The big advantage Harsh Mentor has over Eidolon of the Great Revel is that it slots into any deck that plays red and not just burn. Burn is merely one place the former card can show up in and I'd still play that over Eidolon in some matchups where taking damage from your own creature isn't a good idea.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wish this hit Walkers. Oh well.
The red 2 drops in the set are the most interesting to me, I may (will) build a janky Modern deck out of Red 2 drops.
At least it can deal it's damage to them.
True enough.
To me, in any format where Eidolon exists, this is just Eidolon #5-#8, if you are looking for that effect. I cannot imagine ever replacing the greatest Modern Burn creature of all time, with this, but the flavour text is simply too pure to ignore.
It's definitely playable in legacy and to a lesser extent modern. I think its a bit too hyped though. I play death and taxes in modern and I can assure you we are too interested in the card. It's biggest problem is ut doesn't actually keep your opponent from doing anything (except kikicombo). Aside from discouraging the use of creature abilities, it's isn't that unique. The only thing that really stands out is having them all on one creature, but if you aren't pressuring your opponent, its not that useful. I suspect rw/x humans lists will pop up using him in modern. In legacy, he is much more useful. He turns the tables on rishidan port, and can be vialed or caverned in under a counterbalance and shut down divining top. He also makes the 1 mana planeswalker much worse (ds shaman), and shuts down aluren combo. While in modern being a creature is almost a foen side, in legacy it actually makes him better since it makes it easier to cheat past counterspels.
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In modern, this card hits about 25% of any tier 1 deck. It represents a very harsh (pun intended) hate. My rough count based on the lists I could find on this site show something around 15 hits on average for any one deck with Affinity getting hit the most.
Bant Eldrazi: 16 Hits
RG Titan Scapeshift: 15 Hits
Death's Shadow Jund: 16 hits
Junk: 15 hits
Gx Tron: 13 hits
Affinity: 20 hits
RG Breach: 12 hits
I'm pretty confident this will see play in modern with its wide range of targets.
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Modern
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wish this hit Walkers. Oh well.
The red 2 drops in the set are the most interesting to me, I may (will) build a janky Modern deck out of Red 2 drops.
At least it can deal it's damage to them.
True enough.
To me, in any format where Eidolon exists, this is just Eidolon #5-#8, if you are looking for that effect. I cannot imagine ever replacing the greatest Modern Burn creature of all time, with this, but the flavour text is simply too pure to ignore.
The issue is, that it really needs to proc twice to make it worth your while, and it's not even guaranteed to proc a single time before eating removal. Modern is filled to the brim with spot removal.
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Its not better than Eidolon in Modern, I think thats a given. I dont care if 1R is easier than RR. If you want something like what those cards provide, in Modern, Eidolon is better.
I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wish this hit Walkers. Oh well.
The red 2 drops in the set are the most interesting to me, I may (will) build a janky Modern deck out of Red 2 drops.
At least it can deal it's damage to them.
True enough.
To me, in any format where Eidolon exists, this is just Eidolon #5-#8, if you are looking for that effect. I cannot imagine ever replacing the greatest Modern Burn creature of all time, with this, but the flavour text is simply too pure to ignore.
I don't think it's good enough to be Eidolon 5-8. It's more of a sideboard tech. It attacks lantern control pretty hardcore, actually.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Why do people compare this to Eidolon? This has nowhere near the same function.
It's a 2 cmc hate card that slots into red decks and hits just about anyone playing a fetchland, so it caught a lot of people's interest as the only other super commonly played hate card in red that everyone is familiar with is the Eidolon. My last post also is a bit confusing as when I said it's not good enough to be eidolon 5-8 I am referring to how Eidolon hits more targets against a larger variety of decks than Harsh Mentor. Also keep in mind it's pre-order season. Everyone wants to look at the new shinies.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
If you've played with Burning-Tree Shaman, you might have a good idea of how often such a creature would trigger. In Standard much less than in Legacy or Commander. Modern is a funny place, though, since the red decks seem to be all about Blood Moon / Magus of the Moon. He actually punishes from the same angle as those cards, so he could be considered good, but in concert with those cards, less good.
Why do people compare this to Eidolon? This has nowhere near the same function.
It's a 2 cmc hate card that slots into red decks and hits just about anyone playing a fetchland, so it caught a lot of people's interest as the only other super commonly played hate card in red that everyone is familiar with is the Eidolon. My last post also is a bit confusing as when I said it's not good enough to be eidolon 5-8 I am referring to how Eidolon hits more targets against a larger variety of decks than Harsh Mentor. Also keep in mind it's pre-order season. Everyone wants to look at the new shinies.
But Eidolon isn't really a hate card. Sure it triggers on cheap spells but the role of it isn't to counter certain deck strategies. It's a hyper aggressive and doubled edged clock creature that works best in an environment with cheap spells. The basic role of Eidolon is to forward your board position and count to 20 faster. Especially the symmetric effect makes this a more appropriate role category. The role of Harsh Mentor, however, may not be in aggro at all. It triggers on completely different things, and should as such have a completely different role category.
The only area where the two are comparable is indeed in decks already playing Eidolon because there they compete for slots. But decks that don't want to play Eidolon at all may want to play Harsh Mentor.
Why do people compare this to Eidolon? This has nowhere near the same function.
It's a 2 cmc hate card that slots into red decks and hits just about anyone playing a fetchland, so it caught a lot of people's interest as the only other super commonly played hate card in red that everyone is familiar with is the Eidolon. My last post also is a bit confusing as when I said it's not good enough to be eidolon 5-8 I am referring to how Eidolon hits more targets against a larger variety of decks than Harsh Mentor. Also keep in mind it's pre-order season. Everyone wants to look at the new shinies.
But Eidolon isn't really a hate card. Sure it triggers on cheap spells but the role of it isn't to counter certain deck strategies. It's a hyper aggressive and doubled edged clock creature that works best in an environment with cheap spells. The basic role of Eidolon is to forward your board position and count to 20 faster. Especially the symmetric effect makes this a more appropriate role category. The role of Harsh Mentor, however, may not be in aggro at all. It triggers on completely different things, and should as such have a completely different role category.
The only area where the two are comparable is indeed in decks already playing Eidolon because there they compete for slots. But decks that don't want to play Eidolon at all may want to play Harsh Mentor.
Which is my goblins deck. Eidolon is already horrible G2 but Harsh Mentor can help in those match ups where an opponent will pop 4-5 fetches a game. Harsh Mentor eats a lot of decks up and in multiples it's great.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
True enough.
To me, in any format where Eidolon exists, this is just Eidolon #5-#8, if you are looking for that effect. I cannot imagine ever replacing the greatest Modern Burn creature of all time, with this, but the flavour text is simply too pure to ignore.
Spirits
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
Bant Eldrazi: 16 Hits
RG Titan Scapeshift: 15 Hits
Death's Shadow Jund: 16 hits
Junk: 15 hits
Gx Tron: 13 hits
Affinity: 20 hits
RG Breach: 12 hits
I'm pretty confident this will see play in modern with its wide range of targets.
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
RR is not easy to pay in a multi-color deck.
Spirits
I don't think it's good enough to be Eidolon 5-8. It's more of a sideboard tech. It attacks lantern control pretty hardcore, actually.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
It's a 2 cmc hate card that slots into red decks and hits just about anyone playing a fetchland, so it caught a lot of people's interest as the only other super commonly played hate card in red that everyone is familiar with is the Eidolon. My last post also is a bit confusing as when I said it's not good enough to be eidolon 5-8 I am referring to how Eidolon hits more targets against a larger variety of decks than Harsh Mentor. Also keep in mind it's pre-order season. Everyone wants to look at the new shinies.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
But Eidolon isn't really a hate card. Sure it triggers on cheap spells but the role of it isn't to counter certain deck strategies. It's a hyper aggressive and doubled edged clock creature that works best in an environment with cheap spells. The basic role of Eidolon is to forward your board position and count to 20 faster. Especially the symmetric effect makes this a more appropriate role category. The role of Harsh Mentor, however, may not be in aggro at all. It triggers on completely different things, and should as such have a completely different role category.
The only area where the two are comparable is indeed in decks already playing Eidolon because there they compete for slots. But decks that don't want to play Eidolon at all may want to play Harsh Mentor.
Which is my goblins deck. Eidolon is already horrible G2 but Harsh Mentor can help in those match ups where an opponent will pop 4-5 fetches a game. Harsh Mentor eats a lot of decks up and in multiples it's great.