He was in my article. Hits like a truck. If you support an Izzet spells matters theme (the guttersnipe.dec) I suggest giving him a spin.
Is anyone including this package? I think this deck is awesome, and this dude is definitely incredible in it. I'm gonna add Delver of Secrets soon just for testing.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest 2U
Legendary Creature - Human Monk
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may pay (R/W)(R/W). If you do, target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
3/2
-------
I saw this guy in action recently, and he was much better than I initially gave him credit for. I'm really surprised there isn't a thread on this guy yet.
I believe it is if you support blue aggro. Please lisy the critical mass of cards require for blue aggro at 360 that doesn't include frost walker if you believe otherwise. There simply isn't much of them.
It's true that I haven't actually tried blue aggro at 360. However, in order to try that, I would have to cut some much more objectively powerful cards that blue decks tend to want.
I don't think we're at the point yet where a blue aggro deck would be competitive in a 360 environment. There may be enough support (critical mass) for it to actually be a deck, but I don't think it would be competitive with what the other decks at 360 are doing.
But it's true, I haven't tested it, so people reading this thread should definitely defer to people who have tested it.
Blue tempo decks are amazing in my cube without aggro or tempo-exclusive support cards. I don't think blue needs cards like that for the deck to be successful. And even if I was including cards that are specific to that deck, blue tempo decks are more interested in flash, evasion and utility than they are about the power/cost ratio of their threats.
I agree with this for the most part. I do think blue aggro/tempo is becoming more likely.
-----------------------
Still on discussion:
Even if I were trying to put a blue aggro/tempo deck together and make it a permanent mainstay, I still don't think I would want this card. It dies to everything.
Another way to encourage color combinations is to make sure those decks have game against your other decks.
Some combinations (green/black) will be seen less than other ones (blue/white) just because the overall quality of cards is worse, but it doesn't mean those decks have to be worse on average than the color combinations that see more play. Maybe only one person in a 8 man is drafting Golgari while two people are going after Azorius. Well, that Golgari drafter has a lot more access to cards that should generally be able to pull him up and over the Azorius drafters.
Really though, color balance is a significant problem of cube (and Magic lands in general).
Next week is 3cmc black creatures, excited to see what everyone's top 10 is in cube's most discussed slot. I think the last ~20 pages of this thread have seen more discussion on 3cmc black creatures 2x more than any other topic, lol.
Gifts is a really fun card to play with and has a lot of really interesting connections. It helps that all my cubes are pretty much a perfect home for it, haha.
I think Frantic Search is the most underrated blue card draw spell period. Compulsive is also really good, but definitely not as risky/upside/rainbows as Frantic Search or Gifts.
I'd really like to how the community would rank Cogwork Librarian, Lore Seeker, Deal Broker, or Aether Searcher among the conspiracies, since that will also give us some preliminary idea on pick order for conspiracy cards -- something we haven't polled the community on ever. The last time we took data was with the top 20 IIRC, which was while conspiracy was being released.
Here's my solution: We'll rank the constructs with their appropriate colorless section, but when we get around to ranking conspiracies, we'll throw all of these into the mix with all the other conspiracies and just rank the whole thing and then I'll compile and post everything.
Also, everyone else: Lore Seeker and other draft-alteringconspiracies are fine to vote on in this poll. The actual conspiracies and silver boardered cards will be voted on much later. I'll put this in the OP.
Just to clarify, you mean "draft-altering constructs", right?
Oops. Yeah. Constructs.
I'm gonna start a discussion on Cogwork Librarian and any other issues we might have soon.
Is anyone including this package? I think this deck is awesome, and this dude is definitely incredible in it. I'm gonna add Delver of Secrets soon just for testing.
EDIT: Deleted a "not"
2U
Legendary Creature - Human Monk
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may pay (R/W)(R/W). If you do, target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
3/2
-------
I saw this guy in action recently, and he was much better than I initially gave him credit for. I'm really surprised there isn't a thread on this guy yet.
I'm not talking about the thing getting Doom Bladed, I'm talking about it getting tapped by an Icy Manipulator or blocked by a 1/1.
It's true that I haven't actually tried blue aggro at 360. However, in order to try that, I would have to cut some much more objectively powerful cards that blue decks tend to want.
I don't think we're at the point yet where a blue aggro deck would be competitive in a 360 environment. There may be enough support (critical mass) for it to actually be a deck, but I don't think it would be competitive with what the other decks at 360 are doing.
But it's true, I haven't tested it, so people reading this thread should definitely defer to people who have tested it.
I agree with this for the most part. I do think blue aggro/tempo is becoming more likely.
-----------------------
Still on discussion:
Even if I were trying to put a blue aggro/tempo deck together and make it a permanent mainstay, I still don't think I would want this card. It dies to everything.
Some combinations (green/black) will be seen less than other ones (blue/white) just because the overall quality of cards is worse, but it doesn't mean those decks have to be worse on average than the color combinations that see more play. Maybe only one person in a 8 man is drafting Golgari while two people are going after Azorius. Well, that Golgari drafter has a lot more access to cards that should generally be able to pull him up and over the Azorius drafters.
Really though, color balance is a significant problem of cube (and Magic lands in general).
You can't beneficially enchant or equip it, it dies to literally anything your opponent does to it, and a 1/1 trades with it.
I would pass on this at every cube size except for exceptionally large ones trying to support blue aggro.
Also, I like Shu Yun -- he's very efficiently costed.
Gifts is a really fun card to play with and has a lot of really interesting connections. It helps that all my cubes are pretty much a perfect home for it, haha.
I think Frantic Search is the most underrated blue card draw spell period. Compulsive is also really good, but definitely not as risky/upside/rainbows as Frantic Search or Gifts.
I'd really like to how the community would rank Cogwork Librarian, Lore Seeker, Deal Broker, or Aether Searcher among the conspiracies, since that will also give us some preliminary idea on pick order for conspiracy cards -- something we haven't polled the community on ever. The last time we took data was with the top 20 IIRC, which was while conspiracy was being released.
Here's my solution: We'll rank the constructs with their appropriate colorless section, but when we get around to ranking conspiracies, we'll throw all of these into the mix with all the other conspiracies and just rank the whole thing and then I'll compile and post everything.
Oops. Yeah. Constructs.
I'm gonna start a discussion on Cogwork Librarian and any other issues we might have soon.
Thank you so much.