Note that you don't have to get something 2cmc higher. Its X or less, so you can go from a 3 drop into a 4 drop. So there are a lot more options opened up because of that.
This card seems really busted, but it gets bricked HARD by Remand. The tempo loss is massive and probably unrecoverable.
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These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
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It's super good; but I'm trying to figure out where the "Self-Exile" clause fits in to not making it more abusable than it already is. Were they afraid of Greenwarden of Murasa?
Without the exile clause, this card would be insane with Goblin Dark-Dwellers. You could sac a 3 drop, grab GDD, have him flash it back saccing GDD, and grab a 7 drop. In modern you could do that turn 3 on 3 mana (assuming turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 3-drop creature). I think it exiling itself is perfectly reasonable. I think the card could have some interesting applications. This seems to be in that Johnny class of cards like Cryptolith Rites, where it looks like it should do something cool, but I'll have to wait for someone else to figure it out. Not my type of card, but I'll be very interested in what people do with it.
Literally Goblin Dark-Dwellers in standard would have made this card positively disgusting without the exile clause.
Think about it. Any 3 drop into dark dwellers into any 7 drop...
Super.Gross.
As it stands (and let's go super christmas tree land for this)
One of our local players pointed out this line in Modern (not saying it's good, just possible)
T2 (with dork) or T3 without.
Exile 2 green cards, casting Allosaurus Rider.
Eldritch Evolution into a 9 drop or less....
Super fragile, super fun, and if it sticks... super gross!
Without the exile clause, this card would be insane with Goblin Dark-Dwellers. You could sac a 3 drop, grab GDD, have him flash it back saccing GDD, and grab a 7 drop. In modern you could do that turn 3 on 3 mana (assuming turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 3-drop creature). I think it exiling itself is perfectly reasonable. I think the card could have some interesting applications. This seems to be in that Johnny class of cards like Cryptolith Rites, where it looks like it should do something cool, but I'll have to wait for someone else to figure it out. Not my type of card, but I'll be very interested in what people do with it.
somehow i feel you can do this anyway with some sort of self mill jund strategy and some discard effects i think u can get a copy of eldritch evolution into your graveyard anyway then do this interaction to get a Dragonlord Atarka
On self mill you could get there using a delve creature and not worry about Dark Dwellers.. After Satyr Wayfinder gets you a quick and cheap Hooting Mandrills or equivalent, pop it to this for your big drop of choice, like Atarka.
(assuming we;re still talking Modern here, the person you replied to was)
On self mill you could get there using a delve creature and not worry about Dark Dwellers.. After Satyr Wayfinder gets you a quick and cheap Hooting Mandrills or equivalent, pop it to this for your big drop of choice, like Atarka.
(assuming we;re still talking Modern here, the person you replied to was)
thats good as well i was thinking both modern and standard your way u can sac the hooting mandrills and get a griselbrand i didnt like the Allosaurus Rider idea as it seemed abit jank. turn 1 land into bop turn 2 wayfinder or Commune with the Gods / Grisly Salvage turn 3 - 1 mana hooting mandrills griselbrand / atarka - then just build the deck with the rest as solid jund cards removal and GDD etc
And then any counterspell or removal spell and you just got 4-for-1'd. T2 Allosaurus Rider also dies to lightning bolt. This card will definitely fit into some sort of Melira combo, Kiki-Jiki, or aristocrats type decks, but Allosaurus Rider will never be a thing.
And then any counterspell or removal spell and you just got 4-for-1'd. T2 Allosaurus Rider also dies to lightning bolt.
No, it doesn't. Not in any way relevant to this discussion anyway. When it is cast, it isn't a creature until it actually enters the battlefield (when the spell finishes resolving). It doesn't have an ETB trigger, so as soon as that happens it's the active player's priority in his/her own main phase with an empty stack, and that player can proceed to cast a sorcery before yielding priority. And this particular sorcery has a creature sacrifice as part of its cost. There is never a moment an opponent holding a Lightning Bolt or Path to Exile would have priority between Allosaurus Rider entering the battlefield and leaving it.
Of course, the counterspell problem is a concern. And removal on the eventual creature could be a problem, unless it's a creature that inherently defends itself against that, like Iona, Shield of Emeria or Frost Titan (or in some circumstances, Void Winnower) does. Or a creature that will serve its purpose even if it dies right away, like Griselbrand does.
This card is inspiring far too much Magicalchristmasland thinkning. It will probably see play in the Kikichord decks, maybe Melira, but Melira likes its CoCo too much to have room for this easily.
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That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating. Take it back!
Turn 1. 1 Green Source + BoP/Hierarch
Turn 2. Land + Allosaurus Rider + 2 Green Cards + EE
That is 7 cards, but that is doable. Reanimator decks in Legacy need more for the same result, a game-winning creature (Griselbrand, Iona, Elesh Norn, etc) on board. This isn't MagicChristmasLand. It is genuinely scary.
There are easier ways to combowin on T3 in Modern than with a 5-card combo.
The deck I suggested is capable of it easily, without the Evolution. T1 Faithless Looting - discard Morselhoarder - T2 Devoted Druid - T3 Play Ooze, cycle through deck with infinite mana. It slots into an existing combo. That being said, I'm not sure it is good in the combo, but it is worth exploring - there are other potential 2-drops to sac, like Baby Jace and Satyr Wayfinder, that also fit into the frame.
EDIT: And the deck even necessarily includes the Tasigur-into-Griselbrand line, given that both are combo pieces. This is looking more and more solid, the more I think about it.
There's all sorts of potential for it in Modern. I think it's actually pretty balanced -- hard to repeatedly abuse and comes at a real cost, all for a payoff that could be sculpted to be game-ending or game-stabilizing. My first thoughts are to pair it with Hooting Mandrills/Tasigur and turn it into Griselbrand, Borborygmos Enraged, or Terastodon; or even a Gurmag Angler into Iona.
It also serves as a potential solution to the Necrotic Ooze problem, which is consistently drawing the Ooze as well as things to do with it, and this helps with both at a cheap mana cost.
Not to mention making Kiki-Jiki way, way more easier to get onto the battlefield. That's where I think the most competitive application is for this card, because that triple red cost is a lot more prohibitive than 1GG + a 3-drop creature.
I think it has a solid home in a modern variant of NO elves as an alternate win con. No, it's not natural order and I'm not saying it is. But it is as close to natural order as modern will ever get. Hopefully it's not broken.
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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.
so if Archangel Avacyn is on the battlefield with another creature, sacrificing that creature with Eldricth Evolution will also tricker Avacyn's ability?
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Think about it. Any 3 drop into dark dwellers into any 7 drop...
Super.Gross.
As it stands (and let's go super christmas tree land for this)
One of our local players pointed out this line in Modern (not saying it's good, just possible)
T2 (with dork) or T3 without.
Exile 2 green cards, casting Allosaurus Rider.
Eldritch Evolution into a 9 drop or less....
Super fragile, super fun, and if it sticks... super gross!
somehow i feel you can do this anyway with some sort of self mill jund strategy and some discard effects i think u can get a copy of eldritch evolution into your graveyard anyway then do this interaction to get a Dragonlord Atarka
(assuming we;re still talking Modern here, the person you replied to was)
thats good as well i was thinking both modern and standard your way u can sac the hooting mandrills and get a griselbrand i didnt like the Allosaurus Rider idea as it seemed abit jank. turn 1 land into bop turn 2 wayfinder or Commune with the Gods / Grisly Salvage turn 3 - 1 mana hooting mandrills griselbrand / atarka - then just build the deck with the rest as solid jund cards removal and GDD etc
No, it doesn't. Not in any way relevant to this discussion anyway. When it is cast, it isn't a creature until it actually enters the battlefield (when the spell finishes resolving). It doesn't have an ETB trigger, so as soon as that happens it's the active player's priority in his/her own main phase with an empty stack, and that player can proceed to cast a sorcery before yielding priority. And this particular sorcery has a creature sacrifice as part of its cost. There is never a moment an opponent holding a Lightning Bolt or Path to Exile would have priority between Allosaurus Rider entering the battlefield and leaving it.
Of course, the counterspell problem is a concern. And removal on the eventual creature could be a problem, unless it's a creature that inherently defends itself against that, like Iona, Shield of Emeria or Frost Titan (or in some circumstances, Void Winnower) does. Or a creature that will serve its purpose even if it dies right away, like Griselbrand does.
T2 - Devoted Druid
T3 - Play this, fetch Necrotic Ooze. Win.
Turn 2. Land + Allosaurus Rider + 2 Green Cards + EE
That is 7 cards, but that is doable. Reanimator decks in Legacy need more for the same result, a game-winning creature (Griselbrand, Iona, Elesh Norn, etc) on board. This isn't MagicChristmasLand. It is genuinely scary.
The deck I suggested is capable of it easily, without the Evolution. T1 Faithless Looting - discard Morselhoarder - T2 Devoted Druid - T3 Play Ooze, cycle through deck with infinite mana. It slots into an existing combo. That being said, I'm not sure it is good in the combo, but it is worth exploring - there are other potential 2-drops to sac, like Baby Jace and Satyr Wayfinder, that also fit into the frame.
EDIT: And the deck even necessarily includes the Tasigur-into-Griselbrand line, given that both are combo pieces. This is looking more and more solid, the more I think about it.
It also serves as a potential solution to the Necrotic Ooze problem, which is consistently drawing the Ooze as well as things to do with it, and this helps with both at a cheap mana cost.
Not to mention making Kiki-Jiki way, way more easier to get onto the battlefield. That's where I think the most competitive application is for this card, because that triple red cost is a lot more prohibitive than 1GG + a 3-drop creature.
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.