MTG Salvation

So this card taps for 1 mana over 3 turns, can make 2 karnstructs for 3 mana each, and can search for an artifact (17 in my powered cube - sad noises for Lotus Bloom and EE). It can also be recurred with Crucible of Worlds and those effects (this is the more exciting part for me). It's a slow effect, but the prospect of another utility land seems great. Seems powerful enough to warrant a testing!

Good for a Tribal cube? Pass for most other types of cubes.

Quote from dschumm »

Great card is great, but blue 3 creatures are stacked. Especially considering noncreatures take up far more of blue than any other color.

My current ranking:
1. True-Name nemesis
2. Vendillion Clique
3. Brazen Borrower
4. Nadir Kraken
5. Barrin
6. Man-o_war
7. Sea Gate Oracle

But in my 360, I don't have much blink, and I am already running rift/borrower/cryptic/ confluence

I'd cut Sea Gate Oracle. Barrin sounds good! the Second U will occasionally be relevant i think, but Barrin plays well in tempo decks and Crystal Shard grindy games. Including somewhere!

What style of deck wants this?

Against aggro, i think it just dies quickly? Does it buy enough time or soak up enough dmg to be worth 4 mana, a loot and a phase?

Against control, it may not do enough? Digging a lot helps, but the abilities don't seem to add up to a wincon alone.

1.5 years later, an update! Updated list and lots of formatting. Thank you also wtwlf123 for helping with the formatting!

I've had this card in my cube for a long while. As mentioned, it's great in black aggro as a pseudo-Armageddon, but like Armageddon, if there's board parity or if you're behind already, it's a terrible card rotting in hand. It doesn't provide inevitability like Sulfuric Vortex, but it has virtually locked up a game under the right circumstances. I'm not I would consider it for 360, but I don't run a cube that small.

I think UR has a plethora of card selection options. This guy is certainly good in limited - 2 mana is just enough that you can filter through your deck fairly quickly. Maybe even a non rare cube and definitely for a 30 card izzet section.

Nice pics! agreed some of the foil is lost, but you get much better detail on the altered cards. very nice

def went to smokestack/braids type of deck when this popped up. we know black can use more oomph at 3cmc, so worth a shot! even chump blocking is fine.

Quote from Pendrell

With prereleases and a buddy of mine selling his collection, there was plenty of bling to go around this last week.

Now I finally have all 5 promo titans and all 10 foil shocklands

Nice pickups! Those are some curvy, thought uniformly curvy, cards

To be fair, the "on cast" vs ETB isn't strictly bad. Sun Titan/Sevinne's get to hit it for amazing value

Played over 20 hours of cube with the new cards this weekend. Most games 10 players, kept an eye on the performance of new cards. Posting here my early review of the cards that saw play, Jace was the only card I didn't get to see in action.

Overall a slightly lower performance from many of the cards than I was expecting, this set is not on the power of khans/dragons of tarkir.

The dragon lords continue to impress me more and more. I thought kologhan's command was insane, and it's even better than I thought. I played it in 3 different decks over the weekend and it was bonkers every single time I casted it. Den protector has been phenomenal. Stratus dancer has been very solid as well, dont see it leaving for a long time. Zurgo, premium 1 red drop, etc.


STRONG PERFORMANCE
Languish
I didn't get to see it too much, but it blew my white weenie deck out hard twice, also watched it clear the boards in other games. Helping my friends build
their decks, there was UB reanimator deck that had many 5+ toughness finishers that languish looked very very good in.

verdict:
I think it might be very slightly better than damnation and will eventually be the second sweeper of choice (worse than toxic deluge) in 360 lists. If it turns out not better than damnation, 450+ cube will likely have 3 sweepers. This being one of the 3.


Gideon-
In the games I played him, I never got to flip him, nor did the threat of flipping him make much of a difference with the board state that was developing against me. However, his indestructible ability proved relevant multiple times. In more explosive draws his planeswalker side is going to be phenomonal, but on average I suspect his power will come from the indestructable.

Verdict: Likely as good as predicted. 360 staple and a leg above most one drops. Mid to early-mid pick in my cube.

Kiran and Pila nalaar-
Got to play her in a good stuff 2 power or less grixis deck, and was impressed. She gummed up the board providing great defense, was able to take out pesky creatures from the opponent if needed, and was able to chip in significant damage each turn.

Verdict: Slightly better than I predicted (and I liked her), 360 staple. Expect to be on par with siege gang commander. Probably slightly better. Mid-late pick in my cube.

Lilliana Heretical Healer
In the right deck she's very easy to flip, and her flip reanimation side can provide a lot of utility, as well as shred control players hands apart.

Verdict: Great card, tier 1 black 3 drop, similar in power to ophiomancer and flesh carver. 360 staple. Mid to mid-late pick.

MEDIOCORE PERFORMANCE
Priest of the Blood Rite
I had him in 2 decks, and 2 players ran him. He was on the cusp of playable in both my decks (pod style deck and jund reanimator). I never got to cast him, but 2 games I died while he was stuck in my hand and I didnt have enough mana to cast him. Plus, one game there was a few situations where had I drew him off the top, he would have been decent, but not great.
My friend had him in a UB reanimator deck with clone effects.. Said it helped him win a game. He cast demon, metamorphed the demon token, blocked the opponents attack with the 2/2, then reanimated it the next turn. 3 5/5 flyers won the game for him easily.

Verdict:
More confident in my predictions of him being marginally better than the current best options we have. 360-450 range, but among the bottom quarter of 5 drops in cube. Late pick in my cube, will sit in sideboards. Some decks will happily have the card wheel to them.

Nissa, Vastwood Seer
I had Nissa in many decks. It was very hard to justify playing her in all of them. Although, it was close. I played her a couple times where maybe I shouldnt have to test her out. I drew her many times as a borderline ranger, and was slightly surprised how decent a borderland ranger felt in my cube. Unfortunately, she didn't flip once... But once she did draw a removal spell when I was at 5 lands. I looked around the room many times at green decks and almost never did they hit 7 lands.

Verdict:
In slower formats Nissa is going to be a very very good card. Her flip side becomes much more likely to happen, and her main side is better than most people realize.
My cube is fast and powerful, probably plays equivalent to most 360's if not slightly more powerful. I don't think she can hack it in my environment, but ill keep testing. If a lot of cultivate+ cards see print I might give her a second test run if I cut her.
450+ unpowered staple.

POOR PERFORMANCE
Relic seeker
Had it in a white weenie deck and a boros agro deck, saw it in a WG collected company deck. Got outclassed a bit too frequently for my liking. The card is not really what you want to be doing in swarm strategies. You really want it in a deck that's capable of getting it through and is able to grind long enough to get value off of the equipment it draws. Hard to explain but it felt slower and more conditional than I expected.

Verdict:
Maybe I was on the wrong side of variance, but the card is a bit more narrow than I was hoping. You need equipment AND ways to get it through, and in that case it's only good, not insane. Will keep testing, but it may fall in the 450-540 range, where I was hoping it was 360-450 quality.

Evolutionary Leap
Decks that wanted this kind of effect, tended to want other more powerful creature based cube engines OVER this card. The decks that wanted to play it needed to have some removal to justify grinding, plus it needed a critical amount of creatures. This left room for 1 or 2 cards that could nothing by itself, consistently the decks had cards that were better at doing that. Survival of the fitest, swords, birthind pod, etc.. It was also more narrow than I was hoping. It lapped constantly in draft, and was consistently cut from decks that thought they wanted to play it.

Verdict:
Much more narrow than I was anticipating, partially because it doesn't stack up to the power of the engines already in cube. It also required a heavy green commitment to make use out of the sac effects. A very solid sideboard card against control at my power level, but in general I expect this card to make splashes in the 540+ range.

Abbot of Keral keep
Had it in a awsome BR sacrifice, tokens style deck with a variety of removal spells. Looked very solid in it, but mostly as a filler card. Had it in a grixis good stuff deck that was tilted in the proactive direction and wasn't impressed. Was hoping it would fringe playable in that style deck but it wasn't. One time I played it in the BR deck later in the game, the cantrip was very nice, but paying attention to the games and imagining "Do I want this card early in the game" answer I kept coming up with was... no. I think I over-estimated a 2/1 prowess for 2.

Verdict:
540+, As a card being cast on curve, it's too weak relative to the competition.

Ah, I certainly forgot about Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Let me add that to my list.

About the cut, I'm really not sure. I feel 360 nowadays already can be customized to fit cuber's preference really well. There's a lot of cards close in power level that there's not a clear answer of which is better but more on what do you want to play.

I ran my first cube draft in ages yesterday. I forced U/G and seeing as everyone was fine with it, I proxied up a Kiora and threw it into my U/G brew. It was a sort of controlling midrange affair with Vorapede and Aetherling as the big win-cons, and some nice filtering including Thassa (who is super with Kiora). Here are my first impressions:

Let's get the negative out of the way: Kiora is straight-up bad against aggro. She can redeem herself by blanking something like a Flametongue Kavu who's sitting there, but it's only temporary removal and the haste creatures give her fits. Nor is she of any use in an aggro deck. It's a bad investment of four mana, and my advice against aggro would be to cantrip instantly for the land and hope to do another [-1] next turn unless there's a nice 'removal' target.

Onto the positive: Both the [+1] and [-1] have good applications in control and midrange, and are useful against control and midrange as well. After getting some play time with Kiora, it's very clear why her starting loyalty is 2. She's all about the ultimate, and getting rid of her requires two dedicated threats; one is blanked by the plus ability. The plus ability being a form of removal is something extremely useful to the average Simic deck, one of whose defining characteristics is a lack of access to burn and kill spells. That removal is temporary and relatively ineffective compared to four mana worth of traditional removal, but as part of the package it's a great addition.

She is very vulnerable to burn on the turn she comes down, although this isn't a terrible result for the Simic player by any means. You still blanked a creature next turn for the cost deficit of two-three mana - not that shabby.

The ultimate is quick to attain and gives you an instant impact, unlike many emblems. A vanilla 9/9 is something easily underestimated despite the lack of evasion, as you aren't going to kill it through combat or burn. One every turn is obviously going to spell gg pretty fast.

The middle ability is the odd child here. It is very complimentary to the other pair of abilities, allowing you to dig for answers and, if you're lucky, accelerate towards a big creature all at once. This is the best answer if accelerating to the 9/9 ultimate is not an option. Kiora's first two abilities are not likely to have a huge effect on the board state, so she tends to sit there across turns and do her thing with 1-2 loyalty. Combined with the psychological hang-up of PW 'overkill' - attacking with a creature large enough to get through to the 'walker, but whose power is much greater than needed to kill it - she isn't really a priority target, but can accrue a good incremental advantage.

The verdict: I love this card, in terms of design. The abilities are individually not particularly potent and are functionally on different levels from one another, unlike someone like Xenagos, who has high synergy with himself. Despite this, it's a wonderful addition in every U/G deck I could brew up, especially for the midrange and control varieties. A huge hit on the card is the fact that it is very lacklustre in control's worst matchup. However in board states where you're even or ahead already, it is just great. It's one of the more easily attainable ultimates, up there with the likes of Sarkhan Vol, and it even protects itself better than the latter, hence the low starting loyalty. Even if you're behind, nullifying a creature each turn or cantripping you and maybe ramping a land into play is something to hold onto.

Overall, it's a strange package of abilities that happen to fit really well into most U/G decks, with the exception of tempo. It has one very weak matchup, but two excellent ones. Four mana is a lot, but it's a small investment IF you get it at the right moment. I also am not embarrassed to admit that I'm always a bit more likely to include a card with good art, and this is just awesome! I think Kiora is going to be one of those cards that varies for every group. Its performance vs. different archetypes is quite varied, so depending on each group's preference I can see this being ranked as high as #1 (yep, I said it), or not even making the top 5. For that reason, pitching a cube size number suggestion seems tricky. It's not the obvious all-star that Ral Zarek was but it could make a similar impact to refresh that old-ass Simic section.

Speaking of which, the current Simic options are fairly divisive. Swallower, Trygon and Mystic Snake have been in place for such a long time that the desire to replace them is understandable. I don't consider any of the three uncuttable, but they are all very good at what they do. Snake is unique as a counterspell-dude and I'm most inclined to keep that one. I think that Simic Sky Swallower's days are coming to an end, since the quality of the monocolour finishers and artifact finishers has improved recently. He'll be my cut for Kiora, and if Kruphix is good in JIN, then Trygon might be out too. That said, I'll be on the look out for a big green finisher to come in instead, preferably that elusive six drop.

I really wish they'd print some new cards with old frames. Would be really sweet to see more cards like the judge Confidant and stuff, but without terrible shooting stars all over the place.

Quote from OP_Forever

I disagree. I think it can be classified as Bant card. It even have Bant mechanic, exalted, on it.

It's better in G/W and G/U than G/R and G/B. And if you play 3 color, it's best in Bant deck. I think it just depends on whether you list cards as played or as best. Phyrexian card is play in really all decks, but some people put them in their respective color because that's where it is best at.

It's still good enough to see play in 360. But if I have a shard section, I'll be putting her into that section.

You CAN classify it however you want (I should know, I get static on here for organizing my Cube according to casting cost); I just said that in my opinion it wasn't a Bant card. You have better options for a more interesting Cube if you put a fun card with Bant mana in the cost in that slot, while Noble functions perfectly well as a green card (more than well, actually). I guess I'm not sure why you would limit yourself for interesting multicolor cards when you don't have to. Avacyn's Pilgrim is NOT being classified as a GW card because GW has WAY more interesting cards than to take up a slot with a mana elf.

I think we will continue to get a trickle of 3c cards, especially legendary creatures.

Maelstrom Wanderer gets cast all the time, and is pretty backbreaking when it resolves/lives. Nicol Bolas also gets cast often (and is similarly backbreaking often) in decks which can reasonably cast it.

I'm actually disappointed that we haven't seen a great Naya-colored mana card yet; Razer, Charm, and Uril have all been tried, and all of them aren't as fun as the other shard cards.

@Flutter: Some other suggestions for sections with budget in mind:

WUB Esper - Ertai, the Corrupted Merieke Ri Berit Enigma Sphinx...how about Dromar's Charm?
RGW Naya - Fiery Justice Meglonoth Woolly Thoctar...Titanic Ultimatum, especially if you play Windbrisk Heights?
GWU Bant - Finest Hour Giltspire Avenger Rubinia Soulsinger...Bant Charm?
BUG - The Mimeoplasm Fungal Shambler Vorosh, the Hunter...Damia, Sage of Stone?
WBG Junk - Ghave, Guru of Spores Karador, Ghost Cheiftain Teneb, the Harvester...Crime/Punishment maybe?

-AA

I played this in three different decks tonight and it was just ok. Sucks to finally dig in and realize that your creatures only get deathtouch when they attack. That was never really relevant. Combat confusion due to the counters was fun, I gained a little life, and put some cards on the bottom of my library. More often than not, none of that mattered over the course of the game and I was mostly upset that my blockers didn't get deathtouch. I am going to continue to test it but it isn't looking promising.

I think it's good for gameplay, and a complete failure for flavor. Like any rules change, we'll get used to it. If these kinds of changes make you quit the game, I feel like you were looking for an excuse to do it anyway. The core of the game really hasn't changed since 94 and overall I think magic has improved dramatically since then.

Quote from mook1e

I don't run blue or black aggro cards, so I think this will be pretty bad in that kind of shell. I'll pass unless I hear awesome things here in the next few weeks/months

I would pass too if that were the case. You really want an aggro shell to put this in. This guys is meant to press the game. It's not meant to draw cards.

Did you hear the people sing?