I'm ALL about supporting new strategies. RDW will always be a thing in just about all formats, but let's not put blinders on ourselves and think it's the only thing red is allowed to do "because that's how it's always been done." Maybe in the long run it wont be viable, but I'll test it out, for now.
As soon as I can reliably make red a good token midrange deck support color without sacrificing its effectiveness in the other archetypes, this card will be godly (ha, derp). But with how things are currently configured, my typical red decks simply aren't engineered to make good use of his abilities.
Some quick feedback on Purphoros. He has been very powrfull in the last draft. He was in a very cool deck with Kikki, Beetleback Goblin, Siege Gang, Imperial Recruiter, Mogg War Marshal,Goblin bombardment, Skullclamp,...
He only killed the opponent once. But every time he entered play, it was a deal-with-me-now-or-die card. The opponents were lucky to have answers (which are not that plentifull). The fact that they almost had to have a solution at hand or lose, prove to us how great an impact he had.
There are very few plays as impressive as casting a Siege Gang with Purphoros and a Kiki in play. He doesn't need to be in a broken deck like this to shine though. He will be very good in any creature based deck.
His fire breathing was very useful as well. Attacking with goblin tokens with firebreathing back up is a lot more threatening.
I drafted him once in an unpowered cube draft. One game I played him and he did basically nothing since I didn't have the follow-up plays to support him. The other game though I activated him when I played Vortex and it was gg. So he was high risk high reward in that deck, which was a red beatdown deck, more midrange than truly aggressive. I haven't tried him in a tokens deck, where it seems like the etb trigger would be quite good, but if you go into another color for token generators, it will be harder to get devotion.
I'm not sure about that yet. He's been very good, but he needs more time to prove his worth. I would totally recommend trying him out though. His variance is rather high for a four drop but his ceiling is very high.
Seems like it is a combo piece that can be crazy good or just a variant of Pandemonium. I'm testing it out in my 500-card cube next time I can get a draft going.
Just added him to my cube and lost 2 out of 3 to him in a quick sealed match. Limited sample size, but he looks promising (I cut Wildfire until I can get myself a second copy or Burning of Xinye), plus I'm interested in him doing new/different things for red. Has there been any change to everyone's opinion on him after play testing the last month or so? Seems fine even without being able to trigger devotion, though he definitely needs token support in that case.
This card is insane. I won a game where my opponent Cloned my Wurmcoil Engine twice, because I cast Tempt with Vengeance for 13 with Purphoros on board.
Agreed. He's played extremely well not just in token decks but with blink strategies as well. He's also completely dominated the games where he was powered out ahead of the curve.
Purphuros has been a great addition. The power level is easily good enough and he adds a bit more depth to red. He's been good in midrange as expected but also provides some reach in aggro decks as a curve topper. Any late game dudes become extra damage to the dome, not forgetting the pump. I'm a fan.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
There was one game where this card wasn't good, and that's because its controller cast Wheel of Fortune and drew it without any other dudes after I wrathed him.
There were like 8 games where this card was obscene.
I've been testing this guy out a lot and found that it is pretty hard to get him to go active, but he wins the game for me anyway just by the fact that he deals damage off things I am doing anyway. I think I like Thassa more, but I won't be cutting Purphoros anytime soon (running him at 450).
This guy has been a powerhouse for me in my 540 unpowered. He worked really well in my wildfire deck from the other night. I have no plans of pulling him from the cube anytime soon.
While I do believe Purphoros is very good , I think he falls short of 360.
What size of cube would you add Purphoros in? My cube is only around 400 cards. What exactly is needed for him to be really good? I don't have young pryromancer. I do have Siege Gang Commander though. I have at least 3 cards that produce tokens or can produce tokens in both white and green. I have both Meloku and Talraand in blue. In black I have just Grave Titan.
Can I swap this guy in for Hero of Oxid Ridge? I am slightly concerned that there will be even more 4 cmc noncreature permanents with Chandra and Koth, but that deck building choice already existed with Hero (kind of)
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It should be very easy to turn this into a creature
He only killed the opponent once. But every time he entered play, it was a deal-with-me-now-or-die card. The opponents were lucky to have answers (which are not that plentifull). The fact that they almost had to have a solution at hand or lose, prove to us how great an impact he had.
There are very few plays as impressive as casting a Siege Gang with Purphoros and a Kiki in play. He doesn't need to be in a broken deck like this to shine though. He will be very good in any creature based deck.
His fire breathing was very useful as well. Attacking with goblin tokens with firebreathing back up is a lot more threatening.
I think he will be in our cube for a long time.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
There were like 8 games where this card was obscene.
That said, he was not great against a Batterskull carrying Sword of War and Peace paired with a Silverblade Paladin.
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While I do believe Purphoros is very good , I think he falls short of 360.
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