The biggest contributor to this theme, and the biggest reason I'm looking for more creatures that fit it, is Jeskai Ascendancy. The ability to fire off a Grim Lavamancer more than once a turn (or, god forbid, mother of runes) is just great. Love it to bits. Bleeding the theme into RUG, we have powerful midrange enablers in Ral Zarek and Kiora, Master of the Depths. This gives us a wRUg theatre that's interested in creatures that tap to do things.
The first, and most obvious place to look, is pingers. Lavamancer is only the most impressive of his breed; your Prodigal Sorcerers and Vithian Stinger(1) are much stronger when they can kill x/2s or multiple tokens a turn.
The second place to look is elves. Deathrite Shaman benefits the most from this theme, and helps bleed it into
, since that's the most powerful ability on the card when abused. Getting extra mana out of any creature is good; it's a shame more of them aren't in RU though.
The next branch is growing creatures. Hangarback Walker and Steel Overseer are all-stars, but there's a place for Outlast creatures too, as well as all-stars like White Mike.
Then there are creatures with other, more spell-like effects. The various assassins printed in Magic history are a great source of support for this mechanic in. Rebels are another great option, albeit not for my cube. Diaochan, the Artful Beauty is probably going too deep, although if you can give her Indestructible in a control build she's pretty fearsome. Token creators might be another fun option to take this, as might Battlemages.
So, some options:
And yet, I still feel like I'm missing something that would make this more fun, and the interactions more obvious to my drafters. Help me out with some hidden gems!
(1): surprisingly potent in the Ascendancy deck because Unearth grants haste
The first, and most obvious place to look, is pingers. Lavamancer is only the most impressive of his breed; your Prodigal Sorcerers and Vithian Stinger(1) are much stronger when they can kill x/2s or multiple tokens a turn.
The second place to look is elves. Deathrite Shaman benefits the most from this theme, and helps bleed it into
, since that's the most powerful ability on the card when abused. Getting extra mana out of any creature is good; it's a shame more of them aren't in RU though.The next branch is growing creatures. Hangarback Walker and Steel Overseer are all-stars, but there's a place for Outlast creatures too, as well as all-stars like White Mike.
Then there are creatures with other, more spell-like effects. The various assassins printed in Magic history are a great source of support for this mechanic in
. Rebels are another great option, albeit not for my cube. Diaochan, the Artful Beauty is probably going too deep, although if you can give her Indestructible in a control build she's pretty fearsome. Token creators might be another fun option to take this, as might Battlemages.So, some options:
And yet, I still feel like I'm missing something that would make this more fun, and the interactions more obvious to my drafters. Help me out with some hidden gems!
(1): surprisingly potent in the Ascendancy deck because Unearth grants haste
