This Was Absurd | Old Magic Cards Were Truly Something Else

[@CardmarketMagic]

Honorable mentions: bit.ly/4aZ14wq

[@TheSimmus]

Okay I admit I didn't expect one of the first Simic cards to be THAT bad. Also, a friend of mine uses [[Sorrow's Path]] to trigger Enrage abilities like Vrondiss and the special art Jurassic dinosaur

[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

Some say the new cards have too many words...... Well..... 🤣

[@chessazertyarno]

apocalypse chime can be usefull against didgeridoo in minotaur tribal.

[@potatochip23]

Fun fact! Nameless Race isn't the only creature without a creature type! Technically the "shrine" subtype is associated with enchantments, not creatures, so the creature shrines don't have a creature type. This means changelings can't be shrines!

[@talcbba]

can't wait for modern horizons 4 when they are adding enchantelings and landelings to the game lmao

[@charlesnaultk]

@@talcbba mh3 commander had landeling

[@mikefair6940]

The same is true for crewed vehicles

[@christopherb501]

​@@talcbbaThey'd better leave "Saga" out, lest it die right away.

[@GenesisAkaG]

@@talcbba Heed my warning: MH7 broke reality as we know it by introducing "Battle-lings", cards that were treated as every subtype of battle.

[@bricelory9534]

The point of Ice Cauldron is that you can have X be any amount you can afford. I think the original idea was to be able to pay 2-halves of really big spells - one half is the mana "saved" in the charge counter, and the rest from your mana pool. Or you could really charge up big X spells. Obviously not the best way to go about this 😅

[@dave-kt7sj]

If it cost 1 or 2, it would be much better. Atraxa on turn 4, and you can hold up interaction on turn 3. Protect spells from discard (though it's face up).

[@barigordstudios]

Proliferate?

[@krimhorn]

@@barigordstudios Proliferate would actually just render it unusable once you cast the spell that was on it. Mana stored isn't counters and the Cauldron must have no Charge Counters on it to store a new spell.

[@barigordstudios]

@@krimhorn But you could sink a pile of mana into it alongside an x spell. Say 10 mana. Then proliferate 10x, as one does during a normal game of magic. Then bang, Braingeyser ftw. Even works in Commander.

[@dave-kt7sj]

@@krimhorn No, you can still remove the charge counter and add the mana (that can't be used). If your opponent proliferates every turn and you don't have untap effects, then yes, it's basically bricked. But if you have untap effects and proliferate a charge counter, you can remove multiple charge counters for extra mana for your fireball. Surge Node/Coretapper to add charge counters also works.

[@ericbarr734]

The "real" play examples were really good for showing what the cards did

[@whaleofdarkness]

Hey, Apocalypse Chime can destroy Didgeridoos in opponents' minotaur decks. That has to count for something.

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

Not my Joven!

[@ZaGodmon]

It can also destroy lands with the Homelands expansion symbol on them!

[@anamedninja5536]

@@ZaGodmon There's actually only 5 lands with the Homelands symbol on them because they didn't reprint basic lands in the expansion and they're all pretty bad tri-colour filter lands

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

Why would play homelands tri land outside of homelands draft?

[@holy9211]

Can we talk about the example for Word of Command, as if casting it in someone's draw step, and them completely tapping out, to stop you from casting their spell isn't super useful. Also, I love Word of Command, it's my favorite spell to cast.

[@Hiilihankomies]

Also back in the day this would've caused mana burn if the player didn't then spend the mana.

[@tmille171]

The real problem is that most instant-speed cards you would ever want to play, they can often just play themselves in response. For example, if you wanted to Swords to Plowshares their own creature or something, as long as you have a target on board yourself, they can just fire it off on that before you control them.

[@Pistolsatsean]

@@tmille171 same with instant speed discard

[@holy9211]

@@tmille171 Right, but Word of Command can cast any spell, it is not restricted to Instant speed spells. So if you had say, Toxic Deluge in your hand, you could be commanded to pay all your life to cast the spell.

[@taliesine.8343]

@@holy9211 But you can't cast sorcery spells outside of main phase with word of command, right?

[@DeadlyGrim]

Ice Cauldron is one of those cards that, if it cost something like 0 and was slightly better worded, it could probably be okay to real good in a niche. Oh, you've got a combo piece that you don't want to lose? Put it in the Ice Cauldron to dodge hand disruption. Oh, you don't have a 2-drop but you do have a 5-drop? Store it with 2 mana on your turn and play it on your third turn. Costing 4 though? Nah. ----- Today, the Magic subgame rules say that all the cards in the subgame are shuffled back into the library when you go into the main game. However, back in the day when "exile" was "remove from the game", cards that were removed from the game were entirely removed from the game -- including subgames. I had made a theoretical deck with Shahrazad, spell recursion (including an Isochron Scepter for the top-level game), and a bunch of "remove from the game" cards. The deck would have won by decking the opponent by removing all their cards from the game. It's probably a good thing that this deck remained theoretical.

[@idanbhk3875]

Google "Zirda's infinite death engine", which makes your opponent lose infinite subgames by casting cards from outside the game and decking your opponent so that they lose when they draw their starting hand.

[@Sauvenil]

Jeweled Amulet is similar to the Ice Cauldron but doesn't exile a card and does cost 0. It could be usefully proliferated too, haha.

[@hokeyrulz26]

2:15 fun fact, word of command was used in cEDH very breifly and niche because youd cast their ad naus and just kill them.

[@beanofknowledge2125]

Glyph of Reincarnation would either be an insane Reanimator, or your Opponent just doesn't play any Walls and it does nothing.

[@Dreaming_Kaleidus]

Now, the other situation it is useful in, is when you block a creature with your wall. Your opponent attacks with a 6/6, you block with your 0/7 wall. After combat, you cast glyph of reanimation targeting your 0/7 wall. You destroy their 6/6 and reanimate a 1/1 from their graveyard. If your wall can block multiple creatures and survive the combat, you can do this on a bunch of creatures, replacing them with worse creatures from their graveyard. If the destroyed creatures were token and they had no creatures in their graveyard, you just kill their token.

[@nibilissilibin9141]

It's a great tech card against decks with lots of changlings and shapeshifters

[@federicogumiero1579]

Or just play legnify e give a wall to your opponent

[@Tharkon]

@@federicogumiero1579 Lignify makes a creature into a Treefolk, not a Wall.

[@chummer2060]

gotta splash blue for Ameboid Changeling

[@Obversechaos]

Back in the day, Ice Cauldron was really good with spells that had X in the casting cost, since you could put X mana into them as the Ice Cauldron charge and then spend another X mana when you cast the spell. Games went longer back then and it wasn't hard to ramp and bit, then put a charge counter on the cauldron and then pay all your mana into the X spells again and one-shot your opponent.

[@Tryptic214]

For the Glyph of Reincarnation, you forgot casting Shields of Velis Vel to MAKE your opponent's creature into a wall. With only this 2-card combo and sacrificing a creature that was blocked and survived, you can have your Griselbrand without the opponent ever seeing it coming!

[@villjess77]

"Mands that make mana if they take mana to make mana" -Thoralf 2024 This is going on a shirt lmfao

[@matthewloser7567]

I'd buy that shirt, and I've got an ocean to ship across

[@aidancox5481]

I'd also buy that shirt, and am across, presumably, the same ocean as Matt.

[@turdavio1517]

Seeing literally Prince Zuko on a 1994 Magic Card is baffling to me :D. Seems like Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko enjoyed some good old fashioned MtG.

[@michaschulz5182]

The Apocalypse Chime was played on one of the first pro tours if i remember correctly. The rules said you have to play 5 Cards of each Expension that was legal for the tournament so chime was the way to play a homeland card and it has at least 5 targets in your oppenents deck ^^

[@sablesalt]

It wasn't, those 5 cards were most often in side board due to being unplayable on account of being that bad.

[@hitmangfx7162]

Mind Bomb WAS incredibly useful for one reason: Getting under the Black Vise damage, back when it was allowed as a playset. It wasn't a bad sideboard card for that purpose, although it doesn't seem like a bad discard outlet either.

[@STS-qi1qy]

Though the mana float trick for Word of Command wouldn't have worked (well, not as well) during the era of WoC since back then mana burn was still a thing.

[@coreyodell6220]

Yeah in that example it was a 2 mana Lightning Bolt/Silence, which isn't really too bad sounding 😅

[@chrismanuel9768]

It also had to be used THAT PHASE and didn't carry. Tapped during draw? Better spend it before your draw phase is over.

[@sablesalt]

​@@chrismanuel9768 it still has to be used on the same phase it is made

[@tani1868]

09:57 "Permanantly" My guess is that the text they would like to change permanently is the one on THIS card

[@Tharkon]

In the end they got tired of trying to figure out how to spell permanently so they decided that the word wasn't necessary in the first place.

[@Loki-]

I love how much yall are trying new video ideas... they're all so solid and eventually you might land on video themes that you regularly come back to. ❤ this part is my fave lol 7:42

[@corn-cob-gaming]

I think Ice cauldron can totally be "remade" for some kind of mh set. Allowing you to invest in a card seems fun. Its only problem is 4 mana is way too expensive, if it was 2 and allowed you to pay multiple times for the card I think it could see niche play. But idk anything about ballance, it just sounds fun to play a 7 drop turn 4

[@Godithseeker]

I can almost see a use for it as printed, for X cost spells. You basically can double the amount you can invest in the X. But it's still god awful.

[@therealax6]

Hm, let's give this a try: ----- Frozen Cauldron - {2} Artifact _Imprint_ - {T}: Exile a nonland card from your hand. If you do, put a charge counter on Frozen Cauldron. {0}: Pay any amount of mana. Note the type and amount of mana spent this way. Activate only if Frozen Cauldron has a charge counter on it. {T}, Remove a charge counter from Frozen Cauldron: Choose a card exiled with Frozen Cauldron. Until end of turn, you may cast that card. Add all mana noted with Frozen Cauldron. You may only spend that mana to cast the chosen card. ----- You know, this actually looks playable!

[@pinobluevogel6458]

@@therealax6 You took 2 mana off the casting cost and simply cleaned up the text box a lot. Still not very needed as a card, but at least it looks more usable.

[@FoggyMemoryProductions]

I remember building a casual Grixis Madness deck during Shadows over Innistrad Block that played Mind Bomb as a way to discard madness spells so you could cast them for their madness cost. And because it hits both players, there is a chance that it forces people to discard cards if there life total was too low. Not particularly strong but I always thought it was funny.

[@CaitiffFTW]

Ice Cauldron has one effect that you left out. The card can be cast even if Ice Cauldron leaves the field. Also, you can exile a card through the first effect as often as you like. It just notes the mana spent, when regarding the most recent card exiled by Cauldron's effect.

[@kylegonewild]

One of my favorite bad old cards is Takklemaggot. It's a 2BB aura that enchants a creature. On your upkeep you put a -0/-1 counter on the enchanted creature. When the enchanted creature is put into the graveyard from play that creature's controller must choose a legal target if one exists and Takklemaggot returns to the battlefield as an aura attached to that creature. If there are no legal targets, it returns to the battlefield as a non-aura enchantment that deals 1 damage to the controller of the last creature that died with Takklemaggot attached.

[@raynmanshorts9275]

The thing about Ice Cauldron is that it doesn't need to be the full amount of the spell. So you can play the Ice Cauldron, spend WUBRG to exile Progenitus, and then tap it the next turn and spend another WUBRG and you get Progenitus on turn 6. Which is generally not as consistent or as fast as reanimation strategies (not to mention doing essentially nothing on turn 4 & 5), but they did miss the point of it a little bit. You can't store it up in multiple charge counters (so you can't spent 4, 5, and then 5 over three turns to play Emrakul, for example), but you can spend some of the mana when putting the charge counter on it and then the rest when activating the second ability. Unless the text is misleading and you have to spend all the mana for the spell when you put the charge counter on it, because sometimes that's the case with older Magic cards.

[@Marionettetc]

I don't think mind bomb is even that bad, it's always going to be 3 damage unless that 3 damage would kill an opponent, and even then it's causing a 1-3 card discard with 1 mana. it's probably the first punisher card and the cost to prevent the damage is pretty severe

[@chrismanuel9768]

It's quite good and still sees use

[@sablesalt]

​@@chrismanuel9768 no lol

[@karl-erlendmikalsen5159]

Balduvian shaman lets you play some strange enchantments with some additional safety though. it gives you a way to destroy your own enchantments* at a future upkeep by simply not paying the cumulative upkeep cost, as well as using your deathgrip to counter blue spells. *Use it on for example Demonic pact, day of the dragons, or Transcendence to get rid of the enchantment. So it has a use. Sort of. A bad use, but still a use. And it achieves something that is way easier to achieve in other ways.

[@Tletna]

I mean, being able to kill your own enchantments is sometimes useful. It's a valid use.

[@doim1676]

If i understand correctly you can use ice cauldron to cast a 15 mana spell without actually having 15 mana by paying 7 mana to activate ice cauldron and then next turn spend another 8 mana while casting the exiled card. That sounds pretty cool, if it weren't for the fact there are so many better ways to cheat out big creatures now

[@chrismanuel9768]

Also, if you proliferate the counter, then have a method to untap it even once... you get double whatever you dumped into it

[@doim1676]

@@chrismanuel9768 oh thats wild xD but not easy

[@byrontheusurper6505]

9:02 oh my GOD universe beyond atla would go unGODLY hard

[@boogerhaze93]

9:35 "It's the only creature that doesn't have a creature type." Gonna have to be a dweeb and correct this. The Legendary Shrines from Neon Dynasty are also creatures without creature types. Shrine is an Enchantment type, not a Creature type. So it looks like they do have Creature types when you read the typeline, but they actually don't.

[@tertmemelur1880]

Glyph of Reincarnation is Pauper legal, and there IS a walls deck in Pauper hidden secret tech incoming

[@Sauvenil]

They didn't touch Glyph of Destruction even, haha.

[@dulloddity]

Not quite as old but the first deck i ever bought had only one removal spell. Gaze of Justice. {w} sorcery that has an additional cost of tapping 3 untapped white creatures. To exile a creature. It does have flashback for 5{w}

[@neojng]

not "help us grow" being put over Toffel 💀

[@olvynchuru1663]

Mind Bomb wasn't that bad of a card at the time. You don't have to discard 3 cards; treat it as a 1-mana burn spell that deals 3 damage to each player (sort of like Flame Rift). At the time it was printed, there were only a limited number of efficient burn spells in the game (Lightning Bolt, Psionic Blast, Mind Bomb, and Chain Lightning), and Psionic Blast was also in blue, so it was pretty reasonable to splash blue in a burn deck.

[@Pistolsatsean]

also discarding isn't even a downside if you build a deck to take advantage of it.

[@Sauvenil]

@@Pistolsatsean Yeah, Mind Bomb could be useful for the same reason as Faithless Looting on turn 1... to make reanimation targets.

[@Pistolsatsean]

@@Sauvenil I think you mean to put Narcomoebas/Arclight Phoenixes/Vengvines/Prized Amalgams in your graveyard ::)

[@Sauvenil]

@@Pistolsatsean Not Narcomoebas, but the others are good. (Narcomoeba only triggers when it's milled.) I'm thinking more like Griselbrands, for instance, to Reanimate afterward.

[@Pistolsatsean]

@@Sauvenil ah true. Ofc Griselbrand would be great

[@HearseonHydros]

You're telling me 7 mana 3/3 with "sacrifice 3 forests" is underpowered? that's crazy i gotta change a couple decks

[@ralphvercauteren9267]

Changing permanent ownership of card, by card and antes was one of the original ideas. I played like that in the beginning, horrible part of the game and actually it was like gambling.

[@Tletna]

Yeah, it's fun until it isn't anymore (just like gambling). While the ante cards were interesting, they were also over-powered and could lead to bad social situations unless you agree to return previously owned cards at the end of the gaming session. But, it was exciting so I could see why some would have thought it was fun. I personally wouldn't play ante now though.

[@MusicalMethuselah]

The real reason ice cauldron exists: You have 8 lands and an emrakul the aeons torn in your hand. Pay 8, exile emrakul, store up 8 mana. Next turn, pay 7, then tap ice cauldron and gain another 8 mana. Poof, you have enough mana to pay for emrakul.

[@krimhorn]

They played around a tiny bit with the expansion hosers in the early days. City in a Bottle caused all non CiaB permanents from Arabian Nights that entered the battlefield to be sacrificed and Golgothan Sylex destroyed all permanents originally printed in Antiquities. They're super weird, super narrow but, sometimes, might actually be a neat thing to have show up.

[@zukiginagato2215]

Ironically, i use some of those on my commanders; Ice cauldron IS bad, BUT, i use it to easily cast any card in my hand from exile, and that may seems weird but has some fun synergies Word of Command; It's fun using it against control decks, cause you force a counter from their hand to keep secrecy, or to make them waste a tutor of some kind.

[@PatriciaCross]

I had a deck that ran Tempest Efreet with Dance of Many. You sacrifice the DoM token instead of the Efreet. I knew a few people that played ante occasionally, and I got some free cards. Can concede before effect resolves; but then I get your ante. Add Jester's Mask for extra spice.

[@marginis]

I was THIS close to putting Wood Elemental in my Yedora, Grave Gardener deck.

[@hobez64]

Nameless Race is getting put into my power matters commander deck now

[@tmille171]

Additional fun fact: in the case of Balduvian Shaman, they put that text on a COMMON.

[@tarmotaipale5704]

7:36 Memory Lapse! That's a good card, and it's still played in what's often called the best deck in European Highlander. Could not be destroyed by Apocalypse Chime though

[@zane1262]

I'm just saying- I'm pretty sure that there were lands in the Homelands expansion...

[@CardmarketMagic]

I know you are just trying to be funny and don't know this, but Homelands was a 140 card set without any basic lands in it 😅

[@Tletna]

@@CardmarketMagic While they're not great by today's standards (and definitely not as good as dual lands) Homelands did have five lands where you could spend one or two generic mana to get one of three colors of mana. So, they were bad triomes that could also just produce colors mana as well. So, if you're desperate for more mana fixing, I guess you're use those and then bam I'd pull out that Apocalypse Chime from side board that I put in there for just for *this* scenario! Who's laughing now?? (lol, well hey it was strong back when people actually were playing Homelands, all two of those people)

[@VestigeX3]

a minute into this video i got inspired and built an edh ice cauldron deck with arcum dagsson as the commander, it’s not good but if you get ice cauldron out turn 4-5 you could have a 8-10 mana creature turn 5-6 which isn’t too bad

[@DyrianLightbringer]

When Apocalypse Chime was printed, Richard Garfield envisioned deck construction rules requiring players to include 10 cards from each set, and there would have been other cards that specifically destroyed cards from specific sets. Obviously, and thankfully, he abandoned that idea pretty early, but not before a couple of these set-hosers had been printed.

[@MrMarnel]

Ice Cauldron is basically proto-Plot. You pay now (put the "charge" mana on the Cauldron), get a "free" spell later cause Cauldron pays for it. It's super convoluted but hey, they tried. The idea clearly has legs, seeing by how successful Plot is.

[@barrywade3774]

Word of Command should have been in Tales of Middle Earth somewhere. Gandalf used it to thwart the Balrog’s Counterspell to his door seal as the fellowship was fleeing Balin’s Tomb. Doesn’t fit the colors well, but that was trumped by the reserved list anyway.

[@Justanotherdudedoinstuff]

Good job guys, we broke ice cauldron! 🎉❤ Love you Carl, Toffel, Jamin (and Fele too, if he is around here editing this hahaha). I always put on your videos to help me sleep, it’s very calming. Keep up the good work!

[@beanofknowledge2125]

Ice Cauldron is so much effort just to cast a spell that you could've cast from your hand anyways

[@dragonmz5274]

Its basically just Plot

[@BobBoican]

Once the plot comparison was made it makes much more sense. It basically just says pay X, plot a spell with mana value X or less from your hand, which could have its uses. It's just way too expensive up front.

[@tazsul1525]

The idea of Ice cauldron is to split the cost over 2 turns. You use it to pay 5 on one turn then 6 on the next and ramp out an 11 cost card 5 turns early. It isn’t great but it does do something.

[@Oznej]

Couldn't it also be a way to avoid mana burn?

[@kylegonewild]

@@Oznej It avoids mana burn and protects the card exiled with it while allowing you to play it even if the cauldron leaves play or has no charge counters on it. You don't even have to spend any mana produced by the cauldron to play the card.

[@dustfinger_until_dawn]

7:26 there is city in a bottle from arabian nights which destroys cards from Arabian nights and disallows cards from arabian nights to be played, too

[@Datuna-vw3un]

Fun fact: Nameless race used to be only creature typeless creature card for quite some while, but not anymore! In NEC and NEO we got 6 Go-Shintai Shrines and later in CLB we got Faceless One.

[@seancpp]

"Thoralf, would you say this is a perfectly normal game of magic?" lmao!

[@PogMcDog]

I have ice cauldron in my kruphix deck. Because you store colorless mana, then you put the charges on the card and put away say a "plasm capture". Now you got GGUU to cast the instant to counter. AND you then get X mana which was the countered spell's mana cost, similar to mana leak. OR if someone is about to exile your kruphix you can say store all your mana on the cauldron to later cast an X spell, say a 20 loyalty Nissa, Steward of elements, or ANY other G/U spell like green or blue sun's zenith. OR JUST ANY X SPELL IN THOSE COLORS!

[@alastairchong4824]

The skits y'all did in-between each card were hilarious 😂😂😂

[@SomeGuy712x]

(9:34) Actually, the six Go-Shintai creatures also don't have a Creature type, as Shrine is only an Enchantment type. Additionally, Faceless One has no Creature type either.

[@Goodzikc]

Glyph of Reincarnation also works really well if you are playing a wall deck and have any cards that punish opponents for creatures dying, going to the graveyard etc.

[@Verlisify]

"Bury in opponent's graveyard" "oh no"

[@CityState_of_Valletta]

Don’t recall you playing mtg ha But yes easy way to yoink a card from a friend if you aren’t playing with sleeves; intentionally or not

[@TheJadeFist]

Ice Cauldron was actually a card I kinda liked once upon a time. It's benefit is you can play expensive spells, without needing 9 lands or what ever. And it's not like the 4 mana on the cauldron destroys the cauldron you can re-use it. I'll fully admit it's worded kinda odd and if made today would function with Imprint and instead of using a charge counter, except maybe charge counters for the mana. idk.

[@AlienValkyrie]

Glyph of Reincarnation _might_ be a _bit_ more interesting when combined with Banding, so that one single target wall can actually have blocked more than one creature.

[@NumotTheDragon]

Great video! We need to get that video where you give a Magic card for the payment at a restaurant or something? 😂😂😂 🙏🙏🙏

[@I_am_nGT83]

That wierd feeling you get... when you all of a sudden realise that you own all of those cards

[@TuberTugger]

Don't forget, you could bulduvian shaman your ward enchantments too! You just have to be careful not to change a non-white ward to pro white, or it'll blow itself up with that extra clause.

[@SomeGuy712x]

Actually, all of those old Wards say that the protection they grant cannot cause them to remove themselves. So, they had already thought about effects that can change color words

[@User-jo7jp]

two black mana for an instant speed psuedo time walk plus 3 damage in mana burn seems pretty decent.

[@User-jo7jp]

not to mention the information gathered from your opponents hand. plus I personally love the artwork. not every card needs to be the cover to a fantasy novel. it's simple, mysterious and evocative. God, i loved the eclectic nature of old mtg art!

[@Tletna]

@@User-jo7jp I agree. I used to just think it was the creepy art card. But reviewing what it does, it is kind of crazy and could be useful against certain decks.

[@apachee7511]

I could imagine playing Mind Bomb in my Davros EDH deck that cares about opponents being dealt 3 damages during my turn.

[@johnronning3952]

This may be a silly question but how would you play out word of command and the person choosing shahrazad as the card to play.

[@cheepersmommy]

I unironically love Word of Command's effect and have it as a card featured on my favorite art list on Moxfield. 😅

[@mokujinjb2298]

With Shahrazad, all exile card in a subgame remain exile. My friend make a deck with jester cap, remove some card, and concede. It basically left you with lands in your official/first magic game. It was effective!

[@laht93]

False, there is a ruling from 2007 on gatherer that says exiled cards from subgame are also shuffled into the library of the main game afterwards.

[@GaybrohamStinkton]

Ngl, thought Thorelf would be an halfling or dwarf instead of wizard

[@JacksonParodi]

Oh please show us that Pauper Cycle Storm deck

[@ThatWildcard]

So basically Ice Cauldrons only use is to make sure spells you desperately need arent able to be discarded or pitching spells you dont want to cast yet but have excess mana for.

[@chrismanuel9768]

First card is actually amazing. Tap it multiple times to add multiple counters. Final time, add mana. All counters are now worth this much mana. Also, too many cards in hand? Just dump one into exile and cast it later. You can use it to store cards and to store mana, and you can do both separately. Very useful.

[@chrismanuel9768]

Also, that tree could be unfathomable... in old Magic. When a creature being as big as 5/5 meant it also comes with a massive drawback. And with artifacts that grant mana being very common... Yeah, I'll take a big ass mid-game bomb that drops as an 8/8 on the field. Oh no, I lost lands to gain this unstoppable monstrosity that's about to win the game.

[@Lumpalooza]

JAMIN! THE RETURN OF THE KING

[@thisisthelukas]

I'mma make a WUBRG deck with an emphasis on Banding, Flanking, and Rampage, and put all these weird complicated cards in it. See how fast I get kicked out of my play group! :D

[@tobyakers2936]

word of command- so casting this back in the day was tricky... you generally wouldn't cast it in someones draw step or upkeep, because you wanted to be able to cast spells that were not an instant. typically you cast it when they went to move to combat or end of turn. Back then we had mana burn, so if they tried to float a bunch of weird mana to stop you from playing a spell they at least took a bunch a damage. (I miss mana burn...) they would often respond by casting any instant they had, and if they had something they could funnel mana into they would do that as well to leave you few options. The spell really worked more like a "mana short" for black, you could cast it and get your opponent to tap out, so on your turn you'd be free to do stuff. Occasionally you might even do what the spell was intended for, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[@Alexander-nc2qg]

I also miss mana burn. Especially these days when mana is splashed all over the place.

[@Snake9332]

Mind Bomb was good back then because life totals were more valuable in The Dark, so Bomb could work as a 1 mana Hymn. Or your opponent just takes 3

[@GeorgeAlone2277]

i was expecting camouflage

[@Maxuras]

I mean, Chaos Orb. ... Not that I have ever seen one IRL but it was legend.

[@kendalcannon8858]

Right this may sound like a weird question regarding Apocalypse Chime What if your lands are printed in Homelands? They are cards that were printed in the Homenalds expansion, would you have to bury them?

[@Idran]

I imagine you could've argued that back at the time and it probably would've held up? But nowadays it's been Oracle'd to "Destroy all nontoken permanents with a name originally printed in the Homelands expansion". The Comp Rules actually have to list out every card first printed in Homelands for this reason (same for Arabian Nights and Antiquities because of the similar expansion-hate cards for those :P)

[@bencheevers6693]

Ice cauldron lets you play a 11 mana spell on turn 6, turn 4 ice cauldron, turn 5 use ability with 5 mana and put the spell on ice cauldron, turn 6 tap 6 and play spell. You just hope your opponent doesn't win when you take 2 turns off

[@alexcapps9290]

The word of command scenario you showed would still result in the opponent taking 3 damage when the spell was released so it would still do something and since it was an instant you could cast it at end of their turn amd blank them out during your turn

[@chimpmasterflex]

4:48 "Nice stuff" lol. Makes me wish the ygo channel was still around for a video like this too.

[@CardmarketMagic]

sometimes wishes come true. sometimes sooner as you think...

[@chimpmasterflex]

@@CardmarketMagic While I won't hold my breathe, I look forward to any surprises.

[@ConManAU]

Shame there was no Chains of Mephistopheles, but you already spent 5 minutes reading Word of Command so I guess that’s fair.

[@damien4197]

Probably already been said, but the point of Ice Cauldron was to split the cost of something large up.

[@drdca8263]

If ice cauldron was cheap (like, 1 mana?) I feel like it could be pretty good? Or at least it sounds fun. Let’s you save mana for a later turn, to play one particular spell. Also protects the card from being forcibly discarded. But I’ve never played MTG so I could be wrong. 7:55 : oh! I’ve imagined something slightly similar to this card! (As a silver-border card). Not the “you get one of their cards” part. What I imagined was a sorcery or instant card which has some pretty good effect (and what would be a good deal for its mana cost), but which when cast, goes in one’s opponent’s graveyard (unless countered?), with the change in ownership being permanent. I imagined this not being as problematic as ante, because no one loses a card which they haven’t specifically chosen to lose. I guess one potential problem with this idea is that, if you are both (sensibly) using card sleeves, and your opponent has different sleeves than you, and doesn’t have any extra sleeves with them, then if their graveyard ends up back in their deck, it may function as a marked card. Anyone have any ideas for how to resolve this issue? I guess one could just let it be marked?

[@dascandy]

How about using Ice Cauldron to exile a counterspell, that nobody can take away from you, and everybody knows you could always play it?

[@hggfhh4449]

Da. You use your mana dorks fir wood elemental. Like birds of paradise and Llanoawar elves. That way you can sacrifice more forests.

[@EZ__Chicken]

The one place I could see Wood Elemental ever working is in a Titania of Argoth deck.

[@EionBlue]

Actually, isn't Glyph of Reincarnation really just tech for Wall decks? If the player has a very annoying creature you want to get rid of and they have a less powerful creature in the graveyard (so in the scenario given, Griselbrand attacks, but the attacker ends up with Wild Mongrel). But then I got to thinking, what if you also have Rest In Peace in play? Then the Griselbrand dies, and goes to exile, and then you return all creatures to the battlefield from the graveyard due to Glyph's effects, except they don't actually have any in there, so you effectively exile their attacking creature. After all this, we have created a one mana green spell that says "exile a creature that was blocked by a wall this turn", which sounds like a really cool limited card, and all it took was three cards to construct this incredible combo.

[@DefCatofficial]

The second spell actually was pretty great, it ruined this opponents turn and he got info

[@rubyseverinwhitworth9066]

Wait Shahrazad says "using less than 40 cards may be necessary" did the mini deck size used to be different because if not specifying this feels strange

[@MindstabThrull]

Ice Cauldron allowed you to cast a spell you couldn't fully cast now by putting some mana down now and then paying for it later. Think about the original Elder Dragons, like Vaevictis Asmadi, which cost 2MMNNOO (two mana of each of three different colours, plus two more) each and had an upkeep of MNO - you could pay 1MNO now and store an Elder Dragon, and then next turn get the mana you put in, add it to the mana you had handy, and then cast your Elder Dragon. Another ancient weird card from Ice Age (somewhat vaguely similar to the Shaman) is Dreams of the Dead. Monoblue reanimation!

[@gulgothica]

Wood Elemental is pretty good in my Titania, Voice of Gaea deck. Quick way to sac a bunch of lands.

[@violaknapp7904]

My head hurts just from reading these cards! Honestly, they feel like Yu Gi Oh cards. My personal favourite Weird Card(TM) is Raging River, every single turn all the players go "Wait, what does it do???" and have to read it again

[@danmorris1117]

Ice cauldron is actually super useful for using it as a "layaway" cost reducer

[@tobyakers2936]

Ice Cauldron-some things you can do with it: say you have a spell that costs 12, you could pay 6 and put it on the ice cauldron, then your next turn you could pay 6 and remove the charge counter and cast it well before you have access to 12 mana. I believe you can also put a sorcery or creature, on it then cast them at instant speed with the cauldron. Much like the first example you could tap all your mana and put a fireball on it, then next turn tap all your mana again and cast that fireball for essentially twice all your mana. Another use is to protect a card in your hand because you can put it on the cauldron at instant speed. Say an opponent makes you discard your hand, you could tap the ice cauldron and throw a spell on it to save it from discard, then cast it later. This still is not a great card, but there are some tricks you can do with it that might be worth it.

[@Tharkon]

Ice Cauldron does not allow you to cast any spells ay any other time than you normally could. You can activate the mana ability at instant speed, but you wouldn't be able to use it if you couldn't actually cast the spell at that time.

[@tobyakers2936]

@@Tharkon wasn't 100% sure on that one, which is why I said "I think", thank you for clarifying :)

[@javierpatag3609]

Nameless Race… No creature type… Is there design space for more cards like that? Basically anti-Changeling cards? The Devoid of creature types?

[@Sauvenil]

Love to the Mind Bomb, one of the few blue burn spells, haha.

[@steeezy9585]

Lol, I like this one. You guys cooked. ALSO - Mind bomb in a U/G madness deck would actually be good and I cannot be told otherwise. Tempest charm prolly slapped for a solid year or two and is the OBVIOUS first pick in draft/sealed lol.

[@Pistolsatsean]

exactly what I was thinking

[@Enchurito]

I said when Apocalypse the set came out, it should have had a card called Homelands Chime, which destroyed all cards from the Apocalypse expansion.

[@patrice2847]

I wonder if you could change the text of apocalypse chime to a diff expansion