Does anyone get an AI generated vibe off the brainstorm? The right wrist kinda has a watch, the instruments at the bottom kinda tail off and something just feels a bit uncanny-valley about it. Avons into his digital/mixed-medium peices right? I wouldn't be surprised if he is experimenting with it a little.
The art itself isn't bad, bit not my thing. Emmy and Angel look nice though.
Edit: I had a closer look at the higher res art, and the instruments look less AI generated than I thought at first.
I was always a fan of Pyroclasam and I am one of the few still running Breath of Darigaaz, it's definitely a pet card but a damage based sweeper that goes to the face can really pay off,
Delayed blast does all the things I liked about the above with 2023 power creep. Casting it from exile for 3 will end games pretty quickly and it's only going to get better with time as we get more cards that put things in exile to cast later.
For what it's worth, I don't think I have ever foretold delayed blast. It is always being cast for 3, wether from exile or hand.
Feels more like a constructed card. I don't run FoW or evoke elementals and those seem to be the big synergies.
It replaces itself so it's only one spell before gaining advantage though, I wouldn't be surprised if it does well in some more battle-cruiser-magic or commander cubes.
Going to test this. I've added kiki-jiki and its has been a fun addition despite not going all in on the combo. I always thought this looked a bit weak but as pointed our there are afew more ways to pay it off these days.
Honestly, my main drive is I'm gonna cut my tinker package, so I will have some open spot in various places. Bored with tinkers play patterns.
My players were complaining about their ramp targets always getting taken out by removal so I decided to give the Triplets a shot.
I am hoping it can also work with blink/clone/shard effects. One niche synergy is its a cool use for an instant speed necromancy as you can flash it in EoT (or to block) and untap with 12 power. Recurring nightmare will also do it thing pretty well here too.
Court of Garenbrig
Court of Locthwain
Court of Embereth
Embereth Veteran
Gruff Triplets
Restless Bivouac
Restless Vinestalk
The Irencrag
Irencrag is the one I am least solid on, but it was pennies so I decided to try it out.
The courts I am very hopefull for, the red one is kinda fringe but I'm hopeful. I was sad to cut Gonti so adding a better version of the effect is exciting. Green Court just seems busted to me.
Giving this a shot in my cube. Feels like it can really run away with games. Green doesn't have a "you become the monarch" card in my yet so I am glad to add the effect.
As other have mentioned, green is a solid creature based colour for taking/holding the monarchy so I expect this to be triggering its bigger effect pretty regularly.
Not 100% on the cut yet but I'll probably just cut my most boring non-creature and never look back.
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly.
The difference between Spirit of the Labyrinth and those sweepers is that it's much easier to tailor your deck around the sweepers to be very asymmetrical. It's much harder to break the symmetry of Spirit of the Labyrinth.
If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
This was much more true back when Spirit of the Labyrinth was printed, but there are so many card draw engines now regardless of color / archetype. Back in the day the aggro deck really only had Skullclamp / Sword of Fire and Ice, but now there's Palace Jailer / Esper Sentinel / Staff of the Storyteller / etc.
All true, its been a long time since I ran him so it could be a tinge of nostalgia. I opened my copy at first pre-release so its maybe a bit of a pet card.
Spirt's symetry is definitely alot harder to break than the cards I listed, a bit of exaggeration to make a point.
I still don't think I would be surprised to see it in a cube list; it's a 3 power 1W disruptive guy.
Is anyone still running the spirt, or would it look out of place in the average cube?
Solid card, I ran it for years before swapping it out for variety rather than power.
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly. If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
1 toughness is weak, but it also means it can be clamped or killed pretty easily when you want it off board.
Not a staple but I wouldn't think it was weird if I seen it in a list.
The wheel/draw-denial deck has been working well so far for me.
It's easy enough to slot it into a few different shells and they are all playable cards in their own rights.
It not winning the game can be an issue if the opponent decides to play it out and you are light on threats, it can take a while to actually win despite your massive advantage.
Part of me kind of likes its not an instant win button though. If you pull it off at a low life total your opponent has a chance to top deck for the win, happened to me last draft, my wheel drew me garbage (lands, redundent lock peices and counters they could play round)and my opponent top decked naught but gas.
I might be overreaching here, but I haven't explored this particular combo space in a while and I wonder if there are other new ways you can use this kind of self-bounce for other locks. The One Ring hardly needs support IMO, but maybe there can be a really fun package to assemble for some drafters?
These locks are usually pretty clunky and just generally unfun and extremely polarizing anyways. Taking extra turns, constant protection, things like Constant Mists can really derail a draft pretty fast and unnecessarily prolong games. When it comes to infinite life / infinite damage type stuff, I always say that it's better for a game to end than it is for a game to last forever.
Win speed is definitely the problem with some locks. Clocknapper/crystal shard has similar issues in my cube, players want to play it out because they have a very small chance to win, like interaction if their opponent taps out (Hint: they never will).
Might you not sooner want to use Kor Skyfisher? Or has that card fallen off
I think it's currently out for me or on the next round of updates, it might edge back in if I pick up a copy of The One Ring though. Still a decent card but I decided to try something else
A friend pointed out a lock with some common cube cards.
The One Ring
Hostage Taker
Venser the Sojourner (or Soulherder)
Play the ring, Hostage taker the ring, recast the ring, blink the Hostage taker. 3 colours, but esper is a solid shell with the tutors, card draw and removal to stay alive and find the peicez.
I never thought about the Hostage Taker interaction. Aether Channeler also works in this scenario too.
Yep, that's another. Hostage taker does the same with crystal shard from earlier in the thread.
If you look closely all the plants look like mini versions of the monster. I get the vibe it desolated the land and reshaped it in its own image.
The art itself isn't bad, bit not my thing. Emmy and Angel look nice though.
Edit: I had a closer look at the higher res art, and the instruments look less AI generated than I thought at first.
Delayed blast does all the things I liked about the above with 2023 power creep. Casting it from exile for 3 will end games pretty quickly and it's only going to get better with time as we get more cards that put things in exile to cast later.
For what it's worth, I don't think I have ever foretold delayed blast. It is always being cast for 3, wether from exile or hand.
It replaces itself so it's only one spell before gaining advantage though, I wouldn't be surprised if it does well in some more battle-cruiser-magic or commander cubes.
Honestly, my main drive is I'm gonna cut my tinker package, so I will have some open spot in various places. Bored with tinkers play patterns.
I am hoping it can also work with blink/clone/shard effects. One niche synergy is its a cool use for an instant speed necromancy as you can flash it in EoT (or to block) and untap with 12 power. Recurring nightmare will also do it thing pretty well here too.
Court of Garenbrig
Court of Locthwain
Court of Embereth
Embereth Veteran
Gruff Triplets
Restless Bivouac
Restless Vinestalk
The Irencrag
Irencrag is the one I am least solid on, but it was pennies so I decided to try it out.
The courts I am very hopefull for, the red one is kinda fringe but I'm hopeful. I was sad to cut Gonti so adding a better version of the effect is exciting. Green Court just seems busted to me.
As other have mentioned, green is a solid creature based colour for taking/holding the monarchy so I expect this to be triggering its bigger effect pretty regularly.
Not 100% on the cut yet but I'll probably just cut my most boring non-creature and never look back.
Black has more recurring bodies, but I feel like my green goes less wide than it used to.
All true, its been a long time since I ran him so it could be a tinge of nostalgia. I opened my copy at first pre-release so its maybe a bit of a pet card.
Spirt's symetry is definitely alot harder to break than the cards I listed, a bit of exaggeration to make a point.
I still don't think I would be surprised to see it in a cube list; it's a 3 power 1W disruptive guy.
Is anyone still running the spirt, or would it look out of place in the average cube?
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly. If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
1 toughness is weak, but it also means it can be clamped or killed pretty easily when you want it off board.
Not a staple but I wouldn't think it was weird if I seen it in a list.
It's easy enough to slot it into a few different shells and they are all playable cards in their own rights.
It not winning the game can be an issue if the opponent decides to play it out and you are light on threats, it can take a while to actually win despite your massive advantage.
Part of me kind of likes its not an instant win button though. If you pull it off at a low life total your opponent has a chance to top deck for the win, happened to me last draft, my wheel drew me garbage (lands, redundent lock peices and counters they could play round)and my opponent top decked naught but gas.
Win speed is definitely the problem with some locks. Clocknapper/crystal shard has similar issues in my cube, players want to play it out because they have a very small chance to win, like interaction if their opponent taps out (Hint: they never will).
I think it's currently out for me or on the next round of updates, it might edge back in if I pick up a copy of The One Ring though. Still a decent card but I decided to try something else
Yep, that's another. Hostage taker does the same with crystal shard from earlier in the thread.