One thing I noticed about this card when we briefly tested it is that if you absolutely MUST block with it, then it only costs 6 mana since if they have a removal spell then his protection ability is nullified.
I imagine thats going to come up from time to time
You can't be serious man. Frost Titan freezes a creature on attack, which is basically the same thing as blocking, but better in many circumstances (worse in a few). Wurmcoil Engine, Baneslayer Angel, and Griselbrand gain a ton of life on the attack, which is similar to blocking a large creature. Sheoldred reanimates a blocker every turn, and kills an opposing attacker every turn, all while attacking. Grave Titan makes two blockers on attack, Inferno Titan kills multiple guys on attack or kills them outright, Battlesphere can leave blockers behind on attack or kill the opponent outright, Elesh Norn cripples/kills the opposing team and pumps your own while attacking. I could keep going. Aetherling having vigilance is nice, but it still pales in defensive value to most other finishers in the cube.
This is the part of my post where I reiterate that Aetherling is a strong card and possibly worthy of inclusion, but there are definitely some things he doesn't do as well as other ~7 mana finishers.
Thats what I don't get either..this isn't close to competing with most 6+ drops. The only reason I can figure for so much support is nostalgia for bygone days when Cube was dominated by Wrath control decks that locked the board and won with their single finisher (ie morphling).
That strategy has waned heavily and was never any fun besides. Aetherling isnt' going to revive it and no one I play with will be sorry about that. Honestly, I think Cube has been lucky the last few years that the game has been going in a different direction and the enormous refocusing this has brought about in Cube design.
Imo this is the best blue creature that costs > 6 mana and I wouldn't mind running a single 7 drop in blue. However blue already has Upheaval, Karn (which technically is a colorless card, but very frequently ends up in the blue decks) and whatever big artifact creature you end up picking in the hope of opening a Tinker later.
I agree with this. Blue in Cube has shifted to be WAY more proactive than this discussion is acknowledging.
Upheaval and Karn aren't really at the proactive end of the spectrum but you have
Show and Tell
Tinker
Jace, Memory Adept
Time Vault (+Tez, untap effects, etc)
Plus the additions from other colors assuming you're not mono-u: Gideon, Wildfire, etc
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I imagine thats going to come up from time to time
Thats what I don't get either..this isn't close to competing with most 6+ drops. The only reason I can figure for so much support is nostalgia for bygone days when Cube was dominated by Wrath control decks that locked the board and won with their single finisher (ie morphling).
That strategy has waned heavily and was never any fun besides. Aetherling isnt' going to revive it and no one I play with will be sorry about that. Honestly, I think Cube has been lucky the last few years that the game has been going in a different direction and the enormous refocusing this has brought about in Cube design.
I agree with this. Blue in Cube has shifted to be WAY more proactive than this discussion is acknowledging.
Upheaval and Karn aren't really at the proactive end of the spectrum but you have
Show and Tell
Tinker
Jace, Memory Adept
Time Vault (+Tez, untap effects, etc)
Plus the additions from other colors assuming you're not mono-u: Gideon, Wildfire, etc