someone please tell me that the 1wb card is going in modern bw tokens.
I could see sideboard, but not sure about main just because it is almost a win-more card; if you have enough tokens that this card matters, you should win anyways. I could be wrong though, it is a very interesting card.
Kind of weird that adding red to Inspired Charge gets you an untap effect.
It's more like adding W to Trumpet Blast and getting +0/+1 and the untap effect.
The reason for this confusion is that the global +2/+0 is within white and red pie equally (it's in the hybrid slice). So this card could be mono white (probably at higher cost, depends on the setting) but it's fine in two colors as well.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Cunning Strike is a good combat trick if you have prowess on the board but it's a bit overcosted compared to War Flare. 2 damage to a player is horrible for the added cost, would be better if they dropped that off to make it cost 2UR.
So is it just me or do these designs just feel off to anyone else? Cunning Strike is the only one that checks all the boxes for me. It is very U/R and seems like something that would be in a jeskai mage's arsenal. War Flare does feel very mardu, and there is a token subtheme to the clan, but as other posters have pointed out, it doesn't feel very much like a R/W card. Harsh Sustenance on the other hand feels very mardu as well, but is abzan. Abzan thus far have been all about going big rather than wide despite the group flavor of the clan. The card does check the B/W box pretty hard though. Then there is Grim Contest. LOLWHUT? I don't get this one at all, why is toughness dealing damage? The flavor text is pretty good for the mechanics, but why is this a card? I actually had to look it up to see that toughness>power was common across sultai's creatures so it certainly did not jump out at me as a thing. It doesn't feel sultai at all (slightly abzan perhaps with their growth theme), and it doesn't feel golgari or black to me at all. It gets a green check due to fight mechanic, but that's about it unless toughness matters is design space they are moving into black. The dissonance was completed by the 5th member of the cycle not being in the OP (can we get it changed to reflect that Ethereal Ambush was part of the cycle?). Of course, in the shiny newness of the manifest mechanic, I didn't really think about it at the time, but I am unsure of just how temur it is to make a pair of 2/2s as opposed to a creature that would activate ferocious. Card feels more sultai to me making minion sized creatures with subtle trickery magix, but it does get the U/G box.
As far as playability goes, I very much wish Cunning Strike was costed for constructed as it looks like a card I would want to cast quite often at 3 mana and perhaps even on occasion at 4. I do appreciate that for limited it costs 5 to deal with a morph(or manifest) much like it takes 5+ to flip a morph and win a combat against another morph that can't flip. Harsh Sustenance doesn't have an immediate home in standard, but might be playable in a mardu tokens shell? I don't see it as a viable option in B/W tokens in modern, as the slots it has to contend for with are very competitive, but I don't play the deck so I could be wrong. I definitely have an EDH deck that will appreciate this effect though and will be finding room. The whole cycle looks like solid limited goodness to me though.
Then there is Grim Contest. LOLWHUT? I don't get this one at all, why is toughness dealing damage? The flavor text is pretty good for the mechanics, but why is this a card?
It's a battle of endurance instead of a battle of strength. Plus, GB has a toughness matters thing going on with Kin-Tree Invocation.
And Urut Barzeel is apparently an ancestor of Gvar Barzeel, the Abzan krumar commander in present Tarkir.
Nice catch! Lovely flavor, knowing that Gvar came from a significant bloodline, him becoming an Abzan spawns a lot of lore possibilities.
Not really, considering that that timeline will cease to exist. Perhaps he will have a different role in Dragons of Tarkir?
All that potential, gone, because of Sarkhan's dragon fetish. If it were Sorin or Nahiri they'd be saving Ugin because of Eldrazi, so far Sarkhan did it because he wanted to get rid of Ugin's whisper and to admire the dragons.
Grim Contest, toughness fight card, can becoming a fight-like mechanic in the future. What would it be called then... Wrestle? Endurance? Hardiness?
I love the flavour of Grim Contest, but at its cost it compares poorly to cards like Hero's Downfall and Putrefy. A toughness-fight card that's playable in constructed would be fun though.
And Urut Barzeel is apparently an ancestor of Gvar Barzeel, the Abzan krumar commander in present Tarkir.
Nice catch! Lovely flavor, knowing that Gvar came from a significant bloodline, him becoming an Abzan spawns a lot of lore possibilities.
Not really, considering that that timeline will cease to exist. Perhaps he will have a different role in Dragons of Tarkir?
All that potential, gone, because of Sarkhan's dragon fetish. If it were Sorin or Nahiri they'd be saving Ugin because of Eldrazi, so far Sarkhan did it because he wanted to get rid of Ugin's whisper and to admire the dragons.
Well, Sarkhan WAS one of the three planeswalkers who broke the Eldrazi lock (together with Jace and Chandra). Also, he was born on Tarkir -- maybe his birth and his whole life was just a part of Ugin's plan... And perhaps, in an ironic twist, the personality traits that made him ready to rescue Ugin also made him so easy to exploit for the other big dragon...
The R/W and the B/G ones seem decent and much better for being at instant speed. The B/W one is just really, really conditional as to be unreliable. And the R/U is sort of meh, and at a CMC that's pretty glutted already.
Am I the only one that thinks harsh sustenance could have a home in modern BW tokens? In a deck with bitterblossom the lifegain is relevant, it could easily be a 3 mana 10 point life swing in that deck.
So is it just me or do these designs just feel off to anyone else? Cunning Strike is the only one that checks all the boxes for me. It is very U/R and seems like something that would be in a jeskai mage's arsenal. War Flare does feel very mardu, and there is a token subtheme to the clan, but as other posters have pointed out, it doesn't feel very much like a R/W card. Harsh Sustenance on the other hand feels very mardu as well, but is abzan. Abzan thus far have been all about going big rather than wide despite the group flavor of the clan. The card does check the B/W box pretty hard though. Then there is Grim Contest. LOLWHUT? I don't get this one at all, why is toughness dealing damage? The flavor text is pretty good for the mechanics, but why is this a card? I actually had to look it up to see that toughness>power was common across sultai's creatures so it certainly did not jump out at me as a thing. It doesn't feel sultai at all (slightly abzan perhaps with their growth theme), and it doesn't feel golgari or black to me at all. It gets a green check due to fight mechanic, but that's about it unless toughness matters is design space they are moving into black. The dissonance was completed by the 5th member of the cycle not being in the OP (can we get it changed to reflect that Ethereal Ambush was part of the cycle?). Of course, in the shiny newness of the manifest mechanic, I didn't really think about it at the time, but I am unsure of just how temur it is to make a pair of 2/2s as opposed to a creature that would activate ferocious. Card feels more sultai to me making minion sized creatures with subtle trickery magix, but it does get the U/G box.
I've already explained why War Flare is a representative R/W card. Golden does not necessarily puts together elements each color can do while the other color can't. It is clearly a Trumpet Blast with +0/+1 and untap extra for one W more. The fact that Trumpet Blast could be a 2W card is 100% irrelevant color-pie wise.
Abzan going big rather then going wide is not precisely true. In limited Abzan is all about accumulating a lot of creatures that gives bonus for the creatures with +1/+1 counters. Abzan is much more about making a army of firststrike-deathtouch-lifelink-flying creatures then using Outlast across ten turns to get a 12/12. Outlasting the same creature multiple times instead of outlasting many different creatures or playing more creatures is generally a big mistake when people play Abzan limited. They tend to think a archtype strategy revolves around the keyword, which is not always true. Abzan number one limited mechanic is the ability of Abzan Battle Priest and others alike. Not to mention the whole WB warrior token archtype that is based on both mardu and abzan cards and is the number one archtype for this card.
Toughness Matter is a the BG sub-theme of this set (the same way warriors is the WB subtheme, combat tricks is the WR subtheme, facedown matters is the UG subtheme and permission is the UR subtheme). All this cycle of common is meant to reinforce those subthemes, that are shared among the clans. In limited it is adamant that are common ground among the different archtypes and those subtheme is how this is handled in this block. Since the cards fits the mechanics of both the clans, the art and watermark are tied to flavor.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard - Serious BGU Control R Aggro
Standard - For Fun BG Auras
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It's more like adding W to Trumpet Blast and getting +0/+1 and the untap effect.
The reason for this confusion is that the global +2/+0 is within white and red pie equally (it's in the hybrid slice). So this card could be mono white (probably at higher cost, depends on the setting) but it's fine in two colors as well.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Would need to cost BG and have some kind of lifegain to be decent
Harsh Sustenance looks sweet though
It think it's always cool to see multicolor cards at common rarity.
"OH GOD MY BRAIN IS EXPLOADING AT HOW BAD THE ART IS ON MY OWN CARD"
-A friend's first impression of Ancestral Recall
10/10, I tapped.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
War Flare would be annoying if it was in a large set but since you won't see many in a draft it should be ok.
Harsh Sustenance seems like a good card for the prerelease to get you out of a board stall because it scales to break the biggest threats.
Grim Contest works well with Rotting Mastodon and Archer's Parapet. Pass it on at your peril.
Cunning Strike is a good combat trick if you have prowess on the board but it's a bit overcosted compared to War Flare. 2 damage to a player is horrible for the added cost, would be better if they dropped that off to make it cost 2UR.
As far as playability goes, I very much wish Cunning Strike was costed for constructed as it looks like a card I would want to cast quite often at 3 mana and perhaps even on occasion at 4. I do appreciate that for limited it costs 5 to deal with a morph(or manifest) much like it takes 5+ to flip a morph and win a combat against another morph that can't flip. Harsh Sustenance doesn't have an immediate home in standard, but might be playable in a mardu tokens shell? I don't see it as a viable option in B/W tokens in modern, as the slots it has to contend for with are very competitive, but I don't play the deck so I could be wrong. I definitely have an EDH deck that will appreciate this effect though and will be finding room. The whole cycle looks like solid limited goodness to me though.
It's a battle of endurance instead of a battle of strength. Plus, GB has a toughness matters thing going on with Kin-Tree Invocation.
Nice catch! Lovely flavor, knowing that Gvar came from a significant bloodline, him becoming an Abzan spawns a lot of lore possibilities.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Not really, considering that that timeline will cease to exist. Perhaps he will have a different role in Dragons of Tarkir?
No wonder Silumgar has such a big booty.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
All that potential, gone, because of Sarkhan's dragon fetish. If it were Sorin or Nahiri they'd be saving Ugin because of Eldrazi, so far Sarkhan did it because he wanted to get rid of Ugin's whisper and to admire the dragons.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Grim Contest, toughness fight card, can becoming a fight-like mechanic in the future. What would it be called then... Wrestle? Endurance? Hardiness?
EDH: GWCaptain Sisay
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I love the flavour of Grim Contest, but at its cost it compares poorly to cards like Hero's Downfall and Putrefy. A toughness-fight card that's playable in constructed would be fun though.
Well, Sarkhan WAS one of the three planeswalkers who broke the Eldrazi lock (together with Jace and Chandra). Also, he was born on Tarkir -- maybe his birth and his whole life was just a part of Ugin's plan... And perhaps, in an ironic twist, the personality traits that made him ready to rescue Ugin also made him so easy to exploit for the other big dragon...
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
- L
"The problem isn't when Scissors says Rock is overpowered, it's when Paper says it is."
-Mark Rosewater
I've already explained why War Flare is a representative R/W card. Golden does not necessarily puts together elements each color can do while the other color can't. It is clearly a Trumpet Blast with +0/+1 and untap extra for one W more. The fact that Trumpet Blast could be a 2W card is 100% irrelevant color-pie wise.
Abzan going big rather then going wide is not precisely true. In limited Abzan is all about accumulating a lot of creatures that gives bonus for the creatures with +1/+1 counters. Abzan is much more about making a army of firststrike-deathtouch-lifelink-flying creatures then using Outlast across ten turns to get a 12/12. Outlasting the same creature multiple times instead of outlasting many different creatures or playing more creatures is generally a big mistake when people play Abzan limited. They tend to think a archtype strategy revolves around the keyword, which is not always true. Abzan number one limited mechanic is the ability of Abzan Battle Priest and others alike. Not to mention the whole WB warrior token archtype that is based on both mardu and abzan cards and is the number one archtype for this card.
Toughness Matter is a the BG sub-theme of this set (the same way warriors is the WB subtheme, combat tricks is the WR subtheme, facedown matters is the UG subtheme and permission is the UR subtheme). All this cycle of common is meant to reinforce those subthemes, that are shared among the clans. In limited it is adamant that are common ground among the different archtypes and those subtheme is how this is handled in this block. Since the cards fits the mechanics of both the clans, the art and watermark are tied to flavor.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras