esperzoa - aside from the very uninspired name, this is a neat card! it feels like it's been done before, or more accurately, should have been done before. Blue loves this kind of stuff anyway, and its like a blue version of stampeding wildebeests. This looks quite powerful too, though off the top of my head I can't think of what esper cards have good comes-into-play abilities that we'd love to bounce.
wonder what an artifact jellyfish will look like...either cool, or an epic failure I guess.
giltspire avenger - this could (should) have just been monowhite, but whatever.
extractor demon - am I missing something big, or is this just a filler rare? are we supposed to be impressed by a mediocre millstone effect on a fatty? I'll kill you with creature damage or with milling, not both, thanks. Was unearth just tacked on to make this suck less? I just don't get this card, at all. (would have been interesting if the mill triggered on a creature going to the graveyard from anywhere. Would have felt more like grindstone then.)
Esperzoa- An all round nice card, the Sea Drake size 4/3 flying body for 2U is above average and it's drawback can fairly easily be turned into an advantage in limited when combined with Sanctum Gargoyle, Tidehollow Sculler etc. and in extended with lots of free artifacts, affinity artifacts and artifact lands it's barely a drawback at all. In standard with less free artifacts to play around with it's not as good(sort of like Stampeding Wildebeests which has a similar drawback is in 10th and isn't getting any high level pay, although Esperzoa has the advantage that non creature artifacts are harder to deal with for most decks than creatures). The best I can think of for standard is either with Ethersworn Canonist to allow you to get around the equal sided nature of the card even better, or with Elsewhere Flask as a cheap draw engine. It's got to be worth testing in any case.
Extractor Demon- Even ignoring it's triggered ability I'd rate it as a limited bomb, a 5/5 black flyer for 4BB is incredibly hard to deal with(baring white removal) and the Unearth for only 2B could easily kill of your opponent even if they did manage to kill it the first time. The triggered ability if built around could cause some absolutely massive milling(think Nantuko Husk & sac Sprouting Thrinax and all it's tokens to mill 8), it reminds me a bit of Altar of Dementia(though not nearly as good). Basically Limited good, casual fun, constructed dubious although in some sort of reanimator deck it might be okay just for the cheap unearth.
Giltspire Avenger- WUG for a 2/2 exalted is decent(if you can cast it) and with the tap ability it's a perfect exalted creature to just keep back and pump with(while still having valid game interactions), it's tap ability is a bit like a Reciprocate on a stick(but unfortunately only with destroy not remove), limited good(if playing bant), because both exalted and reusable removal are always good, but as a 2/2 it's also vulnerable to almost every available removal which will make it pretty bad for anything beyond limited.
If Unearth ever becomes viable (i.e. we see more of cards like the Demon with cheap Unearth costs), you can use the Demon to mill yourself.
Like, T2 discard him with Prowler, T3 swing. If they take 5, good, if not you kill their BoP or something and perhaps get a Sedraxis Specter/more copies of the Demon into the yard.
Currently there aren't enough cards to do it, but if Conflux helps Grixis (and it should, since it's generally regarded as the weakest shard) it could become viable.
The Esper deck is coming together and i would be amazed if it can't make a viable T2 version of it after this set.
They always over push artifact themes and this set is shaping up to be no exception. With a Etherium Sculptor, Elsewhere Flask and this guy it gets a bit ridiculous.
Pay 1 to draw a card for free each turn with no drawback sign me up!
If we recall Affinity was not stupid good until the 2nd set of Mirrodin Block. Mirrodin only affinity is decent but definitely not stupid as hell like it was in Darksteel.
Wowwowwewa! two sea drakes for the cube?! Blue skies just got a shot in the arm.
The others are meh. The demon is good for limited no doubt and the bant guy doesn't strike me as that great. I'm fairly certain you'd never target your opponent with the mill ability. If you're going to bin like 20-30 guys, shouldn't you have won by combat damage by then? If not, you may as well be playing Mortal Combat.
I'd much rather have the pancake flipper or even troll at the 3 drop slot for bant or green. At least one of them doesn't get Path to Exile'd
i think wizards is giving us a hint at the birth of an esper skies deck. i mean if you read the esper conflux precon its named Esper Air Assault.
also even if you find yourself in a situation where you only have 2 Glazefiends and esperzoa in play and you somehow dont have any available artifact to bounce. with esperzoa bouncing himself every turn, Glazefiend would be a really happy panda each turn.
hhmm... let see, sanctum gargoyle has flying.... glaze fiend has flying.... tidehollow strix has flying.. im definitely seeing the point where esper decks will have 2 variants.. Esper Control and Esper Aggro in the form of UBW Skies.
esperzoa now that i read the discussion is nice, it makes tidehollow sculler, sanctum gargoyle, sharuum, pithing needlethat much more versatile, because now you can bounce and replay them to retarget more crucial assets to you or your opponent
Problem with Sculler is your not going to be sure if its useful to bounce him. Unless you know what is in their hand or are sure the early target you took is useless.
I still like flask most of all its cheap to play its basically cycling and you actually get pure advantage off it.
finally, after being totally disenfranchised from the game sense lorwyn, here is a card i can get behind... finally.
Ok so i like nettle sentinel also, but that was the only one.
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Current Fallen Angel (Anson Maddocks art) Count:449!!!
Esperzoa2U
Artifact Creature - Jellyfish (U)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, return an artifact you control to its owner's hand.
4/3
Extractor Demon4BB
Creature - Demon (R)
Flying
Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from play, you may have target player put the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Unearth 2B
5/5
Giltspire AvengerWUG
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
Exalted
:symtap:: Destroy target creature that dealt damage to you this turn.
2/2
Discuss.
esperzoa wants to be built with an arti with a neat come into play ability. at worst, its an extremely aggressive blue beatstick with lotus petal and such
Esperzoa2U UNCOMMON
Artifact Creature - Jellyfish 4/3
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, return an artifact you control to its owner's hand.
4/3
Extractor Demon4BB RARE
Creature - Demon 5/5
Flying
Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from play, you may have target player put the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Unearth 2B
5/5
Giltspire AvengerWUG RARE
Creature - Human Soldier 2/2
Exalted
:symtap:: Destroy target creature that dealt damage to you this turn.
Wow, okay. Esperoza (cool name) is Tezzeret's new friend, and I'd love to build an aggro artifact deck with the two of them. This is a very strong flier and I agree with everyone who says Blue Skies will have some real allure. (Why does blue get fatties again?)
Extractor Demon also is great with Unearth. You mill yourself with it so you have more unearth targets. Demigod of Revenge likes this guy.
Giltspire Avenger is a nice enough card, and at least it's not Combat Damage it keys off of. I'm not surprised that it's only okay, because WotC seems to have spent points for Bant with other cards like PoE. Someone said it's a weak Royal Assassin, but that's not right - it's a nonblack royal assassin. If this were a single color, it would have cost more than 3 and been completely too late to use by the time it came into play. Now it can come down early and really put the breaks on all the fatties roaming the board these days. Adding Exalted to it was a nice touch, because it not only sits on the board as a threat, but also does something concrete in the meantime. I think it will see a lot of play in limited as a spoiler.
I'm really liking Esperzoa, I had started a standard artifact beatdown deck when shards came out because I like Esper and I didn't really play at all for Llorwyn block. I was banking on Conflux and Alara Reborn having a few good fast beaters in it to make the deck complete, and it's looking good for that!
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I currently play only two formats, what I play in them is:
Legacy: Domain Zoo, RGW Zoo, Merfolk, Solidarity, Mono Black Aggro
EDH: Kagemaro, First to Suffer
EsperZoa is fun.. cant wait to put in my fun esper deck and maybe put in my casual affinity.. big and flying and cheap!
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Originally Posted by Darem talking about bird maiden http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maiden 1 out of 4 says she is a human, 2 out of 4 says she is a horse, and 1 out of 4 says she is an execution device. Take your pick =p
Fusion Elemental is like riding a pony, which probably doesn't sound dangerous, except that in this case the pony is 300 feet tall and covered in chainsaws, and to get on the pony you have to take an elevator with sixteen live cougars.
Extractor Demon is the missing in-color combo kill piece in block constructed with the 2 x Sharuum the Hegemon infinite loop. The existance of Relic of Progenitus of course hoses it as a competitive threat the same way it hoses any unearth-based deck (I guess they were really worried about another graveyard mechanic being overpowered....)
I love Unearth Dragon for limited. Black is so lame at having quality finishers compared to the other colors in draft/sealed. This card is not only dragon-sized, it's got unearth for another hit too!
Esperzoa is also rediculous in limited, but has constructed applications as well.
Why all the hate for the rare? Extractor Demon is ok. The best part about it is the Unearth - three mana for five damage is pretty good.
I totally agree. In Limited, Grixis lacked good cards that put things in the graveyard (Corpse connoisseur isn't good, so it doesn't count) to then unearth. I'm pretty excited for extractor demon.
I just don't see what's so bad about a 6CC 5/5 flyer that has synergy with its own shard, and unearths for half its cost. Definitely beats the pants off of Archdemon of Unx...
I totally agree. In Limited, Grixis lacked good cards that put things in the graveyard (Corpse connoisseur isn't good, so it doesn't count) to then unearth. I'm pretty excited for extractor demon.
I just don't see what's so bad about a 6CC 5/5 flyer that has synergy with its own shard, and unearths for half its cost. Definitely beats the pants off of Archdemon of Unx...
Have you actually played Shards limited? Corpse Connoisseur is only playable in deck with a bunch of unearth guys (a strong Grixis or sometimes a Jund deck), but in said deck, the Connoisseur is the STONE COLD NUTS. Sorry, I just had to shake my head at this statement. As for the rest, yeah I agree, think the demon is getting a bit more flack than it deserves.
Have you actually played Shards limited? Corpse Connoisseur is only playable in deck with a bunch of unearth guys (a strong Grixis or sometimes a Jund deck), but in said deck, the Connoisseur is the STONE COLD NUTS. Sorry, I just had to shake my head at this statement. As for the rest, yeah I agree, think the demon is getting a bit more flack than it deserves.
Connoisseur has been nothing but "meh" for me thus far in drafting. Yes, he will throw a a dude of my choice into discard from my deck, but at the same time he's a 5 mana 3/3 who's ONLY purpose is to ditch a guy and be under powered for his cost. He doesn't even unearth cheap, making it hard to combo with him for big damage by unearthing him and pulling out another unearth fatty with his effect like Hell's thunder. I'd much rather pay the 1 extra black mana to drop a 5/5 flyer who continuously sets up unearth swarms, and unearths for a mere 3 mana.
Connoisseur has been nothing but "meh" for me thus far in drafting. Yes, he will throw a a dude of my choice into discard from my deck, but at the same time he's a 5 mana 3/3 who's ONLY purpose is to ditch a guy and be under powered for his cost. He doesn't even unearth cheap, making it hard to combo with him for big damage by unearthing him and pulling out another unearth fatty with his effect like Hell's thunder. I'd much rather pay the 1 extra black mana to drop a 5/5 flyer who continuously sets up unearth swarms, and unearths for a mere 3 mana.
No chance is Corpse Connoisseur under powered by any means!
Ditching this Demon is nuts in limited. Corpsey is going to be key in the Sharuum the Hegemon combo deck, esp since the Extractor is there for a target too.
As for that cr*ppy Bant Dread card... yet another "ooooh don't hurt me" bant card. Bant is really starting to anger me... Good thing its the 3 colours I hate playing together.
My friend, why are you trying to evade censoring for a word that is not even censored?
-Car.
Corpse Connoisseur was rated very highly among pros at Worlds this year... Some even said it was the best Limited card in the set for their individual play style...
EDH/Commander is a social format, right? So why don't people use their social skills to discuss what they like and don't like, instead of adopting a list with 60+ banned cards?
Corpse Connoisseur was rated very highly among pros at Worlds this year... Some even said it was the best Limited card in the set for their individual play style...
Agreed. To the guy who said that CC was bad, please play more AAA limited with higher ranked players if you think that is the case.
When you see CC into CC into Scourge Devil with even more targets (crappy Undead Leotau is good from the GY), you'll see why. You'll lose very fast.
wonder what an artifact jellyfish will look like...either cool, or an epic failure I guess.
giltspire avenger - this could (should) have just been monowhite, but whatever.
extractor demon - am I missing something big, or is this just a filler rare? are we supposed to be impressed by a mediocre millstone effect on a fatty? I'll kill you with creature damage or with milling, not both, thanks. Was unearth just tacked on to make this suck less? I just don't get this card, at all. (would have been interesting if the mill triggered on a creature going to the graveyard from anywhere. Would have felt more like grindstone then.)
Extractor Demon- Even ignoring it's triggered ability I'd rate it as a limited bomb, a 5/5 black flyer for 4BB is incredibly hard to deal with(baring white removal) and the Unearth for only 2B could easily kill of your opponent even if they did manage to kill it the first time. The triggered ability if built around could cause some absolutely massive milling(think Nantuko Husk & sac Sprouting Thrinax and all it's tokens to mill 8), it reminds me a bit of Altar of Dementia(though not nearly as good). Basically Limited good, casual fun, constructed dubious although in some sort of reanimator deck it might be okay just for the cheap unearth.
Giltspire Avenger- WUG for a 2/2 exalted is decent(if you can cast it) and with the tap ability it's a perfect exalted creature to just keep back and pump with(while still having valid game interactions), it's tap ability is a bit like a Reciprocate on a stick(but unfortunately only with destroy not remove), limited good(if playing bant), because both exalted and reusable removal are always good, but as a 2/2 it's also vulnerable to almost every available removal which will make it pretty bad for anything beyond limited.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
Like, T2 discard him with Prowler, T3 swing. If they take 5, good, if not you kill their BoP or something and perhaps get a Sedraxis Specter/more copies of the Demon into the yard.
Currently there aren't enough cards to do it, but if Conflux helps Grixis (and it should, since it's generally regarded as the weakest shard) it could become viable.
The Esper deck is coming together and i would be amazed if it can't make a viable T2 version of it after this set.
They always over push artifact themes and this set is shaping up to be no exception. With a Etherium Sculptor, Elsewhere Flask and this guy it gets a bit ridiculous.
Pay 1 to draw a card for free each turn with no drawback sign me up!
If we recall Affinity was not stupid good until the 2nd set of Mirrodin Block. Mirrodin only affinity is decent but definitely not stupid as hell like it was in Darksteel.
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The others are meh. The demon is good for limited no doubt and the bant guy doesn't strike me as that great. I'm fairly certain you'd never target your opponent with the mill ability. If you're going to bin like 20-30 guys, shouldn't you have won by combat damage by then? If not, you may as well be playing Mortal Combat.
I'd much rather have the pancake flipper or even troll at the 3 drop slot for bant or green. At least one of them doesn't get Path to Exile'd
i think wizards is giving us a hint at the birth of an esper skies deck. i mean if you read the esper conflux precon its named Esper Air Assault.
also even if you find yourself in a situation where you only have 2 Glazefiends and esperzoa in play and you somehow dont have any available artifact to bounce. with esperzoa bouncing himself every turn, Glazefiend would be a really happy panda each turn.
hhmm... let see, sanctum gargoyle has flying.... glaze fiend has flying.... tidehollow strix has flying.. im definitely seeing the point where esper decks will have 2 variants.. Esper Control and Esper Aggro in the form of UBW Skies.
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I still like flask most of all its cheap to play its basically cycling and you actually get pure advantage off it.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Ok so i like nettle sentinel also, but that was the only one.
esperzoa wants to be built with an arti with a neat come into play ability. at worst, its an extremely aggressive blue beatstick with lotus petal and such
avenger is a worse royal assasin
the demon joins a long list of ala crap rares
Wow, okay. Esperoza (cool name) is Tezzeret's new friend, and I'd love to build an aggro artifact deck with the two of them. This is a very strong flier and I agree with everyone who says Blue Skies will have some real allure. (Why does blue get fatties again?)
Extractor Demon also is great with Unearth. You mill yourself with it so you have more unearth targets. Demigod of Revenge likes this guy.
Giltspire Avenger is a nice enough card, and at least it's not Combat Damage it keys off of. I'm not surprised that it's only okay, because WotC seems to have spent points for Bant with other cards like PoE. Someone said it's a weak Royal Assassin, but that's not right - it's a nonblack royal assassin. If this were a single color, it would have cost more than 3 and been completely too late to use by the time it came into play. Now it can come down early and really put the breaks on all the fatties roaming the board these days. Adding Exalted to it was a nice touch, because it not only sits on the board as a threat, but also does something concrete in the meantime. I think it will see a lot of play in limited as a spoiler.
I currently play only two formats, what I play in them is:
Legacy: Domain Zoo, RGW Zoo, Merfolk, Solidarity, Mono Black Aggro
EDH: Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Fusion Elemental is like riding a pony, which probably doesn't sound dangerous, except that in this case the pony is 300 feet tall and covered in chainsaws, and to get on the pony you have to take an elevator with sixteen live cougars.
Esperzoa is also rediculous in limited, but has constructed applications as well.
Esperzoa. Huh. And Branching Bolt inches ever so closer towards "constructed playable" status...
I totally agree. In Limited, Grixis lacked good cards that put things in the graveyard (Corpse connoisseur isn't good, so it doesn't count) to then unearth. I'm pretty excited for extractor demon.
I just don't see what's so bad about a 6CC 5/5 flyer that has synergy with its own shard, and unearths for half its cost. Definitely beats the pants off of Archdemon of Unx...
Have you actually played Shards limited? Corpse Connoisseur is only playable in deck with a bunch of unearth guys (a strong Grixis or sometimes a Jund deck), but in said deck, the Connoisseur is the STONE COLD NUTS. Sorry, I just had to shake my head at this statement. As for the rest, yeah I agree, think the demon is getting a bit more flack than it deserves.
Connoisseur has been nothing but "meh" for me thus far in drafting. Yes, he will throw a a dude of my choice into discard from my deck, but at the same time he's a 5 mana 3/3 who's ONLY purpose is to ditch a guy and be under powered for his cost. He doesn't even unearth cheap, making it hard to combo with him for big damage by unearthing him and pulling out another unearth fatty with his effect like Hell's thunder. I'd much rather pay the 1 extra black mana to drop a 5/5 flyer who continuously sets up unearth swarms, and unearths for a mere 3 mana.
No chance is Corpse Connoisseur under powered by any means!
Ditching this Demon is nuts in limited. Corpsey is going to be key in the Sharuum the Hegemon combo deck, esp since the Extractor is there for a target too.
As for that cr*ppy Bant Dread card... yet another "ooooh don't hurt me" bant card. Bant is really starting to anger me... Good thing its the 3 colours I hate playing together.
My friend, why are you trying to evade censoring for a word that is not even censored?
-Car.
Turn 2: Esperzoa
Turn 3: Return Thopter, Play Thopter, Master of Etherium, Beat for 5, 1cc spell?
Agreed. To the guy who said that CC was bad, please play more AAA limited with higher ranked players if you think that is the case.
When you see CC into CC into Scourge Devil with even more targets (crappy Undead Leotau is good from the GY), you'll see why. You'll lose very fast.
*edited for clarity*
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