If your Cube is slower AND doesn't include planeswalkers, why on earth are you not running Future Sight?
Also, it makes it hard to have a discussion when your Cube is so different. I knew your Cube was slower (with no real aggro decks), but I had no idea you excluded planeswalkers too. It makes it difficult to give advice and/or have a meaningful discussion when the environment is so different.
It still doesn't change the fact that Control Magic effects, Future Sight, and those other creatures I mentioned can provide a good source of devotion.
And seriously, play Future Sight. The only reason is it out of a lot of Cubes these days is because of the 5 mana cost, but I still play it/love it and find it hard to lose games when I get to untap with it (much like Mirari's Wake in that sense).
-AA
I agree with AA. If your cube is mostly midrange battles then Future Sight seems perfect. If it wasn't drafted, you should draft it and beat people with it. In your environment it should be a highly drafted card.
I agree with AA. If your cube is mostly midrange battles then Future Sight seems perfect. If it wasn't drafted, you should draft it and beat people with it. In your environment it should be a highly drafted card.
Cool. I'll certainly give it a go. That last 5 mana slot in blue has always been up in the air. I think I have Morphling there now, but he's really mana intensive. The only thing I don't like about Future Sight is it isn't actually a win condition. It doesn't do anything to kill my opponent directly. Getting more cards is sweet and all, but 5 mana is a lot for that effect even if it's potentially 2+ cards a turn.
But I value the input on this forum a lot, so if you guys are telling me that card is busted, I'll run it myself and see how it goes.
Cool. I'll certainly give it a go. That last 5 mana slot in blue has always been up in the air. I think I have Morphling there now, but he's really mana intensive. The only thing I don't like about Future Sight is it isn't actually a win condition. It doesn't do anything to kill my opponent directly. Getting more cards is sweet and all, but 5 mana is a lot for that effect even if it's potentially 2+ cards a turn.
But I value the input on this forum a lot, so if you guys are telling me that card is busted, I'll run it myself and see how it goes.
You doubt Future Sight, yet you say Magpie is a good source of CA that you currently don't run (which is only 1 mana less and MUCH easier to deal with). FS is functionally a permanent +1 CA, and any turn when you get to play a land off the top, or a spell, or jeez both is just awesome.
You doubt Future Sight, yet you say Magpie is a good source of CA that you currently don't run (which is only 1 mana less and MUCH easier to deal with). FS is functionally a permanent +1 CA, and any turn when you get to play a land off the top, or a spell, or jeez both is just awesome.
-AA
I don't doubt it's power (when did I say that?), but 5 mana is a lot for a card drawing effect. Would you cube with Phyrexian Arena if it cost 5 (or even 4 for that matter)? Future Sight is certainly better (it's a great card and iconic to boot), but it's not game breaking.
Future Sight also costs triple blue, which means it can only really be played in UUx or mono blue. It's not exactly splashable (though to be fair, mono blue sometimes happens).
And again, I generally prefer my 5 drops to be win conditions, especially if they are narrow.
I will give it another go though because there is a lot of love for the card here.
I wouldn't say that Future Sight is narrow or not a win condition. It draws a ton of cards and is well worth 5 mana. Card draw is never narrow, it's just not usually good at recovering if you're under pressure. But you will almost certainly win if you have Future Sight out for long enough -- two or three turns probably.
I mean, I play Bloodgift Demon, and he's pretty good as a Phyrexian Arena with upside, but he dies sometimes.
However, I don't play Future Sight because it's not good against aggro, doesn't do anything that's really necessary, and because UUU is a lot of U's.
I simply mean it doesn't win the game on it's own. I agree the effect is very powerful and likely to lead to you winning the game though (CA wins games after all - in the abstract at least).
By narrow, I mean what decks can run it. You and I have the same concern about the triple blue.
And Bloodgift is a 4 turn clock. If Phyrexian Arena actually cost 5 mana, it would be unplayable. It's a 20 turn clock - for your opponent to win automatically.
Ah, I see what you mean. Future Sight is a card you don't want to underestimate. It's one of those things that looks innocuous at first, but when you play it you're just having a blast breaking the game.
I've read a lot of posts from back in 2008/2009 and Future Sight was held in high esteem. I know it's a strong card. My cube plays a lot like cubes from that era, so it should theoretically be very good in my meta. I had it in the cube for a long time, but it just never ended up in a lot of decks (mainly because of the casting cost). So I ended up cutting it after awhile. With that said, Morphling is always one of those cards I feel like I want to remove even though it's better than most people give it credit for. Thanks.
To compare FS to Phyrexian Arena is like comparing Ancestral Recall to Opt. I get 3+ CA every turn out of my FS.
This was not close to our experience with Future Sight. I think Phyrexian Arena is the FAR better card. Future Sight was an easy cut from my cube. It has a terrible casting cost, it can be disrupted and destroyed, and the CA isn't guaranteed. In the 10 resolutions we tracked it's card advantage, it drew an extra ~3.75 cards per game ...making it's CA worse for us on average than Tidings. With a worse cost, that could be destroyed. So while it had some fun interactions with Top effects, on average it wasn't the stellar CA engine that we anticipated.
Anyways, I think it's a fine card to exclude, ahadabans.
I don't think that pure 'I played this many cards off it' analysis is exactly correct, because it increases your hand size by 1 all the time.
That said, my Future Sights don't generate 3 cards a turn either! Most of the time, it's usually worth 2-3 extra played cards every 2 turns, with occasional misses and occasional huge turns. The more instants you have in your deck, the better.
I can't imagine a 2008 Cube not wanting this card, especially with the pace of your Cube.
Well that could certainly be true. This was a pretty good card for my cube back when it was a bit slower and the competition wasn't as fierce. Also, if you support a green turboland type strategy, it gains a ton of value. It was the only deck we ended up really liking it in.
Thanks Toad. We also run a lot of multiplayer and 2HG, and yeah, hard aggro is not very good in that scenario.
I am excited to try Future Sight again. It has always been on my radar because there was a lot of love for it in cube back when things were a little slower. Sort of like Bribery. Some people are actually considering cutting it now (although most still run it obviously). Back in 2008, you would have been flogged and ostracized from society for even considering it. That's just how the game has evolved. In today's faster more aggro dominated cube meta, Bribery just isn't the windmill slam it used to be. In my meta, it still is because guys tend to run a lot of bombs.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I'm going to test it again and see if it is worth running over Morphling.
I've never run Morphling in my Cube & haven't used Future Sight in several years but based on your description of your environment I would definitely make this switch.
Can anybody tell me why Meloku is good? For the same CMC, it just feels like you'd want an effect that takes over the game or gets you back into it, and he just looks a bit underwhelming against aggro. (Against midrange, he seems like he would fair well.)
You have to play with the card to see how powerful the ability is. Once you've gotten to 6 mana or whatever point you're happy at, it essentially creates a token each turn for free (tap land for 1 mana, return that land to your hand, put a 1/1 token in play, replay that land untapped to use it again for something else).
It also has synergy with any effect that allows you to play more than one land a turn (explore, fastbond, exploration). Not a lot of that is run in most cubes, but it's very powerful in combination with them. It also works great with effects that want you to discard cards since Meloku can put a land into your hand to toss to an effect (like a Masticore, looter effect, etc.).
This isn't just a control finisher either, it can work in midrange decks and even slower aggroish tempo style decks. The card is versatile. Opposition likes token producers, and it actually combos really well with that (and it's on color). You can create a mass of tokens and then lock down their board indefinitely as you kill them slowly with Meloku. That play is super nasty because if you have board position it's like a capsize lock.
It's probably the blue 5 drop I will never cut from my cube. The day it isn't powerful enough is the day MTG has gone too far with power creep and degenerated the game into something I no longer want to play.
Agreed with both of the above. Meloku is one of the best, if not the best, blue creature in the cube, IMO.
I strongly disagree. It is not a bad creature by any means, but blue has certainly creatures I like better!
Meloku is not an aggro card and not my first choice as a control finisher either (I prefer non-creature finishers because that blanks your opponents creature removal, and I value creatures that do something like Mulldrifter, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage, Sower of Temptation, Glen Elendra Archmage, Consecrated Sphinx and Dungeon Geists higher as well; you can actually use them + manlands as winning conditions in addition to the aforementioned non-creature options. And let's not forget the stars of all theaters blue, True-Name Nemesis and Serendib Efreet). I think Meloku is only superior to other control finishers in long drawn out games where you still need blockers in order to survive, but I think those games are rare compared to the games where Meloku simply does not do enough for the initial five mana.
In my book, Meloku is mostly a midrange card, where it helps seal games against aggro (which is a favorable matchup anyways), where it acts as a single card threat that control needs to answer or lose if you manage to sneak it in in the first place, and where it helps break stalled midrange-mirror boards.
I found that cutting Meloku was not a big deal. I'm interested in bringing it back now with more focus on token decks, but best blue creature is a bit off imho.
I strongly disagree. It is not a bad creature by any means, but blue has certainly creatures I like better!
Meloku is not an aggro card and not my first choice as a control finisher either (I prefer non-creature finishers because that blanks your opponents creature removal, and I value creatures that do something like Mulldrifter, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage, Sower of Temptation, Glen Elendra Archmage, Consecrated Sphinx and Dungeon Geists higher as well; you can actually use them + manlands as winning conditions in addition to the aforementioned non-creature options. And let's not forget the stars of all theaters blue, True-Name Nemesis and Serendib Efreet). I think Meloku is only superior to other control finishers in long drawn out games where you still need blockers in order to survive, but I think those games are rare compared to the games where Meloku simply does not do enough for the initial five mana.
In my book, Meloku is mostly a midrange card, where it helps seal games against aggro (which is a favorable matchup anyways), where it acts as a single card threat that control needs to answer or lose if you manage to sneak it in in the first place, and where it helps break stalled midrange-mirror boards.
I found that cutting Meloku was not a big deal. I'm interested in bringing it back now with more focus on token decks, but best blue creature is a bit off imho.
This is so, so, so very far off from our experience that we'll just have to chalk it up to differences in playgroups and move on, I guess.
Obviously Meloku isn't a creature that you just spend 5 mana on. But it's really rare to lose a game in which I untap with him in play. The ability to allocate threats on offense and defense is really what puts him ahead of other curve-toppers. He creates attackers and blockers that you can use to both threaten the opponent and preserve your own life total. After making a couple of tokens, you can get in for 3-5 flying damage per turn and hold off an attacker per turn. Or you can alpha strike with him. Or you can play it slower and more conservative.
Not to mention that he has awesome synergy with token support cards from every color. It's ridiculous with Opposition and Skullclamp, and has a ton of other options to break hum in other colors.
I think that evaluated solely on intrinsic value, it's probably a top 10 blue creature. But when you include his combo potential, it's right at the very top.
Blue has several great creatures like Snapcaster, Glen Elendra, Sower and and it is really hard to have a defined "best creature" because they all do totally different things at different casting costs.
What we say is, that Meloku is the best blue five drop and a top tier creature in blue.
That you rank Dungeon Geists or Mulldrifter higher seems way off for me. Please don't take this personal, you can run whatever you want, but looking at your cube, your blue finishers look suboptimal.
I do not deny that Meloku is a good creature, but there was talk of it being the best blue creature, and I don't agree with that. Since I like Mulldrifter more it is not even be the best blue five drop in my book (I like Treachery more as well), but part of what makes Mulldrifter great is that it is not really a five drop. Dungeon Geists is not nearly as good as Mulldrifter, but I still like it better than Meloku because of the immediate board impact and lower casting cost.
I specifically did not mention my blue finishers as creatures that are better than Meloku because they are not, I play them because of the strategies they enable and not because they are the best creatures. But that is besides the point, anyway. I don't take offense, but just saying: I think it is not helpful for our discussion about Meloku to "attack my credibility" by providing examples of "how bad I build my cube". Because this is basically what you do by bringing up other creatures I play and saying they are suboptimal in the context of discussing the merits of Meloku, because the only way to interpret that as an argument in favor of Meloku is by reading it as "you don't know what you are talking about anyway, so I don't have to respond to your arguments".
I also don't agree with this midrange-only evaluation. And I'm with ahadabans, I will never cut Meloku from my cube.
The use of words like "always" and "never" is potentially problematic in discussions. I also think that we should keep as open a mind as possible as cube designers, so I'd prefer a formulation like "I can't see cutting Meloku anytime soon" or something. The difference may seem marginal, but for people with a different evaluation of Melokus powerlevel it is not. Sorry for all the rant about communication, but I think it is important to say it early enough when I realize a discussion might take a turn that I would not feel comfortable with. As of now, all is friendly, and I am very interested in discussing the strength of Meloku. Let's just do that by actually focusing on Meloku!
Resources for what? Meloku is usually the last spell I need to resolve in the game, other than maybe holding up 2 mana for a counterspell.
One Meloku activation costs 1 mana and one land drop. One mana is a fair deal for a 1/1 flier, the land drop depends on various factors. In general I would say that early land drops are a very high cost, late land drops are lower cost (that depends on deck and match-up) and missed land drops are even a net gain. This is also a reason why I like Meloku more in a midrange deck - it is probably OK with staying on five or six mana, and turning missed land drops into free 1/1 fliers is value town. But control decks often want to keep making land drops after the sixth mana, plus if they play the fragile Meloku before reaching seven mana for counterspell backup it may backfire anyway, so I don't think it is particularly well suited for a control deck. Only when you are on 7+ mana are you OK with missing land drops, so before that making a token is a huge investment. But at 7 mana you could just play AEtherling and not worry about removal, so why play Meloku in the first place?
I mean I understand that Meloku works perfectly fine as a finisher for a control deck, but I also think that this is true for many other creatures and non-creature spells, so that is not an argument for the inclusion of Meloku.
Obviously Meloku isn't a creature that you just spend 5 mana on. But it's really rare to lose a game in which I untap with him in play. The ability to allocate threats on offense and defense is really what puts him ahead of other curve-toppers. He creates attackers and blockers that you can use to both threaten the opponent and preserve your own life total. After making a couple of tokens, you can get in for 3-5 flying damage per turn and hold off an attacker per turn. Or you can alpha strike with him. Or you can play it slower and more conservative.
What you describe here requires 7+ mana in play, maybe 6+. With less mana, I can easily untap with Meloku and loose. Also, there are many threats that don't care much about 1/1 blockers (notably Hero of Oxid Ridge and Hellrider in red or trample creatures in green). But as you mentioned, it may just be difference in play-style. If the problem to solve is a stalled board state or to finish a long game, Meloku is your man. For us, the problem is to survive long enough to stabilize, and Meloku is often just too slow for that.
Not to mention that he has awesome synergy with token support cards from every color. It's ridiculous with Opposition and Skullclamp, and has a ton of other options to break hum in other colors.
I think that evaluated solely on intrinsic value, it's probably a top 10 blue creature. But when you include his combo potential, it's right at the very top.
The synergy is why I am interested in bringing it back. A token theme likely provides enough additional value to run Meloku over other finishers.
What you describe here requires 7+ mana in play, maybe 6+.
No doubt. I rarely play it when I only have 5-mana available. It plays more like a 6-drop than a 5-drop, but when you have 6 or 7 mana available, there's a lot of different ways you an play him, and he's a devastating creature to resolve because of his offensive and defensive capabilities.
I agree with AA. If your cube is mostly midrange battles then Future Sight seems perfect. If it wasn't drafted, you should draft it and beat people with it. In your environment it should be a highly drafted card.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
Cool. I'll certainly give it a go. That last 5 mana slot in blue has always been up in the air. I think I have Morphling there now, but he's really mana intensive. The only thing I don't like about Future Sight is it isn't actually a win condition. It doesn't do anything to kill my opponent directly. Getting more cards is sweet and all, but 5 mana is a lot for that effect even if it's potentially 2+ cards a turn.
But I value the input on this forum a lot, so if you guys are telling me that card is busted, I'll run it myself and see how it goes.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
You doubt Future Sight, yet you say Magpie is a good source of CA that you currently don't run (which is only 1 mana less and MUCH easier to deal with). FS is functionally a permanent +1 CA, and any turn when you get to play a land off the top, or a spell, or jeez both is just awesome.
-AA
I use descriptive language. Assume that I'm being nice and respectful. (I'll tell you when I'm not.)
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I don't doubt it's power (when did I say that?), but 5 mana is a lot for a card drawing effect. Would you cube with Phyrexian Arena if it cost 5 (or even 4 for that matter)? Future Sight is certainly better (it's a great card and iconic to boot), but it's not game breaking.
Future Sight also costs triple blue, which means it can only really be played in UUx or mono blue. It's not exactly splashable (though to be fair, mono blue sometimes happens).
And again, I generally prefer my 5 drops to be win conditions, especially if they are narrow.
I will give it another go though because there is a lot of love for the card here.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
I mean, I play Bloodgift Demon, and he's pretty good as a Phyrexian Arena with upside, but he dies sometimes.
However, I don't play Future Sight because it's not good against aggro, doesn't do anything that's really necessary, and because UUU is a lot of U's.
By narrow, I mean what decks can run it. You and I have the same concern about the triple blue.
And Bloodgift is a 4 turn clock. If Phyrexian Arena actually cost 5 mana, it would be unplayable. It's a 20 turn clock - for your opponent to win automatically.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
This was not close to our experience with Future Sight. I think Phyrexian Arena is the FAR better card. Future Sight was an easy cut from my cube. It has a terrible casting cost, it can be disrupted and destroyed, and the CA isn't guaranteed. In the 10 resolutions we tracked it's card advantage, it drew an extra ~3.75 cards per game ...making it's CA worse for us on average than Tidings. With a worse cost, that could be destroyed. So while it had some fun interactions with Top effects, on average it wasn't the stellar CA engine that we anticipated.
Anyways, I think it's a fine card to exclude, ahadabans.
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That said, my Future Sights don't generate 3 cards a turn either! Most of the time, it's usually worth 2-3 extra played cards every 2 turns, with occasional misses and occasional huge turns. The more instants you have in your deck, the better.
I can't imagine a 2008 Cube not wanting this card, especially with the pace of your Cube.
-AA
I use descriptive language. Assume that I'm being nice and respectful. (I'll tell you when I'm not.)
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-AA
I use descriptive language. Assume that I'm being nice and respectful. (I'll tell you when I'm not.)
My Cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9029
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
I am excited to try Future Sight again. It has always been on my radar because there was a lot of love for it in cube back when things were a little slower. Sort of like Bribery. Some people are actually considering cutting it now (although most still run it obviously). Back in 2008, you would have been flogged and ostracized from society for even considering it. That's just how the game has evolved. In today's faster more aggro dominated cube meta, Bribery just isn't the windmill slam it used to be. In my meta, it still is because guys tend to run a lot of bombs.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
I've never run Morphling in my Cube & haven't used Future Sight in several years but based on your description of your environment I would definitely make this switch.
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You have to play with the card to see how powerful the ability is. Once you've gotten to 6 mana or whatever point you're happy at, it essentially creates a token each turn for free (tap land for 1 mana, return that land to your hand, put a 1/1 token in play, replay that land untapped to use it again for something else).
It also has synergy with any effect that allows you to play more than one land a turn (explore, fastbond, exploration). Not a lot of that is run in most cubes, but it's very powerful in combination with them. It also works great with effects that want you to discard cards since Meloku can put a land into your hand to toss to an effect (like a Masticore, looter effect, etc.).
This isn't just a control finisher either, it can work in midrange decks and even slower aggroish tempo style decks. The card is versatile. Opposition likes token producers, and it actually combos really well with that (and it's on color). You can create a mass of tokens and then lock down their board indefinitely as you kill them slowly with Meloku. That play is super nasty because if you have board position it's like a capsize lock.
It's probably the blue 5 drop I will never cut from my cube. The day it isn't powerful enough is the day MTG has gone too far with power creep and degenerated the game into something I no longer want to play.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
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Absolutely. Definitely the best blue creature at 5 or more mana, and possibly the best overall.
Cheers,
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Meloku is not an aggro card and not my first choice as a control finisher either (I prefer non-creature finishers because that blanks your opponents creature removal, and I value creatures that do something like Mulldrifter, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage, Sower of Temptation, Glen Elendra Archmage, Consecrated Sphinx and Dungeon Geists higher as well; you can actually use them + manlands as winning conditions in addition to the aforementioned non-creature options. And let's not forget the stars of all theaters blue, True-Name Nemesis and Serendib Efreet). I think Meloku is only superior to other control finishers in long drawn out games where you still need blockers in order to survive, but I think those games are rare compared to the games where Meloku simply does not do enough for the initial five mana.
In my book, Meloku is mostly a midrange card, where it helps seal games against aggro (which is a favorable matchup anyways), where it acts as a single card threat that control needs to answer or lose if you manage to sneak it in in the first place, and where it helps break stalled midrange-mirror boards.
I found that cutting Meloku was not a big deal. I'm interested in bringing it back now with more focus on token decks, but best blue creature is a bit off imho.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
This is so, so, so very far off from our experience that we'll just have to chalk it up to differences in playgroups and move on, I guess.
Obviously Meloku isn't a creature that you just spend 5 mana on. But it's really rare to lose a game in which I untap with him in play. The ability to allocate threats on offense and defense is really what puts him ahead of other curve-toppers. He creates attackers and blockers that you can use to both threaten the opponent and preserve your own life total. After making a couple of tokens, you can get in for 3-5 flying damage per turn and hold off an attacker per turn. Or you can alpha strike with him. Or you can play it slower and more conservative.
Not to mention that he has awesome synergy with token support cards from every color. It's ridiculous with Opposition and Skullclamp, and has a ton of other options to break hum in other colors.
I think that evaluated solely on intrinsic value, it's probably a top 10 blue creature. But when you include his combo potential, it's right at the very top.
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 specifically did not mention my blue finishers as creatures that are better than Meloku because they are not, I play them because of the strategies they enable and not because they are the best creatures. But that is besides the point, anyway. I don't take offense, but just saying: I think it is not helpful for our discussion about Meloku to "attack my credibility" by providing examples of "how bad I build my cube". Because this is basically what you do by bringing up other creatures I play and saying they are suboptimal in the context of discussing the merits of Meloku, because the only way to interpret that as an argument in favor of Meloku is by reading it as "you don't know what you are talking about anyway, so I don't have to respond to your arguments".
The use of words like "always" and "never" is potentially problematic in discussions. I also think that we should keep as open a mind as possible as cube designers, so I'd prefer a formulation like "I can't see cutting Meloku anytime soon" or something. The difference may seem marginal, but for people with a different evaluation of Melokus powerlevel it is not. Sorry for all the rant about communication, but I think it is important to say it early enough when I realize a discussion might take a turn that I would not feel comfortable with. As of now, all is friendly, and I am very interested in discussing the strength of Meloku. Let's just do that by actually focusing on Meloku!
One Meloku activation costs 1 mana and one land drop. One mana is a fair deal for a 1/1 flier, the land drop depends on various factors. In general I would say that early land drops are a very high cost, late land drops are lower cost (that depends on deck and match-up) and missed land drops are even a net gain. This is also a reason why I like Meloku more in a midrange deck - it is probably OK with staying on five or six mana, and turning missed land drops into free 1/1 fliers is value town. But control decks often want to keep making land drops after the sixth mana, plus if they play the fragile Meloku before reaching seven mana for counterspell backup it may backfire anyway, so I don't think it is particularly well suited for a control deck. Only when you are on 7+ mana are you OK with missing land drops, so before that making a token is a huge investment. But at 7 mana you could just play AEtherling and not worry about removal, so why play Meloku in the first place?
I mean I understand that Meloku works perfectly fine as a finisher for a control deck, but I also think that this is true for many other creatures and non-creature spells, so that is not an argument for the inclusion of Meloku.
That is possible. Still, since I started to write a response I will finish it. We can still bury the whole thing later if need be.
What you describe here requires 7+ mana in play, maybe 6+. With less mana, I can easily untap with Meloku and loose. Also, there are many threats that don't care much about 1/1 blockers (notably Hero of Oxid Ridge and Hellrider in red or trample creatures in green). But as you mentioned, it may just be difference in play-style. If the problem to solve is a stalled board state or to finish a long game, Meloku is your man. For us, the problem is to survive long enough to stabilize, and Meloku is often just too slow for that.
The synergy is why I am interested in bringing it back. A token theme likely provides enough additional value to run Meloku over other finishers.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
No doubt. I rarely play it when I only have 5-mana available. It plays more like a 6-drop than a 5-drop, but when you have 6 or 7 mana available, there's a lot of different ways you an play him, and he's a devastating creature to resolve because of his offensive and defensive capabilities.
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