If no one ever drafts black aggro then Blood Artist is definitely better than having one more of the filler 2 drop beaters. Recurrable creatures and symmetric sac cards like Innocent Blood and Fleshbag Marauders push him as well.
He has been really good for us, I once win with carrion feeder sac cravecrawler repeatedly while having blood artist in play! 11 points of drain in one turn was sweet.
Blood artist is pulling his weight in my cube. Conditionally good, but when it works it tends to be very effective. Functions as pseudo reach when the board stalls because anything dying is netting you life and your opponent loses life. As others have stated, this guy is definitely a removal lightning rod which is nice actually because you don't lose tempo when that happens and it can often save your bigger threat by drawing that removal early.
0 power is pretty sucky, even with the ability. There were a few games where he was the reason that player won, but there were more games where he was a 0/1 that drained a couple life.
He's still in my cube, and looks to stay there for a while. He really helps suicide black decks live through their self-inflicted pain, assists in aggro mirrors (if you still support black aggro, as I do) although he's obviously not idea there, and is ideal in any token/recursion/stax deck.
Not the most powerful card, but interesting support. And frankly, chump blocking, gaining a life and draining a life isn't the worst worst-case-scenario for a 2-drop.
He has worked out really nicely for us. He is a solid support card for black aggro and pox decks. There are not that many good life gaining black cube cards, so it is an easy include for us.
I have had more positive experience with him than negative experience. I think it is a fairly good card for black if they want more early drops that can be good at any point in the game as long as you have creatures.
Necroing the thread. Is there anyone still running Blood Artist?
If yes, what is the suit you run with it in order to support. I'm welling to add the aristocrat package to the cube to give a twist and I was wondering if anyone run that card and some other unknows card that don't appear on that thread. I have some clues on how my package would looks like but I would want some advices and new ideas.
I still think it's the cat's meow. And the thread you linked has my thoughts which remain unchanged. No new cards to add really, though there are some I've wanted to test but not bothered with testing because this archetype is already really strong with a ton of crossover.
Blood Artist is pretty good. And I don't even run a dedicated Aristocrats package. There are some sac outlets in my cube, of course, but only stuff that is worth it on its own. Even with no sac effects in your deck, simply trading creatures and removals with your opponent will lead to an impressive amount of life drain over a couple of turns.
This card has always been on the edge for me and I can never seem to find a reason to test it out. I can def see it doing well in a lot of different black decks it just doesn't seem all that necessary.
It can seal games, but it can also be a 2 drop that does literally nothing with 0 power. I could understand running it in a larger cube, and especially one going all-in with the sac theme like iterations of the legacy cube running Bloodthrone Vampire & pals, but it's fragility and inconsistent application has been a big bummer for me.
No one wants to waste removal on this card, making it very effective at what it does because it often lives longer than it should netting a lot of value.
What I probably like most is that is softens overextending into board wipes so you can play really aggressive with it out. Without spot removal getting rid of it first, board wipes can be crippling (your opponent's dudes count too). Obviously savage in multiplayer.
ACS for this is probably a lightning helix (which is stellar for 1B). Decks with tokens and/or sac themes (even if minimal) can easily get more mileage, especially with any sort of way to recur Blood artist. Good card is good. And very flavorful for the color. I can't imagine ever cutting this even if I gutted sacrifice. Black wants cards like this.
ACS for this is probably a lightning helix (which is stellar for 1B). Decks with tokens and/or sac themes (even if minimal) can easily get more mileage, especially with any sort of way to recur Blood artist. Good card is good. And very flavorful for the color. I can't imagine ever cutting this even if I gutted sacrifice. Black wants cards like this.
comparing it to lightning helix isn't proper. It's Alms of the Vein instead, which is unplayable even in limited and filler in the madness aggro deck. That comparison actually helps setting the bar for how many triggers you need for it to be cubeable. At 4-5 it starts being okay, at 6 and above it's good (rough evaluation). I havn't played much with it (don't cube often enough), but like you, I would never cut the card since I support the deck and it's a pet card.
The black sacrifice deck often contain some recurring aggressive creatures that can't block. Blood artist provides reach, wrath protection, and heal against other aggresive decks + a clock for durdly sac decks. So there's a lot of power and gameplay in the right deck.
Lightning Helix is the wrong comparison, fair enough, but Alms of the Vein isn't right either. It costs one less and comes on a body and has a way higher ceiling.
Lightning Helix is the wrong comparison, fair enough, but Alms of the Vein isn't right either. It costs one less and comes on a body and has a way higher ceiling.
The comparison wasn't to say that Blood Artist = Alems of the Vein, it was to gauge the value of the Blood Artist's ability. Alms wasn't worth it even at 1 mana, so the comparison shows that you want more than 3 life steal on averrage from Blood Artist. Though this is hard to evaluate since he sometimes eats removal. I do not see the flaw of the comparison.
Lightning Helix is the wrong comparison, fair enough, but Alms of the Vein isn't right either. It costs one less and comes on a body and has a way higher ceiling.
The comparison wasn't to say that Blood Artist = Alems of the Vein, it was to gauge the value of the Blood Artist's ability. Alms wasn't worth it even at 1 mana, so the comparison shows that you want more than 3 life steal on averrage from Blood Artist. Though this is hard to evaluate since he sometimes eats removal. I do not see the flaw of the comparison.
He can also wear equipment, chump block, get reanimated, pumped, bounced, and beyond. I would be happy with a drain of 3 if some of those other factors came into play (hint: they do all the time).
It's definitely boom or bust in my experience. For every game it takes away on its own, its had plenty where it's a 0/1 that might drain a couple life.
Blood Artist was discussed here in the Random Cube Card of the Day Thread. Why not paint us a picture of your experience with the card? What impression(-ism) do you have of this card in regards to cube(-ism), is it the sureal deal?
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Way too low-impact. Doesn't reward curving out. Very low chance of a combo-style finish with him. Got cut.
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Not the most powerful card, but interesting support. And frankly, chump blocking, gaining a life and draining a life isn't the worst worst-case-scenario for a 2-drop.
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If yes, what is the suit you run with it in order to support. I'm welling to add the aristocrat package to the cube to give a twist and I was wondering if anyone run that card and some other unknows card that don't appear on that thread. I have some clues on how my package would looks like but I would want some advices and new ideas.
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http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
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What I probably like most is that is softens overextending into board wipes so you can play really aggressive with it out. Without spot removal getting rid of it first, board wipes can be crippling (your opponent's dudes count too). Obviously savage in multiplayer.
ACS for this is probably a lightning helix (which is stellar for 1B). Decks with tokens and/or sac themes (even if minimal) can easily get more mileage, especially with any sort of way to recur Blood artist. Good card is good. And very flavorful for the color. I can't imagine ever cutting this even if I gutted sacrifice. Black wants cards like this.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
comparing it to lightning helix isn't proper. It's Alms of the Vein instead, which is unplayable even in limited and filler in the madness aggro deck. That comparison actually helps setting the bar for how many triggers you need for it to be cubeable. At 4-5 it starts being okay, at 6 and above it's good (rough evaluation). I havn't played much with it (don't cube often enough), but like you, I would never cut the card since I support the deck and it's a pet card.
The black sacrifice deck often contain some recurring aggressive creatures that can't block. Blood artist provides reach, wrath protection, and heal against other aggresive decks + a clock for durdly sac decks. So there's a lot of power and gameplay in the right deck.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
The comparison wasn't to say that Blood Artist = Alems of the Vein, it was to gauge the value of the Blood Artist's ability. Alms wasn't worth it even at 1 mana, so the comparison shows that you want more than 3 life steal on averrage from Blood Artist. Though this is hard to evaluate since he sometimes eats removal. I do not see the flaw of the comparison.
He can also wear equipment, chump block, get reanimated, pumped, bounced, and beyond. I would be happy with a drain of 3 if some of those other factors came into play (hint: they do all the time).
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