Like most artifacts, looks better in the modern frame. That old brown frame just doesn't do it for me.
NARFNra
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
That's some... interesting art.
For some reason I'm reminded of Attack on Titan.
Anyway, anyone who doubts this card's power should try going up against it in Stax sometime.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
more commentors need to talk about how to use this card and why it's good. :P
like, OK, I know "STAX" is a word...but Fading is one of those mechanics that I don't like putting the brainpower into making work good -_-
Why is this better than Twiddle? (I'm not questioning that it must be better if everyone says so...I'm just saying that's Next Level Magic to me- I don't see it)
Enchantment_Removal
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(7 votes)
Per DarthParallax's request:
To who it may concern,
Your Opponent's Turn 3 (doesn't matter who went first)- They tap Mishra's Workshop and two lands to cast this. They paid 5 mana because they control a Sphere of Resistance.
Your Turn after Opponent's turn 3- You're trying to be as productive as you can on your upkeep in response to Tanglewire trigger, which will most likely tap all but 1 or 2 of your permanents. Let's just say you skip your turn and draw a card. ..... oh and put a land into play.
Your Opponent's Turn 4- They tap Tanglewire, Sphere of Resistance, and..... one other thing because they let the fading trigger resolve before the tap trigger. Let's just say they have a productive turn- god forbid they play a Smokestack and/or Crucible of Worlds.
Your Turn after Opponent's Turn 4- If it were actually the 2nd turn of the game then your turn would've been great. However it's at least a couple of turns after Turn 2 so your turn actually sucks if it doesn't involve leaving mana open for a Hurkyl's Recall.
Your Opponent's Turn 5- Ummm...... idk.... they cast another Tanglewire.
Rest of the game- (Good ending)
You manage to spare 2 mana to sacrifice all 3 of your creatures and flashback a Dread Return targeting Viashino Heretic (I have no idea what kind of deck you're playing). Your opponent doesn't draw into their red/white mana until 3 turns later, at which point you are free to play the game normally and cast any old dude your opponent can't deal with.
Rest of the game- (Bad ending)
You manage to spare 5 mana to flashback an Ancient Grudge (not exaggerating), but it is to no avail. Having to pay 5 mana to cast a spell (maybe 4 mana if its an artifact) puts you too far behind to win a race against a 3/3 Trinishpere and Karn himself.
Final Remarks- Tanglewire's effect is not very splashy. However it's effect is significant enough to at least be noticed by anyone who has been growing in the game for a year or so- even if the game situation is not fully understood. Throw it in an aggressive/midrange deck and I guarantee that you will see this card's power for yourself.
Justice1337
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
A lot of this card's straightforward power comes from two aspects 1) it can be tapped itself to satisfy its ability, and 2) the fading trigger can be stacked on top of the tap trigger so that it hurts you one less. The result on an empty board is that you tap 4 of your opponent's things in exchange for tapping 2 of yours.
And that's just in a vacuum. Any given deck that plays this could have other artifacts with static abilities, such as equipments, Trinisphere, Winter Orb, etc. And those particularly are cards that go really well with Tangle Wire besides. So the result is often that you Mistbind Clique the opponent for a few turns in a row without losing any tempo yourself.
It's also really great in Multiplayer decks because, like a lot of global Stax effects, they apply to all players. Sticking this, a Winter Orb and an Academy Ruins or Goblin Welder is a dirty but efficient way to effectively end a multiplayer game on Turn 3. Fading is essentially obviated when you add recursion.
ParallaxtheRevan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Thank You! :)
I NOW think I know how to actually build a Karn, Silver Golem deck and find the deck that wants to play all of those odd cards like Lodestone Golem ^_^
I knew that lots of individualistic cards out there existed, and I know time is kind of a resource, especially back in the old cumulative upkeep, fading, and vanishing days, but it took a while for things to start coming together for me :)
I suppose Strip Mine and Wasteland would be good for this kind of Colorless Resource Control/Denial deck? Yet that seems more because Strip Mine is an ubiquitously powerful ability to have colorless access to, even no-mana-down....Crucible of Worlds is starting to look a Lot Better to me now. :)
In theory, it always looked nice and all, but it was difficult for me to see how to get into such a lofty position that you can afford to invest setting up a Crucible...Now I see that a RESOURCE DENIAL deck pretty much makes it so that you tell your opponent
"I will play Commander while you play Standard" regarding drawing cards and playing lands and developing. CRAP, that's mean. o.O I WANT TO BUILD THIS DECK NOW >:D
well....it'll only cost me about 4 thousand dollars XP
Funny you should say that, stax was called "The 4 thousand dollar solution" ($T4KS -> Stax) because that was what it cost when it came out (it's more now...).
This card kicks all sorts of ass, and is essential to one of my favorite archetypes :D 4/5 because it offs itself.
SirZapdos
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Is that Miley Cyrus in the art?
at0micpickle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
good at stalling
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Enchantment_Removal
Beautiful comment.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To say something odd: This is actually a reasonable response in legacy to Show and Tell. If you cast it before they go off; they're stuck with no mana for a few turns. If you plop it from a Show; then you get at least one or two more turns to deal with the creature they dropped.
Also; it screws up storm pretty bad if you make it that long.
zeniongames
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is one of those cards you play in your deck if you're trying to win, not have opponents to play against that will like you and want to keep playing with you.
Most artifact heavy decks can power this out on TURN TWO. Drop Tangle Wire, say go. Opponent has to tap 4 permanents. They do so, play a land (generally) say go. You stack your triggers, tap the wire itself and two other whatever permanents, probably lands since you have artifact mana. Draw. Drop a land. Say go.
A turn before Tangle Wire would fade, drop Master Transmuter. Bounce the Wire...for itself. You have a pretty soft lock on 4 of their permanents at this point, since in response to the Wire's trigger you can bounce it with Transmuter and put it right back into play with 4 fresh fading counters.
Also, Tangle Wire desperately wants to be put into a proliferate deck.
Comments (13)
For some reason I'm reminded of Attack on Titan.
Anyway, anyone who doubts this card's power should try going up against it in Stax sometime.
like, OK, I know "STAX" is a word...but Fading is one of those mechanics that I don't like putting the brainpower into making work good -_-
Why is this better than Twiddle? (I'm not questioning that it must be better if everyone says so...I'm just saying that's Next Level Magic to me- I don't see it)
To who it may concern,
Your Opponent's Turn 3 (doesn't matter who went first)-
They tap Mishra's Workshop and two lands to cast this. They paid 5 mana because they control a Sphere of Resistance.
Your Turn after Opponent's turn 3-
You're trying to be as productive as you can on your upkeep in response to Tanglewire trigger, which will most likely tap all but 1 or 2 of your permanents. Let's just say you skip your turn and draw a card. ..... oh and put a land into play.
Your Opponent's Turn 4-
They tap Tanglewire, Sphere of Resistance, and..... one other thing because they let the fading trigger resolve before the tap trigger. Let's just say they have a productive turn- god forbid they play a Smokestack and/or Crucible of Worlds.
Your Turn after Opponent's Turn 4-
If it were actually the 2nd turn of the game then your turn would've been great. However it's at least a couple of turns after Turn 2 so your turn actually sucks if it doesn't involve leaving mana open for a Hurkyl's Recall.
Your Opponent's Turn 5-
Ummm...... idk.... they cast another Tanglewire.
Rest of the game- (Good ending)
You manage to spare 2 mana to sacrifice all 3 of your creatures and flashback a Dread Return targeting Viashino Heretic (I have no idea what kind of deck you're playing). Your opponent doesn't draw into their red/white mana until 3 turns later, at which point you are free to play the game normally and cast any old dude your opponent can't deal with.
Rest of the game- (Bad ending)
You manage to spare 5 mana to flashback an Ancient Grudge (not exaggerating), but it is to no avail. Having to pay 5 mana to cast a spell (maybe 4 mana if its an artifact) puts you too far behind to win a race against a 3/3 Trinishpere and Karn himself.
Final Remarks-
Tanglewire's effect is not very splashy. However it's effect is significant enough to at least be noticed by anyone who has been growing in the game for a year or so- even if the game situation is not fully understood. Throw it in an aggressive/midrange deck and I guarantee that you will see this card's power for yourself.
And that's just in a vacuum. Any given deck that plays this could have other artifacts with static abilities, such as equipments, Trinisphere, Winter Orb, etc. And those particularly are cards that go really well with Tangle Wire besides. So the result is often that you Mistbind Clique the opponent for a few turns in a row without losing any tempo yourself.
It's also really great in Multiplayer decks because, like a lot of global Stax effects, they apply to all players. Sticking this, a Winter Orb and an Academy Ruins or Goblin Welder is a dirty but efficient way to effectively end a multiplayer game on Turn 3. Fading is essentially obviated when you add recursion.
I NOW think I know how to actually build a Karn, Silver Golem deck and find the deck that wants to play all of those odd cards like Lodestone Golem ^_^
I knew that lots of individualistic cards out there existed, and I know time is kind of a resource, especially back in the old cumulative upkeep, fading, and vanishing days, but it took a while for things to start coming together for me :)
I suppose Strip Mine and Wasteland would be good for this kind of Colorless Resource Control/Denial deck? Yet that seems more because Strip Mine is an ubiquitously powerful ability to have colorless access to, even no-mana-down....Crucible of Worlds is starting to look a Lot Better to me now. :)
In theory, it always looked nice and all, but it was difficult for me to see how to get into such a lofty position that you can afford to invest setting up a Crucible...Now I see that a RESOURCE DENIAL deck pretty much makes it so that you tell your opponent
"I will play Commander while you play Standard" regarding drawing cards and playing lands and developing. CRAP, that's mean. o.O I WANT TO BUILD THIS DECK NOW >:D
well....it'll only cost me about 4 thousand dollars XP
Funny you should say that, stax was called "The 4 thousand dollar solution" ($T4KS -> Stax) because that was what it cost when it came out (it's more now...).
This card kicks all sorts of ass, and is essential to one of my favorite archetypes :D 4/5 because it offs itself.
Beautiful comment.
Also; it screws up storm pretty bad if you make it that long.
Most artifact heavy decks can power this out on TURN TWO. Drop Tangle Wire, say go. Opponent has to tap 4 permanents. They do so, play a land (generally) say go. You stack your triggers, tap the wire itself and two other whatever permanents, probably lands since you have artifact mana. Draw. Drop a land. Say go.
A turn before Tangle Wire would fade, drop Master Transmuter. Bounce the Wire...for itself. You have a pretty soft lock on 4 of their permanents at this point, since in response to the Wire's trigger you can bounce it with Transmuter and put it right back into play with 4 fresh fading counters.
Also, Tangle Wire desperately wants to be put into a proliferate deck.