Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
You can kind of use Sneak as a weird discard outlet. Don't forget you can blink the guy to keep it, too.
It's got a lot of play to it and can be neutered or buffed depending on the format's available targets. That said, your format may suffer too severe of a neuter or buff, depending what else it's doing.
It's got a lot of play to it and can be neutered or buffed depending on the format's available targets. That said, your format may suffer too severe of a neuter or buff, depending what else it's doing.
The appeal of sneak attack is that it cheats a lot of mana and cheating lots of mana is good and makes you win.
Trying to make Sneak Attack work in a snynergy-based cube seems like it isn't worth the effort. It requires playing a lot of hard to cast creatures that walk the very thin line between "absolutely busted" and "not worth the effort to get into play."
There might be some cute shenanigans with Weatherseed Treefolk, Immortal Phoenix, and some of the larger Undying Creatures, but I'm not sure if this deck is any good or if it would feel bad to play against this deck.
There might be some cute shenanigans with Weatherseed Treefolk, Immortal Phoenix, and some of the larger Undying Creatures, but I'm not sure if this deck is any good or if it would feel bad to play against this deck.
I've been running it for a long time and it's pretty fun in RG, where it seems to be best in midrange-y Berserker decks that run Goreclaw, terror of qal sisma, heart-piercer manticore, hashep oasis, vines of vastwood, etc. Those decks are mana-hungry in my cube and really benefit from the ability to get a big hasty trampler in for one mana and then pump it gratuitously while holding up protection.
You can also run it in a ramp deck with cyclers like Krosan Tusker, if you have enough random creature recursion. Another nice, slower RG variant.
I really want to see it work in RW or RB, but it always feels too likely to be a do-nothing in those decks, where you only have 2-3 creatures that cost 6+ mana and maybe 2 blink or recursion spells. My big creatures don't have impressive enough ETBs and my format is slow enough that it can feel counterproductive to cheat them into play only to have them die EOT. It still cost 5 mana to cast (from Sneak) and now you're down two cards.Green however has a lot of random big creatures that are modal in some way, plus a lot of recursion and ramp, so the benefits start to significantly outweigh the costs. I may try a little longer to make those other color pairs work but at some point I might just chuck it in the Gruul section.
You can also run it in a ramp deck with cyclers like Krosan Tusker, if you have enough random creature recursion. Another nice, slower RG variant.
I really want to see it work in RW or RB, but it always feels too likely to be a do-nothing in those decks, where you only have 2-3 creatures that cost 6+ mana and maybe 2 blink or recursion spells. My big creatures don't have impressive enough ETBs and my format is slow enough that it can feel counterproductive to cheat them into play only to have them die EOT. It still cost 5 mana to cast (from Sneak) and now you're down two cards.Green however has a lot of random big creatures that are modal in some way, plus a lot of recursion and ramp, so the benefits start to significantly outweigh the costs. I may try a little longer to make those other color pairs work but at some point I might just chuck it in the Gruul section.
RW could be made to have blink be more significant. japahn's suggestion of Twilight Shepherd seems sweet as hell. Flashing that in and persisting it back sounds so fun.
RB can use the same creatures to Sneak as it would to reanimate.
You can also shift a lot of your big creatures to be colorless, allowing for any deck to utilize them as needed.
RB can use the same creatures to Sneak as it would to reanimate.
You can also shift a lot of your big creatures to be colorless, allowing for any deck to utilize them as needed.
I'm testing this card at a relatively high power level. I have no data with this card yet. This Jace is more of a card that acts only as a card advantage engine and not anything oppressive, so I think this card is fine at several different power levels.Anyone has experience with
?
At what power level are you running him if so?
Anyone has experience with
At what power level are you running him if so?
It reminds me a lot of:
Both can be played early with a tick up that does Scry 2. Both have a 0 "draw" that depends on the top of your library. Both can hit the table at various points in your curve with slightly adjusted affects.
I run a top of the library theme in UG and feel like this Nissa is the perfect card for it. I'll add that Jace to my testing list, it's honestly my first time seeing it.
This is probably more of a mid power level card. It doesn't do quite enough to get there at a higher power level with a lack of protection and effectively 1 ability the first turn. You'd have to be pretty desperate to blind flip with him the first turn and then it feels bad if you flip something with 4 CMC. I'd say the lower your power level the greater the window you have to deploy him as 5 loyalty off the +1 is beefy at 3 CMC.Anyone has experience with
At what power level are you running him if so?
However, I don't really like running him out on 3 unless it's an empty board or if he can be protected otherwise. I'd imagine the 5 mana mode is when he'd most often be deployed at which point it really depends on how well that deck can develop the board leading into a T5 Jace. Use the fake to Scry for action, use the real body to either dig deeper or cash in loyalty for cards. This will definitely allow you to grind out a slower game with your improved card quality and some potential draws.
What will really make it pop is any other virtual card advantage piece allowing you to peek at the top of your library. I think you can do some fun stuff with top of library manipulation with peeks from cards like Courser of Kruphix or Vizier of the Menagerie. Vivien from Ikoria is another option that fits in well. I think centering this kind of theme in UG with something like Amonkhet Nissa for gold support is definitely a possible avenue to explore.
I mean, Divination gives you two cards right away for the same cost. It's possible this could be runaway value based on the format, but I think the Planeswalkers that don't defend themselves have been pretty non-offensive in my cube at least.
Anyone has experience with
At what power level are you running him if so?
I tried him in my cube, which is a lot more powerful than most lists around here, when znr came out and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. My format curves very low and we still encountered frequent occurrences where he died immediately after drawing the first card and when that happened you usually lost. It does have some upside compared to jace beleren, another card I don’t really like for my list, but being better than a weak card wasn’t enough for me. I’m happier to run stuff that more consistently guarantees you the 2 for 1 at base rate like innocuous insect
I run it in the Utility Land Draft.
Who here runs us?
landofMordor
Administrator
I have had the same experience. Even to fulfill the role of "blue 3-drop that draws cards" it's a toss-up between OG Jace, this Jace, and Cunning Castaway (the latter is undoubtedly the coolest Jace). And you could also make an argument for Mulldrifter or whatever instead of a planeswalker in the first place. But for my format, I prefer to just stick with more proactive cards at that price point.
Same here. It doesn't get picked up all that often but it does see the occasional outing.
Anyone have experience with:
It's not the most impressive card at its base rate, but I think this ticks off enough boxes for inclusion in my environment. I was messing around with more self-mill/graveyard support recently with stuff like Stitcher's Supplier and Witherbloom Command and was interested in another potential reanimation option. I like that this can perform multiple functions as an early game beater for aggro, tiny life-gaining roadblock for midrange decks, and late game mana sink to reanimate a threat. It's not the best at any of these roles, but the versatility is intriguing to me. I also like the neat interaction with Lurrus of the Dream-Den allowing you to cast it with its kicker cost from the grave for some cute big-brain plays.
But most importantly I randomly have a full art foil and it looks cool so I want an excuse to play with it sometime.
It's not the most impressive card at its base rate, but I think this ticks off enough boxes for inclusion in my environment. I was messing around with more self-mill/graveyard support recently with stuff like Stitcher's Supplier and Witherbloom Command and was interested in another potential reanimation option. I like that this can perform multiple functions as an early game beater for aggro, tiny life-gaining roadblock for midrange decks, and late game mana sink to reanimate a threat. It's not the best at any of these roles, but the versatility is intriguing to me. I also like the neat interaction with Lurrus of the Dream-Den allowing you to cast it with its kicker cost from the grave for some cute big-brain plays.
But most importantly I randomly have a full art foil and it looks cool so I want an excuse to play with it sometime.
Plays well in my testing so far! Menace lifelink isn't a weakling combo, it takes equipment like a champ, and the flexibility is really nice! Supplanted my Coffin Queen, which opened a 3 slot for some other fun thing.
i’m very high on it now that i’ve tested a bit in my 1-3cost cube. it’s a fine early drop and can be invaluable late for rebuying your deck’s engine pieces.
Anyone have experience with:
It's not the most impressive card at its base rate, but I think this ticks off enough boxes for inclusion in my environment. I was messing around with more self-mill/graveyard support recently with stuff like Stitcher's Supplier and Witherbloom Command and was interested in another potential reanimation option. I like that this can perform multiple functions as an early game beater for aggro, tiny life-gaining roadblock for midrange decks, and late game mana sink to reanimate a threat. It's not the best at any of these roles, but the versatility is intriguing to me. I also like the neat interaction with Lurrus of the Dream-Den allowing you to cast it with its kicker cost from the grave for some cute big-brain plays.
But most importantly I randomly have a full art foil and it looks cool so I want an excuse to play with it sometime.
I tested it in my format and have played it in a few others and I've never really been impressed by Nullpriest. The base rate is pretty middling as a piker with a couple medium tier keywords isn't really anything to write home about. I think the kicker is overcosted and means that the card isn't meaningfully modal in a lot of games as a lot of decks that are interested in 2 mana 2/1's with minimal upside aren't the kinds of decks that are reliably getting to 6 mana so you basically only kick it when you pick it up off the top when you've flooded and even then the value tends not to be all that impressive since you're like getting back some other aggressive leaning shitter that happened to die earlier in the game. I think if your cube really wants another aggressive black creature that has similar play patterns to Order of Midnight then it could be okay, but it's kind of a c-tier creature most of the time it gets put on the stack.
landofMordor
Administrator
Nullpriest of Oblivion
Seems more "cute" than "good" unless the format is tuned such that a 6mv zombify is viable. I probably wouldn't be too sad if I got to reanimate Pathrazer of Ulamog, but if all I'm getting is Colossal Dreadmaw, it begs the question why I didn't just cast Dreadmaw from my hand to begin with.
Seems more "cute" than "good" unless the format is tuned such that a 6mv zombify is viable. I probably wouldn't be too sad if I got to reanimate Pathrazer of Ulamog, but if all I'm getting is Colossal Dreadmaw, it begs the question why I didn't just cast Dreadmaw from my hand to begin with.
I've been testing it, as I've seen it in a number of lists, but this far it hasn't done all that much. I'm not really sure which deck in my environment wants this maindeck.