This guy completely slipped by me before I saw Star Slayer reference it in wtwlf's top 20 article. I think it most certainly deserves discussion for cubes.
What I like:
-Reverse "Champion of the Parish effect" is very flexible and allows you to curve out with this well based on the cards in your hand.
-Efficiently costed (though not great stats)
-Great with recurring/mass token producers (Rabblemaster, Hanweir Garrison, a ton of walkers, Secure the Wastes, ect)
-+1/+1 counters stick around, even if Mimic dies
-Flexibility: colorless mana and ability to choose creature types means this can slot into just about every agro/token/midrange deck with ease.
What I don't like:
-Crap topdeck (but most non-blue 2 drops are, though this is worse than most)
-Fragile stats/card type
Overall, I think I'm going to give this a test drive. There are so many different lines of play where this can excel. Naming humans/goblins in front of a Hanweir Garrison/Rabblemaster will be nuts of course, but this could also be really good in front of a walker that makes tokens. 2/2 humans (Elspeth), 3/3 Knights/Wolves (Gideon 2.0/flip Garruk), 4/4 beasts (Garruk Wildspeaker) and even 4/2 elementals (big Chandra) would be great. Even playing this in front of a Lingering Souls or Secure the Wastes can be huge. What about having this on the field with Bitterblossom? There will even be situations where a simple one shot effect will be worth it. 4/5 Serendib Efreet anyone? What about a 4/2 Flickerwisp or a 4/5 Restoration Angel that resets Mimic for the next card in your hand? Heck even naming thopters in a deck with Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Whirler Rogue could be really good. Seems to me like there are great synergies all over the cube.
Am I overvaluing this effect? What do you guys think?
Completely agree. I thought I was the only one interested in this. Everyone will say it is fragile, and yes it is, I have very little expectation for my 2 drop to land and give me value even if it is killed. But 2/1 with effects on later turns can be huge in cube (Young Pyromancer, Bob, Lotus Cobra, Phyrexian Revoker).
People will often see tribal cards and immediately relegate them to tribal only cube but I think this one breaks the mold. How mana +1/+1 do you need to make this good? 2 or 3 probably. Anafenza., Kin-Tree Spirit suffered due to double white and not handling tokens, this fixes both those problems (As long as you know you deck well).
There is a real shortage of <4 mana artifact cube creatures, we also have never gotten a good colorless anthem, and anthem on legs have always overperformed for me.
The OP gave a lot of the scenarios where this this will be a house. The token decks! Time and again I have seen them chock full of 3-5 drops and just stick random creatures in the one or 2 slot. I look forward to following this up with Blade Splicer, Rabblemater, Hanwier Garrison, Lingering Souls, or any of the other token producers at 3. But this will also add more infinite loops to cube for fans of Finks, Glen Elendra, and Murderous Redcap.
But for those that are still unconvinced, take a look at how many cards produce multiple creatures. Also take a count of tribes that already have critical mass (Human, Warrior, Zombie, Goblin, Elf, Wizard, Soldier and more). Playing this and bringing back gravecrawler feels pretty good.
But humans in particular are a tribe to watch out for. Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, Mayor of Avabruck are all cubeable in the 450 range and add this to the mix, you can really get out of hand. (Play collected company in this deck as well, it is worth it)
A small but vocal part of teh cube/edh crowd also loves +1/+1 counters, this thing is a shoe in if that is you. (Picture it in a master biomancer kind of way)
I'm not sure if humans is there yet, but if it does get there I think this is a card that deserves merit. If you're running Champion of the Parish, there's no reason to ignore this guy since they are really close in application.
Also I like that you can plan what you're going to name based on what you're next few plays will be.
I'm not sure I'll run this card, but I like that it exists for future options.
Just like the Automaton, Metallic Mimic has the added flexibility of chosing any other creature type. Granting 2-3 counters, then trading with an opposing 1- or 2-drop is totally fine in my book. It has the potential to do even more than that, making it a rather interesting card with a minor build-around theme.
I think you can just play it naming the tribe of whatever 3-drop is in your hand and call it a day. Gives you 3 total power for 2 as a baseline (assuming it lives until your next turn), with room for minor tribal interactions to increase its powerlevel beyond that. Not a bad 2-drop for a random creature deck.
I think you can just play it naming the tribe of whatever 3-drop is in your hand and call it a day. Gives you 3 total power for 2 as a baseline (assuming it lives until your next turn), with room for minor tribal interactions to increase its powerlevel beyond that. Not a bad 2-drop for a random creature deck.
I agree with you about the baseline, which is not a bad floor, but I think the additional synergies will be more than minor. There are so many cube cards that create multiple bodies and cards that pump out bodies each turn. On top of that, adding a counter to an evasive creature is much better than adding one to a non-evasive creature in most cases.
wtwlf123, out of curiosity, did this card slip by you as well? Looking at your top 20 it seems like Mimic will have a much broader appeal and be more impactful than Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Felidar Guardian, and Trophy Mage.
I think you can just play it naming the tribe of whatever 3-drop is in your hand and call it a day. Gives you 3 total power for 2 as a baseline (assuming it lives until your next turn), with room for minor tribal interactions to increase its powerlevel beyond that. Not a bad 2-drop for a random creature deck.
Can sometimes telegraph your next play (uhhh, squirrels?) but yeah I agree with this.
I think you can just play it naming the tribe of whatever 3-drop is in your hand and call it a day. Gives you 3 total power for 2 as a baseline (assuming it lives until your next turn), with room for minor tribal interactions to increase its powerlevel beyond that. Not a bad 2-drop for a random creature deck.
Can sometimes telegraph your next play (uhhh, squirrels?) but yeah I agree with this.
Could be a great card in recurring nightmare decks for that reason (naming kith kin when you have Cloudgoat in your GY, for example), even being able to re-set the tribe if you're grinding hard. Telegraphing isn't the best, but probably won't matter a good percentage of the time when you're killing them.
wtwlf123, out of curiosity, did this card slip by you as well?
Honestly? No, I just don't think it's very good. I chose to include cards for specialty cubes towards the end of my article than more 720-810+ cube size stuff.
I think outside of cubes with intentional minor tribe themes, this guy is too weak by himself and promotes over extending.
If it buffs only 1 creature, it does LESS than a 3 powered 2 drop worth of effect. Since the +1/+1 counter comes into play the turn after this card is cast.
So to get any sort of meaningful value, it has to buff multiple creatures ON AVERAGE. Something that I don't think is reasonable to expect outside a tribal deck or a specific token shell.
This card caught my eye for a hot second when I saw it spoiled, but I'm not too big on directly supporting tribal. Good cards by themselves with incidental tribal or support themselves like Gravecrawler / Goblin Rabblemaster / Kalitas / Siege-Gang Commander are what I'm looking for, not a half-baked build-your-own Thalia's Lieutenant.
This card caught my eye for a hot second when I saw it spoiled, but I'm not too big on directly supporting tribal. Good cards by themselves with incidental tribal or support themselves like Gravecrawler / Goblin Rabblemaster / Kalitas / Siege-Gang Commander are what I'm looking for, not a half-baked build-your-own Thalia's Lieutenant.
Half-Baked indeed. If Thalia'a lieutenant had 2 power it would be in a lot more cubes, or if it were colorless. People have talked about playing all kind of randomness like lore seekr to fill the 2 drop slot sometimes and people have played worse combo pieces. This plus Glen Elendra feels dirty.
Don't get me wrong, I relaize that this is my pet card of the set, but I am hopeful it can be proven to be 540-630 viable and a non embarrassing fun item at 450.
How is the Automaton performing for you? Is it even good enough in a deck that has a strong tribal theme?
I had it in an early iteration of my cube and cut it without a lot of data. Metallic Mimic seems significantly better, but I am toying with the idea of throwing both in as a mini-tribal subtheme...
It is a pretty low pick and doesn't see much play, but every once in a while, it finds a deck where it performs well enough. Those decks are mostly human-centric, but sometimes decks with multiple cards that produce a bunch of tokens. Being a low pick has the advantage that the deck that actually wants it can count on tabling it, giving it some decent late pick reward during the draft. As with the Mimic, being able to pick your type makes the Automaton more flexible and thus more useful than if it were simply locked in as a pure human support card. It is certainly cuttable, but it is still fine enough to stay for now.
This guy completely slipped by me before I saw Star Slayer reference it in wtwlf's top 20 article. I think it most certainly deserves discussion for cubes.
What I like:
-Reverse "Champion of the Parish effect" is very flexible and allows you to curve out with this well based on the cards in your hand.
-Efficiently costed (though not great stats)
-Great with recurring/mass token producers (Rabblemaster, Hanweir Garrison, a ton of walkers, Secure the Wastes, ect)
-+1/+1 counters stick around, even if Mimic dies
-Flexibility: colorless mana and ability to choose creature types means this can slot into just about every agro/token/midrange deck with ease.
What I don't like:
-Crap topdeck (but most non-blue 2 drops are, though this is worse than most)
-Fragile stats/card type
Overall, I think I'm going to give this a test drive. There are so many different lines of play where this can excel. Naming humans/goblins in front of a Hanweir Garrison/Rabblemaster will be nuts of course, but this could also be really good in front of a walker that makes tokens. 2/2 humans (Elspeth), 3/3 Knights/Wolves (Gideon 2.0/flip Garruk), 4/4 beasts (Garruk Wildspeaker) and even 4/2 elementals (big Chandra) would be great. Even playing this in front of a Lingering Souls or Secure the Wastes can be huge. What about having this on the field with Bitterblossom? There will even be situations where a simple one shot effect will be worth it. 4/5 Serendib Efreet anyone? What about a 4/2 Flickerwisp or a 4/5 Restoration Angel that resets Mimic for the next card in your hand? Heck even naming thopters in a deck with Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Whirler Rogue could be really good. Seems to me like there are great synergies all over the cube.
Am I overvaluing this effect? What do you guys think?
People will often see tribal cards and immediately relegate them to tribal only cube but I think this one breaks the mold. How mana +1/+1 do you need to make this good? 2 or 3 probably. Anafenza., Kin-Tree Spirit suffered due to double white and not handling tokens, this fixes both those problems (As long as you know you deck well).
There is a real shortage of <4 mana artifact cube creatures, we also have never gotten a good colorless anthem, and anthem on legs have always overperformed for me.
The OP gave a lot of the scenarios where this this will be a house. The token decks! Time and again I have seen them chock full of 3-5 drops and just stick random creatures in the one or 2 slot. I look forward to following this up with Blade Splicer, Rabblemater, Hanwier Garrison, Lingering Souls, or any of the other token producers at 3. But this will also add more infinite loops to cube for fans of Finks, Glen Elendra, and Murderous Redcap.
But for those that are still unconvinced, take a look at how many cards produce multiple creatures. Also take a count of tribes that already have critical mass (Human, Warrior, Zombie, Goblin, Elf, Wizard, Soldier and more). Playing this and bringing back gravecrawler feels pretty good.
But humans in particular are a tribe to watch out for. Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, Mayor of Avabruck are all cubeable in the 450 range and add this to the mix, you can really get out of hand. (Play collected company in this deck as well, it is worth it)
A small but vocal part of teh cube/edh crowd also loves +1/+1 counters, this thing is a shoe in if that is you. (Picture it in a master biomancer kind of way)
And don't forget to clone this guy!
Also I like that you can plan what you're going to name based on what you're next few plays will be.
I'm not sure I'll run this card, but I like that it exists for future options.
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I see this mostly as an addition to my human support package: Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, Mayor of Avabruck and Adaptive Automaton
Just like the Automaton, Metallic Mimic has the added flexibility of chosing any other creature type. Granting 2-3 counters, then trading with an opposing 1- or 2-drop is totally fine in my book. It has the potential to do even more than that, making it a rather interesting card with a minor build-around theme.
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I agree with you about the baseline, which is not a bad floor, but I think the additional synergies will be more than minor. There are so many cube cards that create multiple bodies and cards that pump out bodies each turn. On top of that, adding a counter to an evasive creature is much better than adding one to a non-evasive creature in most cases.
wtwlf123, out of curiosity, did this card slip by you as well? Looking at your top 20 it seems like Mimic will have a much broader appeal and be more impactful than Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Felidar Guardian, and Trophy Mage.
Could be a great card in recurring nightmare decks for that reason (naming kith kin when you have Cloudgoat in your GY, for example), even being able to re-set the tribe if you're grinding hard. Telegraphing isn't the best, but probably won't matter a good percentage of the time when you're killing them.
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Honestly? No, I just don't think it's very good. I chose to include cards for specialty cubes towards the end of my article than more 720-810+ cube size stuff.
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If it buffs only 1 creature, it does LESS than a 3 powered 2 drop worth of effect. Since the +1/+1 counter comes into play the turn after this card is cast.
So to get any sort of meaningful value, it has to buff multiple creatures ON AVERAGE. Something that I don't think is reasonable to expect outside a tribal deck or a specific token shell.
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Half-Baked indeed. If Thalia'a lieutenant had 2 power it would be in a lot more cubes, or if it were colorless. People have talked about playing all kind of randomness like lore seekr to fill the 2 drop slot sometimes and people have played worse combo pieces. This plus Glen Elendra feels dirty.
Don't get me wrong, I relaize that this is my pet card of the set, but I am hopeful it can be proven to be 540-630 viable and a non embarrassing fun item at 450.
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