Sets Battle for Zendikar Spoilers

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Is the black one not remotely functional as a Volrath's Stronghold impersonation?
Is the red one too narrow and tempo-lossy for a red deck? It's not sooo different from Teetering Peaks, which gets play over here.
 
I think the only one I wouldn't play is the green one. I dislike stronghold itself so the black one actually looks nice.

I think the red one's fine, it's between big teeters and smoldering spire - slight power boost so it's ok on an open field, and they hesitate to block poorly.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Well, Teetering Peaks offers (potentially) one more point of damage, but the new one offers so much more survivability. There will be situations when each is preferable, but I don't think it's an entirely clear-cut comparison.
 
Well, those spell lands are super fun. I will happily add at least three of them to the ULD.
Also, I'm totally going to try out Chimeric Mass in my Cube now, because I want more Trinket Mage targets. Thanks Riptidelab!
 
Retreat cycle filled out:
retreattocoralhelm.jpg
retreattohagra.jpg
retreattovalakut.jpg

Some other goodies:
uginsinsight.jpg
wastelandstrangler.jpg
en_GxXxtDMbnP.png
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Man I really like wasteland strangler. I doubt he works under "normal" circumstances, though it is one card.
quarantinefield.jpg

4 mana ORing is bad, but 6 mana Double O Ring is cool, and the option between both is interesting. I think I'll give it a shot.

skylinecascade.jpg
loomingspires.jpg
mortuarymire.jpg
sandstonebridge.jpg

These are great. I'm going to try them all in my main cube. (I think I like Looming Spires better then either of the red ones prior, since it's more widely applicable)
Skyline Cascade seems super sweet in a creature focused environment.
Hmmm. The white one could be okay, seems better than either of the Old ones. Maybe a cloudshift one would be cool?
+1/+1, an 0/1 plant nor the current green one excite me.

retreattovalakut.jpg

This looks exciting! If double strike is a thing, this seems like a sweet addition, and might be stronk regardless

retreattocoralhelm.jpg

I really wish the first trigger was weaker and this cost 2
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Damn, so much to comment on. . .

Horribly Awry is probably bad. Remove Soul is ok, not great. Not being able to stop big drops is going to be a big disappointment, I would just add the exile text to Remove Soul if you really want it, it isn't going to be too good.

Endless One is probably fine, the card is an easier to cast Grenzo without the late game mana sink. Grenzo's body is really useful and this card will be useful too, just because when its in your hand it is any spot in the curve you need.

Wasteland Strangler is a stud, but does anyone have a cube where he is consistent?

Imagine if the green spell land threw the cards into the graveyard? As is, I'm not sure what to think. Probably terrible. The rest are all binder worthy.

Retreat to Valakut is an asskicking and a half, but its also a do nothing three drop so who knows.

How many land drops can you get during a game? Can you get enough so that retreat to Hagra is worth it? It is an extremely bad topdeck, but if you get it on curve it can wreck havoc. Drain effects are underrated. This card is extort {0} for lands.

Woodland Wanderer is a house. With three colors it is 5/5 trample/vigilance and pitches to force. If you get the fourth color it kills almost every creature in combat. No value whatsoever is a reasonably large limitation, but I think its over the line without feeling "removal checky".

Quarantine Field is funny. I mean, you think you a hero when you cloudpost it for 8 and sweep the board, but then they disenchant it and you feel like an idiot. Ring effects are cool, I guess.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Oh I thought horribly awry was spell, not creature spell. Damn. I thought it was a bit strong
Might sharpie 3 or less and cross out creature
 
Quarantine Field I suppose works pretty well in a removal suite that is a little slower and has kicker modes akin to some other 4 cmc scaleable removal we've seen (mostly in black)?
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Scapeshift is going to be a legit card if it already wasn't. Triggering landfall 4+ times, plus grabbing a couple of lands like this is pretty powerful stuff.
 
Retreat to Coralhelm might pass muster for me; I like pushing UG as the ramp pair du jour, and the ability to either untap a mana dork or scry 1 in the inbetweens seems pretty tasty, and the flexibility to tap down (or double tap down a la fetch!) for easier swings seems like a lot of play. I do despise how bad a top deck it is though, so that bears considering.

Ugin's Insight is pretty tempting, because I FUCKING LIVE FOR SCRYING. I just want a whole cube of scry+flashback+kicker variants because those are the best things to me.

The other retreats don't really excite me. The black one has potential and the red one looks nice n punchy, but red is damn near perfect in my cube and black doesn't really want for more removal-style business over here, either. I can totally see em working out great but I'm passing, personally. I'm still thinking on the green one, as well.
 
Karoos are super slow and very susceptible to land destruction. Stone rain is a game winning play a lot of times, so adjust your LD package accordingly if you throws those in. My 2 cents.

To loosely quote Jason and others on this forum… double up on fetches is a better way to go. :)
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
There are certain card types that once introduced will warp an entire format around their presence, for better or for worse: signets, fetchlands, and bouncelands are some such cards.

As for the lands themselves, they are all very good.

I personally don't want to run cascade or mire due to balance concerns (halimar depths also does more to address negative variance); while the green and white ones I don't think offer as much to a format as khalni garden or sejiri steppe. Spires is quite a bit better than teetering peaks, because you can run it in a midrange deck, which will actually have bouncelands.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Karoos are format defining so you can't just jam them in any more than you can jam in morphs.

I'm the guy who runs custom duals because I want my mana base to (slightly) favor aggressive decks because going X-color good stuff is already easy enough as is in cube (especially my cube). So yeah, I'm not going to add karoos. But thic cycle still makes me want to :)
 
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