Sets (VOW) Crimson Vow Testing/Includes Thread
- Thread starter blacksmithy
- Start date
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Will of the Council; White's best blanket solution for any (nonland) permanent. It doesn't even target! Not so clean textually, unfortunately, but most players familiar with the card shortcut to "exile target permanent of your choice an opponent controls." I would gladly replace this with a cleaner alternative. Come on WotC! You can do it!
Do it
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Nice art!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
This is a curve, ladies and gentlemen! <3
Chris Taylor
Contributor
So to put this whole "hey I'm only running one card with this mechanic" talk in context here, I ran my own stats and MAN
(forgive me for not posting the exact cards, half these are custom. I specifically like expanding on one off mechanics)
Surprisingly high: I run 4 cards with Adventure, 6 MDFCs, 4 cards with mentor, 4 with unearth
There's also the barest of technicalities:
These are both only present on these cards and could obviously be written out, which I don't feel the need to do.
Now I find myself wondering why I find inspired idea and Council's Judgment rub me so wrong I made new copies, but ancestral vision and Captured by Lagacs are just like whatever.
(forgive me for not posting the exact cards, half these are custom. I specifically like expanding on one off mechanics)
Bloodthirst
Boast
Bolster
Cascade
Cipher
Dash
Delve
Disturb
Echo
Energy
Evolve
Graft
Improvise
Level Up
Modular
Outlast
Parter
Phyrexian Mana
Plainscycling
Raid
Raid
Regenerate
Retrace
Shadow
Spectacle
Support
Delirium
Boast
Bolster
Cascade
Cipher
Dash
Delve
Disturb
Echo
Energy
Evolve
Graft
Improvise
Level Up
Modular
Outlast
Parter
Phyrexian Mana
Plainscycling
Raid
Raid
Regenerate
Retrace
Shadow
Spectacle
Support
Delirium
Adapt (Technically 6: double pteramander and quad Growth-Chamber Guardian)
Class (2)
Decayed (2)
Extort (2)
Exalted (3)
Evoke (3)
Escape (3)
Eternalize (3)
Fabricate (2)
Hexproof (2, Both on instants for reference
)
Living Weapon (3)
Mutate (2)
Overload (2)
Rebound (3)
Ward (3)
Suspend (3. I run 3 cards with suspend god help me)
Vehicle (2)
Riot (3)
Class (2)
Decayed (2)
Extort (2)
Exalted (3)
Evoke (3)
Escape (3)
Eternalize (3)
Fabricate (2)
Hexproof (2, Both on instants for reference
)Living Weapon (3)
Mutate (2)
Overload (2)
Rebound (3)
Ward (3)
Suspend (3. I run 3 cards with suspend god help me)
Vehicle (2)
Riot (3)
Surprisingly high: I run 4 cards with Adventure, 6 MDFCs, 4 cards with mentor, 4 with unearth
There's also the barest of technicalities:
These are both only present on these cards and could obviously be written out, which I don't feel the need to do.
Now I find myself wondering why I find inspired idea and Council's Judgment rub me so wrong I made new copies, but ancestral vision and Captured by Lagacs are just like whatever.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I think it has to do with the 'gimmickiness' of a mechanic. Suspend is wordy and somewhat complicated, but it's mechanically unique and clearly serves its purpose. Support is just a simple, straightforward mechanic. While it could be written out, it's easy to understand, and the reminder text is right behind it to clear it up. Cleave, on the other hand, feels contrived. Its use of square brackets clashes with the general feel of Magic text boxes, it's a character that never has been used before. Will of the council is a multiplayer keyword that, literally, does nothing in two player games since the outcome is almot 100% predictable. Technically you and your opponent could both vote for carnage on Coercive Portal, but the game scenarios where both players want the non-tiebreaker option are rare indeed. For Council's Judgment in particular, your opponent will almost never have a reason to exile a second permanent (unless they run a card that kills themselves, like Demonic Pact), so this incredibly wordy card 99% of the time boils down to 'exile a permanent of your choice an opponent controls,' which makes the actual card look unnecessarily overwrought.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Turns out I didn't run Banishing Light yet. That's a more than adequate replacement, considering that I also run Zur the Enchanter!
After getting my hands on the set, I feel a need to expand my testing list. Props to you guys for convincing me some of these cards are good.
Includes, in descending order of probability I'll keep them:
This card is actually kind of absurd and is what got me on the Blood train to start with. It's so simple and yet it does so much for all types of decks. Also, Blood is mechanically great even if the flavor is a miss.
Cheap artifacts? Check. A playable if inefficient rate for two copies of Raise Dead? Check. Hand smoothing? Check. Once I got on board with Blood, this became a slam dunk for me. It might be clunky, but I feel it's a great sideboard card for grindier matches and a solid enabler for Marionette Master-type decks, which are neato.
Hearing it described as Sift but more modal and with artifact tokens made me realize that this card is nifty. Yeah, it's a little slow, but that's right where I want Black's card draw to be. Probably the Blood card I'm lowest on, but it seems worth a shot.
Drake Haven this is not, but free is a very good price and realistically you're not triggering the Haven more than once per turn without a free discard outlet. Also works well with Blood!
Definite Includes:
mmm, basic lands! I really like the falling star effect on these three, and it's a shame that there aren't matching lands for B and G because I think they are lovely. As soon as these lands aren't almost a dollar apiece I'll snap up a dozen of each for my basics box.
Includes, in descending order of probability I'll keep them:
This card is actually kind of absurd and is what got me on the Blood train to start with. It's so simple and yet it does so much for all types of decks. Also, Blood is mechanically great even if the flavor is a miss.
Cheap artifacts? Check. A playable if inefficient rate for two copies of Raise Dead? Check. Hand smoothing? Check. Once I got on board with Blood, this became a slam dunk for me. It might be clunky, but I feel it's a great sideboard card for grindier matches and a solid enabler for Marionette Master-type decks, which are neato.
Hearing it described as Sift but more modal and with artifact tokens made me realize that this card is nifty. Yeah, it's a little slow, but that's right where I want Black's card draw to be. Probably the Blood card I'm lowest on, but it seems worth a shot.
Drake Haven this is not, but free is a very good price and realistically you're not triggering the Haven more than once per turn without a free discard outlet. Also works well with Blood!
Definite Includes:
mmm, basic lands! I really like the falling star effect on these three, and it's a shame that there aren't matching lands for B and G because I think they are lovely. As soon as these lands aren't almost a dollar apiece I'll snap up a dozen of each for my basics box.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
HA! See I run banishment in place of banishing light for magecraft reasonsTurns out I didn't run Banishing Light yet. That's a more than adequate replacement, considering that I also run Zur the Enchanter!
Has anyone given Wedding Invitation a shot? Played with it a little in Alchemy Standard and it seemed good but like, I have no idea if it's actually too slow/mopey for the decks that want an anthem, if that makes sense?
edit: lmao yes I did mean Wedding Announcement I do that every time my bad
edit: lmao yes I did mean Wedding Announcement I do that every time my bad
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i think it’s probably quite good but haven’t tested outside constructed
I've tested it drafting and playing on my own and it's pretty darn good in a mid-to-low powered cube. (Tireless Provisioner is solid, for example.) Then again, I try to minimize freeroll value, and I feel like this supplies a lot of that, so I'm not too surprised it does work for me.
Generally speaking, my biggest complaint is that it doesn't have a fail case. If you like that and can stomach an anthem that's bad when you draw it late into a stall, then you'll like this.
Generally speaking, my biggest complaint is that it doesn't have a fail case. If you like that and can stomach an anthem that's bad when you draw it late into a stall, then you'll like this.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I have tested it in my cube and actually got a draft in before the current lockdown, and it was very satisfying! Straight up won me one game because the tokens allowed me to drag out the game just long enough to build up a board that was able to contest my opponent's. In the second game against that same opponent, I had the more explosive start, and it was the card draw that kept me ahead.