Comments on: You Make the Play: enCRYPTed?

By: GavinV

GavinV — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:45:27 +0000

He has access to ‘Tron. He can pay for Mana Leak on Sundering Titan (and anything else that deck plays), and so Mana Leak is basically useless this turn. If you use one mana on Archmage, you can still bluff Annul. I don’t see why you would let Crypt resolve, especially since you have an Active Riptide Lab. If he plays another spell this turn you have to Archmage then you are down the Archmage anyway because of Crypt, plus you lose your graveyard containing Chrome Moxes.

There is no reason to play around a card that deck won’t have like Darksteel Colossus. I am utterly certain that you should Archmage the Crypt in this situation.

By: cfoxrun

cfoxrun — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:05:29 +0000

If it is his turn 7 and has six lands in play (with ghost quarter in the bin) it means he has played land for the turn. You definately don’t Sprite as you have no Mana available for the play after (i.e. Mindslaver without activating).

If you Mage it, then you can still Mage there next play, unless it is an instant (gifts). If you let it resolve, then you get one activation from the Archmage before they remove it from the game with the Crypt.

If you let it resolve and they go for Mindslaver, you still have the play of Mana Leak for the Mindslaver or even Gifts.

Did we board in Stifle’s? If so we can let the Crypt sit and Stifle it at a future time.

My opinion is to let it hit and do nothing. Holding up the Archmage for a bigger threat and countering a more important spell, even if you only get one use out of the Archmage.

By: Burn1nMyLight

Burn1nMyLight — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:45:48 +0000

The way I see it:
You counter with Archmage, you can counter one more spell (persist).
You don’t counter it, you can still only counter one more spell (timing with the Crypt).
But if you spend a mana to counter the Crypt right now, that leaves you only able to counter non-creature spells for the rest of the turn. Given that the opponent has 5000 mana available, this seems like a terrible idea. Just because they don’t have an opening for Mindslaver doesn’t mean they don’t have an opening for Sundering Titan, Darksteel Colossus, etc, threats that you can’t counter if you go down to one open mana countering a basically-irrelevant card.

By: Gifts Ungiven

Gifts Ungiven — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:16:41 +0000

Sprite is terrible because he can just let you Sprite the Crypt, then you’re completely tapped out and he resolves Mindslaver, which you can do nothing about once it’s in play (unless you topdeck that Nassif miser’s Stifle, which I wouldn’t count on).

By: kingpete

kingpete — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:50:23 +0000

I guess you could save the sprites to flash in and kill angel. Also, countering with archmage would let you counter 2 spells this turn instead of just one. Putting out sprite doesnt seem bad to me though… Unless he has a counterspell, in which case you lose the counterwar over whatever else he has in his hand, which could ultimately lose you the game. Its a tough decision.

By: kingpete

kingpete — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:46:10 +0000

Why not spellstutter sprite it?

By: Faceless Butcher

Faceless Butcher — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:14:22 +0000

How is this even close? “The Play” is clearly to back up to before the tournament started and play a red deck instead. You would be eating lunch right now with a 2-0 record instead of spending minutes agonizing over every spell the opponent can or could play.

If your time machine is broken, I don’t see any arguments other that the ones above – counter the Crypt with the Archmage.

By: wrongwaygoback

wrongwaygoback — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:17:25 +0000

I think there are two decisions to make here -

Q1. Do I want to counter the crypt?

Q2. If I do want to counter it, what with?

Downside of the crypt resolving – I lose my tasty graveyard targets for the academy ruins I have in-hand.
Upside of the crypt resolving – I have mana up prevent one of the next two cards landing.
So what am I more worried about – him getting down the crypt, or his other two cards?
Worst case scenario – he has a mindslaver and a counterspell in hand. How can you stop the mindslaver from landing?
Say I let the crypt resolve – this then leaves me with several option open for counter-spelling the next spell that comes into play. However, the crypt will activate and I will certainly lose my graveyard and possibly the archmage.
However, I then have mana open to counter various different kinds of threats by keeping the sprite option open.
If I pop the archmage, my counter-spelling options come down to just popping the archmage a second time. However, I keep my graveyard.
My instinct is that if the opponent has a mindslaver and counterspell in hand – the worst case scenario – you may as well pop the archmage, keep the graveyard, and leave just enough mana open to prevent a mindslaver from landing and wear whatever else might come down the line.

So, yeah, I agree with those above.

By: bbbbbtony

bbbbbtony — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:09:05 +0000

i’m basically putting him on slaver and ruins in hand and if that’s the case i think there are two options: counter with archmage or not counter it at all. if you don’t counter it and he tries to resolve another spell this turn, and you counter with archmage, then the outcome will be the same as if you counter the crypt and they play another spell except you’ll be minus a graveyard or you could not counter and possibly counter the next spell with mana leak which leads down a whole different branch in the tree. if you counter with archmage and he doesn’t play another spell then that buys you a whole lot of time it seems plus you’ll still have a load of cards in hand. if you counter and he plays a second spell which you again counter with archmage then that leaves you with a mana leak and spellstutter sprites to fight with their other spells and angel. that being said i think i favor countering with archmage and waiting to see what comes next.

By: GavinV

GavinV — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:43:17 +0000

You activate Archmage targeting Tormod’s Crypt.

If you don’t then Archmage is one-shot anyway because he is going to Crypt you in response to persist. Why is this play better than simply letting it resolve, since after all, you get one more counter out of Archmage either way? Simple. Later the opportunity may arise for you to rebuy your Archmage with Riptide Laboratory. Furthermore, you also have Academy Ruins in your hand and those Chrome Moxes in your graveyard could prove important at some point if you draw a Thirst for Knowledge.

The problem with Spellstutter Spriting said Tormod’s Crypt, despite it being an incredibly juicy option since you are not going to have many other good targets, is it leaves you tapped out. If you tap out and either of his last two cards are business, you are going to lose this game.