MTG Salvation

Oh, I was hoping for a cycle of 2-drops. Oh well. If it's just a cycle of artifact creatures with a colored activation cost, I guess the one I really wanted isn't good.

Wow wow wow wow wow. After spending all damn summer deciding on the fate of black aggro and designing stax in my 360 cube, THIS comes out??

Wizards, at this point, you are the only company that makes me excited to get rid of my disposable income.

I have a feeling that the white one will have some kind of super underpowered lifegain ability...

Stone cold bonkers, a staple for years to come.

We'll probably put it in artifact since I expect to see it in a bunch of nonblack aggro decks.

Black is better stocked for aggro two drops than anyone since RoI, but this certainly kicks something out. Maybe Relentless Dead, maybe something elsewhere in the curve.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

It's all the good of Despoiler of Souls without all the stuff that makes it bad. Slam dunk.

And it's definitely a black card.

Yah, exactly. Pretty nice black 2-drop. Can't believe we've ran Despoiler of Souls when looking at this one. It's like 3 to 4 times better. Being less mana intensive, easier to recure and having an extra thoughness makes it hardcore.

Nonono, don't say it, don't use that word. Ahhh, I can't resist.

This is a ... strictly better Despoiler of Souls!

And better in so many ways: much easier casting cost, easier activation cost, one less creature to exile, and one extra toughness. Sweet.

(well, I guess being an artifact means it's not actually strictly better)

So with this coming out,
how would we rank our current 2 drops in black?

Real quick, I would say...

Rat
Confidant
Bloodghast
Scrounger
Visitor
Heir
Prowler

Quote from Sliver Lord »

Rat
Confidant
Bloodghast
Scrounger
Visitor
Heir
Prowler

That is my list exactly. I have been trying relentless dead and thought it would make it but it is looking worse than those 7.

Quote from voiddisciple »

This is a ... strictly better Despoiler of Souls!

Well obviously it's not ...but I think you're just trying to troll here.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from voiddisciple »

This is a ... strictly better Despoiler of Souls!

Well obviously it's not ...but I think you're just trying to troll here.

I thought we were going make it without a single person saying that it's not strictly better. I guess you couldn't help yourself

I mean if despoiler only exiled one card it would probably be good, this is better in multiple ways.

Ya, this card is far, far better in a bunch of different ways.

Since we're in a ranking stuff mood...



I feel like this is a conservative ranking for him, though. He could easily end up being higher than this.

Quick plug for stax: If anyone else is sick of regular black aggro 2/1's with downsides wheeling all over the place, try cutting them out for a stax package. We now have Blood Spook, Blood Man, Cree P. Crawlie, Snake Lady AND THIS GUY NOW for recurable bodies to feed a Smokestack. Draft it well and it's so sick.

Quote from SaucyFaucet »

Quick plug for stax: If anyone else is sick of regular black aggro 2/1's with downsides wheeling all over the place, try cutting them out for a stax package. We now have Blood Spook, Blood Man, Cree P. Crawlie, Snake Lady AND THIS GUY NOW for recurable bodies to feed a Smokestack. Draft it well and it's so sick.

But three of those ARE black aggro 2/1's with downside. Not that there's anything wrong with that, Stax and black aggro go great together.

Quote from psly4mne »

But three of those ARE black aggro 2/1's with downside. Not that there's anything wrong with that, Stax and black aggro go great together.

Yes! I just meant the other playable pikers can often fail to make enough use of their slot (although Ghoul is a zombie for Gravecrawler). I'm currently trying to find the right split between these aggro creatures and stax-y cards, and I might be a teensy bit light on 1-drops still. Black cuts are the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

I think diregraf ghoul is great, it often sits back after the early rush to get a block in. But what I was pretty sick of was two drops that were no better than the one drops. The funny part about the scavenger is that I was almsot kind of bummed about the second toughness because I don't get to kill it with skullclamp, I guess I will just have to attack for 4.


I see very few people mention Relentless Dead. It will be my cut for this guy but I think I would add it back at 450. I'm surprised it doesn't get more love.

Relentless Dead is great. I'm going to be happy with any creature that plays well in both aggro and stax. I'm phasing out the more generic aggro 1-2 drops for ones that play into the recursion theme better.

Relentless Dead has been pretty great for me. No complaints, other than the BB cost. I think he's totally strong enough to warrant it though.

The BB cost on Relentless Dead scares me, but yeah he really looks and plays well, so if a miracle happens and a 2-drop slot opens up, he'll definitely get in. But I /think/ I agree with Scrapheap Scrounger over Relentless Dead.