Changes: Dark Confidant

Latest revision as of 14:33, 10 July 2020

Dark Confidant (also affectionately known as "Bob"), released in Ravnica: City of Guilds, is a rare, black creature that allows its controller, at the beginning of his or her upkeep, to effectively draw an additional card at the cost of paying life equal to the card's converted mana cost.

"Bob"[ | ]

Dark Confidant is so nicknamed after Bob Maher, Jr., its creator. Maher won the right to design and be immortalized in his 2004 Magic Invitational submission. The card's flavor text alludes to Maher's epithet "the Great One". Dark Confidant was reprinted in Modern Masters.^[1]

The original submission of Maher involved poison counters.^[2]

Dark Confidant in the 2007 Pro Tour Season[ | ]

Grand Prix Columbus[ | ]

Steve Sadin's Flash Counterbalance 1st Place GP Columbus
Max Tietze's Fish 4th Place GP Columbus
Michael Belfatto's MBA 8th Place GP Columbus

Worlds 2007[ | ]

The following decks all had a record of 4-1 at Worlds 2007:

Camargo's sideboard Worlds Legacy
Vitor Dama de Rosa's sideboard Worlds Legacy
Komuro's sideboard Worlds Legacy
Lybaert's maindeck Worlds Legacy
O'Mahoney-Schwartz maindeck Worlds Legacy
Wu's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Yasooka's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Kapalas's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Nicosia's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Stienaa's maindeck Worlds Legacy
van Heeswijk's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Thompson's maindeck Worlds Legacy
Meulder's maindeck Worlds Legacy

Pro Tour Honolulu[ | ]

Olivier Ruel's Hand in Hand Honolulu
Ruud Warmenhoven's Orzhov Aggro Honolulu

Theory[ | ]

Statistical analysis[ | ]

Dark Confidant's effect can dramatically change the way a deck wants to play out. Drawing an extra card per turn should lead fairly directly to playing an extra card per turn, while simultaneously reducing the number of lands required to make each land drop. A turn by turn analysis follows, so that it can be compared with the theoretical basic curve. Note that this analysis is identical to the one which would occur for Howling Mine and several other cards. The first analysis shall assume we are on the play.

First turn: The Dark Confidant cannot affect our draw on the first turn so this is the usual minimum 9 one-drops to have drawn one and similar 9 lands, totaling 18 cards.

Second turn: Again, the Confidant does not affect our draws so we still have the "basic curve" which tells us we want 8 two-drops and 15 lands, bringing our running total to 32 cards.

Third turn: Henceforth, we will assume that we have drawn and played a Confidant on turn two to give the most extreme variation from the basic. This turn, having drawn two cards we want to play two spells and make our third land drop. So we should have our third land, second one-drop and second two-drop in these 10 cards. Now we have 12 one-drops, 12 two-drops, and 18 lands, for a total of 42 cards.

Fourth turn: This turn we play two two-drops and one land, which means we desire 20 of each in the deck, for a total of 52 cards.

Fifth turn: Another land, two-drop, and finally a three-drop lead us to 22 two-drops/land, and four three-drops, totaling the deck out at 60 cards.

Curve comparisons[ | ]

60 cards, play first

Basic curve

9 one-drops, 8 two-drops, 8 three-drops, 11 four-drops, 24 lands.

"Confidant curve"

12 one-drops, 22 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 21 lands.

The "basic curve" makes one play per turn for the first five turns, totaling five plays while the "Confidant curve" makes a total of eight plays over the same amount of turns. The "Confidant curve" also manages to make the fifth land drop with fewer lands.

"60 cards, draw first"

"Basic curve"

8 one-drops, 7 two-drops, 6 three-drops, 5 four-drops, 9 five-drops, 25 lands.

"Confidant curve"

11 one-drops, 21 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 3 four-drops, 21 lands.

Here the basic curve again makes one play per turn, this time for six turns, whereas the "Confidant curve" goes 1/2/1+2/2+2/2+3/1+4 missing the sixth land drop just like the "basic curve". The "Confidant curve" here makes 10 plays over 6 turns.

References[ | ]

↑ Bob Maher (May 20, 2013). "Dark Confidant". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Magic Arcana (May 13, 2004). "2004 Invitational Card Concepts". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

[1] Bob Maher (May 20, 2013). "Dark Confidant". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

[2] Magic Arcana (May 13, 2004). "2004 Invitational Card Concepts". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Image:Dark_Confidant.jpg|220px|right]]
-<c>Dark Confidant</c> (also affectionally known as "'''Bob'''"), released in [[Ravnica: City of Guilds]], is a rare, black creature that allows its controller, at the beginning of his or her upkeep, to effectively draw an additional card at the cost of paying life equal to the card's converted mana cost.
+'''Dark Confidant''' (also affectionately known as "'''Bob'''"), released in ''[[Ravnica: City of Guilds]]'', is a rare, black creature that allows its controller, at the beginning of his or her upkeep, to effectively draw an additional card at the cost of paying life equal to the card's converted mana cost.
 =="Bob"==
-Dark Confidant is so nicknamed after [[Bob Maher]], its creator. Maher won the right to design and be immortalized in his 2004 Magic Invitational submission. The card's flavor text alludes to Maher's epithet "the Great One".<ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/hofplayer/bmaher</ref><ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi05/blogthursday</ref>
+<c>Dark Confidant</c> is so nicknamed after [[Bob Maher, Jr.]], its creator. Maher won the right to design and be immortalized in his [[2004]] [[Magic Invitational]] submission. The card's [[flavor text]] alludes to Maher's epithet "the Great One". Dark Confidant was reprinted in ''[[Modern Masters]]''.<ref>{{DailyRef|dark-confidant-2013-05-20|Dark Confidant|[[Bob Maher]]|May 20, 2013 }}</ref>
+The original submission of Maher involved [[poison counter]]s.<ref>{{DailyRef|2004-invitational-card-concepts-2004-05-13|2004 Invitational Card Concepts|[[Magic Arcana]]|May 13, 2004}}</ref>
-==Dark Confidant in the Pro Tour==
-===Grand Prix Columbus===
-*Sadin's Flash Counterbalance 1st Place GP Columbus
-*Tietze's Fish 4th Place GP Columbus
-*Belfatto's MBA 8th Place GP Columbus
+==Dark Confidant in the [[2007 Pro Tour Season]]==
-===Worlds 2007===
+===[[2007 Pro Tour Season#Grand Prix (May–June 2007)|Grand Prix Columbus]]===
+*Steve Sadin's [[Control deck#Lock|Flash Counterbalance]] 1st Place GP Columbus
+*Max Tietze's [[Vintage Fish deck|Fish]] 4th Place GP Columbus
+*Michael Belfatto's MBA 8th Place GP Columbus
+===[[2007 Pro Tour Season#2007 World Championships|Worlds 2007]]===
 The following decks all had a record of 4-1 at Worlds 2007:
 *Camargo's sideboard Worlds Legacy
@@ Line 27: / Line 29: @@
 *Meulder's maindeck Worlds Legacy
-===Pro Tour Honolulu===
+===[[2006 Pro Tour Season#Pro Tour Honolulu|Pro Tour Honolulu]]===
-*Ruel's Hand in Hand Honolulu
+*[[Olivier Ruel]]'s Hand in Hand Honolulu
-*Warmenhoven's Orzhov Aggro Honolulu
+*Ruud Warmenhoven's Orzhov Aggro Honolulu
 ==Theory==
 ===Statistical analysis===
-Dark Confidant's effect can dramatically change the way a deck wants to play out.  Drawing an extra card per turn should lead fairly directly to playing an extra card per turn, while simultaneously reducing the number of lands required to make each land drop.  A turn by turn analysis follows, so that it can be compared with the theoretical [[Mana curve#Basic curves|basic curve]].  Note that this analysis is identical to the one which would occur for <c>Howling Mine</c> and several other cards.  The first analysis shall assume we are on the play.
+Dark Confidant's effect can dramatically change the way a deck wants to play out. Drawing an extra card per turn should lead fairly directly to playing an extra card per turn, while simultaneously reducing the number of lands required to make each land drop. A turn by turn analysis follows, so that it can be compared with the theoretical [[Mana curve#Basic curves|basic curve]]. Note that this analysis is identical to the one which would occur for <c>Howling Mine</c> and several other cards. The first analysis shall assume we are on the play.
 '''First turn''': The Dark Confidant cannot affect our draw on the first turn so this is the usual minimum 9 one-drops to have drawn one and similar 9 lands, totaling 18 cards.
-'''Second turn''': Again, the Confidant does not affect our draws so we still have the "[[Mana curve#Basic curves|basic curve]]" which tells us we want 8 two-drops and 15 land, bringing our running total to 32 cards.
+'''Second turn''': Again, the Confidant does not affect our draws so we still have the "[[Mana curve#Basic curves|basic curve]]" which tells us we want 8 two-drops and 15 lands, bringing our running total to 32 cards.
-'''Third turn''': Henceforth, we will assume that we have drawn and played a Confidant on turn two to give the most extreme variation from the basic. This turn having draw two cards we want to play to spells and make our third land drop. So we should have our third land, second one-drop and second two-drop in these 10 cards.  Now we have 12 one-drops, 12 two-drops, and 18 land, for a total of 42 cards.
+'''Third turn''': Henceforth, we will assume that we have drawn and played a Confidant on turn two to give the most extreme variation from the basic. This turn, having drawn two cards we want to play two spells and make our third land drop. So we should have our third land, second one-drop and second two-drop in these 10 cards. Now we have 12 one-drops, 12 two-drops, and 18 lands, for a total of 42 cards.
-'''Fourth turn''': This turn we play two two-drops and a land, which means we desire 20 of each in the deck, for a total of 52 cards.
+'''Fourth turn''': This turn we play two two-drops and one land, which means we desire 20 of each in the deck, for a total of 52 cards.
-'''Fifth turn''': Another land, two-drop, and finally a three-drop lead us to 21 two-drops/land, and four three-drops, totaling the deck out at 60 cards.
+'''Fifth turn''': Another land, two-drop, and finally a three-drop lead us to 22 two-drops/land, and four three-drops, totaling the deck out at 60 cards.
 ====Curve comparisons====
@@ Line 50: / Line 52: @@
 ''Basic curve''
-one-drops, 8 two-drops, 8 three-drops, 11 four-drops, 24 land.
+one-drops, 8 two-drops, 8 three-drops, 11 four-drops, 24 lands.
 ''"Confidant curve"''
-one-drops, 21 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 21 land.
+one-drops, 22 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 21 lands.
-The "basic curve" makes one play per turn for the first five turns, totaling five plays while the "Confidant curve" makes a total of eight plays over the same amount of turns. The "Confidant curve" also manages to make the fifth land drop with fewer land.
+The "basic curve" makes one play per turn for the first five turns, totaling five plays while the "Confidant curve" makes a total of eight plays over the same amount of turns. The "Confidant curve" also manages to make the fifth land drop with fewer lands.
-'''"60 cards, draw first"'''
+'''"[[Mana curve/60 cards, draw first|60 cards, draw first]]"'''
 ''"Basic curve"''
-one-drops, 7 two-drops, 6 three-drops, 5 four-drops, 9 five-drops, 25 land.
+one-drops, 7 two-drops, 6 three-drops, 5 four-drops, 9 five-drops, 25 lands.
 ''"Confidant curve"''
-one-drops, 21 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 3 four-drops, 21 land.
+one-drops, 21 two-drops, 4 three-drops, 3 four-drops, 21 lands.
 Here the basic curve again makes one play per turn, this time for six turns, whereas the "Confidant curve" goes 1/2/1+2/2+2/2+3/1+4 missing the sixth land drop just like the "basic curve". The "Confidant curve" here makes 10 plays over 6 turns.
@@ Line 73: / Line 75: @@
 {{reflist}}
-[[Category:Cards]][[Category:Magic slang]]
+[[Category:Cards]]
+[[Category:Magic slang]]