A The Meathook Massacre variant that makes mana instead of draining opponents. Loses aristocrats value if you run that, but otherwise can still generate value over the long game while stifling opponents' aggressive openers.
I think this might be a little slow for us, but could be a decent test. Costs the extra mana upfront to Earthquake variants but immediately generates another mana after, and can net even more mana (or artifact tokens) on later turns. We've been trying Subterranean Tremors and I think we value the artifact destruction over the mana from this, but I could stand corrected.
We've been playing Sword of Forge and Frontier and this seems better. This honestly seems like it might be the second best "sword" to me after only Sword of Fire and Ice, and 2 1/1 flyers per attack (not player combat hit) are no joke. This thing representing 3-5 burst damage while clogging up the board and providing more sword-carriers seems really strong.
, Discard a card: Draw a card. If the discarded a card was a creature card, amass Orcs 1.
1/4
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I like this quite a bit as our third Rakdos guild slot card. Great defensive body that can make tokens and threaten instant surprise blockers, all while digging and drawing cards. Easy fit in RB reanimator and Sneak Attack decks, while also being a natural fit in RB Midrange decks with Recurring Nightmare or any other deck that can take advantage of the dig or discard (or tokens). Only shell this doesn't fit well into is RB aggro decks, but I'd be willing to make that sacrifice, and the competition in Rakdos is not particularly steep after Kolaghan's Command and Chaos Defiler imo, as I personally like this much more than options we've played before like Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast/Rakdos Cackler/Ob Nixilis, the Adversary/Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger/etc.
Got some extended play in with this during our last several drafts. Card is sooo good and has been played and impressed every time. It's definitely a 4 drop in deckbuilding, and will be cast as a 4 drop the overwhelming majority of the time.
We cut Hellrider for this, and the swap was worth it. As far as I'm concerned, Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Fiery Confluence are the only red 4 drops better than this, and I don't think that's hyperbole (unless you consider Sneak Attack is technically a 4 drop but you know what I mean lol). Card was super impressive, and was usually at least 8 damage of burst, all of which is super difficult to block favorably and handily dodges removal.
This Armed // Dangerous also being a creature was pretty useful, so it can be fished out for burst with creature tutors, or in last drafts case, can be activated multiple times with cards like Recurring Nightmare
Was actually super curious about this like a month ago, we never tested it but we've since cut all the 3cmc Oblivion Ring effects since they felt too slow/narrow. Went with Touch the Spirit Realm, Leyline Binding, Council's Judgment, and Prismatic Ending to flesh out the slots but this was pretty interesting too. Assumed it was too weak in control and just unnecessary in combo decks, but how has it played?
Didn't realize it had the flicker effect without tax, and that actually seems pretty sweet, but how often has that come up for people? And how has it played in control? Have the slower W decks (UW control, UW artifact ramp, etc) been able to turn the corner fast enough to mitigate the recasting drawback?
Not sure if that's a lot to ask but for anyone who's played it I'd love to hear some experience with the card and how versatile it's actually felt in practice. Unexpectedly Absent seems better to me on paper, but our issue with that was mostly the was too hard to consistently get off, especially on turn 2. Does it compare especially favorably to that?
Should be mentioned that I've seen people not play companions at all just because they fundamentally don't like the mechanic, because power level wise Lutri is really really good, probably the best or second best izzet card.
It's obviously really good in red or blue decks, but when it's not copying a Time Walk or Fireblast or whatnot it's probably at its most silly in green with Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman. Always having a creature to pitch for in the mid or late game is just so unbelievably broken.
I think this card is worse than it looks, but it looks super broken so the fact that it's "just" arguably our best izzet card is pretty solid. I doubt it's going anywhere for us anytime soon.
We liked that it could be a 2 for 1 and can go in several decks, but it seems inconsistent on turn 2 and might have trouble being useful in aggressive decks, but I ignored that this can offer the skulk mechanic to get in for damage and steal initiative. White 2s are a little tight for us, so this might not get the test, but I'll keep an eye on it.
I think this is just the best cheap black creature (3-cmc and below), and is just straight put up the strongest 2-cmc creature (regardless of color), period. As far as 1-2 cmc creatures goes, I don't think it's crazy to say that only Ragavan / Hexdrinker are above this. There isn't a single creature 1-2 cmc creature that I can think of that can do half the things this can do.
Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said about how good this card is, but it's value is pretty matchup dependent and certainly isn't broken most of the time.
Mines of Moria enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a legendary creature.
: Add .
, , Exile three cards from your graveyard: Create two Treasure tokens.
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Likely not an aggro or non-artifact midrange card, but has both artifact and ramp synergies, meanwhile can bank you mana in control decks at instant speed and offer an outlet to cast your on or off-color fatties in Sneak Attack or Reanimator decks.
Not sure if this is high impact enough, especially assuming this is always a tapland, but it provides some unique effects that are theoretically desirable for lots of decks. Now whether or not the mana investment is too high and how realistic it is to actually activate this is a separate story, but on paper I think we'll be testing this.
Should mention that this is also another good Golos, Tireless Pilgrim target in that it ramps, makes artifacts, and can allow you to activate Golos's ability if you manage to buy enough time.
Yea we just proxied and played with this yesterday and the protection was huge. Super easy to stall with and the lifeloss wasn't super relevant. Not broken or anything, but really good card. Happy that of all the cards to be cubable, The One Ring makes that cut lmao too iconic
Card is good, but I don't like that this can't color fix on turn one so you can cast your off-color two drop on two. Probably better than Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse which are great lands in mid-to-larger cubes, but I'd imagine it's still too slow to crack smaller lists.
I'm honestly really torn with this. The ability seems really strong and 2 creatures is much easier to trigger with than Kytheon, Hero of Akros 's 3, but I'm pretty sure this is a tapland most of the time, specifically on turns 1 and 2 almost every time. I think that curbs my enthusiasm for the card by too much, but if others get good millege out of the card let me know so I can test it.
Maybe worth mentioning that this is definitely one of the best tutor target off of Primeval Titan if you also grab another man-land, although I don't think this is similarly good off of a Golos, Tireless Pilgrim.
Show and Tell being bad is news to me, and in our experience it's never been a card you had to support, it's just a secondary enabler for decks that cheat fatties into play (UB Reanimateor, UR Sneak Attack, GU Oath of Druids, etc) since most opposing decks don't have fatties to put into play too. The disparity of you putting in a Griselbrand or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and them putting in anything short of another 8 drop is huge, and I can't say it backfires particularly often for us if you play carefully with it.
Card is still a workhorse over here, so I do think it must be at least somewhat environment related.
With that said, the statline on Chrome Host Seedshark has been pretty good for us, but not so much because it's good in combat but rather because it's just difficult for red decks to remove with burn. If the card isn't consistently threatening to kill people, which I honestly don't think this will, then the statline still isn't particularly useful. 2 damage is so little and this just isn't very aggressive for midrangey blue decks.
Arcane Artisan is quite good actually, we played it until just a few months ago, and I'd imagine it is much more consistent than this without a plethora of accessible topdeck manipulation. Respectfully, you aren't playing that or Show and Tell, maybe your environment/meta is just different.
I don't think this gets there, and I don't think this does enough in fair decks that just want to highroll stats sometimes, but good find this is a really interesting mechanic to have access too in deckbuilding. Works with fetches á la Mishra's Bauble too
I had the opposite experience. The card ends up being really middling at just 2 damage, and the 3 mana for 2 burn just hasn't been worth it for our aggro decks. We've opted for Brotherhood's End and Subterranean Tremors for our red board clears since they offer some unique angles of interaction for our less aggressive red decks once we cut Wildfire and Burning of Xinye. The instant speed was nice, but the main takeaways for us was that the 6-mana mode (really 8 mana) is really difficult to reach even in bigger red decks like UR control or ramp, and our red midrange decks still didn't really need these effects besides vs aggro and Deranged Hermits, so the unilateral aspect of the wrath wrath almost never actually came up. Also the 2 mana to fortell is quite a bit so you had to sneak it in where you could, often early in the game. So if you Fortold the Delayed Blast Fireball early or in the midgame with the intention of casting it on for 6 mana, a sometimes things wouldn't go as planned and if you changed your mind and needed the 3 mana mode you just couldn't access it anymore. This didn't come up super often, but enough that it can be a notable issue with the card.
The increased damage from the Brotherhood's End and the possible 2 mana Breath of Darigaaz mode/4+ mana modes from Subterranean Tremors have just offered us more reach, and the artifact destruction has been pretty relevant. Maybe the artifact removal is less useful in unpowered cubes, but I think the bigger deal-breaker was that for cards to make maindecks they usually need to be strong enough at what they do, and while Delayed Blast Fireball was ideally really versatile, it ultimately felt a little weak for whatever specific aspect of it you wanted it to use, regardless of niche. This contrasts Brotherhood's End and Subterranean Tremors, which are more narrow but are imo the stronger and more defensive red wraths in control and combo decks. They also carry weight vs decks with powerful cheap artifacts, vs decks with lower loyalty PWs who make tokens for Brotherhood's End, or as an alternate win-con in bigger mana red decks for Subterranean Tremors.
Sounds like it worked better for others but we were largely disappointed.
Spiteful Banditry
A The Meathook Massacre variant that makes mana instead of draining opponents. Loses aristocrats value if you run that, but otherwise can still generate value over the long game while stifling opponents' aggressive openers.
I think this might be a little slow for us, but could be a decent test. Costs the extra mana upfront to Earthquake variants but immediately generates another mana after, and can net even more mana (or artifact tokens) on later turns. We've been trying Subterranean Tremors and I think we value the artifact destruction over the mana from this, but I could stand corrected.
Andúril, Flame of the West
We've been playing Sword of Forge and Frontier and this seems better. This honestly seems like it might be the second best "sword" to me after only Sword of Fire and Ice, and 2 1/1 flyers per attack (not player combat hit) are no joke. This thing representing 3-5 burst damage while clogging up the board and providing more sword-carriers seems really strong.
Moria Scavenger
Creature- Orc Rogue
Deathtouch, Haste
1/4
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I like this quite a bit as our third Rakdos guild slot card. Great defensive body that can make tokens and threaten instant surprise blockers, all while digging and drawing cards. Easy fit in RB reanimator and Sneak Attack decks, while also being a natural fit in RB Midrange decks with Recurring Nightmare or any other deck that can take advantage of the dig or discard (or tokens). Only shell this doesn't fit well into is RB aggro decks, but I'd be willing to make that sacrifice, and the competition in Rakdos is not particularly steep after Kolaghan's Command and Chaos Defiler imo, as I personally like this much more than options we've played before like Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast/Rakdos Cackler/Ob Nixilis, the Adversary/Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger/etc.
We cut Hellrider for this, and the swap was worth it. As far as I'm concerned, Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Fiery Confluence are the only red 4 drops better than this, and I don't think that's hyperbole (unless you consider Sneak Attack is technically a 4 drop but you know what I mean lol). Card was super impressive, and was usually at least 8 damage of burst, all of which is super difficult to block favorably and handily dodges removal.
This Armed // Dangerous also being a creature was pretty useful, so it can be fished out for burst with creature tutors, or in last drafts case, can be activated multiple times with cards like Recurring Nightmare
Didn't realize it had the flicker effect without tax, and that actually seems pretty sweet, but how often has that come up for people? And how has it played in control? Have the slower W decks (UW control, UW artifact ramp, etc) been able to turn the corner fast enough to mitigate the recasting drawback?
Not sure if that's a lot to ask but for anyone who's played it I'd love to hear some experience with the card and how versatile it's actually felt in practice. Unexpectedly Absent seems better to me on paper, but our issue with that was mostly the
Should be mentioned that I've seen people not play companions at all just because they fundamentally don't like the mechanic, because power level wise Lutri is really really good, probably the best or second best izzet card.
It's obviously really good in red or blue decks, but when it's not copying a Time Walk or Fireblast or whatnot it's probably at its most silly in green with Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman. Always having a creature to pitch for
I think this card is worse than it looks, but it looks super broken so the fact that it's "just" arguably our best izzet card is pretty solid. I doubt it's going anywhere for us anytime soon.
Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said about how good this card is, but it's value is pretty matchup dependent and certainly isn't broken most of the time.
If you don't consider the evoke creatures 0 drops, imo that still leaves Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Mother of Runes, Stoneforge Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Hexdrinker, pretty much all the green 1-mana dorks, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, and even Dark Confidant, Pack Rat, Baleful Strix, Goblin Welder or Kitesail Freebooter if the situation calls for it to be better than this for the decks that run them. I'm pretty sure this is a Resolute Reinforcements with a Gut Shot most of the time, which is great, but I think the praise might be getting a little high lol
Mines of Moria
Legendary Land
Mines of Moria enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a legendary creature.
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Likely not an aggro or non-artifact midrange card, but has both artifact and ramp synergies, meanwhile can bank you mana in control decks at instant speed and offer an outlet to cast your on or off-color fatties in Sneak Attack or Reanimator decks.
Not sure if this is high impact enough, especially assuming this is always a tapland, but it provides some unique effects that are theoretically desirable for lots of decks. Now whether or not the mana investment is too high and how realistic it is to actually activate this is a separate story, but on paper I think we'll be testing this.
Should mention that this is also another good Golos, Tireless Pilgrim target in that it ramps, makes artifacts, and can allow you to activate Golos's ability if you manage to buy enough time.
Maybe worth mentioning that this is definitely one of the best tutor target off of Primeval Titan if you also grab another man-land, although I don't think this is similarly good off of a Golos, Tireless Pilgrim.
Card is still a workhorse over here, so I do think it must be at least somewhat environment related.
With that said, the statline on Chrome Host Seedshark has been pretty good for us, but not so much because it's good in combat but rather because it's just difficult for red decks to remove with burn. If the card isn't consistently threatening to kill people, which I honestly don't think this will, then the statline still isn't particularly useful. 2 damage is so little and this just isn't very aggressive for midrangey blue decks.
I think all the moderately commonly played cards that enable this are Brainstorm, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Ponder, Sylvan Library, Worldly Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, Enlightened Tutor, Scroll Rack, Sensei's Divining Top, and cards that scry 2+. Maybe some creative cards like Otherworldly Gaze are playable, but havn't
I don't think this gets there, and I don't think this does enough in fair decks that just want to highroll stats sometimes, but good find this is a really interesting mechanic to have access too in deckbuilding. Works with fetches á la Mishra's Bauble too
The increased damage from the Brotherhood's End and the possible 2 mana Breath of Darigaaz mode/4+ mana modes from Subterranean Tremors have just offered us more reach, and the artifact destruction has been pretty relevant. Maybe the artifact removal is less useful in unpowered cubes, but I think the bigger deal-breaker was that for cards to make maindecks they usually need to be strong enough at what they do, and while Delayed Blast Fireball was ideally really versatile, it ultimately felt a little weak for whatever specific aspect of it you wanted it to use, regardless of niche. This contrasts Brotherhood's End and Subterranean Tremors, which are more narrow but are imo the stronger and more defensive red wraths in control and combo decks. They also carry weight vs decks with powerful cheap artifacts, vs decks with lower loyalty PWs who make tokens for Brotherhood's End, or as an alternate win-con in bigger mana red decks for Subterranean Tremors.
Sounds like it worked better for others but we were largely disappointed.