Mono-Black and isochron scepter

I was playing with my mono-black deck last night with Terror on a isochron scepter.
Sad thing is the two opponents were playing Bu - and mostly black creatures. These
were of course un-terrorable. So, given I can spend black mana on the scepter to
cast any coloured instant with a casting cost of 2 or less, the question is: what
should I replace the terrors with that would be of more use, esp' in games that
contain black creatures?

Terminate, Diabolic Edict, Counterspell? Any other wicked ideas?


Card Name: Isochron Scepter
Cost: 2
Type: Artifact
Rules Text: Imprint - When Isochron Scepter comes into play, you
may remove an instant card with converted mana cost
2 or less in your hand from the game. (The removed
card is imprinted on this artifact.)

2, T: You may copy the imprinted instant card and play
the copy without paying its mana cost.

TIA

Tim

"Tim" <XX.DeleteThis@nah.com> wrote in message
news:fhFHd.179$K36.2234@nnrp1.ozemail.com.au...
> I was playing with my mono-black deck last night with Terror on a isochron
scepter.
> Sad thing is the two opponents were playing Bu - and mostly black
creatures. These
> were of course un-terrorable. So, given I can spend black mana on the
scepter to
> cast any coloured instant with a casting cost of 2 or less, the question
is: what
> should I replace the terrors with that would be of more use, esp' in games
that
> contain black creatures?
>
> Terminate, Diabolic Edict, Counterspell? Any other wicked ideas?

I'd probably go with the Terminate, perhaps adding a splash of red in case
you
actually need to hard-cast it. It's very useful. BR to kill any
unprotected
creatures strikes me as being pretty useful even when not on a scepeter

Diabolic Edict is also a nice choice, especially since it'll "hit"
untargetables and
those odd nasties with prot black.

I wouldn't personally go with Counterspell because it would be twice as hard
to
possibly add in the double-blue to hard-cast it if necessary. Yes I
understand that
it's for the Scepter and it's not meant to be cast, but I think differently
in the fact
that hard-casting it might save your ass at some point.

Memory Lapse strikes me as an idea. For the low cost of 2 mana a turn, make
sure they draw the same thing every turn they try to cast something! Also
easier
to splash in case of emergency.

Depending on the size of the creatures you're aiming to kill, how about
something
to give -1/-1 or a similar penalty. An Imprinted Lose Hope would let you do
some
library manipulating every turn and kill an X/1. An imprinted Nausea would
kill
every X/1 on the board ... bad if that's all you have though.

If removal isn't a prerequisite, I could suggest other things that don't
necessary
remove things ... Any of the Raise-Dead type instants (Soulless Revival to
exploit
splicing) come to mind. Also I feel almost obligated to point out
Battlegrowth, then
point out that imprinting it on a Scepter would just make it a clunky (but
slightly
cheaper to activate) version of Dragon Blood.

There's some ideas. I prefer thinking creatively with the Scepter. I mean
anyone
can throw a Boomerang on it and start causing havoc. The trick would be to
find the
oddest Instant in the game, use it and let your opponent go "WTF?!?" ... hmm
I think
I may have found a deck idea in that!

-------
Clayton