I've been forcing Purphoros into draft decks with cockatrice drafts using wtwlf's cube because his is one of the few of the commonly/uncommonly used ones on there with purphoros and I wanted a better opinion. I'm pretty middle of the ground since it's a tough card to really pinpoint and can be misevaluated for what it is. Purphoros has been at his best in those token builds, but I've found him to be pretty bad ironically in decks that can turn on his devotion i.e. red aggressive decks. Usually with how fast those decks end up being, he is kind of a lame duck. The first ability doesn't really go off all that often, and the games don't really last enough where you can afford to wait for the devotion to turn on and swing. When his abilities are working in those decks he's an actual house and closes things out fast, but those situations have been in the minority and not common enough to put serious weight on that pro.
In midrangey token builds purphoros is actually pretty sweet. Turning Purphoros on, a card I would splash in the token deck, is nigh-impossible often in this build, but the abilities he gives your burgeoning armies are stellar. I'm disappointed that Increasing Devotion/Purphoros was never an option in the list as going Purphoros-ID-10 damage is hard for any deck to come back from and being able to return it later in the game if the first time wasn't enough should be the win one way or the other, but there were other ways to shock-out the wins. Tempt with Vengeance was one that I thought was pretty funny but I do agree with wtwlf in that it's one people should try after playing with it. Even in non-purphoros builds you're playing this in spots where the x 1/1s are for the kill one way or another, especially since most decks you're playing against won't be able to profitably soak the damage of you extra elementals and attack in with their own. Purphoros was pretty sweet in Shard-tyle blink/bounce decks as well, gaining you incremental value with burn over time.
Overall I think Purphoros is good but unless you're going heavy-tokens, 450+ is probably where you want to find him. And if you do, I think you should be running both Tempt with Vengeance and Increasing Devotion, a card I think is undervalued in its own right.
Agree with everything Salmo said - although we've had some success with him, he's going to be cut from my 360 as there just aren't enough effects at that cube size worth running with it in red alone, and the fact that doing nothing on its own has proven to be enough of an issue (He was the only four drop in my cube with no impact when played). He was very good in R/W and R/W/G token builds, but that's a narrow window and other four drop permanents work well there too. I think he's a definite 450 card if you want to help that archetype, and I would add Battledriver and Tempt with Vengeance going up to that level as well. Still, glad I stuck up for him in the beginning.
Are there any other cards for the "Purphoros + tokens = damage to the face" deck besides Goblin Bombardment? Cards where you don't have to sacrifice the creatures to deal damage? The only remotely cubable ones that I came up with are Pandemonium (symmetrical sucks), Warstorm Surge (too expensive) and... Kyren Negotiations?
Hellrider is a good catch that didn't come up in my search, because I was looking for etb triggers. Having to wait a turn is a definite drawback though.
I've had great success with Purphoros in B/R decks. I run a few cards that are tangentially related to the overall theme, and they work with Purphoros and the rest of the sacrifice archetype pretty well. In my cube you might set up Purphoros, Blood Artist, Kher Keep and Goblin Bombardment or Skullclamp for a nice assembly line of interactions. Krenko, Mob Boss has also been very popular in my cube, and he fits into this mess as well.
Wow...that card seems to fit the Purphoros/tokens theme really well. I think I'll test this card to see how it does. Pretty mediocre on an empty board but insane with tokens or Muzzio's Preparations.
Wow...that card seems to fit the Purphoros/tokens theme really well. I think I'll test this card to see how it does. Pretty mediocre on an empty board but insane with tokens or Muzzio's Preparations.
Great find!
Glad I could help!I played it in my Krenko EDH deck and it was beast, so I suspect it'll play well with any number of tokens on the board.
Not sure how it will play in my Cube long term but it supports a token theme that I've been trying to play up in my Cube. It's funny because I think the whole token theme has happened organically over the last nine months. I feel like every card I currently run at 540 that supports tokens is good enough on its own merits even without running a token theme.
I've been in businessworld too much since I used the term "organically" on a Cube forum. #square
Also, this card just wins with those who run palinchron and sneak attack (also 5 lands). Granted it's a lot of work to pull off this combo, but several cubes have the pieces already so I thought I'd note it so someone can try to pull that off.
We run both of these cards.
What's the verdict been on this guy? We never tested him. Does the cube community think he'd be good in a powered 360?
What are people's thought about Purphoros nowadays?
Here's obviously great with token strategies and the wealth of 3-drop token makers in red (Goblin Rabblemaser, Hanweir Garrison, Legion Warboss, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom) make him more appealing.
However, as a mono-red or agressive deck curve topper, I'm not convinced he beats out cards like Hellrider, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Koth of the Hammer or even Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Mono-red really wants to be closing out the game around turn 4 and all these other curve toppers are more impactful the turn they come down. In contrast, Purphoros probably only does 2 damage the turn he comes out and really just sets you up for a big turn 5 if you happen to have a good follow-up like Seige Gang, which can be hit or miss.
I rarely see it turn to a creature, but man do I love drafting Boros tokens with this, Enlightened Tutor and Thalia's Lancers to grab it, the Recruiters, Siege-Gang Commander, Angel of Invention, Blade Splicer, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, etc. Splash black for Lingering Souls and a tutor and that's great, too.
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It dawned on me recently how much better Purphoros has gotten since he was printed. Red's 3cmc slot is full of token makers now, which helps Purphoros deal damage the turn he comes into play. Not only the 3cmc slot, but Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is another recent printing at 2cmc that works great with Purphoros.
It dawned on me recently how much better Purphoros has gotten since he was printed. Red's 3cmc slot is full of token makers now, which helps Purphoros deal damage the turn he comes into play. Not only the 3cmc slot, but Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is another recent printing at 2cmc that works great with Purphoros.
You're definitely right, seems like wizards really wanted this guy to stay in cubes. I haven't added him yet, hate that he was mostly useless till playing siege-gang or something similar, but nowadays with all the red token generation I feel almost forced to give him a try.
Honestly the biggest drawback to Purphoros is that there is no redundancy to the effect he offers. Having only one copy of this in your deck when he is the linchpin for the strategy is a bummer. I'd kill to have a playable mini-Purphoros (1 damage) or another cubeable variant of Purphoros. I like this direction for red much much more than the Wildfire archtype which I've never really cared for.
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In midrangey token builds purphoros is actually pretty sweet. Turning Purphoros on, a card I would splash in the token deck, is nigh-impossible often in this build, but the abilities he gives your burgeoning armies are stellar. I'm disappointed that Increasing Devotion/Purphoros was never an option in the list as going Purphoros-ID-10 damage is hard for any deck to come back from and being able to return it later in the game if the first time wasn't enough should be the win one way or the other, but there were other ways to shock-out the wins. Tempt with Vengeance was one that I thought was pretty funny but I do agree with wtwlf in that it's one people should try after playing with it. Even in non-purphoros builds you're playing this in spots where the x 1/1s are for the kill one way or another, especially since most decks you're playing against won't be able to profitably soak the damage of you extra elementals and attack in with their own. Purphoros was pretty sweet in Shard-tyle blink/bounce decks as well, gaining you incremental value with burn over time.
Overall I think Purphoros is good but unless you're going heavy-tokens, 450+ is probably where you want to find him. And if you do, I think you should be running both Tempt with Vengeance and Increasing Devotion, a card I think is undervalued in its own right.
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Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
I also wonder how deep I should go with this archetype... like, Pandemonium and Saproling Burst deep?
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
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Wow...that card seems to fit the Purphoros/tokens theme really well. I think I'll test this card to see how it does. Pretty mediocre on an empty board but insane with tokens or Muzzio's Preparations.
Great find!
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Glad I could help!I played it in my Krenko EDH deck and it was beast, so I suspect it'll play well with any number of tokens on the board.
I've been in businessworld too much since I used the term "organically" on a Cube forum. #square
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We run both of these cards.
What's the verdict been on this guy? We never tested him. Does the cube community think he'd be good in a powered 360?
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Here's obviously great with token strategies and the wealth of 3-drop token makers in red (Goblin Rabblemaser, Hanweir Garrison, Legion Warboss, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom) make him more appealing.
However, as a mono-red or agressive deck curve topper, I'm not convinced he beats out cards like Hellrider, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Koth of the Hammer or even Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Mono-red really wants to be closing out the game around turn 4 and all these other curve toppers are more impactful the turn they come down. In contrast, Purphoros probably only does 2 damage the turn he comes out and really just sets you up for a big turn 5 if you happen to have a good follow-up like Seige Gang, which can be hit or miss.
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It's not an aggressive curve-topper. It's a midrange token/anthem archetype card.
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You're definitely right, seems like wizards really wanted this guy to stay in cubes. I haven't added him yet, hate that he was mostly useless till playing siege-gang or something similar, but nowadays with all the red token generation I feel almost forced to give him a try.