I remember when RTR was was released and I immediately slammed 4 ash zealot and 4 cackler into my stromkirk noble+brimstone volley/hellrider shell.
I went to my local comic shop and slammed bads playing all kinds of nonsense like Armada wurm and Vraska, it honestly took these disgusting scrubs 2 months to realise that they need to play centaur healer or lingering souls if they want to survive to turn 5 to play swagtusk.
If you think cards like ashen rider are castable, please come to my comic store so i can take your money, then when the meta adjusts and plays centaur healer ill trade u my satyrs 10 $ a piece.
Scrubs will be scrubs
Your last sentence makes absolutely no sense. And you high and mighty tone makes you look like an idiot. GTFO
There are no infinite turn combos with Medomai unfortunately. Regardless of when he comes into play, he knows when it's an extra turn. During extra turns, he simply can't attack. It doesn't matter if you blink him, he still can't attack, so you can't go infinite.
First, give him double strike or add combat phases to get a bunch of extra turns. Then use a card that puts him into attack from you graveyard and have a free sac-engine.
That a card that's strictly better than Jackal Pup is being called bad in today's environment speaks volumes about how terrible power creep has gotten.
There are no infinite turn combos with Medomai unfortunately. Regardless of when he comes into play, he knows when it's an extra turn. During extra turns, he simply can't attack. It doesn't matter if you blink him, he still can't attack, so you can't go infinite.
Humility removes the restriction on him attacking, and then you can bounce it during the declare attackers step to give him the extra turn ability back. There are a couple of other ways to circumvent it that are more complicated, but none of them including Humility work in Standard or Modern.
There are no infinite turn combos with Medomai unfortunately. Regardless of when he comes into play, he knows when it's an extra turn. During extra turns, he simply can't attack. It doesn't matter if you blink him, he still can't attack, so you can't go infinite.
Sakashima's Student would allow infinite turns although the set up would be insane. Mirror Gallery plus Keymaster Rogue. Attack with the Keymaster, Ninjutsu the student and copy Medomai the Ageless, cast Keymaster and return the student. This take 4 cards to win so not worth it but it is possible.
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first turn
Nick: I lay a swamp, tap, dark ritual...
Me: If you cast a hypnotic specter I'll punch you in the face
Nick:...ahh I take 3 points of mana burn
The reason I play black according to CrovaxtheCursed:
Satyr would had been an awesome card if he was a 3/1 and his ability was R. Otherwise he's worst then Goblin Taskmaster & Bellows Lizard. Sure these guys are 1/1 but at least they don't punch you back. (please notice that their ability cost the same as Satyr.... this is sad)
You're underestimating how quickly a 1 mana creature gets more powerful with each extra point of power you give it. 2/1 isn't just a little bit better than 1/1, when the mana cost is a single mana. A 2/1 costing 2RR wouldn't be much different than a 1/1. But for :symr:, you're hard-pressed to get a 2/1 with a drawback, let alone a 3/1 whatsoever.
Bellows Lizard doesn't damage you when it gets damaged, true. But it's also not a 2/1.
Than all me to concur. Coming onto a site and calling other people scrubs and shooting them down for playing cards you consider bad does make you sound like a jerk. Maybe they like their midrange WGB decks. Who are you to judge. I know fun is usually frowned upon in standard. But sometimes, its gonna happen. If new players dont like losing lofe for their attacks, who the hell cares. They arent a scrub, they are someone who doesnt like losing life. Maybe their deck isnt tier one. I bet they dont care. Sorry for the rant, but snobby standard players really get under my skin sometimes, and i keep getting in trouble for taking the moral internet high road and trolling them, instead of just saying flat out, youre being a magic jackass. Real it back, let people enjoy the GAME however they want. Let them talk about THEIR OPINIONS ( opinions dont make you a scrub, they make you sentient), and for gods sake, dont name call on a website!*
*i did it a few times too, but i at least accept that i had to.
Im sorry everyone. Back to your discussion.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I fear I won't have much time to play Magic these days.
I get to watch worlds develop around me.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
GU Experiment Kraj- all your abilities belong to us WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts- battlecruiser GUB The Mimeoplasm- when graveyards are not safe RGW Mayael the Anima- i luv the fatties
Than all me to concur. Coming onto a site and calling other people scrubs and shooting them down for playing cards you consider bad does make you sound like a jerk. Maybe they like their midrange WGB decks. Who are you to judge. I know fun is usually frowned upon in standard. But sometimes, its gonna happen. If new players dont like losing lofe for their attacks, who the hell cares. They arent a scrub, they are someone who doesnt like losing life. Maybe their deck isnt tier one. I bet they dont care. Sorry for the rant, but snobby standard players really get under my skin sometimes, and i keep getting in trouble for taking the moral internet high road and trolling them, instead of just saying flat out, youre being a magic jackass. Real it back, let people enjoy the GAME however they want. Let them talk about THEIR OPINIONS ( opinions dont make you a scrub, they make you sentient), and for gods sake, dont name call on a website!*
*i did it a few times too, but i at least accept that i had to.
Im sorry everyone. Back to your discussion.
Some big mad in here.
Firstly the word scrub is not a derogatory term, no need to get defensive.It is simply a term used for someone who doesn't play to win. Now I'm not saying don't be casual, play what how and where you want, what I'm saying is the opinions of casuals have absolutely no ****ing value for discussing spoiler cards.
Some big mad in here.
Firstly the word scrub is not a derogatory term, no need to get defensive.It is simply a term used for someone who doesn't play to win. Now I'm not saying don't be casual, play what how and where you want, what I'm saying is the opinions of casuals have absolutely no ****ing value for discussing spoiler cards.
People are allowed to value things however they want. Value is measured in three ways.
1. monitary: this one is pretty unargueable.
2. Competitively: this one is the big issue; how will it be played, how strong is it.
3. Personally: this is what everyone does. People have opinions about cards they love. If someone loves a squire, its their choice. They value what a squire wrong. They do know how to value things, its just a different value than YOUR value.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I fear I won't have much time to play Magic these days.
I get to watch worlds develop around me.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
People are allowed to value things however they want. Value is measured in three ways.
1. monitary: this one is pretty unargueable.
2. Competitively: this one is the big issue; how will it be played, how strong is it.
3. Personally: this is what everyone does. People have opinions about cards they love. If someone loves a squire, its their choice. They value what a squire wrong. They do know how to value things, its just a different value than YOUR value.
Ok lets focus on 1 and 2.
Monetary. Yea this one is hard to argue, you can predict somewhat, but did anyone predict boros reckoner going up to 30$ after gatecrash release because he was in every deck?
Competitively. This is a huge issue. The biggest problem is not taking cards in the context of their metagame. Another problem is most of the MTGS posters are just bad. this is where the 'duuuuuurrrr this card sucks' opinions come from, without any testing on say cockatrice or MWS, without any idea of what role it plays in the archetype it will be played in. Cards like Satyr are very easy to evaluate. You already have an existing archetype, RDW, it replaces a card rotating, it does the job of an efficient red 1 drop.
Personal opinion. Ok people have their 'this card is so good in my edh deck' or whatever. Cool. Just don't get it confused with 'this card is going to suck and i will hate opening it', because that will quickly change if the card goes up to 8$ like vexing devil and stormkirk noble.
Monetary. Yea this one is hard to argue, you can predict somewhat, but did anyone predict boros reckoner going up to 30$ after gatecrash release because he was in every deck?
Competitively. This is a huge issue. The biggest problem is not taking cards in the context of their metagame. Another problem is most of the MTGS posters are just bad. this is where the 'duuuuuurrrr this card sucks' opinions come from, without any testing on say cockatrice or MWS, without any idea of what role it plays in the archetype it will be played in. Cards like Satyr are very easy to evaluate. You already have an existing archetype, RDW, it replaces a card rotating, it does the job of an efficient red 1 drop.
Personal opinion. Ok people have their 'this card is so good in my edh deck' or whatever. Cool. Just don't get it confused with 'this card is going to suck and i will hate opening it', because that will quickly change if the card goes up to 8$ like vexing devil and stormkirk noble.
This is a much less anger biased way of posting my thoughts and i appreciate you doing so.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I fear I won't have much time to play Magic these days.
I get to watch worlds develop around me.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
You're underestimating how quickly a 1 mana creature gets more powerful with each extra point of power you give it. 2/1 isn't just a little bit better than 1/1, when the mana cost is a single mana. A 2/1 costing 2RR wouldn't be much different than a 1/1. But for :symr:, you're hard-pressed to get a 2/1 with a drawback, let alone a 3/1 whatsoever.
Bellows Lizard doesn't damage you when it gets damaged, true. But it's also not a 2/1.
I'd played sligh in the glory days of tempest and I'd learned to hate the Jackal Pup. ...and that draw back really does suck...
I'm trying to like the Firedrinker but with Rakdos Cackler and Bellows Lizard in standard I don't think it will see any real play. Cackler is a great turn 1 play with little draw back and I've never seen the lizard played. Yes a 2/1 is much better but I don't get the jump from common to rare requires that much of a draw back. The +1/+0 should have only cost R but be limited to the number of activations per turn.
first turn
Nick: I lay a swamp, tap, dark ritual...
Me: If you cast a hypnotic specter I'll punch you in the face
Nick:...ahh I take 3 points of mana burn
The reason I play black according to CrovaxtheCursed:
I'm trying to like the Firedrinker but with Rakdos Cackler and Bellows Lizard in standard I don't think it will see any real play. Cackler is a great turn 1 play with little draw back and I've never seen the lizard played. Yes a 2/1 is much better but I don't get the jump from common to rare requires that much of a draw back. The +1/+0 should have only cost R but be limited to the number of activations per turn.
Yep. Or moreso most of the time it is. There are corner cases were Legion Loyalist will be better, but rarely. By turn 5, in a vacuum of course and considering no missed land drop between turns 1-4, the damage differential is 9 damage in favor of the Satyr(Loyalist attacks 5 turns, deals 5 damage; Satyr attacks 4 turns, pumps 1 turns 2&3 pumps twice turn 4&5 for a total of 14 damage). That's a huge difference in life right there. Even if you play something every turn and never pump the satyr, that's still a damage differential of 3 in the satyr's favor.
The differential between Satyr and Bellows Lizard is 4 in the Satyrs favor, and is always 4 by turn 5.
Those who think 3-4 damage difference by turn 5 is small are completely wrong. It's often the difference between putting the opponent in burn range, or just out-right winning through attacks. It's the difference between putting the opponent at 2 or 3 life and putting the opponent at 5 or 6 life. One is easily within burn range, the other is not and gives the opponent a huge chance to stabalize.
Is it just me, or does this ability on the Triad of Fates seem quite utterly useless?
W,t: Exile target creature that has a fate counter on it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Maybe I'm just a noob, but it sounds like you take target critter from its location (on the battlefield, under its owner's control), move it to exile, then move it right back to where it was. A completely symbolic, meaningless motion that changes nothing about the current state of the game.
The only way I can see a use for this is in one of the following dubious cases:
a)To exile and return your own critters to remove unwanted enchantments (Would that even work? Do enchantments get removed when an enchanted creature is exiled? or just when it dies?)
b)To regain control of a creature your opponent hijacked from you with an effect (such as Treason). But really, how often does THAT happen?
c)If the fate counter from the Triad's 1st ability remains on the creature after it dies or gets exiled. You could then use this to resurrect it. Of course, this only works if the ability can target creatures that are not on the battlefield. Can it?
d)If this AND the Triad's 1st ability can target creatures in your HAND (which I'm sure we all agree they can't), it's use would be both obvious and completely overpowered.
Here is the 1st ability for reference: ,t: Put a fate counter on another target creature.
So, that said, what the heck is with this completely useless ability? Or is it meant to be used in manner a) b) c) or d) listed above? Or is there something else I'm not seeing?
Is it just me, or does this ability on the Triad of Fates seem quite utterly useless?
W,t: Exile target creature that has a fate counter on it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Maybe I'm just a noob, but it sounds like you take target critter from its location (on the battlefield, under its owner's control), move it to exile, then move it right back to where it was. A completely symbolic, meaningless motion that changes nothing about the current state of the game.
The only way I can see a use for this is in one of the following dubious cases:
a)To exile and return your own critters to remove unwanted enchantments (Would that even work? Do enchantments get removed when an enchanted creature is exiled? or just when it dies?)
b)To regain control of a creature your opponent hijacked from you with an effect (such as Treason). But really, how often does THAT happen?
c)If the fate counter from the Triad's 1st ability remains on the creature after it dies or gets exiled. You could then use this to resurrect it. Of course, this only works if the ability can target creatures that are not on the battlefield. Can it?
d)If this AND the Triad's 1st ability can target creatures in your HAND (which I'm sure we all agree they can't), it's use would be both obvious and completely overpowered.
Here is the 1st ability for reference: ,t: Put a fate counter on another target creature.
So, that said, what the heck is with this completely useless ability? Or is it meant to be used in manner a) b) c) or d) listed above? Or is there something else I'm not seeing?
In addition to what you stated, that ability also enables abilities that trigger from a creature/permanent entering or leaving the battlefield. See the previously Standard crushing Thragtusk.
Counters do not stay on creature cards when they move to other zones though, so no, you cannot use the first ability on things in your hand, or to constantly resurrect things. These objects cease to remain "permanents" and are more accurately referred to as "[permanent] cards."
Is it just me, or does this ability on the Triad of Fates seem quite utterly useless?
W,t: Exile target creature that has a fate counter on it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Maybe I'm just a noob, but it sounds like you take target critter from its location (on the battlefield, under its owner's control), move it to exile, then move it right back to where it was. A completely symbolic, meaningless motion that changes nothing about the current state of the game.
The only way I can see a use for this is in one of the following dubious cases:
a)To exile and return your own critters to remove unwanted enchantments (Would that even work? Do enchantments get removed when an enchanted creature is exiled? or just when it dies?)
b)To regain control of a creature your opponent hijacked from you with an effect (such as Treason). But really, how often does THAT happen?
c)If the fate counter from the Triad's 1st ability remains on the creature after it dies or gets exiled. You could then use this to resurrect it. Of course, this only works if the ability can target creatures that are not on the battlefield. Can it?
d)If this AND the Triad's 1st ability can target creatures in your HAND (which I'm sure we all agree they can't), it's use would be both obvious and completely overpowered.
Here is the 1st ability for reference: ,t: Put a fate counter on another target creature.
So, that said, what the heck is with this completely useless ability? Or is it meant to be used in manner a) b) c) or d) listed above? Or is there something else I'm not seeing?
It triggers ETB effects and counters targeted removal, as well as your first two points. Blink effects are actually very powerful when used correctly, just look at how widely used Restoration Angel was. And no, you can't target creature cards in your hand, or in the graveyard with this ability, and the counter goes away when the target leaves the battlefield.
Triad of Fates is pretty awful. "I'll play this, and in 2 turns, maybe do a thing!" I'd play it in limited since it's a hill giant that does eventually get value, but bad for constructed or even Commander IMO. The glacial speed of its use ruins it.
Firedrinker Satyr is an upgrade on a "bad" card which was super-good in red decks. I think they should have tried for Uncommon on this guy, but he is absolutely constructed playable and RDW should be running 4.
Is it just me, or does this ability on the Triad of Fates seem quite utterly useless?
...
So, that said, what the heck is with this completely useless ability? Or is it meant to be used in manner a) b) c) or d) listed above? Or is there something else I'm not seeing?
Other uses of this ability would include:
- Triggering "enters the battlefield/leaves the battlefield" abilities (ie Thragtusk).
- Dodging removal. ie in response to your Doom Blade, I blink my guy out and back in, he is no longer a target of Doom Blade.
- pseudo-Vigilance, or surprise block. ie blink out a tapped creature and when it blinks back in it will be untapped.
- otherwise "resetting" a card. Some cards may benefit in other ways from being "reset" back to their original form. ie In Theros you could blink out a Monstrous creature to make it "unMonstrous" again, allowing you to use it's Monstrous ability a second time.
- destroying tokens. When a token leaves the battlefield for any reason it ceases to exist. So a token that gets blinked out is gone and will not blink back in again.
In addition to what you stated, that ability also enables abilities that trigger from a creature/permanent entering or leaving the battlefield. See the previously Standard crushing Thragtusk.
Counters do not stay on creature cards when they move to other zones though, so no, you cannot use the first ability on things in your hand, or to constantly resurrect things. These objects cease to remain "permanents" and are more accurately referred to as "[permanent] cards."
It triggers ETB effects and counters targeted removal, as well as your first two points. Blink effects are actually very powerful when used correctly, just look at how widely used Restoration Angel was. And no, you can't target creature cards in your hand, or in the graveyard with this ability, and the counter goes away when the target leaves the battlefield.
Other uses of this ability would include:
- Triggering "enters the battlefield/leaves the battlefield" abilities (ie Thragtusk).
- Dodging removal. ie in response to your Doom Blade, I blink my guy out and back in, he is no longer a target of Doom Blade.
- pseudo-Vigilance, or surprise block. ie blink out a tapped creature and when it blinks back in it will be untapped.
- otherwise "resetting" a card. Some cards may benefit in other ways from being "reset" back to their original form. ie In Theros you could blink out a Monstrous creature to make it "unMonstrous" again, allowing you to use it's Monstrous ability a second time.
- destroying tokens. When a token leaves the battlefield for any reason it ceases to exist. So a token that gets blinked out is gone and will not blink back in again.
Thanks so much guys. You've helped me learn a lot more about the finer nuances of MTG's mechanics that aren't quite answered via the rule book, and my question has been quite thoroughly resolved. I would want this card now if it weren't for what Blue_Oneironaut mentioned about it's molasses working rate:
Triad of Fates is pretty awful. "I'll play this, and in 2 turns, maybe do a thing!" I'd play it in limited since it's a hill giant that does eventually get value, but bad for constructed or even Commander IMO. The glacial speed of its use ruins it.
Even then, I would probably be quite happy to find it in a pack, and could probably still make good use of it. The art is nice too.
Triad of Fates is pretty awful. "I'll play this, and in 2 turns, maybe do a thing!" I'd play it in limited since it's a hill giant that does eventually get value, but bad for constructed or even Commander IMO. The glacial speed of its use ruins it.
I opened two at the prerelease, they both made my main deck but after a couple games I started siding them out every time I could. Triad is just awful.
I opened a nutty BW pool at my last prerelease, and Triad was an all-star in one of my games.
Both me and my opponent happened to pull Spear of Heliods and stick them, so we were kind of trapped in a situation where neither of us really wanted to attack until we could someone kill the other in one or two swings, or could deal with the enchantment.
I took to repeatedly monstrousing my Keepsake Gorgon, attacking with it, and blinking it in response to the Spear ability.
Then I played my Ashen Rider and he scooped.
Most fun I've ever had playing sealed, and I think I might want to build a triad EDH deck just for funsies now.
Your last sentence makes absolutely no sense. And you high and mighty tone makes you look like an idiot. GTFO
Flaming warning issued. -viper
Well, aside from Yore-Tiller Nephilim and a sac outlet.
Or sac outlet, Volrath's Shapeshifter, Dimir Infiltrator and Corpse Dance / Goryo's Vengeance on a stick.
First, give him double strike or add combat phases to get a bunch of extra turns. Then use a card that puts him into attack from you graveyard and have a free sac-engine.
Yore-Tiller Nephilim + Medomai + Viscera Seer can go infinite, even if it isn't likely.
Humility removes the restriction on him attacking, and then you can bounce it during the declare attackers step to give him the extra turn ability back. There are a couple of other ways to circumvent it that are more complicated, but none of them including Humility work in Standard or Modern.
Hypocrisy is the essence of snobbery.
Sakashima's Student would allow infinite turns although the set up would be insane. Mirror Gallery plus Keymaster Rogue. Attack with the Keymaster, Ninjutsu the student and copy Medomai the Ageless, cast Keymaster and return the student. This take 4 cards to win so not worth it but it is possible.
Nick: I lay a swamp, tap, dark ritual...
Me: If you cast a hypnotic specter I'll punch you in the face
Nick:...ahh I take 3 points of mana burn
The reason I play black according to CrovaxtheCursed:
You're underestimating how quickly a 1 mana creature gets more powerful with each extra point of power you give it. 2/1 isn't just a little bit better than 1/1, when the mana cost is a single mana. A 2/1 costing 2RR wouldn't be much different than a 1/1. But for :symr:, you're hard-pressed to get a 2/1 with a drawback, let alone a 3/1 whatsoever.
Bellows Lizard doesn't damage you when it gets damaged, true. But it's also not a 2/1.
.
Than all me to concur. Coming onto a site and calling other people scrubs and shooting them down for playing cards you consider bad does make you sound like a jerk. Maybe they like their midrange WGB decks. Who are you to judge. I know fun is usually frowned upon in standard. But sometimes, its gonna happen. If new players dont like losing lofe for their attacks, who the hell cares. They arent a scrub, they are someone who doesnt like losing life. Maybe their deck isnt tier one. I bet they dont care. Sorry for the rant, but snobby standard players really get under my skin sometimes, and i keep getting in trouble for taking the moral internet high road and trolling them, instead of just saying flat out, youre being a magic jackass. Real it back, let people enjoy the GAME however they want. Let them talk about THEIR OPINIONS ( opinions dont make you a scrub, they make you sentient), and for gods sake, dont name call on a website!*
*i did it a few times too, but i at least accept that i had to.
Im sorry everyone. Back to your discussion.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
Thousand-Year Elixir
Captain of the Mists
then all the yummy flickering is gonna rock!
GU Experiment Kraj- all your abilities belong to us
WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts- battlecruiser
GUB The Mimeoplasm- when graveyards are not safe
RGW Mayael the Anima- i luv the fatties
Some big mad in here.
Firstly the word scrub is not a derogatory term, no need to get defensive.It is simply a term used for someone who doesn't play to win. Now I'm not saying don't be casual, play what how and where you want, what I'm saying is the opinions of casuals have absolutely no ****ing value for discussing spoiler cards.
People are allowed to value things however they want. Value is measured in three ways.
1. monitary: this one is pretty unargueable.
2. Competitively: this one is the big issue; how will it be played, how strong is it.
3. Personally: this is what everyone does. People have opinions about cards they love. If someone loves a squire, its their choice. They value what a squire wrong. They do know how to value things, its just a different value than YOUR value.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
Ok lets focus on 1 and 2.
Monetary. Yea this one is hard to argue, you can predict somewhat, but did anyone predict boros reckoner going up to 30$ after gatecrash release because he was in every deck?
Competitively. This is a huge issue. The biggest problem is not taking cards in the context of their metagame. Another problem is most of the MTGS posters are just bad. this is where the 'duuuuuurrrr this card sucks' opinions come from, without any testing on say cockatrice or MWS, without any idea of what role it plays in the archetype it will be played in. Cards like Satyr are very easy to evaluate. You already have an existing archetype, RDW, it replaces a card rotating, it does the job of an efficient red 1 drop.
Personal opinion. Ok people have their 'this card is so good in my edh deck' or whatever. Cool. Just don't get it confused with 'this card is going to suck and i will hate opening it', because that will quickly change if the card goes up to 8$ like vexing devil and stormkirk noble.
This is a much less anger biased way of posting my thoughts and i appreciate you doing so.
I get to watch great leaders, terrible oppressors, and trend setters rise and fall.
Limited, Standard, Modern, everything is a different playing field I feel I can observe, but will not actually touch.
I look forward to the stories I will hear.
And more so to the ones I will watch unfold first hand.
Isn't the unknown exciting?
I'd played sligh in the glory days of tempest and I'd learned to hate the Jackal Pup. ...and that draw back really does suck...
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
Either way I would love to Mindslaver a Firedrinker to attack with a Boros Reckoner to block.
Nick: I lay a swamp, tap, dark ritual...
Me: If you cast a hypnotic specter I'll punch you in the face
Nick:...ahh I take 3 points of mana burn
The reason I play black according to CrovaxtheCursed:
bellows lizard is terrible.
The drawback on fire drinker is negligible. If your in a situation where he has to block then you are already losing.
Yep. Or moreso most of the time it is. There are corner cases were Legion Loyalist will be better, but rarely. By turn 5, in a vacuum of course and considering no missed land drop between turns 1-4, the damage differential is 9 damage in favor of the Satyr(Loyalist attacks 5 turns, deals 5 damage; Satyr attacks 4 turns, pumps 1 turns 2&3 pumps twice turn 4&5 for a total of 14 damage). That's a huge difference in life right there. Even if you play something every turn and never pump the satyr, that's still a damage differential of 3 in the satyr's favor.
The differential between Satyr and Bellows Lizard is 4 in the Satyrs favor, and is always 4 by turn 5.
Those who think 3-4 damage difference by turn 5 is small are completely wrong. It's often the difference between putting the opponent in burn range, or just out-right winning through attacks. It's the difference between putting the opponent at 2 or 3 life and putting the opponent at 5 or 6 life. One is easily within burn range, the other is not and gives the opponent a huge chance to stabalize.
W,t: Exile target creature that has a fate counter on it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Maybe I'm just a noob, but it sounds like you take target critter from its location (on the battlefield, under its owner's control), move it to exile, then move it right back to where it was. A completely symbolic, meaningless motion that changes nothing about the current state of the game.
The only way I can see a use for this is in one of the following dubious cases:
a)To exile and return your own critters to remove unwanted enchantments (Would that even work? Do enchantments get removed when an enchanted creature is exiled? or just when it dies?)
b)To regain control of a creature your opponent hijacked from you with an effect (such as Treason). But really, how often does THAT happen?
c)If the fate counter from the Triad's 1st ability remains on the creature after it dies or gets exiled. You could then use this to resurrect it. Of course, this only works if the ability can target creatures that are not on the battlefield. Can it?
d)If this AND the Triad's 1st ability can target creatures in your HAND (which I'm sure we all agree they can't), it's use would be both obvious and completely overpowered.
Here is the 1st ability for reference:
,t: Put a fate counter on another target creature.
So, that said, what the heck is with this completely useless ability? Or is it meant to be used in manner a) b) c) or d) listed above? Or is there something else I'm not seeing?
In addition to what you stated, that ability also enables abilities that trigger from a creature/permanent entering or leaving the battlefield. See the previously Standard crushing Thragtusk.
Counters do not stay on creature cards when they move to other zones though, so no, you cannot use the first ability on things in your hand, or to constantly resurrect things. These objects cease to remain "permanents" and are more accurately referred to as "[permanent] cards."
It triggers ETB effects and counters targeted removal, as well as your first two points. Blink effects are actually very powerful when used correctly, just look at how widely used Restoration Angel was. And no, you can't target creature cards in your hand, or in the graveyard with this ability, and the counter goes away when the target leaves the battlefield.
Firedrinker Satyr is an upgrade on a "bad" card which was super-good in red decks. I think they should have tried for Uncommon on this guy, but he is absolutely constructed playable and RDW should be running 4.
Other uses of this ability would include:
- Triggering "enters the battlefield/leaves the battlefield" abilities (ie Thragtusk).
- Dodging removal. ie in response to your Doom Blade, I blink my guy out and back in, he is no longer a target of Doom Blade.
- pseudo-Vigilance, or surprise block. ie blink out a tapped creature and when it blinks back in it will be untapped.
- otherwise "resetting" a card. Some cards may benefit in other ways from being "reset" back to their original form. ie In Theros you could blink out a Monstrous creature to make it "unMonstrous" again, allowing you to use it's Monstrous ability a second time.
- destroying tokens. When a token leaves the battlefield for any reason it ceases to exist. So a token that gets blinked out is gone and will not blink back in again.
Thanks so much guys. You've helped me learn a lot more about the finer nuances of MTG's mechanics that aren't quite answered via the rule book, and my question has been quite thoroughly resolved. I would want this card now if it weren't for what Blue_Oneironaut mentioned about it's molasses working rate:
Even then, I would probably be quite happy to find it in a pack, and could probably still make good use of it. The art is nice too.
Cheers, and thanks again
I opened two at the prerelease, they both made my main deck but after a couple games I started siding them out every time I could. Triad is just awful.
Both me and my opponent happened to pull Spear of Heliods and stick them, so we were kind of trapped in a situation where neither of us really wanted to attack until we could someone kill the other in one or two swings, or could deal with the enchantment.
I took to repeatedly monstrousing my Keepsake Gorgon, attacking with it, and blinking it in response to the Spear ability.
Then I played my Ashen Rider and he scooped.
Most fun I've ever had playing sealed, and I think I might want to build a triad EDH deck just for funsies now.
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