Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Hellbent - Entomb instead.
Being honest, I've never cast this card and have always though it was awful, but it probably plays better than it looks. Everyone will be scared of running it, since they've learned to respect Hymn to Tourach.
Is that something for any red deck? If not, what decks want this?
Being honest, I've never cast this card and have always though it was awful, but it probably plays better than it looks. Everyone will be scared of running it, since they've learned to respect Hymn to Tourach.
Is that something for any red deck? If not, what decks want this?
Gamble is a weird card. I've played it in Constructed - Jund Depths (great) and an Aggressive Mining brew (terrible) - so I feel kinda qualified to speak to its strengths but tbh i'm a scrub who knows nothing so caveat lector
Gamble is pretty strong. It's a powerful tutor that sometimes just goes ahead and punches you in the gut. That said, if there's one thing Magic players are bad at, it's statistics. Pairing it with card draw, bouncelands, Loam (oh man, especially Loam), or even just slower, card-advantage-focused builds can mitigate its risks a bunch. Here's the thing about Gamble, though: Magic doesn't have a lot of random discard in it and so it's usually frustrating to lose something cool on a small personal level.
You can't top-deck Gamble and tutor your way out of the situation (unless you play from the graveyard, as you point out). At best you've got 50% odds of your card still being in your hand next turn, if you're still alive. That's an interesting dynamic shared by the top-of-library tutors, but at other times Gamble is sort of like Entomb, or sort of like Demonic Tutor. All pretty good cards, but the inconsistency means it's hard to evaluate, and most people will evaluate random discard incorrectly, overestimating the WCS. It's frustrating to have your game smoothing card not actually do that when you need it to, but it's not like a bunch of other cards would've helped either.
-one situation that's unlikely to come up in a lot of cubes (tragedy!) is that if you have two recursive cards in hand (say two witnesses or uh snapcaster yawg will) Gamble's drawback is entirely mitigated. This isn't something to build for but it's a nice way to give the card more obvious homes.
Red decks that want Gamble probably:
-play out of the graveyard at least a little bit (topdeck gamble, entomb and flashback Firebolt is mediocre but might be valid over some pass-the-turn lines)
-have some kind of card advantage or recursion scheme, if not necessarily an engine
-failing that, several redundant cards (often Big Cheatz decks but not always)
-have very impactful spells they're willing to take a risk on (some Painter (not Imperial Painter, which has a better and more expensive tutor) builds run it to find combo pieces)
-run exciting situational lands
Seems like an okay list but it's still entirely possible nobody will ever draft it, because they're right, random discard is bad. It's just not quite as bad as they think it is, since you don't have to gamble until the late-game (or you can combo out early when you still have lands in hand) but it's still pretty bad.
e: my conclusion, re-reading this, is that we should all proxy and cube Imperial Recruiter.
I see this being really cool with something like Enthralling Victor or Sylvan Ranger and a sacrifice outlet so you can reuse them every turn, but maybe that's asking too much. What do yall think? How low-power does such a card need before all the work to make it good makes it good?
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
ah...death spark, that card is the truth--in a low power format.
Darkblast is so good because it can get x/2s in addition to x/1s, so death spark's performance is much more conditioned on the heavy presence of x/1 s in a format. When it is good though, it is great, as the repeated ping can either be a valuable source of board control against certain decks, or slowly kill opponent's relying on spot removal to manage your threats.
Darkblast is so good because it can get x/2s in addition to x/1s, so death spark's performance is much more conditioned on the heavy presence of x/1 s in a format. When it is good though, it is great, as the repeated ping can either be a valuable source of board control against certain decks, or slowly kill opponent's relying on spot removal to manage your threats.
Either of these worth cubing? I know there's that
first-striker but I'm trying to avoid .
Dom Harvey
Contributor
how do we feel about new Kiora?
I like untapping things, I like Grisly Salvage, is the inability to defend itself a deal-breaker (or a feature that stops it gumming up the board and making the game about itself)?
I like untapping things, I like Grisly Salvage, is the inability to defend itself a deal-breaker (or a feature that stops it gumming up the board and making the game about itself)?
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
I recently mulled Gift of Estates and decided against it. The card is asking a lot and its not like you have a playset of Mox Diamonds in your deck to take advantage of it. I'm playing tithe, it has a lot more going for it.
I did not realize white had so many ramp options, and they're cheaper than the average green equivalent! I thought white was all about low-cmc games?
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Tithe, Gift of Estates, Land Tax and Oreskos Explorer all put the land into your hand. The only one that actually ramps is Knight of the White Orchid. So, its less ramp and more card advantage.
Oh right.
I used to run Weathered Wayfarer a long long time ago, and he's kind of narrow - great in control on the draw, bad otherwise.
Knight of the White Orchid and Oreskos Explorer are not as swingy, but follow the same dynamic. Maybe they are card for when you assume you'll be on the draw - after winning a game?
Knight of the White Orchid and Oreskos Explorer are not as swingy, but follow the same dynamic. Maybe they are card for when you assume you'll be on the draw - after winning a game?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
You are all forgetting "Gift of Estates in overdrive":
Provided you can still cast everything if they kill it, this makes sure you draw a lot more gas than your opponent on future turns.
Provided you can still cast everything if they kill it, this makes sure you draw a lot more gas than your opponent on future turns.
New Kiora's ability is better than Grisly Salvage. When I played with it, the ability always drew 2 cards. I really like the design.
So I've been running the Alpha Orcish Oriflamme ( mana cost misprint), which has been well-received, and now I've stumbled upon this:
mana cost misprint), which has been well-received, and now I've stumbled upon this:
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Alpha Artillery is insanely good. I did not like the effect it had on my environment.
I don't know honestly. Pingers are pretty powerful, and this one does 2 instead of the usual 1 (though the life loss is rough I agree).
It's a red Omenspeaker with ping 2 take 3 instead of Scry 2. I'd say it's well above curve, but probably OK in the grand scheme of things.
It's a red Omenspeaker with ping 2 take 3 instead of Scry 2. I'd say it's well above curve, but probably OK in the grand scheme of things.
Getting up a card after pinging a dork is probably going to be very much worth those 3 life.