I’m typically very harsh on new rabblemasters because of their competition, but I’ve been pretty impressed by Krenko. I’m eh on the fact that the goblins come in untapped, but having 3 toughness is great and the synergy with equipment has been relevant multiple times.
Not a bad card, but it really does cost somewhere between 2 and 3 mana (assuming that splitting between 2 and 1 is an upgrade over 3, which it usually is). This card can lead to some really awkward turns and mana is incredibly tight in red aggro decks. A pass for me, but I'm interested to see how it performs for others if they test it.
Signets can be super awkward though, like when you need to hold up a counterspell on 3 and only have an island and selesnya signet in play or whatever. I'll be switching to talismans, although I'm not happy about it because I love the signet foils.
I don’t think you need to swap out ALL your lands for snow lands if you want to play this card. I’ll be cubing ~10 snow islands and snow forests to support this little strix. But I’m not super anal about what lands I play, I just like playing good cards. That half-ass approach is also going to get tricky if we get another good snow card (I may run 10 in all colors to support Frostwalk Bastion as well).
I feel like both Cryptic and Shackles fill that slot, and I'm not certain I want another card that does that. This card is good if you can cast it, but it's not like it's bonkers or anything. Would have cubed at 1UU, but as is I'd rather have Supreme Will.
This. We already have two strong cards that incentivize going into heavy blue, and both of them are stronger than this card. I’ll likely pass on this one.
I think there’s serious upside here, but I wouldn’t play this card in a non aggro deck. In an aggro deck against control, it can ensure lethal and prevent interaction. The 3/3 body is relevant and gets you an additional threat, even if a savannah lions on t4 is lame. But I think it has real legs, will likely test it over History of Benalia at 450. Don’t like it over the Gideons or other 3 cmc creatures.
I think this card is better than Declaration in Stone. It’s backbreaking against aggro (though the front is pretty bad), and can be used for alphas. Will need to test to confirm, but pretty sure I’m in.
I don’t cube green aggro anymore, but that’s not going to stop me from slamming this. It’s a 3G 4/4 with protection from instants that eventually grows into an unstoppable threat. You don’t need to have green aggro in your cube to play this monster of a card. It’s good in Ramp, aggressive midrange, you name it.
I have no aggro 2/1s to cut for this card, but I’ll find another cut.
Woof that is some synergy I've never thought about. Attack with Krenko, make goblins, use those goblins to tap blockers before the declare blockers step. That's actually sweet.
Although this isn't necessarily a criteria for inclusion based on power level, it also feels like a card with a very high skill ceiling and good gameplay. Unless there's a threat you need to answer now, you're incentivized to think about what your opponent can play and get Explosion Zone to that cmc. There's a fundamental tension between "do I march this up to answer future threats" and "I should wait for more information" which I really enjoy.
I don't think this card is bad. While it's not an army in a can, it's not hard to get a 4/4 off of it the next turn and it's body is quite significant. Not having an ETB is rough for a 5 drop, so I don't think it quite gets there but I wouldn't blink an eye if someone ran this over Baneslayer.
As a sidenote, why is Kefnet the only 4 drop in this cycle? Pretty disappointing imo, these other cards could have been way closer to cubeable had they been at 4 mana and have their abilities scaled back a bit.
Explosion Zone doesn't force you to play bad magic but rather allows you to destroy that one permanent that MUST be destroyed.
This is spot on. Effects like this that are on lands are so important because they're pretty much pure upside (especially because this comes into play untapped). Obviously not tapping for colors is a big deal, but most decks with good fixing can afford to run 1 utility land. If you're saccing it on t4 or whatever, it's because you absolutely have to, and without it you were probably dead anyway.
I actually think the rate on adding counters is fine. You can add counters slowly over time or like 3 at once if you have nothing to do with your mana. I'm actually pleasantly surprised it allows you to add more than one at a time. I'm imagining control mirrors where you march this up to 6 and leave it there to deal with your opponent's finishers when they come down. I think this card is pretty good and definitely worth a test.
I'm only luke warm on it as I prefer Tallrand and Thing in The Ice as spells matters cards. What I do find intriguing is the mild boost to spells matters and recursive nature of the threat. Many of my blue decks, especially the spells deck, are win-con light. They can really struggle it their engines get killed. This dude is much harder to get rid of. Many blue decks will let this just get killed and cast it again later, saving counters for exile effects. Similarly durable beaters are usually 6 mana (except for True Name Nemesis) so I might have to try this.
And once again blue gets the cheap one. I will never understand why wizards changed this part of the color pie, but we get the benefits.
Eh, I think this is far less of a spells matter card and much more of a value card. You play it for the 4/5 flying body for 4 and hope to hit value 1/4 of the time IMO.
Exactly this. The floor on Talrand and Thing in the Ice is so incredibly medium, while this card is a legitimate threat. Triggering it for card advantage even once means you've got a good card, and with synergies it starts becoming a great card.
It's not that Kefnet copies them, it's that Condescend on your opponent's spells sets up your Kefnet reveals, and Remand allows you to trigger Kefnet on your opponent's turns. It's also pretty nuts with Vampiric and Mystical Tutor.
The green one has potential since getting rid of the color restriction means more ways to find Palace Jailer.
Getting Palace Jailer specifically is actually very real upside! But yeah the green and white effects are the ones that intrigue me the most. I like Secure the Wastes more than the white one, although running both isn't out of the question. The green one to me seems pretty reasonable - trading one green mana off GSZ for the ability to get any color creature from your library or graveyard is a pretty big deal. I think this is better than Chord, but Chord was never that good for us so we'll have to see how this one does in testing.
This. We already have two strong cards that incentivize going into heavy blue, and both of them are stronger than this card. I’ll likely pass on this one.
I have no aggro 2/1s to cut for this card, but I’ll find another cut.
As a sidenote, why is Kefnet the only 4 drop in this cycle? Pretty disappointing imo, these other cards could have been way closer to cubeable had they been at 4 mana and have their abilities scaled back a bit.
This is spot on. Effects like this that are on lands are so important because they're pretty much pure upside (especially because this comes into play untapped). Obviously not tapping for colors is a big deal, but most decks with good fixing can afford to run 1 utility land. If you're saccing it on t4 or whatever, it's because you absolutely have to, and without it you were probably dead anyway.
I actually think the rate on adding counters is fine. You can add counters slowly over time or like 3 at once if you have nothing to do with your mana. I'm actually pleasantly surprised it allows you to add more than one at a time. I'm imagining control mirrors where you march this up to 6 and leave it there to deal with your opponent's finishers when they come down. I think this card is pretty good and definitely worth a test.
Exactly this. The floor on Talrand and Thing in the Ice is so incredibly medium, while this card is a legitimate threat. Triggering it for card advantage even once means you've got a good card, and with synergies it starts becoming a great card.
Getting Palace Jailer specifically is actually very real upside! But yeah the green and white effects are the ones that intrigue me the most. I like Secure the Wastes more than the white one, although running both isn't out of the question. The green one to me seems pretty reasonable - trading one green mana off GSZ for the ability to get any color creature from your library or graveyard is a pretty big deal. I think this is better than Chord, but Chord was never that good for us so we'll have to see how this one does in testing.