Vendilion Clique

[Dreamer]

I've become quite annoyed with this card of late. It's theoretically good, but the more I play it, the more I'm left with a slight feeling of disappointment. It just feels like Clique doesn't cut it.

Everyone says it's awesome, but may it just be because we're conditioned to believe that the things it does are awesome, to the point that the Clique's inclusion is somewhat dogmatic?

Am I a heretic and just playing the card wrong, or does anyone else feel that the card is just a wee bit lackluster nowadays?

[Tabris]

I fully understand your concerns about mass-deception around single cards. (Standstill (many players dont know how to play with or against it), Sensei´s Divining Top etc. card which seems good but often played wrong) But I think what is important for the Clique, is the Deck. Clique fits perfect in tempo-oriented decks like UG-AggroControl. Besides her ability to manipulate the hand of your opponent or your own, it has flash and a very good attack-value. If you throw it in any Ux-based control deck it might do the job (e.g. UR-Counterburn, resolving clique, take the removal and protect it till the opponent lost too much life and is in your burn range) but often it will at best just trade with another creature which make trouble for the control player. So I dont know why you are disappointed with the card but maybe you dont have the right deck for it. But again, I fully understand the concerns about auto-includes and stuff

[Mythrandir]

Quite good. It can be played after a demonic tutor or gifts or intuition. He plays extremely well with karakas, making it hard to kill. It can enter on your opponent's turn, so you don't have to tap out (specially true for tempo decks). I don't believe this is an auto-include, but it sure is very potent. Also the 3 damage makes for nice beater, playe it eot and hold counter your opponent's removal.

[Nastaboi]

Remember that you can always choose not to take anything with Clique. If you play Clique and see nothing worth taking, you have won the game.

Clique's effect may not seem that dramatic when you play it. Try being in the receiving end of it and you'll see how annoying to opponent it really is.

[Tiggupiru]

I really love the fact that everybody is describing what the card does to the OP. I mean, he is not going to do much with the knowledge of how flash as an ability actually work.

Like also stated, it really comes down to what deck you are playing. Obvious auto-include in any fish-style of deck that has no problem of producing UU, but beyond that you really need to evaluate specifically what your deck aims to do.

For example, I as well happened to autoinclude this in practically all of my combo decks to try and Thoughtseize blue decks EOT before going off. It even was supposed to be decent against aggro to trade with a dude while improving your hand or trying to make them lose their next creature in the curve. Turns out that most combo decks don't need any help against control (well atleast not those who rather play UU-cards and have no access to actual Thoughtseizes anyway). It never was very good against aggro either. More often than not, it came too late for the party to give any extra turns and it traded with the otherwise dead removal spell they had instead of a 3/3. I much rather have the crucial turn three tutor or other library manipulation spell to make your own clock faster.

Don't be fooled, though. It still a good card, but if you find your MU decent or good against other blue decks, this might not be what you need.

Remember that you can always choose not to take anything with Clique. If you play Clique and see nothing worth taking, you have won the game.

Well, yeah. But this has nothing to do with the fact you just resolved a Clique: you won because they didn't draw anything.

[MMD]

I also avoid Clique (and other great midrange creatures like Venser, Mindcensor) in non aggrocontrol/controlaggro decks because of deck focus. Clique is not an autoinclude like Brainstorm or Mana Drain. I currently do not use it in my pure Control/Combo decks because it does not offer enough support to the game plan and I also want to avoid unnesessary removal targets.

Imo Clique is an autoinclude for every deck which supports UU and plays equipments and/or Karakas.