Grafdigger's Cage-Dredge Haters Unite...

[credmond]

Nice. I love it. This is basically comparable to null rod in its potential influence. The big power decks will still be there and likely still be dominant but they will have to fight a good deal harder - eot hurkyll's recall is a staple that already answers this nicely maindeck. Hopefully it will carve out a firmer niche for fair decks and force power decks to have a fair back up plan.

[Commandant]

Been running Bomberman for a while. This is going to be quite interesting with a Trinket Mage target that does all that and a bag of chips and doesn't shut off Auriok Salvagers - Lotus. Crazy.

[credmond]

Yea bomberman seems like it benefits most.

[Commandant]

Go straight U/W with a solid mana base for all the Shops that are bound to show up. Grrr8.

[credmond]

It's hard not to see this as a card specifically targetting Vintage and specifically aimed at "fixing" Vintage or at least moving Vintage in a direction that some would consider fixing.

Oath seems like it gets hit the hardest followed by dredge. So aggro decks like goblins and RG Beats and TMWA can now answer their weakest matchup handily (oath) and their third weakest matchup (dredge).

[Worldslayer]

This....what? What am I looking at right now? I've seen cards that hate strategies before but this...this hates broken Vintage like Mental Misstep hated Legacy. Granted, a lot of answers are already being played by U/B/x (grudge, claim, Trygon as the big three) but...wow. This honestly seems a little overboard. And by little overboard, I mean "Why is there a format to play with all of our broken toys if you so obviously hate our playing with them?"

This changes Dredge significantly along the same lines as Dismember changed noneternal removal significantly - it's an effect that existed before (i.e. shutting the door on dredge/dragon combo) but is now accessible in any color within a super relevant timeframe. Leyline was always the best dredge hate that existed, but any nonB deck ran the small risk of simply not opening with it and never being able to cast it. Now EVERY color has access to the Leyline gameplan (i.e. Protect the Queen. except here the Queen is a leyline. Or cage, now.)

Overall I have to wonder if this is just a "hate card", or a potential replacement for Null Rod as a pillar. When you run Rod to limit your opponents mana so they can't do silly things, like Tinker, but there's an option for half the price with the Oracle wording of "Players can't do silly things, like Tinker" it blurs the line about as closely as Mana Drain and Force of Will blur the "Mana Drain" pillar, I think.

This also opens up Stoneforge Mystic as a very playable card in Vintage, especially with the rise of the Legacyish tempo strategies. Before, most decks that wanted SFM were "fish" builds, which were usually in the Null Rod pillar, and it takes about three seconds to figure out Rod and Stoneforge aren't the best of friends. Now, a huge weapon against Shops and Tempo is unlocked (namely Batterskull. The card is actually nuts right now) without sacrificing your hatepillar or opting into a suboptimal/5c Drain list.

[xouman]

A great print imho. It threats to change Vintage as we know it, but surely it won't be so much. It's just an artifact and cc1, so most decks should have a way to take it out. Combo gets benefited imho, because this card shuts yawgmoth's, but combo always run a couple of bouncers and won't have a problem bouncing or destroying it when going for it.

Oath and dredge get seriously damaged, but those are timmy decks, and quite powerful. Oath has counters and can play bouncers, ichorid can discard it from hand and plays bouncers, chalices, and claims (and could be too quick to this card).

Bomberman gets improved for sure, but fish and mud would be better too, and they play null rod (shutting auriok). I agree that Stoneforge could be a relevant staple in a solid control deck with nice pairing against aggro, as so will be tarmogoyf.

This card also would enforce playing artifacts hate, because mud gets a weapon and it's not affected by this card.

IMHO

Greatly benefited: bomberman
Benefited: MUD, non snapcasters fishes (christmas beatings, TMWA, GW...)
Slighly benefited: delvertarmogush, landstill, confidant control
Slighly affected: storm decks, tezz, non ichorid grave decks
Affected: snapcasters, welder stax
greatly affected: ichorid, oath
unplayable: reanimator

[Onslaught]

Gorilla Shaman is even more attractive for certain builds of blue, and I will think long and hard about moving Viashino Heretic from my sideboard to the maindeck. A lot of my decks have no way to win without resolving Tinker or Yawgmoth's, so I'm wary of relying on an endstep Hurkyl's to even be allowed to cast my victory conditions.

[Jo84]

wow, this card is soooo huge.

[Troy_Costisick]

You still can't afford to run fewer Dredge hate cards -- Dredge still can explode postboarding if you're ill-equipped to deal with it.

This card would most likely replace Tormod's Crypt or Relic of Progenitus in the SB slots.

Sideboard?  This will be a maindeck card.  It's right up there with Chalice of the Void and Null Rod.  In fact, one has to wonder if Agro decks should cut one or the other in favor of Grafdigger's Cage and then focus on just protecting it.  The best answer to Null Rod decks was always Tinker, and this card shuts it off.

Quick question -- does this stop Bridge from Below from producing tokens as well?

No, but since it stops Narcos, Bloodghasts, Therapies, and Dread Returns, it won't matter that it doesn't affect Bridge.

Greatly benefited: bomberman
Benefited: MUD, non snapcasters fishes (christmas beatings, TMWA, GW...)
Slighly benefited: delvertarmogush, landstill, confidant control
Slighly affected: storm decks, tezz, non ichorid grave decks
Affected: snapcasters, welder stax
greatly affected: ichorid, oath
unplayable: reanimator

Don't forget that Minus Six is big-time hosed by this.  Which is unfortunate, really.  It's a pretty fair deck as decks in Vintage go.  But that's life I guess.

[MaximumCDawg]

Loving this card.  Not loving the whining coming out of standard / modern players who are not used to having to deal with cheap, effective hate stopping them from goldfishing each game. 

I agree with Troy- this is a four-of maindeck card, at least until the metagame shifts significantly.  It hoses many tactics and win conditions of the most popular decks of the format, except for Shops.  Dredge is a HUGE loser; it can now expect serious hate on G1.  I don't think Dredge stops being good, though - it can win games through hate - but it does probably slow down, as it now needs maindeck hate.

I wonder if Vintage will now revisit other wincons of yore that are not affected by this card, like Power Artifact / Monolith, the aforementioned Bomberman, or Show and Tell, perhaps?  Also, Elf combo is unaffected, but dies so hard to Misstep it still isn't viable.  Hmmm..

[tito del monte]

This really is a fascinating card - look forward to building something fishy with it. I can imagine play this as a four-of, and Stony Silence as a four-of might be almost overkill (though Vault will certainly get a filip as a win condition) - a package of four Cages and four Phyrexian Revokers looks good though and also adds the flexibility of shutting down Auriok Salvagers.

Also: does this make random discard like Hymn to Tourach and Hypnotic spectre vaguely playable again? Might we see something akin to a Vintage port of Team America popping up?

Lots to ponder anyway - fantastic printing that is going to shake Vintage up for a long time...

[Prospero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHEtPXcuBVE

Absolutely unreal.  Shops are about to go on a rampage.

[DubDub]

Costs ?  Check.
Artifact? Check.
Fundamentally changes a game rule? Check.
Scratch that, fundamentally changes two game rules? Check.
Ability is static, not one-time activation with sacrifice cost? Check.
Interacts negatively with most of the strategies we're used to? Check.

Metagame, shifted.

[MaximumCDawg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHEtPXcuBVE

Absolutely unreal.  Shops are about to go on a rampage.

Bing Crosby speaks truth.  Does Shops even have a bad matchup now? 

[quicksilvervii]

Are they people who were crying to restrict bazaar going to want to restrict worskshop now?

Shop pilots got a big boost, but don't forget that you can put this into any deck.

I feel like it leaves a lot of room for innovation.

Besides, it's not like EOT Hurkyl's you is a foreign concept to blue pilots.  Your mystical and demonic tutors can get your bounce spells just as well as they used to.

Maybe Teferi's Realm became more playable as well.

[PETER FLUGZEUG]

Yay for Brian DeMars invitational card! Well designed, very good. Especially since the big blue cannot really put this into their decks (as the decks look now).

[arj]

I smell deck labs brewing already

[VintagePimp]

Looks like it's time to dust off my Workshops & Lodestones.

Kinda wish it cost 2 tho. Dodge Missteps and my own Chalice @ 1, but I guess we can't have everything.

[cvarosky80]

This is, without question, the most "fair" card that Wizards has given Vintage ever. It now forces you to play strategies that don't revolve around "Oops, I win!" if you can't destroy this card once it hits the field. I like it!

[MaximumCDawg]

This is, without question, the most "fair" card that Wizards has given Vintage ever. It now forces you to play strategies that don't revolve around "Oops, I win!" if you can't destroy this card once it hits the field. I like it!

It's like WOTC stepping onto a Vintage game, wagging it's finger, and saying, "Children, play nice now.  Stop breaking your toys."

[Wagner]

Really, all that been said above. And so far, no one seems to be complaining that it's "not fair", which is pretty nice.

I think this is really what Vintage needed to really expand more and get out of the Big Blue VS Shop battle it's in right now. Decks will have to adapt greatly and we should have a good quantity of newer decks pop out if Blue really takes a strong hit.

Sure, it's another anti-dredge card, but we already have plenty of those. It's mostly impressive because it's a anti-blue card that will be maindecked and force dredge players to run maindeck answers.

And of course, auto-in in Bomberman, probably even 2-3 of them, gotta love that, let's dust off my Salvagers


and... let's not forget it completely shuts off Panglacial Wurm, poor guy

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

It's hard not to see this as a card specifically targetting Vintage and specifically aimed at "fixing" Vintage or at least moving Vintage in a direction that some would consider fixing.

Oath seems like it gets hit the hardest followed by dredge. So aggro decks like goblins and RG Beats and TMWA can now answer their weakest matchup handily (oath) and their third weakest matchup (dredge).

those decks had fine proactive and reactive answers to oath, especially the ones with green. They're just relatively inconsistent and underpowered compared to the rest of the field.

But yeah, this thing seems good for vintage. It's a tool traditional u decks won't be attempting to leverage against other players, save dredge players.

[Justin]

I love the fact that Wizards is printing cheap, splashable fixes. Chalice, needle, mistep, flusterstorm, & now cage, all good stuff. I was happy just to see the white thorn-bear, but this is great.

[nineisnoone]

This....what? What am I looking at right now? I've seen cards that hate strategies before but this...this hates broken Vintage like Mental Misstep hated Legacy.

Yes, this isn't Dredge-hate, this is Vintage hate. Not excited about what this will do for the format.

[Commandant]

Yes, this isn't Dredge-hate, this is Vintage hate. Not excited about what this will do for the format.

Speak for yourself. Quite frankly I'm tired of Dredge having a ridiculous game one win percentage. I'm tired of people derp derping into Blightsteel Colossus on the first two turns because I had to mull to six or five and didn't see Force. I'm tired of Vintage having turned into hyper powered Caw Blade where you see two Mental Missteps in your opener and go "I'm ok", -2 -2 Snapcaster -2. It's mindless drivel. People complain about the lack of diversity, now we have the tools to actually get somewhere.

[Worldslayer]

After reviewing this again and actually beiing awake, several more notes:

Blue, after the printing of this card, is firmly divided into two camps. We saw a drift towards "fair" blue decks utilizing Tarmogoyf and Delver of Secrets as their win conditions rather than your traditional "restricted list" wins in Tinker and Will in order to combat the rising presence of Mystic Remora as the defacto draw engine. There was definitely a slow moving seperation, one half of blue more clearly resembling the Highlander monstrosities we're used to, and another coming out more in the "midrange" section, half and halfing big blue and tempo builds. Brian Demars' Midrange Bant is a perfectly example of the midrange camp, as are most Elias/Mastriano/etc... based Gro lists. Even R&D's "restricted delver". But mostly, as blue adapted and remora became less prevalent, I had assumed eventually blue would coalesce back into it's original restricted splendor.
Now, of course, the "mid blue" decks have a tactical option not present for "big blue", and which retains potency regardless of opposing engine. There is now a reason for blue decks to have a "fair" build, in that strategically you're still "blue", and thus will simply have the vast majority of advantages against a nonblue deck, but with access to The Cage can leverage a weapon equal. Toor surpassing Null Rod in effectiveness against other, "bigger" counterparts. I believe this to be pillarworthy, simply because the face of vintage HAS changed with its printing, and it's just as silly as Null Rod ever was. Right between Mana Drain and Null Rod, in terms of deck genre, now exists this card.

Interestingly enough, I believe this will actually negatively impact shop performance.
1) The creature based "mid blue" decks typically fair better than their "big blue" counterparts. Oftentimes resolving Delver, Goyf, and throwing a counterspell or artifact nuke out there can be "enough". This card encourages the continued existance of "mid blue".
2) Artifact hate in "big blue" has been token at best as of late, more due to Time Vault than shop. Some lists only ran a single way to really "deal" with an artifact in the form of Nature's Claim or Ancient Grudge, relying on ridiculous plays and the sideboard to fight Workshops. This card, while a potent weapon FOR mud against "big blue", also encourages them to step their maindeck artifact hate up a few notches or risk being rolled game 1 when all of their win conditions get turned off.

In summation, MUD's more difficult blue matchup is encouraged to stick around, while the "easier" blue matchup has high incentive to markedly increase maindeck answers to artifacts. It's definitely a cool new toy, but I think MUD will choke on the pieces before being catapulted to "favorite" status. 

[i_set_fire]

This is the card I have been dreaming of since I started playing Landstill a year ago!  *uck you oath BSC and dredge!  I might even try to maindeck a couple of these.  Now the search for russian foil ones begins...

[Lemnear]

This really is a fascinating card - look forward to building something fishy with it. I can imagine play this as a four-of, and Stony Silence as a four-of might be almost overkill (though Vault will certainly get a filip as a win condition) - a package of four Cages and four Phyrexian Revokers looks good though and also adds the flexibility of shutting down Auriok Salvagers.

Also: does this make random discard like Hymn to Tourach and Hypnotic spectre vaguely playable again? Might we see something akin to a Vintage port of Team America popping up?

Lots to ponder anyway - fantastic printing that is going to shake Vintage up for a long time...

Sadly my first online team testings show what this cards causes a lil dilemma. It looks like that it might make Fish/Salvager/Etc. viable again anulling  the previous Auto-losses like dredge, Oath and the like but does a Even better job in an Aggro-denial Deck that outclassed Fish Long ago and had great success using the former Fish-staple NullRod too: Workshop Aggro.

While i'm positive that Cage WILL replace Rod as THE denial staple per definition, Rod was much more of an symetrical card than Cage is. Shops are completely unaffected by it but remove all their remaining weaknesses: Dredge, Oath, Tinker and the  like. I doubt that this is the card Fish needed to Be viable again.

The Best idea for the near Future is to sidestep gamplans like tinker or will. Always needing bounce/trygon predator is a crutch. I have a new speedy Aggro-Combo deck in the Making for this predicted Meta, Titus^^

[nineisnoone]

Yes, this isn't Dredge-hate, this is Vintage hate. Not excited about what this will do for the format.

Speak for yourself. Quite frankly I'm tired of Dredge having a ridiculous game one win percentage. I'm tired of people derp derping into Blightsteel Colossus on the first two turns because I had to mull to six or five and didn't see Force. I'm tired of Vintage having turned into hyper powered Caw Blade where you see two Mental Missteps in your opener and go "I'm ok", -2 -2 Snapcaster -2. It's mindless drivel. People complain about the lack of diversity, now we have the tools to actually get somewhere.

For the record, yes, I in fact do speak for myself.

And, I disagree with your assessment of Vintage, and how this will play out for "diversity." Overpowered, undercosted bombs with no real restrictions just make the format more derpy and more coin-tossy.

But hey, I reserve the right to be wrong.