remora could make for a HUGE advantage in the game. At the very least this card either replaces itself or Seriously slows the opponent down.
   It only costs U! This is a first turn drop. Getting Mystic Remora on the table before you opponent can drop moxes and the like is just awesome. If nothing else, it's blue and you could always just pitch it to a Force of Will.
   The worst part about this card is the cumulative upkeep. It sometimes prevents you from keeping UU open on turn 2 if you didn't draw a mox to pay the upkeep. Obviosly this card works best with decks that run all the moxen, but how many decks these days don't?  
     The other down side of Mystic Remora is it only works for non-creature spells which means it isn't going to do much against decks like Food Chain Goblins, Madness, and Landstill which can play around it without huge difficulty.

If nothing else I think Mystic Remora could make a suitable SB card for Blue/Artifact based decks.

[bebe]

Specialk has been using Mystic Remora in his control builds for awhile. It has also been discussed on these forums before. Cumulative upkeep is a huge drawback for a control deck that requires open mana. There are any number of cards that replace themselves so the question is whether or not it is better than the current card drawers - Brainstorm, Impulse, Thirst for Knowkledge, Gush, Deep Analysis, Acc Knowledge, Standstill, etc. I was never impressed with it when playing against it and the general concensus last time we discussed it was not too favorable. But try it for yourself in a deck and then try another card drawer and see which one you would rather draw.

[Thissa]

The only real use for it in my limited testing (in monoblue fish a while back) has been as a fairly decent anti-storm/belcher hate card, which would allow you to win by either drawing answers for you or providing a 1 mana double/triple time walk, long enough for you to drop Null Rod. Apart from that, it's been a bit less than stellar.

[Special K]

Remora is too broken

Try to post with CONTENT

-Eastman[/b]

[newager]

I hear tell that Power Condruit can make it to where it's only upkeep is 1 forever, not cumulative.  This is, however, a rather anoying and frequently costly combo.  Both in terms of the mana required to do it and the space it would take up in the deck.

It's really not that powerful unless you are playing Landstill or Fish, and even then it's only good if you can FORCE your opponant to play a lot of cards and you have the mana back to support it.  In both cases, and pritty much every case for that matter, Standstill is just out and out better to begine with.  The card doesn't suck, it's just already replaced by a card with more function, that also happens to usually be better and cheaper and allows more opportunity to counter the spells that really matter.

[Kerz]

This card is simply not as good as many other hosers versus Tendrils combo. If you drop it, your mana will be almost totally tied up, so drawing into Mana Drains is useless at many points. If they are playing tons of spells in the first place, they should be able to win through any counter you might draw anyway. Belcher might be different seeing it is MUCH more vounerable to counterspells, but it also doesn't have to play as many spells to win.

The only use I ever see for this card is against tendrils combo and maybe GAT, but in both of those situations it is just worse than other hate cards towards these matchups.

[The Atog Lord]

I hear tell that Power Condruit (sic) can make it to where it's only upkeep is 1 forever, not cumulative

Most of the time in Type One, a two-card combo needs to fit one the following two descriptions to be included in a competitive deck.

1. First, some effective two-card combos are combos in which both cards being used are strong on their own, even without the other card. An example of this is Goblin Welder and Thirst for Knowledge; the interaction between these two cards is very strong, and yet they are both very potent without the other.

2. The other sort of effective two-card combo in Type One is a two card combo which, when achieved, wins or nearly wins the game. An example of such a combo is Illusions/Donate.

It appears that the Conduit/Remora combo fits neither of the above descriptions -- it does not win the game, and in most decks, the Conduit will not be especially effective without the Remora.

[M]

I have been playing Mystic Remora since Ice Age.
EDIT: It wasn't as good then as it is now!

It's too weak for maindeck but an excellent sideboard choice against any deck that plays many non-creature spells (control, psychatog, gro, etc).
You don't need to use a 'combo' with it, and the upkeep is not a problem at all. You just use the card to hold your opponent off for a few turns. He can either do nothing and give you time to set up, or he can try to fight but in so doing he generates huge card advantage for you.

EDIT: Try 2-3 M.R. as a sideboard card in fish (against tog or keeper or as a replacement for standstill against landstill).
You will not be sorry. It even has a picture of a fish

[Smmenen]

This card has been bandied about in various discussions for over a yeare now.  It was first seriously considered in GroAtog - but neve gained much momentum becuase its so easy to play around.

Steve

[Swanky]

Having tested this card, I'm fairly certain there is no decent application for it in competitive circles.  There are a few inherent problems with it, to wit annoying cumulative upkeep and ultimately low card-yield.  If you want a low-cost card that will garner card advantage when your opponent plays spells, play with [card]Standstill[/card].