[Single Card Discussion] Raze and Reviving Aggro-Control

[Mantis]

Just play Stifle if you want land destruction for one mana. Stifeling Fetchlands, Wastelands and Storm as well as some other effects seems pretty good to me. It just does jack to Stax, but you get plenty of decent sideboard cards to battle Stax.

[roberts91rom]

Does anyone think that raze has a chance in Stax? Sacking a land means mothing with crucible in play, and 3-5 strip mines are not bad, even if only 1 can be recurred. Stax has problems with decks that run lots of lands, with most of them as basics. This is why Gifts is so good vs. Stax. Raze hits basics and non-basics, which alone should have people considering it IN STAX.

If you are crapping your pants to run LD in Fish run stifle which can actually WIN you games, and which is much more versatile. Tendrils, Stax, fetches, wastes, strips, mana drain's "mana", etc. That ladies and gentlemen, is how fish gets tempo vs. most decks. Raze says "I'm going to slow you down, and THEN MAYBE slow your opponent if he/she runs no answers/didn't just tutor/doesn't topdeck anything/if you can keep the pressure on. At least Stax can use that extra turn to drop more lock pieces, while a fish player just stares at his/her graveyard thinking "Why did I do that?"

To the wasteland&strip being "free", I didn't state free AND uncounterable. My bad.

If this card has a place, which I doubt, something like the Ichorid structure might serve it well. No need for mana in that deck anyway.

When I play Ichorid my hand size is usually between 0-0, and I dredge instead of drawing. If you have a hand size above 0 and it's past turn 1, then you either should have mulliganed, or you are screwed. On top of that even if you are drawing (I am assuming they dropped Tormod's Crypt on you), then you will never want to see Raze, because Ichorid runs few lands, and usually plays exactly enough mana to win. No deck in the format (That is currently viable) has no need for lands/mana, or else it would be Tier 1 and invincible. Then again, I'm not on Meandeck, and maybe they have secret tech to get cards in hand with Ichorid and win without mana. Just a guess...

[Harlequin]

If you are crapping your pants to run LD in Fish run stifle which can actually WIN you games, and which is much more versatile. Tendrils, Stax, fetches, wastes, strips, mana drain's "mana", etc. That ladies and gentlemen, is how fish gets tempo vs. most decks. Raze says "I'm going to slow you down, and THEN MAYBE slow your opponent if he/she runs no answers/didn't just tutor/doesn't topdeck anything/if you can keep the pressure on. At least Stax can use that extra turn to drop more lock pieces, while a fish player just stares at his/her graveyard thinking "Why did I do that?"

The correct answer for fish to stax will and always has been sacred ground.  mono-red stax has a grand total of ZERO cards that can dirrectly deal with sacred ground.   The stax plan will have to be ramp a smokestack to 1 counter greater than the number of lands the fish player contorls... and maintain it until that player is forced to sack the sacred ground (wich is next to impossibly against a deck that runs a healy supply of both lands and low cc creatures).

Building a stax deck with the goal of land destruction at any cost is likely a mistake.

[roberts91rom]

Usually when stax gets going, it locks opponents out of mana. Crucible, tangle wire and smokestack all hit lands and other mana against most matchups, even though crucible can also be used defensively. Trini and SoR further put your opponent in the "crap I need mana" situation. Raze is at least worth considering, though stax may already be a full deck when it comes to denial.
Raze Pros:
-More mana denial
-Hits basics and can cut off colors
-Can be dropped quickly, or used as a way to stop late game mana
-Flows with the strategy of Stax

Raze Cons:
-More mana denial
-Costs 1 land, even if countered
-Doesn't answer anything that Stax can't already handle

In Fish this changes tremendously.

Raze Pros:
-Can slow your opponent down
-Hits basics and cuts off colors

Raze Cons:
-Fish runs few lands
-Costs 1 land even if countered
-Loss in tempo over 80% of the time
-Doesn't go with the disruption pack of Fish
-Either going to hit a factory, or deny yourself colored mana (20ish Lands, XxFactory, 1xStrip, 4xWaste)
-Less effective than Stifle

Thats just about everything I can say on Raze. Fish=No. Stax=Maybe.

[meadbert]

Gamble allows Turn 2, Gamble for Strip Mine (lose a card.) Strip a basic land.
Both cases leave you with equal cards in your hand. Both leave you with one mountain left. Both destoy an opponet's basic land.

The difference is that Gamble takes away a random card rather than a Mountain. Would sligh rather have a Mountain or a random card?
Also Gamble#2 can't get Strip Mine again. Gamble could be used to find a needed solution. Consider you are stuck at 1 Mountain with a close to full hand. You can gamble for Mountain #2.

The problem with that play is that it is a 3 for 1 instead of the 2 for 1 that Raze is. Gamble + Random Card + strip mine = 3. I know gamble replaces itself, but you are not even gauranteed the card that you tutored for. The random card you lose is worse than losing an easily replacable land.

That is never a 3 for 1.  Either you lose your Strip Mine to Gamble in which case it is 1 for 0 or you get your strip mine in which case it is 2-1 just like Raze.
The con is that you might lose Strip Mine or another good card in your hand to Gamble.  In that case you do not sac a land though!
The pro is that Gamble could fetch other useful cards like an Echoing Truth to bounce a Darksteel Colossues.  That is something Raze just cannot do.
The second pro is the possibility of Recurring Strip Mine.  Even with no possibility of Recuring Strip Mine I would strill rather have Gamble since it can dig me out of a jam.
If you are on the play you can Gamble for Chalice and play it.