I love this card, and you saved me from having to make a thread here for it.
Free discard outlet, permanent +1/+1 counters, obnoxious to block or attack into in combat, hard to block and then draws cards when it connects... gross synergy with draw-7 effects. I'm 100% in for this card, and can't wait to cube it. Good in reanimator, tempo, and draw-7 shells.
I agree with all of this. I think people underestimate the brute power of this card and the huge number of cards it can work well with.
So you play a 3/3 and then a 4/4 with this on the table. You end up with a 3/3, a 4/4, a 4/4 Elk, a 3/3 elk and 2 2/2 elk? Seems quite hard to evaluate, but I think this is probably a great value engine.
What does Malcom have to do in a spells based deck? I can see that it is a decent card, but it has a totally different function.
Thing in the Ice is a roadblock for a slower midrange deck (or control) that turns into a game winning threat. Malcom is a aggressive looter with a big upside.
I think we should look at reducung the number of stickies and sub forums, to increase visible screen space for new threads. On most monitors you need to scroll to see the first active thread. Just putting the 8th man draft from 2014 in archive would be a good first step.
Alot of screen real estate is taking up by stickies and fixed things that are only rarely read. 'Cube rules' for example takes too much space in my oppinion. I have read this years ago,but this keeps taking key place on my screen.
Can a mod do this after all this time or at least shoot it up the chain if they can't?
My two yearly request to mods if they can finally clean out the unneccesary stickies and subforums... Anybody?
Hmmm, I have a hard time evaluating this against O-Ring. My gut feeling says O-Ring variants are better, even though this hits like 90% of the targets. Some stuff it doesn't solve at all (Winter Orb, Elesh Norn, Sulferic Vortex,...).
These cards are not super strong but play a role in some archetypes that is hard to duplicate with other cards. Elves are vulnerable, mana rocks are not lands and are taken up by all players.
So there inclusion depend on how high you want to ramp, if Storm is a thing in your cube, if you have untap effects, land-graveyard shenenigans,...
I would fault no one that plays them in their cube. We run just one at the moment.
Also do not forgot to check out the four mana variants. They tend to be a bit better in hardcore ramp.
As often these days, old school cards like this get out powered by planes walkers though who just do so much more.
This was quite impressive in our last draft. The base line is nothing to be sniffed at. It has a big impact on life totals from the get go.
Add in one draw 7 and a tutor in your deck (not too special for a blue black deck) and the situation becomes drastically different! Suddenly being at 16 is being in the danger zone.
Thanks for the responses! I totally agree that it is heavily context dependent, just wanted to hear some thoughts. Had also completely forgotten that Censor is a card at all, but I agree that it is comparable to Jwari Isle as the modal force spike variant. Interesting that you rank Mana Leak over Lose Focus. My first gut instinct is that it can't be right, as Mana Leak is an all star in so many formats with such a long history. But you have a great point that there are quite few situations where Mana Leak actually is better. Still don't think I could cut Mana Leak for Lose Focus (think my play group would protest), but now I might try to find room for both.
Small Lose Focus story: I was playing a Modern Rotisserie draft with my play group and most of the "known" counters had gone, so I picked the recently printed Lose Focus. The player drafting RG was dissing my pick, saying I should have gone Condescend, as it seemed much better. In our first game I Lose Focused his Bloodbraid + the cascaded spell, and he had to admit he hadn't realized that interaction. Felt good.
You Rotisseried every Modern card? Nice! I suppose this was online drafting?
4) Lose Focus/Miscalcualtion or Remand/Memory Leak or Jwari disruption
The last choice depends on cube cosntruction. If blue is aggresive I like Memory Lapse /remand, the Miscalculation/Lose focus is good allround. Jwari Disruption doesn't take place in your deck. Which to include is a choice depending on how you want to build blue.
I agree with all of this. I think people underestimate the brute power of this card and the huge number of cards it can work well with.
Thing in the Ice is a roadblock for a slower midrange deck (or control) that turns into a game winning threat. Malcom is a aggressive looter with a big upside.
You can flip two coin to simulate a D4 if coin flips are your thing.
Still, unless you have a +1/+1 theme going on, I would pass.
My two yearly request to mods if they can finally clean out the unneccesary stickies and subforums... Anybody?
Still, one mana difference is quite a lot.
This looks like a strong, fun and slow card. We will definitely test this one.
So there inclusion depend on how high you want to ramp, if Storm is a thing in your cube, if you have untap effects, land-graveyard shenenigans,...
I would fault no one that plays them in their cube. We run just one at the moment.
Also do not forgot to check out the four mana variants. They tend to be a bit better in hardcore ramp.
As often these days, old school cards like this get out powered by planes walkers though who just do so much more.
Add in one draw 7 and a tutor in your deck (not too special for a blue black deck) and the situation becomes drastically different! Suddenly being at 16 is being in the danger zone.
You Rotisseried every Modern card? Nice! I suppose this was online drafting?
2)Mana Leak
3)Condescend
4) Lose Focus/Miscalcualtion or Remand/Memory Leak or Jwari disruption
The last choice depends on cube cosntruction. If blue is aggresive I like Memory Lapse /remand, the Miscalculation/Lose focus is good allround. Jwari Disruption doesn't take place in your deck. Which to include is a choice depending on how you want to build blue.