vexing devil

phatlee · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 43

what do you guys think about this guy coming out in avacyn restored??? hes a one drop red devil at a 4/3. the drawback you ask??? your opponent can pay 4 life to make you sacrifice it. im totally thinking of running blue/red when this guy hits play just to use bounce to keep getting him to come out. worst case is you get to keep him on the field at 4/3.... this guy with stromkirk noble and delver, you could make a hell of a one drop deck out of this.... lets throw some ideas around....

Mrrr · Joined: 06 Aug 2011 Posts: 48

A 4/3 for 1 is very good. 4 life for 1 is very good. Winner. No need for shenanigans.

Duodax · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 352

You can pay life to make opp mulligan and skip his turn, later on the creature is not relevant anymore > crappy card.

LuckyDucky · Joined: 14 Jan 2012 Posts: 165

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=407398

I think Vexing Devil will be in every Modern RDW deck. I don't think it is good enough to make RDW good again in standard unless there are some more cards coming in AVR.

Kaesh · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:28 pm Post subject:

It doesn't even make it to Top5 red one drops in Standard. The only thing it does accomplish is making you dead money in a tournament.

Kabelis · Joined: 27 Jun 2010 Posts: 87

It doesn't fit anywhere currently, that's the problem. In standard you will just take 4 and be happy that opponent wasted his turn not advancing his board position. You need some very specific draws to make this card good. Burn spells are good in RDW because they act as removal to get your creatures through OR as a way to finish them off once you enter the "burn" phase.
This will never be a topdeck to finish them off or a powerful permanent damage source they have a hard time dealing with early on.

If you're a dedicated lava spike & CO burn deck, you won't have enough creatures to "outmass" their removal. They will give you the 4/3 and use 1 of their removal spells on it. Since your deck won't have nearly as many creatures as the regular RDW deck, you're less likely to follow up with another creature. Burn deck's strength is the difficulty to interact with it. Something like Keldon Marauders or Hellspark Elemental will at least do SOME damage before dying, this will get 1-for-1ed which burn deck doesn't want as each peace is critical to finish opponent off.

Basically this doesn't supplement either plan very well as long as opponent can evaluate the amount of removal spells he needs to save for your permanent damage sources (creatures) and how much damage he can get burned for. So it is better the worse your opponent is, I suppose.
It's a powerful card, but in practice it's just very awkward.

phatlee · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 43

huh, ok i misused the term bounce. lol i just meant get him back in my hand somehow, obviously from the graveyard, and kinda replay the effect. also, can someone explain this miracle thing?? am i to understand this works when i draw for my turn as well??? cuz some miracle cards just seem sick....

Wichtelman · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 42

well same with goblin guide... ok guide has haste...
i think its ok if u have it turn 1-2 in legacy...

Strid3r · Joined: 18 Jan 2010 Posts: 127

Duodax: sure for example the control player can take damage and then heal it with timely reinforcements or let it enter to destroy it with doj, but it is still better than any of the crappy cards rdw has in current T2

Hey dudes you are so wrong i tested vexing devil already and it is the best card in the future rdw. You must cast it somewhere in the middle of the game so that no option is good for opponent.

GreenBear · Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 491

It's a worse version of lava spike, which takes some doing:)

That said it will be good in the same 0 interaction, only one way of approaching the game (forced by the cards you are playing and hence easy to beat) bad decks lava spike is played in.

sc4rs · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 732

RDW still wins trials on here from time to time. Forcing a RDW deck down the metagame's throat will win every once in a while.

It'll see some play but, like Browbeat, giving your opponent a choice makes it worse than it looks. It's probably playable and about on a level of Browbeat, maybe a little better because it only costs R and so isn't as huge of a mana sink in the midgame.

Ffancrzy · Level 1 Judge Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 258

I don't think this card is playable outside 1 deck that has little to no success, the Modern/Legacy "Lava Spike" style burn decks, and even then its a little sketchy.

Punisher cards are generally bad.

Spyx · Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 1186

In a dedicated burn deck it's pretty decent in your opening hand. Even then, you make your opponents swords/path do something. At least goblin guide can sneak in for 2 when they are tapped out or on the draw and marauders always does 2.
Mediocre card.

DonDiggy · Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Posts: 27

You guys are dead wrong, sorry.

Vexing Devil will be an Auto-Include in Modern + Standart, in both RDW and UR Delver Decks.

Let's face the facts: Its powerlevel heavily scales to the gamestate. A wise opponent will !always! pay Life to kill him, unless he's in range for Double Burn/Shrine/whatsoever. So its literally 4 to the head until Turn4-5. Sure at sorcery speed and only to player/walker, but still pretty amazing. Keep in mind that the opposing player always wants to keep his Removals for other creatures - especially with evasion- like Delver/Noble/Clique/whatever.

His Powerlevel reaches its peak at about Turn 3-4. Paying Life hurts at this point, and Removals have been eaten by the good early Drops. But he's always the burn4 or the creature to handle, no typical Browbeat. A 3-Off sounds reasonable.

Kabelis · Joined: 27 Jun 2010 Posts: 87