Card/Deck Make it shine: Harmonic Prodigy

[KlavierAchse]

​

I have this card lying around and keep thinking about what my medium powered cube would need to make it a fun pickup and create memorable moments in games.

Spoiler: Cards I already run that synergize with the Prodigy

In the search for exciting effects I combed through almost all the Shamans in scryfall and came up with this:

Spoiler: Shamans you can run anyway

Spoiler: Powerful yet niche

Spoiler: Low Power Shamans

Spoiler: Elemental Crossover

When it came to looking for interesting wizards I gave up (875 hits)

Spoiler: Mentionable red wizards

Spoiler: Black Wizards with cmc 3 or less

Spoiler: Some interesting U Wizards at cmc 3 or less

What cards would you need in your drafted pile to make you excited that you just opened Harmonic Prodigy?
What cool wizards do you guys already run in your cube that would shine alongside Harmonic Prodigy?
Bonus question: Would you run a Sanguinary Mage in your aggro deck if spell velocity is supported and the most powerful aggro option at cmc is Kari Zev, Skyship Raider? Or would you be too embarrassed?

Edit: No more Sakura-Tribe Elder, also added some more wizards.
Note: Current state of the searches is before the VOW set.

 

[blacksmithy]

kind of a tangent but are you aware of the historic Shamonicon deck? here’s an example of the archetype:
https://mtgazone.com/historic-shamans/

 

[LadyMapi]

Yeah, I think Rage Forger is legally required to be in any cube that wants to use Harmonic Prodigy. They just work too well together, and Rage Forger is already a solid card if your cube already has +1/+1 counter shenanigans.

Most of the Wizards that look interesting with the Prodigy are multi-color, but I did see some neat ones:

 

[Mown]

What cool wizards do you guys already run in your cube that would shine alongside Harmonic Prodigy?​

don't ask me why it's a token

 

[LadyMapi]

It might be too color-intensive, but...



It's basically a Grave Titan on crack by that point.

...

I feel like Harmonic Prodigy runs into the standard "tribal in Cube" issue, where you have to make sure that you actually have a high enough density of Shamans and Wizards with triggered abilities and that you'd actually feasibly want to run those Shamans and Wizards together. Looking over your list of cards that you already run that synergize with Harmonic Prodigy (which includes Sakura Tribe Elder for some reason?), a lot of them are cards that I wouldn't run in the same deck with each-other.

I think the best way to approach it would be to have Shamans/Wizards form the core of a broader archetype (Prowess/Spell Velocity, for example), so that people who grab Harmonic Prodigy can't accidentally screw themselves by drafting Pawn of Ulamog, World Shaper, and Young Pyromancer.

 

[KlavierAchse]

kind of a tangent but are you aware of the historic Shamonicon deck? here’s an example of the archetype:
https://mtgazone.com/historic-shamans/

Thanks for the tip! I don't follow any other formats except for cube
Key takeaway for me is that the deck basically consists of Harmonic Prodigy, Rage Forger, Burning-Tree Emissary, Seasoned Pyromancer + filler. I'm still to stubborn to break singleton but otherwise I'd definitly cube multiples of Burning-Tree Emissary and then Harmonic Prodigy is almost there for me already.

I feel like Harmonic Prodigy runs into the standard "tribal in Cube" issue, ...

I agree and am still debating if a floor of Sanguinary Mage is serviceable enough and if the occasional memorable, explosive combo would make up for it.
This raises again the age-old question "How many cards do you need to have in your cube to support archetype XYZ?".
If anyone can link me to some fancy math that would be great. In any case I might make a new thread with my take on the topic at a later point in time.

I think the best way to approach it would be to have Shamans/Wizards form the core of a broader archetype (Prowess/Spell Velocity, for example), so that people who grab Harmonic Prodigy can't accidentally screw themselves by drafting Pawn of Ulamog, World Shaper, and Young Pyromancer.

Yeah it could be a trap, especially for new drafters. If 5 color shamans/wizards should be a thing in your cube I'd add Panharmonicon alongside Harmonic Prodigy.
My intention wasn't really p1p1 Harmonic Prodigy and force a deck around it, but rather seeing it in pack 2 or 3 and being excited about it because it has many nice synergies with what you already got.
Some example shells:

Spoiler: RB Sacrifice shell

+ your usual sacrifice suspects

Spoiler: RU Tempo spell velocity shell

+ a bunch of spells and prowess creatures

(which includes Sakura Tribe Elder for some reason?)

I just wished this would work

This seems nuts

 

[Jason Waddell]

This looks super cool! Are there any other 'Wizards' or 'Shaman' matters cards that you would consider running? I think at the right power level Harmonic Prodigy would be a great design, especially since it's got broad intrinsic support in the cardpool.

 

[Dom Harvey]

I wouldn't be happy to draft Sanguinary Mage - I have to trigger it twice (or once with Prodigy in play) to get it above the baseline of a 2-power creature in my red deck. Unless you have a firm stance against breaking singleton, Mage (or other equally weak creatures) should just become more Prodigies

 

[KlavierAchse]

I wouldn't be happy to draft Sanguinary Mage - I have to trigger it twice (or once with Prodigy in play) to get it above the baseline of a 2-power creature in my red deck. Unless you have a firm stance against breaking singleton, Mage (or other equally weak creatures) should just become more Prodigies

Sorry I didn't communicate clearly. I was using Sanguinary Mage as an example for the floor that you pick Harmonic Prodigy but the Wizard/Shaman ability is never triggered. Wasn't actually considering running the original Sanguinary Mage. My cube is very heavy on cheap spells + cheap artifacts so I think Harmonic Prodigy would attack as a 2/4 rather often.

Triggering any of the >= 4 cmc Wizards twice seems like a super blowout at my power level. But I think that makes the Prodigy just more exciting

This looks super cool! Are there any other 'Wizards' or 'Shaman' matters cards that you would consider running? I think at the right power level Harmonic Prodigy would be a great design, especially since it's got broad intrinsic support in the cardpool.

If I wanted to go deep I'd consider these (alongside a +1/+1 counter theme):

Plus some of these:

Spoiler: Generic tribal support

Going this route seems dangerous as you might end up with a narrow archetype that gives off the drafting on rails feeling.

Spoiler: But anyway, you could also run this

 

[Humpty_Dumpty]

Quite a few of the spells matter payoff creatures are naturally wizards or shamans. And for those that aren’t we have Sharpies.

 

[Morphling]

Interesting topic, thank you.

I have been considering Panharmonicon in either of my two high-powered cubes and I never quite get there because I think about how swingy that can be in actual games. Seems like it would be even more of an issue in a Cube/Limited environment where your answers and ability to retake the initiative are stretched a bit thinner anyway.

Is it less problematic than I am imagining?

 

[blacksmithy]

Interesting topic, thank you.

I have been considering Panharmonicon in either of my two high-powered cubes and I never quite get there because I think about how swingy that can be in actual games. Seems like it would be even more of an issue in a Cube/Limited environment where your answers and ability to retake the initiative are stretched a bit thinner anyway.

Is it less problematic than I am imagining?

it’s VERY feast or famine. will be unfair one game and do literally nothing next game.
EDIT; if you want splashy unfair variance plays to be a feature of the cube, like Tinker and Storm and such, it’ll fit right in and be a pretty fun build around. in “fair” cubes i wouldn’t touch it

 

[LadyMapi]

I honestly think that Harmonic Prodigy/Rage Forger/Sage of Fables and a bunch of incidental Shamans/Wizards in and / +1/+1 counter themes is probably the best approach?

 

[KlavierAchse]

I honestly think that Harmonic Prodigy/Rage Forger/Sage of Fables and a bunch of incidental Shamans/Wizards in and / +1/+1 counter themes is probably the best approach?

I agree. Sadly I can't run that in my current cube as I think you'd have to go pretty low on power to make Rage Forger + Sage of Fables viable outside of the Harmonic Prodigy deck or they become pretty poisonous.

It would be cool if one could weave the tribal decks (Wizards / Shamans) into the cube as a "hidden" layer of synergy decks. Like how the B/W Humans archetype which comes together really easily but doesn't force your / drafters into it.

To achieve this I'd look into some generic tribal payoffs that act as glue for all tribal decks:

Spoiler: Generic Tribal Glue

Spice that up with some viable Changelings:

Spoiler: Changelings for every powerlevel

Add some clones that can double up on your payoffs or act as pseudo changelings:

Spoiler: Blue Clones

Additionally I'd be on the lookout for other tribes that can easily be supported but also have standalone interesting cards like Humans, Zombies, Spirits, Goblins, Warriors and so on...

Drafting & playing something like this would make me really feel clever

 

[blacksmithy]

you know, if you happen to be on Arena, Faceless Agent is honestly a fantastic cube card

 

[LadyMapi]

My thought was less that you'd go "Rage Forger + Sage of Fables is a deck!", and more like...

Gruul: There's the possibility of an aggressive +1/+1 deck in these colors, which wants Rage Forger. There are also some generically decent Shamans in the color pair, like Burning-Tree Emissary or Eternal Witness.

Izzet: You have your standard "we luv spells" Izzet deck here, which naturally includes some Wizards (Snapcaster Mage comes to mind) and red Shamans (Young Pyromancer, anyone?).

Simic: You have a midrange-y +1/+1 counters deck that wants Sage of Fables.

Then Harmonic Prodigy makes the Wizards and Shamans that have been scattered around the three colors look like something you can mash together into something playable.

 

[Erik Twice]

I tried to run Harmonic Prodigy and it was fun, but narrow.

The main issue is that it leans very heavily into Izzet Spell decks. While, theorically, it could slot into other decks, it's so much better in Izzet that it ends up being its main home. Notably, the power level of targets in blue is much higher than the other colours. It never seemed too great in BR Sacrifice decks in comparison.

Gruul didn't work, but it would have worked if I had a spells theme in green.

Still, you'll probably learn quite quickly that most interesting cards are "druids" or "warlocks" or "clerics". At the end of the day, it felt like a lot of work and too many changes to support a single card so I cut it. But I can se it being made to work.