I think you only need 1 activation off this to pull ahead. Its alresdy 8 p/t over 2.5 bodies for 4 mana. It depends on what you can copy as well. A 3/3 wurm coil token or 4/4 shark? Or a 1/1 human token
I think this seems pretty good and would be willing to try it out. Seems like more than just Red aggro decks would be willing to run it and a sticky threat that can be difficult to interact with. Even worse case scenarios where you don't retain the monarch, the card basically replaces itself at least, and then acts as a 1 sided sulfuric vortex as a floor with a threat that if you ever gain the monarch and hold it for 1 turn you will probably win at that point.
I dont know if i would compare it to rankle / spawnof Mayhem. Enchantments are harder to deal with, require less mana efficient answers (path to exile vs vindicate). Rankle might be better on board without an answer, but this gives a different way of attacking an opponent.
Is this a black version of Sulfuric Vortex? It cost 1 mana more, and does not have the ability to prevent life gain, but it also drains for 1 more, and does not effect both players / is worse because it gives an opponent a choice of life loss or card loss which is usually not good to give players a choice.
once you get the monarch though and keep it, it probably ends the game fast. I could see this being a new piece to add, I think Black aggro will want to play this, and it also is a piece that stax decks will want to add as well. One thing to note, if opponents life total gets low enough they have to discard, even if they get the monarch for a turn, they can draw the 2 cards, but when this triggers they will still have to discard 1 of them basically negating the card draw. Not sure if it will really play out like this in practice or not, but I like the overall design of this card a lot and maybe I am hyping it more than it deserves.
When Court of Virtue enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 white Spirit token creature with flying.
If you're the monarch, create a 4/4 white Angel token creature with flying instead.
Looks like another Decent White 4 Drop that is probably playable. Not sure how many cards I want in cube that have monarch. It would probably be fun for a little while to have a monarch sub theme, but it will probably get stale after a while with too many cards like this running around. I suspect that at least 1 or 2 of these in the cycle will have a chance of sticking though.
I think the one thing that has not been discussed in evaluating this card, it's not the density of the search library cards in cube, but also the main deck rate of those cards. Cards Like Imperial Seal, Demonic Tutor, and most of the fetch lands almost always make the main decks they get drafted in.
Nice 1 card win condition for blue. I don't support Mill in blue, or any of the cards that would go in a deck like this so it's a pass for me, but it does seem like a well designed card for those that support this type of deck
I really like this card the more I think about it. Am I crazy to think this might be a replacement for Flametongue Kavu? Kavu is probably a better card in the aggro decks since you can clear a large blocker and develop the board at the same time, but emberwilde captain also goes in more archetypes, has a higher floor (kavu is bad on an empty board), has an average higher ceiling (kavu is a 2 for 1 almost always, this is a 2:1 most of the time, but left unchecked keeps generating more advantage without any other input from other cards). The other nice thing about monarch is it keeps games from stalling out and keeps the night moving forward.
1) from a cube design, I like that RWBG can each have access to a pretty powerful card engine to help fight against U, and different decks can have some monarch minigames. I don't think 4 cards in a cube though is too much
2)Even though this might be best in red aggro, it can also be good in a lot of other red decks. RG with Derranged hermit, RB Stax, Could see play in Red control decks which generally struggle with card advantage. in both Stax, Wildfire, or Moat decks, if you can keep your opponent low enough on resources, / keep there hand full, when they do manage to attack its possible to create situations where they will lose more life from the 1 or 2 creatures they have in play can even deal.
3) even though this works with other monarch cards, but it combos with Feldon of the third pathin color to retain monarch every turn if you have the mana for it, and throwing a 4 power creature can wear down most decks.
4) The real question is what to cut, and like i said, maybe it's better then kavu overall even though it might not be the best curve topper for red aggro?
I think its a decent card. I dobt think it nakes thebsmallest of cubes though. I think it could be playable around 450+ in cubes that support black aggro though. Often that deck just needs to slow an opponent down 1 or 2 turns to not allow the opponent to stabilize, and attacking that goal at a different angle might be worth while. I think this card is pretty cube and group design dependent though.
Great Right up, I think I would rank Jwari Disruption and Jace Mirror mage in opposite spots though. Small cubes like mine still run Jace Beleren as the 3 cmc blue planeswalker (I don't support combo so not interested in Narset as much). So this is a + switch in my opinion. I don't think my cube has a cut for Jwari right now though and so it wont make it in my cube.
Great card, but I also prefer Lotus. Worn Powerstone looks like a better cut to me.
Cheers,
rant
I was thinking powerstone is better than this. Even though this can ramp harder, and fix for colors, I think ramping for 2 mana at 3 is better than 1 mana at 3 with options to ramp at 6 mana for an additional 3, especially because the tokens enter tapped.
The more I have been thinking about it, the more I think this is actually a better card than regrowth in the cube. The podcasts on the cultic cube data set showed there isn't a big discrepancy in how well the top aggro cards performed compared to the other cards similar to it. I think this card (and regrowth) fall into the same category. I think fewer games will be determined because you paid 1 extra mana to return a top-end card to your hand compared to hitting your land drops.
In a way, this is a lot like shelldock isle, almost every blue deck will run this or shelldock isle over a basic island and be a better deck. This however only gives you the ability to draw cards, while shelldock actually lets you cast the card. I think this is great for every blue deck, but dosnt belong in the cube to ve drafted. Large cubes with a high density of combo will want this, but tughter cubes without combo pieces shoild probably pass
Yeah, i dont know why, but it feels like blue is already the best color in cube, and they keep making it better. Slam dunk at 360 i think. Deciding on a cut is always hard, but this will find a spot. I like that between this and dack, both can fight against the artifact deck, but are also playable in those decks as a way to steel artifacts to build your own count up
2BB
Is this a black version of Sulfuric Vortex? It cost 1 mana more, and does not have the ability to prevent life gain, but it also drains for 1 more, and does not effect both players / is worse because it gives an opponent a choice of life loss or card loss which is usually not good to give players a choice.
once you get the monarch though and keep it, it probably ends the game fast. I could see this being a new piece to add, I think Black aggro will want to play this, and it also is a piece that stax decks will want to add as well. One thing to note, if opponents life total gets low enough they have to discard, even if they get the monarch for a turn, they can draw the 2 cards, but when this triggers they will still have to discard 1 of them basically negating the card draw. Not sure if it will really play out like this in practice or not, but I like the overall design of this card a lot and maybe I am hyping it more than it deserves.
2WW
Enchantment
When Court of Virtue enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 white Spirit token creature with flying.
If you're the monarch, create a 4/4 white Angel token creature with flying instead.
Looks like another Decent White 4 Drop that is probably playable. Not sure how many cards I want in cube that have monarch. It would probably be fun for a little while to have a monarch sub theme, but it will probably get stale after a while with too many cards like this running around. I suspect that at least 1 or 2 of these in the cycle will have a chance of sticking though.
1) from a cube design, I like that RWBG can each have access to a pretty powerful card engine to help fight against U, and different decks can have some monarch minigames. I don't think 4 cards in a cube though is too much
2)Even though this might be best in red aggro, it can also be good in a lot of other red decks. RG with Derranged hermit, RB Stax, Could see play in Red control decks which generally struggle with card advantage. in both Stax, Wildfire, or Moat decks, if you can keep your opponent low enough on resources, / keep there hand full, when they do manage to attack its possible to create situations where they will lose more life from the 1 or 2 creatures they have in play can even deal.
3) even though this works with other monarch cards, but it combos with Feldon of the third pathin color to retain monarch every turn if you have the mana for it, and throwing a 4 power creature can wear down most decks.
4) The real question is what to cut, and like i said, maybe it's better then kavu overall even though it might not be the best curve topper for red aggro?
I was thinking powerstone is better than this. Even though this can ramp harder, and fix for colors, I think ramping for 2 mana at 3 is better than 1 mana at 3 with options to ramp at 6 mana for an additional 3, especially because the tokens enter tapped.
it's about time blue is actually bad at something in a cube (and even then, it isn't a terrible card).
I think this card is great. Instead of worrying about cuts, I think this set is going to push me to up the count on my cube.