Acólita del arcus - GW
Creature - Human Cleric Archer
Reach, Lifelink
Outlast
Each other creature you control without a +1/+1 counter on it has outlast
.2/2 - Uncommon(edited)
couple of signpost uncommons for you low power retail cubers
Sets (MH2) Modern Horizons 2 Previews
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
- Start date
Acólita del arcus - GW
Creature - Human Cleric Archer
Reach, Lifelink
Outlast
Each other creature you control without a +1/+1 counter on it has outlast
.2/2 - Uncommon(edited)
couple of signpost uncommons for you low power retail cubers
I'm in love...
Chainer is dope, but this is a reprint fwiw
I've not played much with Outlast, what do you guys think of the mechanic's play patterns?
Outlast is not my favorite mechanic. I know the penny cube used them, and there certainly are other viable contexts for it, but I’ve never liked them. Most of the creatures have poor base stats on curve. The sorcery speed activation reduces the depth of decision making and keeps it from being relevant in combat. The built in mana sink is nice, and it can help you break out of a board stall. They are almost like slivers which is kinda cool, but it all comes back to the base stats for me. They’re really only viable in very low powered settings.
EDIT: They do get more interesting with untap effects
EDIT: They do get more interesting with untap effects
Lol it felt really familiar, but I knew I hadn't seen it posted here yet. Guess that explains it...
Yeah I never thought outlast played all that well.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
There is basically one exception, and that is Abzan Falconer.
The most powerful reanimator targets we currently have access to tend to almost "immediately" win the game the turn they come into play. For example, Griselbrand's card advantage ability can be impossible for an opponent to recover from, and Apex Altisaur can wipe an entire board if the opponent doesn't have instant speed interaction. Meanwhile, several other good reanimation targets tend to shut down interaction or have anti-interactive abilities, such as Iona, Shield of Emeria or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
Archon of Cruelty is the first "Big Ticket" reanimator target that has an always-useful Mulldrifter style ability tacked on to a game-winning body. It makes the hoops required to reanimate it worth the payoff without winning the game on the spot or being uninteractive. Even if the Archon dies right away, it still represents a huge swing in favor of the reanimator player.
However, it doesn't provide so much value on that initial turn so that the opponent has no chance of getting back into the game. They can use sorcery-speed removal to deal with this and be in no worse of a position than they would have if they had an instant-speed removal spell. Also, as you noted, it takes 3 turns for the Archon to kill someone after it's reanimated, so the opponent could technically even tank a hit from it and still survive. While the Archon's kill isn't exactly "slow" by normal Midrange standards, I think it's slow enough to make it a worthwhile A-Tier reanimation target for formats which would not benefit from the "win on the spot" nature of other cards in it's class.
Tl;dr, Archon of Cruelty is "slow enough" because it has a larger window for interaction than the other A-Tier reanimation targets.
Very well explained, Train!
So which reanimator spells are you guys running? Tagging @SirFunchalot here but anyone can answer
So which reanimator spells are you guys running? Tagging @SirFunchalot here but anyone can answer
My personal opinion is to avoid that style of reanimator entirely. The entire premise of the archetype places so many awkward requirements on your high end targets, which ideally (in my opinion) would be usable in roles beyond being a strict reanimation target. You can slow the format down to a point where 8-drops are castable, but even in most retail decks I don't want to stretch my curve beyond 6-drops.
As far as I know Funch doesn't run reanimator/dredge in his cubes because he doesn't like the play patterns.
Dom has certainly made the argument that you can thread the needle in your targets so that they are decent when hard-cast but not overbearing when reanimated, but it's a tough one. I feel like my control decks need their curve toppers to be as strong as Grave Titan, and when I ran reanimator Grave Titan just resulted in degenerate games when hitting the board on Turn 2/3.
As far as I know Funch doesn't run reanimator/dredge in his cubes because he doesn't like the play patterns.
Dom has certainly made the argument that you can thread the needle in your targets so that they are decent when hard-cast but not overbearing when reanimated, but it's a tough one. I feel like my control decks need their curve toppers to be as strong as Grave Titan, and when I ran reanimator Grave Titan just resulted in degenerate games when hitting the board on Turn 2/3.
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
There's basically three approaches to reanimator. The first is the one most understood under the moniker, which is an early way to get a giant fatty into the graveyard, then reanimate it onto the battlefield as soon as possible. This makes this style of reanimator essentially a combo deck. As Jason noted, the major potential problem with the combo variant is that you're getting threats onto the battlefield way ahead of the curve.
The second variant is value reanimator, where your reanimation pieces are drastically slowed down, e.g. Zombify and friends. This reduces the pressure the archetype puts on your environment considerably. The problem with this variant is that reanimating a six drop with a four mv spell shaves off only two mana, and thus might not feel (or indeed be) worth the trouble of jumping through the hoops for. Personally I've reduced my options in this category to spells that have some other upside. For example, Sharuum the Hegemon is a fat 5/5 flyer, and Unburial Rites has flashback, which means it's actual card advantage (albeit of the very slow variety).
The third variant is weenie reanimation. Think Unearth and Sevinne's Reclamation. This currently is my preferred style of choice, as it allows aggressive decks to get back (or keep) in the game after a sweeper or after trading in combat. Furthermore, it opens some nifty lines of play that are far less likely to end in disproportional power spikes than the combo style of reanimator. The problem with this type of reanimator is that it doesn't really feel like it embodies the traditional reanimator archetype and that your reanimation spells are gated by design, it's practically impossible to make big value plays if the most expensive thing you can get back is a 3 mv creature.
The second variant is value reanimator, where your reanimation pieces are drastically slowed down, e.g. Zombify and friends. This reduces the pressure the archetype puts on your environment considerably. The problem with this variant is that reanimating a six drop with a four mv spell shaves off only two mana, and thus might not feel (or indeed be) worth the trouble of jumping through the hoops for. Personally I've reduced my options in this category to spells that have some other upside. For example, Sharuum the Hegemon is a fat 5/5 flyer, and Unburial Rites has flashback, which means it's actual card advantage (albeit of the very slow variety).
The third variant is weenie reanimation. Think Unearth and Sevinne's Reclamation. This currently is my preferred style of choice, as it allows aggressive decks to get back (or keep) in the game after a sweeper or after trading in combat. Furthermore, it opens some nifty lines of play that are far less likely to end in disproportional power spikes than the combo style of reanimator. The problem with this type of reanimator is that it doesn't really feel like it embodies the traditional reanimator archetype and that your reanimation spells are gated by design, it's practically impossible to make big value plays if the most expensive thing you can get back is a 3 mv creature.
Yeah, I love Unearth to death but don't really think of it as an explicit archetype. You can run it along spicy targets like Skaab Ruinator or whatnot, but it's just a card you shove in your deck and get some sweet mana efficiency out of at some point (rather than specifically building around).
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Three turns to kill is quite significant.
Reanimator is a pretty complex archetype. You need three elements: A big creature, a reanimation spell and a way to put the former into the graveyard so the latter can bring it back. In other words, it's a three card combo, which is a serious constrain but in draft and in play.
If your creature gets killed or bounced or your reanimator spell gets discarded, you are left in a pretty bad shape. The tempo loss is huge and the key spells are not replaceable. Effects that can get cards into the graveyard often result in card disadvantage as well, so it can be impossible to recover. In order to be viable, Reanimator needs to get enough value to compensate jumping through so many hoops. Remember, your whole plan can be thrown away by Mana Leak.
Of course, if you just win on the spot it's not very interesting. I think Archon of Cruelty is fair. It has no protection so you have some time to disrupt the combo and then three turns more to interact with its results. It provides value on ETB, but it's not very damaging to the opponent: Chances are the sacrifice and discard triggers are a minor setback at first.
Still, I don't blame anyone who doesn't find the archetype interesting enough to justify the headache. It requires a lot of work and imposes some real limitations in your cube so it might be better to just ignore it if you are not fond of it.
Reanimator is a pretty complex archetype. You need three elements: A big creature, a reanimation spell and a way to put the former into the graveyard so the latter can bring it back. In other words, it's a three card combo, which is a serious constrain but in draft and in play.
If your creature gets killed or bounced or your reanimator spell gets discarded, you are left in a pretty bad shape. The tempo loss is huge and the key spells are not replaceable. Effects that can get cards into the graveyard often result in card disadvantage as well, so it can be impossible to recover. In order to be viable, Reanimator needs to get enough value to compensate jumping through so many hoops. Remember, your whole plan can be thrown away by Mana Leak.
Of course, if you just win on the spot it's not very interesting. I think Archon of Cruelty is fair. It has no protection so you have some time to disrupt the combo and then three turns more to interact with its results. It provides value on ETB, but it's not very damaging to the opponent: Chances are the sacrifice and discard triggers are a minor setback at first.
Still, I don't blame anyone who doesn't find the archetype interesting enough to justify the headache. It requires a lot of work and imposes some real limitations in your cube so it might be better to just ignore it if you are not fond of it.
Artifact Land
Energy Dpeot enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add ◊.
T: Add one mana of any color. Use this mana only to cast artifacts or activate abilities of artifacts.
Modular 1
"Barbed Point"
1W
Artifact - Equipment
When Barbed Point enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter creature token with flying and attach this to it.
Equipped creature has +1/+0.
Equip 2
I removed the reanimator package mostly, because it was just not worth it spending slots for fatties most decks aren't interested in. I think this changes, when you support other cheat decks like Sneak Attack or Tinker or such, but for me, only ramp really wanted 7-drops and 8-drops, and even there I prefer scaleable ones like Wolfbriar Elemental or Chimeric Mass. Or ones that aren't that great if cheated in like Beanstalk Giant or Scourge of Fleets.
Now I still run a few cards that bring back creatures right to the battlefield, but those are value plays or tricks that don't need huge fatties to be worth it.
If a reanimator deck happens or someone just manages to cheat a bit on mana with their Sylvan Primordial, cool. But I'll no longer run narrow cards to make it happen.
ramp really wanted 7-drops and 8-drops, and even there I prefer scaleable ones like Wolfbriar Elemental or Chimeric Mass. Or ones that aren't that great if cheated in like Beanstalk Giant or Scourge of Fleets.Now I still run a few cards that bring back creatures right to the battlefield, but those are value plays or tricks that don't need huge fatties to be worth it.
If a reanimator deck happens or someone just manages to cheat a bit on mana with their Sylvan Primordial, cool. But I'll no longer run narrow cards to make it happen.
Yeah it’s high risk, high reward. Perfect for people who like to gamble (that’s me) and people who like to power trip (that’s me)
I prefer the 4 or 5 mana reanimator spells because I dislike when the stomping gets too unfun.
Actually I would prefer something like this
Reanimator Spell
1B - Sorcery
You can’t cast this spell during your first, second, or third turns of the game.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Wording stolen from Serra Avenger. This would allow for a counterspell backup.
I prefer the 4 or 5 mana reanimator spells because I dislike when the stomping gets too unfun.
Actually I would prefer something like this
Reanimator Spell
1B - Sorcery
You can’t cast this spell during your first, second, or third turns of the game.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Wording stolen from Serra Avenger. This would allow for a counterspell backup.
Damn, Barbed Point is a really interesting variant of Ancestral Blade. Is it better, even?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
You only get two turns two do something about it, not three, since it deals lethal on the second attack. How good that is depends a lot on your format. I can certainly see how this is an excellent reanimation target in higher power cubes like yours and Train's. Lower power cubes will often not even support the combo variant of reanimation, in which case the question is do you trust your removal suite to be strong enough to deal with this off of value reanimation. It's not a suitable card for my format, but it's certainly a great reanimation target in the right cube.
This might be my favorite Stormfront Pegasus in the history of Magic the Gathering. What a sweet little card! Note that this makes two artifacts for the price of one on curve flyer. That's some synergy potential right there!
"Barbed Point"
1W
Artifact - Equipment
When Barbed Point enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter creature token with flying and attach this to it.
Equipped creature has +1/+0.
Equip 2
Barbed Point is amazing. Send tweet.
Yes, that Thopter is a slam dunk, although I'm glad it's not any more powerful than it is right now.
Question is, do I cut a 2-drop or Valkyrie's Sword?
Question is, do I cut a 2-drop or Valkyrie's Sword?
I just noticed. This isn't a counterspell.
It functions like a Remand and Venser, Shaper Savant but just like the Wizard, it can affect spells that can't be countered like Carnage Tyrant, Chandra, Awakened Inferno and Coma, Kosmos Serpent. This is semi-rare in Magic. Many of you probably already knew this but I wanted to share for those who missed it at first like I did. Also note that the owner of the bounced spell choose if the card is put on top or bottom like Aether Gust. (Something I did notice at first, wuhuu)
It functions like a Remand and Venser, Shaper Savant but just like the Wizard, it can affect spells that can't be countered like Carnage Tyrant, Chandra, Awakened Inferno and Coma, Kosmos Serpent. This is semi-rare in Magic. Many of you probably already knew this but I wanted to share for those who missed it at first like I did. Also note that the owner of the bounced spell choose if the card is put on top or bottom like Aether Gust. (Something I did notice at first, wuhuu)
I personally think Borborygmos Enraged is about as good as one can get for reanimation target that works well as a powerful finisher, but can also potentially be cast in decks of its colors (ramp etc) without immediately shutting out the game in either case. I'm also a big fan of cycling targets, especially Titanoth Rex. Cycling still gives them value (as well as the trample counter on Rex), but they can offer a really beefy target to strive for if a deck wants a reanimation package.
Love Barbed Point! An easy swap for Ancestral Blade
Love Barbed Point! An easy swap for Ancestral Blade
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I would cut the Sword, that card seems extremely below curve even in low power cubes, no matter which mode you choose.
love that it’s an artifact creature and etb is nice. the body is... oof