MTG Salvation

There is no doubt Geralf's Messenger fits into only the heaviest black decks (or regular black decks that correctly prioritized fixing during the draft process). It's also true that he doesn't always get played in every draft, when there isn't a drafter with a heavy enough black pool to stomach the BBB casting cost. However with many powerhouse cheap-ish black cards already containing BB in the casting cost, Master of the Feast, Hypnotic Specter, Phyrexian Arena, Bloodghast, Vampire Nighthawk, Liliana, Hero's Downfall, and Hymn to Torach, I honestly think the difficulty of the Messenger's cost is overestimated. He does exactly what the decks that can cast him want to do. That being: drain the opponent's life, beat down and recur bigger and badder than before (while sapping life again).

I think he's fantastic and far above any other black three drop that could realistically take his place. I play him at 360.

It may not be as attractive if the mono black support isn't good enough. But I believe it shouldn't be an issue. Black 1 drops have come in abundance.

He's good because he's still okay if he comes down on turn 4 or later, but BBB is much harder to cast than 1BB, unless you're mono black (with a splash at most). We rarely draft mono decks in our cube and I think I have never seen him been cast on turn 3 (not a huge sample size, but still relevant for how I evaluate the card.)

I am finally about to cave in on adding this guy to my 720, but I am still skeptical. I generally don't think mono-black is viable unless you build the absolutely perfect deck, and even then there are usually a couple cards you would want to splash. Is this guy viable as essentially a 4+ drop? If I add this, is it also time to add Pox? Thanks for any input.

I like mono black more than I should. So I'm biased.

I love this card personally. It's a pseudo 2 for 1 because of the undying. It's guaranteed 4 life loss for the opponent (exile effects excluded). It's a zombie. Plays well in pox strategies. It's a wonderfully great play before Gray merchant of Asphodel.

Speaking of pox strategies...

Smallpox is awesome (but it's not usually a 2 drop in my experience). I like death cloud (because it's scalable and can also function as a finisher). I don't like pox though. Go figure. Braids, Cabal Minion is stellar. Smokestack is slow and I'm no longer running it. Long story less long, I'm still supporting pox but less of an all-in version. It's more focused on recursive creatures and being able to grind out advantage that way. Pox effects compliment that well but they aren't really the main focus anymore.

I was a fan of this card while it was in, but ultimately it wasn't good enough to warrant the triple black cost when other solid black 3-drops became available. I would almost certainly be running this at 720, though.

Competition at the black 3-drops spot is so rude that I can't imagine myself reinclyding it at some point. Cube would have to be 810 at least again in order to find room for him. And even if you're including stuff like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in yours, a thing that I personnaly do not recommend at all, chances of seeing both together in a draft or game are so tight that it won't change anything. You would still need to find BBB in order to cast it most of the time.

Although, as a card, when you're able to play it on time, I can easily state that the Messenger is awesome. It's just that if you're not playing mono black, the card becomes something really far away from a 3-drop.

EDIT : To your list, I'd be adding Hypnotic Specter before G's MM for sure.

We actually cut Hypnotic Specter. I found that while I remember him being insane, he's just not up there anymore. By the time he's connecting they either don't have much for him to eat or they can probably deal with him. 2/2 fliers for 3 just don't cut it. They don't get in for damage if there's a reason to stop them.

Sure, if I could always ritual him out, I would, but that's not reality.

We still love messenger in my 465, but I'll admit part of that is because I play the second set of fetches and so our fixing is good enough that two color decks can reasonably play him.

Hypnotic Specter in a powered cube that run colored fast mana is just absurdly insane. Yep there's Dark Ritual in there, but there's also a ton of other options that make it ETB a turn earlier. If he does, then he becomes a straight monster. And I think that on turn 3, he's also fine and I'd say even nasty against some decks. Should be in every 540 and less cube IMO. My thought is that Messenger should not because even in a intense fixing envrionnement, he became more like a 4-drop or 5-drop.

Necro - I am seeing Messenger in a few lists, I assume for some kind of sacrifice shenanigans? Am I correct that you would need 2 undying creatures to go infinite w/ yawgmoth? is there another way to abuse him using commonly-run cards that I'm missing?

It would go "infinite" with Luminous Broodmoth/Solemnity + a free sacrifice outlet.

It would be missing multiple other cards to go infinite with Yawgmoth.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

It would go "infinite" with Luminous Broodmoth/Solemnity + a free sacrifice outlet.

It would be missing multiple other cards to go infinite with Yawgmoth.

While Undying Creatures aren't in most cubes, You just need a clone, right? And there are three clones in many lists now (Image, MDFC, Metamorph). It's not fully infinite, but generally repeatable pay 1 life -> deal 2 dmg wins the game.

Yes, it could work with a clone if the math plays out.