izzet staticaster is a huge pain for infect to deal with since every single activation of it bleeds out at least one card from them, either by killing their stuff or forcing them to use their pump to save it. walking ballista is good for similar reasons, even if it is a bit more limited.
I'd like to talk about Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper. lands that tap for 2 seem very powerful, even with drawbacks. is it playable? Specifically I'm thinking about the new planeswalker rule. are turn 3 ajani vengeaent and gideon, ally of zendikar good enough? is a combo with oath of nissa in some sort of planeswalker ramp deck playable? does the fact that it comes it tapped make it hot garbage? are there any non-planeswalker uses for it? let's discuss!
and I would think that a free pair of 2/2s with the potential to get more is roughly equivalent to a flashbacked instant (the only really notable one that's played is cryptic). Obviously it's not quite there, but this is a thread for cards that COULD be good but are missing something, and I feel that grave titan fits that mold.
I'm aware of why they don't see much play (mostly due to mana cost and not having a great shell), but they should definitely be powerful enough to at least look at. Especially since things like torrential gearhulk or elspeth, sun's champion can occasionally show up as a 1 or 2 of. Obviously grave titan is going to have a lot of competition from the delve threats and DS in any sort of controllish/midrange build, which make it less than ideal to play, but I've played plenty of games where tasigur has been payed for full cost or street wraith was hardcast. I'm not saying it's super amazing or is better than the delve threats, but it seems to line up well against a lot of what's going on currently if you can get there.
another one that I've been thinking a lot about lately is the titan cycle, particularly grave titan, and to a lesser extent inferno titan. 6 mana is a lot, but getting 10 power over 3 creatures, one of which threatens to very quickly take over a game if not killed asap seems worth it. It's even bigger than the delve creatures and always at least trades with death's shadows that are big enough to rumble with it. In a world where lingering souls is a legit threat this just seems like a supercharged version. Inferno titan and frost titan are bit harder to justify, although the ability to clear a board just on attack or lock down your opponent's threats shouldn't be overlooked.
zur's weirding is a card that I have always wanted to make work. mystical teachings always seems to be on the cusp of being good reveillark/body double a powerhouse standard combo from back in the day, is unfortunately a bit too slow to work here. I frequently envision some some of jeskai LD with fulminators and avalanche riders.
It's also worth mentioning that while emblems do give a significant advantage, most, if not all of them either take 2-3 turns or more to really become backbreaking, require other permanents to do anything, or can be played around fairly easily. The only one that I've seen win just by resolving on a consistent basis is elspeth, sun's champion, and that's much more due to the fact that she puts out a dumb amount of tokens with her +1 than the actual emblem itself.
xenagos, god of revels is another general that just got much better with the change. It was always fringe, but definitely playable at 30 life. There's a list running around my shop and it consistently does really well at 30 life since it often only takes 1-2 swings with whatever fatty to kill, and can pretty easily win on turn 5 or 6 even with a small bit of disruption, or from an empty board (minus zenagos). It will definitely get a huge boost now that it will only ever take 1 hit to kill.
His reliance on other cards is a big part of what kept him out of the format before and unfortunatly the 20 life issue doesn't change this. He is a risk/reward general but at least the reward is more worth it now. I think rafiq is just better most of the time as he doesn't rely on other cards and is cheaper.
He only needs one other card, and he topdecks much much better than a lot of other voltronish decks like rafiq because once you get xenagoos out every other creature and cards that put creatures on the battlefield become massive threats. I don't think he'll be tier one, but the ability to win out of nowhere that he has is virtually unmatched, and he gets a lot stronger with the life total change. I would not be at all surprised if he gets some top 8s.
xenagos, god of revels is another general that just got much better with the change. It was always fringe, but definitely playable at 30 life. There's a list running around my shop and it consistently does really well at 30 life since it often only takes 1-2 swings with whatever fatty to kill, and can pretty easily win on turn 5 or 6 even with a small bit of disruption, or from an empty board (minus zenagos). It will definitely get a huge boost now that it will only ever take 1 hit to kill.
I just took down a small tournament yesterday with it. Dude is still straight busted. I'm probably gonna take out time spiral (my last remaining non-sanitarium synergy piece) at some point, but I'm not 100% what I'd replace it with yet. I'll probably just wait until kaladesh comes out and try out the new nissa in that slot. Once again in like 90% of my games he could be a vanilla 3/3 for 3 and it would make absolutely no difference, and outside of the sanitarium I'm pretty convinced that that's the best way to treat him. even the times where his abilities are relevant they're not amazing. usually they just shut down something like a sylcan library or draw me a card or 2 from them killing him a couple times.
I can only see cutting primetime in lists where you don't have the depths/stage combo. In my list for example, I have never lost a single game where I resolved a primetime. If you don't have the combo or an overabundance of utility lands I can see how it would be a bit lackluster. In terms of finishers that can be possible replacements for it: grave titan, rune-scarred demon, aetherling or dragonlord silumgar are all not-terrible.
What do people think about Sylvan Scrying? it might be slower then crop rotation, but less risky, due to no sacrifice..
What are thoughts on Gitrog and Titania also, I cut them right now, had them in before, they seemed pretty good albeit a bit on the slower side...
I like traverse the ulvenwald over scrying. It requires minimal effort to hit delirium (land, instant and sorcery are basically free, so you only need one creature or planeswalker to die) and the added utility of searching for a creature is just so powerful.
I have so far only cast gitfrog in one game, and I was pretty incredibly underwhelmed. I'll test it a bit more but it's unlikely to last much longer.
loam is amazing and makes intuition basically a 3 win condition. raven's crime +wasteland +loam; depths + stage + loam; two cycling lands + loam; blighted fen + wasteland + loam; bojuka bog + dust bowl + loam, etc. It gives just so much value.
I just got back from a small 3 round tournament where I went 3-0 to win the whole thing, dropping only two games, one of which I lost due to an insane topdeck and the other where I made a misplay that ultimately cost me the game.
Round 1 was against prossh. It was a pretty easy 2-0, and nothing much of note happened.
Round 2 was against rhys the redeemed that I don't think was super tuned (I know the guy who played it and he normally plays a fairly tuned griselbrand deck so this was a nice surprise). game 1 I misplayed by not saving my putrefy for a coat of arms that I had seem with an earlier thoughtseize, although even then there were a lot of points where the game was salvagable if I had drawn just one or two more pieces of removal or a sweeper. Game 2 I won off the back of an ugin just wrecking his board. Game 3 I finally got the puzzle box lock turn 5 or so, and it was definitely very effective in ultimately ending the game as I got basically infinite resources vs. his nothing.
Round 3 was against a very tuned xenagos, god of revels deck that I have historically had a very tough time with due to it's explosive nature. Even back when I was playing tasigur (albeit a pretty creature light list) it was still very difficult. However it felt surprisingly not bad with leovold, especially when he didn't get a super explosive start. game 1 I had gained control of the matchup until I tapped out to play a threat (I want to say it was a recast leovold, but I don't really remember, I do remember thinking that if I had been able to untap I would have 99% won) which he took full opportunity of by slamming a malignus to one shot me. Game 2 I managed to survive the onslaught until I could drop an ugin and -7 to clear the board. Even then he managed to get a ruric thar, the unbowed into play which brought me dangerously low before I managed to finish him off with a sword of feast and famine equipped leo. game 3 an early exploration combined with him having a non-mana dork fueled opener let me just run away with the game, and a wasteland/life from the loam combo combined with an active primeval titan let me finish him off in short order.
changes I'll make include -1 burgeoning and -1 crop rotation for +1 land and +1 of probably either fact or fiction or brainstorm. I'm unsure if any lock pieces aside from geier reach sanitarium are needed. While the idea of generating massive CA is great, I'm unsure if more than 1 (the sanitarium) or maybe 2 (probably time spiral?) is necessary. most of my games were won by just being a beastly tempo/control deck rather than any particular interaction with leo. He could have been just a generic 3/3 for BUG in the vast majority of these games.
mystical teachings always seems to be on the cusp of being good
reveillark/body double a powerhouse standard combo from back in the day, is unfortunately a bit too slow to work here. I frequently envision some some of jeskai LD with fulminators and avalanche riders.
He only needs one other card, and he topdecks much much better than a lot of other voltronish decks like rafiq because once you get xenagoos out every other creature and cards that put creatures on the battlefield become massive threats. I don't think he'll be tier one, but the ability to win out of nowhere that he has is virtually unmatched, and he gets a lot stronger with the life total change. I would not be at all surprised if he gets some top 8s.
I like traverse the ulvenwald over scrying. It requires minimal effort to hit delirium (land, instant and sorcery are basically free, so you only need one creature or planeswalker to die) and the added utility of searching for a creature is just so powerful.
I have so far only cast gitfrog in one game, and I was pretty incredibly underwhelmed. I'll test it a bit more but it's unlikely to last much longer.
I just got back from a small 3 round tournament where I went 3-0 to win the whole thing, dropping only two games, one of which I lost due to an insane topdeck and the other where I made a misplay that ultimately cost me the game.
Round 1 was against prossh. It was a pretty easy 2-0, and nothing much of note happened.
Round 2 was against rhys the redeemed that I don't think was super tuned (I know the guy who played it and he normally plays a fairly tuned griselbrand deck so this was a nice surprise). game 1 I misplayed by not saving my putrefy for a coat of arms that I had seem with an earlier thoughtseize, although even then there were a lot of points where the game was salvagable if I had drawn just one or two more pieces of removal or a sweeper. Game 2 I won off the back of an ugin just wrecking his board. Game 3 I finally got the puzzle box lock turn 5 or so, and it was definitely very effective in ultimately ending the game as I got basically infinite resources vs. his nothing.
Round 3 was against a very tuned xenagos, god of revels deck that I have historically had a very tough time with due to it's explosive nature. Even back when I was playing tasigur (albeit a pretty creature light list) it was still very difficult. However it felt surprisingly not bad with leovold, especially when he didn't get a super explosive start. game 1 I had gained control of the matchup until I tapped out to play a threat (I want to say it was a recast leovold, but I don't really remember, I do remember thinking that if I had been able to untap I would have 99% won) which he took full opportunity of by slamming a malignus to one shot me. Game 2 I managed to survive the onslaught until I could drop an ugin and -7 to clear the board. Even then he managed to get a ruric thar, the unbowed into play which brought me dangerously low before I managed to finish him off with a sword of feast and famine equipped leo. game 3 an early exploration combined with him having a non-mana dork fueled opener let me just run away with the game, and a wasteland/life from the loam combo combined with an active primeval titan let me finish him off in short order.
changes I'll make include -1 burgeoning and -1 crop rotation for +1 land and +1 of probably either fact or fiction or brainstorm. I'm unsure if any lock pieces aside from geier reach sanitarium are needed. While the idea of generating massive CA is great, I'm unsure if more than 1 (the sanitarium) or maybe 2 (probably time spiral?) is necessary. most of my games were won by just being a beastly tempo/control deck rather than any particular interaction with leo. He could have been just a generic 3/3 for BUG in the vast majority of these games.