[card]Mana Web[/card]
Just the mere mention of this dreaded Weatherlight bomb invokes hushed whispers of "doesn't that card add mana or something?" and "random cards that we've never heard of? You must be AngryPheldagrif!"
But is this a time bomb waiting to explode onto the Type 1 scene or just another mediocre 3-mana artifact destined to be relegated to 50 cent bins and random scrub sideboards?
Let's take a look.
First the pros (AKA what it does that anyone would care to use it):
Suppresses manlands. Ok, it doesn't deactivate them, but it ensures that their spell-playing is limited to pre-combat phase and nothing more, as tapping a mana to animate your Factory now taps everything else of that color. For the few decks still running the Legacy men, Mana Web says that they're now just as good as basic lands, since tapping the mana to animate them will leave them tapped and useless, excluding artifact mana of course.
Raises hell against control. Suddenly, leaving Drain mana open means not doing anything else, as does EOT Brainstorm. Counter wars are aggravating, as the first Drain uses the mana you need for the second one, and floating risks massive mana-burn. Eventually control needs to win, and suddenly dropping their win condition leaves them tapped out when it's most vulnerable (and it's hilarious against Morphling!), twice in the case of Kaeper's beloved Angels.
Great synergy with the fact that like 99% of Vintage decks run duals. This ensures a complete tap-out almost every time.
Not affected by Null Rod. Stupid, but hey, it's a plus.
Cheap! Hey, it's an easier hoser than those $40 Chains of Mephistopheles
The inevitable cons:
Essentially useless except against control. Since combo plays few land, and aggro can just play all their stuff in one main phase, it's only really effective against control. This may mean that it's only a sideboard card (if anything).
Passive disruption, not active. Since it requires your opponent to use mana, and lets them at least attempt to play around it, it acts more as a stumbling block than an impediment.
Doesn't do anything to artifact mana. Which is a real bitch.
One card this seems similiar in function to is Crucible (mana disruption-wise, etc). Crucible is an amazing card, one I can say with confidence is better than Mana Web. But I like the idea of something that works on it's own and isn't vulnerable to anything except artifact destruction.
This is just a result of me digging for lost gold, for all I know a bunch of major teams have already tested, and concluded this to be worthless. I just wanted to get some interesting discussion going for what I think may be a decent anti-control weapon.
-Dan
**note** Mods: General card discussion w/o 'card, discuss'. I figure Open. If you figure Newbie then go for it.
