General Fight Club

ahadabans

ahadabans

Not defending Pack Rat... well, maybe a little. I don't think it's broken in cube. Removal is light years better in cube - which is one reason the card was busted in RTR limited (removal there was terribad). Second, cube is much higher power and also faster. Pack Rat is damn slow and while it can take over a game, it's pretty glacial compared to what most reasonably high power lists are doing. Nick (https://mtgcube.blogspot.com/) doesn't even run it in his 554 list. Just want to get that perspective out there. IMO, this card is overrated by the community pretty severely.

That said, it does present a removal check moment and I too find those sorts of things to be a bit lame. So I don't think people should run it, just that if you do it's not going to be Jitte.

I like the idea of pack rat (rats getting out of control if you don't keep their numbers down - very flavorful), but it can be annoying in slower midrange lists.
 
japahn

japahn

Pack Rat will usually just die to removal. If not, it will win the game without the need to cast anything else. That's how it played in my cube, consistently, over two sessions. At the end of the second I removed it. It's the kind of thing that is funny when it happens once, meh when it happens the second time, unsettling the third time, and from then on it's just stupid.

 
GalacticTraveler12

GalacticTraveler12

​
I'm a fan of this if you go low enough power. It can foster an interesting Ophidian subtheme and remains playable in any red deck. Overall it's a pretty fun minigame to trigger it, although it has a slight win-more element to it.​

Of the other two I think I prefer Hammer of Bogardan because it seems more skill-intensive (have to make decision during upkeep) and fits into decks that are less focused on attacking. However I could see an argument that Repeating Barrage is more interactive, having to take into account blockers and removal.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Personally I dislike off-color evasion. Flying is only in green when there flavorwise is no way around it like with a few bees throughout Magic history or when it’s part of a cycle like this one. It’s like Maro says: When you design a cycle, there is always one or two cards that are going to be a little less well designed than the rest.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Sorry. Didn’t mean Jugan is a bad design.

My bad if it came out like that. I feel like flying is off-color in green. There is exactly 29 different green creatures in Magic history with flying.

Since after Tarkir block 2014 they have not printed any green creature with flying. It’s super rare :p
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

I like Jugan just a bit more than Mastodon, but I don't really like either of them. They both suggest a +1/+1 counter theme, but hit the board so late that they aren't really playing with the strategy, which is typically an aggressive midrange plan. Jugan, the Rising Star is a pretty cool card and at 6 relatively achievable, but the {G}{G}{G} in its cost hamstrings efforts to fit it securely into the +1/+1 counter deck, and instead make it look like a general payoff for being invested in green. Meanwhile, Sandsteppe Mastodon is sort of the pinnacle of Timmy plays, and if your format doesn't have some really eager Timmy players, I'm not sure who is going to run it. Over 6 mana, I start wanting a serious reward, and I'm not sure that 5 +1/+1 counters is really it. I'd rather have any of your green section's 5 or 6 drops before the Mastodon. Is it possible your format simply doesn't really need another 7+ drop in green?
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

Chris Taylor said:
I'm not sure they really imply a counter theme. Sure they play well with it, but you can see pretty well they work well independantly.

Jitte is artifact support, but I wouldn't really count it as such.
Click to expand...

You're right. I assumed they were being chosen for +1/+1 counter interactions, but looking at the list in question, there really isn't any reason to go into that type of deck/no archetype support behind it, so it's a moot point.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

I just like the idea of pumping mana dorks or other small bodies in the late game, but Wolfir Silverheart and Verdurous Gearhulk both are way too busted and I looked for alternatives. Jugan gives the pump to a dude after dying and needs to get handled quickly as it's a big evasive body. It's important to know that I do not play much removal to exile, but bounce is something that really does hurt the dragon. Costing six instead of seven mana also seems to be pretty important, as seven mana could be generally seen as the late game sweetspot that some decks aren't able to hit consecutively.

The mastodon puts the pump directly on the table, which is something I like (bounce is looking less attractive), but it's justified by costing the aforementioned seven mana. I also like that's in the form of Bolster, automatically pumping one of the smallest bodies on your side of the field.

EDIT:

I think I'm going for this guy:

 
Rasmus Källqvist

Rasmus Källqvist

Deadbridge goliath is a cool card. I've always been split about running it because I feel like it super signals a green graveyard theme, but at the same time it's just a sweet blastoderm body with upside.

vs

Which is the better RG control card? I feel like Land's Edge wins because it doesn't cost fricking RRR, and that you should be able to break the symmetry of discarding lands if you've got cards like life from the loam or creatures that fetches lands like borderland ranger
 
sigh

sigh

I'm optimistically testing Seismic for now. I can see switching to the exact list inscho lists though, precisely if RRR is too burdensome. I will note that it is an extremely evocative draw into the archetype, with ny drafters immediately commenting on it and wishing it had appeared in pack 1.
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I think both of them suffer from a number of problems, but sesmic in particular is fairely iconic, and certain playgroups will resonate with it, and try to make it work.

Its not necessarly bad to have cards like that, but expectations and all that.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

If your Gruul decks are more into ramping out big creatures, Arlinn usually is a cool choice. It's also playable in midrangey lists, but e.g. Jund lists like Huntmaster a lot more. Personally, I'm totally in for the latter one as it needs some play to it to get really strong, and it's defining the pace of the game if your opponent doesn't have removal immediately.
 
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