Palace Jailer has been very good in our 500 card Powered cube. It was a surprise how good it played. The removal combines very well with Monarch. It is not that hard to time this card so it gives you multiple cards.
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Just to check something, if he dies or I flicker him does the game forget about the "until an opponent becomes the monarch" clause?
No, the game will continue to watch for the next time an opponent becomes the monarch.
The delayed triggered ability is created by the ETB ability ; it is not tied to the creature.
I've been testing Palace Jailer over Gisela and the testing has been quite positive. Monarch is powerful in any deck that can go wide and defend it and the exile effect is strong and re-usable. Has all the synergies in the world with Lark / Alesha / Recruiters and works well in Stax shells. Sometimes I'll put into my control deck vs the control mirror after game 1 if I know my opponent will have trouble taking monarch from me.
Just to check something, if he dies or I flicker him does the game forget about the "until an opponent becomes the monarch" clause? I scanned the thread and couldn't see an answer, sorry if its s silly question but I always forget how the game handles memory issues like this.
He seem a lot more solid that I first though if bouncing him exiles the creature forever.
The game does not forget about the "until an opponent becomes the monarch" clause. If you lose monarch and Palace Jailer was exiled a few turns ago or something, the creature that Palace Jailer exiled will still comeback.
This is a card I ran as a test and it's never left. I haven't been tempted to replace it with Gisela once she rotates, or Angel of Condemnation once it drops. The monarch mechanic is tons of fun and creates a fun subgame, plus the draw is real in a white deck. It's a different sort of 4 drop than something nutty like Hero of Bladehold, but I'm not disappointed to have this sharing the top of the curve with a Geddon in my Wx aggro decks at all.
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After seeing how good the Monarch emblem can be, I gave this guy some extended testing. I definitely think it's the best of the Fiend Hunter variants, but we ultimately cut it because it was just a little too fair and didn't have a way to make the Monarch mechanic asymmetrical in your favor.
I think the card is good, but I don't like running Monarch cards because none of them say what the ability does, and newer cubists don't have exposure to it from other formats.
I think the card is good, but I don't like running Monarch cards because none of them say what the ability does, and newer cubists don't have exposure to it from other formats.
That, and I lost the emblem one time too many.
Palace Jailer sees regular play in Legacy.
If people can understand how planeswalkers work, I don't see how monarch can be a problem. Part of the fun of Magic is LEARNING.
I have been playing it since its release. It is a fun card, but very swingy. You do not want to play it when you are behind and is usually unnecessary risk at parity too. When they hit you, they both gain the monarch, the creature back and get the ETB effect again. The 2/2 body is obviously unimpressive. I rank it as such:
Better white 4 drops than Palace Jailer - Restoration Angel, Hero of Bladehold, Sublime Archangel, Gisela, the Broken Blade
Worse 4 drops than Palace Jailer - Sram's Expertise, Angel of Condemnation (it tested badly enough not to make the cut in 720), Ranger of Eos and basically every other white four drop
I've not tested this particular Monarch card in cube, but I do really like the Monarch sub-game. I initially thought it was going to be pretty silly, but it's turned out to be really fun. The back and forth interaction between players and trying to keep or steal Monarch status is fantastic. The only dislike I have of it is how they screwed up the text on the token. Other than that, I think it's great.
I'm really digging Palace Jailer. It's a really good 4 drop for the white weenie decks and it's great against control decks that will have a hard time taking Monarch,
We've really enjoyed the Monarch sub-game. Palace Jailer and Regal Behemoth have both seen lots of play since their inclusion. We also run Custodi Lich, but that one has had more trouble finding deck lists (the curse of the black 5-drops probably).
But yeah, Palace Jailer is a good 4-drop for cube.
The Monarch sub game is a positive for me as well (especially in multiplayer games) it creates extra tension to the game as your opponent is incentivised to attack and you often have to make in-optimal trades if you want to keep monarch. Sometimes you can't play the creature because you'll just be giving away Monarch next turn, others you are fine thinking of it as more of a Howling Mine effect that will trade back and forth.
I have found there are memory issues with the end step trigger and the monarch holding hands, maybe not at first but if it has been on the table a for a while it can get forgotten. It's never to difficult to fix but it has led to some feel bads when the Monarch forgets they had it half way through their second main and would have blocked differently. We play under the influence so that doesn't help things, less of an issue for clean living folk.
One think that bugs me is the token:
"At the beginning your end step, draw a card."
How this slipped through boggles my mind considering it was the marquee mechanic of the set.
I've been playing with Palace Jailer a lot over the past 3 months and it's very strong. White has a lot of ways to deal protect your monarch status with remomval, tokens, flyers, Gideons, etc. It almost always sees play in my BW stax / midrange decks and can fit into a control deck if I know I can protect monarch well enough (or I'll sb it in for certain matches). Not having an ETB removal trigger over Custodi Lich's "become the monarch" trigger makes Palace Jailer very abusable; being a 2/2 creature means it has all the synergies in the world.
White 4-drops are stacked, but I like Palace Jailer as the #3 4-cmc white creature (with Angel / Hero being ahead). I've seen Palace Jailer do a lot more work in 3 months than Gisela has in a year. It's truly been the MVP in a lot of my 3-0 decks as of late.
Yeah I've been seeing you post endless Palace Jailer winning decks in the discord group, enough so that I got myself a copy. Haven't been able to cube in person since I got it, but Im going to give it a run when I do.
Yeah I've been seeing you post endless Palace Jailer winning decks in the discord group, enough so that I got myself a copy. Haven't been able to cube in person since I got it, but Im going to give it a run when I do.
I was around when this card came out but missed it's rise to sleeper status. Does anyone still run Palace Jailer? Looks like it could be a good 4th white 4 drop creature in my 540 and seeing it perform in Legacy has been very interesting.
I was around when this card came out but missed it's rise to sleeper status. Does anyone still run Palace Jailer? Looks like it could be a good 4th white 4 drop creature in my 540 and seeing it perform in Legacy has been very interesting.
Yeah it's nuts. We were actually talking about it last night and agreed that from memory/experience that they get the monarch back maybe 20% of the time, way less immediately. It's a top3 white 4, maybe the best? The top options have pros/cons over each other, but Jailer is truly stupid and kinda tough to figure that out until you play with him yourself.
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Thanks, just thought I would check.
The game does not forget about the "until an opponent becomes the monarch" clause. If you lose monarch and Palace Jailer was exiled a few turns ago or something, the creature that Palace Jailer exiled will still comeback.
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That, and I lost the emblem one time too many.
Palace Jailer sees regular play in Legacy.
If people can understand how planeswalkers work, I don't see how monarch can be a problem. Part of the fun of Magic is LEARNING.
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Better white 4 drops than Palace Jailer - Restoration Angel, Hero of Bladehold, Sublime Archangel, Gisela, the Broken Blade
Worse 4 drops than Palace Jailer - Sram's Expertise, Angel of Condemnation (it tested badly enough not to make the cut in 720), Ranger of Eos and basically every other white four drop
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That said, I think it's an atrocious minigame in Cube and will never include it, ever (ever!)
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But yeah, Palace Jailer is a good 4-drop for cube.
I have found there are memory issues with the end step trigger and the monarch holding hands, maybe not at first but if it has been on the table a for a while it can get forgotten. It's never to difficult to fix but it has led to some feel bads when the Monarch forgets they had it half way through their second main and would have blocked differently. We play under the influence so that doesn't help things, less of an issue for clean living folk.
One think that bugs me is the token:
"At the beginning your end step, draw a card."
How this slipped through boggles my mind considering it was the marquee mechanic of the set.
..PARIS IN THE..
...THE SPRING...
It can be easy to read that and miss the double-the, since the mind glosses over it when reading.
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Lol. That is required in my group. Clean living is an unfair advantage.
I never noticed that about the token. Funny.
White 4-drops are stacked, but I like Palace Jailer as the #3 4-cmc white creature (with Angel / Hero being ahead). I've seen Palace Jailer do a lot more work in 3 months than Gisela has in a year. It's truly been the MVP in a lot of my 3-0 decks as of late.
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Yeah it's nuts. We were actually talking about it last night and agreed that from memory/experience that they get the monarch back maybe 20% of the time, way less immediately. It's a top3 white 4, maybe the best? The top options have pros/cons over each other, but Jailer is truly stupid and kinda tough to figure that out until you play with him yourself.
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