Modal, scalable Serra Angel for 4 mana. Great finisher for control. Kind of an inbetween of Serra the Benevolent / Emeria's Call to me. Probably the card I'm most excited for in KHM so far.
This card could be really good. It fills your curve and is powerful at many different mana costs. It fits into both midrange and control.
- Pay 2 mana to set it up.
- Set it up, then cast it for 3 mana for an angel.
- Hard Cast at 4 mana.
- Pay 5 mana to get 2 angels after having set it up.
- set up, then 7 mana for 3 angels.
The versatility is appealing, and it's decently efficient in both modes. The fact you can't cast it foretold on the same turn you foretell could be a bit clunky, I guess. I'm keeping an eye on this card.
I like the versatility the card offers. A Serra Angel as early as T3, a 4-mana Serra Angel, or a foretold scaleable angel-army finisher. Kinda cool. I'll probably test it out.
This feels both highly flexible and good on rate. The kinda card I would love to see in my opening hand, and could flex around an evolving board state/curve.
Weirdly enough, the mode I'm most excited about is T2 Foretell > T3 4/4 Angel. It's certainly not the best case scenario for the card, but I love that it's there and I know I'm going to have hands where I'm stuck on mana and it's the right call.
I also think this is a sweet Selesnya card. Scales higher with ramp, plays well with Rhonas/Kiora/Surrak, makes tokens for populate. Curves off that new Cat Chariot well too.
I think this is a winner. Shame about the art though.
Thankfully, the borderless art on this one is much much better. Only downside is no reminder text on that one - which I like to have to help players who don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of MTG mechanics.
And yes, this seems eminently testable. Not amazing at any point but incredibly flexible in mana cost. My only fear is how much more fragile tokens are than normal creatures, but you also get access to flashing this back with snappy etc, so that's probably a wash, and being able to make 2+ tokens in a lot of the foretell scenarios really helps mitigate it.
I will say I was unimpressed with advent of the wurm, so that does give me pause, but I'm still hopeful.
I will say I was unimpressed with advent of the wurm, so that does give me pause, but I'm still hopeful.
I think this is LEAGUES above Advent of the Wurm. Faster, scaleable, mono colored, better at both offense and defense
I agree, but advent looked good. Instant speed, stats above rate, etc, and it just wasn't. Now part of that was that it was competing with guild slots, but part of that was also how easy it was to interact with.
This is probably the best card revealed so far even if it is a pretty unexciting card. (magic has come along way, when we live in a day that this is a "boring" card design) My cube feels bloated right now at the White 4 drops and having the flexibility in curve out will be nice. Also more cards that can support moat decks are always welcome. I think this might be where I would cut Gisela, the broken blade in my cube.
I think History of Benalia might be my cut here. I run Finale of Glory too, but I like that Finale of Glory will never require you to wait for the effect and it can win games on the spot in a Purphoros build. Both History of Benalia and this card when foretold have a turn delay minimum for the full token output of the card and History is definitely weaker than this.
Edit: Also, this is legitimately the first card spoiled that I think is a likely inclusion from this set. A few others worthy of testing, but overall this set is the calm before the wallet-busting storm (aka Modern Horizons 2)coming later in the year and I am okay with that.
Finally a card I'm pretty sure will make my cube. I think the T3 Serra is going to be the most commonly used mode, but the fact that it gives you an undercosted effect at 3,4,5, and 7 mana is just fantastic. I hope we can get at least one more Foretell card so this doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but that's a minor complaint.
I actually think the 5 mana double-serra will be the most common mode, as that makes it a lot harder to interact with and ends the game just as fast as the t3 serra (both end the game on turn 8 unassisted).
I'm a bit cooler on this card than some others in this thread. Though it's obviously a powerful card.
I think the foretell restrictions of being unable to cast the card the turn you fortell it, is a bigger restriction than is intuitive.
A big mana card that can't be cast the turn it's top decked, is a big downside.
The hardcast mode is a nice option, but it is still at least a mana overcosted.
It's prob testable in the 540-720 range, but I'm a bit skeptical.
This card reminds me of Exalted Angel, with this card's mode of foretelling for two and casting for 3 mirroring the Exalted Anegl's mode of morphing for 3 and then casting for 4. Exalted Angel was a card we liked running but ended up just barely being squeezed out by other white four drops that were released. The additional flexibility of the scaling XX mode to make more than one creature and the turn faster clock on the beatdown for making the single 4/4 in the case it was foretold on turn 2 might just be enough to consider finding room for again, even if we could not for Exalted Angel anymore.
I also think the comparisons to Serra the Benevolent are interesting. You get basically the same thing for the same cost the turn you hardcast this as you do with the typical case of playing Serra and downticking her. With Serra, you also leave behind a 1 loyalty planeswalker that can threaten to make more angels later if not dealt with. With this, the upside is instead in the flexibility of the foretell -> 3 drop angel mode + the flexibility to make multiple angels at once if you spend more mana. Serra was another card we were happy with but recently cut to try out Court of Grace.
Overall, the fact that this card compares favorably or at least around equal to other cube cards we liked makes us interested to try it. Not sure what to cut for it - it'd have to be either Court of Grace, which we've been having success with, or maybe Finale of Glory as a similar "army in a can" type of card. Ultimately I am not sure this really fills the army in a can roll well enough, but it could be worth trying out over the court for us. Definitely keeping my eye on this one!
My favorite non-snow card of the set for sure for our cube. Card is super splashable, super versatile, and looks like it can close out games super fast. One of the things white has always severely missed is a huge body that can be dropped directly before/after Armageddon to close out the game by itself, a la True-Name Nemesis/Rotting Regisaur/Anje's Ravager or even non-3s like Tarmogoyf/Tasigur, the Golden Fang. The fastest white creatures in that territory are... Brimaz, King of Oreskos and flipped Kytheon, Hero of Akros? I thought Gideon Blackblade could alright in that role, but he severely underpreformed for us becuase of his lack of versatility elsewhere. Meanwhile the new additions of Skyclave Apparition and Maul of the Skyclaves have been great for white aggro decks trying to curve into Ravages of War, but they still don't single-handedly create that much pressure. A single turn 3 4/4 with flying and vigilance can likely take over a game, and the late game value on this card for 2 or even 3 4/4s is just incredible. Works great with Opposition and Glare of Subdual too because of the vigilance, just can't wait to get some reps in with this card.
It definitely is strong as a card in your opening hand, but it feels less good as a top deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Seeded this card in fifteen 2-man drafts this last weekend & it never saw play once. I think it only ended up in a deck maybe 1-3 times.
I'm going to continue testing it but this was not a great result. Definitely not cutting Spectral Procession for it at this point.
Unsure how helpful this is but it's what happened. We started the weekend seeding around 25 cards we were unsure about & were down to single digits by the end of the weekend. This was one of the few that lasted all weekend.
Being forced to foretell and then wait a turn to cast it for XXW is kind of a drag. If you find a good window to prepare the foretell it will be a good card, but as a topdeck it doesn't feel great.
Modal, scalable Serra Angel for 4 mana. Great finisher for control. Kind of an inbetween of Serra the Benevolent / Emeria's Call to me. Probably the card I'm most excited for in KHM so far.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
- Pay 2 mana to set it up.
- Set it up, then cast it for 3 mana for an angel.
- Hard Cast at 4 mana.
- Pay 5 mana to get 2 angels after having set it up.
- set up, then 7 mana for 3 angels.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Draft my cube! (630 cards)
Weirdly enough, the mode I'm most excited about is T2 Foretell > T3 4/4 Angel. It's certainly not the best case scenario for the card, but I love that it's there and I know I'm going to have hands where I'm stuck on mana and it's the right call.
I also think this is a sweet Selesnya card. Scales higher with ramp, plays well with Rhonas/Kiora/Surrak, makes tokens for populate. Curves off that new Cat Chariot well too.
I think this is a winner. Shame about the art though.
And yes, this seems eminently testable. Not amazing at any point but incredibly flexible in mana cost. My only fear is how much more fragile tokens are than normal creatures, but you also get access to flashing this back with snappy etc, so that's probably a wash, and being able to make 2+ tokens in a lot of the foretell scenarios really helps mitigate it.
I will say I was unimpressed with advent of the wurm, so that does give me pause, but I'm still hopeful.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I think this is LEAGUES above Advent of the Wurm. Faster, scaleable, mono colored, better at both offense and defense
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I agree, but advent looked good. Instant speed, stats above rate, etc, and it just wasn't. Now part of that was that it was competing with guild slots, but part of that was also how easy it was to interact with.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
Edit: Also, this is legitimately the first card spoiled that I think is a likely inclusion from this set. A few others worthy of testing, but overall this set is the calm before the wallet-busting storm (aka Modern Horizons 2)coming later in the year and I am okay with that.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I think the foretell restrictions of being unable to cast the card the turn you fortell it, is a bigger restriction than is intuitive.
A big mana card that can't be cast the turn it's top decked, is a big downside.
The hardcast mode is a nice option, but it is still at least a mana overcosted.
It's prob testable in the 540-720 range, but I'm a bit skeptical.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
I also think the comparisons to Serra the Benevolent are interesting. You get basically the same thing for the same cost the turn you hardcast this as you do with the typical case of playing Serra and downticking her. With Serra, you also leave behind a 1 loyalty planeswalker that can threaten to make more angels later if not dealt with. With this, the upside is instead in the flexibility of the foretell -> 3 drop angel mode + the flexibility to make multiple angels at once if you spend more mana. Serra was another card we were happy with but recently cut to try out Court of Grace.
Overall, the fact that this card compares favorably or at least around equal to other cube cards we liked makes us interested to try it. Not sure what to cut for it - it'd have to be either Court of Grace, which we've been having success with, or maybe Finale of Glory as a similar "army in a can" type of card. Ultimately I am not sure this really fills the army in a can roll well enough, but it could be worth trying out over the court for us. Definitely keeping my eye on this one!
My 36+ Commander Decks: TAPPEDOUT
It definitely is strong as a card in your opening hand, but it feels less good as a top deck.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Seeded this card in fifteen 2-man drafts this last weekend & it never saw play once. I think it only ended up in a deck maybe 1-3 times.
I'm going to continue testing it but this was not a great result. Definitely not cutting Spectral Procession for it at this point.
Unsure how helpful this is but it's what happened. We started the weekend seeding around 25 cards we were unsure about & were down to single digits by the end of the weekend. This was one of the few that lasted all weekend.
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022