Dies to Removal

Staff of Nin
Putting this here 'cuz I see the card crop up most often in Jund, but it's endemic.

Can somebody explain the appeal of this card to me? I get the idea that "free cards = good," but I have never thought it was worthwhile to spend that slot on drawing a card a turn later rather than something with real, direct advantage, especially out of the sideboard (if not maindeck). It seems too slow vs. aggro, too easy to work around or just answer vs. control, and in the midrange vs. midrange matchup it just seems better to come up with a better silver bullet (for instance most any planeswalker).

My own subjective analysis aside, do you believe Staff will still be relevant now that DGM is upon us? My feeling is that with or without new decks the added value the set gives all the established decks makes such a borderline card lose any redeeming quality it has;
aggro gets faster, control gets, er, controller, and midrange has better answers now.. not to mention Notion Thief is just a nightmare for the person playing Staff ("tempo AND free cards for me? It isn't even my birthday!").

It's a card that gives Jund supreme card advantage edge over other midrange and especially control decks, while adding inevitability with its ping.

It should be noted that Deadbridge Chant has basically replaced Staff of Nin for a lot of people in Jund. Which one ends up being better remains to be seen, but a lot of pros have remarked that Chant has been an all-star.

It's a misers slot anyways though, so it's not like you must run either.