Back to Basics: Learning to break cards (Trinisphere)

[MetaMage]

Nice post, but no whining "I can't post here and here boohoo. I mean this in the nicest way possible



The art of breaking cards is as old as Type 1 itself, and new type 1 players seem to be moving away from innovation with each new set release and looking at how cards fit more into existing deck types. Remember how Long.dec was criticized in the beginning? Just because something doesn't fit in with today's environment doesn't mean it can't be turned into a monster. Newbies look at Weissman's "The Deck" and scoff at the cards, but in fact even the 1997 version is still a good deck. Hell, I piloted a janky Planar Portal based deck in the original TOC (either I or II, can't remember) back on BDominia and lost a total of 2 games if i remember correctly.

Why does something like "The Deck" still win? It wasn't created by sticking the most powerful cards available together with some super-powerful effect and hoping for the best. The most powerful decks are created using a specific understanding of the fundamental nature of Magic itself and how cards interact. What I'm getting at is the need for newer players to start learning the fundamentals of Magic, and older players to revisit the concepts that they learned back in the day. One of the best ways to do it is looking at the great decks of the past, but that's not the purpose of this.

I could go on and on about deckbuilding strategies, but right now I want to focus on one particular concept, temporal control. This is something particularly important in type one. Getting your opponent to play on your terms is absolutely key in a format where at the slightest opportunity your opponent can go broken and win. Hence why true aggro is rarely great, as it's only temporal control is the clock. Even the Zoo decks of old were control decks...if you ever played them back in '97 before they died you know exactly what I mean.


There seems to be some confusion among players as to how good a certain Darksteel card is. You all probably know I'm talking about Trinisphere, heir to the legacy of such great tempo-control cards as Winter Orb and Black Vise. These cards work not by defeating the opponent on their own, but by forcing them to play under a specific set of conditions. Winter Orb of course slows the opponent down, giving you time if you're prepared to take advantage of the conditions, while Black Vise forces your opponent to commit to a faster attack or lose life, reducing the time they have to set up their own strategy. Trinisphere can be used to the same effect if you take the time to build a deck to abuse it properly.

Let's start with what Trinisphere does: All spells cost at least 3. (This is the essential concept, not exact wording)

So, let's consider exactly what that means: The lower average CC of the spells in a deck, the more disrupting Trinisphere is. So while it is definitely not broken in a deck like, say Keeper, this does not mean it is not a broken card. Any card that alters the fundamental nature of the game for a low cost like Trinisphere can be broken, the question is, how to do it?


Part 1: Minimizing Trinisphere's impact on your own game

In the case of Trinisphere, you must either alter the ideal mana curve to minimize it's impact on your game or find a way to bypass the drawback.

Path A
Now a deck filled with higher casting cost cards may seem like a bad idea at first, but take a moment to think about why these cards cost more: They are more powerful than lower casting cost cards. While this of course is not always true, it is a general rule WotC tries to follow. Cards like The Abyss, Ivory Mask, Fact or Fiction and Morphling all deserve such high casting costs, and not one is affected by Trinisphere.

Path B
Getting around the drawbacks without worrying about the mana curve (though I'd suggest using both paths at once) isn't very difficult with Trinisphere. Card put directly into play from the graveyard or Library without being cast aren't affected, and neither are lands. Oath of Druids is a primary example of a card that gets cards into play directly, and that's just the first one I could think of off the top of my head. As for lands, you can either use lands that produce greater quantities of mana, like Mishra's Workshop, or you can use lands with useful effects like Mishra's Factory, etc.


Both pf these paths offer basic ways to use Trinisphere without it affecting your own game, whether it be by using more powerful, higher casting cost cards, or by circumventing the drawback of the card. Now lets move on to the specifics of strategies that allow you to use Trinisphere to cripple the opponent, rather than just slow them down.

Part 2: Maximizing Trinisphere's impact on your opponent's game

Trinisphere alone slows down an opponent by requiring them to use more mana to cast spells, disrupting their tempo. This is good, but Trinisphere is not a win condition! To abuse your opponent's strategy fully, you must use your opponent's slowness to your advantage. Let's break down all the specific things you can exploit when your opponent is under Trinisphere:

A. Needs more mana to play spells.
B. Fewer spells played at a time because of A.
C. More cards in hand because of B.

Path A
Mana Denial. Those two words say it all. Armageddon, Pillage, Wasteland, Winter Orb, Dwarven Miner...these cards make Trinisphere's disruption go from significant to fatal, and only Winter Orb is even affected by Trinisphere.

Path B
Less threats get played by your opponent, so you can either take board control by playing more of your own threats, or play the counter game (hell even memory lapse helps with it lol). 3CC counters like Forbid aren't even affected by Trinisphere, and neither are cards like Phid and Finkel.

Path C
So many cards in hand makes Balance entertaining since you can hopefully operate better than your opponent under Trinisphere, Mind Twist is more useful and Vise become a real threat. Oh and the king of all ways to take advantage of this? Lobotomy. I'm sure you'll be able to think of plenty more abusive things on your own


It is important, when choosing your method of attacking your opponent, that you consider the local environment and what decks are dominant. Also, don't shy away from using multiple paths to victory; the more flexible your strategy is, the less of a chance there is for your opponent to totally shut you down.


In closing...
I won't leave you with any deck lists, as I'm still developing several myself, but perhaps in the coming days I'll add a Part 2 as I get a better feel for which specific strategies work best in today's Type 1 environment. The thing you should take away from this, mostly, is to learn from the past, and go back to the principles that guided deckbuilders like Weissman in creating the monstrosities of old. Your deckbuilding skills will be much better off for it, and who knows...you might innovate a format defining deck of your own.

For those of you who believe in the past: http://www.classicdojo.org


~MetaMage
Old school forever!

[Necrologia]

Some people are going to argue that this is just a matter of semantics, but what you're trying to do isn't breaking Trinisphere, it’s utilizing it. Trying to break a card implies that you're using it in a way that wasn't intended. The end result of this is often a restriction or errata.

I guess the term “broken” is just one of my pet peeves. I hate the term in all but a handful of cases, such as a few key cards from Urza's Block, and frankly, Trinisphere is not in that league. You can certainly find a way to use the card, and perhaps even abuse it, but not break it; Trinisphere just doesn’t have the amount of potential needed to be “broken.” It's simply not possible.

PS: A major reason that “The Deck” is still viable is that the 4 maindeck Disenchants are amazing against the majority of today’s top decks. Try the same experiment by playing against some decks from the 4 FoF era, and the results likely won’t be as encouraging.

[theorigamist]

Ignoring the semantics issue, your post still ignored what I feel is a pretty important part of the card (both a potential weakness and an invaluable strength): the card only works while untapped.  This means that you can tap it to avoid it, and the opponent can tap it to get a turn to destroy it.  I've been developing a deck that tries to abuse Trinisphere and some other synergistic artifacts.  After I do some testing I'll post it, but right now all my testing with it has been goldfishing.

[Ephraim]

I am quite a n00b, when it comes to making the most of cards, and recently printed cards are always freshest in my mind. However, could this be an invitation to use Blinmoth Well or Auriok Transfixer?

[MetaMage]

Some people are going to argue that this is just a matter of semantics, but what you're trying to do isn't breaking Trinisphere, it’s utilizing it. Trying to break a card implies that you're using it in a way that wasn't intended. The end result of this is often a restriction or errata.

Is that so? I think people have been using it so liberally (like the term Sligh) so long it should be ok by now lol. And there's a difference between utilizing a card and basing a deck around it to push it over the top

I guess the term “broken” is just one of my pet peeves. I hate the term in all but a handful of cases, such as a few key cards from Urza's Block, and frankly, Trinisphere is not in that league.

We used to call Fireblast broken, you know.

PS: A major reason that “The Deck” is still viable is that the 4 maindeck Disenchants are amazing against the majority of today’s top decks. Try the same experiment by playing against some decks from the 4 FoF era, and the results likely won’t be as encouraging.

This is kind  of a lame argument. FoF was the defining card of the format back them, and got restricted for it. Plus, I never said it'd win more than it would lose...I'm just saying it's so well built that it stands an ok chance 7 years after the early 97 version. As for 4 Disenchant, that's just an illustration of the principle of maximum utility.

Ignoring the semantics issue, your post still ignored what I feel is a pretty important part of the card (both a potential weakness and an invaluable strength): the card only works while untapped.

Yes, I ignored it, but then again I would put that in the category of getting around the weaknesses of the card using a trick. Also, anything that tends towards using the untapping feature starts looking like the old Prison decks and I'm thinking that's too unwieldly now. But go for it, it's just not the route I would take.

~MetaMage
Old school forever!

[dad]

If you are in Atlanta, I suggest hooking up with Hill Redwine and some of his friends.  Hill has extra power (last I knew he had about 5 or 6 sets) but has to travel to Savannah and/or Charleston to find Type 1 tournaments.  I'm sure if he found more players in the area he would be glad to play.
This is off-topic, and should be kept to a PM. Don't do it again.

-Jacob

[Necrologia]

We used to call Fireblast broken, you know.

And Workshop, and Chalice, and Berserk, and... Thus my growing dislike of the word.

FoF was the defining card of the format back them, and got restricted for it. Plus, I never said it'd win more than it would lose...I'm just saying it's so well built that it stands an ok chance 7 years after the early 97 version. As for 4 Disenchant, that's just an illustration of the principle of maximum utility.

Perhaps it was a bad example, but I didn't mean play the deck against BBS alone. I meant play it against the top decks before Animate Dead and Workshop became popular, and the FoF period was the first thing that popped into my mind.

I'm sorry that I didn't address your main points, but seeing as how I didn't have much to add to the topic itself I left it alone. If you really want my opinion though, I don't think Trinisphere is powerful enough to have an entire deck devoted to it. It's best either thrown into a Deadbolt or MUD deck as another lock component

Deadbolt was a lock deck that generated a bit of discussion on the old forums right when Mirrodin came out. The idea was to abuse Howling Mine with Lodestone Myr, so the deck might actually work with Trinisphere as another toy to play with. It's still not the focus of the deck, but it'll probably get the maximum mileage out of the card.

[theorigamist]

We used to call Fireblast broken, you know.

I think you're proving his point, which is that the term "broken" is apply far too liberally where it isn't actually applicable.

As for a prison style deck being unwieldy, what about all that mono brown?  Prison decks are huge right now.  And, for the record, like I said, I'm developing a Trinisphere prison deck and it's goldfishing on turn 3 and 4 right now.  It's not at all unwieldy.

[Jakedasnake]

I like the card, and I like your post.

Trinisphere is a good card. However, as previously mentioned, it won't have a huge effect on Type 1.

Consider this card in wMUD, and MUD variants.

Sphere of Resistance, the card that has the most similar effect to Trinisphere, is almost just plain better than Trinisphere. The first reason is the casting cost. First off, Sphere can be cast either of a land and a mox, a Workshop, or an Ancient Tomb.

However, Trinisphere pretty much can only be cast first turn off a Workshop, or an Ancient Tomb and a mox. Sphere of Resistance just plain comes down faster, and the effect on the early game is just as disruptive.

Plus, since you won't play Trinisphere on turn 1 as often, the opponent will most likely be able to play stuff like Brainstorm in response, and the effect won't be as large because they've already started developing their mana base.

Sphere is different. It can come down turn 1 as often as you want. Well, basically. Plus, when going first, they STILL won't be able to play anything turn 1. Thus, it has the same effect on the early game that Trinisphere has, but at a cheaper cc.

Considering that wMUD doesn't have much of a late game problem because of Smokestack/Tangle Wire + Goblin Welder, a card that can push them into a lock is important. Having that turn 1 Sphere, which, like mentioned, is easier to cast than Trinisphere, compensates for the lack of Metalworker, or some such powerful turn 1 play.

[theorigamist]

Jakedasnake, I think you're looking at the card differently than MetaMage.  He's figuring out what's the best way to build a deck around Trinisphere and you're looking at it like it's going to just be added to an already extant archetype.  I just put up a mutant version of an existing archetype that abuses Trinisphere fairly well, and plays it on the first turn pretty often.

[Jakedasnake]

Maybe, but I really doubt a deck like the previous mentioned will be nearly as competetive as wMUD. And in wMUD, Sphere is just better.

[kuwv]

I know this may seem like a wierd idea but I think that trinisphere + inpending desaster could make a lock combo with just the right kind of creature/control strategy for an easy win. Maybe even Phyrexinator(negator) for the kill.

[thejinhong]

I think that the T-sphere might be good in Tangle-TNT.  I liked the Tangles in TNT but they still allowed an opponet to Swords the Jugg.  Now with Workshop>Jugg, followed by a turn 2 T-sphere, followed by a turn 3 Wasteland, thats GG against a lot of decks.  TNT runs 4 of each of the above cards, so this scenario is very possible.

[DEA]

ehh, why not 1st turn trinisphere?
you can still play the jugg on turn 2 but you lock out the opponent even more

[MetaMage]

I like the card, and I like your post.

Trinisphere is a good card. However, as previously mentioned, it won't have a huge effect on Type 1.

Consider this card in wMUD, and MUD variants.

Sphere of Resistance, the card that has the most similar effect to Trinisphere, is almost just plain better than Trinisphere. The first reason is the casting cost. First off, Sphere can be cast either of a land and a mox, a Workshop, or an Ancient Tomb.

However, Trinisphere pretty much can only be cast first turn off a Workshop, or an Ancient Tomb and a mox. Sphere of Resistance just plain comes down faster, and the effect on the early game is just as disruptive.

You're focusing on an already existing deck type, and it's effects only related to that type. Sphere of Resistance is also not nearly as abusable because it has a symmetric effect, whereas you can pretty much make a deck that isn't affected by Trinisphere at all.

---Other replies:

As for lock decks, make sure you're not focusing on a strategy that can't win if the Sphere doesn't make it into play. Think in terms of Pre-Cereal Necro, where the decks had to be able to win without Necro as well. There's a fine balance to be struck in type one.


Ok, tomorrow I'll post a deck to go with this, as an example. By no means will it be tuned or competitive...think of it more as a tool of inspiration, like in the old Duelist deck deconstruction articles.

[Fëanor]

Fundamentally, if we take the metagame paint off T1 vintage, we have a pretty full hull already. if decks from masques - current were taken out of type one, we would still be able to use the cards we use in the same ways, disregarding what we've lost. The only difference is that someone would have to find a replacement. What does this have to do with trinisphere? Consider Winter Orb which was mentioned earlier. The orb alone is a good land shut-down, but with other cards (Icy) it can be even more powerful. This may seem basic and stupid, but i dont think many people look at new cards the same way. There is a way to combo any card with another of your choice and find some sort of crazy way to bend that card's natural use into something origional and sometimes unavoidable.

However, I believe there is no way to excel any such cards so far that they become "broken". A card is labeled broken if it is used alone. How many times have you heard of a broken combo? true there are people who say that stasis + chronotog was broken, but that's not really proving the power of a combo at all. its showing the ways it can abuse Stasis.

IMHO: Trinisphere will no doubt be used everywhere for at least a couple months, if not longer. The reason i can say it wont become broken or staple is because it is an easily removable threat. True I play Ankh and that threat is just as easily removable, but chances are, due to deck style, the ankh will be easier to get into play than a trinishpere, no matter what effect it has on the game. (I say threat because i think any card that forces the opposite of good on your opponent is to some degree a threat).

MetaMage is most definitely correct that there are many fun ways to abuse this card. In fact casual play may even be devastated by such a card. You can abuse trinisphere as much as you want, but there is always a weakness, and with weakness comes failure, at least some percentage of the time. Not even "broken" cards are supposed to win you the game. they are simple utility to get you there faster. As Dream Halls could have once been considered unbeatable, with how many thousands of cards to chose from, isnt one person going to find the perfect card to reverse the abusing of our trinisphere, and sideboard it??

Concluding thought: Due to the replies that seem to reach towards putting it into a current deck, i dont see what that has to do with MM's original idea of centering the deck around it. However, i believe the only way Trinisphere will see permanent play at all is added into a current archetype. Although, watch someone tell me im wrong tomorrow...or tonight...or in a few seconds...

peace

[MetaMage]

To counter your argument about brokenness...Ancestral Recall isn't broken in a deck with no way to produce blue mana, and Balance isn't nearly as powerful without the almighty 0cc artifacts.

Every card need the appropriate deck to make it broken. Some are just broken in more decks than others.

[Sytupal]

Creeping Mold is Tech  

[The Hamburgler]

Listen:
Toad and I have been testing it out in Welder MUD. It isn't that amazing, only when it is played first turn. Since the popularity in strip effects from lands you generally go Mishra's Workshop, Trinisphere, they strip and you play mountains. It is a bad card to draw late game, and will probably not even get the main deck, just with its obvious hosing of aggressive aggro. Don't get all afraid and run around in circles screaming, " The meta is broken!!! The sky is falling!" or something of the sorts. I think the card has potential but maybe in a deck like landstill in the sideboard, this way it can establish beats with manlands against the same aggressive aggro.

[Corvel]

I really feel that Trinisphere is better than Sphere of Resistence in wMUD because firstly it doesn't effect nearly as many of your spells as Sphere of Resistence. It almost always has at least as good of an effect as Sphere of Resistence once you take into account that it effects you less and most of the time them more. And the fact that a first turn Trinisphere that is not forced is basicly game.