Am I not seeing some forth mode for this card? 4 damage to a player + 2 highly situational modes seems not like something that should be replacing helix.
Prime Speaker Zegana enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the greatest power among other creatures you control.
When Prime Speaker Zegana enters the battlefield, draw cards equal to its power. 1/1
You guys realize that she ALWAYS draws AT LEAST 1 card right? I know paying six mana for 1 card is TERRIBLE but she ALWAYS replaces herself and that's not something to be overlooked. Also, most of us run cards like Venser(at least 1 flavor), Man-o-War, Momentary Blink (obviously on the splash), Lark, etc.. that totally bust her wide open! I can totally imagine myself first picking her and drafting a deck around here where i just have infinite gas and pummel my opponents in the card advantage. Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of card we want to have in our cube? An archetype DEFINING curve topper that absolutely closes out games?
I think that cube is an environment that can support a card like this. With U/G ramp dudes being a real deck and also splashing for cards such as momentary blink/lark make this guy all the more exciting. Not exactly sure it's going to be good but I can imagine it being absurd at times. At the extreme worst it replaces itself with the card you draw.
I honestly feel this card will end up being a surprise to everyone. It's not going to be a blow out card but it's going to be a card that people are going to like. Being able to kill guys like Meloku while also being able to counter Upheaval is a nice option for me in 1 card.
I'm only trying to say that this card provides a versatility that disfigure does not. Also this card is able to kill all 2/x creatures which is not irrelevant.
I know I can't wait to draft this in the regular limited format. As for cube, I'm not 100 percent sure, it just seems like another random fireball variant that's harder to cast.
This kills a lot of the problem guys for a Dimir based deck. It nabs many of the important mono red 1-2 drops and also gets all mana dorks (just to name a few). The part I like about these modal cards is that they are NEVER useless. At the VERY worst this is a card gets the card you want the most in the top 3 to the top of the library (not good but it's like Vamp tutoring when there is an Aven Mindscensor in play). The counter portion will be more relevant than we think as some of the best spells in cube are sorceries.
I've always viewed Sol Ring as the single best card in cube. In an unpowered cube, it is just way too oppressive and leads to unbeatable board states. Turn 1 land, ring, signet is very difficult to beat in an unpowered cube.
Sol Ring is busted enough in powered cubes (personally my vote for the best card in cube) let alone in an unpowered cube. I can understand people wanting to ban the card as it leads to so many unbeatable board states.
But having one of those and dropping a 4/4 or 5/5 that also draws 4-5 cards probably does mean the game is over.
When Prime Speaker Zegana enters the battlefield, draw cards equal to its power. 1/1
You guys realize that she ALWAYS draws AT LEAST 1 card right? I know paying six mana for 1 card is TERRIBLE but she ALWAYS replaces herself and that's not something to be overlooked. Also, most of us run cards like Venser(at least 1 flavor), Man-o-War, Momentary Blink (obviously on the splash), Lark, etc.. that totally bust her wide open! I can totally imagine myself first picking her and drafting a deck around here where i just have infinite gas and pummel my opponents in the card advantage. Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of card we want to have in our cube? An archetype DEFINING curve topper that absolutely closes out games?