I share the same feelings, it's a staple, strong by itself, absurd with good friends.
But the thing I'll add is that it's one of my favorite cards to splash white with. The single W requirement is actually phenomenal. She would still be strong with a double white, but with single white she opens up splashing white even if taken a bit late.
Let me first start by saying from a power level standpoint, it's probably the best white 4 drop creature. It belongs in a powered 360 list if that it the criteria by which your cube is designed. I will not even attempt to argue against this because that would be futile.
But that's where one can make an argument against it I feel. The card does too much for 4 mana. It has great stats (4th toughness? Really?), flash, is insanely splashable (no double W??), adds another tool to an archetype that doesn't need help being broken (ETB abuse/blink).
It's a "good stuff" card in the purest sense of the word. Way above the curve that goes in every Wx deck regardless of what you are playing (and your deck is immediately better by it being there). It's a product of the runaway power creep movement. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of this card.
Let me first start by saying from a power level standpoint, it's probably the best white 4 drop creature. It belongs in a powered 360 list if that it the criteria by which your cube is designed. I will not even attempt to argue against this because that would be futile.
But that's where one can make an argument against it I feel. The card does too much for 4 mana. It has great stats (4th toughness? Really?), flash, is insanely splashable (no double W??), adds another tool to an archetype that doesn't need help being broken (ETB abuse/blink).
It's a "good stuff" card in the purest sense of the word. Way above the curve that goes in every Wx deck regardless of what you are playing (and your deck is immediately better by it being there). It's a product of the runaway power creep movement. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of this card.
I can understand this argument. Although I think MTG was at its best in terms of card quality during Innistrad Block.
This list of creatures from that block was insane and frankly I haven't purchased a booster box of cards other than conspiracy since.
Restoration Angel is such a staple, that I put Galepowder Mage in my low power cube to try to fill its shoes. (Note: It does not.) There's not a lot to say about it. I like blink as an archetype and this obviously fits right in and enables that deck. Even without direct support for that specific deck it just comes with so much value. It's almost always a blowout, even if it's just flashed in at EOT as a 3/4 flyer.
As to the art choice, I'd go for pack foil. I'm currently running the promo, but only because that's the foil we had. Convenience!
But that's where one can make an argument against it I feel. The card does too much for 4 mana. It has great stats (4th toughness? Really?), flash, is insanely splashable (no double W??), adds another tool to an archetype that doesn't need help being broken (ETB abuse/blink).
I think I probably would still run Restoration Angel if it were a 3/3 for 2ww, but it would be a tougher decision then for small cube managers, that's for sure. While the flash isn't necessary for this card to be good enough for my cube, I really love that Restoration Angel has it because it's one of the stronger combat tricks that's good enough to see play in high-powered cube environments.
Blink has never really been a broken strategy in my cube, even when it was in the budget cube phase. It could win games, but was kinda durdly. Thragtusk and Mystic Snake + Crystal Shard are the cards I worry about more in that archetype
It's a "good stuff" card in the purest sense of the word. Way above the curve that goes in every Wx deck regardless of what you are playing (and your deck is immediately better by it being there). It's a product of the runaway power creep movement. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of this card.
However, I can't say I've ever worried about it being too good. It's a solid value creature, but casting it is hardly an auto-win on its own. There are alotofcards I'd cut from my cube for power level concerns before Restoration Angel. Or are you saying that you don't like it because the choice of whether or not to draft and maindeck it isn't an interesting decision?
Our second gold card and it's another Simic card. I'm not just trying to get your help revamping my Simic section, I swear! This card is extremely powerful in multiplayer formats, effectively multiplying the amount of mana you have access to by the number of players in the game as well as letting you play all of your creatures at instant speed. It's so strong it's been banned in EDH, and it was voted top Simic card by a mile in the latest Multiplayer Power Rankings thread in this forum, so if you play your cube for multiplayer games at all this card is something you should take a serious look at. I run an EDH expansion to my cube (it's a blast, check my cube thread for details), and I've seriously considered Sharpie-ing the word "Legendary" in the type line in order to shoehorn this card in.
The ceiling for this card is nowhere near as high in duel-based cube drafts, and Prophet of Kruphix does fail the Terminate test and even the Lightning Bolt test (but not the Vindicate test), which is generally not a good place for a 5-drop to be in cube, especially a gold card. Still, Vedalken Orrery on a Seedborn Muse is an incredibly powerful thing to untap with on your opponent's turn, so maybe this is worth the risk in a dueling cube, too.
Aesthetically, I'm torn on the choices. The background is gorgeous in the art on the Clash Pack foil (right), but the Prophet herself looks kinda like she's trying not to fall over backwards. She definitely looks better in the original (left).
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
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I think it's a super cool card and for variety/fun reasons I could see running it at a medium-to-large size. There are probably better cards consistency-wise, but Prophet does some awesome stuff if your cube group likes the simic board-clog decks that draw fatties and play them.
Banned in commander for a reason, she's incredibly strong, even if left out for one untap. Since I pulled her out of my Kraj deck, I've thought about moving it into the cube, but have stalled on it for the most part. The most common complaint I hear about it is "unfun."
Banned in commander for a reason, she's incredibly strong, even if left out for one untap. Since I pulled her out of my Kraj deck, I've thought about moving it into the cube, but have stalled on it for the most part. The most common complaint I hear about it is "unfun."
Unfun? I can't imagine this card being succesfull in a regular cube. A slow five drop with little direct impact.
Banned in commander for a reason, she's incredibly strong, even if left out for one untap. Since I pulled her out of my Kraj deck, I've thought about moving it into the cube, but have stalled on it for the most part. The most common complaint I hear about it is "unfun."
Unfun? I can't imagine this card being succesfull in a regular cube. A slow five drop with little direct impact.
The complaint comes from the EDH side of things. Before she was banned, there was a year or so of non-stop complaints about it here in the EDH forum about it being an unfun card.
However, I can't say I've ever worried about it being too good. It's a solid value creature, but casting it is hardly an auto-win on its own. There are alotofcards I'd cut from my cube for power level concerns before Restoration Angel. Or are you saying that you don't like it because the choice of whether or not to draft and maindeck it isn't an interesting decision?
Power level is definitely a key factor here. When I was playing semi-powered, resto angel was not on my watch list at all. As I've culled power and dropped that threshold down, this card floated to the top of the list and I ended up having to cut it. It might still be in if it were 2WW (since a color commitment must be made) or had 3 toughness (making it a much weaker surprise blocker), but as printed it's too powerful for my current list.
Specifically on the discussion of cards and whether there is any interesting decisions during draft, I do think this is something that should be considered in cube design. And as I've said before, I don't think there is a right or wrong necessarily. My 2 cents is that things are more dynamic when there are fewer snap picks. You don't always see the same patterns of play and more creativity happens with deck builds.
That said, having some obvious first pick cards is good in a way because it helps drive people into archetypes and/or colors. If you had a theoretical cube where every card was exactly the same power level, you'd probably have an awkward time drafting because of analysis paralysis. So culling all cards of the auto-draft nature is probably net negative. Where is the sweet spot though (and how much power variance do you ideally want)? Up to each group to decide. In a powered cube, there is obviously no line and in that meta resto might not even be a consistent first pick either. Powered cube has gotten pretty insane.
Awakening was powerful when it didn't come strapped to a 2/3 creature that also gave all your creatures flash. It spawned an entire archetype in its block format (Tradewind Rider combo). I think Prophet would have been a great addition to medium sized guild sections several years ago, but now with so many solid options, it's hard to make room for her. It's definitely a powerful effect, though. That's for sure.
As to the aesthetics, I'd go for a pack foil. Mostly because it's a better frame. I thought I hated the 8th edition frame, but then they made the M15 frame. Get off my lawn, you damn youngins, and give me back my original frame!
This card seems to be disappearing from some tighter lists these days, but I'm still quite happy with it in my 465. A three power flier with a big ol' butt is still a great deal for 2U, is relevant in pretty much any stage of the game, and fits nicely into all kinds of decks. I especially love it in tempo decks, but I've been perfectly happy to side it into more controlling decks against aggro decks and decks with a lot of planeswalkers. The upkeep damage is a real drawback, but usually worth it even when you're behind because it's still a great blocker.
Aesthetically you've got some fantastic choices. The white-bordered Revised edition is actually a set-wide misprint with the art and green frame from Ifh-Bíff Efreet. It looks cool and it sells for less than a buck, so it was the first version of this card that I ran, but I had newer players draft or pass it by mistake thinking it was green, so I've since replaced it with the FTV:Exiled edition (anyone know when and why this was banned?), which only sells for $2-3. If you're really into hardcore old school pimp, the original Arabian Nights edition can be yours for a mere $160 TCG Mid.
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First off, green-border all day. Too unique and cool not to run.
Second, solid dude. He's never a high pick and spends some amount of time in sideboards, but 3/4 fliers for 2U with minimal downside are still pretty great and there are times where he is a big pain in the butt. I can see cutting and not running him, but he's a solid guy.
A creature relevant then because it is boltproof. It's still relevant in my 450, and the green misprint is cool.
The only drawback is sometimes it could be missed if you are drafting blue and are ignoring green cards. Or when you are sorting your cards back into your box
Well I guess I'll step in so we can have a different opinion - in a similar vein that I hear people saying it's playable in everything, I would say it's not actually that good in anything. From my experience it's the 20+ish card you would add to almost any non-combo blue deck which feels very unexciting. And like a post a few posts above me says - in tempo aggro, the one archetype where a card like this is actually solid, there are a trillion better 3-drops to play in your deck.
While it's ultimately a French vanilla creature, it's a very efficient one in a color that has few efficient beaters at any spot on the curve. True-Name Nemesis is the only blue 3-drop that I'd say truly outclasses it in efficiency because it's nigh indestructible on top of being unblockable and hexproof - but that card is the poster child for ridiculous. Vendilion Clique hits as hard and has a great ETB effect, but it's also very fragile. There are other options for beefy fliers that cost 3 in blue, but they come with much worse drawbacks than Serendib Efreet. I love to draft "tempo" decks that are really just aggro decks splashing blue for disruption, and this is more likely to make the cut in those decks than TNM of VC. Where some people might see this card as boring, I see it as efficient and elegant.
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I could see not running him in tighter lists, but I still really like Serendib Efreet. I do run him in my low power list. I like him because he's good offense and defense and the one life per turn is negligible and often worth it. Just and all around solid dude.
As for aesthetics, my vote goes for the original Arabian Nights version. The green border is certainly the most unique, but the art on the original is super sweet and pushes it past the green border, IMO. The foil is fine if you need a cheap copy. The art on that version is good enough, but the FTV foiling is never the ideal choice.
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But the thing I'll add is that it's one of my favorite cards to splash white with. The single W requirement is actually phenomenal. She would still be strong with a double white, but with single white she opens up splashing white even if taken a bit late.
You're right, I totally forgot about Hero.
Looking back, I'm really surprised Restoration Angel wasn't a mythic rare.
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Let me first start by saying from a power level standpoint, it's probably the best white 4 drop creature. It belongs in a powered 360 list if that it the criteria by which your cube is designed. I will not even attempt to argue against this because that would be futile.
But that's where one can make an argument against it I feel. The card does too much for 4 mana. It has great stats (4th toughness? Really?), flash, is insanely splashable (no double W??), adds another tool to an archetype that doesn't need help being broken (ETB abuse/blink).
It's a "good stuff" card in the purest sense of the word. Way above the curve that goes in every Wx deck regardless of what you are playing (and your deck is immediately better by it being there). It's a product of the runaway power creep movement. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of this card.
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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I can understand this argument. Although I think MTG was at its best in terms of card quality during Innistrad Block.
This list of creatures from that block was insane and frankly I haven't purchased a booster box of cards other than conspiracy since.
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As to the art choice, I'd go for pack foil. I'm currently running the promo, but only because that's the foil we had. Convenience!
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I think I probably would still run Restoration Angel if it were a 3/3 for 2ww, but it would be a tougher decision then for small cube managers, that's for sure. While the flash isn't necessary for this card to be good enough for my cube, I really love that Restoration Angel has it because it's one of the stronger combat tricks that's good enough to see play in high-powered cube environments.
Blink has never really been a broken strategy in my cube, even when it was in the budget cube phase. It could win games, but was kinda durdly. Thragtusk and Mystic Snake + Crystal Shard are the cards I worry about more in that archetype
However, I can't say I've ever worried about it being too good. It's a solid value creature, but casting it is hardly an auto-win on its own. There are a lot of cards I'd cut from my cube for power level concerns before Restoration Angel. Or are you saying that you don't like it because the choice of whether or not to draft and maindeck it isn't an interesting decision?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Our second gold card and it's another Simic card. I'm not just trying to get your help revamping my Simic section, I swear! This card is extremely powerful in multiplayer formats, effectively multiplying the amount of mana you have access to by the number of players in the game as well as letting you play all of your creatures at instant speed. It's so strong it's been banned in EDH, and it was voted top Simic card by a mile in the latest Multiplayer Power Rankings thread in this forum, so if you play your cube for multiplayer games at all this card is something you should take a serious look at. I run an EDH expansion to my cube (it's a blast, check my cube thread for details), and I've seriously considered Sharpie-ing the word "Legendary" in the type line in order to shoehorn this card in.
The ceiling for this card is nowhere near as high in duel-based cube drafts, and Prophet of Kruphix does fail the Terminate test and even the Lightning Bolt test (but not the Vindicate test), which is generally not a good place for a 5-drop to be in cube, especially a gold card. Still, Vedalken Orrery on a Seedborn Muse is an incredibly powerful thing to untap with on your opponent's turn, so maybe this is worth the risk in a dueling cube, too.
Aesthetically, I'm torn on the choices. The background is gorgeous in the art on the Clash Pack foil (right), but the Prophet herself looks kinda like she's trying not to fall over backwards. She definitely looks better in the original (left).
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
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Unfun? I can't imagine this card being succesfull in a regular cube. A slow five drop with little direct impact.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
The complaint comes from the EDH side of things. Before she was banned, there was a year or so of non-stop complaints about it here in the EDH forum about it being an unfun card.
Power level is definitely a key factor here. When I was playing semi-powered, resto angel was not on my watch list at all. As I've culled power and dropped that threshold down, this card floated to the top of the list and I ended up having to cut it. It might still be in if it were 2WW (since a color commitment must be made) or had 3 toughness (making it a much weaker surprise blocker), but as printed it's too powerful for my current list.
Specifically on the discussion of cards and whether there is any interesting decisions during draft, I do think this is something that should be considered in cube design. And as I've said before, I don't think there is a right or wrong necessarily. My 2 cents is that things are more dynamic when there are fewer snap picks. You don't always see the same patterns of play and more creativity happens with deck builds.
That said, having some obvious first pick cards is good in a way because it helps drive people into archetypes and/or colors. If you had a theoretical cube where every card was exactly the same power level, you'd probably have an awkward time drafting because of analysis paralysis. So culling all cards of the auto-draft nature is probably net negative. Where is the sweet spot though (and how much power variance do you ideally want)? Up to each group to decide. In a powered cube, there is obviously no line and in that meta resto might not even be a consistent first pick either. Powered cube has gotten pretty insane.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
As to the aesthetics, I'd go for a pack foil. Mostly because it's a better frame. I thought I hated the 8th edition frame, but then they made the M15 frame. Get off my lawn, you damn youngins, and give me back my original frame!
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This card seems to be disappearing from some tighter lists these days, but I'm still quite happy with it in my 465. A three power flier with a big ol' butt is still a great deal for 2U, is relevant in pretty much any stage of the game, and fits nicely into all kinds of decks. I especially love it in tempo decks, but I've been perfectly happy to side it into more controlling decks against aggro decks and decks with a lot of planeswalkers. The upkeep damage is a real drawback, but usually worth it even when you're behind because it's still a great blocker.
Aesthetically you've got some fantastic choices. The white-bordered Revised edition is actually a set-wide misprint with the art and green frame from Ifh-Bíff Efreet. It looks cool and it sells for less than a buck, so it was the first version of this card that I ran, but I had newer players draft or pass it by mistake thinking it was green, so I've since replaced it with the FTV:Exiled edition (anyone know when and why this was banned?), which only sells for $2-3. If you're really into hardcore old school pimp, the original Arabian Nights edition can be yours for a mere $160 TCG Mid.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Second, solid dude. He's never a high pick and spends some amount of time in sideboards, but 3/4 fliers for 2U with minimal downside are still pretty great and there are times where he is a big pain in the butt. I can see cutting and not running him, but he's a solid guy.
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I run it, and it rarely sits out in people playing blue, since it's easy to cast, and has really terrific size for a 3 cost.
The only drawback is sometimes it could be missed if you are drafting blue and are ignoring green cards. Or when you are sorting your cards back into your box
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
As for aesthetics, my vote goes for the original Arabian Nights version. The green border is certainly the most unique, but the art on the original is super sweet and pushes it past the green border, IMO. The foil is fine if you need a cheap copy. The art on that version is good enough, but the FTV foiling is never the ideal choice.
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