[OGW] Eldrazi Displacer

[Aaron Patten]

This card could actually be playable in decks already running multiple copies of Restoration Angel could it not?  The card seems to be very good in general but I think blue angels or similar strategies are where this could be easily slotted in for testing.  Being repeatable seems great but it costs two more mana to just use it once.  

[Random Noob]

Just that Restoration Angel is Bolt and Decay proof.

[Wagner]

This actually deals with pretty much all Oath and tinker targets, has a decent body and can allow you to do tricks/evasion. Not a bomb by itself, but I could see it be played in aggro decks.

[MaximumCDawg]

Yeah, I was underwhelmed by this card at first blush, but the more I think about it, the more it's surprisingly not terrible.

It's not GOOD though.  It costs 3 to use the ability, and that's really steep.  Taking that into account, he does for 6 what Restoration Angel does for 4, and doesn't even fly or have a big butt to boot.  3 mana is a whole turn if you're playing him in Death and Taxes (his natural home).  He's got fine abilities and a fair body, but at that activation cost, I just don't see much to recommend him.  Unless he's doing double duty in some deck for a variety of purposes.

[Wagner]

Yeah, I was underwhelmed by this card at first blush, but the more I think about it, the more it's surprisingly not terrible.

It's not GOOD though.  It costs 3 to use the ability, and that's really steep.  Taking that into account, he does for 6 what Restoration Angel does for 4, and doesn't even fly or have a big butt to boot.  3 mana is a whole turn if you're playing him in Death and Taxes (his natural home).  He's got fine abilities and a fair body, but at that activation cost, I just don't see much to recommend him.  Unless he's doing double duty in some deck for a variety of purposes.

Restauration Angel doesn't tap opponent creatures though. You can even remove blockers to hit a planeswalker. I'd say the new guy fills a different role completely.
Also worth nothing, this guy wrecks Batterskull and most other equipments.

[evouga]

It's unclear what this card does vs Oath and Tinker that Containment Priest doesn't to more effectively for cheaper.

[thecrav]

Sure it costs a lot to bounce but by the third time, you've broken even and by the forth time, you're ahead on mana. Additionally, you can use Eldrazi Displacer multiple times without having to play multiples.

Displacer lacks two of Restoration Angel's drawbacks.

First, Displacer can hit their creatures. This means removing their attackers to save you life, removing their blockers to make sure you can get through, completely resetting any counters on creatures, and blowing up Germ tokens. Further, if you can combine Displacer with Containment Priest (seems likely in certain sideboard games), its text now reads 2C: Exile another target creature, which is pretty sweet.

Second, and definitely less important, Displacer doesn't have the drawback of not being able to hit angels. Honestly, I can't think of one that you'd want to hit other than Restoration Angel and maybe something wacky packing Baneslayer. One neat trick play you can do: Block with Restoration Angel (maybe even a block that would be lethal to the Angel), bounce Restoration Angel with Displacer, Angel comes in at EoT (very much alive!) and you get to bounce one of your EtB value creatures like Snapcaster Mage or Baleful Strix.

If Shops with White is ever a real deck, I could see this being a player in the deck. Most of Shops' "protection" is a combination of making your spells hard to cast and having of the same stacked in their deck. This would be one more way to keep a Bolt from killing Lodestone Golem. Plus, it resets your trike!

I definitely think those decks that are already playing Restoration Angel should try this out. Maybe as an augment (+1 or 2 of Displacer) or even replacing an angel or two.

It's unclear what this card does vs Oath and Tinker that Containment Priest doesn't to more effectively for cheaper.

If they've already Oathed their dude into play, Displacer is an infinitely better draw off the top than Containment Priest.... But yea, that's not much.

[ben_berry]

Yeah but this and containment priest is hillarious.

[Protoaddict]

Colorless mana in the lists that would want him seems like a bit more of a tall order than usual? What do you have that generates it now? Sol ring? How many sources could you squeeze in to make it work?

[Random Noob]

Cavern of Souls could generate colorless in mono w Hatebears (and Wastelands, Quarters...).

[thecrav]

Seeing a deck with colors andAncient Tombs would be neat.

[xouman]

I like this card. 3 mana to cast it and 3 mana to use it is a lot, but a repeatable effect that can be used offensively and defensively with a decent body is fine.

[thecrav]

Colorless mana in the lists that would want him seems like a bit more of a tall order than usual? What do you have that generates it now? Sol ring? How many sources could you squeeze in to make it work?

So far, the only thing that's been talked about in this thread is something resembling Blue Angels. Being only two colors means that replacing some mana producers with colorless producers shouldn't be too bad. Just looking at the first list that pops up on Google, its colorless producers are:

2 Cavern of Souls
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring

It also plays 4 basics and 3 off colored moxen. Replacing a couple basics with Ancient Tomb shouldn't hurt too badly. Consulting gatherer, there's not a lot of great options to replace the off colored moxen with. Mana Vault is the best one that's not already in the list.

At 2 mana, Grim Monolith is an option for a bunch of mana with some drawbacks. Fractured Powerstone gets you 1 mana. Everflowing chalice gets you the same 1 mana, with the upside of possibly getting more. Also, I love the idea of seeing Everflowing Chalice outside of EDH!

[Aaron Patten]

There are a number of infinite combos with it of course.  It's an engine that is definitely going to make a plash in other formats.  Maybe the synergies found by those playing it in those formats will make their way into vintage. 

[Wagner]

Out of curiosity, what creatures possibly played in Vintage does this work with?

Snapcaster Mage
Trinket Mage
Baleful Strix
Restoration Angel
Triskelion
Stoneforge Mystic
Medding Mage?

Am I missing some?


Also note it flips back Delver of Secrets.

[thecrav]

Out of curiosity, what creatures possibly played in Vintage does this work with?

You said "possibly played" so I'm gonna go pretty deep here. I ran through a bunch of old decklists to try and find some more affected creatures. Some of these are pretty rare.

With:
Get effect again:
Snapcaster Mage
Trinket Mage
Baleful Strix
Restoration Angel
Stoneforge Mystic
Vendilion Clique
Ingot Chewer (in play)
Sundering Titan (2C: Choose 2 of each basic land type. Destroy them)
Wispmare
Myr Battlesphere
Thought-Knot Seer

Reset:
Meddling Mage
Phyrexian Revoker
Jötun Grunt
Duplicant
Phyrexian Metamorph
Leonin Relic Warder

Against:
Just straight up kills:
Germ Token (Batterskull)
Marit Lage
(Are there any other tokens worth mentioning?)
Hangerback Walker (Unless they have 1 and Hangerback is untapped, it'll come back as a 0/0)

Resets:
Delver of Secrets
Scavenging Ooze
Managorger Hydra
Golgari Grave-Troll (in play)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a 3 card combo but the interaction between Eldrazi Displacer, Vendilion Clique / Thought-Knot Seer, and Spirit of the Labyrinth / Notion Thief is interesting. It's probably not good enough to build around but I could see playing each of those cards individually in a white hatebears deck.

[Wagner]

Out of curiosity, what creatures possibly played in Vintage does this work with?

You said "possibly played" so I'm gonna go pretty deep here. I ran through a bunch of old decklists to try and find some more affected creatures. Some of these are pretty rare.

With:
Get effect again:
Snapcaster Mage
Trinket Mage
Baleful Strix
Restoration Angel
Stoneforge Mystic
Vendilion Clique
Ingot Chewer (in play)
Sundering Titan (2C: Choose 2 of each basic land type. Destroy them)
Wispmare
Thought-Knot Seer

Reset:
Meddling Mage
Phyrexian Revoker
Jötun Grunt
Duplicant
Phyrexian Metamorph
Leonin Relic Warder

Against:
Just straight up kills:
Germ Token (Batterskull)
Marit Lage
(Are there any other tokens worth mentioning?)
Hangerback Walker (Unless they have 1 and Hangerback is untapped, it'll come back as a 0/0)

Resets:
Delver of Secrets
Scavenging Ooze
Managorger Hydra
Golgari Grave-Troll (in play)


Effect preventing:
Worldgorger Dragon (Respond to its ETB trigger by exiling it, stopping the loop unless they have another in their yard)
Any creature that places restrictions on your deck (Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Yixlid Jailer, Lodestone Golem, Aven Mindcensor)
Sygg, River Cutthroat
Lab Maniac (though they're probably not going to try using LabMan if you can exile him)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a 3 card combo but the interaction between Eldrazi Displacer, Vendilion Clique / Thought-Knot Seer, and Spirit of the Labyrinth / Notion Thief is interesting. It's probably not good enough to build around but I could see playing each of those cards individually in a white hatebears deck.

Nice, thanks for that. However, most of your Effect preventing category doesn't work. This card brings back the creature immediately, not at end of turn, no any continuous effect like Gaddock and Thalia will not spot.

Worth nothing that it's pretty good with Ingot Chewer as you can answer the trigger and end up killing 2 artifacts and keeping the Chewer in play.

Also, if you really want to, you can prevent Jace, Vryn's Prodigy from flipping if you exile it with the ability on the stack.

Also... Mystic Snake for a dumb lock for casual players and EDH

[thecrav]

Nice, thanks for that. However, most of your Effect preventing category doesn't work. This card brings back the creature immediately, not at end of turn, no any continuous effect like Gaddock and Thalia will not spot.

Blech... I keep forgetting it's not Resto Angel! Edited.

Edit: Oh, and I forgot Myr Battleball

[Chubby Rain]

Restoration Angel was played because it was a powerful card against other Jace Control lists, BUG Fish, URg Delver without Cruise AND Pyromancer, and Hatebears. It was instant-speed in a counterspell heavy control deck, dodged Abrupt Decay, Bolt, Pyroblast, etc., ate Bobs, Insects, etc. You were playing Angel primarily for the 3/4 Flash, Flying body in an incredibly fair Vintage Metagame. The blink ability was secondary. Eldrazi Displacer is completely different and frankly, very unlikely to see competitive Vintage play unless the metagame shifts dramatically.