Card itself seems passable in all but larger cubes, but the mechanic is promising. Embalm is essentially flashback for creatures (at sorcery speed). It exiles the creature from the graveyard but creates an exact token copy on the battlefield except that it's a zombie and it has cmc of 0. Embalm doesn't cast the card itself, so it can't be countered by traditional means.
Zombie always gets my juices flowing, hopefully we'll get some powerful embalm creatures in the next few weeks.
Yeah, this card seems like an easy pass. The ability, though, screams value and I'm certain we'll get at least one playable embalm card. Any strong ETB or card with a undercosted half on either side would be easily testable.
White 2's don't need this guy, but this reminds me a lot of Call of the Herd, which was acceptable curve filler for most in green for years and still gets the job done in mine. I could see us getting something playable with this mechanic, and if this had something like flying or first strike this would be test-worthy.
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Oh god I'm so in love with this mechanic, it might be my most beloved new mechanic since dredge. I hope for at least 4 or 5 sweet cards for my cube in MKH and HOD. I also have a soft spot for mummies, maybe it's because of this TV series I used to watch as a kid.
Yeah the mummy flavor is fantastic, it's probably the best flavor-hit they've had since all the cool stuff they did in original innistrad.
Unpacking how embalm works I don't think this guy does enough. The blocking text is essentially irrelevant I think, so we just need to play out likely aggro scenarios.
Yes, you get a "second card", but you'll never have both on the battlefield at the same time, unlike Call of the Herd. So the question then becomes whether the prospect of a second 2/2 for 3 (quite inefficient) is enough of a bonus on top of the front end of a 2/2 for 2. I just don't think it quite gets there.
It's almost more helpful for something like Stax or tokens, but even then there are more efficient options.
I actually think this card is good. 2-power 2-drop that has built-in card advantage is good. Also, this is a good defensive creature. Double-block, embalm, double-block is a great way to keep pressure off your planeswalkers. Love the ability, and like the card itself. I'll be testing this for sure.
It's a pass for me but I am very excited to see what they do with the mechanic. A skinrender with embalm would be sweet, and on theme with the -1/-1 counters.
I feel like if I really wanted this specific card I would be playing Loyal Cathar. I get they play differently and this is much easier to cast + defensive capabilities, but I think the decks that really want a 2/2 (2/1 for 2nd half of cathar) twice would prefer it for offensive capabilities and would be happier to have a second half that doesn't require a mana commitment. Maybe WW is that much of a hurdle that this is so much better than Cathar, but eh I'm not sold on this.
It also has value out of the 'yard, and gives you timing control (and can't be countered coming back). It's better on defense, and doesn't cost WW. I think this is significantly better than Loyal Cathar. Interactions with looting and discard effects seems promising with this mechanic too. Seems like the kind of card that would be right at home in an tempo shell with Looter il-Kor and tiny Jace and stuff. Or with Liliana and Pack Rat and friends in an Orzhov shell. I think the ability is just interesting enough to make it worth experimenting with.
I feel like we'll almost certainly see that card, but it might be RR or 2R to embalm.
I think that Embalm is being underrated here. That creature would be playable with an embalm cost of 4R. Even with a drawback printed on it. It's free card advantage built into a creature, that's uncounerable on the way back and can be pitched to discard. Fantastic keyword.
It also has value out of the 'yard, and gives you timing control (and can't be countered coming back). It's better on defense, and doesn't cost WW. I think this is significantly better than Loyal Cathar. Interactions with looting and discard effects seems promising with this mechanic too. Seems like the kind of card that would be right at home in an tempo shell with Looter il-Kor and tiny Jace and stuff. Or with Liliana and Pack Rat and friends in an Orzhov shell. I think the ability is just interesting enough to make it worth experimenting with.
Not sure what you mean by "timing control" but you can only Embalm anytime you can cast a sorcery in case you're referring to instant speed embalming.
I feel like we'll almost certainly see that card, but it might be RR or 2R to embalm.
I think that Embalm is being underrated here. That creature would be playable with an embalm cost of 4R. Even with a drawback printed on it. It's free card advantage built into a creature, that's uncounerable on the way back and can be pitched to discard. Fantastic keyword.
It could have no embalm ability and be playable
What I want from a cube card is often far from the floor of what I'll accept. Like with flashback, if a card's front half is costed well enough for the ability, then typically the second half's cost is irrelevant as long as it's there. Like, Chainer's Edict second half is extremely high, but having a second half is what matters. Of course I would play a 2/1 R /embalm 4R, but if Trueheart is any indication of how these cards would be costed I don't think it's out of the question for a 2/1 R to have a much cheaper cost than 4R for embalm.
Not quite aggressive enough for me to test, but I think it's very close. I'd test it in larger cubes.
Blocking two creatures is far from flavour text and the GY/recursive value has synergy with common archetypes.
Grizzly bear + notable upside + easy casting cast is cubebable territory.
I feel like we'll almost certainly see that card, but it might be RR or 2R to embalm.
I think that Embalm is being underrated here. That creature would be playable with an embalm cost of 4R. Even with a drawback printed on it. It's free card advantage built into a creature, that's uncounerable on the way back and can be pitched to discard. Fantastic keyword.
I mean, yeah, we'd basically play a r 2/1 with any embalm cost because we'd play almost any r 2/1 without a drawback. But at embalm 4R it would very rarely be relevant as at sorcery speed, you can't really surprise anyone with it, and a 2/1 on turn 7+ is very rarely relevant, so it's basically only going to be relevant if you have a relevant sac outlet, both people are badly flooded, or have like a purphoros in play. Which means embalm will matter almost never, which is fine for a free upside thing, but I'd like it to be more relevant.
That's why I'm more excited for great CITP costs or reverse embalm costs. Not that they'd print this, but imagine a mulldrifter but where it has embalm of 2U - that's the sort of thing I am excited about. Or, like, fiend hunter type embalm creatures where it's extremely relevant on both ends.
I think this card specifically is too narrow - it's too slow for aggro, not really something midrange wants, and only something, as you point out, maybe a superfriends deck would main deck as an early play that protects its walkers. Control would LOVE this out of the board against aggro, but I don't love sideboard-only cards, especially ones that are so narrow.
Call of the Herd losing some weight and occasionally being a zombie isn't exactly the most convincing argument, but Liliana / Stax applications are interesting. I like this card in equipment heavy decks, Grafted Wargear always appreciates recursion. If it were to make it into my cube, it'd probably replace another lower-tier card like Relic Seeeker or Soltari Trooper.
It also has value out of the 'yard, and gives you timing control (and can't be countered coming back). It's better on defense, and doesn't cost WW. I think this is significantly better than Loyal Cathar. Interactions with looting and discard effects seems promising with this mechanic too. Seems like the kind of card that would be right at home in an tempo shell with Looter il-Kor and tiny Jace and stuff. Or with Liliana and Pack Rat and friends in an Orzhov shell. I think the ability is just interesting enough to make it worth experimenting with.
Not sure what you mean by "timing control" but you can only Embalm anytime you can cast a sorcery in case you're referring to instant speed embalming.
I think he means you get to choose when he comes back onto the field. It isn't like undying or persist where it comes back right away. also not a trigger on death like "when he dies you may pay 2 and embalm."
With just 1 uncommon example of Embalm that is already good enough for larger cubes (630+ I'd say) I am so freaking excited at the prospect of even a few slightly more pushed cards with this ability. Embalm and Exert are both dripping with potential.
It also has value out of the 'yard, and gives you timing control (and can't be countered coming back). It's better on defense, and doesn't cost WW. I think this is significantly better than Loyal Cathar. Interactions with looting and discard effects seems promising with this mechanic too. Seems like the kind of card that would be right at home in an tempo shell with Looter il-Kor and tiny Jace and stuff. Or with Liliana and Pack Rat and friends in an Orzhov shell. I think the ability is just interesting enough to make it worth experimenting with.
Not sure what you mean by "timing control" but you can only Embalm anytime you can cast a sorcery in case you're referring to instant speed embalming.
I think he means you get to choose when he comes back onto the field. It isn't like undying or persist where it comes back right away. also not a trigger on death like "when he dies you may pay 2 and embalm."
With just 1 uncommon example of Embalm that is already good enough for larger cubes (630+ I'd say) I am so freaking excited at the prospect of even a few slightly more pushed cards with this ability. Embalm and Exert are both dripping with potential.
Taking a close look at my cube, I can see myself cutting Imposing Sovreign over this. The recursion will be more useful overall than the ETB tapped clause more often, especially in Stax shells. Being recurrable through a Wrath is nice, but I have a feeling it'll be on the cusp in a lot of straight aggro decks.
Card itself seems passable in all but larger cubes, but the mechanic is promising. Embalm is essentially flashback for creatures (at sorcery speed). It exiles the creature from the graveyard but creates an exact token copy on the battlefield except that it's a zombie and it has cmc of 0. Embalm doesn't cast the card itself, so it can't be countered by traditional means.
Zombie always gets my juices flowing, hopefully we'll get some powerful embalm creatures in the next few weeks.
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This would have been sweet if the embalm cost was just W or even 1W.
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I feel like we'll almost certainly see that card, but it might be RR or 2R to embalm.
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Yeah the mummy flavor is fantastic, it's probably the best flavor-hit they've had since all the cool stuff they did in original innistrad.
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Unpacking how embalm works I don't think this guy does enough. The blocking text is essentially irrelevant I think, so we just need to play out likely aggro scenarios.
Yes, you get a "second card", but you'll never have both on the battlefield at the same time, unlike Call of the Herd. So the question then becomes whether the prospect of a second 2/2 for 3 (quite inefficient) is enough of a bonus on top of the front end of a 2/2 for 2. I just don't think it quite gets there.
It's almost more helpful for something like Stax or tokens, but even then there are more efficient options.
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I think that Embalm is being underrated here. That creature would be playable with an embalm cost of 4R. Even with a drawback printed on it. It's free card advantage built into a creature, that's uncounerable on the way back and can be pitched to discard. Fantastic keyword.
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Not sure what you mean by "timing control" but you can only Embalm anytime you can cast a sorcery in case you're referring to instant speed embalming.
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It could have no embalm ability and be playable
What I want from a cube card is often far from the floor of what I'll accept. Like with flashback, if a card's front half is costed well enough for the ability, then typically the second half's cost is irrelevant as long as it's there. Like, Chainer's Edict second half is extremely high, but having a second half is what matters. Of course I would play a 2/1 R /embalm 4R, but if Trueheart is any indication of how these cards would be costed I don't think it's out of the question for a 2/1 R to have a much cheaper cost than 4R for embalm.
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Blocking two creatures is far from flavour text and the GY/recursive value has synergy with common archetypes.
Grizzly bear + notable upside + easy casting cast is cubebable territory.
Excited to see what else comes from the mechanic.
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I mean, yeah, we'd basically play a r 2/1 with any embalm cost because we'd play almost any r 2/1 without a drawback. But at embalm 4R it would very rarely be relevant as at sorcery speed, you can't really surprise anyone with it, and a 2/1 on turn 7+ is very rarely relevant, so it's basically only going to be relevant if you have a relevant sac outlet, both people are badly flooded, or have like a purphoros in play. Which means embalm will matter almost never, which is fine for a free upside thing, but I'd like it to be more relevant.
That's why I'm more excited for great CITP costs or reverse embalm costs. Not that they'd print this, but imagine a mulldrifter but where it has embalm of 2U - that's the sort of thing I am excited about. Or, like, fiend hunter type embalm creatures where it's extremely relevant on both ends.
I think this card specifically is too narrow - it's too slow for aggro, not really something midrange wants, and only something, as you point out, maybe a superfriends deck would main deck as an early play that protects its walkers. Control would LOVE this out of the board against aggro, but I don't love sideboard-only cards, especially ones that are so narrow.
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I think he means you get to choose when he comes back onto the field. It isn't like undying or persist where it comes back right away. also not a trigger on death like "when he dies you may pay 2 and embalm."
This.
And this.
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