Dom Harvey
Contributor
Clear GW #1 for power-maxers but a very neat card in general IMO
General [MSH] Marvel Super Heroes
- Thread starter ravnic
- Start date
Clear GW #1 for power-maxers but a very neat card in general IMO
Am I the only one who feels like a lot of the designs are just kinda... bland? Maybe it's my aversion of Hero and Villain as card types that makes me less interested in the designs, but man it feels like a lot of stuff we've seen before.
Some cards that are kinda neat, I guess?
(That last one is Storm, Windrider, and should pop up soonish).
And there's also
which is kinda gross in terms of powercreep - yeah, sure, let's take Mirrorworks, make it a 2/4 for
with the stupid-ass Villain subtype, then animate the tokens, why the heck not?
Some cards that are kinda neat, I guess?
(That last one is Storm, Windrider, and should pop up soonish).
And there's also
which is kinda gross in terms of powercreep - yeah, sure, let's take Mirrorworks, make it a 2/4 for
with the stupid-ass Villain subtype, then animate the tokens, why the heck not?
I've recently had a thought. They might've finally strip mined Magic's potential to its limits over 30+ years. There are no new cards to make, because everything has been done. That's why we get weird twists on mechanics that were perfectly fine, just to present it as new. Sneak in place of ninjutsu, harmonize instead of flashback, cloak instead of morph etc. Okay, some might have power creep or rule engine reasons, fine.
I think Mark Rosewater said somewhere, that it's fun to find the way to represent existing characters in Magic rules. And I indeed have a nice surprise sometimes, when I see a familiar character with Magic mechanics and think "of course, that makes sense". At this point Magic engine should support pretty much anything you could think of. Problem is, I recognize maybe 5% of UB characters, and find 100 variations of Spiderman boring as hell. Most "legendary" chars are just stat beatsticks to fill the quota you'd forget in a day.
What I'm trying to say, is that adapting existing media is a new challenge to them, very different to the usual "what new could we even do in Magic at this point". It kinda has potential to prolong strip mining of magic. I've also seen a theory, that mainstream hypermarkets would have a ready nostalgia IP product in a form of tried and true Magic: the Gathering game. Instead of some movie promo tie in game that will be forgotten in a year.
I play cube exclusively, so I'm not bothered that much, but also unexcited about constructed formats. I'm still anti-UB, but now I realize it could be vital to the longevity of the game in the current release schedule. Of course, you should blame Hasbro executives for the stupid release schedule. Shame that actually interesting designs are from the fabled plane of New York now. I'll have to make custom in-universe proxies If I'd want to play with them, but I'm not opposed to UB existing now. Just would be a lot cooler if it didn't.
At this point I doubt it's possible to make a truly breakthrough Magic set within the boundaries of the game as it is. But do we really want triple-sided cards, initiative 2.0, physical side-decks or permanent stat upgrades with each passing match? I think most people here want simple yet exciting non-parasitic glue cards for various themes, but I sometimes think everything has been done at this point. Maybe a couple actually neat new designs per set.
I think Mark Rosewater said somewhere, that it's fun to find the way to represent existing characters in Magic rules. And I indeed have a nice surprise sometimes, when I see a familiar character with Magic mechanics and think "of course, that makes sense". At this point Magic engine should support pretty much anything you could think of. Problem is, I recognize maybe 5% of UB characters, and find 100 variations of Spiderman boring as hell. Most "legendary" chars are just stat beatsticks to fill the quota you'd forget in a day.
What I'm trying to say, is that adapting existing media is a new challenge to them, very different to the usual "what new could we even do in Magic at this point". It kinda has potential to prolong strip mining of magic. I've also seen a theory, that mainstream hypermarkets would have a ready nostalgia IP product in a form of tried and true Magic: the Gathering game. Instead of some movie promo tie in game that will be forgotten in a year.
I play cube exclusively, so I'm not bothered that much, but also unexcited about constructed formats. I'm still anti-UB, but now I realize it could be vital to the longevity of the game in the current release schedule. Of course, you should blame Hasbro executives for the stupid release schedule. Shame that actually interesting designs are from the fabled plane of New York now. I'll have to make custom in-universe proxies If I'd want to play with them, but I'm not opposed to UB existing now. Just would be a lot cooler if it didn't.
At this point I doubt it's possible to make a truly breakthrough Magic set within the boundaries of the game as it is. But do we really want triple-sided cards, initiative 2.0, physical side-decks or permanent stat upgrades with each passing match? I think most people here want simple yet exciting non-parasitic glue cards for various themes, but I sometimes think everything has been done at this point. Maybe a couple actually neat new designs per set.
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Yeah no I would be willing to bet money that the reason no one is jumping to post about this set on most platforms is because the cards are mostly terrible.
Riptide Lab is famously a powermax cube forum, there are no curators here who could be interested in a card like Shuri, Wakandan Inventor, Loki, God of Mischief, Elektra, Daughter of the Hand, Shuri, the Black Panther, or the new dual land cycle that encourages playing basic lands. Regardless, it was mostly in jest, I know there's a market for it. I do agree though, the cards are terrible.
Really surprised this can hit lands. I don't think I have space for it at 3, but I think it's a neat card with a lot of decision-making to it, so I do kind of want to.
I don't care too much for this card except how I made something very similar for Onder's Ravnica contest and he said it would be too oppressive so I find it funny that it now exists in paper. It is kind of appealing to me just because undercosted beaters with drawbacks are funny and it's a decent unearth target, but I doubt I'll bother finding space, I'd probably rather play Rotting Regisaur.
The cards are a weird bunch, for sure. I find the pushed ones absolutely sauceless--shit, why not make your 1UG creature that clones a card every turn a 4/4 with vigilance? If you want a green Knightly Valor, sure, it'll grow AND let you play lands off the top of your library! Fuck it, Savannah Lions isn't good enough, make one that grows and draws you cards if you put it in the right deck. What the hell is this? When I was a kid, we cast Rampaging Baloths and LIKED it.
That said, some of the lower-powered stuff is genuinely sweet. I'm pissed that they're powercreeping old stuff, but at least Dark Deed is an interesting sidegrade to Drown in Ichor despite Grasp of Darkness being way swaggier than either.
The exalted stuff seems like a ton of fun. Black Widow, Double Agent--I hate having to type that--seems fascinating, but like, c'mon. At minimum she's a 3-mana 3/2 first strike menace deathtoucher. Bring back Vampire Nighthawk!
The Valiant-adjacent stuff is pretty good, and I love the templating (though Kamala Khan is kinda a nightmare to parse if you don't have the "power = cards in hand" shortcut ready to go).
Plans are all excellent, no notes. I might actually run some of these.
They're Zendikar Quests but actually good (not you, Zektar Shrine Expedition. you're perfect.)
Drogskol Reaver is good?!
Dookie to type, but a fun finisher and an interesting spin on Bolas' Citadel.[/CI]
edit: never mind, you have to type all of these names exactly every single time you want to talk about them. Fuck this, I'm back to being a hater.
That said, some of the lower-powered stuff is genuinely sweet. I'm pissed that they're powercreeping old stuff, but at least Dark Deed is an interesting sidegrade to Drown in Ichor despite Grasp of Darkness being way swaggier than either.
The exalted stuff seems like a ton of fun. Black Widow, Double Agent--I hate having to type that--seems fascinating, but like, c'mon. At minimum she's a 3-mana 3/2 first strike menace deathtoucher. Bring back Vampire Nighthawk!
The Valiant-adjacent stuff is pretty good, and I love the templating (though Kamala Khan is kinda a nightmare to parse if you don't have the "power = cards in hand" shortcut ready to go).
Plans are all excellent, no notes. I might actually run some of these.
They're Zendikar Quests but actually good (not you, Zektar Shrine Expedition. you're perfect.)
Drogskol Reaver is good?!
Dookie to type, but a fun finisher and an interesting spin on Bolas' Citadel.[/CI]
edit: never mind, you have to type all of these names exactly every single time you want to talk about them. Fuck this, I'm back to being a hater.
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Contrary to what I said earlier, they still find mechanical niches to explore. Maybe precisely because of top-down design with new unfamiliar lore instead of Magic canon. I love white prowess, especially with according color pie effects. Some more heroic is also interesting. I was pondering "attacks alone" theme for my first cube with auras, but found support unexciting then.
Shame about Marvel though. I hate how it became the insufferable common denominator for "geek culture". For fantasy IPs I could at least pretend those are from some niche multiverse plane I forgot about.
Shame about Marvel though. I hate how it became the insufferable common denominator for "geek culture". For fantasy IPs I could at least pretend those are from some niche multiverse plane I forgot about.
Will definitely pick up a copy for my ULD. A Legion Extruder effect on a land with all the trinket artifact generation we've gotten in recent years is pretty cool.
Yeah, my only real gripe with the land is that it's a 3/3 Robot Villain named Doombot instead of just being a 3/3 Robot.
(Actually, would it have killed them to make it a Construct? We've gotten almost a hundred Robots over the past couple of years and I'm still not sure why they aren't just Constructs.)
(Actually, would it have killed them to make it a Construct? We've gotten almost a hundred Robots over the past couple of years and I'm still not sure why they aren't just Constructs.)
This card is really sweet. Flash it in to clear a blocker EOT, blink it to tap down more than one body, you can put together a Karakas loop to enable some big swings in combat, and it can also shut down and/or neutralize cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or big Construct tokens. Holding up the two mana lets you bluff a counterspell as well.
This is a really neat way to double up on the Tishana's Tidebinder effect.
God, Marvel and the whole superhero bs is so cringe.
I was on vacation and not using my computer much but I was a little surprised to not see a thread on Reddit for this one. Agreed on the art and on @shamizy's point about how good the Legion Extruder effect is, especially on something that's as hard to deal with as a land. Also agreed on @LadyMapi's point about them not being constructs........or at least golems. I'd even take Assembly-Worker.
I really like The Wonderous Wasp as well. I think the comparisons to Tishana's Tidebender and Train's to as Ty Lee, Chi Blocker on Reddit both make sense but also why I like the card more than both of those. It's cleaner and simpler than the Tidebender while doing much of the same work, though it requires you to be a bit more proactive about it. It's worse than Ty Lee, but it's also one mana less and gets you enough of the card that I think you'll often be happy to have just that, especially when a creature's biggest annoyance is a repeating triggered ability or the like. Art's bad though.
But my favorite card of the set so far:
Samwise the Stouthearted sans Ring baggage. Incredible art. Lifelink! Grabs things that are milled or discarded too, if you need it. I've really struggled to not include Samwise but can seriously not handle the annoyance of a whole reminder card of a mechanic, even if I were to brush it aside during draft with an unfamiliar player or two. This is cleaner, generally better, and very cool.
I ran Mercenary Knight for years (back in my Haakon days) and still keep Bloodrage Brawler ready to swap back in in a moment's notice, so I like a flexible and cool big beater that's hybrid (!!). I think it's a bit whatever for what my Cube is doing now (and certainly on the slow side) but I like Titania, Rugged Rumbler all the same and will pick up a copy to think about if nothing else.
Agent 13, Sharon Carter is not the worst repeatable clue generator, but is not going to make the cut.
Mole Man, Moloid Master is one of the easiest pickups for my Cube, as it makes for a Ramunap Excavator I actually like. The Excavator got cut for being too busted with Strip Mine and Wasteland, then was too weak without them once Strip Mine was cut. At 720 cards, it's was hard to have enough fetch lands to feel like you were doing it, but thanks to the MH3 landscapes and the increase in self-mill, the Mole Man is going to be a great addition, and as others have stated, it feels Magic-y enough! For more powerful Cubes or those with more combo oriented stuff, this is busted with Nadu, but the value here is great regardless.
Goofy ass art, but fascinating piece of cardboard. A hybrid makes this so weird. It feels very out of color pie on both ends, it really needed to be both red and blue. But yeah, you can't target him, so you should aim all your own removal at him and then change targets. Super neat card, will put him in bar cube.
Green is the color most willing to tolerate the triple pips in the cost for a 4mv dude. I think it's a pretty good comp to The Earth King, a card I find quite underrated in the Cube community and quite interesting. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a token machine, and with enough incidental squirrels (like the also-underrated Squirrel Dealer) we've got an archetype cooking.
Shuri, Wakandan Inventor seems extremely close to being good enough. I like every part of the card, but it's all just "yeah, that's good but" and I want to see if it's more than the sum of her parts.
Tony Stark seems incredible for my Cube, but I'm already taking out Miles Morales every few weeks whenever sanity overcomes me and I really don't like these transforming MDFCs for expecting both players to know both sides and the nuances of how these specific ones work.
The median Cube these days has something like 20% of cards that produce tokens and Bennie Bracks, Zoologist is a deeply underrated card in the Cube community, so you'd think I'd like Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards here, but Bennie's convoke is super important. Still, not the worst card in the world, and cool at uncommon.
Ultron, Artificial Malevolence is exciting to me in a big way. I worry it'll play out too similarly to Digsite Engineer, a card I love but is often the only Karnstruct-generator I don't cube with since the cost of 2 on top of artifacts is often too hard, but this being colorless helps a lot in that regard. The big butt is quite rude, though.
Boy is this set ugly. I am so uninspired to draft this.
EDIT: oh yeah I'm also 100% playing Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor and like 25% to play Thor, God of Thunder.
I agree that most cards are designed this way. However, I don't think it's because the design space has been depleted, it's intentional. That is, they are intentionally making variations on the same principles or card designs.
The issue with unique, simple designs is that they are hard to evaluate, polarizing and difficult to balance. Take Urza Block. It's the single most creative block on a card level with dozens and dozens of fantastic designs that are still staples today...and also one of the most broken. It has cards that some people love to play with and others hate to play against. A lot of cards simply never worked or saw play.
In other words, the appeal of these cards are narrow. They explore new design space and only a section of the player base will be interested in that space.
Instead, they can simply remake or create variations on proven concepts, slap the set mechanic or a small twist on it and get a card more people will play.
Think about it, which cards do you think will appeal to the people who buy Magic because it has a Marvel or Lord of the Rings set?
I was a huge fan of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner back in the day but I hate all baggage that energy brings to Magic.
This is the best variant we've received in a while and y'all know how much I love vertical growth in aggressive threats. Menace is so underrated in cube when you have so much efficient removal to pick off blockers and make decisions tougher for the defending player. The 2 drop slot in black used to be pretty wide open back in the day, but nowadays we've gotten so many cool options to customize that position of the curve. So much versatility.
Huge fan of this one as well, very clean card with beautiful art and it opens up a lot of cool sequences with blinking and small Reanimator and whatnot. This slots into just about every W/x archetype I can think of in my cube aside from a really sleek and concentrated aggressive deck. I'll love playing this in U/W Control as an expendable body when I crack a fetch to flash it in on a trade, gain some life, then grab back my Flooded Strand to ensure I hit the land drop for a T4 Wrath. Oh baby.
That's a Reno and Rude variant and you know it.
I think you're both skipping a step - UB sets are primarily aimed at people who don't already play Magic, and who in many cases are probably buying them as collectibles instead of as game pieces. Introducing stuff like Mayhem and Sneak has more to do with cleaning up Madness and Ninjutsu (which both have some unintuitive timing nonsense going on if you're not used to them) than them running out of design space.
...
I'll be honest, I should probably block this thread for my own sanity (stupid "looking at every single thread to see if there's something interesting" habit). Seeing these cards is making me irrationally annoyed.
EDIT: I can't do that... so I'll just dip out of the forums instead until spoiler season's done. See you later, everyone.
Jumpstart has now been all spoiled, all 185 new cards! Some interesting cards. I reviewed all of them so you don't have to. (Part 1 of 2)
General Thunderbolt Ross is the kind of one-drop I'd really like....a few years ago. It's pretty close to a white Signal Pest that also can attack as a 2/1 first strike.
Daily Bugle Newspaper is Collector's Vault #2, but with much worse art and flavor. I have really enjoyed Collector's Vault, but I don't need another.
The Astonishing Spider-Manis a really cool hybrid card. It's just a little too slow for me, I would've much preferred this effect on a 3-drop or something like Anje's Ravager, but I do like how it's hybrid.
Pretty incredible to get two red 2/1s for 1 in this set, including a second one at common! Intrepid Ace is extremely cool. It's fundamentally just a red Hotshot Mechanic but its text is so much more elegant, exciting, and, dare I say, thought-provoking? I can't think of too many uses beyond the Hotshot besides maybe bite spells or "4 power matters" stuff, which isn't currently present in my Cube. But I think it's a stellar design all the same.
Happy Hogan is great too, being a 1mv legend for Yoshimaru decks that don't undermine the archetype like Ragavan does. I prefer it to Norin, Swift Survivalist thanks to blocking and Kellan, Planar Trailblazer due to the lack complexity and realistically having the same Average Case Scenario. It's not enough to put it in my Cube with that art, but it's close!
Cool card, just a bit too narrow for most Cubes. I'd be fascinated to see the Cube where it'd work out.
With menace or trample instead of reach, Lady Spider, Maybelle Reilly would be joining my Cube as Marauding Mako's new best friend. Perhaps if I had more spiders running around...
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire may have had a spin in my Cube as a totally whatever recurring treasure generator if not for the impending printing of Smaug the Magnificent, who will likely be my Cube's premiere 4-drop.
Marvel Boy, Noh-Varr is an excellent Cube card across so many power levels it's not even funny! +1/+1 counters, hybrid cost for maximum flexibility, soldier typing, legendary matters, there's lots going on here. Even if this were simply 1R I'd be intrigued, as this scales pretty fast compared to most red 2s. The only issues here are the awful shorts, the gun, (really, the art in general), and the phrase "power-up ability".
I saw Skyknight Squire in many reasonably powerful lists for a while, and this is pretty comparable.
Matt Murdock, Justice Seeker is a more fair Luminarch Aspirant...to the point I'm almost considering swapping it out. Aspirant is the rare powered Cube aggro card, generating an overwhelming amount of value for no additional investment. Thislawyer advisor has a small upside, but a large downside. But is that such an issue? Maybe. Interesting though.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
General Thunderbolt Ross is the kind of one-drop I'd really like....a few years ago. It's pretty close to a white Signal Pest that also can attack as a 2/1 first strike.
Daily Bugle Newspaper is Collector's Vault #2, but with much worse art and flavor. I have really enjoyed Collector's Vault, but I don't need another.
The Astonishing Spider-Manis a really cool hybrid card. It's just a little too slow for me, I would've much preferred this effect on a 3-drop or something like Anje's Ravager, but I do like how it's hybrid.
Pretty incredible to get two red 2/1s for 1 in this set, including a second one at common! Intrepid Ace is extremely cool. It's fundamentally just a red Hotshot Mechanic but its text is so much more elegant, exciting, and, dare I say, thought-provoking? I can't think of too many uses beyond the Hotshot besides maybe bite spells or "4 power matters" stuff, which isn't currently present in my Cube. But I think it's a stellar design all the same.
Happy Hogan is great too, being a 1mv legend for Yoshimaru decks that don't undermine the archetype like Ragavan does. I prefer it to Norin, Swift Survivalist thanks to blocking and Kellan, Planar Trailblazer due to the lack complexity and realistically having the same Average Case Scenario. It's not enough to put it in my Cube with that art, but it's close!
Cool card, just a bit too narrow for most Cubes. I'd be fascinated to see the Cube where it'd work out.
With menace or trample instead of reach, Lady Spider, Maybelle Reilly would be joining my Cube as Marauding Mako's new best friend. Perhaps if I had more spiders running around...
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire may have had a spin in my Cube as a totally whatever recurring treasure generator if not for the impending printing of Smaug the Magnificent, who will likely be my Cube's premiere 4-drop.
Marvel Boy, Noh-Varr is an excellent Cube card across so many power levels it's not even funny! +1/+1 counters, hybrid cost for maximum flexibility, soldier typing, legendary matters, there's lots going on here. Even if this were simply 1R I'd be intrigued, as this scales pretty fast compared to most red 2s. The only issues here are the awful shorts, the gun, (really, the art in general), and the phrase "power-up ability".
I saw Skyknight Squire in many reasonably powerful lists for a while, and this is pretty comparable.
Matt Murdock, Justice Seeker is a more fair Luminarch Aspirant...to the point I'm almost considering swapping it out. Aspirant is the rare powered Cube aggro card, generating an overwhelming amount of value for no additional investment. This
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
CONTINUED!!
Let's start with the cards I'm most seriously considering for my main Cube:
Hell yeah. Best friends with recent Cube darlings that I can't stop talking about here like Marauding Mako, Ivora, Insatiable Heir, and Cool but Rude. Red's discarding a lot of cards these days in my Cube, and this is a fantastic payoff.
Speaking of:
Mysterio's Mirage is what I'm looking for. Scrounging Skyray was fine for my Cube, but a little too eh. I don't like that it doesn't immediately give you the token and locks it to one each time. I also don't like that it makes a unique token that's unlikely to enter my Cube from other cards if it even gets a second showing from commander. But that's a fantastic discard reward in an era I'm discarding more than ever, and while I was looking at Drake Haven again lately, I really don't like paying an extra 1 each time I do it. I'm intrigued.
Why are all my black 5-drops artifact creatures? Anyways, this is a cool one. I like the mini Grave Titan thing, and I really like the "kill my opponent by sacrificing a bunch of trinkets" that has made me think about Pactdoll Terror. It's just a lot of things in one that looks cool and does a bunch of things I want my 5-drops to do.
I like Timeline Inquiry. Rain of Revelation was close as a super-charged instant speed Chart a Course and I was stoked to get Marang River Regent to have this effect on a split card. And like Chart a Course, Timeline Inquiry can help fill your graveyard when you need to and can be the only 4mv instant speed "draw 3" around...if you have the creatures for teamwork. Which isn't all that bad at instant speed! Not a clear include, but I'm interested.
Return of the Mole Man is easier to consider thanks to me already wanting Mole tokens for the main set Mole Man. I really liked Morcant's Eyes in Lorwyn retail but wanted a version that worked in Cube and...wow, this might be it!
Not bad!
Some cards I think are cool but am not necessarily plotting around for my Cube:
This seems terrifying in limited, glad it's stuck in the Jumpstart. A ten point life swing! Kill off a quarter of their life total for just six mana at instant speed!
Pretty good version of an effect we've seen a bunch, probably the best one yet in blue.
Really cool hybrid card.
Much better than I think it's being given credit for. I'm a little interested in this, actually. It's like a super Snapcaster at sorcery speed, getting you 3mv spells for the same price and 4mv spells for a deal. It also gets artifacts which really opens it up a lot more. I think this might be pretty good, like a mix of Snapcaster and reanimator on a stick. Am I talking myself into this?
Let's start with the cards I'm most seriously considering for my main Cube:
Hell yeah. Best friends with recent Cube darlings that I can't stop talking about here like Marauding Mako, Ivora, Insatiable Heir, and Cool but Rude. Red's discarding a lot of cards these days in my Cube, and this is a fantastic payoff.
Speaking of:
Mysterio's Mirage is what I'm looking for. Scrounging Skyray was fine for my Cube, but a little too eh. I don't like that it doesn't immediately give you the token and locks it to one each time. I also don't like that it makes a unique token that's unlikely to enter my Cube from other cards if it even gets a second showing from commander. But that's a fantastic discard reward in an era I'm discarding more than ever, and while I was looking at Drake Haven again lately, I really don't like paying an extra 1 each time I do it. I'm intrigued.
Why are all my black 5-drops artifact creatures? Anyways, this is a cool one. I like the mini Grave Titan thing, and I really like the "kill my opponent by sacrificing a bunch of trinkets" that has made me think about Pactdoll Terror. It's just a lot of things in one that looks cool and does a bunch of things I want my 5-drops to do.
I like Timeline Inquiry. Rain of Revelation was close as a super-charged instant speed Chart a Course and I was stoked to get Marang River Regent to have this effect on a split card. And like Chart a Course, Timeline Inquiry can help fill your graveyard when you need to and can be the only 4mv instant speed "draw 3" around...if you have the creatures for teamwork. Which isn't all that bad at instant speed! Not a clear include, but I'm interested.
Return of the Mole Man is easier to consider thanks to me already wanting Mole tokens for the main set Mole Man. I really liked Morcant's Eyes in Lorwyn retail but wanted a version that worked in Cube and...wow, this might be it!
Not bad!
Some cards I think are cool but am not necessarily plotting around for my Cube:
This seems terrifying in limited, glad it's stuck in the Jumpstart. A ten point life swing! Kill off a quarter of their life total for just six mana at instant speed!
Pretty good version of an effect we've seen a bunch, probably the best one yet in blue.
Really cool hybrid card.
Much better than I think it's being given credit for. I'm a little interested in this, actually. It's like a super Snapcaster at sorcery speed, getting you 3mv spells for the same price and 4mv spells for a deal. It also gets artifacts which really opens it up a lot more. I think this might be pretty good, like a mix of Snapcaster and reanimator on a stick. Am I talking myself into this?
Dom Harvey
Contributor
The trend of the Jumpstart sets being goldmines even if the main set flops continues!
This fails the Firebolt test or whatever but has a lot of cool stuff going on. Mainly I wanted to highlight how neat power-up is with anything that cheats costs, blink etc - I want to find an excuse to Sneak Attack or Apprentice Necromancer this in somewhere and go nuts. Awaiting confirmation on exactly how well power-up works with Agatha's Soul Cauldron but even just the first ability is good to put under there
I love all the Doomsday-adjacent stuff but it usually feels very all or nothing. You can play this guy in a ~normal deck with a bunch of self-mill and sometimes backdoor into a two-card combo with whatever
Spell -> mana is an exciting and obvious effect that doesn't show up that often (and needs strong guardrails) - this is much cleaner than something like Birgi and there's a growing heap of cool red build-arounds that are artifacts if you're into that stuff too
I love the mass blink of Yorion and this hitting lands goes that much harder if you like landfall as much as I do
'When _ leaves your GY' is all the rage these days and easy to trigger; I expect the Hell's Caretaker mode on this will often be an afterthought in practice but the promise of it maybe gets you interested in the first half
This is a delightfully weird card that ties together stuff (sac, discard etc) that red often dabbles in at the same time but that doesn't have much connective tissue
I love me an Undead Butler and more relevant body/types are nice
I liked Bartolome enough to dangle a gold slot in front of it and now I get that in the one colour that wants it!
There are lots of red cards like this that do a bit of everything so direct comparisons are hard but I like the Showdown of the Skalds experience enough to try it
This fails the Firebolt test or whatever but has a lot of cool stuff going on. Mainly I wanted to highlight how neat power-up is with anything that cheats costs, blink etc - I want to find an excuse to Sneak Attack or Apprentice Necromancer this in somewhere and go nuts. Awaiting confirmation on exactly how well power-up works with Agatha's Soul Cauldron but even just the first ability is good to put under there
I love all the Doomsday-adjacent stuff but it usually feels very all or nothing. You can play this guy in a ~normal deck with a bunch of self-mill and sometimes backdoor into a two-card combo with whatever
Spell -> mana is an exciting and obvious effect that doesn't show up that often (and needs strong guardrails) - this is much cleaner than something like Birgi and there's a growing heap of cool red build-arounds that are artifacts if you're into that stuff too
I love the mass blink of Yorion and this hitting lands goes that much harder if you like landfall as much as I do
'When _ leaves your GY' is all the rage these days and easy to trigger; I expect the Hell's Caretaker mode on this will often be an afterthought in practice but the promise of it maybe gets you interested in the first half
This is a delightfully weird card that ties together stuff (sac, discard etc) that red often dabbles in at the same time but that doesn't have much connective tissue
I love me an Undead Butler and more relevant body/types are nice
I liked Bartolome enough to dangle a gold slot in front of it and now I get that in the one colour that wants it!
There are lots of red cards like this that do a bit of everything so direct comparisons are hard but I like the Showdown of the Skalds experience enough to try it
Attachments
Appreciate y'all capturing many of the cards I had pulled aside but ran out of attachments for. I really should've just waited for Scryfall to catch up, but I was excited!
Speaking of, full main set's up! Some cards I haven't mentioned yet that I'm keen on are:
We Say Thee Nay! is perhaps the second coolest Quench variant after Miscalculation? Teamwork 2 to make it bigger is honestly preferable to me than the extra mana on Lose Focus, but the flexibility on Lose Focus being able to Replicate again if needed (or, corner case, hit additional spells!) still makes it a "better" pick. I'll probably swap this in for Evasive Action, personally.
Panther Pounce is an incredible combat trick, and it's not really even that. It's going to be my Cube's Swiss army knife, which is to say its flexibility makes it greater than the sum of its parts. One mana? Only? You get a trinket artifact, check. You get a spells matter/prowess card, check. You need an extra point of power to win combat, check. You need flying to get in for the last bit of damage, check. You need to untap a creature to surprise an attacker, check.
It's Thraben Inspector in spell form, which is, yes, worse, but still definitely good enough. I recently tried out a similar card in Niveous Wisps and I liked it, but this feels more compelling to me. Ideally, I think I'd like both.
Super-Adaptoid is a lot of text, but it's the kind of "wordy" that works because you can really gloss over the specific language after the first bit. For me, I mostly like it for its first ability. It's just a loud and clear "make legendary creatures aggro" card that goes in any color. It's an artifact creature, which is increasingly relevant (and makes me want to put back in the recently-cut Aloy, Savior of Meridian). The second ability makes the card significantly better, and doesn't even require you to target your own creatures. I do not like ability counters, as they're fiddly as hell, especially since players are lazy and will always opt for dice or something non-obvious (just had this issue at an RCQ with the similarly messy Royal Treatment. But I do think they're fine in small doses. Seems very fun to play with, which earns it points.
Iron Man Armor is sweet alongside the many Karnstructs I run. Giving a creature +2/+1 and flying for 3 is not so far off from totally-reasonable-Cube-card Maul of the Skyclaves, but that's the worst case scenario here given you have any board, and I'm not devastated about getting in for a chunk of damage. The true floor here is that it does literally nothing because you have no board, but I don't imagine this card will be in that scenario all that often, and if it is, I imagine it's because you have a ton of dudes and are happy running a worse second copy of Nettlecyst to benefit from your trinkets. I like how many decks will be happy with this, I'm very in.
I've really wanted more raise dead effects in green, and this does it in a great way! Call Damage Control will often enough bring back two cards, which is something that's hard to find in a card cheap enough to let you cast them again the same turn. I'm not sure this'll work, but I've got a good feeling.
For most of the cards that Loki Laufeyson is going to want to copy in my Cube, he's going to be able to do it without any +1/+1 counters or equipment. For 1 mana, this is a repeatable effect that is also attached to a perfectly fine creature. Would I have happily traded out the Power-Up ability for literally any non-reach keyword? In a heartbeat, especially if it were haste or first strike. But this is a tempting 2-drop for me. Copying spells is...fun!
Speaking of 2mv Lokis...
Loki, God of Mischief is a better Voracious Bibliophile, which was a totally fine card that came out just a little too late, when one has already cast most of their spells. By only being 2 mana, you're going to draw a lot more cards, and this also draws cards off of asinine things like equipping creatures. You can also play this in the same turn as a spell late game to make sure you get the value off it once at least, but that's also less important here since it's only a 2 mana investment. Sure, he's not a dragon, no longer draws off counterspells, and limits you to one effect each turn, but a little blue beater that's constantly drawing you cards is nothing to sniff at.
EDIT: thanks @Mown, definitely misread this card. I thought it still triggered off spells targeting your stuff, too. Not enough for me then.
Other cards:
Pym Particles is a pretty good cantrip? I dunno. It's cool though.
I'd been eying Weftstalker Ardent recently, and while this gets rid of pinging for creatures, I think I like this better, both thanks to its mana cost and its artifact typing. I don't really like Offspring functionally on Agate Instigator and so I'm running Shocking Sharpshooter, but I think it may be better to encourage the trinket plan here over the creature token strategy. Something to consider, at least! Machinesmith Automaton is also slightly tempting in this arena, the trample really goes a long way and the second power makes it a much bigger threat than something like Donatello, Way with Machines.
Rick Jones, Destined Sidekick feels like a Riptide card, yeah? I wish it didn't say "hero" on it or have very non-Magic-y art, but he's interesting. Too slow for me, but also, a 1mv 0/3 does more work than is generally given credit.
Too Evil to Stay Dead is close! It's very close to the "exclusively for value midrange" reanimate card I'm looking for. Teamwork 4 is just a little too rough. If the number were cut in half, this would be an easy include for me. At only 3 mana, I'm ok grabbing just a single 4-drop if it's good enough from my graveyard, but it's just too much marginal work to get a 5-drop instead.
Kid Loki is yet another card that would have been a slam dunk for me not very long ago!
Also, tons of 1mv legends with two power?!
I thought the main set would end up being pretty uninteresting to me, but there's just enough here that I'll be able to get a few solid inclusions. Add that to the somewhat-impressive Jumpstart and the commander stuff that should be spoiled later this week, and this is going to be an impactful collection of sets on my Cube, which I have significant mixed feelings about!
Speaking of, full main set's up! Some cards I haven't mentioned yet that I'm keen on are:
We Say Thee Nay! is perhaps the second coolest Quench variant after Miscalculation? Teamwork 2 to make it bigger is honestly preferable to me than the extra mana on Lose Focus, but the flexibility on Lose Focus being able to Replicate again if needed (or, corner case, hit additional spells!) still makes it a "better" pick. I'll probably swap this in for Evasive Action, personally.
Panther Pounce is an incredible combat trick, and it's not really even that. It's going to be my Cube's Swiss army knife, which is to say its flexibility makes it greater than the sum of its parts. One mana? Only? You get a trinket artifact, check. You get a spells matter/prowess card, check. You need an extra point of power to win combat, check. You need flying to get in for the last bit of damage, check. You need to untap a creature to surprise an attacker, check.
It's Thraben Inspector in spell form, which is, yes, worse, but still definitely good enough. I recently tried out a similar card in Niveous Wisps and I liked it, but this feels more compelling to me. Ideally, I think I'd like both.
Super-Adaptoid is a lot of text, but it's the kind of "wordy" that works because you can really gloss over the specific language after the first bit. For me, I mostly like it for its first ability. It's just a loud and clear "make legendary creatures aggro" card that goes in any color. It's an artifact creature, which is increasingly relevant (and makes me want to put back in the recently-cut Aloy, Savior of Meridian). The second ability makes the card significantly better, and doesn't even require you to target your own creatures. I do not like ability counters, as they're fiddly as hell, especially since players are lazy and will always opt for dice or something non-obvious (just had this issue at an RCQ with the similarly messy Royal Treatment. But I do think they're fine in small doses. Seems very fun to play with, which earns it points.
Iron Man Armor is sweet alongside the many Karnstructs I run. Giving a creature +2/+1 and flying for 3 is not so far off from totally-reasonable-Cube-card Maul of the Skyclaves, but that's the worst case scenario here given you have any board, and I'm not devastated about getting in for a chunk of damage. The true floor here is that it does literally nothing because you have no board, but I don't imagine this card will be in that scenario all that often, and if it is, I imagine it's because you have a ton of dudes and are happy running a worse second copy of Nettlecyst to benefit from your trinkets. I like how many decks will be happy with this, I'm very in.
I've really wanted more raise dead effects in green, and this does it in a great way! Call Damage Control will often enough bring back two cards, which is something that's hard to find in a card cheap enough to let you cast them again the same turn. I'm not sure this'll work, but I've got a good feeling.
For most of the cards that Loki Laufeyson is going to want to copy in my Cube, he's going to be able to do it without any +1/+1 counters or equipment. For 1 mana, this is a repeatable effect that is also attached to a perfectly fine creature. Would I have happily traded out the Power-Up ability for literally any non-reach keyword? In a heartbeat, especially if it were haste or first strike. But this is a tempting 2-drop for me. Copying spells is...fun!
Speaking of 2mv Lokis...
EDIT: thanks @Mown, definitely misread this card. I thought it still triggered off spells targeting your stuff, too. Not enough for me then.
Other cards:
Pym Particles is a pretty good cantrip? I dunno. It's cool though.
I'd been eying Weftstalker Ardent recently, and while this gets rid of pinging for creatures, I think I like this better, both thanks to its mana cost and its artifact typing. I don't really like Offspring functionally on Agate Instigator and so I'm running Shocking Sharpshooter, but I think it may be better to encourage the trinket plan here over the creature token strategy. Something to consider, at least! Machinesmith Automaton is also slightly tempting in this arena, the trample really goes a long way and the second power makes it a much bigger threat than something like Donatello, Way with Machines.
Rick Jones, Destined Sidekick feels like a Riptide card, yeah? I wish it didn't say "hero" on it or have very non-Magic-y art, but he's interesting. Too slow for me, but also, a 1mv 0/3 does more work than is generally given credit.
Too Evil to Stay Dead is close! It's very close to the "exclusively for value midrange" reanimate card I'm looking for. Teamwork 4 is just a little too rough. If the number were cut in half, this would be an easy include for me. At only 3 mana, I'm ok grabbing just a single 4-drop if it's good enough from my graveyard, but it's just too much marginal work to get a 5-drop instead.
Kid Loki is yet another card that would have been a slam dunk for me not very long ago!
Also, tons of 1mv legends with two power?!
I thought the main set would end up being pretty uninteresting to me, but there's just enough here that I'll be able to get a few solid inclusions. Add that to the somewhat-impressive Jumpstart and the commander stuff that should be spoiled later this week, and this is going to be an impactful collection of sets on my Cube, which I have significant mixed feelings about!
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