Sets [IKO] Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
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Here's a black-border Super-Duper Death Ray for Onderz.



I mean, come one. Look at that art! SDDR is glorious!
 
As further proof that WotC watches us, take a look at the colors of the ultimatums from today. They're looking out for me.

The colors of the ultimatums?
You mean the wedge colors (Abzan, Jeskai, Mardu, Sultai & Temur)?

They were the only 5 tri-color combinations left if Wizards were to complete the Shards of Alara ultimatums from 2008.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I'm not sure I like a card that makes your ramp cards ramp more rather than just ramping itself.
Also: rulings wise, basically it needs a tap symbol to work
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I think Nethroi is a little stronger in a cube setting, but which is better really depends on what the format looks like.

Eerie ultimatum is a much better (albeit harder to cast) mass reanimation spell than Nethroi, since it can grab any number of permanents of any type. Nethroi, on the other hand, is better in games where you'd be happy with just playing a 5/5 Deathtouch Lifeline for 5. Eerie Ultimatum is always slow and for more controlling decks while Nethroi can work as a top-end midrange finisher.

Man I completely missed that Eerie Ultimatum was permanents and not just creatures haha
But at the same time, I rarely see many planeswalkers in these colors, although I don't play Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis, or Garruk, Cursed Huntsman so I could see it fetching those. Eerie could also be a sweet payoff for a Life from the Loam package... if I ran that and fetchlands.
But yeah I agree, Eerie is more bang for your buck, while Nethroi, Apex of Death is slottable into more decks, neither is really better than the other. (although right now I'm leaning more towards Nethroi based on my environment)
 
I'm quite happy with fetchable Tri-Lands. I run a handful of squadron land picks in my cube where drafting a card gets you an associated land with them. Regular ETB tapped lands have been okay for tri-color, but they've been lacking in many scenarios. Gameplay wise they kind of suck unless you play them early and I'm glad to be able to make the swap for these where I can. The fetchability and cycling utility are going to be great:



This definitely makes including 3 color cards less taxing, some actual incentive to pick up the fixing now. But it's another cycle I'll have to wait for completion though, probably not for another 5+ years.
 
Ohh! That's bananas. I'm actually a little disappointed that we're getting yet another half-completed cycle. Would've really wanted enemy cycling duals :(

They can never give you a fully complete cycle first. They have to start 50 % before they can 100 %.
A set does not support all 10 Guilds or all 10 Shards/Khans/Triomes but only half of them.

And then they always have to decide between:
1. Finish a half-completed cycle
2. Start a new cycle up half-completed
3. Not do dual lands

I think it is fair that Wizards decide on no. 2 every now and then before completing all cycles 100 %. That would be boring.

And by never I don’t mean never but you know what I mean..

For my cube this set is 9/10. I need half the set. Flavor/lore/feelings is way lower because I dislike asian giga monsters. Overall 8/10.
 
For my cube this set is 9/10. I need half the set. Flavor/lore/feelings is way lower because I dislike asian giga monsters. Overall 8/10.
I would agree, but there's one asian gigamonster that has always managed to sail it's way into my heart:
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Gotta love some good old-fashioned imperialism!*


*(That was sarcastic. If Star Wars has taught us anything, it's that Imperialism is bad)
 
For my cube this set is 9/10. I need half the set. Flavor/lore/feelings is way lower because I dislike asian giga monsters. Overall 8/10.

I'm really hot to see tri color black cards, but I don't know if I want to touch mutate or companion yet.

I'm a little mad that the UB deck is flash unless they continue to expand on that in the future. I did a scryfall search and didn't see much at my power level. It's either Clique and Snapcaster or it's 3/2 flyers for 4.

Overall, though, I agree that it's an excellent set. We even got a Death Corona and Gloom Pangolin.
 
Barring something crazy being spoiled in the next 24 hours, my includes from the two sets are the following:

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I'm honestly not a huge fan of the mechanics of this set. Mutate is messy, keyword counters are going to be annoying to keep track of, and Partner get a big no from me in terms of unneeded complexity in paper magic. Aside from the removal spell, the rest of the cards listed above help to supplement existing archetypes or bridge certain themes together.

I've already shouted out Verge Rangers but I really love the design of this and how well it slots into a variety of white decks playing different roles all throughout, couldn't be happier with it. I like that Rielle work well with UR Spells decks and any kind of looting/self-mill type gameplay you might have in a URx shell. Dom's brief post on it earlier in this thread got my wheels turning and I cannot wait for the first time I draw 4 cards off of upticking my copy of Daretti, Scrap Savant or netting two new cards every time I loot on my opponents turn. The whale is also excellent slotting into either URx shells or even UBx shells with more of a graveyard theme as a flying threat in the late game you can deploy for cheap and rebuy spells with. It seems really promising. Drannith will be a house in WB Human decks and is a tidy package of hate bundled into a decent sized old man. Fiend Artisan will slot nicely into graveyard themed decks as a weird Tarmogoyf variant and will play very well with effects like Satyr Wayfinder and Winding Way filling up the graveyard.

I'm actually glad that there are so few cards that piqued my interest this time around; the last two sets have been goldmines and I haven't had the chance (nor will I for a while) to really test out all of the additions that have been made in the last few months. Still, these are very enticing and I can't wait to see them in action in a few months!
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Yesterday I was like: these trilands are perfect for my 3-color cube! This morning I'm like, won't that lead to too many 4- or 5-color good stuff in combination with the fetches in my environment, instead of more 3 color decks?
 
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