General On clones

inscho

inscho

I preface this by saying my cube is higher powered than others here, but I've never had any issues with Metamorph. It is occasionally worthy of a first pick, but is often times overshadowed by flashier options. This card acts a lot like Tireless Tracker for me. It's generic in that it serves a variety of roles and can make any maindeck, but many archetypes I support have unique interactions with each of the cards qualities. With Tracker you can pivot into Power Matters, Lands, Artifacts, Stax, etc.

p1p1: Metamorph
p1p2: You're faced with (first sample pack generated on cubetutor for the sake of avoiding cherry-picking):

bhye1l.jpg


What do you pick? I'd argue that the pick following p1p1 Metamorph really gets gears turning when faced with the potential interactions. This is a pretty mild pack for my cube, but imagine if there was a Scrap Trawler, Sneak Attack, Tinker, or Daretti, Scrap Savant...Instant archetype revealed, and you're still flexible on color commitment.
 
inscho

inscho

I wasn't really addressing the color pie debate, because it's not relevant to me. I was only addressing how I view it as a p1p1 candidate. Impersonator doesn't have the same artifact interactions as Metamorph which is valuable to me.

I really like Impersonator fwiw. I've thought about running it....would be nutty to copy a Heartbeat of Spring :eek:
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I think metamorph feeds more into our discussion of artifact section philosophy. Since artifacts require no color commitment, they are strategically better first picks. Pushed, or even just strong artifacts are often times the "correct" first pick, over anything else in the pack.

Should we never run strong artifacts though? I don't think so. However, its a tricky analysis to do. I think what we are really avoiding is the sense of looking at an otherwise exciting pack, and having that sense of exploration quashed by picking an objectively strong, but dull feeling card.

Where does matamorph fall in that framework for your format? Is it a dull, genertically good card, that reduces pick selection down, or is it a fun utility card that leads to interesting decks? That seems to be where the discussion is centered.
 
inscho

inscho

Grillo_Parlante said:
Where does matamorph fall in that framework for your format? Is it a dull, genertically good card, that reduces pick selection down, or is it a fun utility card that leads to interesting decks? That seems to be where the discussion is centered.
Click to expand...


I can safely say that Metamorph is never dull in my cube nor is it always the "correct" p1p1 choice. It, more than most cards, is sensitive to your cube environment.
 
Laz

Laz

Developer
I for one like Metamorph. It is powerful, sure, and most of the time just does boring generically good things, but having an effectively colorless clone does allow some interesting off-colour interactions.

It seems odd that CMC restricted clones are a design space that haven't been explored. Off the top of my head:

Impressionable Ooze {U}
Creature
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield with converted mana cost 2 or less.
0/1

It gives you an extra strategically important card like Blood Artist or Young Pyromancer or just another generic aggro card, without just always copying the biggest threat on the board.
 
safra

safra

Laz said:
I for one like Metamorph. It is powerful, sure, and most of the time just does boring generically good things, but having an effectively colorless clone does allow some interesting off-colour interactions.

It seems odd that CMC restricted clones are a design space that haven't been explored. Off the top of my head:

Impressionable Ooze {U}
Creature
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield with converted mana cost 2 or less.
0/1

It gives you an extra strategically important card like Blood Artist or Young Pyromancer or just another generic aggro card, without just always copying the biggest threat on the board.
Click to expand...

This is really cool. If you'll excuse my riff:
 

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shamizy

shamizy

Bit late, but Metamorph has never been a real problem in my environment which is fairly high powered. I agree that it is almost always a safe pick due to very little commitment on the part of the drafter, but being dependent upon an already developed board with reasonable targets is definitely a limitation. I don't believe I'd every P1P1 it unless the pack was completely in lacking in cards that would draw me into a given archetype. Like if I'm a midrangey deck featuring Metamorph against more aggressive builds, I'm limited to targets on my own side of the board for the most part. Or if the opponent is doing something off the wall in terms of a win condition or attacking me on a different axis like through Stax elements.

I think it is a card with a fine baseline, never a bad pick, but has the potential to be utilized in a ton of interesting ways if my drafters want to go down that route. Never had a problem with it, can't really see myself cutting it out because it's probably the finest clone variant around.
 
japahn

japahn

I removed Phyrexian Metamorph because it was too generically good and could go in any deck, while not filling an important role for a format structure like a removal spell or a counterspell. Moreover, it punishes the opponent for playing something cool. They Animate Dead Akroma, Angel of Wrath (edit: duh, that doesn't work. Pretend it's another fattie)? You get one too that trumps it in combat for 3 mana. They play Phyrexian Processor for 5 life? You play one for 6.

I hated casting that card, because it felt cheap. It actually _is_ cheap. It's not vulnerable to anything, not bad in any matchup, it's good in every deck and almost all games.

About other clone variants, I've cubed Clone itself since ever. Clone is significantly worse than Phyrexian Metamorph. It requires blue and most importantly, costs one more mana, which makes it much worse against aggro (defense deployed a turn later), against control (can't play it as a 3-drop copying your 2-drop, can't copy an artifact) and in aggro decks (missing 4th land drop is way more likely than missing the 3rd). Clone is much more fair due to that extra mana, and it's been fine for my power level.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Looks like our experiences with Metamorph match up pretty well japahn. Only difference is that I didn't hate casting the card, because it does cool things. And that is why I called the card a trap before. All of the things you mention as downsides can be viewed as upsides, because it makes the card better, right? Like you, though, I believe clones shouldn't be colorless, and they shouldn't cost less than four mana. At least, not in my environment.
 
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