This card competes with Cloudgoat Ranger in my cube, but Ranger is quite a bit more stable than this card. Cloudgoat is always a 3/3, it always produces 6 power over 4 bodies, and you can change it to a 5/3 flier to attack even after you've cast it, so long as you have your Kithkin. Additionally, Cloudgoat is more resilient against removal than the Angel of Invention. Simply put, Cloudgoat Ranger is the best army in a can for this slot.
While the anthem on Angel is cool, you have to already have a board for that anthem to pay off above its own servos. The problem is, if you have a board for this thing to pump, then it will be rare instances where you'd want to drop the angel to make your team better rather than hold it in reserve for when the board gets cleaned up. In those instances, sure, Angel is better, but most of time, Cloudgoat would do the job just as well because it goes wider and can adapt on the fly. What you get from Angel is both a token producer and an Anthem, but this is really only best for tokens.dec. That is a little too narrow an application for a higher cmc card.
Without that, it essentially has two modes, Baneslayer Angel mode and Cloadgoat Ranger mode. But it a poorman's imitation in either mode. In return for its loss of efficacy, you gain some cool interactions with Recruiters, Reveillark, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. If I have to cut one of my two 5 drops to fit the Angel in, the question becomes, are those interactions and added flexibility enough to pay you back for the loss of impact?
For me, the answer is no. I don't have much room in the five drop slot, so if I put something there, I want it to be the best at what it does. Even if that means losing some flexibility. This would have to be my third 5 drop with Cloudgoat and Baneslayer, which is still high praise for this card.
Also, Baneslayer is the boss monster. Queen beast. I'm not cutting her until they make a better her.
tldr; This is a modal creature that is either a poorman's Cloudgoat or a poorman's Baneslayer. The flexibility doesn't make me want to cut either of the originals. I'd only run it as the third 5 drop.
This seems cool. I'll probably test this over Molten-Tail Masticore in my unpowered 360. It will all come down to how difficult it is to maintain Crew 3 for this vehicle.
Yeah? Hmm, I guess I have enough anthem effects elsewhere I can cut the champion without losing too much. I just wish I had a better 2-drop in that spot. Maybe one will come out in the next set.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant -> Recruiter of the Guard - She is an awesome planeswalker, but walkers have always struggled in this cube. Her individual effects just aren't strong enough to keep her in anymore.
Copy Artifact -> Arcane Savant - With the inclusion of Clever Impersonator, I've got two other Copy Artifact effects. I think I can drop the third.
Fitting Recruiter in was really tough, and I'm not sure Trooper is the right cut, but I had to come up with something. Trooper was my weakest link, but removing a 2cmc for yet another 3cmc isn't sitting quite right. I'll have to keep an eye on that.
I am very interested to hear your results with the card. I will actually wait until after I hear your experience to include it. If you find it okay, I'll give it shot.
Arcane Savant Expropriate - This one will likely not make it in. We hated Time Stretch and this has the potential to be that and more. I really can't imagine it being anything other than a Blatant Thievery stapled to a Time Warp though. I dunno, I'm leery of this card.
Volatile Chimera - A cool way to get off-color effects in your deck. No ETB effect, but if you choose wisely, this could be pretty good in every instance. If it were any more expensive, I'd probably not include it, but since it's so cheap, it's an easy include. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - This dude is cheap enough to be a real asset in my EDH cube. He can get in with some quick beats to flesh out a red deck's hand and might even be able to lock down a threatening creature while forcing damage elsewhere. Seems solid to me.
Selvala's Stampede Splitting Slime - I originally had my eye on this one as a green Pack Rat variant, but given how slow it will be making copies, I don't think it will make it. Caller of the Untamed - Another cool way to get off-color effects in your deck and you also get to abuse ETB effects. I want to see this in action.
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast - This is a really cool planeswalker, but I'm not very big on them in my cube. I may give him a shot if I can find a cut, but not likely.
Queen Marchesa - Yay! This color combination has had really slim pickings for generals in the past. This is cool option for that slot.
I would absolutely allow off-color creatures to be exiled with Chimera. The color restrictions are for deck building, and Chimera specifically states, "aren't in your deck".
Also, what do people think of Besmirch?
Besmirch - 1RR
Sorcery
Until end of turn, gain control of target creature and it gains haste. Untap and goad that creature. (Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)
This card is just options for the color pair. If you draft this card in your Rakdos aggro pool, don't be mad. You probably grabbed Braids too. Consider how transforming into a different deck against the mid-range match-up might help. Dreadbore can't do that.
What an interesting card. This is like an odd form of Morph. Pay 3 for a vanilla creature that you can morph into something else, except in this case it isn't a static morph, and you can keep doing it. Now, your midrange and control hate drafts can work for you in game rather than be empty picks. As far as draft goes, this is an incredibly cool card. Unfortunately, the last thing I need is another red three drop. At 360, I don't have room for it.
I'm on board with this guy in my 360. He looks that he'll fit well in a number of archetypes. Stax, reanimator, welder, Rakdos tempo/control (yes, it's a thing), and probably goodstuff.dec too. This card looks like it will let you build around it in a variety of ways, which is just cool-cool. So yeah, I'm on board.
It's probably high time I fit Sneak Attack in there too.
Ah, very cool, thanks for clearing that up. Kind of a bummer though. We do lots of sealed in our cube too. It sounds intentional though if they have an answer ready to go.
Yeah, I'm not sure where I fall on that point. The card is busted good, but is there a reason they printed "draft" on the card rather than "card pool"? Is the card weaker or stronger in draft than it is in sealed? If a tree falls in the woods . . .
Conspiracy as a set was designed and meant to be a draft only format.
If that is the only reason, then I can see little reason not to allow it in sealed deck. It doesn't work functionally different in either format the way Paliano, the High City does. Why bother with a super strict interpretation if that interpretation is more coincidental than purposeful?
It doesn't work in sealed, but it would work if you decided to do a draft with 5 9-card boosters per person. So if you do a "draft" with 90 1-card boosters per person...
Ha!
Yeah, I'm not sure where I fall on that point. The card is busted good, but is there a reason they printed "draft" on the card rather than "card pool"? Is the card weaker or stronger in draft than it is in sealed? If a tree falls in the woods . . .
While the anthem on Angel is cool, you have to already have a board for that anthem to pay off above its own servos. The problem is, if you have a board for this thing to pump, then it will be rare instances where you'd want to drop the angel to make your team better rather than hold it in reserve for when the board gets cleaned up. In those instances, sure, Angel is better, but most of time, Cloudgoat would do the job just as well because it goes wider and can adapt on the fly. What you get from Angel is both a token producer and an Anthem, but this is really only best for tokens.dec. That is a little too narrow an application for a higher cmc card.
Without that, it essentially has two modes, Baneslayer Angel mode and Cloadgoat Ranger mode. But it a poorman's imitation in either mode. In return for its loss of efficacy, you gain some cool interactions with Recruiters, Reveillark, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. If I have to cut one of my two 5 drops to fit the Angel in, the question becomes, are those interactions and added flexibility enough to pay you back for the loss of impact?
For me, the answer is no. I don't have much room in the five drop slot, so if I put something there, I want it to be the best at what it does. Even if that means losing some flexibility. This would have to be my third 5 drop with Cloudgoat and Baneslayer, which is still high praise for this card.
Also, Baneslayer is the boss monster. Queen beast. I'm not cutting her until they make a better her.
tldr; This is a modal creature that is either a poorman's Cloudgoat or a poorman's Baneslayer. The flexibility doesn't make me want to cut either of the originals. I'd only run it as the third 5 drop.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant -> Recruiter of the Guard - She is an awesome planeswalker, but walkers have always struggled in this cube. Her individual effects just aren't strong enough to keep her in anymore.
Copy Artifact -> Arcane Savant - With the inclusion of Clever Impersonator, I've got two other Copy Artifact effects. I think I can drop the third.
Archfiend of Depravity -> Custodi Lich - Archfiend has too many opportunities to do nothing at all.
Avaricious Dragon -> Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - Grenzo will likely be better at producing card advantage, plus his other effects.
Price of Glory -> Volatile Chimera - This card doesn't fit into any particular strategy and isn't as effective a preventive measure as Stranglehold, so it can be replaced.
Genesis Hydra -> Selvala's Stampede - Similar effects. Thanks for the idea Dolono.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa -> Caller of the Untamed - This will be a more interest use of resources in the long run, methinks.
Add -> Queen Marchesa
Fitting Recruiter in was really tough, and I'm not sure Trooper is the right cut, but I had to come up with something. Trooper was my weakest link, but removing a 2cmc for yet another 3cmc isn't sitting quite right. I'll have to keep an eye on that.
Soltari Trooper -> Recruiter of the Guard
Stifle -> Arcane Savant
Detention Sphere -> Spell Queller
Dreadbore -> Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
Recruiter of the Guard
Arcane Savant
Expropriate - This one will likely not make it in. We hated Time Stretch and this has the potential to be that and more. I really can't imagine it being anything other than a Blatant Thievery stapled to a Time Warp though. I dunno, I'm leery of this card.
Custodi Lich
Volatile Chimera - A cool way to get off-color effects in your deck. No ETB effect, but if you choose wisely, this could be pretty good in every instance. If it were any more expensive, I'd probably not include it, but since it's so cheap, it's an easy include.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - This dude is cheap enough to be a real asset in my EDH cube. He can get in with some quick beats to flesh out a red deck's hand and might even be able to lock down a threatening creature while forcing damage elsewhere. Seems solid to me.
Selvala's Stampede
Splitting Slime - I originally had my eye on this one as a green Pack Rat variant, but given how slow it will be making copies, I don't think it will make it.
Caller of the Untamed - Another cool way to get off-color effects in your deck and you also get to abuse ETB effects. I want to see this in action.
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast - This is a really cool planeswalker, but I'm not very big on them in my cube. I may give him a shot if I can find a cut, but not likely.
Queen Marchesa - Yay! This color combination has had really slim pickings for generals in the past. This is cool option for that slot.
It just seems like such a cool card. Stealing a creature and then keeping it tied up away from you for an extra turn. My kind of card. Oh well.
Also, what do people think of Besmirch?
Besmirch - 1RR
Sorcery
Until end of turn, gain control of target creature and it gains haste. Untap and goad that creature. (Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)
It's probably high time I fit Sneak Attack in there too.
If that is the only reason, then I can see little reason not to allow it in sealed deck. It doesn't work functionally different in either format the way Paliano, the High City does. Why bother with a super strict interpretation if that interpretation is more coincidental than purposeful?
Ha!
Yeah, I'm not sure where I fall on that point. The card is busted good, but is there a reason they printed "draft" on the card rather than "card pool"? Is the card weaker or stronger in draft than it is in sealed? If a tree falls in the woods . . .