Nostalgic Dreams is a completely different card than Regrowth. I can see it being 14-15th pick in most groups, but for slow cubes it's one of those cards that plays way better than it reads. When you turn 2-3 lands into cherry-picked gas, it's a game winner, and cheap enough that the returned cards can be played on the same turn. Also, it strikes me as the perfect card for dedicated graveyard decks. Return that Necromancy that got milled for the Sundering Titan you drew.
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Nostalgic Dreams is a completely different card than Regrowth. I can see it being 14-15th pick in most groups, but for slow cubes it's one of those cards that plays way better than it reads. When you turn 2-3 lands into cherry-picked gas, it's a game winner, and cheap enough that the returned cards can be played on the same turn. Also, it strikes me as the perfect card for dedicated graveyard decks. Return that Necromancy that got milled for the Sundering Titan you drew.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Also, the art is awesome!
Ahhhh booo... I forgot to include a power level caveat there. Yes, I agree... It gets better in slower cubes. But what you are describing to me are still best case scenarios. What about the average case? The close games where you're tight on resources? When you need all your lands and you need all your spells to count? The card is in weird spot where it's an A+ when you're flooding out in an even game, but doesn't do much until that point.
It is good in dedicated graveyard decks, but we have plenty of other cards that are good in those decks and not as narrow.
For graveyard decks, I don't think it's BCS myopia to run Nostalgic Dreams, but rather a consistency boost. When you try to support reanimator, it becomes clear how specific cards need to be at the right place at the right time for it to work.
For other decks, I agree this will be dead in some games. It's an inconsistent card, which will be great sometimes and terrible in other situations. Its value goes up a lot the more graveyard synergies you have, so I wouldn't run it in any cube, but it can be powerful in the right ones.
For other decks, I agree this will be dead in some games. It's an inconsistent card, which will be great sometimes and terrible in other situations. Its value goes up a lot the more graveyard synergies you have, so I wouldn't run it in any cube, but it can be powerful in the right ones.
Aoret
Developer
Tested a bit last night. Decks were UR prowess against GW humans/landfall. I played Fevered Visions as written, and started with the card in hand every game. Very possible that I was playing the card wrong, but I was disincentivized to cast it more often than not. The only game where it did anything was one where my opponent kept a 1 lander on her 6 and didn't get there. I think it needs a may ability to shoot a creature for 1 on ETB, but I'm growing increasingly wary of doing any customs in UR because only one other drafter in my playgroup cares about the color pairing. There are some credibility issues when I improve existing cards in a color pairing that I'm known as being fond of.
Yes, Robot Chicken. Bear with me. It works with sac outlets, turns instants into combat tricks, sweet with spells matters, supports anything that likes having a lot of artifacts, is a fair removal engine and at 4 mana is just slow enough not peck aggro decks into the dirt. If I ever obtained one of the six copies, I would so cube it. Would a proxy of this be crossing the line into custom cards? Or be a good idea for that matter?
The biggest tradcube proponent I've interacted with has a Stocking Tiger proxy in his all-foil dragon cube and doesn't seem to think it's a 'proxy' in the way my JVP is, and imo there's a consensus that WotC cards, even the special ones, are of legitimate provenance.
Would a proxy of this be crossing the line into custom cards? Or be a good idea for that matter?
Testing it can't be a bad idea...
Dom Harvey
Contributor
I came across Robot Chicken on magiccards.info the other day! I don't like that it triggers on any spell and destroys any creature - I can imagine it taking over the game too quickly - but there's a bunch of sweet synergy and it's A ROBOT CHICKEN. I say yea
WotC printed and distributed six copies of it. I hear its on flimsier material than a normal card, they're more like proxies. "Real" is a strong word
. A silent auction for one of them happened last year.
I would suggest you evaluate Robot Chicken not as a special secret promo called "Robot Chicken" that was released as a "funny card", but as a mythic rare from the latest set.
Does a 4-mana 2/2 artifact creature (read: goes in any deck, tutors under creature or artifact, easy to recur with a variety of tools) that produces 0/1 chump blockers at instant speed with "when this creature dies, destroy target creature or artifact" sound like fun to you? Combo it with a sac outlet and you've got a dominating board state, yeah, but even just a hodge-podge of instants means instant-speed creature destruction on a chump block. I don't know about you, but Hornet Nest didn't seem like the kinda fun card I wanted in my environment, and this is leagues better in most cases. By all means, try it if you'd like, but it looks like a 1st-pick bomb that goes in any deck and threatens to take over the game.
Does a 4-mana 2/2 artifact creature (read: goes in any deck, tutors under creature or artifact, easy to recur with a variety of tools) that produces 0/1 chump blockers at instant speed with "when this creature dies, destroy target creature or artifact" sound like fun to you? Combo it with a sac outlet and you've got a dominating board state, yeah, but even just a hodge-podge of instants means instant-speed creature destruction on a chump block. I don't know about you, but Hornet Nest didn't seem like the kinda fun card I wanted in my environment, and this is leagues better in most cases. By all means, try it if you'd like, but it looks like a 1st-pick bomb that goes in any deck and threatens to take over the game.
Yeah, they really pushed the chicken (across the road).
Isn't this... a "fixed" armillary sphere? One more mana for a decent front end, and the same exact ability out the back? Seems solid for control of all kinds...
Also may be of interest for a certain project around here
Laz
Developer
I know there is the whole Temur control deck thread, but Burnished Hart made no great splashes around here (though it did enable some...). Maybe the 4 on the backside is relevant?
Wild-Field Scarecrow is surprisingly effective in my experience drafting durdlefest decks in SOI limited, but I believe the fun ends there. As Laz points out, an arguably more useful version of this exists. Paying more to drop both lands onto the battlefield is imho a much better prospect, and though the Scarecrow survives most of Villain's "bolt-the-bird" schemes (should they have such a mind to do so), at the end of the day both the Elk and the Scarecrow suffer from a nasty combo of both Last Pick and Never-Gonna-Get-Maindecked syndrome.
more to drop both lands onto the battlefield is imho a much better prospect, and though the Scarecrow survives most of Villain's "bolt-the-bird" schemes (should they have such a mind to do so), at the end of the day both the Elk and the Scarecrow suffer from a nasty combo of both Last Pick and Never-Gonna-Get-Maindecked syndrome.I know Seasons Past is a thing now, but does this have a place as an alternative, or in addition to it? Or is it simply too big and costly outside of a super durdle environment?
I tried to make Dawn a thing, card was so hard to make work. Even in a 4 color deck, I don't think we ever managed to get back more than 2 cards, unless casting the card meant conceding to the lethal on board. The upper limit of 5 is a fairy tale. Seasons Past is promising because I feel like I can actually see 4, 5+ cards being recurred, granted it hasn't proven itself.
Aoret
Developer
Random, but how do we feel about Sensei's Divining Top nowadays? Is it a sacred cow? Few could argue against the total sweetness it enables. It also forces players into repetitive action (which I've harped on elsewhere of late). Worse, though, it causes your various options/lines of play to absolutely explode in complexity the instant it hits the board and for every turn thereafter. It's possible that my playgroup (and myself) just aren't good enough to mentally contain that many various lines, but I suspect that the vast majority of people have this problem (even if they're not aware of it). I know we do have some ringers and PT folks around these parts so I'm sure some of you are good enough to play with this card but like... should I be running it? Should most of everyone be running it?
Bonus: what sweet artifact should I play instead?
Bonus: what sweet artifact should I play instead?
Top is good and cool and almost nobody plays it quickly enough. You don't need to play it optimally for it to be good (i often don't spin if I'm not actually looking for anything - those s adds up quick!) and I think it's really critical if you want to enable Doomsday combo. I'd be sad to see it go but maybe I'm one of those ringers, idk.
Assuming you want an artifact that can enable non-blue Brainstorm decks, you're SOL. If you're looking for reusable TOL manipulation you're also SOL. (okay, mystic speculation)
The Top is just so unique in what it enables as a colourless card that legit hard-pressed to suggest anything similar.
Alhammaret's Archive is cool and looks good in Dom's cube in the Goggles slot.
s adds up quick!) and I think it's really critical if you want to enable Doomsday combo. I'd be sad to see it go but maybe I'm one of those ringers, idk. Assuming you want an artifact that can enable non-blue Brainstorm decks, you're SOL. If you're looking for reusable TOL manipulation you're also SOL. (okay, mystic speculation)
The Top is just so unique in what it enables as a colourless card that legit hard-pressed to suggest anything similar.
Alhammaret's Archive is cool and looks good in Dom's cube in the Goggles slot.
Who should run this, and why?
I have been hitting that "no way to deal with artifacts/enchantments" problem lately as a point of mild frustration, but every time I try to re-add this, I end up cutting it again. I kind of feel like it belongs in more powerful environs where cheaty bullshit happens on the regular and tucking is valuable as a way to undermine that; over here, most of my drafters are kinda like "...okay, so there's 2 turns without Bitterblossom I guess.." which isn't really that glamourous compared to tucking, say, Blightsteel Colossus.
(I know I know, obvious answer: just run the Colossus to generate tension in-draft! but is there an alternative?)
I like unexpectedly absent. It gets rid of whatever needs to be gone. It's a good tempo card. When you just need that blocker out of your way for one turn. Can be used to save your own dudes from removal or get an extra ETB trigger or whatever (though this is desperation stuff). The WW cost is the only real downside. It's kind of like repeal for white. No cantrip but not card diasadvantage either since it doesn't bounce back to your opponents hand.
Edit: playing this where X=0 is fine IMO
Edit: playing this where X=0 is fine IMO
Aoret
Developer
Top is good and cool and almost nobody plays it quickly enough. You don't need to play it optimally for it to be good (i often don't spin if I'm not actually looking for anything - those
hm, maybe the solution is just being okay with nobody playing it quickly enough. Totally agree the 1s add up, but I kinda always felt like I was just wrong to not be using it, that could be because I haven't played enough with the effect to know what I'm talking about.
And yeah, you're probably one of those ringers
I haven't found it to be overbearing, but then again my playgroup is a bunch of casuals and I don't get a lot of reps in. Stuff I like:
it cures what ails you
it only does so temporarily
it does so permanently if they need to crack a fetchland (a tension played up significantly in my environment due to density)
is an instant
stuff I don't like:
is probably better than it looks
works permanently if used in response to a fetchland (that's right, right?)
will be undervalued by people who aren't really good at magic, and I already have a problem with my newbies never picking removal and my grizzled veterans playing the all-removal-and-then-some-ewit-loop deck