I don't think including Push alongside Path and Bolt is hyperbolic, at least in modern - sure, it's worse against Tron when they have specifically creatures, but it's better against almost anything else. I really don't think that pushing cards for channel fireball is PV's motivation for talking up the card. It probably is just that good.
Sets AEther Revolt Spoilers
- Thread starter Chris Taylor
- Start date
Dom Harvey
Contributor
He mentions a list of cards it doesn't hit in the article, and that list includes Wurmcoil Engine (forgot about Primeval Titan but w/e). I'm not sure what more you want from him.
Even if he were just trying to hype up a card (true of some authors on some sites but I think PV's record doesn't deserve that lack of charity), it wouldn't be an uncommon.
Even if he were just trying to hype up a card (true of some authors on some sites but I think PV's record doesn't deserve that lack of charity), it wouldn't be an uncommon.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I agree its a very good card, and PV is a great person, but I would have liked for him not to have brushed past its limitations in a bid to set himself up for statements like it "not having any downside." Or things like this:
And thats true! As long as you never play against grixis, tron, or eldrazi.
I know this is a card that the modern community has been wanting for a while now (I remember like a year ago people being excited at the prospect of an innocent blood reprint on modern nexus), but I think its still ok to take things back down to earth. This is the kind of hyperbole that makes me roll my eyes during spoiler season.
I don't play as much modern as I used to, but I am certainly excited to see how the card pans out. I do expect it to at least shift the meta game if it doesn't warp it. Opening up more decks to more legit options always seems like a healthy thing for formats. Color combinatons that struggle, like Sultai, could see more presense as they gain access to a powerful on-color spell.
I see a legitimate opening for control to try to find a little more breathing room, as they've gained a powerful kill spell at the same time as not having to face the Probe.
Nice.
I see a legitimate opening for control to try to find a little more breathing room, as they've gained a powerful kill spell at the same time as not having to face the Probe.
Nice.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
If anyone wants to see some of these cards being play tested in modern, Jeff Hoogland has been streaming some brews.
Here is a dimir control deck running push
And a BUG midrange deck (also running push) vs. a landfall rallier brew
Rallier looks like a pretty amazing card, and like it would be pretty exciting in cube.
Here is a dimir control deck running push
And a BUG midrange deck (also running push) vs. a landfall rallier brew
Rallier looks like a pretty amazing card, and like it would be pretty exciting in cube.
For what it's worth, I'm excited for Push in legacy, as someone who mainly plays BUG decks. It's a great upgrade over disfigure, and notably makes Tarmogoyf much worse.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Those videos are gas, thanks for the link
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Aid from the Cowl was a delight. Because it triggers at the end of your turn, if you build your deck right, you can get immediate value out of it. I liked it better than Rishkar's Expertise, because it's much less in your face and rewards good drafting!
I actually like Fatal Push for my cube because I don't run fetchlands. It reinforces the sacrifice theme in Mardu by giving you another incentive. I'm fine with a powerful removal spell as long as you have to do some work for it.
I was looking over spoilers again to finalize a shortlist of stuff I want to keep an eye out for this weekend for trades and I revisited this guy:
I kind of glanced over it when it was first revealed, but now that I've taken some time to go over my list, I think it's actually kind of insane. Humans are an obvious tribe that comes to mind with the following cards up the curve:
Are there any weird creature types that we can choose, maybe some on tokens?
Wait a minute, relevant tokens and the same creature type...GOBLINS!
You can even pull off a 2-3-4 curve into an infinite damage combo:
...or 1-2-3 infinite life:
I'm definitely way more interested in this card that I was two weeks ago.
I kind of glanced over it when it was first revealed, but now that I've taken some time to go over my list, I think it's actually kind of insane. Humans are an obvious tribe that comes to mind with the following cards up the curve:
Are there any weird creature types that we can choose, maybe some on tokens?
Wait a minute, relevant tokens and the same creature type...GOBLINS!
You can even pull off a 2-3-4 curve into an infinite damage combo:
...or 1-2-3 infinite life:
I'm definitely way more interested in this card that I was two weeks ago.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Metallic Mimic has been nice in testing so far. As a 2/1 it is brickwalled fairly easily, and it dies to everything of course, but the +1/+1 counters are excellent for a relatively small mana investment. I don't run any of the infinite combo's since I cut all persist from my cube. That mechanic is a bit too ridiculous with all the +1/+1 counter love going on.
Anyway, the card is also excellent with token producers like Master Trinketeer, Hidden Stockpile, Curse of Shallow Graves, stuff like that.
Anyway, the card is also excellent with token producers like Master Trinketeer, Hidden Stockpile, Curse of Shallow Graves, stuff like that.
Still don't think it is worth putting up a new thread for limited decks for this set, so this seems like the most appropriate place to post my prerelease deck.
So after opening no real sweet rares (double Madcap Experiment in the same pack was cool :\) and the couple of rares that were good, Yahenni and Lifecrafter's Bestiary didn't have enough depth in those colours to be able to be run. It looked like it was time to be aggressive.
The format seems extremely light on fixing, as I sort of wanted to splash but had nothing to help. The deck was fine, just didn't have enough oomph I feel. Still went 3-1, which was pretty good. Losing to a deck with 2 Winding Constrictor and so much damn value.
Also, I only just realised I played against 3 GB decks (all with Constrictors) and a GW deck (containing about 5 rares, one of which was Ajani). Blue seems pretty weak, as I barely saw anyone around the tables playing it. I guess that was true of Kaladesh as well.
Card notes:
So after opening no real sweet rares (double Madcap Experiment in the same pack was cool :\) and the couple of rares that were good, Yahenni and Lifecrafter's Bestiary didn't have enough depth in those colours to be able to be run. It looked like it was time to be aggressive.
16-Land Triple Crush
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The format seems extremely light on fixing, as I sort of wanted to splash but had nothing to help. The deck was fine, just didn't have enough oomph I feel. Still went 3-1, which was pretty good. Losing to a deck with 2 Winding Constrictor and so much damn value.
Also, I only just realised I played against 3 GB decks (all with Constrictors) and a GW deck (containing about 5 rares, one of which was Ajani). Blue seems pretty weak, as I barely saw anyone around the tables playing it. I guess that was true of Kaladesh as well.
Card notes:
- Winding Constrictor is pretty busted in limited. Especially with all those energy creatures that convert them into counters. One of them into a Thriving Rhino is not fun to be on the other side of.
- Aethergeode Miner was interesting. It was like a fancy way of taking out a blocker, since you can just attack with it, and let it flicker out if it gets blocked. I sort of expected more from it, but servos clogging the board made it pretty average.
- Irontread Crusher is pretty good for a common. I ended up swapping out an Aradara Express for it to lower my curve and due to the amount of 3-powered creatures I had, it was just easier to crew. Plus giving this thing trample it glorious.
- Untethered Express is pretty nuts. It plus a servo to crew it won a game for me in three turns when both my and my opponent were in topdeck mode. Card gets out of hand way too easily. Trample too stronk.
- Restoration Specialist wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. It was fine and pretty much got back one of my vehicles late game if I drew it. I had dreams of using Caught in the Brights, attacking with a vehicle to exile it then bringing back the brights plus a random artifact for pure value, but it never happened. One can dream though.
- Lifecrafter's Bestiary was played against me and I was just completely drowned in card advantage. It feels almost constructed playable and feels like it could be a good cube option.
- Enraged Giant is a pretty sweet card. I never got to improvise it, but always made an impact when it hit the board, which is what you want of your 6 drops.
Not sure if Lifecrafter's Bestiary is going to be a pretty unique card for green decks in cube, or GRBS that might be even better than Evolutionary Leap, which needs some better drafting/deckbuilding than the aforementioned one.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Comparable to Evo Leap I would say. It's a mana more expensive, which is very relevant, and you have to have the green mana available when you cast something. Also, Evo Leap works with tokens, which the Bestiary does not. That said, I've loved it so far in testing. If it only had the cast trigger I wouldn't have liked it half as much. That upkeep trigger trigger lifts the card from meh to great, and the card advantage you accrue over the course of a game can be significant if you're willing to play off curve. It also makes topdecking a mana elf much less painful! I am certainly going to preorder it, even though I haven't found a cut yet.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Anyone else having a fun time brewing this set and the last one? The cards are absolutely insane. If you drop a little bit in power level most of the proliferate cards come online, which makes energy very real. Fabricate gives you an artifact and counter density that wasn't really achievable before, and revolt works amazing with both fetchlands and bouncelands. The slight power drop also makes a lot of the clue cards from SOI runnable, which turns on artifact death triggers and metalcraft...
Just really good.
Just really good.
Yeah I couldn't help but think as the spoilers were coming out that this set was nearly tailor-made for Riptide, what with supporting fetchlands and counters in the all Brainstorm-Ion Storm formats. You didn't mention Improvise, but it puts in a lot of work (IMO) to bring added density in artifact payoffs as well as the added artifact density in general from Fabricate. I'd been thinking about an Affinity package of some kind to bring a much-needed aggro element to my cube, and Improvise provides multiple worthwhile payoffs in Herald of Anguish, Battle at the Bridge, and even Sky Requisitioner as a strange Disciple of the Vault variant. Reverse Engineer is great flavor and also probably an include.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Just tested Reverse Engineer this evening. It was fine, couldn't improvise too much, but that was mainly my fault. Drawing three in limited is still strong.
Herald of Anguish was scary! Looking for a trade tomorrow (or maybe I should wait till it hits the bargain bin).
Quicksmith Rebel was a house, 2 damage a turn adds up fast!
Man, my wish list is only growing with every card I try out. This set is gas.
And yes, I'm having a lot of fun! There's so many cards that are awesome draft arounds without being too poisonous. This is one hell of a block Wizards, you set yourself up for an immense task to top this with Amonket!
Herald of Anguish was scary! Looking for a trade tomorrow (or maybe I should wait till it hits the bargain bin).
Quicksmith Rebel was a house, 2 damage a turn adds up fast!
Man, my wish list is only growing with every card I try out. This set is gas.
And yes, I'm having a lot of fun! There's so many cards that are awesome draft arounds without being too poisonous. This is one hell of a block Wizards, you set yourself up for an immense task to top this with Amonket!
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Dom Harvey
Contributor
I just hope I can finally justify running Arcbound Ravager
then theres that improvise lord inspiring statuary
Chris Taylor
Contributor
This fucker can put a counter on himself
Casually 4-0'd my prerelease this morning, which felt pretty good considering I haven't played Magic since the Kaladesh prerelease. I also ran a 16 land special, but in a very different way than Kirblinx. See, I subbed in Renegade Map for a land, figuring that it was basically Evovling Wilds but with upside in my deck. It turned out to be a complete all-star, turning on Revolt, ramping out my Improvise creatures, killing stuff with Quicksmith Rebel, and oh yeah, fixing my mana. It was beautiful.
As you can see, this deck was nuts. It's one of the strongest sealed decks I've ever opened. By far the MVP was Quicksmith Rebel. This guy completely took over every game that he didn't immediately draw a removal spell in, and even the ones where he was removed, he usually took something with him. Obviously Herald of Anguish and Yahenni's Expertise were nuts, but I only played them twice apiece, and I actually lost one of the games I played Expertise in.
Sick Rakdos Beats
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As you can see, this deck was nuts. It's one of the strongest sealed decks I've ever opened. By far the MVP was Quicksmith Rebel. This guy completely took over every game that he didn't immediately draw a removal spell in, and even the ones where he was removed, he usually took something with him. Obviously Herald of Anguish and Yahenni's Expertise were nuts, but I only played them twice apiece, and I actually lost one of the games I played Expertise in.
pre-release
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Went 6-0 with this beast. By far the MVP was Rishkar's Expertise. It was usually drawing me 4 or 5, though on one occasion I drew 7. When I played it I felt pretty unbeatable, and one time I dropped Skysoverign in for my free spell.
Other notable plays was turn 2 sky ship plunderer into Rishkar, give them both tokens and then give the plunderer another token when it attacks. Worth considering the expertise for cube play if you're not already.