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The "Real" Problem with Alrund's Epiphany


A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about Alrund's Epiphany in the context of power creep. While you should check out the article if you're interested, the TLDR was that the power level of threats in Standard has increased so much over the past few years and decades that a single extra turn offers so much value that Wizards should probably stop printing extra-turn spells in Standard altogether. While I still very much think this is true, today, we're going to look at Alrund's Epiphany from another perspective: as a big spell that can (more or less) win the game by itself if it resolves. 

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The most common comparison I've heard for Alrund's Epiphany is Nexus of Fate, which makes a lot of sense. Both cards give an extra turn, and both cards were at the top of their respective Standard formats. Nexus of Fate eventually ended up being banned in best-of-one Standard as well as Historic, while Alrund's Epiphany may or may not be on the chopping block in our current Standard, depending on who you talk to. While this comparison is fair, there is another, bigger, more important comparison to be made: Alrund's Epiphany is a "big- spell" finisher.

The Problem

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Big-spell finishers, as their title suggests, are expensive instants and sorceries used by control and ramp decks to close out a game. Nexus of Fate and Alrund's Epiphany are both big-spell finishers, but so are cards like Genesis Ultimatum and Emergent Ultimatum. In some sense, the specific words on these cards don't really matter. What does matter is that they are generally powerful enough that, in the right deck, they should mostly or literally win the game when they resolve. Big-spell finishers are the opposite of permanent-based finishers—mostly creatures and planeswalkers but also, to a lesser extent, artifacts and enchantments—which fill the same role as big-spell finishers (giving control and ramp decks a way to kill their opponents) but from the battlefield, rather than from the stack. 

While all ramp and control decks need a plan for finishing the opponent, big-spell finishers are uniquely frustrating for many players because of how the game of Magic and the color pie work. In 2021, every color in Magic can deal with most permanent-based finishers. Every color can kill creatures (perhaps discounting blue, which can counter them). Every color can kill planeswalkers (if not directly with removal like Fateful Absence or Soul Shatter then by attacking them with creatures). These days, most colors can even deal with artifacts or enchantments (although certain colors are weak to certain permanent types, like red not being able to directly kill enchantments). This is the oppose of big-spell finishers, which somewhere around 1.5 of Magic's five colors can stop.

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Just look at Alrund's Epiphany in Standard. Blue is good at stopping it with counterspells. Black can sometimes stop it with discard (in general, discard is a great answer to big-spell finishers, but Alrund's Epiphany itself is uniquely hard to stop since it is often foretold into the exile zone, rather than chilling in hand). White, red, and green? Apart from white trying to tax Alrund's Epiphany with something like Reidane, God of the Worthy or Elite Spellbinder, the only options these colors really have are to try to race Alrund's Epiphany by getting the opponent's life total down to zero before the big spell closes out the game or adding another color to the deck (like blue) to play cards that can interact with the big spell.

It's worth pointing out that this isn't an issue with Alrund's Epiphany itself but the entire archetype of cards. During last Standard, Emergent Ultimatum and Genesis Ultimatum offered the same exact play pattern: either be super aggressive so you can try to win before they resolve or add blue and / or black to your deck to be able to interact. This might be fine for the highest level of tournament play, where players can either play the big-spell deck or tune a deck to fight it, but for more casual play like the Arena ladder or FNM Magic, it leaves many players frustrated and feeling punished for playing the colors of Magic they enjoy. 

From a slightly more casual perspective, not being able to play any white cards that cost more than three mana is a bummer. Needing to spend 12 rare wildcards to get blue dual lands just so you can splash a Negate in your sideboard and have some chance of beating whatever big-spell deck is popular at the moment doesn't feel good. And in 2021, the semi-competitive and casual crowd vastly outnumbers the ultra-spikes who might revel at the chance to build a deck or find a line to stop a card like Alrund's Epiphany, Emergent Ultimatum or whatever other big-spell finisher might be at the top of the meta at any given moment. 

The Solutions

The Ability For More Colors To Interact With Big-Spell Finishers

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Thankfully, there are two really good potential solutions to the problem. Let's start with the harder of the two: designing cards that allow more colors to interact with big spells. Currently, counterspells are found almost exclusively in blue, although according to Mark Rosewater's recent color pie article, they are tertiary in white as well. Making more counters like Mana Tithe and Lapse of Certainty in white would help. Red also occasionally gets some oddball counters. A fixed and perhaps upgraded Tibalt's Trickery (that only targets opposing spells) could buy red decks some extra time against big-spell decks, or maybe a blast from the past like return of narrow color-hate counters like Pyroblast could work? Toss in black's discard, adding more counterspells to white and red would suddenly mean that 80% of Magic's colors could interact with big-spell decks, rather than the current 20–40%. Yes, this would leave green out, but the current iteration of green is so powerful in so many ways that it often seems to have been one of the only colors about to go toe-to-toe with big-spell decks over the past few years using raw power because its threats are so good on rate, which might mean giving it extra help is unnecessary. 

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Of course, improving how colors interact with big spells isn't only about counters. An easy example here is that white traditionally interacts with spells by taxing them (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben) or shutting down a single card altogether (Meddling Mage or Nevermore). But in recent years, Wizards has shied away from printing powerful taxing effects into Standard, presumably on the theory that not being able to cast one of your spells because of a Nevermore or getting soft-locked by a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is unfun. But what if this is backward thinking? Players have made it clear that losing to Alrund's Epiphany chains isn't fun. Could it be that Nevermore or Meddling Mage would actually make Standard more fun for more players by giving them options for stopping an unfun big-spell finisher, rather than being unfun itself? I think the question is worth asking, at the very least. 

More Permament-Based Finishers, Less Big-Spell Finishers

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While I do think that giving more colors ways to fight big spells would improve Standard, there's another, way easier solution: print fewer big-spell finishers and more permanent-based finishers. Take Koma, Cosmos Serpent, for example. The Simic seven-drop is a great way to close out the game. It can't be countered, and if it can survive through an upkeep or two, it can protect itself from removal by making itself indestructible. While a Koma, Cosmos Serpent hitting the battlefield is often game over, every single color has some way or another of stopping it. Black can use Soul Shatter or Baleful Mastery. White has Fateful Absence, Brutal Cathar, and Borrowed Time. Blue can steal (Grafted Identity), tap down (Bind the Monster), and bounce (Fading Hope) it. Red has Burning Hands and other damage-based removal. Green can fight it. 

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Is it likely that you'll beat a resolved Koma, Cosmos Serpent? Not especially, but it feels possible no matter what color you happen to be playing. And if it's not possible for your specific deck, there are at least cards you can add to your deck that will give you a chance the next time you face it. The same is true of other permanent-based finishers, ranging from planeswalkers to artifacts to enchantments. Standard is better when most decks and colors have the opportunity to interact with their opponent's gameplan, including their finisher, and the easiest way to make this happens is to print less game-winning instants and sorceries and more permanent-based finishers.

This isn't to say that we can never have powerful spells in Standard or even that no decks should ever win the game with a big-spell finisher. But after going from Nexus of Fate to Emergent Ultimatum to Alrund's Epiphany over the past couple of years, Standard could use a break from having big-spell finisher decks at the top of the meta. Basically, we need more Aetherlings and fewer Alrund's Epiphanies, more Pearl Lake Ancients and fewer Nexus of Fates, and more Dragonlord Ojutais and fewer Emergent Ultimatums. 

Wrap-Up

Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.



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