Pointed Discussion

that's very tangled

that's not very tangled

Why such a low rating? With a couple of these you can lock down a game for several turns, as you can put the ability on the stack during your upkeep AND tap your own tangle wire, meaning that you are tapping TWO less permanents than your opponent is every turn. Great with the quick beatdown decks.

Awesomely sick artifact control. I wish I owned some so I could screw around with it and Gilder Bairn.

Ah, another elegant artifact lockdown piece. As themicronaut said: this thing only looks symmetrical at first glance. In reality, it is nothing else but utterly one-sided.

Very Good Card put into beatdown deck, I still have Stompy wire deck that use this card fully, turn 1 forest + Llanowar elves, turn 2 forest then tangle wire and have fun ^^

This is like Winter Orb, except it also taps non-land permanents. Once you get a beatstick out you can play this to shut down opponent's mana and/or blockers. A few of this is very much game over for most decks to face early on.

Annoying as hell to play against. I hate this card with a passion.

It's a great control variant. I can see why STAX used it to great effect, and it continues to pervade Vintage tournaments to this day. I have three now for a control deck I'm running with Smokestack,

PROTIP: have one in the graveyard and one in play, and use Goblin Welder to flip them as the one in play goes on the stack during your upkeep. As far as it was explained to me by a judge, the ability fizzles between the exchange, and you keep a full four counter Tangle Wire without ever having to tap a permanent!

@Lateralis0ne; I dont think thats correct, at the beginning of your upkeep the ability goes on the stack, you respond and switch it with the one in your graveyard, then the ability resolves and you tap your permanents using the last information from the first one. to quote the rules pdf "112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability. Note that some abilities cause a source to do something (for example, “Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player”) rather than the ability doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered ability that references information about the source because the effect needs to be divided checks that information when the ability is put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone it’s expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer exists."

So let me get this straight.

Your Turn: Play Tangle Wire with 4 counters.
Opponent's Turn: They tap 4 permanents
Your Turn: layer it so the fading happens before the tapping; you tap 2 permanents and the Wire itself.
Opponent's Turn: They tap 3 permanents
etc. etc.

What a deceptively one-sided card....
And designwise it's also very clever. Too bad it's the epitome of a griefer card ;p

Remember, it doesn't mess with enchantments... There's got to be some way to abuse that. Off the top of my head, Freed From The Real, Second Wind, Witch's Mist... There's got to be a thousand other ways though.

Enchant a Thrummingbird with Second Wind, untap it and proliferate the counters so that it never stops annoying the opponent? Then... get another Thrummer out, enchant THAT one too...

Chronatog! It will never ever go away! Combine it with Winter Orb or Static Orb. Get these three into play and after a few turns you can just go make a sandwich while they draw to death.

A 10-3 advantage over several turns? Sure, why not.

One of my favorite parts aside from the one-sided advantage is the fact that this won't fail its use even if your opponent has artifact removal in hand. Unless they can pay for something at instant speed like Oxidize, Goblin Tinkerer or Abolish if they have still mana open (/a plains in hand) the turn you cast it, but that won't happen too often.

Gets even better if you have permanents with -effects. Gilder Bairn is easily the most evil of them all :D

Get a couple of these and a Goblin Welder going, and you're in business!

Worked great in control decks back when it was in Standard, and now it's seeing play in Vintage. Solid card, this.

It should be noted that, despite the illusion of symmetricality, it usually gives the user a two-permanent advantage: the opponent is hit by this first, to begin with, and suffers the full brunt of tapping 4 permanents while the user taps three, and so on. In addition, the user can tap the Wire itself with no ill effects.

Just like Smokestack, in the hands of a vet (or just someone who understands the stack) you get a massive tempo advantage if you want by forcing the opponent to have a much worse effect.

Keep a throne of geth around to either add counters or get rid of the effects of either artifact (especially smokestack) before they hit you again.

Add a finisher or 3, another sac outlet, and some things that can be done at instant speed so your tempo keeps moving while their halts (think Wayfarer's Bauble or explorer's map)

This card is amazing, works well in control decks and many other decks. Actually, there are probably not that many decks it doesn't work well, in except for fast combo decks. As others have said, you generally get to tap 2 less cards each turn than your opponent has to.

I remember when these were $15 each; now you can get 4 for $20. It's probably underplayed now. I don't really think it's any less good now than it was then, but people have just forgotten about it.

This and Academy Ruins makes you want to punch your opponent in the face. I cubed with a group and for funsies we played Planechase. This is just under Stasis as the most annoying card.

First rare among the cards returning in From the Vault: Twenty. Ordered by year of first printing.