Honestly I think the two toughness was added to make up for the fact that this doesn't kill tokens or get rid of blockers for the turn. Definitely doesn't seem power crept to me.Every spoiler season they start pissing ravnic off by showing some new pushed stat line with upside we haven't had before for a compareable cost. This is not as egregious as that4/4 trampler with double upside, but they still succeeded.
I might pick up a couple booster fun cards and that white O-Ring with ward doesn't look bad either. But with double faced tokens, phyrexian tribal and that new card type that feels super convoluted so far, it might be the second set this year I'm mostly skipping, at least regarding cube additions.
Sets (MoM) April of the Machines Previews
- Thread starter Velrun
- Start date
Favorite spoiler of the day so far. This would be everything I wanted Poppet Stitcher to be as the blue member of the rough cycle of Young Pyromancers as is, but it's a Phyrexian Sharknado. Couldn't be happier.
Bay-bee-Shark do do do do doo do Baby Shark do do do do do do Baby Shark do do do do do doo Bay-be Shark!
"One path, many feet" seems vaguely phyrexian
Why did 3 mana get all the good cards this time around? This one is a lot of text but it seems pretty reasonable, all things considered. At any rate it forces you to think a lot to get maximum value out of it and it's doing something new for UR within the spellslinger slot, so I'll be jamming this for sure.
Also, look at this squad! I don't think they're good (when are you happy about convoking out a three-drop? T4 so that you can double spell??), but the art is very powerful.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Yeah I'm with Train, Ravnic. I think only being able to target your side (and only artifacts/creatures) makes this a cool thing to run in addition to flickerwisp, not just replacing it.
So far, the battles seem interesting. I think giving yourself a 5 loyalty walker to beat up before you start killing your opponent is an interesting decision, and unlike MDFCs you don't need to worry about what's on the back side as much; they're more like Search for Azcanta or the spark creatures, for eg. I definitely only have a vague idea of what the backside of Kytheon does, but that's fine, that's mostly all you need.
Like this thing:
Like there is a lot of words here, I'd obviously love it to be simpler, but I think this is solid.
Once you're done parsing, you get shock+ for 2, and you can decide weather you want to give up 5 damage in your red deck for a 4/4 flier that also shocks things.
That's an interesting decision!
And TBH, Battles are probably going to be better because they're not the most complicated DFCs in the set!
Look at this shit!
I love that these are here (there's a cycle of 5 presumably, there's a Jin Gitaxis one as well), because these have SO MANY WORDS on them you just can't even begin to pretend this doesn't use up your complexity budget.
One of the things I hate about the games worse MDFCs (Strixhaven/Kaldhiem) is that all the DFCs are rare/mythic, so they NEED this ephemeral cool factor which 99% of the time leads to more words on the card. There's no like, 2/2 prowess, volcanic hammer on the back because that's just not "interesting" enough to justify a rare slot.
There are uncommon battles, and there's also these saga/praetors at the top dragging up the average, so (at least it looks like it) the rares can be reasonable cards.
So far, the battles seem interesting. I think giving yourself a 5 loyalty walker to beat up before you start killing your opponent is an interesting decision, and unlike MDFCs you don't need to worry about what's on the back side as much; they're more like Search for Azcanta or the spark creatures, for eg. I definitely only have a vague idea of what the backside of Kytheon does, but that's fine, that's mostly all you need.
Like this thing:
Like there is a lot of words here, I'd obviously love it to be simpler, but I think this is solid.
Once you're done parsing, you get shock+ for 2, and you can decide weather you want to give up 5 damage in your red deck for a 4/4 flier that also shocks things.
That's an interesting decision!
And TBH, Battles are probably going to be better because they're not the most complicated DFCs in the set!
Look at this shit!
I love that these are here (there's a cycle of 5 presumably, there's a Jin Gitaxis one as well), because these have SO MANY WORDS on them you just can't even begin to pretend this doesn't use up your complexity budget.
One of the things I hate about the games worse MDFCs (Strixhaven/Kaldhiem) is that all the DFCs are rare/mythic, so they NEED this ephemeral cool factor which 99% of the time leads to more words on the card. There's no like, 2/2 prowess, volcanic hammer on the back because that's just not "interesting" enough to justify a rare slot.
There are uncommon battles, and there's also these saga/praetors at the top dragging up the average, so (at least it looks like it) the rares can be reasonable cards.
landofMordor
Administrator
my favorite detail is how the lead homonculus is standing with their toes pointing inwards, like they learned power-poses from movies and this is their first time trying it out
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
A 3/3 flyer for
with no downside doesn't seem power crept to you? I guess we just come from different timelines then, because stat-wise this is literally the most pushed flyer (without downsides) we've ever seen in the history of Magic A 3/3 flyer for
Yeah, but there are plenty of cards that aren't too far off with upsides to more than account for their downsides. This isn't to say that a second white pip isn't meaningful, I also would argue the likes of Resplendent Angel are significantly stronger.
It's the first, for sure, but I don't think 3 toughness is the most meaningful part of this card. I remember us being amazed at Cloudsteel Kirin and Elite Spellbinder a year and change ago for their aggressive costs, and this just doesn't seem fundamentally different to me.
That said, the specific advantages the angel provides make it compelling for my cube (and I imagine many others). I agree with Train that it's in no way a comp for Flickerwisp because you can't do the same kind of shenanigans (~50% of the use cases from my experience). I'd be more likely to play it in decks with Resto, but losing the flash takes off a staggering amount of the flexibility and bonuses from that card too...which is more acceptable due to the cheaper cost.
Still haven't decided if Guardian of Ghirapur is going to make my list or not. The white 3-drop creature slot continues to be one of the most aggressively contested slots I've seen, and something that's pretty blink-focused may be more narrow than I'd like.
Couldn't agree more. Well said.
When you mention 2/2 prowess, Volcanic Hammer on the back I think back on Zendikar Rising's simple DFCs and how I love having them in my cube. I wish they would do more of those instead. The best designs here are the more simple ones.
They want to look SO cool
The first thing I notice when I see such an important story-card like this is the rarity. "Oh... It's rare." This means it cannot be a very good card they want to use to sell packs. Because the most important element in the story, the reason why Phyrexians can travel between all worlds in the multiverse and attack all planes, a callback to another important card, a legendary artifact with a 10 mana game-ending ability. If this is not mythic.. then it MUST be because the card is not designed to sell packs.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I won't fault anyone for wanting to include it, but 3/3 is significantly different from 3/2 or 2/3, as it either trades with less removal spells and creatures in combat, or it applies a lot less pressure.
is significantly (though less significantly) different from as well. Single pips are so much less demanding on the mana base than double pips on low mv cards. Still, I don't include Resplendent Angel or Resplendent Marshal in my cube because they are 3/3's. It's fair to say the mana cost doesn't play a major role in that decision, but it certainly doesn't make me more inclined to run an even easier to cast 3/3 flyer.
Anybody here fancy a Watchwolf for 1G?
Speaking of build-arounds! I wish this included instants; it feels like it should. That'd probably be enough to put it over the edge for me as a fun archetype-enabler.
I think it's a new space, but it's not power crept.A 3/3 flyer for
We've been getting 3/3 fliers for 3 with upside for so long that this card isn't particularly notable for anything except the mana cost. 1 pip is certainly better than two, but the actual text on the card is significantly less impactful than stuff like Resplendent Angel and Resplendent Marshal, so it all comes out in the wash.
I love this. Not a great card per se, although I think the backside is pretty great if you can flip it.
The 1/1 Trampling Kraken tokens are hilarious. So is the art (Phyrexian foot crushing a tiny city). This is kind of just perfect.
@landofMordor
Watchwolf?! I don't like how texty this card is for what should amount to a vanilla 3/3 a somewhat significant amount of the time (or the fact that it's one of those weird New Capenna furries), but I do like that it can upgrade a 1-drop creature if necessary. Putting a counter on Birds of Paradise or Gilded Goose seems kind of nasty.Spectral Bears is in shambles.
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How dare you.
What about the protection from colorless cycle.
My therapist:
The Siege//Rhino isn't real, it can't hurt you!
The Siege//Rhino:
The Siege//Rhino isn't real, it can't hurt you!
The Siege//Rhino:
2/2 flier. Can’t block.Whenever one or more instant or sorcery spells you control deal damage to an opponent or a battle card, you may pay
. If you do, return Bloodfeather Phoenix from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn.Now this seems pretty good! 2 mana is great since we already have a bunch of 3 mana phoenixes, this helps diversify the curve. It’s pretty easy to recur since most aggressive Red decks are already playing spells that damage an opponent. A single Red mana is just right to keep it honest, but low enough that you can try and abuse it.
The can’t block clause means that you won’t stall out the game by recurring it, but at the same time it can play decently in sacrifice decks.
Is it weird that the first interaction that came to mind is Grapeshot + sacrifice outlet for multiple recursions?
landofMordor
Administrator
lowkey evaluating this design file with 3 metrics in mind:
@landofMordor
Spectral Bears is in shambles.
1. is it a watchwolf for the Ship of Theseus?
2. does it have noir/art deco flavor for the Pulp Nouveau cube?
3. is it a Samurai who will go in my "Invasion of NEO" set cube?
This one hits #2 for sure, but idk if it'll be too much rate in that format. It's enough rate for Ship, so it'll probably go there. (Backup on Goose or Birds is rough because they'll only get the Doran ability until end of turn, tho...)
Cool!
I agree that backing up a goose or bop isn't great because the Doran ability only lasts a turn, but the goose gets upgraded to Seacoast Drake stats permanently. As we all know, Seacoast Drake was the best card in M14, so this is some true power!