Sometimes a counterspell just isn't proactive
enough-- you need to make sure that spell in
their hand never gets off the ground. Distress
is a perfect option for just about any dedicated
discard deck. I've heard it argued that Distress
just isn't advantageous enough-- it's a 1-for-1.
Maybe so, but you're trading their best card for
one of your fair-to-good cards, for the low
price of two mana of a certain color. Blue mages
were happy to make that trade back in the days
of Counterspell, and they had to wait for the
opponent to try and cast the spell the spell
they wanted to stop. True, that meant that they
could trick an opponent into wasting mana as
well as a card, but it also meant that they had
to leave mana open and wait for a spell they
deemed threatening enough to stop, while
Distress allows you to simply pluck the card of
your choice from its owner's hand, and allows
you to see the opponent's hand, know what his
plans for the immediate future are, and choose
which card would most hinder his plans were he
to lose it, while a counterspell player rarely
has more than blind faith to act on.
This card was Thoughtseize before Thoughtseize
was Thoughtseize. Er, what did I just say? We're
looking at an interesting situation in the
upcoming Standard rotation, where you can hit
creatures and planeswalkers with Despise on the
first turn, and have to wait for the second at
the earliest for non-creature spells, which is
somewhat unlike card pools we've seen in the
recent past. As long as the Titans are in
Standard, anything that can force players to
discard creatures is going to be appealing, but
Despise's speed may earn it the starting place.
In principle, though, Distress is a perfectly
serviceable card which could end up playing a
role out of sideboards, especially since there
are so many multilands around that it may be
easier than ever before to meet almost any mana
cost. And any budget-minded players who didn't
have this card before now have access to a new
version that's around in large quantities - in
many casual metagames, its slower speed won't
even be noticed.
Today's card of the day is Distress which is a two
mana Black spell that has a target player reveal
their hand and discard a non-land card from it
of your choice. Duress was one less mana,
couldn't target yourself, and couldn't discard
creatures. The extra mana is a big drawback
that is somewhat balanced out by the
improvements and it should allow this to be
played in most of the decks that were using
Duress. Being able to discard your own card may
give it a few new homes as well, but overall the
increased cost will stand out in the minds of
those that played Duress.
In Limited this actually surpasses Duress by
working as pre-removal for large creatures if it
can be played early enough, though is weakened
by the double Black casting cost which would
often prevent it from being played in the first
few turns. It can be played in Sealed if the
build is primarily Black and in Booster can
easily be drafted early as removal considering
the deck can be a single color. In either it is
disruptive card that gives the advantages of
removing the biggest threat and revealing their
hand which makes it worth using when reasonable.
Unfortunately Multiplayer is a very poor place
to run hand destruction as your opponents
outnumber your discard abilities. A target of
this card will also be likely to focus their
attention on you after having an important card
dropped from their hand.
Welcome back readers today’s card of the is
Distress. As Shock returned to replace Lighting
Bolt so too must Duress be replaced. Duress is a
classic, iconic and powerful card, Distress not
so much. The fact it can snag anything is really
nice but double black and having to wait a turn
may mean the difference between losing the match
or winning. In standard as of now it is too slow
and horrible but when Duress and Inquisition of
Kozilek rotate out it is between this and
Despise and yet revealed discard spells
from Innistrad, after rotation it will
definitely see play as of now it’s pretty
mediocre. In modern and eternal formats it can’t
compete with Duress nor Thoughtseize and is
entirely too slow making it a horrible card.
In casual and multiplayer cards that aren’t
permanents or only hit a single player are a
waste of resources to run, sure you got rid of
that Shivian Dragon using your Distress but what
about the other players? Cards that force
multiple people to discard are much better. In
limited it is playable certainly not a high pick
but something you may want to sideboard in your
black decks. Overall a card with fantastic art
and flavor that falls short of the discard
spells players can currently use in most
formats.
