why does his power matter when you win the game the turn after he etb? he's a combo enabler, not a red zone finisher.
How a game with Melek will go:
-Get to 6 mana and play him
-You're tapped out and can't cast the counterspell from the top of your deck
-Your opponent swings with his team because he obviously doesn't care about a 2/4 on turn 6
-He plays another big creature since you're tapped out and knows you'll have a counterspell next turn
-Next turn, you draw your counterspell
-You reveal the next card on top of your deck
-It's a land
-You scoop
How a game with Melek will go:
-Get to 6 mana and play him
-You're tapped out and can't cast the counterspell from the top of your deck
-Your opponent swings with his team because he obviously doesn't care about a 2/4 on turn 6
-He plays another big creature since you're tapped out and knows you'll have a counterspell next turn
-Next turn, you draw your counterspell
-You reveal the next card on top of your deck
-It's a land
-You scoop
I think you would have to assume this would only see play in a very control oriented shell, where hopefully they wouldn't have a team on t6. Having flash would have helped his playability immensely, i could still see him finding a home in a patriot or grixis control deck, top tier? Highly doubt it, competitive? maybe.
He's so big. So awesome but so big....but I see a possibility! This fellow may shine in some sort of Simic/Izzet combo deck. Ramp up, drop him on turn 4,profit. Also makes me wonder if we will be seeing a new red ramp spell. Guess time will tell.
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There is buried treasure everywhere...in a graveyard.
I don't see how this can cost 6 mana. Seriously, 2/4 and an ability that doesn't really help you win the game? Whatever you'd compare the card with, Melek would seem unplayable. The fake one was a bit overpowered, but the real card makes me feel happy that I'm not an Izzet fan. Maybe it's fine in EDH, but EDH is another kind of Magic. Oh well, at least Ral Zarek should please the fans.
Btw, if this is the best that the Overmind... sorry, the Firemind has come up with to win the race, I am seriously disappointed. And he has been solving the Implicit Maze for so long with his awesome dragon brain?
Imagine Ruric Thar meeting this weird in some dark corner of the Maze and promptly destroying it with half a blow (while punishing its contoller for any spell he'd use to protect Melek).
Maybe this was intentional, and since the Izzet League are sorta bad guys in this set, a weak champion makes it easier for 'good guys' to win the race.
$1 rare all day long. No one is going to invest 6 mana into a 2/4 with a random ability that will whiff at least 1/3rd of the time due to lands.
The only way he gets decent is a deck stuffed with Instants and Sorceries, and if they were any good Delver would still be the top deck in Standard. Without any library manipulation this card is DOA.
I don't see how this can cost 6 mana. Seriously, 2/4 and an ability that doesn't really help you win the game? Whatever you'd compare the card with, Melek would seem unplayable. The fake one was a bit overpowered, but the real card makes me feel happy that I'm not an Izzet fan. Maybe it's fine in EDH, but EDH is another kind of Magic. Oh well, at least Ral Zarek should please the fans.
Btw, if this is the best that the Overmind... sorry, the Firemind has come up with to win the race, I am seriously disappointed. And he has been solving the Implicit Maze for so long with his awesome dragon brain?
Imagine Ruric Thar meeting this weird in some dark corner of the Maze and promptly destroying it with half a blow (while punishing its contoller for any spell he'd use to protect Melek).
Maybe this was intentional, and since the Izzet League are sorta bad guys in this set, a weak champion makes it easier for 'good guys' to win the race.
It is supposed to help you win the game. You just have to build your deck around it. If you cast the spell on top of your library, the top card goes onto the stack and the next card is revealed. Thus, you effectively get to draw a card whenever you cast the top card of your library. Historically, effects like this cost 5 or 6 mana. E.g. Future Sight, Recycle, Null Profusion.
If the majority of your deck is rituals, you can cast a ritual off the top, reveal a new ritual, and repeat, until you have enough storm count for a lethal Grapeshot.
Unfortunately, all of this sounds better in theory than in practice. As soon as you reveal a land as the top card, you're stuck unless you have some form of library manipulation in hand.
Blue-red is not a combination for powerful creatures anyway, it's a combination for powerful instants and sorceries. The effect on Melek is much more powerful than his 2/4 body.
Shame he wont work with an epic experiment, but He will copy an instant/sorcery cast via Unexpected Results. Casting a double results from the top of your library into two more copied spells sounds like a good time. Might not be competitive worthy but still sounds fun.
It's so sad that Melek's CMC is that high. It could have been reduced for a 5 cmc of UUURR and been a decent card. His body is seriously weak compared to other champions we have seen so far. Not sure I would use him in Commander cause of the waek body or high CMC. Also folks might beat my A$$ like a drum for playing it in big commander fights.
Maybe this is an indication that all of them are going to be dual-colored, legendary titans?
Never scoff at a dude that turns a visions of beyond/needle drop off the top into ancestral recall. Draw him early? Just faithless him away for something better.
He's so big. So awesome but so big....but I see a possibility! This fellow may shine in some sort of Simic/Izzet combo deck. Ramp up, drop him on turn 4,profit. Also makes me wonder if we will be seeing a new red ramp spell. Guess time will tell.
I could see that deck, probably using Clan Defiance or Bonfire of the Damned as a win con. Turn 4 Melek, turn 5 deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he controls... scary... Throw in some Thragtusks to keep you alive, some decent draw and burn and you have your self a pretty cool deck. Not sure if it'll be tier 1, but it should be fun.
My first thought was to use him in a Grixis or UWR control deck. Control the board and then use Bonfire to wipe out your opponent. Definitely not a weak card, but his cost does present a significant draw back and playing with the top card of your library revealed isn't everyone's cup of tea either.
In reality, aggro decks will probably be able to out race him fairly often and control decks should be able to play around him, since they are almost always going to know what is coming next. Moreover this is a card which relies on the other cards you draw to be good, rather than being good in and of itself. This doesn't make Melek inherently bad, but it does make using him decks which are already effective on their own questionable.
Don't worry about library manipulation, guys! We have Index!
And for those of you thinking about playing him in storm, it's totally viable! Who needs Seething Song when you have Geosurge?
You're going to invest 6 mana into a 2/4? Wizards must have anticipated a bunch of Master Biomancer play, and reduced creature power as a result. Sad izzet champion. I imagine the champion cycle is all 6 CMC in the color of their guild creatures. This guy is just so outclassed by Ruric Thar it's sad.
A side note; if you copy a Charm that you've cast, you can't choose a different mode for the copy (because the copy sees the mode chosen as a copiable element, kind of like the x in x spells.
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"The trick to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." -Albert Einstein
How a game with Melek will go:
-Get to 6 mana and play him
-You're tapped out and can't cast the counterspell from the top of your deck
-Your opponent swings with his team because he obviously doesn't care about a 2/4 on turn 6
-He plays another big creature since you're tapped out and knows you'll have a counterspell next turn
-Next turn, you draw your counterspell
-You reveal the next card on top of your deck
-It's a land
-You scoop
And here's how we all want it to play out:
- Draw the counterspell, Dimir charm on top
- Cast dimir charm, killing the big guy,
- See izzet charm on top, copy dimir charm and kill another threat
- Cast izzet charm, kill a guy, copy it to draw two and discard that counterspell
- Play the land you just drew, tap out and draw 4 with the Toil sitting on top of your library
Woo! I love christmas!
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
There's this guy at my LGS who runs a Circu EDH build that's based on cantripping. I'm thinking, why would that not work with this dude? Get a bunch of cantrips in the deck. Mix it up with some Guttersnipes, Talrands and a few other spell-profiting dudes. Add in just a few gamewinners, and voila.
This isn't a card for Standard. WOTC designs cards with several formats in mind. The current Standard? Yeah, he blows. But Standard fans have, in the tiny bit of spoilers we got so far, already recieved Ral Zarek (He WILL be played), Beck (We can safely ignore Call), Toil/Trouble and Ruric Thar.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I think he is decent for agressive or midrange decks, not control. In control you want hard to deal with threats.
If your deck has enough burn or tokens makers he has the potential of winning you the game very fast when you untap with him.
I really feel like you should have been able to play any card from the top of your deck, but it only copies instant/sorceries. As is, this won't have an effect on the board enough to be useful.
edit: If you add some deck manipulation and set your library up before you cast him, then this might become worthwhile in some decks. But there are probably better alternatives.
I guess this guy is destined for EDH because Ral Zarek looks like a sweet Izzet coloured mythic
He's pretty cool but the 2/4 seems a bit tough to handle to get value out of him in non-singleton formats: still the 4 toughness means he's out of reach from most direct damage spells which is nice
His abilities are very cool but I was hoping for something a bit more exotic but that's the problem with red: it's direct damage or crazy random, you're out of luck if you want anything else.
Spell-Voltron, or maybe just huge spells/x spells in EDH. I love this, provokes some cool deckbuilding thoughts! So very Johnny.
EDIT: Found a use for my Trench Gorger.
EDIT 2: Mana Severance seems like an even better option actually.
A part of me died when I saw this champion yesterday. I was hoping Izzet would get a low CMC legend (art doesnt look 6cmc to me) that can see play in standard.
On the bright side, my deck gets a planeswalker.
Obviously a good EDH general, with Staples JTMS and SDT.
I like Melek, he's going to be a fun, spellslinging Commander. Not every creature needs to be a Standard All-Star.
Agreed- he makes for a fun, potentially very powerful Commander,
with a strategy unlike any of the other Commanders.
I'm especially fond of how he auto-Twincasts-
Any card you cast from your library will require *two* counters
(or Counterflux, Mindbreak Trap, etc.)
Melek actually feels more Mythic to me than Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius,
but I realize they basically forced the Leaders as Mythics and the Champions as Rares.
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
How a game with Melek will go:
-Get to 6 mana and play him
-You're tapped out and can't cast the counterspell from the top of your deck
-Your opponent swings with his team because he obviously doesn't care about a 2/4 on turn 6
-He plays another big creature since you're tapped out and knows you'll have a counterspell next turn
-Next turn, you draw your counterspell
-You reveal the next card on top of your deck
-It's a land
-You scoop
I think you would have to assume this would only see play in a very control oriented shell, where hopefully they wouldn't have a team on t6. Having flash would have helped his playability immensely, i could still see him finding a home in a patriot or grixis control deck, top tier? Highly doubt it, competitive? maybe.
There is buried treasure everywhere...in a graveyard.
Btw, if this is the best that the Overmind... sorry, the Firemind has come up with to win the race, I am seriously disappointed. And he has been solving the Implicit Maze for so long with his awesome dragon brain?
Imagine Ruric Thar meeting this weird in some dark corner of the Maze and promptly destroying it with half a blow (while punishing its contoller for any spell he'd use to protect Melek).
Maybe this was intentional, and since the Izzet League are sorta bad guys in this set, a weak champion makes it easier for 'good guys' to win the race.
The only way he gets decent is a deck stuffed with Instants and Sorceries, and if they were any good Delver would still be the top deck in Standard. Without any library manipulation this card is DOA.
It is supposed to help you win the game. You just have to build your deck around it. If you cast the spell on top of your library, the top card goes onto the stack and the next card is revealed. Thus, you effectively get to draw a card whenever you cast the top card of your library. Historically, effects like this cost 5 or 6 mana. E.g. Future Sight, Recycle, Null Profusion.
If the majority of your deck is rituals, you can cast a ritual off the top, reveal a new ritual, and repeat, until you have enough storm count for a lethal Grapeshot.
Unfortunately, all of this sounds better in theory than in practice. As soon as you reveal a land as the top card, you're stuck unless you have some form of library manipulation in hand.
Blue-red is not a combination for powerful creatures anyway, it's a combination for powerful instants and sorceries. The effect on Melek is much more powerful than his 2/4 body.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Multiplayer Decks- Memnarch - Animar, Soul of Elements - Zur, the Enchanter - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - Food Chain Tazri - Teysa Karlov
Modern BUMill and Bant Spirits.
Thank you Xenphire for the signature!
Never scoff at a dude that turns a visions of beyond/needle drop off the top into ancestral recall. Draw him early? Just faithless him away for something better.
I could see that deck, probably using Clan Defiance or Bonfire of the Damned as a win con. Turn 4 Melek, turn 5 deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he controls... scary... Throw in some Thragtusks to keep you alive, some decent draw and burn and you have your self a pretty cool deck. Not sure if it'll be tier 1, but it should be fun.
My first thought was to use him in a Grixis or UWR control deck. Control the board and then use Bonfire to wipe out your opponent. Definitely not a weak card, but his cost does present a significant draw back and playing with the top card of your library revealed isn't everyone's cup of tea either.
In reality, aggro decks will probably be able to out race him fairly often and control decks should be able to play around him, since they are almost always going to know what is coming next. Moreover this is a card which relies on the other cards you draw to be good, rather than being good in and of itself. This doesn't make Melek inherently bad, but it does make using him decks which are already effective on their own questionable.
And for those of you thinking about playing him in storm, it's totally viable! Who needs Seething Song when you have Geosurge?
You're going to invest 6 mana into a 2/4? Wizards must have anticipated a bunch of Master Biomancer play, and reduced creature power as a result. Sad izzet champion. I imagine the champion cycle is all 6 CMC in the color of their guild creatures. This guy is just so outclassed by Ruric Thar it's sad.
A side note; if you copy a Charm that you've cast, you can't choose a different mode for the copy (because the copy sees the mode chosen as a copiable element, kind of like the x in x spells.
And here's how we all want it to play out:
- Draw the counterspell, Dimir charm on top
- Cast dimir charm, killing the big guy,
- See izzet charm on top, copy dimir charm and kill another threat
- Cast izzet charm, kill a guy, copy it to draw two and discard that counterspell
- Play the land you just drew, tap out and draw 4 with the Toil sitting on top of your library
Woo! I love christmas!
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
This isn't a card for Standard. WOTC designs cards with several formats in mind. The current Standard? Yeah, he blows. But Standard fans have, in the tiny bit of spoilers we got so far, already recieved Ral Zarek (He WILL be played), Beck (We can safely ignore Call), Toil/Trouble and Ruric Thar.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
If your deck has enough burn or tokens makers he has the potential of winning you the game very fast when you untap with him.
Living the dream: Galvanoth, Melek, Mystical Tutor/Personal Tutor, some obnoxious sorcery (Time Stretch)
P.S. Throw in Paradox Haze for more fun.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
He's in my favorite colors and costs as much as a General use a lot, already... lets do this.
edit: If you add some deck manipulation and set your library up before you cast him, then this might become worthwhile in some decks. But there are probably better alternatives.
He's pretty cool but the 2/4 seems a bit tough to handle to get value out of him in non-singleton formats: still the 4 toughness means he's out of reach from most direct damage spells which is nice
His abilities are very cool but I was hoping for something a bit more exotic but that's the problem with red: it's direct damage or crazy random, you're out of luck if you want anything else.
EDIT: Found a use for my Trench Gorger.
EDIT 2: Mana Severance seems like an even better option actually.
Obviously designed with commander in mind.
I'm a Spike Vorthos - I love lore and flavor, but only if the cards are competition worthy.
On the bright side, my deck gets a planeswalker.
Obviously a good EDH general, with Staples JTMS and SDT.
BThe Epic WinB
(Balustrade Spy Combo)
EDH:
RRPurphoros, God of the ForgeRR
thepileofstuff.wordpress.com
Agreed- he makes for a fun, potentially very powerful Commander,
with a strategy unlike any of the other Commanders.
I'm especially fond of how he auto-Twincasts-
Any card you cast from your library will require *two* counters
(or Counterflux, Mindbreak Trap, etc.)
Melek actually feels more Mythic to me than Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius,
but I realize they basically forced the Leaders as Mythics and the Champions as Rares.
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