Uncounterable Memoricide/Cranial Extraction? Niche appeal, given the dual color cost, but who knows. I think they could have made it 1BR safely, though, considering it's more difficult to have Red and Black mana in no-right, this block has very heavy mana fixing. Nevermind, refuted myself there.
Very funny thing to use against that one guy with the Relentless Rats deck, though!
SyntheticDreamer
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
May the odds be ever in your favor. Or mine. Definitely mine.
Demento_Recraves
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(25 votes)
The best thing I've heard about this card is imagining it's from the POV of a cake.
Cyberium
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Rakdos is so naughty :(
@Demento_Recraves: Wouldn't that turn into a Hunger Game instead?
Goatllama
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Anyone seen Jacob's Ladder? See that guy with the long, needle-like instrument? Yeah, you know exactly where that's going. And eye think it's gonna sting.
Lotsofpoopy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(6 votes)
Pros like me will use this to choose the best card in an opponent's deck, which will effectively cripple them.
yyukichigai
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Slaughter Games: when it absolutely, positively, has to be out of your opponent's deck.
Extirpate was game-changing enough. This ought to keep a good amount of combo fuel off the table.
Valtiaal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Memoricide was a bit better because of the splashability, but this is still good.
JaFaR_Ironclad
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The question is, who gets the first slice?
Oni_of_Darkness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
For some reason I really think this would have made a better Dimir card for the cycle. because really what does Rakdos care what your thinking he's to busy eating your face.
RJStCroix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
everytime i talk to anyone about this card they all say it sucks, and i really dont understand why.
i've been playtesting a deck with 3 in the mainboard (its a mid-range control-ish B/R deck) and almost every time i play this turn four it all but shuts the other guy down and the win isnt to far behind.
im just curious as to why everyone thinks this card is bad.
Korbl
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I love cards like this. In the hands of someone who has a knowledge of deck build %s and play MTG like a Chess game, it can be very devastating. It also encourages unpredictable deck building. Sure, you can say this card isn't your cup of tea...just wait until I mute one or two of your win conditions -- gotta love reverberate. Good luck.
infernox10
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(9 votes)
Remember, kids: You can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter"! :D
MechaKraken
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I think this is the card Rakdos and Golgari players (who splash red) can count on when they want other players to stop messing with their graveyard. Play this, then mention one of the problem cards Golgari/Rakdos guilds face, such as Tormod's Crypt, Grafdigger's Cage, or Rest in Peace.
The fact it can't be countered is a sweet bonus, sure to give some pump to decks that would otherwise be unplayable in the format. Even if they are not running answers to your deck, you can use this to get rid of other annoyances like Cancel, Giant Growth, or the charms.
SilverstarWolf
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Who are they killing?
Poor Johnny :(
Axelle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's the birthday of the big guy on the right. He's about to cut the cake!
Now this is the proper way to demolish a blue deck. Name Dissipate and watch them panic.
And having multiple copies is great. After you snipe the most likely card of their color, you can analyze there deck and strip them of their finishers. Plus if you combine with Duress, this can also hit their hand with no luck involved.
Currently, this is the best counter to Thragtusk madness in standart...
HuntedWumpusMustDie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh hai Hellhole Flailer. I hardly recognized you from that angle!
Twylyght
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Infernal Plunge into this on turn 2 gets you so many dirty looks...
kor6sic6
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A seriously undervalued card, especially in a Grixis deck and Goblin Electromancers cutting the cost. Superb card in standard right now, which is why I sideboard a playset. You know, for those pesky Sphinx's Revelations, and such. Makes 'em groan.
ThePinkBaron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the best tricks with this card is that is allows you to "scan" a library or hand on the first cast. If you duplicate it using Chandra, the Firebrand or whatnot, then you get to remove specific threats that you didn't know were there the first time around.
What does Slaughter Games bring to the table? Well, uncounterable is good. really good. but I'd say that only puts it over Lobotomy Cranial Extraction and Memoricide
Surgical Extraction and Extirpate are one-mana or zero-mana, and neither of them are likely to get Exiled from the stack by Mindbreak Trap. I don't think Mindbreak Trap's alternate cost would get played against Slaughter Games, but it wouldn't need to be either to be a good answer.
I would say Slaughter Games and Thought Hemorrhage are close to equal, because for that converted mana cost it's nice to try to get any extra damage, whereas Slaughter Games..I feel like it's a little high-costed for what it WISHES it could do, while being, still, as aggressively costed as is appropriate to be. If something breaks between Innistrad, Golgari, and Dimir, this is not the card that will save you. Tormod's Crypt is, and that's why M13 gave it to us.
idrinkyourmilkshake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oooh Laboratory Maniac, you look so fun to play! Wait til I get started milling my deck, and then you'll -- Oh. Wait, nevermind. Exiled.
You could have just told me you didn't want to play Johnny anymore...
lostprophet912
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
4 Mana and can't be countered.. I can't think of a better target than Jace The Mind Sculptor
RamenAwesome
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I just love reverberating this. My friends have gotten too comfortable running decks that solely rely on playsets of one, maybe two, cards. Nothing is better than exiling my friends playsets of Consuming Aberration, Blightsteel Colossus, or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
In games with friends where everyone knows exactly what cards are in each others decks. Dude... Put that away.
senken12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ruin izzet players decks naming Nivix Cyclops - Did it to someone and he scooped immediately.
maxmwb
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Gonna start sideboarding this card just in case anyone actually runs a shoadowborn apostle/demon deck.
Leshrac_Nightwalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@infernox10: Hey, they used your line in the Card of the Day today! Why no credit given where credit is due? :(
WindMasterArceus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Those Boros Reckoner infinite-life decks are the main thing I face where I'd want to use this. There are some other cards *cough* Thragtusk *cough* that I'd love to get rid of like this, too.
Toquinha1977
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm not a huge fan of this card as I was on the receiving end of it during one tournament. Twice. It's really difficult to play around unless your deck isn't reliant on synergy or combos (and 4-ofs), and the ways of dealing with it (apart from another Slaughter Games) don't see a ton of play in Standard or rotate out soon (Nevermore, Redirect, Witchbane Orb).
But, as a reminder (which I gave to the guy who hit me with it twice), if you forget to pull the card out of any zone, it stays there. When he went for the second Slaughter Games to go through my library a second time, he was about to remove one of the cards he missed the first time until I stated that the card specifically says "any", not "all". Still lost, though.
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This and Shadowborn Apostle are both in Standard.
What a time to be alive.
SUPERC0W
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
After playing with the same group of friends for anything more than a few months, I have written down the best target card to name against each deck from each different player. They HATE when I do this. It's beautiful.
Basilica_Syndicate
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Every time I look at this card, I can almost hear it saying, "Sphinxes Revelation? Aetherling? Bah! I had those for breakfast!"
DmitryM
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card alone makes me want to switch from Azorius to Rakdos.
I mean, $1 for a card to get rid of 4 $100 cards in another person's deck YES PLEASE!
AirborneLemming
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"I name... Shadow born apostle".
Havrekjex
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Because #¤%& you, Ætherling
Technetium
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
In terms of power, this rates very high. However, I dislike the fact that this card exists. The uncounterable part is just grossly unnecessary on something like this. If anyone came up with a viable combo deck in standard, this single card would make it impossible for that deck to work. The only reason it isn't format-warping is that there haven't really been any viable combo decks.
That being said, it's still pretty harsh against control decks.
What I'm trying to get at is that a healthy standard format should involve players picking responses to what their opponents use, and those opponents then can think of responses to play, and so on... a constantly changing metagame of adaptation. The problem with Slaughter Games is that there is no adapting to this card short of playing a deck that isn't vulnerable to it. It's a card that comes just short of saying "you lose" to certain decks that could otherwise be formidable, and there is not a single thing those decks can do to adapt to it.
Comments (45)
Very funny thing to use against that one guy with the Relentless Rats deck, though!
@Demento_Recraves: Wouldn't that turn into a Hunger Game instead?
Extirpate was game-changing enough. This ought to keep a good amount of combo fuel off the table.
i've been playtesting a deck with 3 in the mainboard (its a mid-range control-ish B/R deck) and almost every time i play this turn four it all but shuts the other guy down and the win isnt to far behind.
im just curious as to why everyone thinks this card is bad.
You can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter"! :D
The fact it can't be countered is a sweet bonus, sure to give some pump to decks that would otherwise be unplayable in the format. Even if they are not running answers to your deck, you can use this to get rid of other annoyances like Cancel, Giant Growth, or the charms.
Poor Johnny :(
And having multiple copies is great. After you snipe the most likely card of their color, you can analyze there deck and strip them of their finishers. Plus if you combine with Duress, this can also hit their hand with no luck involved.
Cranial Extraction, Memoricide, Thought Hemorrhage, Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, Sadistic Sacrament, Lobotomy
Makes 'em groan.
Cranial Extraction/Memoricide: good for when you don't have Mountains
Extirpate: good for not getting countered.
Surgical Extraction: good for 0-cmc.
Sadistic Sacrament: good for being...Sadistic. In EDH.
Lobotomy: Blue should not have this, that is mean to the other kids -_-
What does Slaughter Games bring to the table?
Well, uncounterable is good. really good. but I'd say that only puts it over
Lobotomy
Cranial Extraction
and Memoricide
Surgical Extraction and Extirpate are one-mana or zero-mana, and neither of them are likely to get Exiled from the stack by Mindbreak Trap. I don't think Mindbreak Trap's alternate cost would get played against Slaughter Games, but it wouldn't need to be either to be a good answer.
I would say Slaughter Games and Thought Hemorrhage are close to equal, because for that converted mana cost it's nice to try to get any extra damage, whereas Slaughter Games..I feel like it's a little high-costed for what it WISHES it could do, while being, still, as aggressively costed as is appropriate to be.
If something breaks between Innistrad, Golgari, and Dimir, this is not the card that will save you. Tormod's Crypt is, and that's why M13 gave it to us.
Ok, well check out my sparkly new Biovisionary deck! Watch me get my Infinite Reflection combo popping off...oh. Exiled.
Well What about my Boros Reckoners? I can get them to --EXILED!
Well let's try Human reanimator with Angel of Glory's Rise and -- EXILED!
Fine, Wizards: Aggro and RDW it is...
You could have just told me you didn't want to play Johnny anymore...
Let the games begin...
"Oh, this is just my Relentless Rats de-
"Slaughter Games , I name Relentless Rats. "
And that's how I got my black eye.
But, as a reminder (which I gave to the guy who hit me with it twice), if you forget to pull the card out of any zone, it stays there. When he went for the second Slaughter Games to go through my library a second time, he was about to remove one of the cards he missed the first time until I stated that the card specifically says "any", not "all". Still lost, though.
What a time to be alive.
They HATE when I do this. It's beautiful.
I mean, $1 for a card to get rid of 4 $100 cards in another person's deck YES PLEASE!
That being said, it's still pretty harsh against control decks.
What I'm trying to get at is that a healthy standard format should involve players picking responses to what their opponents use, and those opponents then can think of responses to play, and so on... a constantly changing metagame of adaptation. The problem with Slaughter Games is that there is no adapting to this card short of playing a deck that isn't vulnerable to it. It's a card that comes just short of saying "you lose" to certain decks that could otherwise be formidable, and there is not a single thing those decks can do to adapt to it.