- Mergatroid_Jones
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Member for 8 years, 3 months, and 26 days
Last active Thu, Apr, 18 2024 13:44:46
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Jan 6, 2018Mergatroid_Jones posted a message on The Magic Market Index for Jan 5, 2018Amonkhet is on there twice, and Hour of Devastation is missing, so you know.Posted in: Articles
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Nov 30, 2017Mergatroid_Jones posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemEveryone: STOP TRYING TO WIN THE CULTURE WAR BY POSTING ON THE INTERNET!!!Posted in: Articles
No matter how smart and compelling your post/ article seems to you, it is not going to change hearts and minds. None of us had ever heard of either of these two people before this nonsense: it is just an excuse to rehash a bigger issue that will never be resolved by making posts and counter-posts on message boards. (Yes, I know saying that here is hypocritical.) -
Apr 23, 2017Mergatroid_Jones posted a message on The Magic Market Index Amonkhet Set ReviewIt's like people don't even know that Anointed Procession will be eight bucks in five years. How is it this kind of card always follows this pattern? It seems investors would have destroyed that easy plunder by over-exploiting it.Posted in: Articles
Not that I mind. I'm happy when cards are cheap, and easily available. Order now for your casual fun purposes, or you'll end up paying way more for the same card. In the mean time, almost every other card in the set will tank in value. Business as usual. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Later in the game when they have maybe one or two cards and a limited life total, this is a real kick in the teeth (times when Inquisition of Kozilek might whiff). The scry is just a nice little upside that comes up sometimes.
On turn one, a targeted spell is probably better, and a whiff is unlikely. But that's offset by the damage. Black aggro loves a baby Blightning.
I like it better than Dreams of Steel and Oil or Duress. Basically all the one mana options other than Inquisition of Kozilek.
After a little time has passed:
I think Welcome to Sweettooth was a real sleeper for this set. Card's good! Any time I've seen it come down, it's been a lot of value for little mana. It was a last minute add for me, and I'm glad I threw it in.
Picklock Prankster is really good. That vigilance is sweet.
Cheeky House-Mouse and Embereth Veteran have just been bodies. But that's alright.
Torch the Tower has been good. Bargain isn't hard, and exile is very relevant.
Lord Skitter's Butcher has never been anything but two bodies, and the "can't block" is a pretty big downside. Still okay though.
Food Coma has been bad and will get cut.
Hopeful Vigil is whatever. But Hopeless Nightmare is quite good.
Witch's Mark is nice. I like a nice aura for upside.
Three Bowls of Porridge is not a card I was high on, and it's not a card I love, but for something so overpriced, it's not so bad.
I threw this in on a lark, and it has really over-performed. The body is serviceable, and the discard is occasionally relevant. But more important, a cube deck always has some pretty good stuff lying around in the sideboard.
I've been astonished at just how powerful it is to pay 4 for Granted. That expensive bomb I didn't think would fit in this deck? That extra disenchant effect you didn't think you needed in the main board? That off-color value creature you happen to have a treasure for? There's usually something good to grab.
And a 1/4 flying is not a bad play on turn two.
I thought for sure I had made a thread for this, but a search turned up nothing.
This card has been great for me. Unfortunately if doesn't copy ETBs, but the equip cost is cheap. Playing a bomb and then equipping this to something else making a second bomb is a good way to get game over. They can answer often answer one, but not two.
I've been playing this since it came out, and been impressed.
But yeah, this is great with any powerful trigger, and insane with those that repeat.
Purely as an aggro card, you play your 1-drop on turn one. Turn two play this, equip by discarding, and swing in leaving one mana open. At that point it's operating as a Bonesplitter/ Eater of Virtue, but was the one mana you left open and the one point of toughness you got worth discarding the card? I dunno.
So I don't love it as a pure aggro card, and as a discard outlet it's a little less reliable than Putrid Imp. But the fact that it's both things makes it more appealing. And peasant legal doesn't hurt.
A 3/2 haste that can make more 3/2 hastes.
A black Breakneck Berserker isn't a bad base, and descend is pretty easy to trigger. Unfortunately tokens don't trigger it (it is specifically worded as a permanent card going to the graveyard). And the skeletons don't get to keep the +1/+0 on defense if you bounce the enchantment on your end step.
That said, this is pretty good at keeping an aggressive deck from running out of gas. And you can get +1/+0 and (tapped) haste on your Cult Conscript or Gutterbones for funzies.
Dauntless Dismantler as I said is a powerful hatebear.
Helping Hand is a lot weaker than Unearth, but I don't think we've seen a white version at 1.
Dusk Rose Reliquary is a white Bone Splinters. But white does have Swords to Plowshares/ Path to Exile.
Market Gnome is the first 1-drop Oculus variant. Good if you like saccing/ recurring artifacts.
Vanguard of the Rose costs 1 to activate, but white doesn't get a lot of sac outlets. It's a serviceable body.
Confounding Riddle is an upgrade on an already decent Supreme Will.
Eaten By Piranhas is Frogify with flash. Witness Protection is still almost certainly the better card, but flash plays out really well. Holding up both a two-mana removal spell and two-mana counterspell feels good.
Lodestone Needle might just be good enough. It ain't removal, but flash is nice and the backside is easier to access than most of the craft cards. Maybe good enough you like artifacts.
Bitter Triumph is the biggest cube uncommon in the set. It'll go in peasant and outside. And both places it's an excellent early-game discard-outlet for a reanimate while being good without that option.
Bloodhorn Flail is also a decent discard outlet that can hit pretty hard. Get that on a 1-drop evasive creature and close out the game. It's ultimately worse Trusty Machete unless you want the discard though.
Deep-Cavern Bat is the other huge cube hit both in and out of peasant. Lifelink is such a huge difference, especially on an evasive creature. I know where my +1/+1 counter is going. I was always a fan of Kitesail Freebooter.
Soulcoil Viper is a big hit for me. The finality counter does make a major difference from Doomed Necromancer though. Being able to re-reanimate is nice.
Synapse Necromage is fine for 'crats.
Geological Appraiser as said is a monored Bloodbraid Elf without haste. That's good.
Cenote Scout is the explore card we always wanted. I dunno about Spyglass Siren.
Bartolime del Presidio has a free sac and gets artifacts.
Caparocti Sunborn can repeatedly discover. Which is good if you can pull it off.
Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar may do just enough.
Zoyova, Lava-Tongue is a punishment factory.
Digsite Conservator can nuke a graveyard, can discover out value, and can do both. Not too bad for a dorky 2/1 for 2.
Scampering Surveyor is colorless ramp on a body. Not bad, but you don't get it until you can already play a 4 drop.
Sorcerous Spyglass is a fresh downshift. Is it good in the format? Well it ain't no Phyrexian Revoker. But maybe.
Swashbuckler's Whip is a weaker Icy Manipulator, but that's still not bad. If you're discovering for 10, you're not expecting to turn over the one card that will save you, but if you're at that point you'll take anything.
I don't trust Pit of Offerings, but I'm interested.
None of the land-cyclers are all that good. Marauding Brinefang, Soaring Sandwing, Rampaging Spiketail, and Seismic Monstrosaur. Nurturing Bristleback seems the best of them, and again they've been printing a lot in that slot.
Deconstruction Hammer is okay artifact/enchantment destuction, but no Citizen's Crowbar.
Miner's Guidewing is an okay Swooping Lookout variant. That card has been fine for me.
Petrify comes in too late after so many powerful Pacifisms have been printed.
Tinker's Tote is good if you love artifacts (three in one) and great for blinks or other recursion.
Orazca Puzzle-Door is a bit like Witching Well. Probably doesn't quite get there.
Tithing Blade is a sorcery speed Diabolic Edict you can recur with artifact shenanigans, and craft is pretty doable. Doesn't quite stand up next to Sheoldred's Edict, but still good.
Goblin Tomb Raider is an okay Kird Ape type guy, but you aren't gonna swing out on turn one very often.
Over the Edge is another sorcery speed Naturalize with upside, but the upside seems much weaker than Atraxa's Fall or Stormkeld Vangaurd (which is misspelled in the mtgs catalogue).
Poison Dart Frog looks like the best common in the set to me.
Burried Treasure seems alright.
Hunter's Blowgun does grant pingers that crucial deathtouch.
Runaway Boulder gets the job done, and cycling is nice to have.
I'm not sure how highly played Rabid Bite variants are, but this one is something else. Removal plus card advantage is a winning combination. Discover 1 is already a massive upside, and you can only go up from there.
There are lots of little play lines, like eating their little 1/1 token with a high-power creature so you can discover something bigger. Or building your 1-drop slot so you discover into what you want off one bonus damage. Or just using it as a Rabid Bite if you only have exactly the right amount of power.
Sorcery speed, and doesn't hit planeswalkers. But this is kinda crazy pushed.