American_Kid wrote:
To respond:
1. As I said in the topic statement, mass artifact removal isn't enough in most games to check the power of Tolarian Academy. Even if you cast a spell that destroys all artifacts you have to ask the following questions:
a. Do they have countermagic?
b. Do they have Roar of Reclaimation or Open the Vaults?
c. How does this effect the rest of the players on the field?
See, you can't just say, "oh mass artifact removal, problemed solved." There are many results of playing any spell in a game of multiplayer magic, and some carry more of an effect than others. Typically, cards that do things to all players are going to get a much greater response than single target spells. Plus cards like Rack and Ruin, Return to Dust, and the other respectable x-1 artifact removal spells are simply not enough. Removing a couple of artifacts will not stop the Academy's power.
If Academy is such a problem in a multiplayer game, more than just you will be going to try and stop it. Sure, they might have a counterspell or
Open the Vaults, but you're not the only one fighting against that player, and chances are that at most tables someone else will be playing blue to have the similar counterspell option. If you're too worried about harming the other players in order to stop the Academy, maybe the Academy isn't that big an issue. When any card, be it Academy or
Time Spiral or
Decree of Pain is setting up to win a player the game or demolish all the others' boards, those players usually band together to stop it.
Furthermore, even if the Academy player plays an
Open the Vaults after someone uses mass removal, chances are that using it has either denied them a decent part of their turn, or that all the other players are also going to be getting resources back.
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2. Yes it makes mana, that is the problem. There are X amount of things someone can do with lots of blue mana. There are, however, few ways that someone can gain that mana so quickly and efficiently. Every artifact that player plays not only pumps Academy, it helps set up their board position and gives them many options on how to knock the other players out.
There are also things that you can do with White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green mana. Chances are they're either A) not going to have Academy every game, or B) Have to spend time tutoring for it, which means that each other player (assuming it's multiplayer) has opportunities to do things themselves. Even with an Academy, games still don't end that early, which means that every player has time to set up and answer the Academy player.
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3. Boil is completely irrelevant once the Academy is in play. Even if they don't have Academy up, again you have to ask how it effects the rest of the players. Plus, most decks are not mono blue and hardly run that many islands anyways. Red Elemental Blast is a 1-1. Don't get me wrong, its a good card but it does relatively nothing other than stop a single blue spell or permanent when they are playing multiple spells per turn (some of which won't even be blue). This is also true for Sirocco. Lets assume they have 4 instants in there hand. That is 16 points of damage assuming they don't do anything about it. The question at hand would be, does life matter at the point Tolarian Academy is online? Seedtime is a respectable answer but what will the extra turn accomplish? Are you able, right then on that turn, to gain such an advantage, an advantage greater than the Academy is producing for your opponent? Finally Blood Moon and Back to Basics are cards that answer Academy, but I can guarentee you won't have many friends after playing such cards. Lots of decks run less than 10 basics lands and I think that 10 should be more like one of each of their general's colors if the General's colors are greater than three.
It's true that color hosers aren't the greatest answer, but they still are there.
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4. Heres the problem with Stripmine and the like. Crucible... See no matter when you Waste or Strip the Academy, they can recur it during their Main Phase. (If you wait until the main phase then you are doing them a favor.)
If Cruicible is such an issue, run some cards like
Jester's Cap to eliminate stuff before it's an issue, or things like
Ravenous Trap or
Relic of Progenitus to deal with things in the yard (which, coincidentally, are good additions to most EDH decks).
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5. Gaea's Cradle is in no way a comparison to Tolaria Academy. GC is much less reliable because there are plenty of more Wrath effects available then their are mass artifact removal spells. And I'm sure Yawg would agree here, blue mana is more powerful than green mana.
It's true there are far more wrath effects for creatures, but I would venture that people play wrath effects for creatures and artifacts/enchantments in similar amounts in their decks.
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In conclusion, Academy does not say win the game directly, but it is one the most efficient and consistant routes to winning the game. Any card can be answered, however some are so efficient and easily accessible/recurrable/abuseable that too many answers are needed in order to stop it.
As I mentioned in this post, but failed to in my previous post, there are answers that completely remove Academy as an issue, such as
Jester's Cap or
Sowing Salt. If it's really that big a deal, which I posit it isn't, there are plenty of ideas for everyone to try before it is touched by the rules comittee.
Also, for reference, what is Academy used in conjuction with to win in your playgroup? Does someone have an Academy based combo deck, or Sharuum, or is it just a good card in blue decks that eventually beat down with critters?