Super tough one. I'd probably go with Elspeth. The combination of growing loyalty while creating a body is just so good, and the jump is great for pushing through damage and in planeswalker battles.
All the white planeswalkers are pretty insane. I've been looking at the data from our 3-0 individual card data, and they're all very high. Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar are among the most highly played cards period, and Gideon of the Trials, Gideon Jura, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion also have very respectable numbers.
While Najeela has the highest ceiling and there are scenarios to where Warboss is preferred to Rabblemaster, Garrison / Rabblemaster seem to be the most consistent. I did make some slight configurations to my red / white drops to include a couple more warriors (Dragon Hunter / Goblin Glory-Chaser over Skymarcher Aspirant / Stromkirk Noble). Very like for like swaps.
I like Elspeth slightly more, but I would probably always cube both.
Garrison and Rabblemaster are the two best. Najeela is probably slightly better than Warboss but I have trouble classifying her as a red card due to the ability. I think Najeela and Warboss are pretty close in power.
So one vote for Fleetwheel and one vote for Lodestone. Anyone else want to weigh in?
I like Elspeth slightly more, but I would probably always cube both.
Garrison and Rabblemaster are the two best. Najeela is probably slightly better than Warboss but I have trouble classifying her as a red card due to the ability. I think Najeela and Warboss are pretty close in power.
So one vote for Fleetwheel and one vote for Lodestone. Anyone else want to weigh in?
Cheers,
rant
I like lodestone more because of its disruptive abilities. It's good in the artifact deck where it only affects some of your spells, and it's great in the thalia/tanglewire/geddon decks.
Wall of Blossoms is significantly better than Satyr Wayfinder. We tried Wayfinder, and it wasn't good. The graveyard synergy upside didn't happen as much as we would have liked, similarly to how surveil has had overstated GY synergies and in the end has proven to play more like scry. Would you play a 1/1 for 1G that Impulses for a land? This is often how the card plays out which is underpowered.
Man-O'-War > Spellseeker overall, but we still like Spellseeker quite a bit even in unpowered. Man-O'-War plays an important role in blue so that you don't devote the entire color to slow control and combo.
Man-o'-War, and it's not particularly close, IMO. Spellseeker was a tremendous disappointment when I tested it in my powered cube.
I'm confident Spellseeker >> Man-o-war , espcecially at 360 where it's likely to end up with a deck that has blue power.
I would wager an absurd amount of money at absurdly bad odds if I had the chance about this, assuming the cube was normal with reanimate, demonic tutor, time walk, mana drain, channel etc.
Man-o'-War, and it's not particularly close, IMO. Spellseeker was a tremendous disappointment when I tested it in my powered cube.
Heh, I'm confident Spellseeker >> Man-o-war , espcecially at 360 where it's likely to end up with a deck that has blue power.
I would wager an absurd amount of money at absurdly bad odds if I had the chance about this, assuming the cube was normal with reanimate, demonic tutor, time walk, mana drain, channel etc.
While Spellseeker is stronger in a smaller powered cube, the paradox it suffers from is that I wouldn't have room for it in a smaller section, especially in blue. Also, there would be no need for extra tutors for me at 360 if I'm already running the best ones.
Man-o'-War, and it's not particularly close, IMO. Spellseeker was a tremendous disappointment when I tested it in my powered cube.
Heh, I'm confident Spellseeker >> Man-o-war , espcecially at 360 where it's likely to end up with a deck that has blue power.
I would wager an absurd amount of money at absurdly bad odds if I had the chance about this, assuming the cube was normal with reanimate, demonic tutor, time walk, mana drain, channel etc.
While Spellseeker is stronger in a smaller powered cube, the paradox it suffers from is that I wouldn't have room for it in a smaller section, especially in blue. Also, there would be no need for extra tutors for me at 360 if I'm already running the best ones.
Not sure if I would run spellseeker at 360 (I think I would), and agree that is a paradox that applies to spellseeker and a few other cards (IE cards that highly value fetch lands or work well with power/draw7s). But I assumed "neither" was not a helpful answer to oakcities question.
Spellseeker was really bad. There's only a handful of acceptable targets for it, and most of them suffered greatly from telegraphing issues. Recall/Walk/Tutor, Reanimate/Exhume/Channel were basically the 6 "check" cards for Spellseeker. If you had one of those cards in your deck and had some backup targets for it, it was playable. If you didn't, it was really quite bad. It was mediocre with burn/removal/top-of-library tutors, it's mediocre with cantrips, it's pretty bad with countermagic since the telegraphing is terrible, and there are very few insanely good/build/around targets at CMC 2 or less. Especially since the cost of playing a 3-mana 1/1 is huge in the decks trying to interact with powerful spells.
My experience with the card sold me on the opposite. Most folks look at it and assume that the smaller and more powered the cube is, the better the card will be. I think that the bigger and slower the cube is, the better Spellseeker is. For two reasons. First, if the cube operates slower, it's more acceptable for the caster to take a pretty significant tempo hit of resolving a 3-mana 1/1 during their curve. A bad Nekrataal/bad FTK has a better shot of being an acceptable play in bigger, slower environments. And secondly, unlike the recruiters, there are very few spells that Spellseeker can grab that resolve on-curve without impacting their potency. This second issue is mitigated somewhat in larger cubes where the density of playable Xcc spell targets is higher, and there are more plays Spellseeker can enable on T4+ that have a bigger impact on the game.
Spellseeker was an an insane disappointment when I played it, and I remember telling myself that my cube needed a few more big Xcc target spells and needed to be a little bit slower in order for the card to be good. If my cube got smaller/tighter/faster, it would've been even worse. Even most of the good targets still wind up being really slow. Like, a T4 Channel/Reanimate will still be good, but you've dropped well past the "broken" range at that point. Which means she played out as pretty much a tutor for Recall/Walk or probably pass on her altogether. As a utility card/tutor, she was painfully slow, lacked bomb targets, and lacked good on-curve plays to secure. I played her for months trying to get the card to overcome those 3 deficiencies, and she never could.
And Man-o'-War is a card that will perform in every tempo/ETB abuse deck that I can churn out. So if I had to choose one of the two, it would be the jellyfish, and it wouldn't be particularly close.
Most folks look at it and assume that the smaller and more powered the cube is, the better the card will be. I think that the bigger and slower the cube is, the better Spellseeker is. For two reasons. First, if the cube operates slower, it's more acceptable for the caster to take a pretty significant tempo hit of resolving a 3-mana 1/1 during their curve. A bad Nekrataal/bad FTK has a better shot of being an acceptable play in bigger, slower environments. And secondly, unlike the recruiters, there are very few spells that Spellseeker can grab that resolve on-curve without impacting their potency. This second issue is mitigated somewhat in larger cubes where the density of playable Xcc spell targets is higher, and there are more plays Spellseeker can enable on T4+ that have a bigger impact on the game.
I like this argument, and revise my stance that it's a card that does better as the cube gets smaller. The higher density of broken cards to tutor for is offset by a faster format, something which all recruiters suffer in.
Your other experiences baffle me tho, as I've had dozens of experiences that contradict yours, and very few if any that confirm.
Calling it "painfully slow" is misleading... The body chump blocks, and it fetches spells that can often be played the turn the recruiter is cast. It's not much of a tempo hit when the spell she tutors for is efficiently costed.. She is better suited for reactive decks, which by their nature are built to buy time and welcomes the situational versatility that comes with a tutor.
With a swords to plowshares in the deck, she can do a reasoanble FTK/Nekrataal impression. The additional tutorable options, and better effect of a swords to plowshares, more than make up for the weaker body of the spellseeker. Both cost the same amount of mana.
I am 100% confident that you are grossly under-rating this card and your experience was an anomoly for spellseeker in powered cube.
I am 100% confident that you are grossly under-rating this card and your experience was an anomoly for spellseeker in powered cube.
Sorry, but you can't be more than 99% here, because the card was SUUUUUPER underwhelming. An easy exclusion from fast powered environments, IMO.
It resolved 10+ times in testing, and was very mediocre. It wasn't an anomaly.
I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. But I won't be putting it back into my cube, unless they print a bunch more build-around targets that she can grab for me.
Most folks look at it and assume that the smaller and more powered the cube is, the better the card will be. I think that the bigger and slower the cube is, the better Spellseeker is. For two reasons. First, if the cube operates slower, it's more acceptable for the caster to take a pretty significant tempo hit of resolving a 3-mana 1/1 during their curve. A bad Nekrataal/bad FTK has a better shot of being an acceptable play in bigger, slower environments. And secondly, unlike the recruiters, there are very few spells that Spellseeker can grab that resolve on-curve without impacting their potency. This second issue is mitigated somewhat in larger cubes where the density of playable Xcc spell targets is higher, and there are more plays Spellseeker can enable on T4+ that have a bigger impact on the game.
I like this argument, and revise my stance that it's a card that does better as the cube gets smaller. The higher density of broken cards to tutor for is offset by a faster format, something which all recruiters suffer in.
Your other experiences baffle me tho, as I've had dozens of experiences that contradict yours, and very few if any that confirm.
Calling it "painfully slow" is misleading... The body chump blocks, and it fetches spells that can often be played the turn the recruiter is cast. It's not much of a tempo hit when the spell she tutors for is efficiently costed.. She is better suited for reactive decks, which by their nature are built to buy time and welcomes the situational versatility that comes with a tutor.
With a swords to plowshares in the deck, she can do a reasoanble FTK/Nekrataal impression. The additional tutorable options, and better effect of a swords to plowshares, more than make up for the weaker body of the spellseeker. Both cost the same amount of mana.
I am 100% confident that you are grossly under-rating this card and your experience was an anomoly for spellseeker in powered cube.
I feel like this is entirely deck dependent. FTK being a 4/2 is hugely important for decks that want to attack on the ground, and the various black options are all actually relevant blockers. Plus, that turns spellseeker into an azorious card, which is a real drawback (or a dimir card if you're getting a terror variant). There was never really much in blue I was that interested in getting, as I run 465 unpowered and the really only powerful effects you could get a 2cmc were counters, which had the double problem of being telegraphed and it being more likely you're behind if you spent your third turn on a 1/1, and cyclonic rift, which was legitimately good but only 1 card.
YMMV, but in my unpowered experience man-o'-war is better.
I am happy multiple people weighed in, yet completely baffled that more than one person have had poor experience with it in powered. Both local cubes in Vancouver it had excelled in , and is unanimously picked/valued highly.
Can’t see anything obvious in cube composition that would make a large difference. Maybe more 3 color decks help with higher target quality? Less aggressive meta means more slower/Grindy mirrors?
Definitely a lot worse in unpowered , as mana drain, mind twist , channel, recall and time walk are by far the best targets you can fetch with it.
If you take away all it’s upside it loses a lot of value.
Drain was a medium-quality target, since telegraphing is a big drawback with countermagic; Drain in particular.
The best targets for it are the ones that are great in the curve on T4+, and those are few and far between in tighter powered cubes. But unpowered cubes might have more bomb X spell targets, and that really helps make the card not so 1-dimensional. Grabbing powerful on-curve targets (in addition to the utility targets) is what makes the other Recruiters tolerable in-curve plays. When I can grab a bomb 4cc creature, it makes the damage done to my tempo/curve when playing a 3-mana 1/1 worth it. When I'm grabbing an Incinerate or a Declaration in Stone, it's just not the same thing at all.
A build-your-own Nekrataal via Go for the Throat by paying 3UB and getting a 1/1 is pretty bad. Like, it'll do in a pinch, and it has added value from its flexibility, but unless it's grabbing one of the few bomb targets, it's just a very mediocre card. All the "filler" targets, like Impulse and Preordain, burn spells, counterspells and removal spells ...they're just not great when you have to pay 3 more mana and only get a 1/1 to go alongside 'em. It's actually a pretty big premium to pay. Not only that, but the build-around targets get pretty slow when they have to be tutored up ...Channel/Reanimate/Exhume aren't the fastest targets when they're coming down on T4+. There are just very few plays that make Spellseeker a worthwhile investment.
It does a lot of stuff, but it's pretty below-average in all of its roles. I LOVE the Recruiters, so Spellseeker seemed like a slam dunk. It took a while for me to analyze why it was so much worse in practice that I was expecting it to be.
There are a lot of fringe 3cc blue creatures I like better. I currently play Trinket Mage in the slot I was testing Spellseeker in, and I like it a lot more. There's also Champion of Wits, Arcane Artisan, and even Exclusion Mage that I would run over it too. Which means that like 720 powered would maybe be the area where it would be at its best. It would be in an appropriate size for its powerlevel, it would have some good Xcc curve targets for it, and it would still have the powered targets too. But if metamind played it in that environment and it wasn't good, I don't know where it would find a home.
I'm running unpowered and I feel like what wtwlf says resonates pretty strongly. Spellseeker struck me as one of those cards that should be awesome but just isn't that great in practice. Apart from Channel and Reanimate (and Cyclonic Rift, because I'm a weirdo who likes that card), most targets were kinda generic and not really that amazing.
I like tutors, they're great to have, and as an etb effect on a creature I thought this would be wonderful. But, I don't frequently see much value coming out of blinking her; like okay past the first trigger I'll get a bonus cantrip or something. I would prefer to have a card that more frequently got me lynch-pin cards (which it frequently doesn't because of its restrictions, like I can't exactly grab a Tinker or a Show and Tell or a Genesis Wave or a Living Death or an Upheaval...), or just had more raw etb value. Champion of Wits is absolutely more preferable IMO, even Trinket Mage has been pulling weight in our unpowered list simply because I'm doing Zuran Orb stuff again.
I just don't know of enough awesome 2 cmc instants or sorceries that make this card stand out from just about anything else that costs 3 mana and gets draws me cards. Like if we had some more examples to play with I would certainly give it another shot, I just don't know of any.
Drain was a medium-quality target, since telegraphing is a big drawback with countermagic; Drain in particular.
All the "filler" targets, like Impulse and Preordain, burn spells, counterspells and removal spells ...they're just not great when you have to pay 3 more mana and only get a 1/1 to go alongside 'em. It's actually a pretty big premium to pay. Not only that, but the build-around targets get pretty slow when they have to be tutored up ...Channel/Reanimate/Exhume aren't the fastest targets when they're coming down on T4+. There are just very few plays that make Spellseeker a worthwhile investment.
I agree that a lot of the filler targets are mediocore and if that's all the card did, it would be mediocore and undeserving a slot by itself (hence why I'm not recommending it for unpowered). The value is in the flexibility of getting a target that suits the scenario , with the upside of getting one of handful of broken cards that are WAY under-costed, even for the cube format. The card goes from a 6 to a 9 once Recall/Timewalk is fetchable.
I'd estimate it falls into a deck with time walk or recall about 25%+ of the time spellseeker is in the draft... since spell seeker skyrockets in pick value once a deck has blue power.
It might get a regrowth, which can be used on the time walk or ..recall already in your graveyard. Getting access to these spells in your hands is more than just the value of the spell itself, since it enables the other ways in your deck to abuse it. (snapcaster, jace etc).
In a cube with multiple eldrazi, channel is a busted magic card, and one that can easily win the game if it's played on turn 4 instead of turn 2. The biggest problem with channel is the lack of redundency of effect, so warping your deck with expensive ramp targets gives you clunky hands when you don't draw channel. It's EASILY worth 5 mana over 2 turns with a deck built to abuse it.
I agree that Mana drain loses some value if your opponent knows you have it, but the card is still great.. It's not like they won't cast spells forever, or your deck will have zero other counter spells. Generally in a reactive deck, if your opponent doesnt do anything, you are happy with that.
Mind twist can be a dead card on turn 4/5, or it can be game winning.. in the instances where your opponent is hell bent, getting a different target is a solid consolation prize.
Getting access to the missing piece of a entomb/reanimate combination is not super powerful, but it's certainly good, and can't imagine a tutor for either peice ever missing a main deck... considering it's common for 20-23rd playables to be out of place in reanimator strategies.
Then, occasionally you get decks with a bunch of medium/good targets (swords to plowshares, mana leak, chart a course, thoughtseize) and ways to abuse the body to get value out of it (skull clamp, equipment, restoration angel, into the roil, phantasmal image).
When you can abuse the body AND have a bunch of medium+ targets, the card is very solid (though still pales in comparison to it's strength with recall/timewalk)....
There's a big difference between Recruiters and Spellseeker not just by their targets, but the decks that they typically are in. Recruiters are usually in creature heavy proactive decks and a lot of Spellseeker's prime targets are in more passive, reactive decks. Tapping out turn 3 for a 1/1 that reveals your best trick isn't exactly what I want to do in a lot of blue decks. Not to mention there's a huge difference between finding a spell / sorcery with cmc two or less and finding a creature with 2 power / toughness. Recruiters would be super unplayable if they only found 2-cmc creatures, but you can get all the utility / power you want with 2 power / toughness really.
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Goblin Rabblemaster
Hanweir Garrison
Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
Legion Warboss
And I think 4cmc Gideon is better in more games than 4cmc elspeth, but I also can't imagine not wanting both.
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While Najeela has the highest ceiling and there are scenarios to where Warboss is preferred to Rabblemaster, Garrison / Rabblemaster seem to be the most consistent. I did make some slight configurations to my red / white drops to include a couple more warriors (Dragon Hunter / Goblin Glory-Chaser over Skymarcher Aspirant / Stromkirk Noble). Very like for like swaps.
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Garrison and Rabblemaster are the two best. Najeela is probably slightly better than Warboss but I have trouble classifying her as a red card due to the ability. I think Najeela and Warboss are pretty close in power.
So one vote for Fleetwheel and one vote for Lodestone. Anyone else want to weigh in?
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rant
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I like lodestone more because of its disruptive abilities. It's good in the artifact deck where it only affects some of your spells, and it's great in the thalia/tanglewire/geddon decks.
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Man-O'-War > Spellseeker overall, but we still like Spellseeker quite a bit even in unpowered. Man-O'-War plays an important role in blue so that you don't devote the entire color to slow control and combo.
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I'm confident Spellseeker >> Man-o-war , espcecially at 360 where it's likely to end up with a deck that has blue power.
I would wager an absurd amount of money at absurdly bad odds if I had the chance about this, assuming the cube was normal with reanimate, demonic tutor, time walk, mana drain, channel etc.
Edit: After I posted this I listened to a solely singleton episode (linked from march of multitude thread) http://solelysingleton.libsyn.com/season-3-episode-9-scgcon-cube-spotlight-with-justin-parnell
1h24m for spellseeker thoughts, calls it "top 5 pick in a pack", so im not alone in my evaluation (with extensive testing)
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While Spellseeker is stronger in a smaller powered cube, the paradox it suffers from is that I wouldn't have room for it in a smaller section, especially in blue. Also, there would be no need for extra tutors for me at 360 if I'm already running the best ones.
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Not sure if I would run spellseeker at 360 (I think I would), and agree that is a paradox that applies to spellseeker and a few other cards (IE cards that highly value fetch lands or work well with power/draw7s). But I assumed "neither" was not a helpful answer to oakcities question.
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My experience with the card sold me on the opposite. Most folks look at it and assume that the smaller and more powered the cube is, the better the card will be. I think that the bigger and slower the cube is, the better Spellseeker is. For two reasons. First, if the cube operates slower, it's more acceptable for the caster to take a pretty significant tempo hit of resolving a 3-mana 1/1 during their curve. A bad Nekrataal/bad FTK has a better shot of being an acceptable play in bigger, slower environments. And secondly, unlike the recruiters, there are very few spells that Spellseeker can grab that resolve on-curve without impacting their potency. This second issue is mitigated somewhat in larger cubes where the density of playable Xcc spell targets is higher, and there are more plays Spellseeker can enable on T4+ that have a bigger impact on the game.
Spellseeker was an an insane disappointment when I played it, and I remember telling myself that my cube needed a few more big Xcc target spells and needed to be a little bit slower in order for the card to be good. If my cube got smaller/tighter/faster, it would've been even worse. Even most of the good targets still wind up being really slow. Like, a T4 Channel/Reanimate will still be good, but you've dropped well past the "broken" range at that point. Which means she played out as pretty much a tutor for Recall/Walk or probably pass on her altogether. As a utility card/tutor, she was painfully slow, lacked bomb targets, and lacked good on-curve plays to secure. I played her for months trying to get the card to overcome those 3 deficiencies, and she never could.
And Man-o'-War is a card that will perform in every tempo/ETB abuse deck that I can churn out. So if I had to choose one of the two, it would be the jellyfish, and it wouldn't be particularly close.
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I like this argument, and revise my stance that it's a card that does better as the cube gets smaller. The higher density of broken cards to tutor for is offset by a faster format, something which all recruiters suffer in.
Your other experiences baffle me tho, as I've had dozens of experiences that contradict yours, and very few if any that confirm.
Calling it "painfully slow" is misleading... The body chump blocks, and it fetches spells that can often be played the turn the recruiter is cast. It's not much of a tempo hit when the spell she tutors for is efficiently costed.. She is better suited for reactive decks, which by their nature are built to buy time and welcomes the situational versatility that comes with a tutor.
With a swords to plowshares in the deck, she can do a reasoanble FTK/Nekrataal impression. The additional tutorable options, and better effect of a swords to plowshares, more than make up for the weaker body of the spellseeker. Both cost the same amount of mana.
I am 100% confident that you are grossly under-rating this card and your experience was an anomoly for spellseeker in powered cube.
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Sorry, but you can't be more than 99% here, because the card was SUUUUUPER underwhelming. An easy exclusion from fast powered environments, IMO.
It resolved 10+ times in testing, and was very mediocre. It wasn't an anomaly.
I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. But I won't be putting it back into my cube, unless they print a bunch more build-around targets that she can grab for me.
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I feel like this is entirely deck dependent. FTK being a 4/2 is hugely important for decks that want to attack on the ground, and the various black options are all actually relevant blockers. Plus, that turns spellseeker into an azorious card, which is a real drawback (or a dimir card if you're getting a terror variant). There was never really much in blue I was that interested in getting, as I run 465 unpowered and the really only powerful effects you could get a 2cmc were counters, which had the double problem of being telegraphed and it being more likely you're behind if you spent your third turn on a 1/1, and cyclonic rift, which was legitimately good but only 1 card.
YMMV, but in my unpowered experience man-o'-war is better.
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Can’t see anything obvious in cube composition that would make a large difference. Maybe more 3 color decks help with higher target quality? Less aggressive meta means more slower/Grindy mirrors?
Definitely a lot worse in unpowered , as mana drain, mind twist , channel, recall and time walk are by far the best targets you can fetch with it.
If you take away all it’s upside it loses a lot of value.
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The best targets for it are the ones that are great in the curve on T4+, and those are few and far between in tighter powered cubes. But unpowered cubes might have more bomb X spell targets, and that really helps make the card not so 1-dimensional. Grabbing powerful on-curve targets (in addition to the utility targets) is what makes the other Recruiters tolerable in-curve plays. When I can grab a bomb 4cc creature, it makes the damage done to my tempo/curve when playing a 3-mana 1/1 worth it. When I'm grabbing an Incinerate or a Declaration in Stone, it's just not the same thing at all.
A build-your-own Nekrataal via Go for the Throat by paying 3UB and getting a 1/1 is pretty bad. Like, it'll do in a pinch, and it has added value from its flexibility, but unless it's grabbing one of the few bomb targets, it's just a very mediocre card. All the "filler" targets, like Impulse and Preordain, burn spells, counterspells and removal spells ...they're just not great when you have to pay 3 more mana and only get a 1/1 to go alongside 'em. It's actually a pretty big premium to pay. Not only that, but the build-around targets get pretty slow when they have to be tutored up ...Channel/Reanimate/Exhume aren't the fastest targets when they're coming down on T4+. There are just very few plays that make Spellseeker a worthwhile investment.
It does a lot of stuff, but it's pretty below-average in all of its roles. I LOVE the Recruiters, so Spellseeker seemed like a slam dunk. It took a while for me to analyze why it was so much worse in practice that I was expecting it to be.
There are a lot of fringe 3cc blue creatures I like better. I currently play Trinket Mage in the slot I was testing Spellseeker in, and I like it a lot more. There's also Champion of Wits, Arcane Artisan, and even Exclusion Mage that I would run over it too. Which means that like 720 powered would maybe be the area where it would be at its best. It would be in an appropriate size for its powerlevel, it would have some good Xcc curve targets for it, and it would still have the powered targets too. But if metamind played it in that environment and it wasn't good, I don't know where it would find a home.
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I like tutors, they're great to have, and as an etb effect on a creature I thought this would be wonderful. But, I don't frequently see much value coming out of blinking her; like okay past the first trigger I'll get a bonus cantrip or something. I would prefer to have a card that more frequently got me lynch-pin cards (which it frequently doesn't because of its restrictions, like I can't exactly grab a Tinker or a Show and Tell or a Genesis Wave or a Living Death or an Upheaval...), or just had more raw etb value. Champion of Wits is absolutely more preferable IMO, even Trinket Mage has been pulling weight in our unpowered list simply because I'm doing Zuran Orb stuff again.
I just don't know of enough awesome 2 cmc instants or sorceries that make this card stand out from just about anything else that costs 3 mana and gets draws me cards. Like if we had some more examples to play with I would certainly give it another shot, I just don't know of any.
I agree that a lot of the filler targets are mediocore and if that's all the card did, it would be mediocore and undeserving a slot by itself (hence why I'm not recommending it for unpowered). The value is in the flexibility of getting a target that suits the scenario , with the upside of getting one of handful of broken cards that are WAY under-costed, even for the cube format. The card goes from a 6 to a 9 once Recall/Timewalk is fetchable.
I'd estimate it falls into a deck with time walk or recall about 25%+ of the time spellseeker is in the draft... since spell seeker skyrockets in pick value once a deck has blue power.
It might get a regrowth, which can be used on the time walk or ..recall already in your graveyard. Getting access to these spells in your hands is more than just the value of the spell itself, since it enables the other ways in your deck to abuse it. (snapcaster, jace etc).
In a cube with multiple eldrazi, channel is a busted magic card, and one that can easily win the game if it's played on turn 4 instead of turn 2. The biggest problem with channel is the lack of redundency of effect, so warping your deck with expensive ramp targets gives you clunky hands when you don't draw channel. It's EASILY worth 5 mana over 2 turns with a deck built to abuse it.
I agree that Mana drain loses some value if your opponent knows you have it, but the card is still great.. It's not like they won't cast spells forever, or your deck will have zero other counter spells. Generally in a reactive deck, if your opponent doesnt do anything, you are happy with that.
Mind twist can be a dead card on turn 4/5, or it can be game winning.. in the instances where your opponent is hell bent, getting a different target is a solid consolation prize.
Getting access to the missing piece of a entomb/reanimate combination is not super powerful, but it's certainly good, and can't imagine a tutor for either peice ever missing a main deck... considering it's common for 20-23rd playables to be out of place in reanimator strategies.
Then, occasionally you get decks with a bunch of medium/good targets (swords to plowshares, mana leak, chart a course, thoughtseize) and ways to abuse the body to get value out of it (skull clamp, equipment, restoration angel, into the roil, phantasmal image).
When you can abuse the body AND have a bunch of medium+ targets, the card is very solid (though still pales in comparison to it's strength with recall/timewalk)....
Last Updated 02/07/24
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