That doesn't make him worth playing though, you still had to find a way to trigger it when you first played it to get an ok amount of value and if you didn't then the Essence Flux play is simply catching up on value but then not really.

I was thinking of trying it out for my Bant deck. Not a flicker deck, but runs Displacers. Guessing the 2/2 for 3 will not make it worth it, but will try. Other triggers would be Wilds and thinking of trying the 3/4 for G that bounces back to hand if you don't have 2 energy.

Unbridled Growth seems good for that in Bant. Helps manafix early, cantrips late - triggers revolt for free if already in play.

Not sure about the best, but Chief of the Foundry/Master Trinketeer look pretty good.




I went with 1.0 for Call because if you decide to include it in your deck, it will win you some games because the power is there. The card is not totally unplayable like a Tainted Remedy, it's just very far from the best option.

As for Conviction, is there an Enchantment deck seeing play?




Well, this is a play I didn't consider initially. Not sure if it's enough to sway me, though. The card still feels extremely clunky and restrictive. Pretty sure you can find better stuff to run in Bant flicker.

You could just play him with eldrazi displacer.

Conviction could go with the aura/vehicle/equipment dwarf. /-: meh
It also triggers revolt repeatedly. /-: meh, meh.

Shame.

There was an Abzan enchantment deck in the steam showdown last season (season before Kaladash IIRC), and Divinert ran an Abzan enchantment deck in an xbone afterparty tourney. The former didn't do particularly well if memory serves, but the latter had some success in its tourney (aided by the fact it's sideboard allowed it to convert to Abzan control - again, If I have the details correct).

I also occasionally run into enchantment decks on the ladder. At least as often as I see other obscure archetypes like allies, if not slightly more.

A card like Conviction is a reason to revisit enchantment decks and could very well breath new life into them. Something that allows you to trigger Sigil twice the turn after you cast it is good niche tech - not to mention other cards that trigger for buffs/lifegain/carddraw/etc when you cast enchantments. I believe it deserves a 1 at least (probably not more than that, but I'll test anyways when it drops)

I don't think Conviction is what that deck needs to be competitive. If anything, I think it needs redundancy for it's win-con (Sigil), not things that work well with it, of which there are plenty already in the pool.

It does have the bonus of turning on guys like Blood-Cursed Knight or pulling a Gisela/Kalitas up out of burn range without the risk of a 2-for-1. My version of that deck at least relies pretty heavily on lifelinkers to stall out the board vs. aggro.

I guess I'll just have to disagree with your take on that card; I think self recurring tech is exactly something enchantment decks need to become more viable. I was watching Nighthawk play his recent elf deck, and he ran into an enchantment deck that was doing extremely well until it ran out of gas. Conviction would have been $$$ there, and not allowed Nighthawk to get off the ropes.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nLyr7OHjOtw

Match is around 18:40 if you're curious.

Sure and in any other set, that Enchantments deck would actually pretty well situated.

But Kaladesh is bringing a ton of artifact/enchantment hate with it, so..

Yeah and I'm super bummed we didn't get Restoration Specialist for that reason. But on the flip side, Auramancer/Ironclad Slayers help with recursion. I don't expect it to be tier 1 or anything crazy, but I'll be revisiting the archetype anyways. Don't believe it will be legit tourney worthy this season, but should be playable to some degree on the ladder.

In the end my arguement here isn't that enchantment decks are going to be So Boss now. My arguement is more just that Conviction tech possibilities earn the card more than a 0 rating, and focusing on just the creature buff in evaluation is an error that misses potential. If Blob is an example of 1 rating, Conviction should be there too imho.

That's the thing about opinions, everybody has one. I agree with you that in the right enchant deck that gives advantage for playing enchants Conviction will be strong. I think the 0 rating is correct outside of that specific deck. I do want to fiddle around with an enchant deck but decks are fast right now and controlling them with enchants may be tricky. I also think with all the artifacts flying around not only will you see a boat load of hate but cards like Tragic Arrogance may see a lot of play, that would be truly tragic vs an enchant deck.

Blue review is here, everyone!

Compliance Officer, baral -- am i crazy or is this card super undercosted for a 1/3 with a ton of upside??

i love that blue sweeper. I wonder if it finds a home in Bant Tempo or not

*everything sucks, everything sucks, everything sucks, pouting cos no negate* "DAM! He liked stuff..."

Bastion Inventor. I really wanted this to be good, but no matter what I was doing (mono Blue artifacts, UB artifacts etc) he just becomes a worse Gearseeker Serpent. The problem isn't protecting something like that, it's getting it to punch through blockers. Agree with your assessment.

Baral is another anomaly to me atm. If I put him in control decks, he dies to my sweepers, cheap enemy removal and most aggro threats like Brawler and Motorist. If an Izzet counterburn deck exists, that's his perfect home, but I'm not sure if that archetype is strong enough.

I'm pretty sure no one subs baby Jace from their Control decks because he dies to your own sweepers. Sweepers are last resorts, not a card you use whenever you can get a marginal card advantage. Besides, it's ok if he dies to your own sweeper if you get enough value from him frist (remember that he forces your opponent to commit more to the board). There's little difference between a 4-for-1 and a 5-for-2 if you got some mana discounts and a loot or 2 along the way. Besides, he makes multiple removal spells a thing, which lessen the burden on sweepers.

Baral is good, but he is no Jace. If Jace didn't flip into a PW that repeated my spells (and potentially a wincon) I probably wouldn't run him either for the same reason.

Nice job writing the Blue review again, fel.

There are 2 points I disagree on this time:

-I think Leave in the Dust is better than 0.0. The fact that it says "nonland permanent" makes it a Disperse with card-draw attached to it. Seeing how Disperse is a pretty decent effect but some blue decks might shy away from it because it's card disadvantage I could see this getting teched in control decks should the format be slow. It's definitely not amazing and 4 mana is expensive, but a 1.0 is definitely in order IMO.

-Take into Custody is horrible even for Prowess. If I want my guys to hit through I'll just use Slip through Space; and even if I desperately need the tap+doesn't untap effect here, Grip of the Roil does that better because it replaces itself.

I am tempted to petition WotC to remove fel's zero star cards from the game entirely. I am losing days off my life scrolling past them looking for useful spells, and they keep cloning themselves every set!