Quote from ryansaxe »Everybody here seems to be saying that the white one is okay/serviceable at four mana, and I just don't agree. I would never include this in a W aggro deck because of how lackluster the ability is for 4cc. If you neeed to jam two blockers against aggro, fine, but outside of that I can't imagine wanting to cast the Call the Cavalry variant. So if I'm evaluating the card starting at 5cc, it's basically a top-end card. I think it's worse than all of the 5cc white threats that we don't include, and that the X casting cost here is making people not make that comparison. Casting it for X = 1 or 2 is emergency mode, and while it's nice that that mode exists, I don't think it bumps it from "card I would never consider" to "card I'm going to test".
I hope I'm proven wrong. I just don't see it.
I wouldn't include this in my deck AS a 4-drop. But I can play it as one when my hand has a follow-up 5-drop Angel of Invention or something. All the good 4cc token making 4-drop creatures in the cube create 4 power and multiple bodies for 4 mana. So does this. Are those cards better? Of course they are. But those cards can't also be a 6-power threat for 5 mana. Or an 8-power threat for 6 mana. Or a 10-power threat for 7 mana.
The rate at which Finale of Glory puts power on the battlefield is comparable at each cost (4+ mana) as any of the token engines played in the cube. That's a positive quality for a scaleable effect to have. Typically, scaleable threats don't have the same P/T to mana ratio as cards with fixed costs. This card does. That is what interests me about the card. Is Pia and Kiran Nalaar a better 4cc token support card? Yes. But it's 4 power and multiple bodies for 4 mana (and so is this). Is Angel of Invention a better 5cc token support card? Yes. But it creates 6 power and multiple bodies for 5 mana, and so does this. Those individual cards are better, but this card can be used in every place on the curve.
The ceiling on this card is also absurd. It creates 60 power for 12 mana. Sixty. Which can be done on curve the turn after a Mirari's Wake with no other help (and in that case, it actually makes 80 power). I plan to see that happen at least once before I cut it.
And the tokens have vigilance, which is not nothing.
I don't know if the card's going to be good or not. But this looks like the Everflowing Chalice of token makers, and that's not a bad place to be. It has potential, if nothing else.
For what it's worth, I also wouldn't put this into a white aggro deck. But it's not a white aggro card, so that's kinda moot. This is a midrange card, a WG ramp card and a token.dec card. Not being playable as a 4cc card in aggro is not a hurdle I'd ask this to leap.
Anyways, that's just my $0.02. Card's not great. It's a decent filler option to medium- to large-sized cubes that want a token maker that scales efficiently. Nobody's suggesting playing it in a powered 360 cube or anything.
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We will test it in a 360 cube, and expect it to find a slot as Rakdos's 3rd card, behind Kolaghan's Command and Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast.
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