Chris Taylor
Contributor
How has this been bad? Cackler is no goblin patrol...
You have N 1 drops, the more of them are cacklers, the less of them suck ass...
I'm confused o_O
General What cards are you testing from M15?
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
How has this been bad? Cackler is no goblin patrol...
You have N 1 drops, the more of them are cacklers, the less of them suck ass...
I'm confused o_O
Dom Harvey
Contributor
How can that be the case if you're assuming that Cackler is better than Figure but worse than Guide?
CML
Contributor
Exactly, it more has to do with people's emotional connection towards the card. This sounds stupid but it is likely true. Double Guide rubs people the wrong way because it's significantly narrower than Cackler and double Figure is unpopular because it's weak (which also makes it narrower), both strong and weak cards can yield negative responses towards breaking singleton.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Thank you thank you.
I wonder what his stance is on brainstorm...
I don't know why but this card made me laugh out loud.
CML
Contributor
I don't know why but this card made me laugh out loud.
anti-semitism in literature
i can't seem to find it, but i remember his stance being roughly "good design, incorrect power level"
I don't know why but this card made me laugh out loud.
I've absolutely made this card on a custom card forum before lol.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
You guys do realize this is a reprint from Magic 2011, right?
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Life's Legacy. Is that card awful?
The power level seems pushed, but its a sorcery which prevents it from being used in reaction. Faith's Fetters and friends aside, its purely a proactive drawing tool. Is drawing cards worth setting back your board position? How often do you actually want to kill your 5 power creature to get more cards? Is the situation where you have a big useless creature on board, but have live cards in your deck you need to get to more common then I think it is?
The power level seems pushed, but its a sorcery which prevents it from being used in reaction. Faith's Fetters and friends aside, its purely a proactive drawing tool. Is drawing cards worth setting back your board position? How often do you actually want to kill your 5 power creature to get more cards? Is the situation where you have a big useless creature on board, but have live cards in your deck you need to get to more common then I think it is?
It's very vulnerable to counter spells. Reminds me of Harrow or Mycoloth - high risk / reward type of a card.
This card needs a 4 power creature to really be worth it I think (since it costs you two "cards" for the effect). But you have a huge ceiling here (imagine sacing Blistering Firecat to this).
I don't know if I have room for this, but it's sort of cool. I always liked Greater Good and this might be better.
I have no idea when I made it, it was just a card that I thought I had never seen before and that seemingly no one had captured that part the myth about dragons yet.
I also made a RG one that took opponent's things but that's beside the point.
I don't think this card is particularly good in cube unless you are doing something weird or if you errata'd it to putting it into play.
CML
Contributor
Wadds -- not to hate but I don't get the point of set reviews. I will even make you feel better by posting these, which were written by a minor Magic figure:
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Constructed: 2.5
As I’ve myself said numerous times, this guy is more impressive than he looks, solely because he is a two-mana Planeswalker. It’s very hard to evaluate a Planeswalker that cheap, and I expect him to perform above expectations, though at this point people possibly are expecting more due to many voices saying that same thing. Either way, despite the fact that his first two abilities don’t affect the board at all, he provides enough value at a low enough cost that I really do think he’s going to see play. Owen went into more detail in this article, and I agree with his perspective.
Blood Artist
Constructed: 1.0
There will be blood…in Limited. In Constructed, this just isn’t Disciple of the Vault, for which I am thankful.
Stoneforge Mystic
Constructed: 2.0
This is unlikely to make a splash in Standard, but getting Umezawa's Jitte in Extended makes this quite interesting. I doubt that it makes something as clunky as Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang worth it, but even if it only can get Jitte, there are decks that are interested.
5. Hada Freeblade
4. Admonition Angel
3. Marshal's Anthem
2. Loam Lion
1. Kor Firewalker
Delver of Secrets/Insectile Aberration
Constructed: 2.0
This might actually work, which is pretty sweet, since this is one of the many cards in the set with awesome flavor. Dropping one of these guys and Pondering should just about do it, and random flipping in a deck full of spells doesn’t seem out of the question. If there is an all-spell sort of deck, he could be a legitimate threat.
Skaab Ruinator
Constructed: 3.5
This thing is gonna ruin some hopes and dreams. Coming out early and often doesn’t seem unrealistic at all, and there are even multiple ways to achieve this goal. The first is Birthing Pod, since he even only costs three, and once sacrificed, can be easily brought back. Multiple 5/6’s on turn four and five is tough to beat, and that’s without the backup plan of recasting them if the opponent manages to kill both all your guys and the Pod itself.
The second way to maul them involves milling yourself, probably with Forbidden Alchemy and Dream Twist, and likely alongside Unburial Rites and other sweet Flashback cards. This deck seems a bit more creature-light than the ‘Pod deck, but between Snapcaster Mage, Skaab Ruinator, and possibly even Armored Skaab, you have a good start.
Either way, I expect there to be much ruinating over the next year, and it should be pretty sweet.
Runechanter’s Pike
Constructed: 1.0
If your graveyard is full of 10 instants and sorceries, why haven’t you won the game already?
Griselbrand
Constructed: 2.5
Good branding will take you far, and Griselbrand is dominating the “sick reanimation target” market in Standard. Even in older formats, he probably wins, since drawing 7 cards tends to be good in most matchups. Not all, because aggro does still exist everywhere, but against control/midrange/combo decks, Griselbrand is your go-to Demon. Past reanimation, there is also the possibility of just casting this beast, even if that is somewhat less likely. I could see ramp decks or control decks maybe using this as a finisher, since you do have room for a sick 1-of in most decks. Either way, Griselbrand is a big game.
---
Still, though, I'm not sure what the point of not testing most of these cards is when you could just test all of them and come to a meaningful conclusion. It could so happen that only 9 m15 cards make the cut long-term and you recommend 9, but they'll be different etc. I brought this up with LSV in comments once and he said "the whole point is first impressions" but ehhhhh the above shows they're of unintentional humor value mainly. well that and puns (meteorite as mana rock).
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Constructed: 2.5
As I’ve myself said numerous times, this guy is more impressive than he looks, solely because he is a two-mana Planeswalker. It’s very hard to evaluate a Planeswalker that cheap, and I expect him to perform above expectations, though at this point people possibly are expecting more due to many voices saying that same thing. Either way, despite the fact that his first two abilities don’t affect the board at all, he provides enough value at a low enough cost that I really do think he’s going to see play. Owen went into more detail in this article, and I agree with his perspective.
Blood Artist
Constructed: 1.0
There will be blood…in Limited. In Constructed, this just isn’t Disciple of the Vault, for which I am thankful.
Stoneforge Mystic
Constructed: 2.0
This is unlikely to make a splash in Standard, but getting Umezawa's Jitte in Extended makes this quite interesting. I doubt that it makes something as clunky as Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang worth it, but even if it only can get Jitte, there are decks that are interested.
5. Hada Freeblade
4. Admonition Angel
3. Marshal's Anthem
2. Loam Lion
1. Kor Firewalker
Delver of Secrets/Insectile Aberration
Constructed: 2.0
This might actually work, which is pretty sweet, since this is one of the many cards in the set with awesome flavor. Dropping one of these guys and Pondering should just about do it, and random flipping in a deck full of spells doesn’t seem out of the question. If there is an all-spell sort of deck, he could be a legitimate threat.
Skaab Ruinator
Constructed: 3.5
This thing is gonna ruin some hopes and dreams. Coming out early and often doesn’t seem unrealistic at all, and there are even multiple ways to achieve this goal. The first is Birthing Pod, since he even only costs three, and once sacrificed, can be easily brought back. Multiple 5/6’s on turn four and five is tough to beat, and that’s without the backup plan of recasting them if the opponent manages to kill both all your guys and the Pod itself.
The second way to maul them involves milling yourself, probably with Forbidden Alchemy and Dream Twist, and likely alongside Unburial Rites and other sweet Flashback cards. This deck seems a bit more creature-light than the ‘Pod deck, but between Snapcaster Mage, Skaab Ruinator, and possibly even Armored Skaab, you have a good start.
Either way, I expect there to be much ruinating over the next year, and it should be pretty sweet.
Runechanter’s Pike
Constructed: 1.0
If your graveyard is full of 10 instants and sorceries, why haven’t you won the game already?
Griselbrand
Constructed: 2.5
Good branding will take you far, and Griselbrand is dominating the “sick reanimation target” market in Standard. Even in older formats, he probably wins, since drawing 7 cards tends to be good in most matchups. Not all, because aggro does still exist everywhere, but against control/midrange/combo decks, Griselbrand is your go-to Demon. Past reanimation, there is also the possibility of just casting this beast, even if that is somewhat less likely. I could see ramp decks or control decks maybe using this as a finisher, since you do have room for a sick 1-of in most decks. Either way, Griselbrand is a big game.
---
Still, though, I'm not sure what the point of not testing most of these cards is when you could just test all of them and come to a meaningful conclusion. It could so happen that only 9 m15 cards make the cut long-term and you recommend 9, but they'll be different etc. I brought this up with LSV in comments once and he said "the whole point is first impressions" but ehhhhh the above shows they're of unintentional humor value mainly. well that and puns (meteorite as mana rock).
The point of set reviews is that you can post things like this later and we can all have a laugh about how dumb we are and to spur debate and to give people a reason to come to your website to come and order cards.
Of course evaluations change later. That's part of the fun. "Remember when nobody expected this card to be good" or "remember when Evan Erwin flipped out about this card and it turned out to be a total shitter?"
They're not meant to be a compendium you consult years later to learn the unyielding truth about a set.
Of course evaluations change later. That's part of the fun. "Remember when nobody expected this card to be good" or "remember when Evan Erwin flipped out about this card and it turned out to be a total shitter?"
They're not meant to be a compendium you consult years later to learn the unyielding truth about a set.
Also, I honestly forget a bunch of stuff. Just the other day I was like "were there any good cube cards from Journey to Nyx?" so I just went back and scrolled through my set review. Not perfect, but I don't really know a method that requires less effort from my end.
CML
Contributor
sure, i'm with ya. i dunno why not to print out and test every m15 card (and every new-set card) that i'm vaguely interested in, though. i guess outsourcing the work to RipLab makes sense but i enjoy being on the front lines of this stuff and have said stuff like "DRS eh" and "Miracles and Merfolk are stone unplayable" so I'm sure tomorrow will be lots of fun!
Backing up CML, Heliods pilgrim has been so good in m15 draft that I'm thinking about trying it.
This also surprised me by how good it is, might be worth considering. Not actually that expensive with monsters
This also surprised me by how good it is, might be worth considering. Not actually that expensive with monsters
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Maybe my evalutation skills are off, but isn't Heliod's piligrim a double nerfed Stoneforge for auras? I was actually considering running it at
, but if people without aura support are liking it at CMC 3, maybe that's a mistake? What am I missing here?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Maybe my evalutation skills are off, but isn't Heliod's piligrim a double nerfed Stoneforge for auras? I was actually considering running it at
To be fair, equipment usually doesn't remove anything. It kinda just does the one thing.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
I guess Imperial Recruiter is pretty awesome at CMC 3, that's probably the proper rate for tutor that leaves a body. Stoneforge is the outlier here, not Pilgrim/Recruiter.