its interesting to note his - does include exile as well as graveyard so he can go well in different decks than his OG counterpart. Izzet has always been Instant and Sorcery based to he works for the style.
It competes with Teferi and just fails in every comparison.
The -3 is as boring as it gets.
Ral is a cool character by design, hes about LIGHTNING, and this card doesnt really give a good image of him, especially as the abilities arent really unique at all, other planeswalkers already to that stuff , and even better.
It competes with Teferi and just fails in every comparison.
The -3 is as boring as it gets.
Ral is a cool character by design, hes about LIGHTNING, and this card doesnt really give a good image of him, especially as the abilities arent really unique at all, other planeswalkers already to that stuff , and even better.
----
Ral deserves better than this.
This is ultimately how I feel about it. There's nothing about this card that makes it stand out. It's just about as generic Izzet as you can get, and generic really isn't the descriptor you want attached to one of your key cards (which planeswalkers by nature are).
As far as uniqueness, the design team is going through the motions.
As far as constructed playable, a bit early to make too many predictions yet. You can't help but make comparisons to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
But you're getting one loyalty more than Teferi. The draw is technically a lot better. You are getting two cards deep, and there is more likely to be a general graveyard strategy. More than likely with the right build it can basically be turned into "[+1] Draw two cards".
The untapping lands from Teferi has another level of interaction however. So it's a case of tapping out for Ral versus Teferi ability to posture interaction even on the turn he is cast. Certainly going to be hard to compete for basically this reason is my initial call.
The [-3] requires a lot more work to be effective. The whole idea for this planeswalker in Standard is going to come down to what sort of removal in instants and sorceries are going to be on offer, especially with the "Jump-Start" mechanic. Man that is such a naff name for a mechanic, I'm sure "Ignite" would have been better naming.
The ultimate is enough to make sure you win the game in basically only a few turns. Teferi and Ral result in the same inevitability.
So it definitely does the job required. But this ultimate has to be supported by an all instant and sorcery deck.
So I can see making a Ral, Izzet Viceroy control Standard deck, if there are amazing interactive instant and sorcery for whatever else is going on in the format.
It does have to compete/compare to a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria deck, and somehow have an edge.
It might happen, however it's probably unlikely to.
If it doesn't, then this card joins the likes of Tezzeret, Artifice Master as being a cool card, but not good enough to break into the format.
Vanila design. +1 card advantech -3 kills a card -big X ulti.
He's in izzet. It could be +1.5 card advantage if you pitch a jump-start into the yard. I'm actually sure that's the intended design.
His +1 ability can feed Undergrowth too.
Too bad undergrowth has no overlapping colours. You are looking at a 3 colour deck to make that work (which might be okay with Shock lands in the format)
Ral is a cool character by design, hes about LIGHTNING, and this card doesnt really give a good image of him, especially as the abilities arent really unique at all, other planeswalkers already to that stuff , and even better.
Yup - one youtuber I watch refers to him as a 'rebalanced Chandra'. He's almost strictly worse than Chandra with basically the same abilities. It could be argued that the +1 is better since it goes into your hand when tapped out but you don't get to optionally deal damage.
Vanila design. +1 card advantech -3 kills a card -big X ulti.
And completely unplayable in a format where Teferi, Hero of Dominaria exists. Yeesh, I'm hoping they got something better than this up their sleeve because it's going to be kind of sad if the only thing this set has going for it is the shock lands.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
This has to be the first card to count cards in exile. Not cards exiled by this card, but cards in exile. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But a "bad Ponder" every turn is nice.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Thinking more about it he is a Keranos, God of Storms in form of a planeswalker, but u can manipulate hin more and it is super fragile. Could be a control finisher. IDK but sure looks good. If Hexproof and huge creatures becomes a thing and control based on white has problem with it, then i think we could see Ral being played.
I think the comparison to Teferi is inconsistent. Looking at it from a wizard's deck pov. Both can be ran in a Jeskai deck and get a lot of card advantage.
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It competes with Teferi and just fails in every comparison.
The -3 is as boring as it gets.
Ral is a cool character by design, hes about LIGHTNING, and this card doesnt really give a good image of him, especially as the abilities arent really unique at all, other planeswalkers already to that stuff , and even better.
----
Ral deserves better than this.
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This is ultimately how I feel about it. There's nothing about this card that makes it stand out. It's just about as generic Izzet as you can get, and generic really isn't the descriptor you want attached to one of your key cards (which planeswalkers by nature are).
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As far as constructed playable, a bit early to make too many predictions yet. You can't help but make comparisons to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
But you're getting one loyalty more than Teferi. The draw is technically a lot better. You are getting two cards deep, and there is more likely to be a general graveyard strategy. More than likely with the right build it can basically be turned into "[+1] Draw two cards".
The untapping lands from Teferi has another level of interaction however. So it's a case of tapping out for Ral versus Teferi ability to posture interaction even on the turn he is cast. Certainly going to be hard to compete for basically this reason is my initial call.
The [-3] requires a lot more work to be effective. The whole idea for this planeswalker in Standard is going to come down to what sort of removal in instants and sorceries are going to be on offer, especially with the "Jump-Start" mechanic. Man that is such a naff name for a mechanic, I'm sure "Ignite" would have been better naming.
The ultimate is enough to make sure you win the game in basically only a few turns. Teferi and Ral result in the same inevitability.
So it definitely does the job required. But this ultimate has to be supported by an all instant and sorcery deck.
So I can see making a Ral, Izzet Viceroy control Standard deck, if there are amazing interactive instant and sorcery for whatever else is going on in the format.
It does have to compete/compare to a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria deck, and somehow have an edge.
It might happen, however it's probably unlikely to.
If it doesn't, then this card joins the likes of Tezzeret, Artifice Master as being a cool card, but not good enough to break into the format.
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I mean he's gotta be one of the Planeswalker deck planeswalkers right?
He's in izzet. It could be +1.5 card advantage if you pitch a jump-start into the yard. I'm actually sure that's the intended design.
Too bad undergrowth has no overlapping colours. You are looking at a 3 colour deck to make that work (which might be okay with Shock lands in the format)
Yup - one youtuber I watch refers to him as a 'rebalanced Chandra'. He's almost strictly worse than Chandra with basically the same abilities. It could be argued that the +1 is better since it goes into your hand when tapped out but you don't get to optionally deal damage.
Jace is almost certain to get one of the decks - which means the other has to be non-blue. Actually maybe not - RIX had two black decks...
That said - I'm sure the other deck will go to Gideon.
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Chandra is hardly the standard since 4 Ability Walkers are PUSHED.
And completely unplayable in a format where Teferi, Hero of Dominaria exists. Yeesh, I'm hoping they got something better than this up their sleeve because it's going to be kind of sad if the only thing this set has going for it is the shock lands.
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!
On phasing:
-Stay Frosty