With the Wildfire package, I would agree that Thundermaw should get the nod, but without it I think both Goldspan Dragon and Glorybringer are better cards.
Can't say I fully agree with Glorybringer / Goldspan Dragon being better cards than Thundermaw Hellkite even without the Wildfire package. Thundermaw Hellkite is still the deadliest / most destructive 5-cmc red dragon out there with the fastest clock. While Goldspan Dragon does have some nice synergies with artifacts and ramping in general, having the least destructive power of the three makes it the worst of the 3 in my book overall.
Thundermaw Hellkite zapping X/1s in the air is huge for closing out the game, making it very difficult to wall. Most things in the air are either a 1/1 or a 4/4, which makes it near contestable in the air since very few things can trade / beat it in combat. Even then, it's able to tap those creatures down when Thundermaw Hellkite ETBs anyways, which gives it a good shot at racing your opponent.
you need to be playing a deck that (a) cares about having a Lotus Petal, (b) cares about casting Careful Study
What deck UR(x) deck (or any deck really) wouldn't care about mana ramp / fixing and card filtering? I'm confused to see people say things like "needs a deck that cares about the graveyard for Careful Study". They're looking too much into the graveyard aspect but completely overlooking the fact that it's also just card filtering.
2 for 1s for 2 mana are powerful, but this can be fairly conditional. The Abrupt Decay mode not hitting creatures is huge, and the -3/-1 misses a lot of key 2 toughness creatures.
I think this command is very cube dependent. The higher density of mana elves / mana rocks / Savannah Lions it can hit, the better this will be. The thing I don't like about this particular command the most is that none of its abilities really scale well into the late game, especially compared to other utility spells. The versatility is nice, but I can't see this supplanting other Golgari removal spells like Assassin's Trophy / Abrupt Decay / Maelstrom Pulse in my cube.
Yeah, this is at least a top 4 Izzet card in my book alongside Dack / Lutri / Izzet Charm. I think this is better than Kolaghan's Command for a few reasons:
- It still has the two most important modes of Shock and Shatter
- Careful Study is generally a MUCH better mode than Raise Dead / the discard mode of Funeral Charm
- The treasure token mode is better than it seems: ramp and mana fixing is really nice to have. Lotus Petal is a pretty good card.
- Careful Study / Treasure token support graveyard / artifact shenanigans respectively while still being a really good value card on its own.
My second article on CubeCobra! Let me know if there’s a card that I missed and I’ll respond back with the hottest of takes. Also, feel free to join the Online Cube Drafts Discord Group to discuss all things Cube plus use Xmage to host tournaments to draft / play with our own cubes!
Foretell Wrath effect. Being able to tuck it away to cast it for a discount later is nice, especially if you're a bit short on mana. I think this competes well with tier 2 Wrath effects like Shatter the Sky / Fumigate. Will probably test over one of those.
Not a big fan of this cycle, but at least the green ones have some legs to stand on as Primeval Titan hits. But yeah, too slow / too little impact for me to really consider for a high power level environment.
Yeah we haven't seen a white Savannah Lion this good since Dauntless Bodyguard. Probably a top 4 white true Savannah Lion variant alongside Kytheon / Isamaru / Dauntless Bodyguard. Will probably swap Soldier of the Pantheon for this. Being a warrior is also a nice bonus for those who support warrior synergies.
Can't say I fully agree with Glorybringer / Goldspan Dragon being better cards than Thundermaw Hellkite even without the Wildfire package. Thundermaw Hellkite is still the deadliest / most destructive 5-cmc red dragon out there with the fastest clock. While Goldspan Dragon does have some nice synergies with artifacts and ramping in general, having the least destructive power of the three makes it the worst of the 3 in my book overall.
Thundermaw Hellkite zapping X/1s in the air is huge for closing out the game, making it very difficult to wall. Most things in the air are either a 1/1 or a 4/4, which makes it near contestable in the air since very few things can trade / beat it in combat. Even then, it's able to tap those creatures down when Thundermaw Hellkite ETBs anyways, which gives it a good shot at racing your opponent.
What deck UR(x) deck (or any deck really) wouldn't care about mana ramp / fixing and card filtering? I'm confused to see people say things like "needs a deck that cares about the graveyard for Careful Study". They're looking too much into the graveyard aspect but completely overlooking the fact that it's also just card filtering.
I think this command is very cube dependent. The higher density of mana elves / mana rocks / Savannah Lions it can hit, the better this will be. The thing I don't like about this particular command the most is that none of its abilities really scale well into the late game, especially compared to other utility spells. The versatility is nice, but I can't see this supplanting other Golgari removal spells like Assassin's Trophy / Abrupt Decay / Maelstrom Pulse in my cube.
- It still has the two most important modes of Shock and Shatter
- Careful Study is generally a MUCH better mode than Raise Dead / the discard mode of Funeral Charm
- The treasure token mode is better than it seems: ramp and mana fixing is really nice to have. Lotus Petal is a pretty good card.
- Careful Study / Treasure token support graveyard / artifact shenanigans respectively while still being a really good value card on its own.
No. I've been running all the courts and the only one that's been consistently good has been Court of Grace.
http://cubecobra.com/content/article/5fbc06a55132cb1052c52d86
https://discord.gg/wRVzHQR
- Usher of the Fallen
- Halvar, God of Battle
- Starnheim Unleashed
- Doomskar
Nightmare Shepherd > Eradicator Valkyrie. Shepherd doesn't die to bolt, and that's a big deal.
Behold the Multiverse > Thirst for Knowledge (allows you to keep riskier hands, Thirst is a slow discard outlet anyways).
Foretell Wrath effect. Being able to tuck it away to cast it for a discount later is nice, especially if you're a bit short on mana. I think this competes well with tier 2 Wrath effects like Shatter the Sky / Fumigate. Will probably test over one of those.
- Gets hit by Wasteland
- Doesn't trigger landfall twice
- Lack of shuffle effect
- Doesn't fill graveyard
- Can't be re-used with Crucible effects
- Doesn't build up certain basic land count for things like Vedalken Shackles / Daze / Fireblast
Still not a bad card since it's a decent mana fixer, and it's REALLY good for a common.
I think this is LEAGUES above Advent of the Wurm. Faster, scaleable, mono colored, better at both offense and defense