Huh. Saying that you've been genuinely conviced without sounding snarky is really hard on the interwebz. I've typed and deleted about half a dozen attempts. But yeah, you're totally making sense.

Abbot of Keral Keep seems like a likely completion of that nonexistant cycle. He's less niche than Pyromancer.

Does this cycle still hold on Legacy? Snap and Stoneforge are there, Tarmogoyf's not near as good there as Modern...

Yeah, I've definitely run into that problem before. Thank you for making the effort. It was an interesting discussion.

@Heartless: I think all of them see play in legacy. In this case Pyromancer over Abbot though. Tarmogyof is in Temur Delver and some Sultai decks. Dark Confidant's play is waning though, he used to be in some control decks but it was always a risk with all the Force of Will running around and black decks are getting new options.

Kiln Fiend is much better than Young Pyromancer because you can kill them in the same turn!

Kiln Fiend is the next Tarmogoyf.

In Legacy, it seems like people see Knight of the Reliquary as a bigger threat than 'goyf. There's not much said about the Temur builds at the moment.

I thought RUG Delver was once of the pillars of the format? Goyf-Goose-Delver-Stifle-Wasteland-Daze, should be getting better now that people will be playing Jace over Dig Through Time. Ring any bells?

Probably. Outside obligations have kept me from following up on the format with the loss of Dig. As a Dragon Stompy enthusiast, I welcome the return of the delver mouthbreathers.

goyf is also played in shardless sultai, as well as punishing jund...

I don't know about busted but I used to wreak havoc with Cabal Interrogator from time to time. Mesmeric Fiend w/Boomerang is pretty nasty for a two-drop too.

for Castigate seems pretty bad, even if it is flexible.

Not in a dedicated control deck that has been built properly and is navigated properly. It's not a playstyle everyone can pull off with efficiency.

Why wouldn't you just play, I dunno, Castigate?

or if this is pre-Ravnica times, Coercion.

I guess we could compare a b/w sorcery to a u/b creature/instant combo. We could use Unsummon and drop a U to make it a reusable three mana combo or we could go mono-black and pick the multitude of cheap ways to send a creature to the yard at instant speed... ignoring the hundreds of creatures that allow you to sac at instant speed. We could even use Altar's Reap instead and draw two cards in the process. We could go back to b/w if we wanted and start using blink effects and really get nuts. For the price of Mesmeric Fiend and a single white for Cloudshift we can get 2 remove triggers and one return trigger and stack the triggers accordingly. So now you got a 1/1 body that just took two cards for 3 mana... one of which is exiled. That seems pretty cost effective to me.

The point I was trying to make was that for 2 mana, Mesmeric Fiend is extremely versatile. Like I said in my OP, not busted. Just really, really good in the right deck.

Not sure if trolling. Mesmeric Fiend is okay, but is not powerful and hasn't been for a long time. All the skill in the world won't save you if your opponent just steamrolls through your disruption.

Ahhhh. I can see why this forum is so dead. Spikefest. See ya guys later.

So you enter a discussion about the best 2-drops in Legacy (or close to it), bring up one of your own (which you describe as "pretty nasty"), and you're somehow surprised when people criticize it on the merits of its playability? Yeah, who saw that one coming.
Not to mention this post:

Which reeks of arrogance, and practically invites people to try and disagree.

What I love most about the last exchange is how raw it is...how genuine...how unlike my current job. How often in life can you say "**** off, stop being an ****." It soothes me to see it in a form which is both accurate and lacking murder.

Thread necro. I figure I started it anyway though and I wanted to toss something else in here:

Would Jace, Vryn's Prodigy be considered the second busted blue 2-drop?
I don't think it necessarily ousts snaps (mostly because Jace can't effectively flashback counterspells), but at this point I think it's dumb enough to warrant being considered of similar power level.

Thoughts?

Of course it does. It sees play everywhere. It might be better than Snapcaster; it's got higher upside and greater overall versatility. It just doesn't maneuver as well.

Eldrazi Mimic = most busted eldrazi 2-drop?

Maybe?
Does it's reliance on Eye of Ugin, TKS, and R. Smasher to be any good impinge on it's relevance to this list though?