ire shaman
everything i wanted in prophetic flamspeaker
plus orc tits ofc the artists name is jack wang
everything i wanted in prophetic flamspeaker
plus orc tits ofc the artists name is jack wang
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Could this be better than Lightning Mauler? Is it worth cubing both of them? While it doesn't function outside of its colours as the Mauler does, it can keep generating haste for multiple creatures without anything dying, and, perhaps most excitingly, black creatures. I find that the Mauler's 2/1 body is often irrelevant, as players hold him back to keep generating value if his current paramour perishes. That the Mauler is a human is certainly something, but, there's already so many humans, I hardly take note anymore.
Why not just:
Is this effect too strong in cube, or completely irrelevant? I can't decide. I'm intrigued by the possibility, though.
?
I like the card in constructed. Never really considered it cube-worthy, as red has WAY too many good 2-drops. Would having other morphs in the cube make it more playable though?
It could just me be but I find the 2/1 haste part of the Mauler as the most relevant part. Swinging for two on two in red is quite important, and while red had a lot of good 2-drops its 3 drops are rather lacking. Usually you will be burning something away, dropping another 2-drop, or (in legacy cube) dropping Chandra's Pheonix, Sulfuric Vortex etc.
While it is an interesting addition to black, I would just prefer paying one more and using Lightning Greaves. The 1/1 body is just too irrelevant.
You're probably right about Sootstoke, but I'd love to hear some dissenting opinion if there is any. Black haste and being able to reapply the effect to other dudes willy-nilly just sounds so sweet! 
I think Backup Plan is too powerful. Maybe it's not. I like busted shit like Balance, so, who am I to judge? I might just be cramming it in. We'll see.
+1 on Ire Shaman; red has enough value engines in my opinion, and paying 4 mana over two turns for a somewhat-hard-to-block 3/2, all to draw a card with one less mana in your pool, seems like a bad deal. This is amplified if your opponent has removal, which leads to an incredibly bad feeling. Skipping T3, especially in an aggro deck, just to get blown out before you can draw an extra card going into T4 with 3 available mana, just doesn't sound like where red wants to be. IMO you're better off with Faithless Looting, Magma Jet, Outpost Siege, and Chandra, Pyromaster if you wanna help red's draws.
I think Backup Plan is too powerful. Maybe it's not. I like busted shit like Balance, so, who am I to judge? I might just be cramming it in. We'll see.
+1 on Ire Shaman; red has enough value engines in my opinion, and paying 4 mana over two turns for a somewhat-hard-to-block 3/2, all to draw a card with one less mana in your pool, seems like a bad deal. This is amplified if your opponent has removal, which leads to an incredibly bad feeling. Skipping T3, especially in an aggro deck, just to get blown out before you can draw an extra card going into T4 with 3 available mana, just doesn't sound like where red wants to be. IMO you're better off with Faithless Looting, Magma Jet, Outpost Siege, and Chandra, Pyromaster if you wanna help red's draws.
Yeah it's mostly because of the fight mechanic, but also I think there are slightly more actual removal spells on top of that. It makes more sense for a game like Hearthstone because there are a lot of creatures which can get out of hand very quickly (such as Windfury dudes) so it's a bit of a "removal check all the time" environment.
Don't get me wrong: I really enjoy Hearthstone. In a lot of ways it's a more exhilarating game than Magic, but I often miss the deeper layers of strategy that Magic offers.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I guess it helps than that every creature is a removal spell doesn't it
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Is this any good? It looks like a fixed Mirran Crusader. Personally, I like hexproof sparingly throughout my cube, and this seems like an exceptionally fair middle ground between hexproof and protection. The lack of doublestrike is a bit of a downer, but I'll gladly trade d-strike for lifelink, personally. My 3-drop section is nasty tight, but I keep finding myself considering this... Thoughts?
1WW 2/2s I would rather run over Fiendslayer or Mirran Crusader:
Silverblade Paladin
Fabled Hero
Eidolon of Countless Battles
Arashin Foremost
Archetype of Courage
Banisher Priest
Silverblade Paladin
Fabled Hero
Eidolon of Countless Battles
Arashin Foremost
Archetype of Courage
Banisher Priest
I've shot this thing down before. Throwing that disclaimer out there. But with all the Ux tempo/devotion creature based decks available now, I'm wondering if this guy can be a solid role-player in a lower powered environment.
I do not love any of what Azorius has to offer. Supreme Verdict is redundant. So is Detention Sphere. These aren't the kind of guild cards I like running. Geist of Saint Traft is strong but also can be high variance. If you can give him evasion or the board is empty, he's a beating. Otherwise he suicides for 4. No swords or jitte I think hurts this guys stock a bit and hexproof can be tiresome anyway. Pass. Azorius Charm is fine. Sphinx's Revelation is also good in the deck that wants it. But really, I can take or leave those two cards. Whatever.
I've done some limited testing recently with hussar in a devotion deck and it seems reasonable to me. Essentially free card draw is powerful. So I was wondering if anyone had more experience with him in cube?
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Venser the Sojourner? Dragonlord Ojutai?
Hussar takes a turn to replace itself, and a pretty big commitment after that. It's a really interesting card but your power level would have to be quite low; and I imagine your devotion decks would prefer to be attacking, unless the ground is clogged up.
Hussar takes a turn to replace itself, and a pretty big commitment after that. It's a really interesting card but your power level would have to be quite low; and I imagine your devotion decks would prefer to be attacking, unless the ground is clogged up.
I prefer Court Hussar for my Azorious hussar-based card advantage needs.
Sky Hussar is super slow. Decks that want the card engine probably can't afford to tap 2 creatures every upkeep. Maybe if you have some synergies with tapping/untapping? Too bad the Inspired cards mostly suck.
Ephara, God of the Polis is a fine creature-based draw engine in UW if that's what you're looking for. Venser, the Sojourner is also a similarly slow incremental advantage engine but at least he doesn't require you to tap 2 guys every turn.
...there's always Riptide Crab...
Sky Hussar is super slow. Decks that want the card engine probably can't afford to tap 2 creatures every upkeep. Maybe if you have some synergies with tapping/untapping? Too bad the Inspired cards mostly suck.
Ephara, God of the Polis is a fine creature-based draw engine in UW if that's what you're looking for. Venser, the Sojourner is also a similarly slow incremental advantage engine but at least he doesn't require you to tap 2 guys every turn.
...there's always Riptide Crab...
I tested Sky Hussar briefly, and even when I drafted UW tempo and he was in my card pool, he was about the last thing I wanted in my final 23. You need to craft a very specific board state against very specific opponents - some sort of situation where your creatures aren't valuable in combat, because of some board stall, whereby you can afford to tap two of them during your upkeep - before he becomes useful. I guess what I'm getting at is that as narrow as we think combat tricks like Giant Growth are, I daresay Hussar is even narrower.
If you really want yet another blue tempo dude to draw you some sweet spells, try Tandem Lookout. To my surprise, he's been my favourite soulbond guy so far.
I don't know why, but Lightning Mauler never clicked over here. His 2/1 non-evasive body was too small to be relevant, though he might get better the slower the environment is, because it's more likely that your opponent won't have any blockers. Ire Shaman is a little clunky, but at least gives you some decent stats. I think I'll toss him in and see how it goes.
If you really want yet another blue tempo dude to draw you some sweet spells, try Tandem Lookout. To my surprise, he's been my favourite soulbond guy so far.
I don't know why, but Lightning Mauler never clicked over here. His 2/1 non-evasive body was too small to be relevant, though he might get better the slower the environment is, because it's more likely that your opponent won't have any blockers. Ire Shaman is a little clunky, but at least gives you some decent stats. I think I'll toss him in and see how it goes.
lightning mauler was always p fair but nutso over here
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
This is a really good topic, that probably should be delved into more. I've traditionally counted any sort of permanent removal, disruptable removal, and bounce.
I tried to find a MARO article where he defines removal, and failed; however the gamepedia wiki has it described as such:
Which seems like a pretty reasonable description to go with.
As for UW cards, I would think people would be all over dragonlord ojutai due to the temporary hexproof (haven't played with him though). I'm also a big geist of saint traft fan, but I know he is a pretty divisive card.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Azorius somehow fails to tickle me with most of its cards. I do like these three a lot:
It's also both kinda boring and annoying. If you're looking for an Azorius wall, have I got a guy for you.
Thanks for all the replies everyone.
No walkers for me, so Venser, the Sojourner is out. It's a cool card though and if I did run walkers, it would probably be on my short list. Wall of Denial I ran before and it just slows the game down too much. I wasn't a fan. Lyev Skyknight is cool (I forgot about him actually). Problem is it costs 3 and there are just so many things to run at 3, especially in U. A definite possibility though as his ability is really nice and he's a 3/1 flyer which is very aggressive (I've never tried him though). Thanks. Dragonlord Ojutai is a really good option, but he's $30 so I think I'll wait to test him. He looks fun though.
Brago, King Etneral looks good on paper but in testing he was SLOW. At least Galepowder Mage just needs to attack to get the trigger (and he can remove blockers). As far as blink enablers go, I pretty much like every other option out there. Instant speed (Momentary Blink, Ghostly Flicker, etc.) is just better in my experience since it blanks removal, can save blockers and is awesome with Mystic Snake (who I really like to run in tempo decks). In blue devotion, I not even sure I want him either (though blinking Master of Waves sounds pretty awesome). Celestial Colonnade is in already. I count it as fixing though which is why I didn't originally list it.
Ephara, God of the Polis I've never tried, but it looks Brago slow. Unless I played Ephara and a dude the same turn, I have to wait two turns to get a card (and only if I have a dude to play). Maybe if I time Riftwing Cloudskate I can get a card in one turn without playing a guy with Ephara. I'm just not seeing how this is good unless I'm dragging the game out for several turns. Court Hussar I have a lot of experience with from back in Ravnica block. He's good. But he's sort of just an upgraded (for UW) Sea Gate Oracle. I like it, but don't want to use an Azorius slot for him.
I'm most likely going to give Sky Hussar a trial run. I will probably yank him because you guys are most likely right in that he's just not good enough, but here's my reasoning on why I think it has a chance to not completely suck:
First, my meta is definitely lower powered than even the typical Riptide cube. It's also slower (lot's of multi-player and my group drafts a lot of midrange anyway). It plays like a pre-NWO cube. Those of you who cubed back that far, put your way-back cap on and try to remember what your cube played like back before you could even run walkers. I don't think UW tempo was even practical back then (it had no real tools besides a couple bounce dudes), but if you had some of the tools from today in the cube back then, I can see this guy not being out of place.
Second, this card might be a tad narrow but it's flexible in the decks that want it. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it has two useful modes. Cards with options I really try and run because they lead to a lot of interesting game choices. With Sky Hussar, if you can't really push through damage or block in combat favorably (or you just need to get cards), this guy turns two useless dudes on your board into free CA for as many turns as you need (at least as long as those creatures stay alive). This combos nicely with any kind of token creator (white has many, blue has master of waves now whose elementals can sometimes not be useful late in the game). If you are in the lead, you can draw a card play him and untap your dudes so you can still attack with them. In that case, he is basically a 4/3 flyer who draws you a card the turn you play him (mulldrifter with +2/+1, minus one card drawn). It's not a great curve topper for an all-in aggro deck, but Ux tempo really isn't that kind of deck anyway. I also like this is a really heavy white deck. Because if the board gets stalled, you can use this thing to draw a card and still have mana open to play whatever you draw. White often ends up with a stalled board state since stuff like first strike is awesome until it suddenly isn't (because your dude isn't big enough anymore).
Grillo mentioned this in another thread, but the idea of pushing aggro-control appeals to me greatly. And that has a lot to do with the focus on multi-player. RDW is not a deck that can win in multi-player (outside "attack left" or similar variants). If you have zero late game options, you are just not going to be competitive. So the idea that you want to build even your aggressive decks with some engine cards that can rebuild your hand and/or keep you competitive later in the game is something I want to encourage. Sky Hussar I feel fits that since it's good enough to push damage through if you curve like a boss, but can also draw cards for you later if things stall or you just don't hit the ground running fast enough and need to find answers or whatever.
No walkers for me, so Venser, the Sojourner is out. It's a cool card though and if I did run walkers, it would probably be on my short list. Wall of Denial I ran before and it just slows the game down too much. I wasn't a fan. Lyev Skyknight is cool (I forgot about him actually). Problem is it costs 3 and there are just so many things to run at 3, especially in U. A definite possibility though as his ability is really nice and he's a 3/1 flyer which is very aggressive (I've never tried him though). Thanks. Dragonlord Ojutai is a really good option, but he's $30 so I think I'll wait to test him. He looks fun though.
Brago, King Etneral looks good on paper but in testing he was SLOW. At least Galepowder Mage just needs to attack to get the trigger (and he can remove blockers). As far as blink enablers go, I pretty much like every other option out there. Instant speed (Momentary Blink, Ghostly Flicker, etc.) is just better in my experience since it blanks removal, can save blockers and is awesome with Mystic Snake (who I really like to run in tempo decks). In blue devotion, I not even sure I want him either (though blinking Master of Waves sounds pretty awesome). Celestial Colonnade is in already. I count it as fixing though which is why I didn't originally list it.
Ephara, God of the Polis I've never tried, but it looks Brago slow. Unless I played Ephara and a dude the same turn, I have to wait two turns to get a card (and only if I have a dude to play). Maybe if I time Riftwing Cloudskate I can get a card in one turn without playing a guy with Ephara. I'm just not seeing how this is good unless I'm dragging the game out for several turns. Court Hussar I have a lot of experience with from back in Ravnica block. He's good. But he's sort of just an upgraded (for UW) Sea Gate Oracle. I like it, but don't want to use an Azorius slot for him.
I'm most likely going to give Sky Hussar a trial run. I will probably yank him because you guys are most likely right in that he's just not good enough, but here's my reasoning on why I think it has a chance to not completely suck:
First, my meta is definitely lower powered than even the typical Riptide cube. It's also slower (lot's of multi-player and my group drafts a lot of midrange anyway). It plays like a pre-NWO cube. Those of you who cubed back that far, put your way-back cap on and try to remember what your cube played like back before you could even run walkers. I don't think UW tempo was even practical back then (it had no real tools besides a couple bounce dudes), but if you had some of the tools from today in the cube back then, I can see this guy not being out of place.
Second, this card might be a tad narrow but it's flexible in the decks that want it. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it has two useful modes. Cards with options I really try and run because they lead to a lot of interesting game choices. With Sky Hussar, if you can't really push through damage or block in combat favorably (or you just need to get cards), this guy turns two useless dudes on your board into free CA for as many turns as you need (at least as long as those creatures stay alive). This combos nicely with any kind of token creator (white has many, blue has master of waves now whose elementals can sometimes not be useful late in the game). If you are in the lead, you can draw a card play him and untap your dudes so you can still attack with them. In that case, he is basically a 4/3 flyer who draws you a card the turn you play him (mulldrifter with +2/+1, minus one card drawn). It's not a great curve topper for an all-in aggro deck, but Ux tempo really isn't that kind of deck anyway. I also like this is a really heavy white deck. Because if the board gets stalled, you can use this thing to draw a card and still have mana open to play whatever you draw. White often ends up with a stalled board state since stuff like first strike is awesome until it suddenly isn't (because your dude isn't big enough anymore).
Grillo mentioned this in another thread, but the idea of pushing aggro-control appeals to me greatly. And that has a lot to do with the focus on multi-player. RDW is not a deck that can win in multi-player (outside "attack left" or similar variants). If you have zero late game options, you are just not going to be competitive. So the idea that you want to build even your aggressive decks with some engine cards that can rebuild your hand and/or keep you competitive later in the game is something I want to encourage. Sky Hussar I feel fits that since it's good enough to push damage through if you curve like a boss, but can also draw cards for you later if things stall or you just don't hit the ground running fast enough and need to find answers or whatever.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Brago is slow, but blinking multiple targets every turn... In my first cube it was routinely hate drafted by a friend after it utterly crushed him in our first draft.
Anyway, I forgot two favorites! And they're two-drops!
Anyway, I forgot two favorites! And they're two-drops!