MTG Salvation

Thanks for the replies, guys. I came to a similar conclusion after testing it recently. It was okay, but it never seemed really stellar and felt replaceable. I do agree that it would be sick in storm, but it's far from a staple for me at 450.

I have been enjoying him. I have been pushing the spells matters archtype fairly hard (Thing in the Ice, Guttersnipe, Talrand etc.) so he does a lot of work there, but he also works for the general blue based control decks since he loots and kills 2/1 agro guys.

I wouldn't say he is a staple but he will probably stick about my cube for a while.

It's OK, but I think it might be the worst blue card I'm running right now. I might replace with Thirst for Knowledge or Thing in the Ice.

Cheers,
rant

Only decks that are interested in the 1/3 body should consider him.

Played with him last night and he was GREAT. Granted I was playing a storm/combo deck, but playing Bribery T3 (w/ mox help) was back breaking. Had a couple counters and triggered those, and being able to go-off with a Baral in play is a great feeling. Not sure I would def play him without the storm package, but he felt really really good in that deck.

Baral, Chief of Compliance was discussed here is The Random Cube Card of the Day Thread. Baral insists that you report to the thread, now.

(Spoiler: People like him, but not everyone has a slot for him)

Necroooooo

How much does Storm affect Baral's value? Would you run Baral in a large Cube without Storm support?

Quote from Patrunkenphat7 »

Necroooooo

How much does Storm affect Baral's value? Would you run Baral in a large Cube without Storm support?

Baral is definitely playable outside of a storm deck, it is a very strong card. But my intuition there are prob better options in this slot.

Quote from Patrunkenphat7 »

Necroooooo

How much does Storm affect Baral's value? Would you run Baral in a large Cube without Storm support?

Tried and cut him a long time ago at 720. It was found out that any mana rock is preferable.

I include Baral in a storm package that we sometimes toss in for a little variance. I don't believe he's worth it outside of that specific archetype, though. You could certainly do worse for a spells matter type card in blue, but I don't think he brings enough to that deck specifically and nothing to any other deck that a random mana rock doesn't do better.

We've played him (without Storm support), and he's been mediocre for us. Still, he's in a group of cards that skirts around the 89th-90th blue card range when there's something I want to remove. I think I've come to my senses and will not re-add him despite the temptation.

He's been alright for me without a storm package.

He currently gets maindecked about 47% of the time and decks that run him have won just over 61% of their games which ranks him 22nd out of 50 blue cards in my section based solely off win percentage.

If you rate maindeckability and win percentage equally he drops to 38th/50.

I include Baral because of his application in storm, but people do play the card in other decks because it's a fine card. I don't think I'd play it in the cube if I wasn't playing storm, but as long as he's in there, people will enjoy him for other builds as well.