Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I can't believe how bad this card is. Waaaaay too much must go right for it to do anything at all. After one activation you get back about what should have gotten to start with.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Cohort probably plays better in limited than people think because it can be used at instant speed, and works great with vigilance. That being said, judging by the rares they've showed us it seems to be relegated to a limited only mechanic, but you never know.
"Look, I will tap my four mana 2/2 and another Ally on turn five to squeeze out a 2/2 Zombie with no relevance whatsoever."
I honestly feel like they weren't even trying at this point. Awaken, Surge and Landfall are all great, befitting of Zendikar. And then there's...Ingest, which does next to nothing, Devoid, which does as much as Ingest does, Rally and Cohort, mechanics which make Kamigawa not look parasitic in comparison, and Support? I don't know really, there's like twelve +1/+1 mechanics at this point, it's easy to get lost.
Ingest is there to support Process, which probably should have been a keyword action. They're a pretty neat mechanical pair, and I think they were handled rather well. The C stuff also looks fun.
I agree about the Ally mechanics, though. They're kind of a mess, and I'm really disappointed we're getting that instead of some better Processors.
I am suddenly reminded of Agadeem Occultist and Bala Ged Thief and that's because they are terrible rares I opened lots of back in the day. I didn't even open much BFZ (nothing outside of the Prereleases, a single draft and prize packs I won from the occasional Modern Games I go for) and I think I saw a lot of Defiant Bloodlords (percentage-wise) as well.
Maybe if the zombie was an ally and came into play untapped? As is, it feels fairly counter productive to tap two creatures to make a 2/2 unless you are in a board stall situation which would be a lot less likely if your 4 drop were a siege rhino
I suppose it could be pretty good in limited though as having a resource that doesn't run out and costs no mana seems pretty good, and board stalls aren't all that uncommon.
Ingest is there to support Process, which probably should have been a keyword action. They're a pretty neat mechanical pair, and I think they were handled rather well. The C stuff also looks fun.
I agree about the Ally mechanics, though. They're kind of a mess, and I'm really disappointed we're getting that instead of some better Processors.
Ingest and Process had the potential to be really cool. As it is, it's like a third-rate limited mechanic. They "broke the rules" of bringing things back from exile...to do what? To make a mechanic people play only in Limited and only as a last resort at that? What a waste.
At first I didn't think this was all that bad, until I reread it and found out why it is so bad. Had this just tapped itself and made zombies, even if they were tapped, this would be decent-ish, but since you need two creatures, both with the same creature type, and the zombie comes into play tapped it just isn't worth it. Maybe in limited this is okay, but even then just barely.
Dafuq is this? 4 mana 2/2 with a terrble ability at rare... you're fired Drana.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light.
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
"Look, I will tap my four mana 2/2 and another Ally on turn five to squeeze out a 2/2 Zombie with no relevance whatsoever."
I honestly feel like they weren't even trying at this point. Awaken, Surge and Landfall are all great, befitting of Zendikar. And then there's...Ingest, which does next to nothing, Devoid, which does as much as Ingest does, Rally and Cohort, mechanics which make Kamigawa not look parasitic in comparison, and Support? I don't know really, there's like twelve +1/+1 mechanics at this point, it's easy to get lost.
Ingest is there to support Process, which probably should have been a keyword action. They're a pretty neat mechanical pair, and I think they were handled rather well. The C stuff also looks fun.
I agree about the Ally mechanics, though. They're kind of a mess, and I'm really disappointed we're getting that instead of some better Processors.
You might notice that both Ingest and processors are only in this block, which makes them as parasitic as possible. These cards will only get worse over time since they're not open-ended and don't play well with other cards. If you don't have cards to process, Ingest is useless, if you don't have Ingest cards to exile cards from their deck, processors are useless. It's not about that it isn't flavorful or fitting, it is, just like Splice, Spiritcraft, Channel and Sweep were. But that doesn't mean that those mechanics aren't horrible mechanically.
If you want a completely opposite example, look at Surge and Landfall. Both of them profit from something which happens in games naturally and are thus as open as mechanics can be. Those are the mechanics we need, not the ones which only play with cards from their own set/block and interact poorly or not at all with the rest of the cards out there. In between highly-praised Tarkir and upcoming Innistrad, I think this block will not be too fondly remembered, just like Kamigawa isn't, which was squished in between powerful Mirrodin and Ravnica blocks.
Processors are only in this block, yes, but the exile zone is used often enough - ingest is literally only the process enabler for limited. And the ingest decks in limited are really good.
I certainly agree that cohort is parasitic, since allies are much harder to find (unless wizards will throw in some random creatures with the type ally in most blocks from now on).
Rally is somewhere between the two IMHO - even with only one ally with a rally ability in your deck you can still benefit from it, because it affects all creatures when that ally enters the battlefield (so you could see it as a sorcery which also leaves a random body behind), so it isn't that parasitic (it works with all creatures at least in terms of getting the bonus), but as soon as you want to trigger it multiple times you'll have to use creatures from the zendikar blocks - spiritcraft (from your examples) isn't that parasitic either, since there are spirits in many magic sets -> during modern mastres 2 drafts I have often triggered a thief of hope with a plagued rusalka (or returned the rusalka with the soulshift later)
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
And.... The zombie comes in tapped too.
The uncommons in this set are better than this card.
Yeh pretty much. Ally tribal is quite lame, most likely because allies only exist in two blocks now.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Ingest is there to support Process, which probably should have been a keyword action. They're a pretty neat mechanical pair, and I think they were handled rather well. The C stuff also looks fun.
I agree about the Ally mechanics, though. They're kind of a mess, and I'm really disappointed we're getting that instead of some better Processors.
I hope this isn't next on the queue.
If you don't have an ally this card is a bad vanilla and they made this thing a RARE?!
Hell her cohort ability isn't even that good.taping 2 creatures to get a TAPPED lonelly zombie is just pathetic
Holy ***** this card is giving Prism Array a run for its money
I suppose it could be pretty good in limited though as having a resource that doesn't run out and costs no mana seems pretty good, and board stalls aren't all that uncommon.
Ingest and Process had the potential to be really cool. As it is, it's like a third-rate limited mechanic. They "broke the rules" of bringing things back from exile...to do what? To make a mechanic people play only in Limited and only as a last resort at that? What a waste.
That's not saying much though, the uncommons in this set have been great so far.
This card is BFZ rare bad.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
/sums up whole thread.
Sorry about your Chosen, Drana
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
Processors are only in this block, yes, but the exile zone is used often enough - ingest is literally only the process enabler for limited. And the ingest decks in limited are really good.
You can process stuff exiled by oblivion ring, brain maggot, swords to plowshares, which makes processing not parasitic, since it works with all of magic - yes you have to wrap your deck around it but there are plenty of cards exiling stuff.
Here is a modern deck from a recent star city open series: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97028 BW eldrazi processors - it uses wasteland strangler and blight herder for value, while exiling with path to exile, relic of progenitus, oblivion sower and (a singleton) bojuka bog it finished in 10th place...
I certainly agree that cohort is parasitic, since allies are much harder to find (unless wizards will throw in some random creatures with the type ally in most blocks from now on).
Rally is somewhere between the two IMHO - even with only one ally with a rally ability in your deck you can still benefit from it, because it affects all creatures when that ally enters the battlefield (so you could see it as a sorcery which also leaves a random body behind), so it isn't that parasitic (it works with all creatures at least in terms of getting the bonus), but as soon as you want to trigger it multiple times you'll have to use creatures from the zendikar blocks - spiritcraft (from your examples) isn't that parasitic either, since there are spirits in many magic sets -> during modern mastres 2 drafts I have often triggered a thief of hope with a plagued rusalka (or returned the rusalka with the soulshift later)
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