MTG Salvation

I'm beginning to entertain the idea of replace FTK with this card. Am I crazy?

Glorybringer is a beast, probably one of the best limited bomb cards ever printed in the modern era...

FTK has blink synergies and brings four power and four damage a turn earlier, but it also has to hit itself if you don't have a target (like if you're both in top deck mode).

Glorybringer's damage dealing ability can be denied by instant speed removal, but also has the potential to be repeated while dealing evasive damage. Having to keep the dragon tapped is quite a drawback though as it gives your opponent more time to recover.

If I were comparing these in a vacuum I'd likely take Glorybringer, but due to the heavy competition at the 5CC slot in red, I narrowly prefer FTK. If they made a mini-version of Glorybringer that cost 2RR, had 3 power (4 toughness), and zapped creatures for 3 when exerting, I'd be so in.

@netn10

You are sounding a bit crazy with this talk about cutting FTK, but you're not sounding crazy at all saying Glorybringer is one of the best limited bombs printed in some time. After a quick look at your list, I suggest cutting Goblin Heelcutter or one of the 3-drops (Feldon or Squee).

I am now running this next to Thundermaw, Stormbreath and Conscripts. It's a house.
Better than Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (it's got a greater immediate board impact upon resolution... which is important. Sarkhan usually gets one swing in my group).

Going to pseudo-necro this thread. A few of my drafters were on a MODO vintage cube streamer kick over the holidays, and they've recently been pushing me to put in Glorybringer. It doesn't seem better than existing 5 cmc options (I run Thundermaw Hellkite, Zealous Conscripts, and Siege-Gang Commander). Anyone have good experiences (or bad ones) with it?

It's fine, but I like the suite you're running now a lot more.

One of my mates stuck Batterskull on Glorybringer this week for some A++ wreckage.
Oh, look - I get to exert every turn and gain the life from it? Sure. Why not.

Agree with wtwlf. I'd also run Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker before Glorybringer for the Wildfire synergy.

Cheers,
rant

I believe that Glorybringer beats out Zealous Conscripts if you're not running the Kiki/Twin-combo. I'm currently running Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker over it, due to Wildfire, but I think that Glorybringer might be better than him otherwise. It's close, though.

The only way I'd include Glorybringer over any of your current red 5-drops is if I cut the Wildfire package and stopped trying to support that deck. In that case I could see running him over Thundermaw just for a change of scenery. With Wildfire supported, though, I think the lack of a fifth toughness is really what keeps Glorybringer out of most cubes.

Without the combo I like Glorybringer more than Conscripts. In my experience, without Wildfire it is also better than Sarkhan.
With or without Wildfire, Thundermaw is still the better card.

Zealous Conscripts vs. Glorybringer is interesting. I like Conscripts because of its interaction with Planeswalkers and its ability to kill out of nowhere, but Glorybringer's repeatable ability to hit creatures is nice. Might test that switch, not confident in it though.

Quote from calibretto »

The only way I'd include Glorybringer over any of your current red 5-drops is if I cut the Wildfire package and stopped trying to support that deck. In that case I could see running him over Thundermaw just for a change of scenery. With Wildfire supported, though, I think the lack of a fifth toughness is really what keeps Glorybringer out of most cubes.

The only way I would cut Wildfire is if I got rid of my cube...

Without the Kiki / twin combo, I could consider it over conscripts but it would be close.

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Zealous Conscripts, and Thundermaw Hellkite have all been discussed as possible cuts, but what about Siege-Gang Commander? I personally love the card and would never cut it, but at 720 I have that luxury. I also support the red Tokens archetype, which I'm not sure you do Tjornan - though I do see Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Anyway, the question is, is Siege-Gang Commander really the third best red 5cmc creature? In my experience the answer is no, but again, I'm cubing in an unpowered, creature-heavy, 720 card environment where Stormbreath Kavu is extremely strong.

Quote from Vannatar »

Anyway, the question is, is Siege-Gang Commander really the third best red 5cmc creature?

No. It's probably the best one.

I rank them as Thundermaw > SGC >= Glorybringer > Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker > Conscripts, in a cube that does not play Kiki-Jiki or Wildfire.

Quote from Vannatar »

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Zealous Conscripts, and Thundermaw Hellkite have all been discussed as possible cuts, but what about Siege-Gang Commander? I personally love the card and would never cut it, but at 720 I have that luxury. I also support the red Tokens archetype, which I'm not sure you do Tjornan - though I do see Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Anyway, the question is, is Siege-Gang Commander really the third best red 5cmc creature? In my experience the answer is no, but again, I'm cubing in an unpowered, creature-heavy, 720 card environment where Stormbreath Kavu is extremely strong.

SCG sees much less play here than other cubes probably because no one has really drafted RX tokens. Most of my cubers insist that Purphoros, God of the Forge is unplayable, and I plan to just force the archetype in the next few cube drafts to try to prove them wrong. Also a fan of the uniqueness of SCG, would never cut it for Glorybringer, which is functionally another Thundermaw.

You don't have to be playing tokens to play Siege-Gang Commander. Card's a house all over the place.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

You don't have to be playing tokens to play Siege-Gang Commander. Card's a house all over the place.

You're absolutely right, but my drafters (and myself admittedly) have a bad habit of writing off cards as weak when they're not in their ideal archetype.

Anyway, I'll test Glorybringer over Zealous Conscripts. First time I'm staring down a PW about to ultimate with a Glorybringer in my hand instead of a Conscripts, I'll probably swap back

The ideal deck for SGC might actually be the 'Lark/Recruiter/ETB abuse shell.

SGC and Feldon are great friends. I love drafting that deck.