Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

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I guess I'm just trying to figure out whether Invasion is too low powered for my cube? I'm well aware of how good Bitterblossom is, and that is too strong for my environment. Retrofitter Foundry seems like a decent alternative, but I don't particularly love the idea of a colorness token maker that is so mana efficient.
 
I guess I'm just trying to figure out whether Invasion is too low powered for my cube? I'm well aware of how good Bitterblossom is, and that is too strong for my environment. Retrofitter Foundry seems like a decent alternative, but I don't particularly love the idea of a colorness token maker that is so mana efficient.

If Bitterblossom is too powerful then I'd definitely stay away from Foundry. Blossom is strong early but bad late, Foundry is just good always. It looks more manageable, but I'd argue that it's more powerful than BB because it requires so little of you once you've already played it. If you have even a single card that can generate thopters on their own, it becomes really strong being able to make plays like block/deal damage with a thopter and then upgrade it to a 4/4 afterwards. It's really really good, probably the best mana sink in my cube, and I'd say it's one of the most powerful artifact cards in my entire cube.
 
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If Bitterblossom is too powerful then I'd definitely stay away from Foundry. Blossom is strong early but bad late, Foundry is just good always. It looks more manageable, but I'd argue that it's more powerful than BB because it requires so little of you once you've already played it. If you have even a single card that can generate thopters on their own, it becomes really strong being able to make plays like block/deal damage with a thopter and then upgrade it to a 4/4 afterwards. It's really really good, probably the best mana sink in my cube,and I'd say it's one of the most powerful artifact cards in my entire cube.

Glad to hear my suspicions confirmed on Foundry. Thanks for sharing your experience with it. I feel like I can put that one nagging question to rest now.
 
I love dreadhorde invasion because it keeps the steady supply of sac fodder coming if that's what you're using it for, but doesn't spam the board with tokens (while still having meaningful board presence) in the alternative.
 
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I love dreadhorde invasion because it keeps the steady supply of sac fodder coming if that's what you're using it for, but doesn't spam the board with tokens (while still having meaningful board presence) in the alternative.

Sac/Stax fodder is mostly what I’m looking for…but something that can also chump block unlike most of black’s recursive creatures
 
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Dreadhorde Invasion is weird in that on turn 2 it's really good and dominates the game (in my power level) but late in the game it's almost dead. Sort of like Bitterblossom, but games tend to be shorter at Bitterblossom power levels, so I guess you see less of the variance. It's a great cog for many archetypes: tokens, counters, sacrifice, zombies, enchantments... I removed it recently because I wasn't of a fan of how it can be game-warping on curve and bad as a top-deck, but that's a product of my cube's low creature stats + slow speed. If you're looking for an engine for those decks, try it out.
 
For those who have had experience with:



Let me know how it has been thus far. I've had my eye on it for a while, forgot about it since I've never actually played with it, but then remembered it when talking with friends earlier tonight at FNM. I'm not sure of how well it actually plays in cube. I'm intrigued by the body and potential of a Tarmogoyf variant for spellslinger builds.
 
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For those who have had experience with:



Let me know how it has been thus far. I've had my eye on it for a while, forgot about it since I've never actually played with it, but then remembered it when talking with friends earlier tonight at FNM. I'm not sure of how well it actually plays in cube. I'm intrigued by the body and potential of a Tarmogoyf variant for spellslinger builds.
it’s been pretty ok for me. you don’t activate the ability VERY often, but it does its thing. having a density of 1 mana spells is pretty important to get it to 4/4 consistently though…
 
It's a good card and you can't go wrong with it. However, there are a couple issues with it that aren't immediately obvious.

First, you cannot run it if you can't afford to exile all your cards. If your deck's win condition is Approach of the Second Sun, then running the card is quite iffy.

Second, you are de facto forced to use the ability on your turn at sorcery speed. Otherwise you won't be able to play the cards you exile. This makes its 1/3 stat line much less relevant than it looks.

Third, you must choose between attacking with it and using its ability. So you are, de facto, choosing between a 4/4 and a looter. Both are good things to have so you don't gain that much by having both.

Fourth, you may need to be on the spells deck for it to ever turn into a 4/4
 
I think the second "issue" can also be seen as an incentive to draft a different way.

How happy would I be with Channeler in my BR Madness deck?
How happy would I be with Channeler in my Grixis deck?

It looks like an ok power level to me, but it does have a few oddities/issues that Erik points out.
 
One of Channeler's best features is that it operates well at any point in the game. Playing it on curve offers either early defense or an opportunity for a card advantage engine. Playing it late means it likely comes in as a 2 mana 4/4 ready to dish out damage. And late game the exiling ability is great for digging to a critical answer as needed.
 
yeah i agree with Erik and Sigh both. in a deck that supports it, it’s great whenever, but it’s not like Goyf where you just get a big bopper for “playing Magic correctly.” you do have to lean into instants and sorceries a fair bit- and if you look at my environment for example, red is VERY MUCH a “magecraft midrange” color, so it’s OK. but not all red sections are like that, so it can be more or less narrow depending on your overall bent.
 
Champion is strong, Champion not so much.

Jokes aside it is highly depending on the cards in your cube. How many Humans do you run at mana value < 5? How many Zombies?

My guess would be that Parish is worthwhile because often a card is secretly a Human and that Perished is not because it’s almost strictly black cards that buff it.
 
Champion of the Parish is a strong card but it's just a 1-drop beater and it's not the best out of them. So I wouldn't worry. I run both it and Thalia's Liutenant to support humans and they have been fine. However, my cube's power level is higher than yours.

Since your cube is Black-centered I expect Champion of the Perished to be as good as the original. Normally it's substantially worse because only black has zombies. I would give them a try and see if they are too efficient for you. But you are not going to have an overpowered deck or anything.
 
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