I would play him in RW over Duegar Hedge Mage or Goblin Trenches, whatever you rank the 4th best RW card as.
I'd also play him in BW over Stillmoon Cavalier, GW over Mirari's Wake (we recently cut that for Knight of the Reliquary anyway, so that spot is looking to be filled with something better anyway).
I also would play him in RW or BW. I wouldn't in GW, but I have an unhealthy love of Mirari's Wake.
Speaking of Mirari's Wake, how do you guys generally play with that card? A lot of people just play it as a ramp, but I really see it's value in the fact it's a pseudo wrath protection. It enables you to play creeps early in a W/G aggro, and it comes down on 4th or 5th turn, and makes all your guys bigger. This helps it so you don't have to play as many dude to keep board position.
If the opponent is able to wrath you, your able to play a hand that's been growing cause of your stabilized board position, and gain advantage again. This is why I keep Mirari's Wake, and how I think it should be used. Of course it has other applications, but this mind set behind MW has worked so far. What do you guys generally use it for?
As for Geist, I'm trying it out cause one of the guys in our group really loves him, and a card in W/U wasn't working out as much as we liked. As said, we have a large multicolored section, but this is because we evenly distribute sections and than randomize, instead of totally random (which we would do if multicolor was the same size as the rest of the other sections).
Problem is there is just so many cards I love in the colors that are good. I've been slowly cutting down the colors, but I can't make myself cut anymore, due to me cutting great cards from certain color combinations. Of course this leaves me with suboptimal cards in some other colors, whihc aggravates me, but they are all playable, which makes up for it.
If I posted my multicolor section, would be down for going through it and talking about cuts (I wanna cut down once more. After that the quality should be where I want it.)
Has anyone tested Daybreak Ranger? Seriously, the card is super sick - skipping spells on one of your turns lets you fight a guy on their turn, and even if they play two spells, you can still fight before it unflips in your upkeep. It is just insane, IMO definitely the best werewolf. ? Of course, it really hurts that it has to go in GR, so it might not make it in most cubes.
It played pretty well in my cube-werewolf-test-deck-o-rama, as the only werewolf that I think is maybe cube-worthy. The problem with it, is that it's not good enough to break into the top RG section.
..........
As for the Geist, I would play it in RW over Hedge-Mage, but I wouldn't cut the Cavalier for it. That guy's been the nutz here.
It played pretty well in my cube-werewolf-test-deck-o-rama, as the only werewolf that I think is maybe cube-worthy. The problem with it, is that it's not good enough to break into the top RG section.
Really? It's the only one you think might be worthy? I agree that it seems good, but RG is a hard section to crack. But what about the red guys? Did you test Reckless Waif, Instigator Gang, and Kruin Outlaw?
I have been really busy lately and have not caught the discussion. What is the verdict on the cube playable cards from Innistrad for 360 card cubes and 600 card cubes. Thanks.
Speaking of Mirari's Wake, how do you guys generally play with that card? A lot of people just play it as a ramp, but I really see it's value in the fact it's a pseudo wrath protection. It enables you to play creeps early in a W/G aggro, and it comes down on 4th or 5th turn, and makes all your guys bigger. This helps it so you don't have to play as many dude to keep board position.
If the opponent is able to wrath you, your able to play a hand that's been growing cause of your stabilized board position, and gain advantage again. This is why I keep Mirari's Wake, and how I think it should be used. Of course it has other applications, but this mind set behind MW has worked so far. What do you guys generally use it for?
I mostly play Wake in terrible 3+ color decks. My favorite is to go infinite with Palinchron and it, but it's also pretty spicy with Yawg's Will. It ends up functioning as a combo enabler for me a lot of the time. And it's SO good in tower.
Gonna do my first Post-Innistrad cube draft tonight. (Yeah, it's been a while, but my group keeps buying awesome board games...) If any Inn cards show up I'll make a note and come back in here with a report on them.
We haven't Cube drafted at all since Innistrad came out.
I got almost all the cards I want together, but we won't get a chance to draft with them in the next few weeks...
I'm quite interested to see how Instigator Gang, Kruin Outlaw and Daybreak Ranger perform in Cube. The Werewolves create really interesting dynamics in limited, but Cube may be too fast for them. I won't know until I see them in action.
Still not sure if I give Reckless Waif a try. Unless you drop her turn one, she doesn't seem to be worth the effort, unlike the other three Werewolves I mentioned, which look great in their transformed state (and decent to borderline in their Human state).
Really? It's the only one you think might be worthy? I agree that it seems good, but RG is a hard section to crack. But what about the red guys? Did you test Reckless Waif, Instigator Gang, and Kruin Outlaw?
Ya I did. Along with the intimidate 3/3 and the Mayor. There were 6 werewolves in that test deck that I played against 3 other archetypes in the cube (like cube precons for testing, :p).
The Instigator Gang was the only other one that was close, but he's probably also in the 540 range. He's good because his frontside is not only relevant, but also provides an immediate board impact. The Waif and outlaw probably fall somewhere around 630, and the green ones were just bad.
The Ranger though, was pretty damn good. If I ran 5 RG cards, it would probably be the 5th one. He may even be better than Sarkhan Vol in some decks, and I could see it getting ranked as #4. It's the only Wolf that really gives you good value if you're willing to skip your own turn to flip it, which is a big deal, because hoping that your opponent fails to curve out is a pretty bad strategy.
But for a powered 450, the werewolf testing showed me what I needed to know; that the mechanic is inconsistent at best.
..........
I've also got some testing in with The Lunarch and Olivia... but I don't want to comment until I feel the testing is conclusive enough for me to render a full opinion.
In theory, it will be easier to skip a turn in an Rx deck, let your Werewolf transform, then use the unspend mana to cast an instant burn spell. Red has plenty of those. Green doesn't really have any proactive instants.
Even if you have instant speed burn though, it's still more efficient to use a better creature on the front end and burn out blockers aggressively than pass your turn. The only one that's really worth skipping a turn for the effect for is the Ranger, because you can get immediate impact from it even if your opponent can deal with it on their turn (which happens too often when you skip your turn to flip them).
Ya I did. Along with the intimidate 3/3 and the Mayor. There were 6 werewolves in that test deck that I played against 3 other archetypes in the cube (like cube precons for testing, :p).
The Instigator Gang was the only other one that was close, but he's probably also in the 540 range. He's good because his frontside is not only relevant, but also provides an immediate board impact. The Waif and outlaw probably fall somewhere around 630, and the green ones were just bad.
The Ranger though, was pretty damn good. If I ran 5 RG cards, it would probably be the 5th one. He may even be better than Sarkhan Vol in some decks, and I could see it getting ranked as #4. It's the only Wolf that really gives you good value if you're willing to skip your own turn to flip it, which is a big deal, because hoping that your opponent fails to curve out is a pretty bad strategy.
But for a powered 450, the werewolf testing showed me what I needed to know; that the mechanic is inconsistent at best.
..........
I've also got some testing in with The Lunarch and Olivia... but I don't want to comment until I feel the testing is conclusive enough for me to render a full opinion.
Glad to know some testing was done. You should post the deck you played with them in and against though. I would like to see what was exactly tested (for my own testing purposes)
Well I basically just did a regular 4-man draft with my regular cube cards. I drafted RG aggro. There was a UB control deck, a UG mid-range deck and a BR/w aggressive/mid-range thing. I then substituted 6 cards out of the my deck and replaced them with the 6 werewolves for testing. After the games we played for the normal draft, I kept the 4 builds together just to playtest the wolf deck a little extra before putting all the decks away. I don't have the exact lists together anymore, but it's kinda a cool/easy way to get extra testing in.
Have done 2 Innistrad drafts on someone else's fully powered cube. The obvious good cards were obviously good. Mayor of Avabruck flat out won me 2 games. Sometimes the other deck simply didn't have a 2 drop, he flips, and you just win...or you just pass your turn, he flips, they don't have any removal and you win.
It turns out that flipping is really easy in cube, and unflipping is really hard. People do cast two spells on their third turn sometimes, but it's quite rare. Also, passing your turn for a flip is not as bad value as it seems for 2 reasons:
1) there are lots of things you can still do -- Strip Mine/Wasteland something, cast an instant on their turn, turn on a manland, use an activated ability of a creature/artifact, etc....
2) if you pass and they remove it, you lose very little tempo since they had to use their turn removing it.
3) if you pass and they don't remove it, you start getting huge value very quickly.
Also, he's not a dead card late game as flipping late game is just as easy, and his ability is still highly relevant.
On slightly different notes, I witnessed Cloistered Youth also being very strong, but I guess it's not as surprising. Reckless Waif is obviously quite good. Not Goblin Guide good, but certainly beyond Goblin Patrol good.
P.S. I've also heard Daybreak Ranger is the best werewolf in cube and just an overall house, but I think many of you have experienced this already. I hear he's not as good as Bloodbraid Elf, but certainly more useful than Stormbind (and maybe even Sarkhan Vol).
I still have to do my own testing. I like your way of doing the testing wtfwaffles, I used to have cards that were equivalent to another on the sideboard for testing, and you could switch out those cards if you had an equivalent or the right deck (eg. Blightsteel was tested for in replacement of Colossus, didn't really do much since I cut DC shortly after that). If my group wasn't so competitive I would just do that, but we are, and so this might be tricky to do. On the other note, I could always sub in after a draft and continue playing against the other decks.
I also have about 4-5 cards in each section of my cube that I leave for testing, and we will play with these cards in draft until we find they for sure without a doubt don't make the cut.
This is the exact opposite of my experience. Good decks will curve out. And even if they don't, good decks will be able to deal with the back side of your wolf, or re-flip it by casting 2 spells. And none of them (with the exception of Daybreak Ranger) are worth skipping your own turn to flip.
Quote from takiguy »
Mayor of Avabruck flat out won me 2 games. Sometimes the other deck simply didn't have a 2 drop, he flips, and you just win...or you just pass your turn, he flips, they don't have any removal and you win.
And even when there was a flipped Mayor in play, it was far from "game over". His back side still dies to almost every removal spell in the cube.
Quote from takiguy »
Reckless Waif is obviously quite good. Not Goblin Guide good, but certainly beyond Goblin Patrol good.
The Waif was really poor. Not even close to the power level of Goblin Patrol.
none of the cards you mention seem "obviously" good to me. waif, for example, looks bad to me since aggro decks want to curve out at least through turn 4 and don't want a vanilla 1/1 at all. a 2/x one drop should generally do more damage and won't cost you tempo. goblin patrol does cost you tempo, but you should be able to reliably play around it. i'd rather pay R than give my opponent a free time walk.
2) if you pass and they remove it, you lose very little tempo since they had to use their turn removing it.
i don't really understand what you mean here. you play mayor of avabruck, and then skip your third turn. your opponent bolts it. compare to: you play wild mongrel and on turn 3 play something else. you're one card ahead when they bolt the mongrel. whether the risk is worth the tempo loss is the question, not whether the tempo loss happens at all.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Well, ended up having to sealed last night because two people bailed on is and unfortunately the only Innistrad we saw was Snapcaster and Cloistered Youth. Somewhat sad as I knew those were bombs already. And they were.
none of the cards you mention seem "obviously" good to me.
When I say the "Obvious cards were obviously good," I'm referring to Diregraf Ghoul, Snapcaster Mage etc... If the cards in my post were obviously good, why would I post about them?
waif, for example, looks bad to me since aggro decks want to curve out at least through turn 4 and don't want a vanilla 1/1 at all. a 2/x one drop should generally do more damage and won't cost you tempo. goblin patrol does cost you tempo, but you should be able to reliably play around it. i'd rather pay R than give my opponent a free time walk.
I don't understand what you're talking about. How do you "reliably play around" not being able to play a 2 drop? And if you're not playing a 2 drop, you're not curving out, so Reckless Waif is still better. Also, you are ignoring quite possibly the most important aspect to the Waif. The fact is, THEY have to curve out as well in order for it to only be a 1/1. I know in theory land, everyone curves out perfectly all the time in their godly cube decks, but the reality is that rarely happens. If they miss their 1 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. If they make their one drop and you don't play a 2 drop, it's on par with Goblin Patrol. If you play your 2 drop and they don't make their 2 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. The case analysis for this is not very hard and testing it out shows this to be the truth.
i don't really understand what you mean here. you play mayor of avabruck, and then skip your third turn. your opponent bolts it. compare to: you play wild mongrel and on turn 3 play something else. you're one card ahead when they bolt the mongrel. whether the risk is worth the tempo loss is the question, not whether the tempo loss happens at all.
Um, obviously tempo loss happens.... In that statement, I was arguing that the tempo loss is not as severe as people think. Unless they play Man-o-War, they are still "skipping their turn" just to deal with it. This is something I don't think most people are considering when theory-testing the werewolves. Moreover, what exactly is the reward for the risk? Well, if they don't have a 2 drop, you get rewarded with a 3/3 that spits out 3/3s for FREE... if they don't draw a removal spell (I know in everyone's mind you're always holding Bolt/Terminate/Path, but in reality, no), that's really sick.
When I say the "Obvious cards were obviously good," I'm referring to Diregraf Ghoul, Snapcaster Mage etc... If the cards in my post were obviously good, why would I post about them?
On slightly different notes, I witnessed Cloistered Youth also being very strong, but I guess it's not as surprising. Reckless Waif is obviously quite good. Not Goblin Guide good, but certainly beyond Goblin Patrol good.
I don't understand what you're talking about. How do you "reliably play around" not being able to play a 2 drop? And if you're not playing a 2 drop, you're not curving out, so Reckless Waif is still better.
Well, you can play turn one Patrol and then, on turn two, pay echo, play a land and play another one drop. If your aggro deck is built with an optimal amount of 1-drops, that shouldn't be a problem. That's how you "play around" the echo drawback.
Also, you are ignoring quite possibly the most important aspect to the Waif. The fact is, THEY have to curve out as well in order for it to only be a 1/1. I know in theory land, everyone curves out perfectly all the time in their godly cube decks, but the reality is that rarely happens. If they miss their 1 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. If they make their one drop and you don't play a 2 drop, it's on par with Goblin Patrol. If you play your 2 drop and they don't make their 2 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. The case analysis for this is not very hard and testing it out shows this to be the truth.
I think you're missing the definition of "strictly better". A red 2/1 for R with no echo would be "strictly better". A red 3/2 for R with no drawback would be "strictly better". Waif may sometimes be better than a Goblin Patrol, but there is the possibility that it might spend a significant amount of time as a 1/1, which keeps it from being "strictly better".
So far Waif is the only werewolf I've seen in the cube. I drew it late and it flipped on my opponent's turn. The problem, however, was it played like any other aggressive creature. Even a 3/2 for one mana isn't that useful against an average late game board state.
How often was he played on turn 1? If so, what were the spells on the other side of the table that prevented him from flipping?
-AA
Against aggro and mid-range, they were just playing stuff (aggro beaters, mana dorks, cards like Bonesplitter and Black Vise, stuff like that). Against control, they were playing spells that sometimes get played as instants, like Mystical Tutor and Brainstorm, but also cards like Top, Ponder, Duress, Enclave Cryptologist, Vamp Tutor and the like. On the play, he get to flip against control, and then was immediately killed by an Edict. The other games where he resolved on T1 against control, I was on the draw, so they were able to play spells like Signets and Mind Stones and other random 2CC cards. The only time it got to flip right away was T1 on the play against control, and even then it was killed off just like any other creature would've. It spent most of its time as a Mons' Goblin Raiders, or transforming really late in the game. I was unimpressed, even with it coming down on T1 against control, which is supposed to be where it's amazing. And against aggro and mid-range, it had no chance of flipping early whatsoever.
Quote from takiguy »
The fact is, THEY have to curve out as well in order for it to only be a 1/1.
Unfortunately, curving out is the norm. So, on average, it'll be a 1/1 for R. If your playgroup struggles to build decks that curve out, werewolves are probably right up your alley.
Unfortunately, curving out is the norm. So, on average, it'll be a 1/1 for R. If your playgroup struggles to build decks that curve out, werewolves are probably right up your alley.
I also would play him in RW or BW. I wouldn't in GW, but I have an unhealthy love of Mirari's Wake.
If the opponent is able to wrath you, your able to play a hand that's been growing cause of your stabilized board position, and gain advantage again. This is why I keep Mirari's Wake, and how I think it should be used. Of course it has other applications, but this mind set behind MW has worked so far. What do you guys generally use it for?
As for Geist, I'm trying it out cause one of the guys in our group really loves him, and a card in W/U wasn't working out as much as we liked. As said, we have a large multicolored section, but this is because we evenly distribute sections and than randomize, instead of totally random (which we would do if multicolor was the same size as the rest of the other sections).
Problem is there is just so many cards I love in the colors that are good. I've been slowly cutting down the colors, but I can't make myself cut anymore, due to me cutting great cards from certain color combinations. Of course this leaves me with suboptimal cards in some other colors, whihc aggravates me, but they are all playable, which makes up for it.
If I posted my multicolor section, would be down for going through it and talking about cuts (I wanna cut down once more. After that the quality should be where I want it.)
Draft it on Cubetutor!
It played pretty well in my cube-werewolf-test-deck-o-rama, as the only werewolf that I think is maybe cube-worthy. The problem with it, is that it's not good enough to break into the top RG section.
..........
As for the Geist, I would play it in RW over Hedge-Mage, but I wouldn't cut the Cavalier for it. That guy's been the nutz here.
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Really? It's the only one you think might be worthy? I agree that it seems good, but RG is a hard section to crack. But what about the red guys? Did you test Reckless Waif, Instigator Gang, and Kruin Outlaw?
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I mostly play Wake in terrible 3+ color decks. My favorite is to go infinite with Palinchron and it, but it's also pretty spicy with Yawg's Will. It ends up functioning as a combo enabler for me a lot of the time. And it's SO good in tower.
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I got almost all the cards I want together, but we won't get a chance to draft with them in the next few weeks...
I'm quite interested to see how Instigator Gang, Kruin Outlaw and Daybreak Ranger perform in Cube. The Werewolves create really interesting dynamics in limited, but Cube may be too fast for them. I won't know until I see them in action.
Still not sure if I give Reckless Waif a try. Unless you drop her turn one, she doesn't seem to be worth the effort, unlike the other three Werewolves I mentioned, which look great in their transformed state (and decent to borderline in their Human state).
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Ya I did. Along with the intimidate 3/3 and the Mayor. There were 6 werewolves in that test deck that I played against 3 other archetypes in the cube (like cube precons for testing, :p).
The Instigator Gang was the only other one that was close, but he's probably also in the 540 range. He's good because his frontside is not only relevant, but also provides an immediate board impact. The Waif and outlaw probably fall somewhere around 630, and the green ones were just bad.
The Ranger though, was pretty damn good. If I ran 5 RG cards, it would probably be the 5th one. He may even be better than Sarkhan Vol in some decks, and I could see it getting ranked as #4. It's the only Wolf that really gives you good value if you're willing to skip your own turn to flip it, which is a big deal, because hoping that your opponent fails to curve out is a pretty bad strategy.
But for a powered 450, the werewolf testing showed me what I needed to know; that the mechanic is inconsistent at best.
..........
I've also got some testing in with The Lunarch and Olivia... but I don't want to comment until I feel the testing is conclusive enough for me to render a full opinion.
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Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
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Glad to know some testing was done. You should post the deck you played with them in and against though. I would like to see what was exactly tested (for my own testing purposes)
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It turns out that flipping is really easy in cube, and unflipping is really hard. People do cast two spells on their third turn sometimes, but it's quite rare. Also, passing your turn for a flip is not as bad value as it seems for 2 reasons:
1) there are lots of things you can still do -- Strip Mine/Wasteland something, cast an instant on their turn, turn on a manland, use an activated ability of a creature/artifact, etc....
2) if you pass and they remove it, you lose very little tempo since they had to use their turn removing it.
3) if you pass and they don't remove it, you start getting huge value very quickly.
Also, he's not a dead card late game as flipping late game is just as easy, and his ability is still highly relevant.
On slightly different notes, I witnessed Cloistered Youth also being very strong, but I guess it's not as surprising. Reckless Waif is obviously quite good. Not Goblin Guide good, but certainly beyond Goblin Patrol good.
P.S. I've also heard Daybreak Ranger is the best werewolf in cube and just an overall house, but I think many of you have experienced this already. I hear he's not as good as Bloodbraid Elf, but certainly more useful than Stormbind (and maybe even Sarkhan Vol).
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I still have to do my own testing. I like your way of doing the testing wtfwaffles, I used to have cards that were equivalent to another on the sideboard for testing, and you could switch out those cards if you had an equivalent or the right deck (eg. Blightsteel was tested for in replacement of Colossus, didn't really do much since I cut DC shortly after that). If my group wasn't so competitive I would just do that, but we are, and so this might be tricky to do. On the other note, I could always sub in after a draft and continue playing against the other decks.
I also have about 4-5 cards in each section of my cube that I leave for testing, and we will play with these cards in draft until we find they for sure without a doubt don't make the cut.
This is the exact opposite of my experience. Good decks will curve out. And even if they don't, good decks will be able to deal with the back side of your wolf, or re-flip it by casting 2 spells. And none of them (with the exception of Daybreak Ranger) are worth skipping your own turn to flip.
And even when there was a flipped Mayor in play, it was far from "game over". His back side still dies to almost every removal spell in the cube.
The Waif was really poor. Not even close to the power level of Goblin Patrol.
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How often was he played on turn 1? If so, what were the spells on the other side of the table that prevented him from flipping?
-AA
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none of the cards you mention seem "obviously" good to me. waif, for example, looks bad to me since aggro decks want to curve out at least through turn 4 and don't want a vanilla 1/1 at all. a 2/x one drop should generally do more damage and won't cost you tempo. goblin patrol does cost you tempo, but you should be able to reliably play around it. i'd rather pay R than give my opponent a free time walk.
i don't really understand what you mean here. you play mayor of avabruck, and then skip your third turn. your opponent bolts it. compare to: you play wild mongrel and on turn 3 play something else. you're one card ahead when they bolt the mongrel. whether the risk is worth the tempo loss is the question, not whether the tempo loss happens at all.
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When I say the "Obvious cards were obviously good," I'm referring to Diregraf Ghoul, Snapcaster Mage etc... If the cards in my post were obviously good, why would I post about them?
I don't understand what you're talking about. How do you "reliably play around" not being able to play a 2 drop? And if you're not playing a 2 drop, you're not curving out, so Reckless Waif is still better. Also, you are ignoring quite possibly the most important aspect to the Waif. The fact is, THEY have to curve out as well in order for it to only be a 1/1. I know in theory land, everyone curves out perfectly all the time in their godly cube decks, but the reality is that rarely happens. If they miss their 1 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. If they make their one drop and you don't play a 2 drop, it's on par with Goblin Patrol. If you play your 2 drop and they don't make their 2 drop, it's strictly better than Goblin Patrol. The case analysis for this is not very hard and testing it out shows this to be the truth.
Um, obviously tempo loss happens.... In that statement, I was arguing that the tempo loss is not as severe as people think. Unless they play Man-o-War, they are still "skipping their turn" just to deal with it. This is something I don't think most people are considering when theory-testing the werewolves. Moreover, what exactly is the reward for the risk? Well, if they don't have a 2 drop, you get rewarded with a 3/3 that spits out 3/3s for FREE... if they don't draw a removal spell (I know in everyone's mind you're always holding Bolt/Terminate/Path, but in reality, no), that's really sick.
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Well, you can play turn one Patrol and then, on turn two, pay echo, play a land and play another one drop. If your aggro deck is built with an optimal amount of 1-drops, that shouldn't be a problem. That's how you "play around" the echo drawback.
I think you're missing the definition of "strictly better". A red 2/1 for R with no echo would be "strictly better". A red 3/2 for R with no drawback would be "strictly better". Waif may sometimes be better than a Goblin Patrol, but there is the possibility that it might spend a significant amount of time as a 1/1, which keeps it from being "strictly better".
So far Waif is the only werewolf I've seen in the cube. I drew it late and it flipped on my opponent's turn. The problem, however, was it played like any other aggressive creature. Even a 3/2 for one mana isn't that useful against an average late game board state.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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Against aggro and mid-range, they were just playing stuff (aggro beaters, mana dorks, cards like Bonesplitter and Black Vise, stuff like that). Against control, they were playing spells that sometimes get played as instants, like Mystical Tutor and Brainstorm, but also cards like Top, Ponder, Duress, Enclave Cryptologist, Vamp Tutor and the like. On the play, he get to flip against control, and then was immediately killed by an Edict. The other games where he resolved on T1 against control, I was on the draw, so they were able to play spells like Signets and Mind Stones and other random 2CC cards. The only time it got to flip right away was T1 on the play against control, and even then it was killed off just like any other creature would've. It spent most of its time as a Mons' Goblin Raiders, or transforming really late in the game. I was unimpressed, even with it coming down on T1 against control, which is supposed to be where it's amazing. And against aggro and mid-range, it had no chance of flipping early whatsoever.
Unfortunately, curving out is the norm. So, on average, it'll be a 1/1 for R. If your playgroup struggles to build decks that curve out, werewolves are probably right up your alley.
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