Sets (VOW) Crimson Vow

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Big pup for one G.

I took Experiment One out of cube a few years ago and it wasn't missed. Pelt Collector is fine but isn't the most popular card around; Gx midrange, GR aggro, and to a lesser extent, GU tempo all will play it, but no one is stoked. Packleader here is probably better, and templated in a way I prefer. It trades the trample upside lategame for an extra power up front and the ability to come in with a +1/+1 counter bonus if you're in the midgame. 4 power is a lot more to ask for than "bigger than me", but I think I'll replace Pelt Collector with this as my sole concession slot to this kind of card in green.
Nice! I notice that the spell doesn't even have to be a creature. Or a permanent for that matter, except when it checks on ETB. A one drop with a built in failsafe if drawn late is generally pretty good, and you don't even have to spend mana (on a kicker for example).
 
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This is a sweet card. It's a Raise Dead that you can cast as a Disentomb when you discard it.
 
Actually it is a Zombify that you can cast as a Raise Dead/Disentomb in madness mode. I am intrigued.


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This looks great! A Flying Men with minor upside to help out my ninjas and blue tempo circa Ixalan is, quite literally, what I've been looking for. And if my spidey-senses are correct, it's yet another signal that we're going to see yet more Ninjas in Kamigawa 2.

This card makes me hyped for Kamigawa 2. I'll probably replace Silver Ravenwith it.

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1, T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: create a copy of the exiled card, but it’s a 0/0 artifact construct creature token in addition to its other types, with “This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control”. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Activate only whenever you could cast a sorcery.

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I love the intersection between artifacts and the graveyard here. Definitely a little slow but I think I love it.

That is cool. I want a creepy 6/6 Healer's Hawk doll. A very non-parasitic artifacts payoff.
 
Sorcery

Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

When you discard Edgar's Awakening, you may pay B. When you do, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

Not all heroes wear cape. But you should. I was wondering what the card did.
 
Dumb question, but... given what we've seen so far, how do you think it'd play better if you rewrote some designs using Clues to use Blood instead?

Part of me wants to redesign the Capitalism Cube with more custom cards, and having the artifact tokens be Blood and Treasure sounds awfully thematic to me...
 
Yet again I am puzzled by Train's ability to find one of the most generic rate-monsters in the set and highlight it for being an exceptionally interesting card.
A lot of the cards in this set aren't particularly great, and many of the cards with interesting abilities are way overcosted or mostly for multiplayer (I love that in-text citations for new cards work now, thanks @James Stevenson!).

Ulvenwald Oddity maybe doesn't have the most interesting text box in the world (it's certainly void of any words that specify "do thing X with me" à la cards such as Bannerhide Krushok), but it makes up for that by having really solid abilities and cool art and flavor. There aren't a lot of nice big hasty green creatures that can lean into more proactive ramp strategies. The closest two cards are Questing Beast, which is word soup, and Surrak the Hunt Caller, which isn't always online when you want it to be. While both of those cards are certainly playable, they succinctly make the case of "I attack for a bunch the turn you play me," which is really what you want to be communicating with this sort of card. The fact that this can be a nice late-game mana sink is also pretty nice, letting rampy decks still have something good to do with any excess mana they may create. Plus, as I said, the very Canadian art is super cool.

What's more, and something I haven't seen discussed anywhere for this card, is that it's an extremely elegant execution of a double-faced concept. It only has 18 words of rules text, which is way less than most other cube-worthy green 4-drops. I mean, this thing has two faces and still manages to have less words than Questing Beast. Even more tame cards like Polukranos, World Eater and the aforementioned Surrak the Hunt Caller are wordier than this. We have to start getting into the territory of cards like Ripjaw Raptor before we start finding simpler cards. Even some of the cards with just keywords have more text than this when we consider reminder text.

The card also tells a really neat little story. You see a beast in the glade; you approach it, only for it to move and reveal that it was a threatening monster the entire time. Ulvenwald Oddity has delver of secrets levels of simplicity of resonance, which is really something for a 2021 design.

Basically, given the largely overcosted, understatted, or overly complex nature of most of the "cool" cards in this set, the more simplistic stat monster with a good design and great flavoring stands out among the rest.

Oh shit, I totally didn't mean it that way! I just meant Train has a bigger focus on curve considerations and a preference for a bit higher power level than a lot of folks here. And if you know that about his environment, it should be no suprise that he is interested in an on rate green midrange beatstick that can turn into a big threat if you have extra mana.

Edit: To clarify (after blacksmithy's comment showed my meaning was entirely unclear), this wasn't meant in a mean way. I actually meant that if you understand Train's cube, you understand that this should be a card he is interested in. Specifically, this is a ramp card that comes down early-ish, and makes your other ramp targets that much more dangerous.
No harm, I knew what you meant ;).

For people not in the know, Onder and I talk outside of the forum pretty regularly, so sometimes context from our private discussions is lost in public.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Plus, as I said, the very Canadian art is super cool.
So my base assumption for people on these forums is you live in Scandanavia/Europe somewhere unless I specifically know otherwise. Are you Canadian?

Like no shade if you just really love Canada, don't live there, and think this is super sweet, it just seems like a funny point to zero in on if this is all coming from experience in Civ 6 :p
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Also I haven't actually talked about any of these cards yet so lets catch up here:

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Currently under translation, but here's another drake haven if you want one. I personally think Faith of the Devoted is cooler, but I also haven't played with any of these three.

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Assuming the 13 permanent text is mostly flavor text (which it might not be. you'll be at 6 permanents at end step casting this on an empty board, so with a moderate amount of turns/other cards this seems quite realistic)
That being said, how good is 4 mana for a 1/1 each turn. My guess is eh? Like how good is goblin assault?

All this time of playing rabblemasters may have spoiled me into thinking this card is better than it is.

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I actually really like this overstatted monster. Look sure it's pushed, but it's incidental graveyard hate in a way that matters and isn't overwhelming like scavenging ooze.
I'm not sure how I feel about it having vigilance. I hated it on brimaz, but here is feels better? I don't know why I feel this way.

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This also seems sweet. Solid defensive body which turns into a 3/4 kinda Vendilion Clique? This is a solid baseline card, and it's a 1 drop actual black midrange decks might want.

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Chefs Kiss. Really it's great to be seeing designs that are just C, 2/1, relevant and intriguing text. I'd lamented this problem for years in red and recently got rewarded with Falkenrath Pit Fighter, and this might just do the same thing for green.

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For the more combo-y among you, this is a 3 mana draw 3. That's powerful. I think in the dark a random cube is going to want something like Tidings or Precognitive Perception in general, but if the base mode here is something your environment can support, this seems like a sweet tool.

Hell maybe this is just decent for aggressive blue strategies? The Chart a Course/Blue Sun's Zenith split card we didn't know we wanted?

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It is a right shame that none of this cards THREE frame treatments explain what a blood is :p
Now I'm not sure I want it anyways, because moving black away from "Can't Block Tribal" is an active effort for me right now, but this is a solid aggressive beater.


Man where is grillo when we need him right? This is actually a card that should probably be swapped into the Penny Pincher :p


Man this is so many words, but it is red coastal piracy, and it lets you play lands.
Also trample for some reason? Nice. As additive distraction goes, at least this works within the ability itself rather than "this needs to be more powerful" text like QB's damage prevention


Honestly I had actually been looking for another black walker that wasn't overbearing or terrible. I had settled for overbearing, but I like this a lot more.

Also I'm going to choose to view the optionality of the first ability as "people will activate this more and have more agency over their games" and not "man nobody is going to die to putting Emrakul in their deck alongside this card"


This fucking card. Okay, so I love me some +1/+1 counter mechanics, but training (AKA reverse mentor) is not great. Being in a position where you can attack with this small creature and another creature with specific size requirements AND have that be a good idea at the time is a bridge too far.

THEN you have people noticing this can be used like a reanimation spell
So let me get the plan straight:
1) Play discard outlet
2) Draw reanimation target, discard said card
3) Play Savior of Ollenbock
4) Attack with Savior of Ollenbock and a 2 power creature
5) Sac/Kill Savior of Ollenbock

Man we give reanimator shit for being an A+B+C combo in a world of A+Bs, but this? we have the whole alphabet out here in force :p


So happy this cycle is being finished out rather than saved to market a new set down the line.


This I like. 2/1 flying is not a bad baseline, tells you what blood is, the flip side is sweet, 1+ all round
 
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I think Cemetery Prowler having Vigilance is less obnoxious than Brimaz having Vigilance because the Prowler doesn't sneakily add an extra power on every attack and block.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
So my base assumption for people on these forums is you live in Scandanavia/Europe somewhere unless I specifically know otherwise. Are you Canadian?

Like no shade if you just really love Canada, don't live there, and think this is super sweet, it just seems like a funny point to zero in on if this is all coming from experience in Civ 6 :p
For what it's worth around 60 percent of our traffic comes from the US of A.
 
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