Seems sort of like a variant of azure mage
Sets Battle for Zendikar Spoilers
- Thread starter Eric Chan
- Start date
Yeah, for sure. Like, it's not amazing but I'd be happy to play with it in draft.
Except this one is two colours, requires one more mana to draw with, has a weaker body (with death touch, admittedly) and no relevant typing..
So far the only cards I'm intrigued by are Retreat to Kazandu and that awaken Hero's Downfall, and I probably won't be running either anytime soon. I was thinking of buying a case because, yknow, Expeditions, but I'm almost certainly not gonna bother at this rate. I hope Kiora's worth picking up, but after seeing Gideon I'm expecting some obvious powerhouse because Kiora's so popular. It's a shame, Origins was my first "omg new set what will it give me for cube?!" experience and it was outstanding but I guess that's not the norm
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Origins was definitely an aberration of amazingness. Most sets are going to drag one way or the other: either the power level will be off, the themes won't mesh, the design won't inspire, etc. Fortunately set design is has been extremely strong lately and basically every set has had something for just about everyone, so I'm not too concerned even though really nothing so far has been that interesting (I mean Retreat to Kazandu is ok, but a super-scaled down Primeval Bounty is probably permanent "maybe pile" material).
Origins was actually very unusual (more than normal) at least for me, because up until the very last minute I didn't think it would impact my meta at all. But I wound up with at least 10 adds and most of them will likely have an extended stay, so it ended up being stellar. I do not expect this set to repeat that. But even the worst sets ever have at least 1 or 2 cards I end up adding (from post NWO anyway).
I for one am most definitely gonna run the awakening downfall. I love that it's modal even if one mode is expensive, and most black decks i see here don't care whether something is an instant or sorcery (lots of tapout/rock decks). I just have no clue what i want to cut for it.
You take this the fuck back.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I'm trying out retreat to kazandu because curse of predation was probably too good.
Ruinous path is sweet because volcanic hammer is the best and because 2 hero's downfalls has actually been super sweet for me.
It's like the black oblivion ring, not that that means much
Ruinous path is sweet because volcanic hammer is the best and because 2 hero's downfalls has actually been super sweet for me.
It's like the black oblivion ring, not that that means much
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
They just spoiled a wrath for that destroys all non-land creatures, with awaken for . Pretty awesome!
that destroys all non-land creatures, with awaken for . Pretty awesome!
They just spoiled a wrath for
Fight club: this versus the phyrexian wrath.
I'm assuming that creatures are destroyed THEN the awaken happens, so that your land isn't destroyed? The use of "also" in leu of "then" kinda makes this confusing-ish.
The Phyrexian Wrath makes incedental artifacts!
My thoughts: 5 is significantly less than 6 in an actual game, but 8 is significantly more than 6 also! These thoughts aren't very sophisticated. I expect this one will see much more constructed play than Phyrexian Rebirth, which, to be fair, if memory serves had to compete with the likes of Day of Judgment during its standard rotation.
This version of kicker is a pretty great way of promoting ramp in an environment. A solid bonus that rewards you for ramping, but can still be cast in a regular deck. That's a far cry, design-wise, from "game winning fatty that most decks don't actually have any interest in".
This version of kicker is a pretty great way of promoting ramp in an environment. A solid bonus that rewards you for ramping, but can still be cast in a regular deck. That's a far cry, design-wise, from "game winning fatty that most decks don't actually have any interest in".
Gimme all dat awakening removal yess delicious. It's like swimming in a pile of shriekmaws.
As far as I understand, yes, the Awaken will happen after the other spell effects.
However, it doesn't matter in this case, since the card specifically doesn't destroy land creatures, which is what you get from Awaken.
Enemy manland spoiled today! And an interesting tutor in UG.
hmmm, Lumbering Falls looks underwhelming... but at least there's four more lands coming!
Bring to Light seems custom built just for Riptide manabases! with double fetches and duals + shocks, a UG midrange deck should have converge = 3 trivially, sometimes might stretch to get converge = 4, and very occasionally reach the miracle converge = 5. having the ability to tutor for any creature makes it more exciting than Green Sun's Zenith, to me - imagine grabbing Sower of Temptation, Glen Elendra Archmage, or Mulldrifter as the situations calls for it! super excited about this one.
Bring to Light seems custom built just for Riptide manabases! with double fetches and duals + shocks, a UG midrange deck should have converge = 3 trivially, sometimes might stretch to get converge = 4, and very occasionally reach the miracle converge = 5. having the ability to tutor for any creature makes it more exciting than Green Sun's Zenith, to me - imagine grabbing Sower of Temptation, Glen Elendra Archmage, or Mulldrifter as the situations calls for it! super excited about this one.
All manlands are playable though. Even underwhelming ones. These are going to be auto include windmill slams even if they are all Lavaclaw Reaches.
In what Cube is a hexproof manland with a reasonable stats/activation ratio underwhelming? Not in mine, especially since I'm running a friggin' Simic gainland for lack of better options.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one excited about Bring to Light. It seems like a super fun card to build around in a 3+ color control/midrange deck. And if I'm reading it right, you don't have to cast the card right away, yeah? It just stays in your exile zone as a freebie whenever? That is killa dilla.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one excited about Bring to Light. It seems like a super fun card to build around in a 3+ color control/midrange deck. And if I'm reading it right, you don't have to cast the card right away, yeah? It just stays in your exile zone as a freebie whenever? That is killa dilla.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Hmm, self-mill enabler Kiora is pretty interesting. Untapping creatures is always cool too. Very likeable card at an overloaded point in the curve.
Stasis snare is alright, Temporal Isolation is a good card and so is journey to nowhere. Its definitely an interesting option for a removal suite though its on the weaker side, with all the implications that entails.
Low risk-low reward Steppe Lynx is also ok, but I really have a hard time getting excited over it.
Bring to light doesn't say "until end of turn" so I assume it last forever? You could potentially grab Cryptic Command and sit on it until you want to counter something? I mean, hesitation isn't really a good card, but that's definitely an interesting option if you cast it when you are ahead on board, particularly since you can use it to fetch a bullet when you aren't.
Stasis snare is alright, Temporal Isolation is a good card and so is journey to nowhere. Its definitely an interesting option for a removal suite though its on the weaker side, with all the implications that entails.
Low risk-low reward Steppe Lynx is also ok, but I really have a hard time getting excited over it.
Bring to light doesn't say "until end of turn" so I assume it last forever? You could potentially grab Cryptic Command and sit on it until you want to counter something? I mean, hesitation isn't really a good card, but that's definitely an interesting option if you cast it when you are ahead on board, particularly since you can use it to fetch a bullet when you aren't.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
I generally don't like tutors, so I'm not excited over Bring to Light, but I'm pretty sure if I liked tutors I would love that card because its full of play.