Sets [J22] Jumpstarting Once More

[MilesOfficial]

Jumpstart 1 was an absolute delight with novel designs. Can its first true successor keep the pace? Let's see with our first four cards to start us off!

First, the two commander plants:


Haste-matters commander gobbo is compelling, especially with all the hasty tokens produced by red's many three-drop token producers that so many of us crowd out the slot with. It's a nice curve, and can even be followed up using Ardoz's activated ability to get an extra hasty token if you're flooded. I'll definitely test her, if only because she seems like she'll inspire more creative builds during drafting and her power-level matches my list well enough.

I adore the Yeti, but goodness is it tacky that they jammed those mana symbols on the card for color identity purposes, If you run all snow basics and your cube's power level isn't power-max...he's still probably not good enough, but I think he's a sweet card all the same.

Then we have the anime-styled cards. Just reprints so far:



As a professional anime fan.........the most recent secret lair is more my jam so far. I feel like if I ran into someone wearing a t-shirt with that coldsteel heart art on it, I'd get a contact high from them.

 

[alvoi]

I absolutely adore that yeti, but sadly snow in cube is hard. Either you run all snow basics (but it feels a bit too tricky) or you end up with an archetype that has to draft lands that in comparison to other archetypes has a disadvantage… sad

 

[blacksmithy]

pretty cards

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Ardoz is the kind of card that would make me build my cube around a Fires archetype if I was starting it today, and I'm sad it's not R/G for the EDH crowd. I did always love Primal Forcemage and Ogre Battledriver so it's great to see a similar effect at the low CMC it needs.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

The way the actual Coldsteel Heart is pushed to the edge of the art frame in order to be able to show full boobage, and the fact that her "bra" seems to be painted in a different color just to draw attention to it (notice that the rest of that garment sticks to a blue on the left side, white on the right side color scheme), is off-putting to me. Like, what or who's the subject of the art here? Maybe I'm just not made for waifu art on Magic cards, because I never seem to like them.

 

[blacksmithy]

tbf i LIKE waifu art and i think the crop is a little weird. art would have likely looked better if displayed vertically as in borderless frame treatments. the uncropped art is probably really cool tho

 

[Erik Twice]

Personally, I just find the anime style of the card to feel out of place in Magic, but it's not the first not the worst example. And any sort of consistency was thrown out of the window the moment Transformer cards came into the picture. Oh well.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

First, the two commander plants:

This one actually seems pretty good in Rabblemaster/Phoenix Cubes. Pumping your Hanwier Garrison tokens and freshly escaped Phoenix of Ash seems pretty strong.

 

[blacksmithy]

This one actually seems pretty good in Rabblemaster/Phoenix Cubes. Pumping your Hanwier Garrison tokens and freshly escaped Phoenix of Ash seems pretty strong.

yeah this card is pretty dope. and it attacks as a 3/1 on turn 2

 

[Karshtakavaar]

The way the actual Coldsteel Heart is pushed to the edge of the art frame in order to be able to show full boobage, and the fact that her "bra" seems to be painted in a different color just to draw attention to it (notice that the rest of that garment sticks to a blue on the left side, white on the right side color scheme), is off-putting to me. Like, what or who's the subject of the art here? Maybe I'm just not made for waifu art on Magic cards, because I never seem to like them.

They managed outdo Reversal of Fortune on thirst bait and INN Liliana of the Veil for "screw composition and form, have boobs instead". I like anime and manga art - there are some amazing artists out there RIP Miura - but this is the kind of example that gives the rest a bad name. It, like the Transformers, looks like a bad fan edit.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Honestly, if you want to make sexy Magic cards, the only way that it should be done is in a 90s dime book style:



Again, I'm about as big of an anime fan as you get, but give me more of THIS:



and if you REALLY want to give me waifus give me...these:

 

[Dom Harvey]

Ardoz is super cool. Murderous Redcap ho

 

[shamizy]

View attachment 7594

Haste-matters commander gobbo is compelling, especially with all the hasty tokens produced by red's many three-drop token producers that so many of us crowd out the slot with. It's a nice curve, and can even be followed up using Ardoz's activated ability to get an extra hasty token if you're flooded. I'll definitely test her, if only because she seems like she'll inspire more creative builds during drafting and her power-level matches my list well enough.

This card seems pretty damn good. Coming in as a hasty 3/1 is great in the early game, pumping every hasty creature by 2 power is massive; 2 extra damage is LOT for aggressive shells. Looking over my list, I've got the following cards in Red that can benefit from this either via haste or additional bodies ETBing:



That interaction with Khenra is super spicy. Stranding blockers is so damn good to punch through that extra damage on a crucial T3 or T4 where an opponent thinks they've turned the corner and stabilized vs. aggro. Expanding into other colors also gets you interactions with:



This card plays exceptionally well in a RW Winota, Joiner of Forces deck as it is a non-human to trigger her ability AND will pump anything that enters tapped and attacking. Bonus points being a legendary creature that can be deployed right after Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful for a Champion of the Parish impression. I'll definitely be picking up a copy to give it a run in the future.

 

[Morphling]

Yeah that Goblin guy is pretty silly; might have to find room for him!

I also have a pretty pushed "casual" Bant Snow deck ever since MH2; I'll have to pick up what Yeti as a funsie/1x for it. Neato.

So very sick of seeing Kiki-Jiki reprints, my God the card is not that interesting and I wish it weren't considered some "iconic" card. They reprint it ever 3 years or something there are SO MANY cards to reprint. Skullclamp too, seems like. Whatever I'm shouting at clouds over here, I'll just stop.

I really enjoyed a lot of the very sick 'themed' basic lands they had in these last time.. I really hope they deliver!!

 

[Brad]

Uggh! All this MtG boob art! What are more examples so that I can avoid them!?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Uggh! All this MtG boob art! What are more examples so that I can avoid them!?

Feast your eyes on Earthbind and Essence Vortex if you must

 

[MilesOfficial]

I really enjoyed a lot of the very sick 'themed' basic lands they had in these last time.. I really hope they deliver!!

The most devastating news I've heard all week: no theme lands in Jumpstart 2 ((((

 

[Morphling]

Well, that 100% sucks, then. :=(

 

[LadyMapi]

The most devastating news I've heard all week: no theme lands in Jumpstart 2 ((((

What's even the point of Jumpstart 2, then?

Don't tell me we lost sweet themed basics just so that we could get random anime-style reprints. Because that would be very sad.

 

[MilesOfficial]

What's even the point of Jumpstart 2, then?

Don't tell me we lost sweet themed basics just so that we could get random anime-style reprints. Because that would be very sad.

 

[LadyMapi]

"Oh, yes, while this card says Kiki-Jiki on it, it's actually a Mountain."

 

[MilesOfficial]

"Oh, yes, while this card says Kiki-Jiki on it, it's actually a Mountain."

On that note, I would adore a Mountain where you see a small figure of Kiki-Jiki on it summoning his copies in the distance, like the art of Zo-Zu the Punisher except WAY zoomed out.

 

[spicewitch]

I was not playing mtg during the first jumpstart. Was it a big hit around here? And if so, as a draft environment, or as a source of cube cards?

Jumpstart 1 was an absolute delight with novel designs

 

[MilesOfficial]

The concept itself of Jumpstart was why it was so beloved -- it's fun to play regardless of skill level, and great for getting new folks into the game. It's a big part of how newer players build decks to begin with, so having a level of guidance mixed with randomness is exciting.

The 40 unique lands were the biggest novelty for me. I currently run 7 of them, which, even as a percentage, is pretty big for a single expansion.

There are some incredible designs too, ones that would be hard to imagine in another type of expansion. I'm either currently running or have run these:



We also got the Thriving lands, which are a fantastic resource for cubes and decks alike. Excellent design, memory issues aside.

Ok, I haven't run Tinybones, but it's my dream to make a cube environment where he makes sense.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

On the flip side, I only run Spiteful Prankster, but was happy with the Isamary, Hound of Konda and Mikaeus, the Lunarch reprints For both it was the first time they got printed in the new border with the legend crown (and for Isamaru still the only time). I'm slowly but surely replacing all the older borders in my cube, in an effort to make ravnic throw up Nah, but seriously, I happen to really like the modern aesthetic, including the flavor bar and legend crown.