Am I the only one who thinks that this could be fake? I don't know exactly, but something in the image seems a little off... It's like the words seem to be clearer than the rest of the image...
EDIT: Just don't listen to me. Now that I have seen it on the EB Games website, I'm sure it's real. At first I didn't see the link to the page. ^^"
Like that matters. Werewolves have an on-tribe legend, and for now that's good enough. Not like the tribe didn't already have support in the various Werewolves and Wolves you wanted to include in the deck anyway, like Vildin-Pack Alpha and Immerwolf. Same deal with the Cats: This makes Raksha Golden Cub all the better. And we have Congregation at Dawn to help tutor Raksha and any other Cats we want.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I can't say Cats were on the list of possibilities, as they were one of those tribes that just didn't have enough to fully work, but if WotC can make it work then all the better. To make this deck work they are really going to have to add things like Regal Caracal and other Amonkhet block cats.
But hey we'll probably be getting a Phantom Nishoba reprint (it's Oracle text has it being a cat), and I love the Phantoms. Possibly Jedit Ojanen of Efrava just so we can finally get the 2/2 green cat token in paper. I do expect a few Changelings here with the usual Mirror Entity and probably Changeling Colossus.
This deck will definately get Jedit easily.
Out of the cats I could see, with the ones I listed before.
Like that matters. Werewolves have an on-tribe legend, and for now that's good enough. Not like the tribe didn't already have support in the various Werewolves and Wolves you wanted to include in the deck anyway, like Vildin-Pack Alpha and Immerwolf. Same deal with the Cats: This makes Raksha Golden Cub all the better. And we have Worldly Tutor and Congregation at Dawn to help tutor Raksha and any other Cats we want.
Ummmm....it matters greatly. There are well over a half-dozen cat legends in the game's history. Wolves and werewolves have exactly 1. 1. No legendary wolves - Voja doesn't count because it's an elf that puts him out as a token - and Ulrich is by all accounts an atrocious tribal legend. That's not to say cats didn't deserve a WG legend, they did, but don't mistake a few support cards for making the tribe viable. I'm glad to see cat fans get their general. But it sucks that nearly 25 years into the game a legendary wolf is still off the menu, werewolves are all but horrendous in EDH and dragon and now cats get another legend or 2. I just want WOTC to toss the canine-enthisiasts a bone for once. Didn't even get a jackal Lord, for Pete's sake.
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Vorthos-player with way too much time on his hands and a love of thematic decks.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
Ummmm....it matters greatly. There are well over a half-dozen cat legends in the game's history. Wolves and werewolves have exactly 1. 1. No legendary wolves - Voja doesn't count because it's an elf that puts him out as a token - and Ulrich is by all accounts an atrocious tribal legend.
An atrocious legend, eh? What exactly was a Werewolf legend supposed to do? Because what I see is that Werewolves wanted a legend that was a Werewolf to fit the theme and benefit from their tribal effects, which happened to involve laying the beatdown while minimizing spellcasting. The whole point of playing a tribal deck is to play a bunch of creatures with the relevant type; a tribal commander isn't supposed to carry the whole game on their own. Ulric is a great spearhead for a Werewolf deck as he will often be one of the largest Werewolves in the deck, and even when transforming back can make a creature bigger to keep the beats up.
Sure, I guess he could have cheated Werewolves out to help them transform, but I'm not calling him atrocious simply because he isn't a Champion of Rhonas for Werewolves. A group pump effect could have worked, but Arlinn Kord took up a lot of that space; at least you can play them in a deck together and have them work together well enough. And preventing Werewolves from transforming, like Immerwolf, would work against the flavor, not to mention weaken cards like Huntmaster of the Fells. In fact, I want to see more benefits for transforming Werewolves back and forth in the future to encourage switching between casting lots of spells and no spells over the course of the game, not to mention punish opponents for trying to disrupt you by casting spells repeatedly. I'll take more Ulrich and Huntmaster-type Werewolves, thank you very much.
At any rate, I find it laughable how users here are so quick to dismiss a card as a boring character with no backstory when we haven't even seen the official preview article yet; this is a leak after all. And if the card doesn't have an in-depth backstory? Big deal. Marath doesn't have a developed backstory, it's a big nature Elemental with a modal effect, and it works just fine. I'm just happy we finally have a GW Cat legend, in fact happier than I am with the WUBRG Dragons deck.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Ummmm....it matters greatly. There are well over a half-dozen cat legends in the game's history. Wolves and werewolves have exactly 1. 1. No legendary wolves - Voja doesn't count because it's an elf that puts him out as a token - and Ulrich is by all accounts an atrocious tribal legend.
An atrocious legend, eh? What exactly was a Werewolf legend supposed to do? Because what I see is that Werewolves wanted a legend that was a Werewolf to fit the theme and benefit from their tribal effects, which happened to involve laying the beatdown while minimizing spellcasting. The whole point of playing a tribal deck is to play a bunch of creatures with the relevant type; a tribal commander isn't supposed to carry the whole game on their own. Ulric is a great spearhead for a Werewolf deck as he will often be one of the largest Werewolves in the deck, and even when transforming back can make a creature bigger to keep the beats up.
Sure, I guess he could have cheated Werewolves out to help them transform, but I'm not calling him atrocious simply because he isn't a Champion of Rhonas for Werewolves. A group pump effect could have worked, but Arlinn Kord took up a lot of that space; at least you can play them in a deck together and have them work together well enough. And preventing Werewolves from transforming, like Immerwolf, would work against the flavor, not to mention weaken cards like Huntmaster of the Fells. In fact, I want to see more benefits for transforming Werewolves back and forth in the future to encourage switching between casting lots of spells and no spells over the course of the game, not to mention punish opponents for trying to disrupt you by casting spells repeatedly. I'll take more Ulrich and Huntmaster-type Werewolves, thank you very much.
One would hope a tribal legend would, oh I don't know, help the tribe or synergize with the gameplay at all. Ulrich does neither. Take his name away from the card, and he is just a gruul flip-card. He doesn't pump werewolves like the new cat Lord here. He doesn't punish players for casting spells to consistently keep the werewolves human, nor does he do anything to address that werewolves are dumb ground beaters with few having evasion. We weren't asking for the moon, but just SOME help. Ulrich wasn't it, and it's why many werewolf fans still rely on Xenagos or Ruric That to even keep the deck semi-functional in EDH. The tribe needs a TON of help. Am I glad Ulrich exists? Yes, but not if he is the only legend we get for the tribe. Why not give him some activation cost to flip another werewolf? That wouldn't be too much. I didn't want another immerwolf, but there was 100 and 1 different angles Ulrich could have gone that allowed him to transform and aided the tribe.
And Ulrich still doesn't count as a legendary wolf, so that still leaves one legend supporting two tribes and aiding neither. This was wolves and werewolves likely only chance before Innistrad 3.0 to get any love, and it just looks like it's not going to happen.
Again, happy for cat fans, but the puppies needed love too. Ulrich was not it. And any werewolf player will say the same. Flavor-wise, yay. Actually helping the tribe-wise? Nope.
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Vorthos-player with way too much time on his hands and a love of thematic decks.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
One would hope a tribal legend would, oh I don't know, help the tribe or synergize with the gameplay at all. Ulrich does neither. Take his name away from the card, and he is just a gruul flip-card. He doesn't pump werewolves like the new cat Lord here.
Um, yes he does, upon ETB or transforming into Ulrich of the Krallenhorde. Great tempo play with Vildin-Pack Alpha, as he will immediately transform and potentially punch something's face in.
He doesn't punish players for casting spells to consistently keep the werewolves human, nor does he do anything to address that werewolves are dumb ground beaters with few having evasion.
Aside from pumping one of your creatures, that is. Neck Breaker and Terror of Kruin Pass grant Trample and Menace to your Werewolves, and several already have Trample or some manner of evasion such as "can't be blocked by more than one" or "can't be blocked by less power".
We weren't asking for the moon, but just SOME help. Ulrich wasn't it, and it's why many werewolf fans still rely on Xenagos or Ruric That to even keep the deck semi-functional in EDH. The tribe needs a TON of help.
While I won't deny that Xenagos helps Werewolves by providing pump and haste, it's still all RG beats. That's a RG problem, not a Werewolf problem. And Ruric Thar punishes you for casting noncreature spells like Moonmist and Moonlight Hunt. Not really ideal. I would choose Radha, Heir to Keld or Stonebrow, Krosan Hero before Ruric. Sure, he punishes your opponents too, but how good that is depends on whether your opponent runs a lot of creature spells. I say better to take the initiative, build around your stuff, and shrug off whatever the opponent may throw at you using cards like Stranglehold and Asceticism.
Cheat effects are definitely useful, but certain Werewolves benefit from casting spells periodically to get them to switch, like Huntmaster of the Fells or Duskwatch Recruiter.
You can also take the cutthroat approach with land removal to deprive your opponent of resources early and force them to slow down their spellcasting.
Am I glad Ulrich exists? Yes, but not if he is the only legend we get for the tribe. Why not give him some activation cost to flip another werewolf? That wouldn't be too much. I didn't want another immerwolf, but there was 100 and 1 different angles Ulrich could have gone that allowed him to transform and aided the tribe.
Unless he's an Eldrazi Werewolf, being able to flip Werewolves at will misses the point of the tribe. Vildin-Pack Alpha has a cool auto-transform effect, but most Werewolves aren't Arlinn Kord. I can concur that a pump effect would work well, which is something we all should be requesting of Maro now while the next Innistrad set is still in design or pre-design.
And Ulrich still doesn't count as a legendary wolf, so that still leaves one legend supporting two tribes and aiding neither. This was wolves and werewolves likely only chance before Innistrad 3.0 to get any love, and it just looks like it's not going to happen.
Again, happy for cat fans, but the puppies needed love too. Ulrich was not it. And any werewolf player will say the same. Flavor-wise, yay. Actually helping the tribe-wise? Nope.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Hmm I'm not super sold on this card. Sure you can make super cats with it, and I expect a lifegain/equipment subtheme to make some Voltron cats, but it seems really narrow. It doesn't have a lot of flexibility, and loses value outside of being your commander.
I won't call it bad until I see the other cats they drag in, but all I can say is they better be pretty powerful to make this tribe really worth playing.
Brimaz is only $8. They've reprinted plenty of cards about that price in this product before and far higher (Wurmcoil Engine was $20 when it was printed in C14), so his price shouldn't be much of an issue, especially when he would be pretty essential to create lots of cats.
Hmm I'm not super sold on this card. Sure you can make super cats with it, and I expect a lifegain/equipment subtheme to make some Voltron cats, but it seems really narrow. It doesn't have a lot of flexibility, and loses value outside of being your commander.
Doesn't have a lot of flexibility? It lets you pump Cats up. The Eminence ability allows even your early kitties to hit hard, and once it's on the field you can pay 1GW whenever one of your Cats attack to double that Cat's power. It's straightforward and not some kind of toolbox, sure, but that doesn't make it inflexible.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Meh... It makes me wish that fans shouldn't pressure Wizards into coming up with forced, amateurish designs like Ulrich and now Garfield. Tell them what you like, but don't demand something immediately.
The number of existing cards is not at all a measure of popularity. Not even related.
Really? I will remind you that popularity is repeatedly cited out as a reason we see more of something (and vice versa):
"Nicol Bolas was the most popular card of the original Elder Dragons." -blogatog
"Sphinxes are the least popular of the iconic races, so while we went up a little, we didn’t go crazy with them." -blogatog
"Popularity helps their chances of returning though." -blogatog
Nothing gets printed a lot - and repeatedly in large numbers - without being popular. We have had a lot of catfolk/leonin variants, plenty of Cat creatures before Amonkhet and recently a whole lot of support on the latest plane. This is a company repeatedly commiting to making lots of Cat cards - this would not have happened if they weren't convinced the tribe is popular. And in the end their conviction is important when analyzing the word choice behind ther statement.
tl;dr: Number of printed cards over an extended period of time is actually a great indicator of popularity.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
One thing to keep in mind which might help worries of the deck being one dimensional is that there is a good number of cats who care about equipment. Given WOTC's penchant for making these deck have a subtheme, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kemba, Kha Regent, Leonin Shikari and some of those Stronger-When-Equipped cats make an appearance in here, along with some random equipments. This also has synergy with our big kitty here, as doubling the power of an equipped creature...is a lot of fun.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Not saying the Cat King is weak, but it's very one dimension. If it's something like "whenever you do this and that, create a cat token," it would at least be like Taigan where you could play non-dragon deck and still benefit from it. Arahnbo very much require you to do cats AND do combat.
A friend of mine has had a cat deck for a couple years now and i am both happy for him and sad. On the one hand his deck might actually become good, on the other hand the original cat deck might loose that "not quite a real tribe, but we are trying" spirit. Anyway that general looks pretty interesting, lots of deck building avenues open up when you have access to free giant growths and power doublers.
Cat tribal pffff. I guess it falls udner the unexpected tribe
Nope
Cats is really popular and known in mtg fans have Ben begging for years a legendary that supports cats.
They would have had more decks in edh if a cat legendary with a lord ability was printed earlier.
And now they finally got their wish.
Its unexpected for the fact it doesn't have a proper legendary. No way its popular enough to compete with other tribes. So yes i put it into unexpected tribe for the fact it doesn't have as mutch support. This is their first WG legendary afterall.
This is true, but compare ~150 cats in existence with ~170 dragons, what is the definition of "popular".
Popular = Regarded favorably
The number of existing cards is not at all a measure of popularity. Not even related.
Besides most existing cats are terrible in EDH.
So you print ~150 somethings people don't want, but ~170 is the magic number for what people want. It was said already, but if they weren't the least bit popular, they wouldn't see print. Wizards must know then, how much you all hate Ajani, considering how much he's seen print lately, just so unpopular. Give me a break, lol.
As far as existing cats and their effectiveness, I 100% disagree. G-Jedit is a pretty great warrior Commander, with the forest walk portion being very interesting and allows for some build around space beyond tribal support. Temur Sabretooth laughs at your claim. Nacatl War Pride isn't useful? It's one of the more unique, and abusable effects, in the format. Cats now have a lord and token producers.
I hate cats too, but in terms of MtG, you're off the mark on this one.
Anyway - not all fivecolored decks is confirmed and can be struck of the list - yet Cats still get quite some color-coverage already across multiple decks. That's interesting.
The synergy between these abilities is silly.
Not a fan of the face cards (or any) being foils, btw.
The first three new C17 legendary creatures leaked were a Cat Dragon, a Dragon Spirit, and a Dragon Avatar.
Back then I positted that the additional creature types on these three might hint at the other decks - for cross-deck synergy and additional color support that might not have fit into the original deck (siince that would not be five-colored and hence have restrictions). With Cat confirmed the statement gets a little support. I am not confirming Avatar and Spirit, but I think Spirit is likely as a deck that is not five-colored (so they had this great Spirit character that they couldn't put at the helm of the spirit deck since they felt five-colored, but could be argued to be a Dragon as well... plausible story).
I'm not so sure abut Avatars, but they are a possibility due toi Ixalan spoilers, so I'm keeping an open mind. But we also have to take into consideration that Wasitora, Nekoru Queen was a lesser rare legendary and is paired with Taigam, Ojutai Master which might be hinting at Human or Monk.
Depending on whether Cats are supposedly unexpected or not I'd put my money possibly rather on Human or Monk/Avatar respectively, but Spirit just seems like a fine choice - and there is a lot of color combinations you could go with them - Innistradi white-blue, Dimir blue-black, Orzhov white-black, Abzan white-black-green. I could see a white-blue-black Spirit deck hinting at all these sources and maybe more. After all nature spirits can be green, and violent spirits like poltergeists or vengeful ghosts have been red.
And there have to be plenty of characters in MtG history to make a reference to in such a deck as a legendary creature post mortem. ^^
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Pre-PW Ajani is fine, but Lord Windgrace is red-aligned at his core, so that's a no for this deck.
EDIT: Just don't listen to me. Now that I have seen it on the EB Games website, I'm sure it's real. At first I didn't see the link to the page. ^^"
Like that matters. Werewolves have an on-tribe legend, and for now that's good enough. Not like the tribe didn't already have support in the various Werewolves and Wolves you wanted to include in the deck anyway, like Vildin-Pack Alpha and Immerwolf. Same deal with the Cats: This makes Raksha Golden Cub all the better. And we have Congregation at Dawn to help tutor Raksha and any other Cats we want.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I'm confused. Are you saying that this is as bad as Ulrich? If so I can't see how.
Out of the cats I could see, with the ones I listed before.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Fleecemane Lion
Krosan Vorine
Mirri, Cat Warrior
Nacatl War-Pride
Qasali Pridemage
Jareth, Leonine Titan
Jazal Goldmane
Temur Sabertooth (my favorite one to put in any EDH deck with green)
I realized that there are a lot of legendary cats.
Ummmm....it matters greatly. There are well over a half-dozen cat legends in the game's history. Wolves and werewolves have exactly 1. 1. No legendary wolves - Voja doesn't count because it's an elf that puts him out as a token - and Ulrich is by all accounts an atrocious tribal legend. That's not to say cats didn't deserve a WG legend, they did, but don't mistake a few support cards for making the tribe viable. I'm glad to see cat fans get their general. But it sucks that nearly 25 years into the game a legendary wolf is still off the menu, werewolves are all but horrendous in EDH and dragon and now cats get another legend or 2. I just want WOTC to toss the canine-enthisiasts a bone for once. Didn't even get a jackal Lord, for Pete's sake.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
B Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief B - Fear of the Dark
WG Sigarda, Heron's Grace WG - Strength in Numbers
RG Xenagos, God of Revels RG - Fullmoon (It's werewolves)
RW Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier RW - The End is Nigh
60 Card Kitchen Table Decks
WUB Avacyn, Spirit Ferrier
RG Arlinn Kord's Howlpack
An atrocious legend, eh? What exactly was a Werewolf legend supposed to do? Because what I see is that Werewolves wanted a legend that was a Werewolf to fit the theme and benefit from their tribal effects, which happened to involve laying the beatdown while minimizing spellcasting. The whole point of playing a tribal deck is to play a bunch of creatures with the relevant type; a tribal commander isn't supposed to carry the whole game on their own. Ulric is a great spearhead for a Werewolf deck as he will often be one of the largest Werewolves in the deck, and even when transforming back can make a creature bigger to keep the beats up.
Sure, I guess he could have cheated Werewolves out to help them transform, but I'm not calling him atrocious simply because he isn't a Champion of Rhonas for Werewolves. A group pump effect could have worked, but Arlinn Kord took up a lot of that space; at least you can play them in a deck together and have them work together well enough. And preventing Werewolves from transforming, like Immerwolf, would work against the flavor, not to mention weaken cards like Huntmaster of the Fells. In fact, I want to see more benefits for transforming Werewolves back and forth in the future to encourage switching between casting lots of spells and no spells over the course of the game, not to mention punish opponents for trying to disrupt you by casting spells repeatedly. I'll take more Ulrich and Huntmaster-type Werewolves, thank you very much.
At any rate, I find it laughable how users here are so quick to dismiss a card as a boring character with no backstory when we haven't even seen the official preview article yet; this is a leak after all. And if the card doesn't have an in-depth backstory? Big deal. Marath doesn't have a developed backstory, it's a big nature Elemental with a modal effect, and it works just fine. I'm just happy we finally have a GW Cat legend, in fact happier than I am with the WUBRG Dragons deck.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
One would hope a tribal legend would, oh I don't know, help the tribe or synergize with the gameplay at all. Ulrich does neither. Take his name away from the card, and he is just a gruul flip-card. He doesn't pump werewolves like the new cat Lord here. He doesn't punish players for casting spells to consistently keep the werewolves human, nor does he do anything to address that werewolves are dumb ground beaters with few having evasion. We weren't asking for the moon, but just SOME help. Ulrich wasn't it, and it's why many werewolf fans still rely on Xenagos or Ruric That to even keep the deck semi-functional in EDH. The tribe needs a TON of help. Am I glad Ulrich exists? Yes, but not if he is the only legend we get for the tribe. Why not give him some activation cost to flip another werewolf? That wouldn't be too much. I didn't want another immerwolf, but there was 100 and 1 different angles Ulrich could have gone that allowed him to transform and aided the tribe.
And Ulrich still doesn't count as a legendary wolf, so that still leaves one legend supporting two tribes and aiding neither. This was wolves and werewolves likely only chance before Innistrad 3.0 to get any love, and it just looks like it's not going to happen.
Again, happy for cat fans, but the puppies needed love too. Ulrich was not it. And any werewolf player will say the same. Flavor-wise, yay. Actually helping the tribe-wise? Nope.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
B Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief B - Fear of the Dark
WG Sigarda, Heron's Grace WG - Strength in Numbers
RG Xenagos, God of Revels RG - Fullmoon (It's werewolves)
RW Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier RW - The End is Nigh
60 Card Kitchen Table Decks
WUB Avacyn, Spirit Ferrier
RG Arlinn Kord's Howlpack
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
Um, yes he does, upon ETB or transforming into Ulrich of the Krallenhorde. Great tempo play with Vildin-Pack Alpha, as he will immediately transform and potentially punch something's face in.
Aside from pumping one of your creatures, that is. Neck Breaker and Terror of Kruin Pass grant Trample and Menace to your Werewolves, and several already have Trample or some manner of evasion such as "can't be blocked by more than one" or "can't be blocked by less power".
While I won't deny that Xenagos helps Werewolves by providing pump and haste, it's still all RG beats. That's a RG problem, not a Werewolf problem. And Ruric Thar punishes you for casting noncreature spells like Moonmist and Moonlight Hunt. Not really ideal. I would choose Radha, Heir to Keld or Stonebrow, Krosan Hero before Ruric. Sure, he punishes your opponents too, but how good that is depends on whether your opponent runs a lot of creature spells. I say better to take the initiative, build around your stuff, and shrug off whatever the opponent may throw at you using cards like Stranglehold and Asceticism.
Cheat effects are definitely useful, but certain Werewolves benefit from casting spells periodically to get them to switch, like Huntmaster of the Fells or Duskwatch Recruiter.
You can also take the cutthroat approach with land removal to deprive your opponent of resources early and force them to slow down their spellcasting.
Unless he's an Eldrazi Werewolf, being able to flip Werewolves at will misses the point of the tribe. Vildin-Pack Alpha has a cool auto-transform effect, but most Werewolves aren't Arlinn Kord. I can concur that a pump effect would work well, which is something we all should be requesting of Maro now while the next Innistrad set is still in design or pre-design.
Full Moon's Rise. Howlpack Resurgence. Hunter's Insight. Moonlight Hunt. Moonmist. Parallel Lives. Silverfur Partisan. Waxing Moon. Wolves and Werewolves already have support. Ulrich just needed to be the cherry on top. Will a better Werewolf commander come along? Quite possibly. But Ulrich is good enough to me for now, nevermind presuming to speak for other players.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I won't call it bad until I see the other cats they drag in, but all I can say is they better be pretty powerful to make this tribe really worth playing.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Brimaz is only $8. They've reprinted plenty of cards about that price in this product before and far higher (Wurmcoil Engine was $20 when it was printed in C14), so his price shouldn't be much of an issue, especially when he would be pretty essential to create lots of cats.
Doesn't have a lot of flexibility? It lets you pump Cats up. The Eminence ability allows even your early kitties to hit hard, and once it's on the field you can pay 1GW whenever one of your Cats attack to double that Cat's power. It's straightforward and not some kind of toolbox, sure, but that doesn't make it inflexible.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
While admittedly unlikely,
Ajani was half red during Alara block,
but they have since printed W and GW versions of him.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Turn 2: Plains, Lost Leonin
Turn 3: Swing with Lost Leonin for 5 infect damage.
Turn 4: Repeat previous turn.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Arahnbo, Roar of the Wild + Scrounging Bandar = 10/10 trampling monkey cat of embarrassment
Arahnbo, Roar of the Wild + Sanctuary Cat = 8/10 trampling house cat of DOOM!
Arahnbo, Roar of the Wild + Felidar Sovereign = 14/18 trampling lifelinking vigilant horned cat of majesticness
Really? I will remind you that popularity is repeatedly cited out as a reason we see more of something (and vice versa):
tl;dr: Number of printed cards over an extended period of time is actually a great indicator of popularity.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Before Sparking was Ajani more red in his character? I thought he only turned Vengeant once someone he knew died.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
So you print ~150 somethings people don't want, but ~170 is the magic number for what people want. It was said already, but if they weren't the least bit popular, they wouldn't see print. Wizards must know then, how much you all hate Ajani, considering how much he's seen print lately, just so unpopular. Give me a break, lol.
As far as existing cats and their effectiveness, I 100% disagree. G-Jedit is a pretty great warrior Commander, with the forest walk portion being very interesting and allows for some build around space beyond tribal support. Temur Sabretooth laughs at your claim. Nacatl War Pride isn't useful? It's one of the more unique, and abusable effects, in the format. Cats now have a lord and token producers.
I hate cats too, but in terms of MtG, you're off the mark on this one.
Why do you say spirits. Please be spirits!!!!
The first three new C17 legendary creatures leaked were a Cat Dragon, a Dragon Spirit, and a Dragon Avatar.
Back then I positted that the additional creature types on these three might hint at the other decks - for cross-deck synergy and additional color support that might not have fit into the original deck (siince that would not be five-colored and hence have restrictions). With Cat confirmed the statement gets a little support. I am not confirming Avatar and Spirit, but I think Spirit is likely as a deck that is not five-colored (so they had this great Spirit character that they couldn't put at the helm of the spirit deck since they felt five-colored, but could be argued to be a Dragon as well... plausible story).
I'm not so sure abut Avatars, but they are a possibility due toi Ixalan spoilers, so I'm keeping an open mind. But we also have to take into consideration that Wasitora, Nekoru Queen was a lesser rare legendary and is paired with Taigam, Ojutai Master which might be hinting at Human or Monk.
Depending on whether Cats are supposedly unexpected or not I'd put my money possibly rather on Human or Monk/Avatar respectively, but Spirit just seems like a fine choice - and there is a lot of color combinations you could go with them - Innistradi white-blue, Dimir blue-black, Orzhov white-black, Abzan white-black-green. I could see a white-blue-black Spirit deck hinting at all these sources and maybe more. After all nature spirits can be green, and violent spirits like poltergeists or vengeful ghosts have been red.
And there have to be plenty of characters in MtG history to make a reference to in such a deck as a legendary creature post mortem. ^^
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO