Also mythic? That seems rather harsh...the card doesn't scream limited bomb.
Depends entirely on how many zombies are in the set at common and uncommon. Drafting a zombie deck and being able to trade with your opponent's creatures early game then just bring them all back late game would be pretty ridiculous.
Gisa and geralf are just way worse than their individual cards... I guess they get weaker when they team up because....?
Uh, are we looking at the same cards? Individually they were 5 mana 3/4s with tap abilities that cost mana and required specific situations to even be used. This is a 4 mana 4/4 with an ability that you can potentially use immediately (provided you have the mana). The ability is even (arguably) much better, as casting cards from your graveyard is a game winning ability.
I am speaking in terms of Commander.
Gisa is awesome because any big fatties can turn into a bunch of baby zombies at any moment. Geralf is... garbage because mono blue isn't meant for that type of strategy. So they fuse them together and we get... something "ok." I would have thought as the zombie overlords of Innistrad (barring Lily) could do something a bit more powerful if they are working together.
If you just had Gisa there, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference if Geralf had any influence. Maybe have a one time deal of exiling a crestate from any graveyard to make a zombie. Something that has "Geralf" ness to it. But how it is now... it's aight. Would have been cool if one of them was zombified. Perhaps Geralf since he is so into experimentation. Lots of possibilities they could have easily gone but they went with something rather safe.
Also mythic? That seems rather harsh...the card doesn't scream limited bomb.
Well the problem with Gisa is being locked into Mono-B. Most UB zombie decks tend to use GrimGrin as the gen right now. These two I believe play better than Grimgrin, and play nicer with him ironically ad you are no longer dependent on Gravecrawler for consistent sac.and you can still run original Gisa with this new Gisa+Geralf.
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This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
I think we've likely already peaked, the best is already behind us. There maybe a few decent cards here or there. Emrakul, the Promised End , and Gisela, the Broken Blade are the big money cards for this set, it's a small set.
Gisa is awesome because any big fatties can turn into a bunch of baby zombies at any moment.
Why is this "awesome" enough to play a 5 mana creature to use it's tap ability to do? It does nothing vs sweepers, Gisa needs to be untapped and not summoning sick to even do this, and even if you did, you get a "swarm" of 2/2s. Easy to block, often unable to attack thanks to Ghostly Prison type effects, and only really threatening if you actually sacrifice something huge (which should probably have a shroud/indestructible/value effect built in making Gisa's "protection" unnecessary). Gisa isn't really a big deal in competitive commander (yes I know casual decks for her exist, as do decks for every legendary) and it's for very good reasons.
I would have thought as the zombie overlords of Innistrad (barring Lily) could do something a bit more powerful if they are working together.
A bit more powerful than replaying your best zombie card every single turn... Wow. I honestly don't know what more you want... I guess you want them to not only let you replay it but to do it for free? Meren of Clan Nel Toth is already amazing and even she doesn't get to do that (you need to build up experience counters first and she isn't blue).
If you just had Gisa there, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference if Geralf had any influence. Maybe have a one time deal of exiling a crestate from any graveyard to make a zombie. Something that has "Geralf" ness to it. But how it is now... it's aight. Would have been cool if one of them was zombified. Perhaps Geralf since he is so into experimentation. Lots of possibilities they could have easily gone but they went with something rather safe.
Now we're getting into flavor arguments and frankly those aren't worth having.
Also mythic? That seems rather harsh...the card doesn't scream limited bomb.
Replaying your best limited zombie every turn isn't a bomb? On a 4/4 for 4 body? What is this alternate world I'm talking to? Even if there are no zombies in the set they would still be a 4/4 for 4. Given we know there will be zombies (Rancid Rats? Crow of Dark Tidings? Skaabs?), maybe even good zombies... Just what?
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.
This forum has really turned into "don't like things I don't like." in the last 5 years with the weak argument of stating that anyone that doesn't agree with them is bad at magic.
As a casual magic player I am happy GG have a card but really would have liked UB legend that can create a zombie horde. The good thing is, nearly every set is printing new zombies
I really wanted Gisa and Geralf to be a better card. The concept of the card is just so awesome but compared to their individual cards it's just so underwhelming...
Nice idea to have Gisa and Geralf on a same card, but their poses on the art look a bit awkward. And surely two of the best necromancers on the plane, when paired together, could have done ssomething more than casting a zombie each turn(and it's not even "without paying the mana cost"!). The card is probably balanced mechanically-wise, but just not flashy enough for the characters everyone liked so much.
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
The siblings are a natural fit with Conspiracy in EDH. Tutor it up, dump the library in the yard (Morality Shift), go ham.
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I wonder if they ever actually pulled back for a second and looked at the tribes as a whole. Last Innistrad, Zombies worked on the back of Diregraf Ghoul, Gravecrawler, and Geralf's Messenger. Humans ran off of Doomed Traveler, Champion of the Parish, and Mayor of Avabruck. Vampires started with Stromkirk Noble, and topped out at Olivia Voldaren. With this set, humans are in that 1-2cc sweet spot, while every other tribe is getting 3-5 drops that are mostly unplayable trash because they can't keep up with the sweet curve on Humans.
What a design fail.
While I agree they dropped the ball majorly in Zombies in Shadows over Innistrad, Vampires are still very playable this time around, Werewolfs are decent-ish as a tribe but still have some good cards, which is not that different from what it was back then (Huntmaster of the Fells + Kessig Wolf Run... man, these cards were insane) and Spirits sucked majorly back then and still suck majorly nowadays (with the sole exception of Geist of Saint Traft, except that was Bant Hexproof and we don't talk about Bant Hexproof anymore).
My only gripe is that they pushed Humans a bit too much this time around.
I really, really hate this slow-drip of spoilers. Especially when they're all so resoundingly meh
Its killing my buzz on this set. Right now all i see are bulk rares, the angels and the tree....
We've gotten some other cool cards too. The white 2 mana removal/lifegain/untap spell is amazing, Unsubstantiate is a great tempo card, and Lone Rider is great in any deck with lifegain or pump spells.
I like Gisa and Geralf a lot for my Zombie tribal edh deck. The pair is a must-answer threat, because the zombies just keep coming back after every death.
Who knows, if we get a couple of 1-2 drop Zombies in standard, I could see a reanimator deck coming to fruition. Because Declaration in Stone exists, maybe Wizards is more willing to have stronger reanimator targets and spells.
The vampire is good in standard's madness decks. I don't know how many times my friend's R/B Madness deck went into top deck mode when he was using it. This gives him an actual good turn 3 play off of Heir of Falkenrath.
This isn't magic Christmas land:
T1 Neonate or Gorger
T2 Heir
T3 Flip Heir, play Vamp lady here
T4 that deck is in top deck mode. Play another one or Kalitas or whatever you want in that slot and boom. That's 20 damage if my calculation is correct.
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Topdeck mode is not the situation that you want to be in for any deck.
Well, jund is a deck that loves to play in topdeck mode. I mean, if you build your deck to take advantage of being hellbent you don't fear topdeck mode.
PD: Not saying this vampire will make it to jund decks, but hey, I thought Pia and Kiran Nalaar wouldn't make it either...
Wow. Some tribal heavies here. I don't know if Bloodhall Priest is good enough to push vampires over the edge in standard, but it certainly won't stop me from trying.
Gisa and Geralf seem pretty awesome, but I'm curious as to why this wasn't just Geralf's card since Gisa already got one. A very cool card nonetheless.
Vampires needs a good 1-drop ala Stromkirk Noble. Even better, something cheap and aggressive with Pro-White.
Depends entirely on how many zombies are in the set at common and uncommon. Drafting a zombie deck and being able to trade with your opponent's creatures early game then just bring them all back late game would be pretty ridiculous.
Glad to see Gerald and Gisa though. I guess her own insanity insulates Gisa from becoming her'mrakul.
Well the problem with Gisa is being locked into Mono-B. Most UB zombie decks tend to use GrimGrin as the gen right now. These two I believe play better than Grimgrin, and play nicer with him ironically ad you are no longer dependent on Gravecrawler for consistent sac.and you can still run original Gisa with this new Gisa+Geralf.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
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.
As a casual magic player I am happy GG have a card but really would have liked UB legend that can create a zombie horde. The good thing is, nearly every set is printing new zombies
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
And as much as I love seeing a Gisa and Geralf card,
I can't look at it without wishing Havengul Lich were legendary even more than I already did.
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
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
Just kidding, that card always sucked.
While I agree they dropped the ball majorly in Zombies in Shadows over Innistrad, Vampires are still very playable this time around, Werewolfs are decent-ish as a tribe but still have some good cards, which is not that different from what it was back then (Huntmaster of the Fells + Kessig Wolf Run... man, these cards were insane) and Spirits sucked majorly back then and still suck majorly nowadays (with the sole exception of Geist of Saint Traft, except that was Bant Hexproof and we don't talk about Bant Hexproof anymore).
My only gripe is that they pushed Humans a bit too much this time around.
Oh man, that card brings back memories. I used to really like -
My 720 Peasant Cube
We've gotten some other cool cards too. The white 2 mana removal/lifegain/untap spell is amazing, Unsubstantiate is a great tempo card, and Lone Rider is great in any deck with lifegain or pump spells.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Who knows, if we get a couple of 1-2 drop Zombies in standard, I could see a reanimator deck coming to fruition. Because Declaration in Stone exists, maybe Wizards is more willing to have stronger reanimator targets and spells.
-Commander-
UBGMill, Sidisi, and Other ShenanigansGBU
WUBRGShingeki no TazriGRBUW
This isn't magic Christmas land:
T1 Neonate or Gorger
T2 Heir
T3 Flip Heir, play Vamp lady here
T4 that deck is in top deck mode. Play another one or Kalitas or whatever you want in that slot and boom. That's 20 damage if my calculation is correct.
Well, jund is a deck that loves to play in topdeck mode. I mean, if you build your deck to take advantage of being hellbent you don't fear topdeck mode.
PD: Not saying this vampire will make it to jund decks, but hey, I thought Pia and Kiran Nalaar wouldn't make it either...
No, that card is kinda trash. If they thought that would do it, they were way off the mark smh.