[Card Discussion] Serrated Arrows

[serracollector]

I was going through my commons box a couple days ago and came upon this card:

Artifact
4
Serrated Arrows comes into play with three arrowhead counters on it.At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no arrowhead counters on Serrated Arrows, sacrifice it.T, Remove an arrowhead counter from Serrated Arrows: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.


Now, i thought to myself "Why isn't this card played some?"
When you look at the current creature kill used in stax, or stax variants (7/11, Cerebral Assasin, 5/3, etc. etc.) they are:

Powder Keg
Fire/Ice
Smokestack
Triskelion
Engineered Explosives (more for 4cc but eh)

Now, Serrated Arrows has some advantage over all of these.

1.)  It kills Welder's/other 1/1's NOW (vs. Keg, wait a turn, or Smoekstack, wait several turns), no regeneration either (River Boa)

2.)Can kill Psychatog's, remember the -1/-1 counters stay.

3.) Can put Plati down with several uses, or make opp gain one less life with that Exalted.

4.) Cheaper than Triskelion (only advantage I will admit, but still an advantage)

5.)  First turn drop with mox/shop.

6.)  Requires no colored mana

7.) Reusable with welders etc.

8.) Can be tinkered for.

9.) Is a common (from Homelands none the less) so can be found for about -$0.05

10.) Is worth the look on your opponents face when you kill his uber rares with your crappy Homeland common

Now, I am not saying it is the best card in the world or anything, but that it does have many advantages as a critter kill card, especially in todays meta of 90% welders, so, thoughts, ideas, comments, on why this is not used, or other reasons it should?  Thanx

Serracollector

[Komatteru]

It costs 4 and has the sole purpose of killing Welders.  That's pretty expensive for something that only does one thing.  The other cards you mentioned can be used on something other than Welders, and the added flexibility is just so much better.  Wasting Tinker to get Serrated Arrows is just as not hot as it sounds--do you want to kill a Welder or two, or go get some bomb that lets you win the game (since you probably have your own Welders to "outweld" your opponent's).

There's just plain better cards.  Some Workshop aggro (Affinity builds) experimented with Serrated Biskelion to kill Welders, and that was only deemed average.

[True Lies Ownz]

if it didnt have to tap it might be good

[NCM]

...
8.) Can be tinkered for.
...

See, this is more like the kind of thing I'd Tinker AWAY (for something like Colossus, Titan, Plat, Bus, TRIKE, etc.).

...
9.) Is a common (from Homelands none the less) so can be found for about -$0.05
...

5 cents from a HOMELANDS COMMON!?!  That's the biggest ripoff I've heard this week!

One similar thing you compared this to is Triskelion.  Although this costs less, Trike hits for 4.  Of course, this isn't true all the time but the point is that it hits for damage and it can also hit more than creatures.

JDizzle said it best, it only really kills Welders and other Joblins.  If Fish were still dominant this would be much more relevant.  You have the right idea, but this is the wrong time.

[rozetta]

If Fish were still dominant this would be much more relevant. You have the right idea, but this is the wrong time.

If fish were dominant this would be rather irrelevant, since Null Rod shuts it down.

This card was used in some of the original Mono-brown MUD decks, but hasn't seen a lot of use recently.

[Thug]

This card was used in some of the original Mono-brown MUD decks, but hasn't seen a lot of use recently.

Brings up good memories though, since people used to bring all kind of hate on 1/1 sticks (Welders / Vandals / Shamans) and Arrows was amazing versus these.

Right now Triskelion is often better since the mana base is more stable in workshop decks and this makes it easier to cast Triskelion.

Koen

[serracollector]

ok, all good points, also if you noticed there was a negative sign in front of that (-$0.05).     I mean you can get a full playset of 4 of Homelands for what?  $50?  LOL.  It was just a thought.  Yes, honestly I was thinking of fish also, (conclaves, grims, fairies, spiketails, flying men, gorilla shaman)  but remember, R/G beatz/tempovantage is trying to make a come back and is replacing many fish decks in tournaments.  You got Grims, Boas, Shamans, Apes, Fanatics, Vandals etc etc.   Yes Triskelion is better, but couldn't this card still be a SB option, especiallty since most decks are like this are running Bloodmoon as thier maindeck hate, not Null rod anymore??  Just my thoughts.

Serracollector

[Hi-Val]

I seem to remember Serrated Biskelion in MUD decks a while back. It comes out faster than Trike but can't kill Welders before it gets welded out. Again, an inferior card to Trike, but worth keeping in the back of the mind for times when it may get good.

[Toad]

since most decks are like this are running Bloodmoon as thier maindeck hate, not Null rod anymore??

This is seriously off topic but well...

WTF @ maindeck Blood Moon? It's so terrible now :/

[BigMac]

not about whether or not the card is good or bad, it has its uses.

But i seem to remember homelands had different artists draw the commons, meaning 1 common has 3 or 4 different artwork. Serrated arrows only has 1 artwork, therefor cannot be common so is uncommon.

Having said all that, it still isnt worth a lot i imagine, as it is way to singleminded in the current metagame. On the other hand it could be nice against a couple of decks as it can be used instantly, be welded back, and kill welders. It definately warrants a look to play it in the sideboard.

Drainslaver could run it sideboard (mirror, other welder decks, and even against oath it could have its uses)
Welder decks could run it for mirrors or against FCG
Just some thoughts.

[serracollector]

and once again, another thread of mine is moved to the newbie forum, whats that make, 4 now?  Either I am the shittiest magic player ever, or some people are just not open minded on this sight at all.  God forbid anyone make suggestions to a deck that isn't the best of the best in the metagame.  Stupid silliness.

[Beta-Male]

personally if i were left with the choice of running serrated arrows or another land, i'd probably play infused arrows from 5D.  it effectively waxes welder just like the arrows does, and its going ot stick around after you've used it up, so you can then tinker/transmute it into something useful..


not that it matters, they're both horrible cards right now (and probably forever)

[OptimusDeutz]

and once again, another thread of mine is moved to the newbie forum, whats that make, 4 now?  Either I am the shittiest magic player ever, or some people are just not open minded on this sight at all.  God forbid anyone make suggestions to a deck that isn't the best of the best in the metagame.  Stupid silliness.

Not to be a dick, but if you read the description on the Vintage Newbie forum it does say that its a springboard not only for new players but for new members.

Its possible that your 4 topics so far have been similar to questions posed by other newer members in the past. You'll notice that it being moved didn't hurt your discussion.

[mrieff]

and once again, another thread of mine is moved to the newbie forum, whats that make, 4 now?  Either I am the shittiest magic player ever, or some people are just not open minded on this sight at all.  God forbid anyone make suggestions to a deck that isn't the best of the best in the metagame.  Stupid silliness.

It is good to have people on the site which make unorthodox suggestions, I do it occasionaly as well.
But because they're unorthodox, most of the time they just suck on second thought. That should definetely not refrain you (or anybody else) to make these suggestions, because out-of-the-box thinking is the only way to discover those hidden gems. There have been plenty of occasions where once obscure cards have become Vintage mainstreams. For that to happen you need somebody who takes the card out of obscurity in the firts place.

So when your suggestion is taken to newbie, don't worry. Most people will give you credit for trying in the first place, at least I do.

[OptimusDeutz]

On second thought I sounded like a jerk there.

Im sorry bro.

I agree with Mrieff completely. Its always worth mentioning things.