Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[Jason Waddell]

I've been wondering about adding another finisher for my Black section in my cube. Currently my top CMC cards are two delvers: Gurmag Angler and Tasigur but they both don't serve that well as curve toppers. I don't want something as powerful as Grave Titan, Griselbrand or Sheoldred so I wondered about this card:



It has a decent activation cost (have to have an unblocked attacker, sending it back to your hand is a tempo loss) with a pretty generous upside but that's what I want for a 6 CMC 5/4 creature. Regenerate is nice but might put it over the top. Would you think this is too powerful for my moderately (un)powered cube?

I remember spending a good chunk of money to get one a few years ago, and then cutting it almost immediately for being underpowered.

 

[ahadabans]

I feel like Puppeteer Clique does the target player's graveyard thing better (it happens on ETB and it's temporary so less swingy).

Another vote for Skeletal Vampire. I mocked Grillo when he first brought it up since it looks so terrible against Grave Titan, but it's really hard to get rid of because of the nearly free regenerate, and any amount of blink support just makes it better. Since re-adding it to my list, I've come to respect this card again.

My 2 cents on Massacre Wurm is that it's easy-mode for midrange/control decks. It does too much. One sided sweeper against aggressive decks and it can potentially deal 6+ damage to them while leaving a 6/5 threat. All for 6 mana. Bullocks. Saw that card take a borderline playable deck and make it very good simply by getting to 6 mana. I know it costs BBB, so it's not super playable outside heavy black (or reanimator). But I just feel it walks a fine line on power level. Swingy cards like this bother me in general, especially ones that outright decimate certain strategies.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

To build off of what FSR was saying: ink-eyes is generally a giant win-more if you are actually using the ninjutsu. There are so many conditions that need to be checked off, that generally you're going to have to be in a fairly commanding position when she hits. The ninjutsu is also quite bad in her case, as its a tempo blowout if an opponent can bounce or kill her in response to her ETBing.

The correct way to play her, I've found, is to just hardcast her on 6, and than start pounding in, which creates something of a mini-abyss effect, since the opponent can't just keep on taking 5 and giving you a stream of even crappy creatures from their yard and hope to win. I kind of wonder if that intent wasn't behind the original design, as the regeneration works very well in encouraging those sort of unpleasant blocking decisions.

Played in a way where its not constantly rotting in your hand, Ink-eyes is a finisher that ends the game incrementally, building up an overwhelming advantage over the course of the next several turns. Obviously, the card is completely unplayable under current design direction, where 6 CC hardcast investments are supposed to have some sort of immediate, swingy affect on the game.

 

[MDT12]

Alright guys, thanks a lot for the input. I like both Massacre Wurm and Skeletal Vampire quite a lot. Maybe the Wurm is a tad strong so the Vampire might be a good fit? Soul of Innistrad's ability is strong but might not be that useful after 1x using or am I seeing this wrong?

 

[RavebornMuse]

I'm probably the only one, but I still like Necropolis Regent.

I love Necropolis Regent but I always assumed she was too busted. Would you mind sharing why you like her?

 

[FlowerSunRain]

I like the fast flying clock combined with the ability to make outclassed bodies into potential threats even if she's dealt with, making her useful both in grindy/topdeck situations and crowded board situations (where she often forces bad blocks). Theoretically I like the +1/+1 counter synergy, but in practice it hasn't been relevant. Having a flying body to block an evasive threat is actually pretty relevant. One of my friends who loves drafting B/X control or midrange loves the card and values her highly in basically any deck that can cast her. He called her "almost as good as Grave Titan", which I don't agree with, but as someone who happily runs Grave Titan, I find her power level fine and I prefer her to Massacre Wurm (and Skeletal Vampire, power level aside) because I DON'T want a second board-stabilizing black six drop and I do want a powerful, evasive threat in black.

 

[RavebornMuse]

How do we feel about these?



I'm intrigued by Path as a neat piece that plays into life gain, enchantment, and token themes, but I'm also not really sure if it does anything??? Martial Law looks like a very fair version of Citadel Siege, with potentially more upside while still at the cost of not being as useful versus haste/dash strategies (mmm, sweet ~format tension~)

 

[Chris Taylor]

I love to hate path of bravery. It's a decent anthem that's on a decent amount of the time, but moreso than any other noncreature non-removal spell it WILL NOT help you when you're losing, which is mostly why I don't run it.
It does create some awesome moments though. I recall a time where I alpha'd in, blocks happened, and my opponent used perilous myr to shoot me, losing me the anthem bonus, which then caused 3 of my creatures to collapse

 

[sigh]

I love martial law (the card not the concept). Its definitely an option as a 'fixed' citadel siege. I think an interesting analog to the effect is:

 

[ahadabans]

Thing I like best about Path of Bravery is that it's not WW to cast, so it shows up in more deck lists due to splashability. Without any sort of life gain theme though, I'm not sure I should still be running it. There's some variance with it and sometimes it feels a little "win more" when you have enough life to trigger the anthem. And as Chris said, it's pretty bad when you are losing (although I feel like most anthems tend to be).

Martial Law looks painfully slow, but I've never tried it.

 

[Eric Chan]

Yeah, Prison Term also came to mind when I saw Martial Law. While it's less flexible and more likely to be cleared off the board, I think the one mana savings is more than worth it, as it makes it that much more likely to make the cut in an aggro deck.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I've been wondering about adding another finisher for my Black section in my cube. Currently my top CMC cards are two delvers: Gurmag Angler and Tasigur but they both don't serve that well as curve toppers. I don't want something as powerful as Grave Titan, Griselbrand or Sheoldred

Getting back to black curve toppers, I'm surprised no one mentioned either of these:

 

[Aston]

I've also been very happy with

 

[Chris Taylor]

Overseer has been surprisingly sweet for me. (Grave Titan was a bit too strong)

 

[genericco]

I would like to second the recommendation of mikaeus, the unhallowed.

 

[Eric Chan]

still the original and the best

but if she's too strong, Overseer of the Damned is a good alternative

 

[Diakonov]

Abhorrent Overlord is no joke as well.

I do have a personal love for Kokusho.

 

[Dom Harvey]

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I run the Minotaur, and it gets played a surprisingly amount of the time it's drafted. It's a threat that protects itself, and it's recently become best buddies with Jori En, Ruin Diver. It's also valuable as an artifact, if you run that theme in blue and red.

 

[Eric Chan]

Is there some kind of big mana, super value engine in Etherium-Horn Sorcerer, a la Capsize? I never cared for Enlisted Wurm, because he was just too unreliable, but being able to get a free spell for nine mana a turn sounds like just the kind of Durdly McDurdles that a U/x control deck might be interested in.

I loved Bituminous Blast back in the day, and assume it's probably still a good low-power cube card; I'm not just sure that it's either more exciting or a better build-around than all of the other available BR cards out there. For control decks, it's also no Ribbons of Night.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Etherium-horn sorcerer looks like just another creature for the cube-wide ETB spam archetype, and I would probably pass.

Bituminous blast looks much healthier for a cube in the abstract, but its probably not strong enough to justify a gold slot?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Etherium-horn sorcerer looks like just another creature for the cube-wide ETB spam archetype, and I would probably pass.

It's actually a cast trigger, so flickering, reanimating and other shenanigans don't work. I've played with and against it, and it feels much more like a grinding tool that happens to interact favorably with a number of cute archetypes (artifacts, spells... the Jori En interaction is really, really cute). There's also the fact that it hits a random spell, and at six mana it's damn near impossible to control that randomness. Last but not least it's expensive, in two colors, and not particularly well statted for its cost. For all of these reasons it's never felt like just another creature for the cube-wide ETB spam archetype. Give it a try, you might be surprised!

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

It's actually a cast trigger, so flickering, reanimating and other shenanigans don't work. I've played with and against it, and it feels much more like a grinding tool that happens to interact favorably with a number of cute archetypes (artifacts, spells... the Jori En interaction is really, really cute). There's also the fact that it hits a random spell, and at six mana it's damn near impossible to control that randomness. Last but not least it's expensive, in two colors, and not particularly well statted for its cost. For all of these reasons it's never felt like just another creature for the cube-wide ETB spam archetype. Give it a try, you might be surprised!

What I mean by that is that its a cantriping body, or value creature, which is already a very strong effect we probably run too much of. What you actually hit off of it is pretty immaterial as long as you are hitting something.

I am sure its very good, all of those cards are very good, even one mana 1/2s.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

What I mean by that is that its a cantriping body, or value creature, which is already a very strong effect we probably run too much of. What you actually hit off of it is pretty immaterial as long as you are hitting something.

I am sure its very good, all of those cards are very good, even one mana 1/2s.

I was not suggesting you try out the card because it's good, compared to the Flametongue Kavus of this world it really isn't, I was suggesting you try out the card because it's fun and doesn't really play out like the ubiquitous, traditional etb value creatures. At least, that's my experience.

 

[Eric Chan]

I've tried to run Enlisted Wurm in about every format since they printed it - cube included - and it was always nowhere near good enough. A vanilla 5/5 for is way, way behind the curve, and flipping up a Llanowar Elves just as often as a useful five drop gets you killed right quick. At six cmc, the randomness of cascade is a lot harder to control than with something like Bloodbraid Elf, and harder to justify building your deck around; the inconsistency of the card is what finally brought me around to my senses.

At 3/6 for the same cost, my initial read is that Etherium-Horn Sorcerer would also be too weak, despite its interesting activated ability. Because you'll be hitting blanks around half the time, you probably want to be able to spend at least 15 mana (!) before you get your "value" out of the card. I think something like Nucklavee probably works better in 90% of scenarios, but Sorcerer represents the dream of being able to "go infinite", though in a way that's a lot less miserable for your opponent than a Capsize-lock.