Aggressive Mining

[MaximumCDawg]

M15 has some pretty neat new cards with aggressive mechanics.  Here's one I like:
http://magic.wizards.com/en/content/magic-2015-core-set-card-set-archive-products-game-info

Aggressive Mining
3R, Enchantment
You can't play lands.
Sacrifice a land: Draw 2 cards.  Use this ability only once each turn.

The closest comparatrors are Excavation, which is cheaper to cast but more expensive to use and mutual, and Soldevi Sage, which has a more powerful effect and is cheaper to cast, but has summoning sickness, can't be used twice (your turn and opponent's turn) each turn cycle, and kills more lands.  I think Mining is worth a look in Vintage because its' significantly better than the existing cards with this effect.

So AM's casting cost is reasonable, particularly for decks running Sol lands.  Paying 4 mana to draw two cards is not awful, and being able to do it repeatedly is pretty awesome.  Obviously the "Play no lands" drawback is an attempt to keep the card from spiraling out of control, but even so, dropping this in the midgame seems like you will be able to get 4 - 6 cards out of it without breaking much of a sweat.  Planning to bounce it or kill it is probably not a reliable place to be -- there is no Goblin Welder for enchantments - but if you end up drawing a ton of cards off it, then maybe.

I see this being the subject of experimentation in an aggro/control deck like RUG where you want to deploy it to keep your grip full of disruption for 2 - 3 turns in midgame while your Delver or whatever beats face.  Or maybe in a Christmas Beats style deck, where you've dumped disruptive dorks turns 1 - 2 and refill your grip on turns 3 - 4 while reliably drawing into enchantment destruction.  Hull Breach seems particularly spicy.

EDIT: On a more general note, the M15 spoilers so far appear to be of pretty reasonable power level.  There's decent card draw in Mining, and two cards that dump creatures from your library into play.  Obviously they're carefully designed so they don't make Modern fun or anything, but it's interesting to me that this set is revisiting powerful mechanics like that.  It's a good sign.

[JPoJohnson]

If you could still play lands OR you could sac any amount of lands each turn i think this card could warrant playtesting... Unfortunately with its current setup I can't really set it as a viable card for eternal formats.

[serracollector]

You can still put lands into play with say harrow and rampant growth with this in play tho right?  Maybe it could have use in a Welder Mud build with Solemn Simulcrams?

[JarofFortune]

I see this being the subject of experimentation in an aggro/control deck like RUG where you want to deploy it to keep your grip full of disruption for 2 - 3 turns in midgame while your Delver or whatever beats face. 

I don't see how gush doesn't do this better. Gush allows you to run less lands than you would otherwise, and this card pulls you in the other direction. It would only come into play in the late game of the grinder match ups (Oath, BLue Angels), where you want to play out your lands to be able to hard cast Force.  Besides, in half of the match ups with Rug a four mana spell that doesn't even pitch to force is going to be a complete waste of space that does nothing in the part of the game that matters most.  Rug already has CA in the form of Snapcaster, ancient Grudge, and Gush, and this is much worse than any of them.

For a brief moment, I thought that this card would be a combo with Sacred Ground, but when I saw the opponent clause I was promptly dreamcrushed.

I wouldn't call this unplayable in the format right off the bat, but it would need a very specific deck to make it work.

[Saya]

can be played in Legacy full lands deck.it lets loam dredge.Ignore that penalty by mana-bond.

[Protoaddict]

Yea no home in vintage. It is not even a card you want to accelerate into because then you won't have lands to sac, and really it's probably only good if you get like 3 activations in which makes this a rather late game card. To get to late game you need to play control, and to play control you probably don't want to have to sac lands and not be able to play more.

[The Atog Lord]

I can't imagine this card being Vintage-playable.

[TheWhiteDragon]

I actually think this card is playable in vintage.  Blue is not the only deck in the world.  It is kind of like a late-game necropotence actually.  Many times a deck can run out its hand and topdeck unneeded lands.  If you have 5+ lands (usually with moxen and stuff too) and no cards in hand, topdecking this can break the game in your favor.  You still draw your normal cards and for sacing 3+ unneeded lands in a later game, this card is basically 4 mana; draw 6+.  You can't play further drawn lands, but if you have 5 business spells in the next 8 cards drawn off this, you should be pretty well set.  It's not broken.  it's not a combo enabler.  It's not what blue wants.  But an aggro deck with RG for example would be just fine blasting unwanted lands after it is spent to draw 8 cards and use nobles, moxen, SSGs, etc to drop 1 and 2cc critter swarms again.

[MaximumCDawg]

That's what I'm saying.  You can't run 4 of these because it's garbage in the early game.  But if you drop it later in the game, you're probably drawing at minimum of 4 cards off it.  Your opponent has to make some serious choices about killing it versus playing the land destruction game, too. 

And it has some synergy with Deathrite Shaman, so there's that.

[JPoJohnson]

I actually think this card is playable in vintage.  Blue is not the only deck in the world.  It is kind of like a late-game necropotence actually.  Many times a deck can run out its hand and topdeck unneeded lands.  If you have 5+ lands (usually with moxen and stuff too) and no cards in hand, topdecking this can break the game in your favor.  You still draw your normal cards and for sacing 3+ unneeded lands in a later game, this card is basically 4 mana; draw 6+.  You can't play further drawn lands, but if you have 5 business spells in the next 8 cards drawn off this, you should be pretty well set.  It's not broken.  it's not a combo enabler.  It's not what blue wants.  But an aggro deck with RG for example would be just fine blasting unwanted lands after it is spent to draw 8 cards and use nobles, moxen, SSGs, etc to drop 1 and 2cc critter swarms again.

I would be very intrigued to see a shell that would want to play this card. If it cost less than 4(?!?!) CMC to play... I can see what you're saying. But aggro decks tend to only ramp so fast and need a strong early game. I can't see someone wanting to have this card played late game (since they would want their opponent to be dead) or play it early with ramp since they would want to be playing their business spells. It just feels a bit stretched. It feels to hard to make it 'work'. I don't feel like decklists that are forced typically have great synergy.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Consider a deck like christmas beatings or zoo.  They run ESG/SSG, noble, moxen, etc.  You wouldn't want this to cost less because you never want it played early.  Costing 4 is actually good because it 1) can't be decayed, and 2) means you have lands to sac.

You are correct that an aggro/weenie deck wants to dump their hand fast and set up pressure....but then what?  It has a horde on board, a few lands and other mana generators, and ZERO cards in hand.  This is where this card shines.  I have thalia, kird ape, deathrite, noble on board with a mox pearl, chalice @0, cavern, and 2 colored lands on board for example...and an empty hand after turn 3/4.  My opponent isn't dead.  They can also bolt my threats or toxic deluge.  Then I'm up shit creek.  But wait!  I topdeck aggressive mining and cast off deathrite, noble, and 3 lands.  I sac a land and draw 2...my opponents turn I draw another 2.  Then I draw my card for the turn, tap my last land for mana, and sac it for 2 more cards.  Now I have a mana floating, noble, deathrite (with 3 more mana activations) and SEVEN cards in hand. I can drop more nobles, 1 or 2cc beaters and keep the pressure coming after my opponent has handled thalia for example.  Topdeck mode is NOT where aggro wants to be vs a control/explosive deck.  Aggressive Mining can totally crack the game open in aggro's favor here.

[JPoJohnson]

Lower CMC =/= MUST cast early. It means it pulls on your resources even less.

Having said that... I think that the situations where it is useful are less than when it is a burden. How often would you have won had you started with Tarmogoyf in your first hand rather than this card? You know? I just feel like it's... difficult to make useful and be happy to see it. You'd have to run more than one without being able to utilize more than one. Anything beyond the first would be dead weight. Being in your starting hand isn't always ideal. What is the amount you run so that you see it when you want to see it, but don't get dumped on by drawing blank cards when you need to draw gas or your opponent wipes your board so you end up saccing your lands and not having the required mana for what you just drew? It just feels very clunky and forced in any shell I try to thought-experiment it into.

[TheWhiteDragon]

I see it as a 1-of.  A 1-of necro or yawg will is just fine.  If you don't draw it, you're drawing other good stuff.  If you do draw it, you have a card advantage bomb.  A singleton means it's never clogging your hand and you aren't getting multiples.  You don't depend on the card at all, but when you DO draw it, it's like a topdecked necropotence for red+Xcolors deck.

[serracollector]

I still say that Solemn Simulcram + This + welder = massive draw engine.

[gkraigher]

The closest thing to this card is infernal contract/ cruel bargain where you have to sac valuable resources and dump mana to draw cards.  I don't necessarily see this card being good, but I'm not willing to rule it out entirely either. 

[Protoaddict]

This card costs 4 mana and the first time you use it you basically gain nothing (you replace it and the land you drew). The second time you use it you net 1 card, but lose board position. I think it may be safe to assume that one of the cards in your hand may be a land that you cannot play. So what have you really gained? If you get to 3 activations and can live with the clause of not being able to play new lands, only then does this thing become useful, and I cannot see that happening to often.

For what its worth, look at some other cards that draw cards. And I realize that they are not all red but still, just a barometer:

Concentrate, ambitions cost, harmonize- 4 mana instantly nets you +2 cards. Sees 0 play, still better in most cases
Fact or fiction - 4 mana gains you somewhere between 1 amazing card and 4 average ones. Sees little play. Still better in most cases
Dangerous Wager - 2 mana instant that if you have an empty hand will net you +1, sees no play. Still better in most cases
Jace - Don't need to say anything else, better in virtually every case.

On top of this there are other cards and card combos in red that will provide you incremental card advantage with little downside if any over the course of a game compared to this. I think it would be more favorable to play 4 copies of Squee and faithless looting than this as they come on line right away and have other utility.

Now if this did not have the 1ce per turn limit, MAYBE it could be some sort of strange balance enabler. Play it, sac 4 lands and draw 8 balance followed by a big dude or something, but as it stands this card is standard playable at best.

[TheWhiteDragon]

This card costs 4 mana and the first time you use it you basically gain nothing (you replace it and the land you drew). The second time you use it you net 1 card, but lose board position. I think it may be safe to assume that one of the cards in your hand may be a land that you cannot play. So what have you really gained? If you get to 3 activations and can live with the clause of not being able to play new lands, only then does this thing become useful, and I cannot see that happening to often.

For what its worth, look at some other cards that draw cards. And I realize that they are not all red but still, just a barometer:

Concentrate, ambitions cost, harmonize- 4 mana instantly nets you +2 cards. Sees 0 play, still better in most cases
Fact or fiction - 4 mana gains you somewhere between 1 amazing card and 4 average ones. Sees little play. Still better in most cases
Dangerous Wager - 2 mana instant that if you have an empty hand will net you +1, sees no play. Still better in most cases
Jace - Don't need to say anything else, better in virtually every case.

On top of this there are other cards and card combos in red that will provide you incremental card advantage with little downside if any over the course of a game compared to this. I think it would be more favorable to play 4 copies of Squee and faithless looting than this as they come on line right away and have other utility.

Now if this did not have the 1ce per turn limit, MAYBE it could be some sort of strange balance enabler. Play it, sac 4 lands and draw 8 balance followed by a big dude or something, but as it stands this card is standard playable at best.

You're looking at this card all wrong.  You are correct that you don't see a meaningful advantage unless you can easily sac 3 lands without significantly hurting your manabase.  But that is when you WANT to play this card...when you are topdecking crappy additional lands when you already have the mana to hit the top of your curve and your hand is spent.  That's like saying Yawg Will isn't useful until your grave has several cards in it...well, yeah.  You wouldn't cast Will on turn 2 when you have only land and ponder in the grave...you wouldn't cast this with only 3 lands on board if you NEED that mana either.  Like the example I gave with a zoo approach, when all of your cards cost 1 or 2, why do you need lands 3-6?  In your first draw, you are replacing this card and a land you sac...but that land you sac is basically a dead card, so you are cycling it for something better.  You don't reap your lands at the expense of a usable manabase.  You blow up EXTRA lands to the tune of draw 6-8 cards when the game has progressed to turn 5+ and you have moxen + noble/deathrite in addition to your lands.

Squee + looting is a bad draw engine that usually gunks up your hand and you have to build around.  This is ONE card that you can play as a mid-late game bomb in a suitable critter (or other) deck.  Comparing this card to Jace is ridiculously dumb.  Not every 4cc card can be Jace.  Comparing to things like concentration is more fair, but concentration is ALWAYS a 3 for 1.  This card can be a 6-8 for 1, which is when you'd play it.  if you play this only when you can afford to sac 1 or 2 lands, then you're doing it wrong.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Typically late-game you want to cast things that actually win the game, instead of sacrificing lands to very slowly draw you cards.  This is terrible and basically unplayable.

[JPoJohnson]

I'm still interested in a decklist you feel would be viable with running it.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Typically late-game you want to cast things that actually win the game, instead of sacrificing lands to very slowly draw you cards.  This is terrible and basically unplayable.

Unless your plan is to play cheap bears.  There is no tinker-BSC for Rx aggro.  Not every deck is blue or combo, but most decks like a hand refill in the midgame.

[TheWhiteDragon]

I'm still interested in a decklist you feel would be viable with running it.

Take a Christmas Beatings, zoo, or magus of moon deck...subtract 1 of the weaker cards....add 1 of this.  Done.

[fsecco]

This could also be played in a MonoRed MUD shell. As a 1 or 2-of. Staff of Nin is probably better, though.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Isn't this like a bad memory jar?

[TheWhiteDragon]

Isn't this like a bad memory jar?

 No. This card is not like memory jar. It costs 1 less. it also does not let your opponents draw counters or removal to interact with you. It is also safe from rod effects.

 To me, it seems closer to a mid game necropotence.

[gkraigher]

the best card it works with is flagstones of trokair, which is unfortunately a legendary land. 

[TheWhiteDragon]

This card could actually be solid in a GRW list running planar rebirths, basic lands, birds/nobles/deathrites, and something that abuses lands for profit (seismic assault?)  A stretch, but trying to think outside the box.  I still think this is best as just a 1-of bomb in an aggro deck and not built around as a 4-of.

[Commandant]

This card could actually be solid in a GRW list running planar rebirths, basic lands, birds/nobles/deathrites, and something that abuses lands for profit (seismic assault?)  A stretch, but trying to think outside the box.  I still think this is best as just a 1-of bomb in an aggro deck and not built around as a 4-of.

So basically a list that loses to everything in the format. Quite a find you've got here.

[TheWhiteDragon]

This card could actually be solid in a GRW list running planar rebirths, basic lands, birds/nobles/deathrites, and something that abuses lands for profit (seismic assault?)  A stretch, but trying to think outside the box.  I still think this is best as just a 1-of bomb in an aggro deck and not built around as a 4-of.

So basically a list that loses to everything in the format. Quite a find you've got here.

I did say that was outside the box...perhaps too far.  I was trying to find something that abuses it as a 4-of, but I'll stand by my other statement that it is best as a 1-of mid-game hand refiller for red aggro in the zoo/magus/christmas flavor.  Perhaps some kind of RGW humans list could also use it as a 1-of psuedo-necropotence...something with nobles, deathrites, and mostly 1 and 2 drop critters.

[Smmenen]

This is the strategic objective of a turbo land deck that is designed to be a late game bargain: 5-6 lands in hand on turn 3 or so, and then you draw 10 cards.  

Yeah, not likely playable in Vintage. 

[TheWhiteDragon]

This is the strategic objective of a turbo land deck that is designed to be a late game bargain: 5-6 lands in hand on turn 3 or so, and then you draw 10 cards.  

Yeah, not likely playable in Vintage. 

I'm telling you guys,don't dismiss this as a 1-of in aggro.

Consider the following hand:

taiga, forest, arid mesa, noble heirarch, stony silence, tarmogoyf, qasali pridemage - very keepable, disruptive and threatening.

Turn 1, you play noble, drawing a land.

Turn 2, you play stony, drawing a moxen that you cast silence off, then cast qasali off land #2.  Your opponent bolts qasali.

Turn 3, you play land #3, drawing stony #2...you cast tarm.  Your opponent plows/dismembers tarm.

Turn 4, you draw aggressive mining, drop your fourth land and having a hand of land, stony silence, and nothing else and your board completely answered of threats.  You sac a tapped land and draw 2 cards, one being a land, one being a tarmogoyf.

Turn 5, you draw a land, cast tarm, sac a tapped land to draw 2 (a thalia and a noble), you cast thalia.

Opponents turn, no sac.

Turn 6, you draw a second thalia, tap for noble, sac a tapped land (down to 1 land, 1 noble) and draw a qasali and a wasteland.  Play qasali.

Now, you WOULD have drawn 2 lands and a tarmgoyf in those last 3 turns and perhaps another critter in place of mining.  Instead, you have drawn 3 land, a tarm, 2x thalia, a qasali, another noble...and you still have a land to sac to draw 2 more.  Worst come to worst, you can qasali your mining after attacking and redrop lands like wasteland.  So instead of 1 land and 2 gas cards, you get 3 lands and 5 gas cards in the same time span - putting you back in the game while your opponent has spent resources burning your threats.

If you look at the card like that, thinking of it as a hand refiller when you are spent or your initial wave is answered, you can see how the card has merit.  There was nothing broken in my scenario and it's a fairly typical fish draw.  You aren't usually dead by turn 6, but you can fall behind and get crushed fairly soon after thalia and stony initially hinder the opponent.  Drawing 3 cards in 3 turns won't usually make it (especially not running blue), but 8 cards over those next 3 turns is a different story.