General "Looking for a card"-Thread

[Erik Twice]

This card actually did see constructed play in standard dredge decks. Triggering your Bridge From Below, discarding a dredger, then dredging it is solid.

This feels the same as learning that One with Nothing saw competitive play.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Recently picked one up, realised it would probably have legs in my list due to the abundance of Spirits and Spirit tokens, but would like to more consistently get the counters off the first cast.
Other than like, Containment Construct or cascade/discover, are there any recommendations or ideas for a package built around it?

Edit: For additional context, the package would also be trying to support Vega the Watcher and Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival - they both have plenty of support in U/R respectively, but other than some flashback almost none in W.

 

[PyreDream]

Gifts Ungiven package?
Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
Bring to Light
Shiko, Paragon of the Way (also a spirit)

 

[safra]

Recently picked one up, realised it would probably have legs in my list due to the abundance of Spirits and Spirit tokens, but would like to more consistently get the counters off the first cast.
Other than like, Containment Construct or cascade/discover, are there any recommendations or ideas for a package built around it?

Edit: For additional context, the package would also be trying to support Vega the Watcher and Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival - they both have plenty of support in U/R respectively, but other than some flashback almost none in W.

actual factual Flashback curves into a double-cast on turns 3 and 4. Snapcaster Mage, Mission Briefing?

 

[alvoi]

Card I love!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Card I love!

Very neat little guy!

 

[Ombrophage]

Looking for Goblins that don't just go in aggro, bearing in mind I have like 2 slots to work with in Red.
I've recently added Boggart Mischief to support Lich Knight's Conquest (Three Bargains in one) and enchantment infiniflicker decks (Wincon that blocks twice) to my complex board state, combo-heavy 360. I don't want to bait people into drafting a Goblins deck that doesn't exist. Help!

Goblin Dark Dwellers might work for you. I was actually going to recommend Boggart Mischief too, but then I actually read your post.
Not knowing too much of your needs a couple of the newer Goblins that are self-sufficiently goblin-y and good enough to cross archetypes would be Taster of Wares and Village Pillagers. Arms Dealer is a solid payoff too that is pretty playable in other archetypes depending on power level.

I am looking for a couple of blue cards that would make you splash them into your black based sacrifice deck (cards can be mono or gold). They are allowed to be higher powered than my CCC cards, it's for a new cube project.

Oh, and no UB for this cube.

Maybe something like Waterfront Bouncer depending on what payoffs sac is looking for. I run Malcator's Watcher and Phantasmal Image in my cube to support my death matters and graveyard matters themes, and they seem pretty usable here. Master of Death would be a very effective Dimir option. I know its not in the color(s) you asked for, but Mimic Vat is a card I use to provide some sauce for my graveyard themes and its generically good/cool enough for other colors to want it too. Mindwhisker, Expendable Lackey, and my pet River Kelpie might be fun too.

 

[Ombrophage]

In my mid-power fast midrange cube I don't give players consistent access to traditional sacrifice outlets and rather make my players use clever combat gimmicks and blight (my favorite/best? of which is evil tree Sinister Gnarlbark to make their shits die. Overall it's been fun and actually reasonably effective in my playtests and drafts.

My main benefit to playing this modified sac archetype is to setup leave graveyard payoffs (and reanimation targets) because I get nervous about cards like Blood Artist that encourage durdling and also provide no direct value in combat.

Are there any cards that connect these archetypes or are traditional aristocrats payoffs that would be fine at my mid power level and also not replace combat as the primary goal for these decks? Or to ask it a different way, what are some aristocrats payoffs that are good for being aggressive in combat rather than being exclusively a non-combat drain piece like Blood Artist? (also curious if anyone thinks I'm being too harsh on Blood Artist)

 

[Mown]

I feel like a card like Comet Crawler would work as a direct sacrifice outlet, in terms of requiring effort, Gnarlbark mostly does it for free each turn. The -1/-1 counter synergies are cool though.

 

[Ombrophage]

I feel like a card like Comet Crawler would work as a direct sacrifice outlet, in terms of requiring effort, Gnarlbark mostly does it for free each turn. The -1/-1 counter synergies are cool though.

Gnarlbark is about the ceiling of acceptable sac engines for my cube in terms of effort input. Even with Gnarlbark you can only kill one creature per turn; essentially you just won't see anything as extremely efficient as Goblin Bombardment in my cube.

I was influenced heavily by "3/2 for 3 is the Place to Be" and I went through a phase where I was overly critical of 2/3s because I had a fear they would encourage turtling. I think I glossed over Silumgar Scavenger and Comet Crawler because of that hardline interpetation.

Silumgar is a pretty ideal option so I might just add that on my next pass. Crawler is another cool pick and I am going to consider it, but I'm skeptical of having a 4/3 for 3 attacker with lifelink with no real downside without examining that a bit further.

Lightning Coils is a baller pick I haven't considered that at all and it would be really interesting for ecouraging aggro. It's a bit wordy for my main cube, but as an occasional it would be gas.

Ghost Lantern is an extremely tempting option but I haven't opened my cube to the floodgates of adventure, etc. yet. Although, I do have a dual card in there so maybe I'm being too harsh. There were a couple other adventures I was looking at too, so maybe I'll consider it more seriously than I would have in the past.

Body Launderer, while cool and effective, looks like a linebacker turned car salesman so unfortunately I can't take him seriously.

Thanks for the suggestions!!

 

[KeithCubes]

Are there any cards that connect these archetypes or are traditional aristocrats payoffs that would be fine at my mid power level and also not replace combat as the primary goal for these decks? Or to ask it a different way, what are some aristocrats payoffs that are good for being aggressive in combat rather than being exclusively a non-combat drain piece like Blood Artist? (also curious if anyone thinks I'm being too harsh on Blood Artist)

I play more in the med-high power level (just below vintage), but I like to keep aristocrats aggressive so I come with a bunch of suggestions. Most of these will probably fail for you in terms of flavor / complexity / power level, but hope you can find something that works for you!


I share a lot of your gripes with Blood Artist - the body is so anemic it's only good for it's passive, looking for deaths on both sides is annoying to track (and counting itself makes it unsatisfying to remove), and it promotes the frustrating strategy of durdling until you can just sac your entire board and combo kill your opponent all at once.

Vraan solves almost all these problems by having an on-rate body, only looking for your own creatures, and only triggering once per turn. Since you can't 'combo' with him, you're compelled to get an attack / sac off every turn you can (including your opponents turns) to maximize that trigger.

Sephiroth is even stronger, and triggers off your opponents creatures too, but having that attack trigger encourages him to swing rather than just stand by. The flip is very relevant too, and is another lever pushing you to try and get that flip off when you can get just 4 triggers lined up, rather than wait until you can get a full combo kill.


Foot Chopper is like 'fixed' skullclamp. I doubt you're partial to the flavor, but it perfectly fits your goal of encouraging attacks while only netting you one sac a turn. Coming with a creature helps a lot, but it trading for only 1 card doesn't feel unfair. I also like just having equipment that gives flying to prevent board stalls, and the flying lets you send in your chaff to draw you better cards to close the game with.

The Soulripper is stronger than it looks, as it can be attacking turn 3 as a 5/4 menace. That being said, it still feels fair enough and is a good reward for having sacrifice fodder around, and gets chumped to oblivion if you're not willing to do so. It can also get really blown out by instant speed removal / disenchants, which helps bring down it's power level.

The train is a little weak for me costing , but is probably closer to what you're looking for. IMO for 'aristrocats' to be an actual strategy in your cube, you need some repeated sac ability for it to really pop off, and this is a very fair way to do it.

Honary mentions to Grafted Wargear and Dissection Tools as powerful equipment that can also function as that repeated sac outlet in a pinch.



Reckless Decective is probably the closest card yet to your power level, and nicely intersects sac and discard. He can help smooth out dud hands, and attacking as a 2/3 for isn't too shabby. Since you're really encouraged to attack with him, I don't think his 3 toughness leads to durdling.

Similarly Bepop can work in both sac / discard strategies, but always exacts a 'cost' for their grossly high power / toughness. It really encourages you to find a way to give him evasion or turn those costs to your advantage. The hybrid also encourages play in multiple lanes, but he's probably too strong for your cube.

Boomer Scrapper is another ugly card, but gives you things to sac and encourages you to attack if you want to get more. The passive ability is a nice way to turn a surplus of tokens into a way to actually end the game.

The highly restrictive casting cost means Zurgo is more of a 4-5 drop, and he's doing nothing the turn he comes down anyway. After that though you're definitely going to want to swing in with him, and with a sac outlet on standby you can do a lot to force the modes you want to choose.



Some misc. suggestions for aggressive sac fodder. Underdog is above rate, but you can't say he promotes durdling. Paying to recur him helps him feel a lot more fair, and the cool thing is he doesn't have to die in battle to get the draw off the sac. Timeline Culler is another card I love in this space.

Tuktuk the Explorer is a great sac target, a 5/5 is no joke! Attacking with him might actually be a bit of a mistake though, so the better play pattern is often to hold him back and dissuade your opponent from attacking, which might not be what you're looking for.

Case of the Stashed Skeleton is actually worse than it looks because of the clunkyness of cases only solving on your endstep. That being said, just think of it as a 2/1 menace that can't block for , that puts a Demonic Tutor into hand when it dies. It encourages attacks, and the tutor scales off the power level of your environment. It's a lot of mechanical cruft though.

Azog, Moria's Ruin is one other card I can't speak to because I haven't played it outside of limited, but I could see actually working at your power level. There's also even more cards that fit this aggressive sacrifice bill that are too mechanically complex even for me (e.g. The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride, Eddie Brock) but I wanted to shout them out anyway.

 

[Zoss]

I share a lot of your gripes with Blood Artist - the body is so anemic it's only good for it's passive, looking for deaths on both sides is annoying to track (and counting itself makes it unsatisfying to remove), and it promotes the frustrating strategy of durdling until you can just sac your entire board and combo kill your opponent all at once.

Vraan solves almost all these problems by having an on-rate body, only looking for your own creatures, and only triggering once per turn. Since you can't 'combo' with him, you're compelled to get an attack / sac off every turn you can (including your opponents turns) to maximize that trigger.



Foot Chopper is like 'fixed' skullclamp. I doubt you're partial to the flavor, but it perfectly fits your goal of encouraging attacks while only netting you one sac a turn. Coming with a creature helps a lot, but it trading for only 1 card doesn't feel unfair. I also like just having equipment that gives flying to prevent board stalls, and the flying lets you send in your chaff to draw you better cards to close the game with.

The Soulripper is stronger than it looks, as it can be attacking turn 3 as a 5/4 menace. That being said, it still feels fair enough and is a good reward for having sacrifice fodder around, and gets chumped to oblivion if you're not willing to do so. It can also get really blown out by instant speed removal / disenchants, which helps bring down it's power level.

Seconding Vraan, he's very very good!

Also I hate how good of a shout Foot Chopper is. That's a nifty one. Soulripper is also weirdly unloved. Didn't it do well in standard for a while? Or am I conflating it with Bankbuster? Either way, card is a house.

 

[Ombrophage]

I play more in the med-high power level (just below vintage), but I like to keep aristocrats aggressive so I come with a bunch of suggestions. Most of these will probably fail for you in terms of flavor / complexity / power level, but hope you can find something that works for you!


I share a lot of your gripes with Blood Artist - the body is so anemic it's only good for it's passive, looking for deaths on both sides is annoying to track (and counting itself makes it unsatisfying to remove), and it promotes the frustrating strategy of durdling until you can just sac your entire board and combo kill your opponent all at once.

Vraan solves almost all these problems by having an on-rate body, only looking for your own creatures, and only triggering once per turn. Since you can't 'combo' with him, you're compelled to get an attack / sac off every turn you can (including your opponents turns) to maximize that trigger.

Sephiroth is even stronger, and triggers off your opponents creatures too, but having that attack trigger encourages him to swing rather than just stand by. The flip is very relevant too, and is another lever pushing you to try and get that flip off when you can get just 4 triggers lined up, rather than wait until you can get a full combo kill.


Foot Chopper is like 'fixed' skullclamp. I doubt you're partial to the flavor, but it perfectly fits your goal of encouraging attacks while only netting you one sac a turn. Coming with a creature helps a lot, but it trading for only 1 card doesn't feel unfair. I also like just having equipment that gives flying to prevent board stalls, and the flying lets you send in your chaff to draw you better cards to close the game with.

The Soulripper is stronger than it looks, as it can be attacking turn 3 as a 5/4 menace. That being said, it still feels fair enough and is a good reward for having sacrifice fodder around, and gets chumped to oblivion if you're not willing to do so. It can also get really blown out by instant speed removal / disenchants, which helps bring down it's power level.

The train is a little weak for me costing , but is probably closer to what you're looking for. IMO for 'aristrocats' to be an actual strategy in your cube, you need some repeated sac ability for it to really pop off, and this is a very fair way to do it.

Honary mentions to Grafted Wargear and Dissection Tools as powerful equipment that can also function as that repeated sac outlet in a pinch.



Reckless Decective is probably the closest card yet to your power level, and nicely intersects sac and discard. He can help smooth out dud hands, and attacking as a 2/3 for isn't too shabby. Since you're really encouraged to attack with him, I don't think his 3 toughness leads to durdling.

Similarly Bepop can work in both sac / discard strategies, but always exacts a 'cost' for their grossly high power / toughness. It really encourages you to find a way to give him evasion or turn those costs to your advantage. The hybrid also encourages play in multiple lanes, but he's probably too strong for your cube.

Boomer Scrapper is another ugly card, but gives you things to sac and encourages you to attack if you want to get more. The passive ability is a nice way to turn a surplus of tokens into a way to actually end the game.

The highly restrictive casting cost means Zurgo is more of a 4-5 drop, and he's doing nothing the turn he comes down anyway. After that though you're definitely going to want to swing in with him, and with a sac outlet on standby you can do a lot to force the modes you want to choose.



Some misc. suggestions for aggressive sac fodder. Underdog is above rate, but you can't say he promotes durdling. Paying to recur him helps him feel a lot more fair, and the cool thing is he doesn't have to die in battle to get the draw off the sac. Timeline Culler is another card I love in this space.

Tuktuk the Explorer is a great sac target, a 5/5 is no joke! Attacking with him might actually be a bit of a mistake though, so the better play pattern is often to hold him back and dissuade your opponent from attacking, which might not be what you're looking for.

Case of the Stashed Skeleton is actually worse than it looks because of the clunkyness of cases only solving on your endstep. That being said, just think of it as a 2/1 menace that can't block for , that puts a Demonic Tutor into hand when it dies. It encourages attacks, and the tutor scales off the power level of your environment. It's a lot of mechanical cruft though.

Azog, Moria's Ruin is one other card I can't speak to because I haven't played it outside of limited, but I could see actually working at your power level. There's also even more cards that fit this aggressive sacrifice bill that are too mechanically complex even for me (e.g. The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride, Eddie Brock) but I wanted to shout them out anyway.

Whoa, big and solid list right there, I'm going to react to my favorites.

Vraan is a good shout. I generally prefer cards that don't just trigger only once per turn, but this might actually make a lot of sense for my use case.

Tuktuk is a card I have considered because I actually run a Golems theme in my cube. I also have a 1/1 matters theme that could make okayish use of Tuktuk even pre-death. My original concern was probably overdesign, as I was worried that someone might try (and likely fail) to bridge those archetypes, but thats probably a crazy concern.

Underdog is really cool, I could consider forgiving him for being above rate, and someday when he gets printed without a watermark, he might get the call-up.

Detective and Soulripper are two cards I haven't considered at all, and probably haven't even looked at incidentally in any searching I did for my cube. I actually like Soulripper enough to consider letting vehicles into my cube and Detective might make an audition too because I think it would mix things up in a healthy way (even though 0/3 scares me a little).

Bebop and Foot Chopper are both cards that I would love to run if they weren't in a particularly immersion breaking UB. Candidly I hadn't even looked at most of the Turtles cards.

Thank you for this!!