Trinisphere

[eddavatar]

The only thing i'm thinking about is the interaction of the trinisphere and cards with ACC (FoW, Fireblast, MisD etc) Since the converted casting cost of those cards are usually over 3 sans maybe Daze.

And boy would I play a Nether Void deck with this. Down payment of 6 for anything!

Pulverize/sligh/monkey for life XD

[ctthespian]

Forget prision variants.  This card could finally be what TNT could use to really slow it's opponents down while operating as it wants to.  

This card does sound way to good to be true however and would definetly go against WOTC "early game swing" criteria.  I would expect to see this and not workshop restricted if it were to see print and have a great impact.  My reasoning is that not only workshops, but other quick artifact mana can be dropped on the first turn causing great disruption to your opponents fast mana development.

-Keith

[Raph Caron]

It doesn't go against WotC's "early game swing" criteria. In most formats you won't have it in play before turn 2.

Then, yes, you basically win a turn but on turn 3, your opponent can play its Naturalize just like before. It does prevent multiple spells to be played in a single turn however.

The effect is stronger in Type 1 because you have ridiculous permanent mana acceleration.

[Eastman]

Trinisphere

Artifact
As long as Trinisphere is untapped, each spell that would cost less than three mana to play costs three mana to play. (Additional mana in the cost may be paid with any color of mana or colorless mana. For example, a spell that would cost to play costs to play instead.)

* Trinisphere's ability affects the total cost of the spell. It is applied *after* any other cost increasers or cost reducers are applied: First apply any cost increases. Next apply any cost reducers. Finally look at the amount of mana you have to pay. If it's less than three mana, you'll pay three mana.

* Even with a cost reducer in play, spells can't cost less than three mana to play.

* If a spell costs at least three mana due to additional costs, such as kicker costs, that's fine.

* You still need to pay any additional nonmana costs the spell has, such as sacrificing a creature or discarding cards.

* Playing a creature with morph face down already costs three mana, even though the converted mana cost of the face-down spell is zero, so Trinisphere normally doesn't modify the total cost of a face-down creature spell. However, if Dream Chisel is reducing that cost while Trinisphere is in play, you'll still have to pay three mana for the spell.

[Nocturnal]

Maybe time to pull out Ark of Blight for playtesting?

[SpencerForHire]

In response to the comment that his could possibly be the card that gets workshop restricted, i must say I disagree.  Thats what we said about chalice of the void.  Chalice and trinisphere have differences but over all, chalice has a better chance of getting shop restricted then does this sphere.  
The sphere slows decks, it doenst make cards unplayable.  Whereas chalice makes cards unplayable.
Chalice also can be dropped for 0 mana to stop moxen which is what people are so worried about, then additional things can be dropped.  With this, it can be dropped but it will pretty much be your only play for the turn, with the exception of godly draws.  Or super fast shop decks..
If anything it will just be an addition card to add to prison.  (and possibly to added to bring back nether void decks.)

[GoodFellasCorp]

I don't think that this card is going to be what everyone is making it out to be.  I am personally a WelderMud player and placed 22nd with it at waterbury with a 6-2 record.  In my own deck personally I don't see too much room for it in the main deck.  The only spots in which it could go would be the tanglewire slot or the chalice slots.  For myself, this new card is not that useful unless it it played very early in the game, where as chalice and tanglewire are.  I don't see how it is better than chalice because a first turn chalice for 1 against most sligh or r/g beats variants just shuts it down completly.  The only real useful spot is to take out the tangelwires which have been on the cutting block for some time now, but I don't think that four trinispheres would be necessary.

[Methuselahn]

After seeing the text of this card, as shown in Eastman's text, I think it will end up in one of those 'most overhyped' type threads.

It is very obvious that this card was meant to hose affinity as it's primary function in the Mirrodin cycle.  As far as T1 goes,... having to be untapped really kills any redundancy potential with Tanglewire.  Since Tanglewire handles aggro so much better, it will likely stay.

I just have to roll my eyes at Wizards of the Coast sometimes.  If they were out to spade that bitch Long.dec and they knew this was coming in Darksteel, why not wait to restrict LED?  This is the perfect hoser vs. combo for any Workshop based deck.

Is this a card to use in a Nether Void deck?  um.. no.  Will it replace Nether Void??  possibly, but not likely.  Nether Void decks don't want their opponents to play spells, not limit them to playing just 1 per turn.

[Willforce]

i think that restrict led and burning wish, even if you know about this card, is a good choice. Infact otherwhise the "rolla a die" was the determinant of the game in a lot of match.

i think this trinisphere is a good trick for TNT decks, this deck can stop u and bring u down with a smashing Juggy

[Tychoides]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like this card will slow the early game down some (for the non-Workshop players, anyway) and possibly be a real beast against combo if it gets out fast enough.

On the other hand, it's not a bad card for budget players, since those Moxes and Lotus cost instead of now.

[Gothmog]

I have to disagree with people saying this card is overhyped.

If an opponents goes first and has Workshop/Trinisphere, it reads basically: Force of Will or you have almost no chance of winning.  There is almost no way out of the lock even in Type I until you have 3 land.  Moxen, Lotus, Dark Ritual, none of that will help.

Even later in the game, this card is very tough on most decks.  Making all your moxen, tutors, deck manipulation, basically every card played heavily in Type I, cost at least    severly limits the ability of decks to search for and play answers.  Meanwhile a stream of lock parts are hitting the table or Juggernauts are landing because, really, how many Forces can you have in hand, especially when you can't Brainstorm and do anything else in a turn until turn 6.

[Un4givenKnight]

I dont think its overhyped. in fact, I really like this card in T1. It can completely wreck havoc on some decks. i ran into (and got smacked around by) Rectal Agony at Waterbury. Just thinking what might have happened had I had this in play. It also slows the heck out of black, no more 1st turn duress and makes ritual completely useless. I like this in budget decks to stop moxen and to help just a bit against combo.

[foolinc]

I find this to be a very interesting card that could be the next Chalice of the Void. It doesn't total screw decks like Chalice or Meddling Mage but for low mana decks like WW and Sligh would almost always lose to it not to mention might juts kill off the infant Belcher decks. Making cards like Force of Will, Misdirection, and the Moxen cost 3 mana is a good thing too (Anyway I think thats how it works for pitch cards). I think it will be in decks like WelderMUD since the 3 mana thing isn't a huge deal and could make Landstill a better deck even if it will make Standstill itself 3 mana, but really it's too soon to tell.

[Ensign]

This isn't strictly better than any of the lock components we have already, but this is likely the best tempo-killer prison is going to have.  I can't see Trinisphere completely replacing any of the standard lock components, but it will definately supplement them.

The deck may already be at a critical mass of lock components, which puts us in the wonderful position of being able to pick and choose which ones to run, and in what quantities.  Metagamed prison decks anyone?

Peace,
-CxE

[rozetta]

Are we completely sure how this applies to pitch cards like FoW? The FAQ doesn't mention them specifically, but it seems to be implying "you must always pay at least 3 mana at the end of the day, and I don't care about the converted mana cost of the spell". This, in my opinion, seems to be pointing towards pitch spells requiring a payment of 3 mana even if their converted mana costs are 3 or more, since "you didn't physically pay that 3 mana yet."

This, to me, makes a big difference to the usefulness of the card, since if the opponent can still cast FoW for free, it only adds a turn to getting mana drain online.

Note the interaction with sphere of resistance. For spells with CC less than 3, it essentially does nothing, since the extra mana tacked on by sphere adds to the "you must pay 3" requirement. If the spell costs 3 or more, it does nothing, but the spheres will still add that extra mana cost. Note it will also affects spells played off Isochron Scepter, Panoptic Mirror, Mind's Desire and so on.

In Workshop decks, this means that it affects only a handful of your own spells (sphere, welder, moxes). Can one use workshop mana to cast a mox with one of these in play? If it works like sphere, then yes. It's a conditional sphere which works more in your favour, since non-Workshop decks tend to play, on the whole, spells which cost 3 mana at most, whereas Workshop decks play a lot of 3 and 4 mana spells. This means that, if resolved turn 1 before your opponent can do anything, makes them wait until turn 3 to be able to cast spells, which gives you a few turns to take advantage of the situation. This also makes multiple wastelands rather effective.

Uses of the card are:
- shut off cheap mana acceleration (ritual, moxes)
- hose storm-style combo decks
- hose gro-style decks
- as a complement to mana denial (land destruction/lock)

Note that in type 2, this has good synergy with LD decks, since all their LD spells are 3 mana or more. If they can keep the opponent below that 3 mana, the opponent will be able to do nothing.

Comparing it to sphere:

Pros:
- keeps your more expensive spells the same price
- a better early-game hoser
- more solid lock with smokestack

Cons:
- useless in multiples
- has less effect later-game
- 3 mana as opposed to 2 (not as likely to drop it turn 1 off land-mox)

Since Sphere of Resistance is primarily used to slow down the opponent by making their cheaper spells more expensive, this does the trick better, since it's equivalent of casting 2 spheres against 1cc spells (and 3 spheres against moxes). With the LD-filled metagame we are currently seeing, getting a few lands wasted early game after dropping a sphere means it's that much more difficult to get the mana together to cast tangle wires and smokestacks, since they are now 4 and 5 mana spells. With this on the table, you've shut down your opponent's tempo with regards to their cheap spells without forfeiting your ability to still drop lock components under a barrage of strip effects.

[SpencerForHire]

This could also be a huge card for shop decks. I'm not saying its all powerful, because well, it's not, but it gives more variety in shop decks and what they run, this will aloow more uniqueness in decks which is partially (aside from the money aspect) what I think WotC was going for.
The decks I think will best use this are TnT, stacker, and some form of chalice black/void black.
In TnT it does as mentioned before, slow down the opponent while you just drop threat after threat.  In stacker it's an alternate sphere of resistance as that deck is all about speed and its a larger hault to your opponents spells as opposed to sphere but for a shorter duration of the game, but when the game will be over fast enough this would be my pick over sphere.  Lastly black, chalice (if my earlier stated combo about a chalice for 3 works, i dont think it does but still) could definately abuse this, it could hault alot of decks, and as also stated before, nether void and this means pay 6 or dont expect a mox out.

I also am still unsure if the sphere and the trinisphere are synergistic yet, I am wondering exactly if they would work toghethor or not, usually you can go off examples of previous cards, but this is a somewhat original piece and I am glad WotC has something left in them in terms of orignality.

[Spizzard]

Trinisphere will only be 'gamebreaking' when going first, and if it  sees play on said first turn.  Otherwise, giving your opponent the chance to play moxen or search, takes away from the effectiveness.  It is a lot like a chalice for zero against old long, only effective if playing the chalice first.
 

 If it hits play say the 2nd turn, it will still slow the game down, but then it would be more of an inconvenience, much like sphere.  If the workshop player had a way to say get rid of the lock on himself (Metalworker, Tangle wire + Trinisphere) then it is like taking an extra turn.  (by the time your opponent can play spells, you would have already played all of yours.)

[Lord of the Goats]

how usefull it is imo is ultimately going to depend on 2 things from a tnt standpoint.

the first is the number of 1 cc removal spells. the more plows and crumbles are being played the better it is. 2 cc removal isn't realy meaningfully effected so it's not good against disenchant or artifact mutation.  however, this does assume that you will have the preasure to capitalize in the oppurtinity which  right now i don't see tnt having.

the second is how much sligh and storm combo decks are being played. obviously it wrecks them, and both can be tough matchups.  

even given both of those, it still needs to be dropped early so it will cut off first turn moxen. it's very similar to chalice, except that chalice is good.

[GoodFellasCorp]

After all the arguments I still dont' see how this card is superior to what is out there.  It is a simple fact that there are only four workshops in a deck and the odds of drawing one in your opening hand are not that great, not to mention that you have to draw the trinisphere as well.  As a mud player I would much rather see first turn workshop smokestack.  With this being said, it is much easier to cast a sphere of resistance as it only costs 2 to cast, and has the same effect to a spell that costs 2 to begin with.  It will help out against decks that run the majority of their cards being 1 or 2 drops, but first turn calice 1 followed up by a smokestack or vice versa is just as effective.

[dad]

I think this card will make Workshop decks try to abuse it.  The restriction of Workshop is likely to happen before Trinisphere.  However, if the meta can adjust appropriately, then such drastic action may not be necesary.

The card does seem to be very much in line with recent WotC moves.  Wizards has looked to slow the other formats with varying degrees of success.  Also, they have let it be known that some cards would be printed with Type 1 in mind.  I think the simple reason for this is money.

Type 1 will continue to see increased interest because there are so many players that have the older cards and cannot or will not keep buying new ones.  However, as the popularity increases, the number of players with power remains fairly stable.  That said, to keep these players playing, and buying, Wizards must print cards that may help level the playing field for Type 1.  If nonpowered decks could stand up to powered ones on a regular basis, I think Wizards would rejoice.  For those of us with power, the reaction is likely to be mixed.

[SpencerForHire]

Like I may have mentioned before, nothing will happen to workshop.  What happened when chalice came out?  Everyone said the sky was falling!  This is the same situation, well.. almost the same.  Nothing will happen to workshop or this card.
And remember, Like others have saiid, the workshop deck has to meet like 4 criteria before it will even work good.

1-Go first
2-Drop first turn
3-Have it resolve

No biggee.

[Jawman16]

Don't you people realize that if/when this card hits first turn it ruins everything!  The opponent can do nothing until turn three.  All the while you beat them down with fat artifacts.  Unless your workshop deck is total garbage there is no way the opponent can win if this hits first turn.  It is a reason to to restrict Workshop.  If you dont believe me let me borrow some of your workshops for a tournament and I will prove it.  This card makes you run Force of Will or die.

[mouth]

Unlike Chalice, this is dead in multiples. That brings up a dilemma: you want it in your opening hand, but you don't want to draw more later on in the game.

Also, if people thought Chalice screwed over budget decks, such as Sui, Goblins and Sligh, imagine what this card does to a finely tuned mana base.

[Jacob Orlove]

A few points: Ancient Tomb is not out of the question for Budget decks--people just haven't been using it (with the exception of Slax builds and other workshop-imitators). If people need to hit 3 mana by turn 1 or 2 with just lands, they'll adapt to be able to do so.

Second: ESG exists. Like Ancient Tomb, not enough decks use it, but it's another way to get around this thing.

[SpencerForHire]

The viability of this card is great, however, there is definately a chance that you will run into a deck this doesnt work against.  Other shop decks, Mask decks, etc.. The card IS good, but the chance that it will be useful in most of your matches is poor.  Its a first turn or bust thing.  If it doens't drop by turn 2 its a dead card..
Its GOOD no arguements there, but its no worry.

[GoodFellasCorp]

The restriction of workshop will not happen because it would then lead to a "slippery slope".  That would call for the restriction of bazaar of baghdad because by itself bazaar can and has been shown to be a more power card.  The restriction of these would have to lead to the restriction of wasteland.  Which would then have to lead to the restriction of dual lands.  This is because it would be way too unfair to have 5 strip sources against one workshop or one dual.  I don't think that wizards will go down that road.  If anything we may see the restriciton of key components to the workshop deck.  ie smokestack.  however I do not see welder or metalworker going because if my memory serves me correctly the last restricted creature was Ali from Cairo and that did not last long.

[BR]

If this card is such a problem in t1... why restrict workshop and not it... So far the only answer i got was "Because Wizards isn't smart enough to do that." which i find to be total crap... But anyway.. as others were saying, its more or less dead in the late game.. You dont want to draw it when your opponent has 3 lands/mana sources out cause its useless. If the workshop player goes second and his opponent goes Turn 1 Land Mox go, The turn 2 Trinisphere might as well be something like a chalice which might stop your opponents next play.

[Eastman]

It's very good. It will work well in Prison, acting as an additional useful lock component.

The power level will be in part determined by the status of the meta when this card becomes legal and that will be the largest determining factor in how widespread its use will be.

If this card is such a problem in t1... why restrict workshop and not it... So far the only answer i got was "Because Wizards isn't smart enough to do that." which i find to be total crap...

BR - lets not get ahead of ourselves on restricting cards or decks that don't exist yet.

But anyway.. as others were saying, its more or less dead in the late game.. You dont want to draw it when your opponent has 3 lands/mana sources out cause its useless. If the workshop player goes second and his opponent goes Turn 1 Land Mox go, The turn 2 Trinisphere might as well be something like a chalice which might stop your opponents next play.

You are wrong here.. the Trinisphere will still significantly slow an opponent past the 3 and even 6 mana threshold. You are still limiting the number of spells they can play each turn significantly.

[Lord of the Goats]

Don't you people realize that if/when this card hits first turn it ruins everything!  The opponent can do nothing until turn three.  All the while you beat them down with fat artifacts.  Unless your workshop deck is total garbage there is no way the opponent can win if this hits first turn.  It is a reason to to restrict Workshop.  If you dont believe me let me borrow some of your workshops for a tournament and I will prove it.  This card makes you run Force of Will or die.

however that assumes that you go first, or they don't play moxen on their first turn.  even given those assumtions,  you spend your first turn playing trinisphere rather than fat so it's not entirely spectacular since you only get one "free" attack in before their removal is up. personally i'd rather just drop a chalice or tangle wire.

honestly, i see this card as another chalice: it rapes sligh and storm combo. i certianly don't see tnt abusing it, and the lack of synergy with sphere says it won't be that great in prison decks.

[xrizzo]

I admit, you need a few things to go right to play this card optimally.  
Go first, get 3 mana turn 1, have trinisphere, get it to resolve... yada yada yada....  That sort of thing happens all the time...

This card allows for a combo-like kill in prison decks.

Turn 1a: workshop, trinisphere
Turn 1b: drop fetch
Turn 2a: mountain, play smokestack
Turn 2b: drop underground sea
Turn 3a: add counter, land drop, juggernaut, <mana still available>
Turn 3b: sac either fetch or sea.... drop another land
Turn 4a: sac perm, attack for 5.  You can repeat for 3 more turns, and they can do nothing as you already have 3 non-juggernaut permanents in play...

It is not unreasonable to have workshop with these lock components.  When you need only 3 cards for a complete combo, and all 3 card are unrestricted, you have an incredible potential for broken decks.

I would be shocked (notice the upgrade from my previous post) if this card is not played as a 3x in most workshop based decks which utilize tempo...