Comments on: Friday Night Fights – Lens vs Gauntlet

By: dalkoncledwin

dalkoncledwin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:43:30 +0000

Ah I see you fixed it :3

By: dalkoncledwin

dalkoncledwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:32:00 +0000

just a note, the poll lists “Gauntlet of Might” but the article is discussing “Gauntlet of Power” is it not? (Grr, I did that about five times during the edit. Good call, fixed – MtGCP)

By: William

William — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:55:46 +0000

Lens is better because you can make it one sided. Just play Snow Covered lands because it checks the name not the type of land

By: Derfington

Derfington — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:45:27 +0000

Entertaining a strange thought: Extraplanar Lens is stronger in the late game, while the Gauntlet of Power is stronger in the early game.

If you play the Lens late, you have more mana to capitalize on the turn you play it, with more potential in the following turns. The imprint doesn’t hurt as much. If you play it turn 3, you leave yourself open to get knocked back a turn when it hurts the most.

The Gauntlet is a mana hog in many stages of the game, so playing it late may not net you a huge advantage vs. tapping out for it turn 5 (or ramping into it earlier). You also don’t lose a land drop if it dies. Also, if you play the Gauntlet early, your opponents have fewer lands to take advantage of it before you do. Late game, you’re dropping 5 mana and your opponents will have a lot of lands to potentially abuse it.

Strange thought aside, the Gauntlet seems like the safer option, while the Lens trades risk for more explosive plays.

By: Zaaba

Zaaba — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:18:34 +0000

I play both the lens + gauntlet in my Mono-B Endrek Sahr deck. However, the turn 3 lens typically turns into a must-destroy, must-bounce artifact soon enough.

By: Fart Brisko

Fart Brisko — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:47:31 +0000

another knock against extraplanar lens: investing two cards into something that is easily destroyed is risky. putting in two lands instead is much more stable, but in the end, i think the potential mana acceleration was worth it. also, extraplanar lens works against cards like gauntlet of might, cabal coffers, and magus of the coffers by taking a swamp out of the game, but again i think its worth it.

By: Fart Brisko

Fart Brisko — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:41:07 +0000

This article didn’t really say anything interesting. I was debating this exact problem; which one to put in my mono-black edh deck. I ended up putting both in, but I almost left extraplanar lens out because if you top deck it when you have no swamps in hand, its gay. On the other hand, if you drop it turn 3, you have 6 (possibly mana turn 4.

Also, you should mention how extraplanar lens interacts with snow-covered basic lands to keep your opponents from taking advantage of it.