Article -- Betrayers Instants and Sorceries

[rakso]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=9003

Betrayers has been one of the most boring sets to review to date, but if you're talking about Betrayers spells, you're really only talking about Disrupting Shoal. Obviously, this will never be better than Force of Will. However, you have to ask: Can you make this work so it's better than Misdirection?

Force, Mis-d, and Shoal all let you trade an extra Blue card for tempo (see "Counting Tempo, Part II"). Looking at Mis-d, you figure that Shoal can be better in that it can counter early permanents. There are a number of problems you have to overcome, however.

[d4ddy]

great article Oscar, i think that Shoal is going to be the topic of much discussion in the comming weeks, i could be wrong though

[Whatever Works]

Good job of making an article about a crappy set (with the acception of 1 card with "potential") actually interesting... Good article overall considering the very limited topic... Your next article will be on the history of chairs... In wyoming...

[Law]

As I said in anouther forum only time will tell what is realy usful and what is not.

[oldbsturgeon]

i liked reading the article, and i found most of the points to be consistant with my thoughts about betrayers and vintage.
i think he may have undervalued the white shoal somewhat, despite it not being the hottest card ever, in ww, which may see some increase, it could be used.
now i dont think that i would use it personally, but thats just me.
i actually like tendo ice bridge and think that it could be used in something like cerebral assassin. the city of brass works longer, but you wont be taking as much pain from them either, also just like with gemstone mine, the bridge would come back with counters on them during the dragon combo the deck runs.
i dont think 4 but like 2 cities 2 bridge. i dont know, its a thought.

[MuzzonoAmi]

You're alive?

[That0neguy]

i think he may have undervalued the white shoal somewhat, despite it not being the hottest card ever, in ww, which may see some increase, it could be used.

For it to actually do something useful though you have to pitch a high cc WHITE card whihc the only high cc white card i can think of is exalted angel which I personally would be morphing turn 3 not pitching it to shoal.

[cane]

you also could pitch a weenie to kill a welder
don't know if it's going to see play, but it could be done

but back to the core, nice article

[Shock Wave]

It's funny how when this card first came out, everybody was saying things like "OMG!!! 8 FOWs ra ra ra". Now, the discussion has relegated to "Hmmm, I wonder if this is an adequate replacement for Misdirection." I would say no, considering that Misdirection is at least a guaranteed counter for FoW and this card is not.

I haven't tested that card, but at first sight, it seems extremely weak. How this card is comparable to FoW is absolutely beyond me. That's like comparing Daze, or Foil to FoW. Yay, they are all pitch counters, big deal.

The article was a good overview for T1 players, although I would contend that you're somewhat optimistic about the Shoal's potential.