I like Narnam Cobra quite a bit in a green deck. It is just the type of 2-drop I would want to play: useful in the early game (to block and trade with a Thriving Grubs, for example), and useful in the late game (to block and trade with most any ground creature). I would not at all want play it in a deck without green mana, though, except maybe from the sideboard on the draw if my deck is low on 2-drop creatures and if my opponent has a deck focusing on early aggression of 1- and 2- toughness creatures.
Definitely seems strong in this format. If you have it, it's in your deck, I don't think it would ever get cut from any list. So it should be a high pick. In pack 1, this is a contender for the best non-rare to pick. Once I know for sure which colors I'm in, I might take something like Harnessed Lightning over it.
Definitely seems strong in this format. If you have it, it's in your deck, I don't think it would ever get cut from any list. So it should be a high pick. In pack 1, this is a contender for the best non-rare to pick. Once I know for sure which colors I'm in, I might take something like Harnessed Lightning over it.
It's a good card, but this is way overvaluing it. This isn't EMN anymore. Value takes a back seat to raw aggression, and there are definitely a handful of non-rare colorless cards (read: vehicles) that deserve to be first-picked over this. Also, Harnessed Lightning is fantastic and you would have to really hate red in order to justify not picking it over Familiar.
I'd say this card lies between "good" and "great". Familiar does a lot of work in the format, causing at least a million triggers for it entering or leaving the battlefield. All joking aside, the lifegain is a huge deal in this aggressive format, and it's a very serviceable 3 drop. I'm not taking it over premium uncommons, but I'd take it over a wide variety of commons.
Had someone in a local draft express that they were excited about being able to run 3 copies of Hawk in their deck and how lucky was that. No... I might be too hard on the card, but we can surely agree that's awful.
To me it seems really obvious that this is about whether your deck wants 1 or 0, having two of these in play is pretty bad. There's a pretty low base power level here and it is pretty concerning that a common Wind Drake will demote this card's value to that of a Thriving Turtle that you paid 2 for. The creature has to attack to be much better than Squire (with the exception of incoming Thopter tokens, but those are few and far between). But unlike Maulfist Doorbuster or Voltaic Brawler, the inherent stats of the card don't position you for attacking. You spent 2 mana on 1 power when it's possible to get 3, so it's incredibly plausible you might be losing the races that the second triggered ability lets you force.
The combo with Longtusk Cub is cute but doesn't curve very well. In most sets you'd want to pair this with green because green lacks evasion, but in this set green's creatures are too big to get blocked profitably anyway, it's insane, so I think the card will actually show up more with other colors. It seems best to get some of red's evasionless creatures past the fray, maybe a Quicksmith Gearsmith that is going to loot you into stuff that will help you figure out how you're winning the race, yet is having trouble attacking without dying immediately and having trouble blocking and surviving to help you loot. Knowing you're the red player at the table makes it safer to lean on X/2s that don't want to block or be blocked, so aWeldfast Monitor, a Thriving Grubs that's trying to get going, a Maulfist Doorbuster, those can all be things to help you get in with your aggressive red deck. Veteran Motorist in guild, that's pretty sweet. I think red seems like the color most likely to maindeck one of these correctly, but not even every red deck will want it, since red's access to lots of the best removal and weaker overall bodies compared to green and black might often push it into a controlling role.
This card has been a lot more annoying to play against than I expected - of commons, only blue has a playable creature below 5 mana that favorably blocks it - and energy has been free flowing enough that its ability is frequently on. I've definitely lost a lot of games to this stupid hawk so far.
I have consistently been surprised at how relevant this guy is. If you're attacking, he almost always makes it easier to keep the pressure on, and if you aren't, then the energy matters a good chunk of the rest of the time.
I have run three and it didn't feel embarrassing, although I wouldn't say I was especially happy about it. I've also lost as a direct result of this card on the other side of the table multiple times. So yes, you want to be a little leery of filling your deck up with Storm Crows, but if you have some decent targets for the ability, then this is worth running. I feel like that puts it at about the level of your standard 8th pick: something it's nice to pick up on the wheel, but nothing to go crazy over.
In a format that's trying to win races, this card is insanely helpful. The hawk isn't a top common, but it is definitely serviceable and lead to some really difficult situations for your opponent.
The utility of this card probably also depends heavily on the archetype you're in. For example, I could see this card doing close to nothing in UW where there aren't that many energy outlets and the flying is mostly irrelevant, or in WB where you're trying to go wide with servos and all of your guys are 1-2 power. I'm sure this card shines especially in GW due to the energy and fatty green guys. RW I haven't thought too much about, but it's probably serviceable there for the aggro. I'd probably take this at ~1.5-2.0 tier. 2.5 is about the best I see this at in any particular deck, but it does it's role decently well if you need it.
Very narrowly useful card in this format. You have to be playing a blue deck that is heavily control oriented. You need seven or eight instants/sorceries to make this card worthwhile. That means that this card will only make a deck that didn't have a better early pick than this (which would be exceedingly rare) and could then build around it. Or, a deck that was already heading towards heavy instant/sorcery based blue control and this mythic just happened by. Also rare.
I think it's actually a 23rder in GW because the 5 drop tramplers are so good, and that color pair encourages you to pick counters over servos. It'd be much better as a GB card, I guess.
This card and larger than life are probably responsible for the gag order on double strike in the set, and it's sad such boring cards bear that responsibility.
I used it once during my PR as Lava Axe to seal the game with Thopter while the guy didn't have a way to block fliers. I'm not drafting this set so I don't know how it'd fare in draft.
Sometimes you'll want this effect, but nobody else at the table will so it's a pretty late pick. I'm not even sure if it's better than Inspired Charge though.
The flexibility sells this card for me. I'll even run 2. Sometimes you just need a big 6/6 or a flier to punch through, and sometimes it's just a plague wind if it doesn't win you the game (that's why I like 2... you can use the first one knowing that you don't need for it to win you the game).
The mighty don't kneel. A fine finisher that most people wont see coming and that you can pick up pretty late. I once saw someone pick up 3 of these and proceed to just start blowing people out by board stalling and then running them over.
It's a good card, but this is way overvaluing it. This isn't EMN anymore. Value takes a back seat to raw aggression, and there are definitely a handful of non-rare colorless cards (read: vehicles) that deserve to be first-picked over this. Also, Harnessed Lightning is fantastic and you would have to really hate red in order to justify not picking it over Familiar.
To me it seems really obvious that this is about whether your deck wants 1 or 0, having two of these in play is pretty bad. There's a pretty low base power level here and it is pretty concerning that a common Wind Drake will demote this card's value to that of a Thriving Turtle that you paid 2 for. The creature has to attack to be much better than Squire (with the exception of incoming Thopter tokens, but those are few and far between). But unlike Maulfist Doorbuster or Voltaic Brawler, the inherent stats of the card don't position you for attacking. You spent 2 mana on 1 power when it's possible to get 3, so it's incredibly plausible you might be losing the races that the second triggered ability lets you force.
The combo with Longtusk Cub is cute but doesn't curve very well. In most sets you'd want to pair this with green because green lacks evasion, but in this set green's creatures are too big to get blocked profitably anyway, it's insane, so I think the card will actually show up more with other colors. It seems best to get some of red's evasionless creatures past the fray, maybe a Quicksmith Gearsmith that is going to loot you into stuff that will help you figure out how you're winning the race, yet is having trouble attacking without dying immediately and having trouble blocking and surviving to help you loot. Knowing you're the red player at the table makes it safer to lean on X/2s that don't want to block or be blocked, so aWeldfast Monitor, a Thriving Grubs that's trying to get going, a Maulfist Doorbuster, those can all be things to help you get in with your aggressive red deck. Veteran Motorist in guild, that's pretty sweet. I think red seems like the color most likely to maindeck one of these correctly, but not even every red deck will want it, since red's access to lots of the best removal and weaker overall bodies compared to green and black might often push it into a controlling role.
I have run three and it didn't feel embarrassing, although I wouldn't say I was especially happy about it. I've also lost as a direct result of this card on the other side of the table multiple times. So yes, you want to be a little leery of filling your deck up with Storm Crows, but if you have some decent targets for the ability, then this is worth running. I feel like that puts it at about the level of your standard 8th pick: something it's nice to pick up on the wheel, but nothing to go crazy over.
I think it's actually a 23rder in GW because the 5 drop tramplers are so good, and that color pair encourages you to pick counters over servos. It'd be much better as a GB card, I guess.
This card and larger than life are probably responsible for the gag order on double strike in the set, and it's sad such boring cards bear that responsibility.