One of the things I like about him is that if you use his +1 to untap a land, he basically passes with 5 loyalty for 3 mana. That's pretty boss.
Also, looking forward to untapping some Mimic Vats with him for crazy shenanigans.
Quote from noshadowkick »
I feel dumb for asking but can you guys explain why you see Fire//Ice as Izzets best card currently? It feels so underwhelming to me.
The instant speed dividable damage is great against aggressive openings and ramp decks. Costing 2 mana instead of 3 is clutch when you're killing Birds/Elves and Pups (and cards like Student of Warfare/Figure).
And the tap effect is a lot better than it looks. I love playing it on T2 when I'm on the play, tapping down their lone land and drawing a card is a great way for my X/U tempo decks to get a free swing in with an early creature drop. And it can be uses to tap down a big blocker for a turn + cantrip.
Subtle power. Both sides are great cards for their costs.
Ral Zarek is no Ajani Vengeant, but it's very good. It'll likely be better in the more tempo-ish builds but I'll be happy with it even as a miser's Staggershock (well... Staggerbolt.) I'm not particularly married to any of the UR cards in my cube like Fire//Ice, Electrolyze and Izzet Charm and Prophetic Bolt although they're certainly solid and I'll run then in Izzet decks more likely than not.
I'll seed it into the packs on Tuesday's drafts, but I'm pretty excited for it.
As I said elsewhere, I really like him in a deck that has a top curve of big mana colorless things. Imagine +1 him and untapping a Monolith or Gilded Lotus. Repeat Bolt is sweet and his Ult. is both decent and fun.
Not including untapping lands for extra mana, mana rocks for extra mana, giving a creature vigilance or the value of tapping down an opponent's card, the untapping ability has added value with the following red/blue/colorless cards in my cube:
Some of those can really be broken wide open with him too. And there's a bunch of cards that can be added to that list if you're playing a 3rd color.
Plus, even simply using him to untap a land (god forbid something like a Ancient Tomb or Tolarian Academy) can get you to 6 mana the turn after he comes out, taking you straight into Titan/Wurmcoil plays right after resolving a 'walker.
I think he's the new best Izzet card for the cube.
How's people ranking on Izzet section at the moment?
I rank
1. Ral Zarek
2. Izzet Charm
for sure. But the rest is kind of effy. I knows about people loving fire/ice. But at 360, the average quality of burn and blue spell makes fire/ice rather unattractive, at least to my players.
Izzet Charm can also loots and counter. I think it's the best card in Izzet until this set. It'll be different if Fire/ice got fuse.
It loots at -1 card total and only counters non-creatures and is harder to cast. It's a fine card, but I will take Fire//Ice over it in virtually every deck. I've always been happy with F/I, but I find myself wanting IC to do more at times.
1. Ral Zarek (three good abilities, good walkers -high quality card)
2. Electrolyse (only card we run now)
3. Fire/Ice (good card, but we felt we had enough with electrolyse and all the similar pure red burn)
4.Izzet Charm (didn't perform for us)
5. Loothouse/Profetic Bolt (both were dissapointing)
The Charm has been great for us. It kills a huge number of creatures, counters all of the sick mid-curve noncreature bombs, and can double loot later on when you have spare lands to pitch (or feed your yard in Grixis GY decks). I think it's awesome.
It loots at -1 card total and only counters non-creatures and is harder to cast. It's a fine card, but I will take Fire//Ice over it in virtually every deck. I've always been happy with F/I, but I find myself wanting IC to do more at times.
-AA
I find I want other red spell rather than fire/ice in pretty much every deck with red I play ever. In Izzet deck, though, I like Izzet Charm much better. 1 More split damage is nice, but I go to Arc Trial or Arc Flames of the Firebrand if I want those damage.
The Charm has been great for us. It kills a huge number of creatures, counters all of the sick mid-curve noncreature bombs, and can double loot later on when you have spare lands to pitch (or feed your yard in Grixis GY decks). I think it's awesome.
Red has a whole bunch of cards that can either profit from or negate card disadvantage from being GY dumped too (Faithless Looting, Goblin Welder, Firebolt, Reckless Charge, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Devil's Play, Chandra's Phoenix). You don't have to be Grixis.
Well, we had too many instants where none of the modes felt great. Countering is great, but conditional countering a lot worse. The looting effect was not what we were looking for in Izzet decks. The dividable damage needed to have a player option too (yes, I know I am too greedy here) for us to push it into cube staple land. Now we had games we waited in vain for something to counter or for the opponent to drop something we could kill. Compare this to Simic Charm which is in theory less powerfull, but is a card that always does something. You can bounce or boost depending on the board state.
Anyways, we are getting sidetracked here Everybody seems to agree that Ral Zerek will be great if not plain awesome for cube.
Red has a whole bunch of cards that can either profit from or negate card disadvantage from being GY dumped too (Faithless Looting, Goblin Welder, Firebolt, Reckless Charge, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Devil's Play, Chandra's Phoenix). You don't have to be Grixis.
I didn't say you did. But that's where the looting effect has the most value in the early game. I play it for the removal/spell pierce in everything. Some decks get more value from the looting than others.
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I am leaning this way as well. Ral/Fire // Ice/Izzet Charm
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Also, looking forward to untapping some Mimic Vats with him for crazy shenanigans.
The instant speed dividable damage is great against aggressive openings and ramp decks. Costing 2 mana instead of 3 is clutch when you're killing Birds/Elves and Pups (and cards like Student of Warfare/Figure).
And the tap effect is a lot better than it looks. I love playing it on T2 when I'm on the play, tapping down their lone land and drawing a card is a great way for my X/U tempo decks to get a free swing in with an early creature drop. And it can be uses to tap down a big blocker for a turn + cantrip.
Subtle power. Both sides are great cards for their costs.
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I'll seed it into the packs on Tuesday's drafts, but I'm pretty excited for it.
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Some of those can really be broken wide open with him too. And there's a bunch of cards that can be added to that list if you're playing a 3rd color.
Plus, even simply using him to untap a land (god forbid something like a Ancient Tomb or Tolarian Academy) can get you to 6 mana the turn after he comes out, taking you straight into Titan/Wurmcoil plays right after resolving a 'walker.
I think he's the new best Izzet card for the cube.
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Me too. I'd had time to think about him all day (in a totally non-creepy way) and he sure looks like the bomb we wanted. What a great start to DGM!
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Hopefully the RU Fuse card is awesome.
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I rank
1. Ral Zarek
2. Izzet Charm
for sure. But the rest is kind of effy. I knows about people loving fire/ice. But at 360, the average quality of burn and blue spell makes fire/ice rather unattractive, at least to my players.
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Ral Zarek
Izzet Charm
------
Other stuff
Prophetic Bolt
Fire//Ice
Electrolyze
Something like that. I'm not the greatest Izzet fan until now.
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Fire // Ice
Izzet Charm
Prophetic Bolt
Electrolyze
Ral will bump the 4th card and move to the #1 slot in the section, IMO.
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It loots at -1 card total and only counters non-creatures and is harder to cast. It's a fine card, but I will take Fire//Ice over it in virtually every deck. I've always been happy with F/I, but I find myself wanting IC to do more at times.
-AA
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1. Ral Zarek (three good abilities, good walkers -high quality card)
2. Electrolyse (only card we run now)
3. Fire/Ice (good card, but we felt we had enough with electrolyse and all the similar pure red burn)
4.Izzet Charm (didn't perform for us)
5. Loothouse/Profetic Bolt (both were dissapointing)
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
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I find I want other red spell rather than fire/ice in pretty much every deck with red I play ever. In Izzet deck, though, I like Izzet Charm much better. 1 More split damage is nice, but I go to Arc Trial or Arc Flames of the Firebrand if I want those damage.
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Red has a whole bunch of cards that can either profit from or negate card disadvantage from being GY dumped too (Faithless Looting, Goblin Welder, Firebolt, Reckless Charge, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Devil's Play, Chandra's Phoenix). You don't have to be Grixis.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Anyways, we are getting sidetracked here Everybody seems to agree that Ral Zerek will be great if not plain awesome for cube.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
I didn't say you did. But that's where the looting effect has the most value in the early game. I play it for the removal/spell pierce in everything. Some decks get more value from the looting than others.
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