This is an interesting card if nothing else. The
only way I see this getting played right now is
in a Blue/Black discard heavy deck. The downside
though, is that I'm not sure if it's the most
efficient way to get your opponent to drop
cards.
It seems like a pretty good discard spell. It
lets you choose what they discard, after all.
The trouble is in the X. Unlike most X spells,
you can't make it more effective by pouring more
and more mana into it. You can increase the odds
of getting something good, but there's always
the possibility of them not having anything you
can make them discard. What if X = 3? Do they
have any cheap instants they're waiting on? X =
5? Try and get their Wrath out of their hand or
something? X = 7? Hoping to nab their win
comdition? What if they've got nothing but
lands? Then it doesn't matter what X was. That's
the real snag with this card-- the "nonland"
clause. Without it, you could have X = 0 and
still maybe get something, even if it's
something o flittle use. But then Magnivore
decks would run it as they first turn play
followed by second turn Boomerang and third turn
Stone Rain, so that's no good. All in all, it's
a gamble. The more mana you spend, the better
your odds, but the longer you wait in order to
have enough mana, the more likely your opponent
will play out everything that the Glimmer can
hit.
Venarian
Glimmer - The "preemptive Spell Blast" is an odd
card. Used early it will likely remove a very
low-threat card. Used late, it might not be
strong enough to catch what you're really afraid
of. It requires a large investment of mana and a
certain degree of luck to make it effective.
Blue may have gotten discard in Planar Chaos,
but that doesn't mean it's any good.
Black mages the world over have been trying to
get wizards to print more instant-speed discard
for years. So they finally did, but now it's in
blue. I have to admit that I agree with the
talking heads on the point of blue being WAY
overpowered now (what's changed?). I'm not AS
familiar with standard, but in older formats
where blue was still already overpowered, this
just adds fuel to the fire. As I said earlier
this week, instant speed discard is broken, even
if you have to pay the spell's cost to hit it.
Probably won't see much play in standard, but in
older formats where mana is faster and the
drinks are stronger, I could see this fitting in
(not likely, but possible). Venarian Glimmer on
turn one for 0-2 can catch things like Moxen,
Lotusi, Chalice of the Void, Null Rod, and the
like. Make it 3 and you can get all or most of
the high-powered cards your opponent might be
holding. Maybe not quite powerful enough, but
still pretty cool.
So they gave blue a Duress variant. This has a
few good things going for it: you get to see
their hand, it's a blue discard spell, and it's
an instant. In a blue control deck, I could
definitely see this getting some play, because
you can hit most relevant things in their hand
if you cast this at x = 3 or x = 4. Definitely a
card worth looking into if you play blue.
In casual, another discard spell for people who
like U/B control decks. Play it if you want.
In limited, the increased randomness factor
makes it a tough choice. You'll probably never
be able to hit their bomb unless you play this
with x = 5 or higher. However, it's not total
trash.
Constructed - 3
Casual - 3
Limited - 2.5-3
-David N
Venarian
Glimmer
Ending the week off with another blue/black
ability switch. With a lot of these abilities
overlapping into the color pies a lot of
blue/black decks will be out there with discard.
This card is pretty interesting. Most discard
cards in the past have either been of that
player's choice or random. Besides Duress and
Ostracize you weren't able to choose what you
wanted. With this card you could basically get
any card out of their hand with the right amount
of mana. Also even if you couldn't get the high
casting card that you needed to at least it gave
you a free peak at their hand.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 2
Limited: 2
David Fanany
Venarian
Glimmer
Is Venarian Glimmer the blue Duress? In a manner
of speaking. The reason Duress is so good is
that it hits on your first turn, often before
your opponent can even do anything. Venarian
Glimmer probably won't take away anything of
value on your first turn. It may yet see play,
though, simply because this effect really
doesn't exist in blue. It is also a decent
end-of-turn play against a draw-go style deck if
it taps out for Tidings, Annex, or some such. In
casual play, you have better options, and should
probably be playing actual counters anyway if
you're in blue. If for some reason you don't
want to play black but still want a Duress-style
effect, this is where you go. Discard is usually
not very strong in limited games, but you might
occasionally grab a problematic Amrou Seekers or
Cautery Sliver with it.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 2/5
LennonMarx
Blue decks
already have a way to deal with spells that cost
X, Spell Burst. And that has buyback, so a big
mana deck can basicly lock the game down with
it. This... well... it's instant speed discard,
so there is the ability to lock someone out of
their draw step, but beyond that, Spell Burst is
just superior. Maybe as a sideboard card to hit
uncounterable things, but even then the
uncounterable card should be castable the turn
before this would hit it.
1.5/5
Casual
This is just kinda bland for casual. Discard
tends to be bad here because it only hurts one
opponent, and if there are multiple, you just
wasted a card to do nothing to the board, and
only hinder one person. Not a very appealing
propostion.
1/5
Limited
Late game it can steal an opponents draw and
maybe buy you a turn to win, or early on you can
hurt their tempo by removing a creature drop,
but that doesn't develop your board any. I've
never played it in limited, so i don't know
where to pick it honestly, but if I've never
played it, odds are that means its a pretty low
pick.
1.5/5
PsychoAnime
PsychoAnime
Like Piracy Charm, instant speed discard
deserves special recognition. However,
this requires a lot of mana do use properly.
This has the chance to backfire
though if your opponent happens to hold a hand
of really high costing card,
but that's quite unlikely in Standard right now.
I'd rather use Spell Burst than this though, as
it accomplishes the same
objective of getting rid of the card but Spell
Burst works 100% of the time
and has Buyback. The opponent reveals his or her
hand with this buy Buyback
beats that anyway, and if you can afford to pay
the X, there's a high chance
you can pay the Buyback.
It can also stop a Empty the Warrens before its
played or maybe even
Dragonstorm when given enough mana, but then
again there's something called
Gigadrowse.
Constructed: 2.5/5, it's outclassed by Spell
Burst, but it's not that bad
Casual: 2.5, it messes up the combo decks up
along with counter spells.
Limited: 2/5, it doesn't serve as a threat
Arcane
Venarian
Glimmer
Constructed: Piracy Charm, Wistful Thinking and
now Venarian Glimmer are all blue cards to force
your opponent to discard. The difference between
this card and the other two is that its cost is
almost always going to be more expensive than
the spell that you’re getting rid of. And blue
has much more cost efficient cards to get rid of
your opponent’s spells, counters (the best ones
only cost 2-4 now). Unless a lot more can’t be
countered spells show up blue mages will stick
to their tried and true method. It may find a
place in U/B discard decks but even then there
are still plenty of alternatives that are much
cheaper or offer a body (ravenous rats, Dimir
Cutpurse, Hypnotic Specter) though being an
instant can allow you to play it right after
your opponent has drawn a card to try and get it
out of their hand before they can cast it.
Casual: Tapping all or most of your mana down in
a turn just to eliminate one card in an
opponent’s hand isn’t really the best use of
your resources, unless you know for sure about a
massive threat in your opponent’s hand.
Multiplayer and casual decks need recursive
effects to keep card advantage up not 1 for 1’s
that might not get rid of a large threat, better
to just hold onto a counterspell to deal with a
threat you know you want to get rid of.
Limited: A bit more useful here as not only does
it allow you to disrupt your opponent’s game
(hopefully taking away the biggest bomb card),
but you give yourself information about what
your opponent has in store for you. Limited is a
lot more dependant on its tricks to get through
with damage or to eliminate your opponents’
creatures and knowing whether or not your
opponent is holding one of those threats
provides a huge tactical advantage.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1
Limited: 3
The Missing
Linc
lVenarian
Glimmer
Constructed: I think this card will definately
see some play in constructed type 2 decks. It is
a flexible discard spell that allows for some
choice in what you pick. Early game, you are
usually looking for early threats. At turn two
this can net you some good cards but it will
really shine later on. Expect to see two of
these in constructed decks.
Casual: A decent card. Not a lot a flavor for a
casual deck. Likely this will just generate
complaints...
Limited: I like this card for limited but it
would be a much later pick. In limited, you will
likely get something decent but it may end up
being a less than ideal pull.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 2
Limited: 3
Thanks again for having me be part of the crew
Bill. I enjoyed seeing my thoughts on the web
and was glad to see my thoughts were not that
far different from others. Keep up the good
work.
Lincoln
Necro
nomikron
Venarian
Glimmer:
Constructed: Discard, situational, and you need
to know what your opponent is running to be able
to pick anything out, and it has XU, which means
your opponent can play the thread just before
you can get rid of it. I may be wrong, but, I
don't see this as being anything relevant in any
decks in the near future.
Casual: Duress, Ostracize, Distress... need I go
on? There are much better cards available to
casual players.
Limited: Pass it. Seriously, just pass it. If
you end up with it, don't run it. Don't even
side it in against your opponents big bomb: you
won't be able to remove said bomb with it until
the turn after they're able to cast it.
