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landofMordor

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Yeah that makes Tarmogoyf a pretty bad creature. How does it get turned into Phage, tho?

The worst case for Brainstorm is when your opponent Mindslavers you and uses it to dig for Reanimate, targeting Phage.

meanwhile, phage is just her own floor
 
Ok, so which cards would you run with Academy Rector?



IIs it worth running simply on utility alone with cards like:


Are these actually good targets? Or is it all about the cheat?
 
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landofMordor

Administrator
I’m all about the cheat, personally. 4 mana for a 1/2 with no abilities that requires sacrifice outlets to give its owner agency is an awful floor. And paying 4 mana for a 2 mana enchantment like Survival seems not worth it. Even paying 4 mana for a 5-mana enchantment seems rough. ECD and Shark Typhoon are the only ones I’d be happy to fetch, and even then it’s a lot of hoops to jump
 
Depends on format speed. I'd personally be happy to grab one of those sagas as a toolbox. You'd want an increased number of 4+ mana enchantments, at least. Maybe get a Zur in there and make a little esper enchantments package? Obviously they search up different things, but Rector into O Ring isn't so bad.
 


I'm having some trouble to gauge the power level of Monoskelion, both in synergistic and good-stuff decks.

Looking to replace Arcbound Javelineer, which wasn't very good even in a deck where it should be a great fit.
 
i think the card is really bad.
if you want artifact and counter stuff in white, maybe Knighted Myr?
if you just want a really good artifacty one drop, gotta be Esper Sentinel
 
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Esper Sentinel is way, way above my power level.

I run Knighted Myr already, actually tested him for the first time yesterday with low expectations and it was quite good. Equipment works well on it, and it made a pretty good team with a suicidal Arcbound Ravager.

Part of me is now really sad that Knighted Myr doesn't have Renown 1 and first strike instead of Adapt.
It would've been a cute interaction, yeah, but then it would be easy to block. The threat of activation works well and creates a bunch of tension and mindgames.

Why is Monoskelion really bad? Is it just a bear most of the time?
 

landofMordor

Administrator
Well, are there any good 1-tou, higher-than-1 MV creatures in your environment that are worth killing? If I can reliably get my money’s worth by taking out a Mother of Runes, Young Pyromancer, or a similar Baneslayer-type snowballing value generator, and trade with another using Monoskelly’s base stats, then I’m happy with it in goodstuff and will be willing to put synergies into a deck with it. But not if it’s killing Savannah Lions or whatever, because those get blanked in combat easily just by playing good cards in a deck.
 
the problem there is that to play Monosk. and kill a thing, you’re spending 3 mana and leaving behind a 1/1.
so for example, killing Mom or Lavamancer is +0.5 cards of positive VALUE (assuming they haven’t untapped with either one, as these cards generate value each turn they’re tappable), but -1.5 mana of negative TEMPO as they only spent 1 mana to cast the critter that you’re spending 3 mana to kill and make a 1/1.

(these value/tempo numbers are based on my assumption that a 1/1 is worth half a card and half a mana.)

so you’re spending 1 card and 3 mana to go up 1/2 card, down 1.5 mana, and that’s in a FAVORABLE situation for the card. of course you can create MORE favorable scenarios by increasing the cost of the ping target or engineering a blowout, but i feel like this is a fair scenario to use for evaluating how good the card is going to feel to cast. i should note that if the opponent is ahead on board with mid/large creatures, or if you’re in lategame/topdeck style of parity, the card gets much closer to a vanilla 2/2 for 2.
 
All said is true, but I want to note that we're still talking of potential upsides on a colorless bear. If you're cube's powerlevel is low enough, that this is an okay enough baseline for curving out, I think the card has some potential. Just like Gingerbrute, Vault Skirge or Spined Thopter it could be played in aggro decks of any color. It also has synergy potential for a variety of archetypes like artifacts, blink, counters or maybe sacrifice. Oh, and you're not paying three mana to kill a x/1, you pay two and later one, which is a difference. Your 2/2 might've hit them already once or twice by then.

I have this card in my cube as well, but only added it recently, so I can't say for sure if I wont be disappointed by it myself, but I have hope for it.
 
the problem there is that to play Monosk. and kill a thing, you’re spending 3 mana and leaving behind a 1/1.
so for example, killing Mom or Lavamancer is +0.5 cards of positive VALUE (assuming they haven’t untapped with either one, as these cards generate value each turn they’re tappable), but -1.5 mana of negative TEMPO as they only spent 1 mana to cast the critter that you’re spending 3 mana to kill and make a 1/1.

(these value/tempo numbers are based on my assumption that a 1/1 is worth half a card and half a mana.)

so you’re spending 1 card and 3 mana to go up 1/2 card, down 1.5 mana, and that’s in a FAVORABLE situation for the card. of course you can create MORE favorable scenarios by increasing the cost of the ping target or engineering a blowout, but i feel like this is a fair scenario to use for evaluating how good the card is going to feel to cast. i should note that if the opponent is ahead on board with mid/large creatures, or if you’re in lategame/topdeck style of parity, the card gets much closer to a vanilla 2/2 for 2.

You once asked “Where do you get all those creatures you say you can sacrifice to your sacrifice outlets?”

Here is where. You can sacrifice the 1/1 that has already killed a card.
 
great point! also an artifact to sac to Daretti, etc. etc. any artifact synergies. Sadly not seeing Emry or Goblin Engineer to push some cute value loops with it.

I think the card is decent at least in a lower power environment.
 
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