General Fight Club

v.
Played with Prepare to Fight today in a draft and it was handily very good. Both cards seem very similar, and I can't decide if I like incidental modes or playable combat trick more...
 
Personally, I find the "sacrifice enchant" rider to be a little too annoying on the command, and would rather have the lifelink and greater flexibility in timing my fight effect. Since I mostly just have buildaround enchantments in my list and nothing that's a full-on removal check, I really, really dislike those "oops, there goes your buildaround!" styles of incidental hate.
 
Yeah, I'm not really much of a fan of the new one. The utility in Dromoka's Command comes from being so cheap and offering so many options. I've used it as a pump + fight card, a way to grow a guy then free a guy from an O-Ring, and as a counterspell against burn. Being able to represent so many things with just GW up is amazing. I'm nowhere near as enthused for that Aftermath card because I'm not really in the market for a combat trick and a delayed fight card that will take up most of a turn. 6 mana for both halves seems a little ambitious. It'll definitely work in some formats, and getting additional mileage from flashback-y mechanics is sweet, but it just doesn't have a home in my cube. I don't really think it's close to Dromoka's Command.

And that's not even getting into how much I hate the card frame with the squished art and shitty design choices. Just on that alone I've skimmed past most of the Aftermath offerings for my Cube.
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Yeah, the cards seem like they are coming from different worlds in terms of power level, and I think the analysis you would use would be very different.

That being said, after seeing the aftermath cards in person, they aren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be, and they play very well. The reactions from a group of people that hadn't been pre-persuaded by early spoilers was also--surprisingly to me--positive: they figured out the rags "to" riches tagline on their own, thought it was clever, no problem with the art etc.

The best thing about them (and speaking more broadly about the entire set design) is that they let you tuck exciting high CC plays with more practically priced plays. Its just a very nice way to bridge the temperament gap between johnny, timmy, and spike.
 
Some things I like about P // F:
-lifelink. Not really any other playable combat tricks that grant lifelink. This can 'counter' burn by bringing you out of the red zone
-untap. Being able to be two removal spells on offense or defense is great. Combat tricks that work after a creature has attacked and is tapped are great.
-split payment plan. Not having to use options, potentially suboptimally, right when you cast it the first time, is great.

I definitely appreciate all the points about dromokas command above, I used to play it I'm constructed for most points touched on. Forcing the opponent to sac a Keranos and pumping is solid game. Choice is hard.
 
I prefer Tithe Drinker > Drana's Emissary; I don't think the evasion is worth it for {W}{B}, and the extort triggers are more punchy if you've got a low curve, and thus access to more triggers. That said, if you only want one, I'd also recommend Kambal, Consul of Allocation over the two (or paired with Tithe Drinker).

Since virtually every deck will have some non-creature spells, Kambal can tax your opponent rather significantly if he's left alone. Even if they immediately attempt a kill spell, he offers a near-guaranteed 4pt life swing (-2 them, +2 you), and if they don't or you can protection effect/recur him, he can represent a whopping 8pt life swing when they come in with a second kill spell, which is pretty great for a mere 3 mana. I wasn't very impressed with him until I drafted with him, at which point, I was really, really impressed. He goes up in value a lot if your cube is lower/mid-powered, and/or spells-centric, of course, but for fleshing out a section, I think there's a strong argument for his inclusion for {W}{B}, since he can help swing the game against the aggro/burn decks and strict control decks that {W}{B} tends to be less favourable to in a lot of lists (and he's also a human, which is often a plus).
 
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