Okay, so I began testing this card as soon as it came out. I tested it in standard and in modern WW. So due note that I won't be making unfounded statements of this card is bad or whatever. My conclusion about Ulrich is that he is ok. However, allow me to heir some grievances about him.
1. This card needed some type of keyword. Even if Ulrich had trample it would make it so much better. Something to make this a better beatstick than other creatures in standard. Everything else that is 5cmc right now is just better. Trample or Hexproof I feel would make sense for this type of card. However it doesn't have anything.
2. This is a card that feels like it would be printed in Theros. Something like Ulrich's ability feels like it would make sense back when actually midrange decks that played 4 or 5cmc cards were good. This would be a fine card back when RG monsters were the best deck. It just feels like something that should have been printed 2 years ago.
3. Ulrich is not in the right meta. This is a very similar situation to Arlinn Kord. RG is not situated very well in this meta where hyper aggressive decks are the way to go. If gruul was a better color combination then this card could be somewhat good. Maybe when the meta shifts this fall with Kaladesh then it could see play but we'll see.
4. It doesn't change anything. When it comes to big mythics like this I look for 2 things. Is it a powerful but splashy card and is it going to shift or change something in the meta. Ulrich does neither of these things. It can't stand its ground against GW tokens or humans so whats the point of playing the card.
5. This just wasn't a great reveal in general. Ulrich as a whole just doesn't satisfy anyone. It doesn't satisfy who wanted a constructed playable werewolf similar to Huntmaster. It doesn't satisfy commander players. It is a card that has no effect whatsoever.
6. Where are the tribal synergies? This speaks for itself.
In conclusion Ulrich is a card that does stone-cold nothing. It satisfies no one. It can't be good in this meta. All around it seems okay on paper but it is so bland and generic that it will stick out in people's minds. Wizards essentially just showed that they have no idea what werewolf players want and that's not good. This is gonna be one of the things that Eldritch Moon will be remembered for. Ulrich is a mess Wizards will eventually HAVE to clean up.
Some pretty spot on analysis right here. Being a huge WW fan, if the art was a bit better, I could let it slide and buy at a higher price. As it is, it is currently way too high. Yet another example of WotC crapping the bed with a card that could have been epic.
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
I've been extremely outspoken on blogatog about my disappointment in the legendary werewolf they gave us. Apparently while asking for years for this card, we somehow weren't specific enough with what we wanted. I had issue with that statement because 1: I have been VERY particular about what I wanted in a legendary werewolf through blogatog and other outlets. And 2: if they can't look at unsolicited designs, how are we to effectively communicate what we specifically want? I directly asked MaRo to admit they dropped the ball with this, and to his credit, he did. He didn't have to do that, he didn't have to reply at all. 99% of other companies would have basically said f off. However badly they missed on this, I have to give them credit for owning it. And I can see how they might not have exactly known what we are looking for. You would think though, that with the majority of people who wanted this card want it for werewolf tribal in most likely commander, they would be more aware of some sort of tribal synergy, any pay off at all for playing werewolves. Maybe they just weren't aware of how big a disadvantage having to skip turns and rely on your opponents not playing anything or not playing too many things is to werewolves. If that is the oversight, then I can understand. A lot of people are getting the idea that we just 100% hate Ulrich. I've said before, when I look at this card and ignore its creature types, I see a very strong and powerful card. Not the right pick for every deck, but still strong. My disappointment is not with the strength of this individual card, but rather that we used the one space in a set for a legendary werewolf until who knows when, and that space was not used to its fullest potential
I've been extremely outspoken on blogatog about my disappointment in the legendary werewolf they gave us. Apparently while asking for years for this card, we somehow weren't specific enough with what we wanted. I had issue with that statement because 1: I have been VERY particular about what I wanted in a legendary werewolf through blogatog and other outlets. And 2: if they can't look at unsolicited designs, how are we to effectively communicate what we specifically want? I directly asked MaRo to admit they dropped the ball with this, and to his credit, he did. He didn't have to do that, he didn't have to reply at all. 99% of other companies would have basically said f off. However badly they missed on this, I have to give them credit for owning it. And I can see how they might not have exactly known what we are looking for. You would think though, that with the majority of people who wanted this card want it for werewolf tribal in most likely commander, they would be more aware of some sort of tribal synergy, any pay off at all for playing werewolves. Maybe they just weren't aware of how big a disadvantage having to skip turns and rely on your opponents not playing anything or not playing too many things is to werewolves. If that is the oversight, then I can understand. A lot of people are getting the idea that we just 100% hate Ulrich. I've said before, when I look at this card and ignore its creature types, I see a very strong and powerful card. Not the right pick for every deck, but still strong. My disappointment is not with the strength of this individual card, but rather that we used the one space in a set for a legendary werewolf until who knows when, and that space was not used to its fullest potential
My main problem is the fact of the disconnect. Wizards knew that this was a highly requested card, but, they gave us something that really doesn't satisfy anyone. Commander players will still play Ruric or Xenagos. In standard it just doesn't do enough to make it at the moment. I satisfies no one. Now fans of WW will have to wait another couple years until we comeback to Innistrad to get a better WW legend. Its just bad publicity as a whole. It shows that Wizards isn't listening very well to the requests from the player base.
I've been extremely outspoken on blogatog about my disappointment in the legendary werewolf they gave us. Apparently while asking for years for this card, we somehow weren't specific enough with what we wanted. I had issue with that statement because 1: I have been VERY particular about what I wanted in a legendary werewolf through blogatog and other outlets. And 2: if they can't look at unsolicited designs, how are we to effectively communicate what we specifically want? I directly asked MaRo to admit they dropped the ball with this, and to his credit, he did. He didn't have to do that, he didn't have to reply at all. 99% of other companies would have basically said f off. However badly they missed on this, I have to give them credit for owning it. And I can see how they might not have exactly known what we are looking for. You would think though, that with the majority of people who wanted this card want it for werewolf tribal in most likely commander, they would be more aware of some sort of tribal synergy, any pay off at all for playing werewolves. Maybe they just weren't aware of how big a disadvantage having to skip turns and rely on your opponents not playing anything or not playing too many things is to werewolves. If that is the oversight, then I can understand. A lot of people are getting the idea that we just 100% hate Ulrich. I've said before, when I look at this card and ignore its creature types, I see a very strong and powerful card. Not the right pick for every deck, but still strong. My disappointment is not with the strength of this individual card, but rather that we used the one space in a set for a legendary werewolf until who knows when, and that space was not used to its fullest potential
My main problem is the fact of the disconnect. Wizards knew that this was a highly requested card, but, they gave us something that really doesn't satisfy anyone. Commander players will still play Ruric or Xenagos. In standard it just doesn't do enough to make it at the moment. I satisfies no one. Now fans of WW will have to wait another couple years until we comeback to Innistrad to get a better WW legend. Its just bad publicity as a whole. It shows that Wizards isn't listening very well to the requests from the player base.
As many have said, it feels like a weaker Huntsmaster over an actual legendary werewolf. Honestly I would have preferred him having a more transform-centric effect. If I were building him I would have gone more like:
Ulrich Human: When Ulrich enters the battlefield under your control you may transform all werewolves that you control. Trample. 4/4. EDIT: Fixed "you control".
Ulrich Werewolf: Trample. Vigilance. Whenever a Werewolf transforms you may have it Fight target creature you do not control. 2 Colorless RG: You may have Werewolf Creatures you control ignore their transform trigger until your next End Step. 6/6.
Not perfect, or at all balanced, but at least it feels like our Alpha has some control over his pack. His cost and legendary status make me feel like him having control over transformation is perfectly acceptable since he can't be stacked. He comes out and you have a by-choice transform. While he is in pup form you get to have that Fight trigger that Wolves are perfect for, and he keeps his pack in line. He is the Uncontested Alpha after all!
And look at that! 4 of them can give him trample! Those sound like great cards for an Ulrich deck!
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Way to stay on the positive side man! Thats nice to see.
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Goblins
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Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Well you can tell with a pack leader like this the werewolves, at least his pack, will fall to the eldrazi. I kind of hope that werewolf-drazi from the trailer has more werewolf synergy then this guy.
And look at that! 4 of them can give him trample! Those sound like great cards for an Ulrich deck!
2 things: First, only 4 of those buff werewolves. Second, and more to the point, none of them are legendary creatures. The sad thing is that werewolf commander decks can only suck horribly. They needed an AMAZING leader to make the deck have any legs. Pity.
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My favorite flavor text: Time of Heroes
Feel free to tell me yours!
Okay, honestly, even if Ulrich was freakin' ridiculous, Werewolves would not be playable in Commander. They're too slow, and they don't generate card advantage usually. He's a perfectly fine Mythic rare creature. The tribe is just a shallow pool. It isn't Ulrich's fault the deck sucks. Maybe next time we see werewolves we'll finally get enough pieces together.
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MTGSalvation; Where the whining is a time honored tradition, and enjoying the game is trolling.
Okay, honestly, even if Ulrich was freakin' ridiculous, Werewolves would not be playable in Commander. They're too slow, and they don't generate card advantage usually. He's a perfectly fine Mythic rare creature. The tribe is just a shallow pool. It isn't Ulrich's fault the deck sucks. Maybe next time we see werewolves we'll finally get enough pieces together.
There are good enough now tbh. I built the werewolves when they first come out in Innistrad, it was pretty crap. Now they are much better . They can do silly damage and are pretty good in combat, although they need a pretty good presence to be much of a threat, there are enough 'lords' to support them now. Hopefully we get a couple more in this set though
Commander is meta dependent, yes.
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MTGSalvation; Where the whining is a time honored tradition, and enjoying the game is trolling.
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this reason for not liking Ulrich, but he's suffering the same problem a thousand other yet to be made Legendary creatures will also suffer from and that is this: Legendary creatures are now, by definition, Commanders and Commanders need to be leaders; they need abilities that constantly affect the battlefield, or somehow strongly support a theme or style of play. Being "generally high powered" isn't enough to be legendary anymore. Strong cards are for the 99. FLASHY cards are for the commander slot, and this guy is anything but flashy (especially when your opponents know you have a titanic growth sitting there, his front side becomes 95% more boring).
Between this and Arlinn Kord, I feel like Werewolves got a lot to be pretty fun in EDH. I don't like or play them, but after getting Thassa and her Bident in Theros I'm very happy with my Sea Monster EDH deck. It's not the best deck either, but thematic decks are hardly about being the most competitive anyway. It's a Timmy winning with style thing anyway.
Arlinn is awesome for our EDH werewolf decks. This guy will be in mine but just as one of the 99. Ill never look at him twice or get excited but he's in for sure.
I just wish, as my potential commander, he rewarded me for playing my tribe. Like Ezuri, Azami, Krenko, etc.
Something I'd like to point out to all those whining about the lack of dedicated tribal support on Ulrich's card: Out of Innistrad's original four tribal leaders - Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Geist of Saint Traft, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, and Olivia Voldaren - only Olivia mentions her own tribe in any of her abilities and most of it is interacting with cards your opponents control. The leaders were designed to play well with their tribe, not necessarily to support them specifically a la Ezuri, Renegade Leader but to fit the general flavor and mechanical focus.
If there is one change I'd make to Ulrich, it would be to give him a mana pump effect that pumps all your creatures and maybe give them trample or somesuch. That of course would be his Werewolf side; the Human side I imagine would produce Wolf tokens with haste instead. Problem is, Arlinn Kord took that niche in SOI block. But maybe in a future Innistrad block Ulrich or another Alpha will be able to sport such mana pump abilities.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
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He's not bad, but the effects that would have been better for the legendary werewolf were already done before him.
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
1. This card needed some type of keyword. Even if Ulrich had trample it would make it so much better. Something to make this a better beatstick than other creatures in standard. Everything else that is 5cmc right now is just better. Trample or Hexproof I feel would make sense for this type of card. However it doesn't have anything.
2. This is a card that feels like it would be printed in Theros. Something like Ulrich's ability feels like it would make sense back when actually midrange decks that played 4 or 5cmc cards were good. This would be a fine card back when RG monsters were the best deck. It just feels like something that should have been printed 2 years ago.
3. Ulrich is not in the right meta. This is a very similar situation to Arlinn Kord. RG is not situated very well in this meta where hyper aggressive decks are the way to go. If gruul was a better color combination then this card could be somewhat good. Maybe when the meta shifts this fall with Kaladesh then it could see play but we'll see.
4. It doesn't change anything. When it comes to big mythics like this I look for 2 things. Is it a powerful but splashy card and is it going to shift or change something in the meta. Ulrich does neither of these things. It can't stand its ground against GW tokens or humans so whats the point of playing the card.
5. This just wasn't a great reveal in general. Ulrich as a whole just doesn't satisfy anyone. It doesn't satisfy who wanted a constructed playable werewolf similar to Huntmaster. It doesn't satisfy commander players. It is a card that has no effect whatsoever.
6. Where are the tribal synergies? This speaks for itself.
In conclusion Ulrich is a card that does stone-cold nothing. It satisfies no one. It can't be good in this meta. All around it seems okay on paper but it is so bland and generic that it will stick out in people's minds. Wizards essentially just showed that they have no idea what werewolf players want and that's not good. This is gonna be one of the things that Eldritch Moon will be remembered for. Ulrich is a mess Wizards will eventually HAVE to clean up.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
My main problem is the fact of the disconnect. Wizards knew that this was a highly requested card, but, they gave us something that really doesn't satisfy anyone. Commander players will still play Ruric or Xenagos. In standard it just doesn't do enough to make it at the moment. I satisfies no one. Now fans of WW will have to wait another couple years until we comeback to Innistrad to get a better WW legend. Its just bad publicity as a whole. It shows that Wizards isn't listening very well to the requests from the player base.
As many have said, it feels like a weaker Huntsmaster over an actual legendary werewolf. Honestly I would have preferred him having a more transform-centric effect. If I were building him I would have gone more like:
Ulrich Human: When Ulrich enters the battlefield under your control you may transform all werewolves that you control. Trample. 4/4. EDIT: Fixed "you control".
Ulrich Werewolf: Trample. Vigilance. Whenever a Werewolf transforms you may have it Fight target creature you do not control. 2 Colorless RG: You may have Werewolf Creatures you control ignore their transform trigger until your next End Step. 6/6.
Not perfect, or at all balanced, but at least it feels like our Alpha has some control over his pack. His cost and legendary status make me feel like him having control over transformation is perfectly acceptable since he can't be stacked. He comes out and you have a by-choice transform. While he is in pup form you get to have that Fight trigger that Wolves are perfect for, and he keeps his pack in line. He is the Uncontested Alpha after all!
And look at that! 4 of them can give him trample! Those sound like great cards for an Ulrich deck!
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Alters
Go ahead, build that deck. Let us know how that turns out for you.
2 things: First, only 4 of those buff werewolves. Second, and more to the point, none of them are legendary creatures. The sad thing is that werewolf commander decks can only suck horribly. They needed an AMAZING leader to make the deck have any legs. Pity.
Feel free to tell me yours!
For example, on the front side it could have "G: Transform target non-human werewolf."
And on the flip side, "2R: Transform target human."
Commander is meta dependent, yes.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I just wish, as my potential commander, he rewarded me for playing my tribe. Like Ezuri, Azami, Krenko, etc.
If there is one change I'd make to Ulrich, it would be to give him a mana pump effect that pumps all your creatures and maybe give them trample or somesuch. That of course would be his Werewolf side; the Human side I imagine would produce Wolf tokens with haste instead. Problem is, Arlinn Kord took that niche in SOI block. But maybe in a future Innistrad block Ulrich or another Alpha will be able to sport such mana pump abilities.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.