It bashes for 8 unblockable damage, is completely unkillable in the cube, can survive your own wraths and upheavals, and can attack and block in the same round. I think it's embarrasses Jwar Sphinx as far as finisher quality goes.
I totally agree that it puts most blue finishers to shame, but it didn't really stand out as much as I had hoped it would.
I see it as wtwlf does, Hicham sides with JeffDerek.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much, though. Both cards will win games for you once you're in control. I just think Aetherling is the more interesting card.
What do I care if I have to put more mana into it when it's the last card I have to play? It finishes and blocks for me, allowing me to win close games all on its own. Sphinx can either attack or block, but it can't do both. And it still dies to sweepers and edicts, unlike Aetherling.
They both win you the game, but AEtherling (and his buddy Superman) require you to invest your mana for the rest of the game in winning. This means you can't spend your mana on Not Losing.
So if you're playing against an aggro deck, and you're using this guy to attack and block, and they just burn you out, you're still dead. Sphinx lets you do things like cast spells that gain you life, or kill their creatures, or counter their burn spells, etc. etc.
Yes, in some situations you cast him and just win, but sometimes you still have to interact with your opponent beyond a 3 turn clock to kill them.
I totally agree that it puts most blue finishers to shame, but it didn't really stand out as much as I had hoped it would.
I am all for mroe blue finishers that close the game out fast. 2-3 turns after they move into board domination mode is much better than a lowly mulldrifter pounding it out.
The card doesn't force you to use its abilities. If you need mana for other spells, holding open one blue mana is not a rough price to pay to protect him until you can afford to pump him up. A 4/5 is a great blocker anyway, and it only takes another one mana to block Titan-size dudes (two to stop trample). Jar jar is so much weaker that I don't understand choosing it over this guy because of a measly U upkeep.
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.
It'll be much more comparable if JJ have vigilance and protect itself from wrath. I like the new Ling much more than Jar Jar. I don't think the new Ling is as good as Meloku or Draw Sphinx, but those two cards are insane.
Only 5 definite inclusions makes this the set probably the weakest since the Alara block for me. Even Gatecrash had a better ratio, since I included 10 cards from it (though one or two might be dropped soon). I am also disappointed that there is not a single common that I deem worthy for inclusion and my short list of definite inclusions contains the three most expensive cards from the set.
Speaking of expensive: While Voice of Resurgence certainly looks neat and Selesnya Charm seems to be a good card to drop for it, I will not shell out that much money for the Voice. I will either wait until the price decreases or hope that I open one at the prerelease or in a draft. Until I get one, I will keep the Charm which is a nice flexible card.
I really, really wish that Turn would cost only 1U. Then this neat little split card would have been included for sure. As it is, it is just a little bit too expensive to be a great cube card.
There is very little talk about Warleader's Helix. I think the card is pretty good. I guess it doesn't get more attention because the Boros section is pretty stacked since the last set. Being a good card is irrelevant when there are 5-6 better Boros cards for cube.
People who think about Tithe Drinker should rather think about including Syndic of Tithes. That extort 2-drop would be better and wouldn't take up one of the few Orzhov slots in a cube. Adding lifelink on a 2 power creature without evasion is just not worth adding a second color and -1 toughness. Child of Night didn't cut it in cube, either.
Aetherling: Don't llike him, won't include him. I agree that his overall power level is greater than the one of Sphinx of Jwar Isle. However, the two cards operate differently enough that I pick the card that works closer to my preferences than the one that is all in all more powerful: The one that needs zero further mana to operate well and that is hard to kill even if dropped at six mana. In other words: I keep the Sphinx.
I am a big fan of Jwar-Jwar. I don't get the boring criticism. For me it is incredibly reliable. I prefer my control decks to have as little finishers as possible. The Shroud helps a lot to make sure it survives, which is the reason I often prefer the simplicity of Jwar-Jwar to the cool effect of Consacrated Spinx. As I said before, some decks cannot handle Shroud (true these decks will not be able to handle Aetherling either).
Aetherling looks like a cool Morphling variant. It survives Wraths which is very cool. It clearly is a good creature. It is very good in offense, unblockable beats flying any day. In defense though I am not so sure it is superior. It cannot block flyers and its biggest problem, it can be taken out of combat for a turn by removal or even worse by an icy or a Waterfront Bouncer. If your opponent has a attack that can kill you, one removal effect is enough to get rid of Aetherling, while 'measly' Sphinx will always just be there for you.
Sphinx of Jwar-Jwar is not only more reliable, it also can fly over your own Moat, it works great with The Abyss, but most importantly it is one mana cheaper. This is a big difference, especially if your deck doesn't have (or only one) mana rocks. I am not inclined to play seven mana finishers in decks without a couple of mana rocks or elves.
All this being said I think it doesn't matter that much which blue finisher you run. If you are in control all of them will do the job anyway. In brute power level their is not that big a difference between all the options (Jace III, Keiga, the two Sphinxes, Aetherling, Morpling, Titan). Not that there is no difference, just that it might depends on which decks you like to draft, support.
I don't have the exact numbers right now, but I am pretty sure that I included more than five cards even from small sets and from core sets (which aren't small sets, but which are 50% reprints) in the last four years.
This set is a lot less disappointing compare to Gatecrash even without considering its size. If you consider its size, GTC is a lot worst. I'm fairly happy with this set.
I'm looking for the right window to buy Ral for the cube, it's only card and I haven't buy yet. What you people think he'll settle at?
All this being said I think it doesn't matter that much which blue finisher you run. If you are in control all of them will do the job anyway. In brute power level their is not that big a difference between all the options (Jace III, Keiga, the two Sphinxes, Aetherling, Morpling, Titan). Not that there is no difference, just that it might depends on which decks you like to draft, support.
I agree. We actually just started cycling through the blue finishers and swapping them in and out to keep things interesting, since I think they're pretty much all the same. Currently playing Jace III, Titan, and Consecrated, but that'll change in a while I'm sure.
Whoops, miscounted: I have included 12 cards from Gatecrash. A few have been experimental inclusions though and I will probably cut 2 or 3 within the next few sets, but that still leaves me with a better inclusion ratio than Dragon's Maze.
I also wanted to say that the last few years had so many great cube cards that I see cubes getting more and more diverse. In the past, we had far more obvious inclusions, but now, there are often half a dozen cards that are pretty close in power level for a handful of slots. Which cards you pick for those slots comes down more to personal preference than purely trying to play the most powerful cards. There are more great blue finisher than midsized cubes can include, so the exact combination may vary from cube to cube without any choice being the objectively best one. I think it is nice to have a bit of variety and to have more personalized cubes.
I include Boros Charm and Experiment One from GTC.
And I'll look to test
Ral Zarek
Aetherling
Blood Scrievier
Voice of Resurgence
Pyrewild Shaman
from DGM. I'll see about my final inclusion, but for now, DGM wins for me. I'm almost certain Ral will make it 100%. It's just one more card for DGM to draw with GTC. Shouldn't be too hard.
I once farted during the final match for prizes at an FNM. It was a tense moment, everything was quiet, control vs control, I was about to mana leak, thought about it.. and farted. Then mana leaked.
Dragon's maze offer FAR more maybes, and "so close if only it was 1 cheaper" then gatecrash. Gatecrash was 90% dang, I wish this was another card. That being said E1, boros charm, and Zegana all have found a semi-permanent home in my cube.
The only time I've personally played Zegana I had 3 cards left in my library and no creatures out :*(
I totally agree that it puts most blue finishers to shame, but it didn't really stand out as much as I had hoped it would.
Deckbox tradelist/for sale
Draft my cube on cubetutor!
Check out my blog on Cube Archetypes!
Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much, though. Both cards will win games for you once you're in control. I just think Aetherling is the more interesting card.
They both win you the game, but AEtherling (and his buddy Superman) require you to invest your mana for the rest of the game in winning. This means you can't spend your mana on Not Losing.
So if you're playing against an aggro deck, and you're using this guy to attack and block, and they just burn you out, you're still dead. Sphinx lets you do things like cast spells that gain you life, or kill their creatures, or counter their burn spells, etc. etc.
Yes, in some situations you cast him and just win, but sometimes you still have to interact with your opponent beyond a 3 turn clock to kill them.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I am all for mroe blue finishers that close the game out fast. 2-3 turns after they move into board domination mode is much better than a lowly mulldrifter pounding it out.
And in those situations, I want to have the Aetherling, because I can attack and block with it, and it's more resistent to removal.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
Definite inclusions:
Potential inclusions:
Only 5 definite inclusions makes this the set probably the weakest since the Alara block for me. Even Gatecrash had a better ratio, since I included 10 cards from it (though one or two might be dropped soon). I am also disappointed that there is not a single common that I deem worthy for inclusion and my short list of definite inclusions contains the three most expensive cards from the set.
Speaking of expensive: While Voice of Resurgence certainly looks neat and Selesnya Charm seems to be a good card to drop for it, I will not shell out that much money for the Voice. I will either wait until the price decreases or hope that I open one at the prerelease or in a draft. Until I get one, I will keep the Charm which is a nice flexible card.
I really, really wish that Turn would cost only 1U. Then this neat little split card would have been included for sure. As it is, it is just a little bit too expensive to be a great cube card.
There is very little talk about Warleader's Helix. I think the card is pretty good. I guess it doesn't get more attention because the Boros section is pretty stacked since the last set. Being a good card is irrelevant when there are 5-6 better Boros cards for cube.
People who think about Tithe Drinker should rather think about including Syndic of Tithes. That extort 2-drop would be better and wouldn't take up one of the few Orzhov slots in a cube. Adding lifelink on a 2 power creature without evasion is just not worth adding a second color and -1 toughness. Child of Night didn't cut it in cube, either.
Aetherling: Don't llike him, won't include him. I agree that his overall power level is greater than the one of Sphinx of Jwar Isle. However, the two cards operate differently enough that I pick the card that works closer to my preferences than the one that is all in all more powerful: The one that needs zero further mana to operate well and that is hard to kill even if dropped at six mana. In other words: I keep the Sphinx.
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
Testing:
Pyrewild Shaman
Also, my set (P)review is up! (link in my sig).
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Aetherling looks like a cool Morphling variant. It survives Wraths which is very cool. It clearly is a good creature. It is very good in offense, unblockable beats flying any day. In defense though I am not so sure it is superior. It cannot block flyers and its biggest problem, it can be taken out of combat for a turn by removal or even worse by an icy or a Waterfront Bouncer. If your opponent has a attack that can kill you, one removal effect is enough to get rid of Aetherling, while 'measly' Sphinx will always just be there for you.
Sphinx of Jwar-Jwar is not only more reliable, it also can fly over your own Moat, it works great with The Abyss, but most importantly it is one mana cheaper. This is a big difference, especially if your deck doesn't have (or only one) mana rocks. I am not inclined to play seven mana finishers in decks without a couple of mana rocks or elves.
All this being said I think it doesn't matter that much which blue finisher you run. If you are in control all of them will do the job anyway. In brute power level their is not that big a difference between all the options (Jace III, Keiga, the two Sphinxes, Aetherling, Morpling, Titan). Not that there is no difference, just that it might depends on which decks you like to draft, support.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
Wow, you got 20 cards to talk about? With this set? I am impressed.
(I think this set is rather weak for cube.)
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
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
I'm looking for the right window to buy Ral for the cube, it's only card and I haven't buy yet. What you people think he'll settle at?
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
I agree. We actually just started cycling through the blue finishers and swapping them in and out to keep things interesting, since I think they're pretty much all the same. Currently playing Jace III, Titan, and Consecrated, but that'll change in a while I'm sure.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
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
All of my countdowns are top 20s.
But this set is FAR better than Gatecrash, and it's much smaller. I have 5 cards in my 450 from DGM, and only 3 from GTC.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I also wanted to say that the last few years had so many great cube cards that I see cubes getting more and more diverse. In the past, we had far more obvious inclusions, but now, there are often half a dozen cards that are pretty close in power level for a handful of slots. Which cards you pick for those slots comes down more to personal preference than purely trying to play the most powerful cards. There are more great blue finisher than midsized cubes can include, so the exact combination may vary from cube to cube without any choice being the objectively best one. I think it is nice to have a bit of variety and to have more personalized cubes.
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
And I'll look to test
Ral Zarek
Aetherling
Blood Scrievier
Voice of Resurgence
Pyrewild Shaman
from DGM. I'll see about my final inclusion, but for now, DGM wins for me. I'm almost certain Ral will make it 100%. It's just one more card for DGM to draw with GTC. Shouldn't be too hard.
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
I look forward to reading it!
Don't forget to read mine!
The only time I've personally played Zegana I had 3 cards left in my library and no creatures out :*(
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
If you mean wtwlf123 top 20 DGM article, it's been up for about a week now. The link is in his signature, I think.
The top 5 of this set are pretty decent cube material, if you ask me.
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
Glad you're interested!
Just in case you missed it in the article section, my preview is up, and the link is in my sig.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!