Honestly if you can consistently hit the 3 artifacts payoff then this card should probably be an auto include. A good majority of the time a shock is always a playable card so having a massive ceiling is a good place to be.
The cut shouldn't be Tireless Tracker obviously since Tracker is an amazing card, but it does compare really well to tracker and other than the ceiling case is usually better than it as starting out higher toughness and being more resilient to removal is a real thing.
It's strange that my reaction to Vorinclex has been the opposite. We have a couple very dedicated green players and they pick Vorinclex super high and he normally overperforms. Massive dude that gets immediate value and is an absolute must answer card or he just flips the game on its head.
5 to activate including itself is too much of aggro. Will pass unless super easy to acquire.
I activate Raging Ravine all the time in creature decks and this card can put even more work in for finishing a game. Obviously ravine is better on an empty board but this card can just up and end the game adding damage equivalent to a Hellrider style effect.
The One Ring almost single handledly made me consider Voltaic/Manifold Key but since we don't play a lot of the busted mana rocks like Sol, Crypt, Grim etc it just wouldn't have nearly as much use and would probably end up as a common 15th pick.
I do think of you have a critical mass of untap worthy artifacts that they are insanely valuable cards for almost no mana input.
I thought a good comparison is Noxious Gearhulk as that's also a 6 drop Menace that does what this card will do a large majority of the time, which is kill a creature. Sure it's in two colors, but the upsides of being bigger, having trample to make blocks even more annoying, having the option to hit literally anything and also having the threat of turning into a end-game beater and hitting another target is just great.
Not disagreeing with you, it's a reasonable comparison.
Merely wanted to emphasize that destroying any permanent is so much better than only destroying a creature.
This solves many more problems and even on an empty board can target a key land. Huge for proactive cheat value.
Oh yeah no doubt that killing a permanent is infinitely better, just saying that the floor of the card is going to killing a creature a lot of the time, but even having the option to kill any problem is huge.
This guy also can be Natural Ordered and Green Suns Zenithed into play and those are very real things.
I thought a good comparison is Noxious Gearhulk as that's also a 6 drop Menace that does what this card will do a large majority of the time, which is kill a creature. Sure it's in two colors, but the upsides of being bigger, having trample to make blocks even more annoying, having the option to hit literally anything and also having the threat of turning into a end-game beater and hitting another target is just great.
I just haven't been able to justify running Niko at any time. We have 4 UW slots and we currently have Fractured Identity, Teferi 5, Teferi 3 and Soulherder (we have a pretty nice blink subtheme).
That being said I've always thought Niko was an alright card, but just never seen the card in play in really any format so can't judge the power level.
Yeah the whole cycle has been incredible and are completely back breaking with Ephemerate, whether it's to keep them alive with the Evoke triggers or just rebuying their crazy ETB effects.
I've definitely had a turn 1 Grief Ephemerate and it's one of the most grotesque plays I've seen
A lot of cards simply don't work in paper, but for this one all you would potentially need is an arbitrator / judge / third party to check the person's hand for you and reveal the noncreature/lands, in which case the card becomes playable in its initial wording. Playing amongst friends you might be able to use an honor system. I'd be surprised if this card wasn't very strong.
I just literally changed it to a Duress with the same lose 2 life and possibly draw a card text.
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life. If a card isn't discarded this way, you draw a card.
Oko is way overrated, not even a top 10 gold card if I were to guess.
I hate to be that guy, but Oko is completely busted still and I'd say it's the #1 guild card, with T3feri, Minsc&Boo and Forth Eorlingas behind it. Sure if Oko is answered immediately he didn't do anything spectacular but he has the upside of completely blanking your opponent's game plan and ending the game at a decently quick rate on a 3 drop PW in green where he can easily come down turn 2.
That being said Forth Eorlingas has been a non-stop crazy card as it's super splashable in multiple decks and is good at literally every single spot on a curve whether it's early value or Fireball'ing an opponent out of the game.
Turn 1 mana dork into court might be one of the most unfair "fair" plays I've ever seen. Game gets completely turned on its head as your opponent gets buried in creature combat quality and card advantage almost immediately.
We're gonna happily play both.
I activate Raging Ravine all the time in creature decks and this card can put even more work in for finishing a game. Obviously ravine is better on an empty board but this card can just up and end the game adding damage equivalent to a Hellrider style effect.
I do think of you have a critical mass of untap worthy artifacts that they are insanely valuable cards for almost no mana input.
Oh yeah no doubt that killing a permanent is infinitely better, just saying that the floor of the card is going to killing a creature a lot of the time, but even having the option to kill any problem is huge.
This guy also can be Natural Ordered and Green Suns Zenithed into play and those are very real things.
I thought a good comparison is Noxious Gearhulk as that's also a 6 drop Menace that does what this card will do a large majority of the time, which is kill a creature. Sure it's in two colors, but the upsides of being bigger, having trample to make blocks even more annoying, having the option to hit literally anything and also having the threat of turning into a end-game beater and hitting another target is just great.
This card only turns into creature bolt that exiles at best, which is still good, but not enough to justify playing it in cube for us.
That being said I've always thought Niko was an alright card, but just never seen the card in play in really any format so can't judge the power level.
I've definitely had a turn 1 Grief Ephemerate and it's one of the most grotesque plays I've seen
I just literally changed it to a Duress with the same lose 2 life and possibly draw a card text.
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life. If a card isn't discarded this way, you draw a card.
I hate to be that guy, but Oko is completely busted still and I'd say it's the #1 guild card, with T3feri, Minsc&Boo and Forth Eorlingas behind it. Sure if Oko is answered immediately he didn't do anything spectacular but he has the upside of completely blanking your opponent's game plan and ending the game at a decently quick rate on a 3 drop PW in green where he can easily come down turn 2.
That being said Forth Eorlingas has been a non-stop crazy card as it's super splashable in multiple decks and is good at literally every single spot on a curve whether it's early value or Fireball'ing an opponent out of the game.
Card is at a level most creatures will never even dream of hitting.