We need to see what other tools Theros gives us for the aggro menace to determine if Ashiok is a sideboard card or is main deckable. That said I think I found a new favorite walker, and can't wait to see it in foil.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
This card isn't bad at all. His +2 is the equivalent of karns plus ability. His minus ability nets you a free spell. His ultimate isn't that useful in most cases, but planeswalkers aren't played for their ultimates. He has a lot of potential for costing 3 rather than Karn's 7.
with a potential aggressive format, this card makes me feel like you need to net more than mil-3; perhaps 5? I do like the idea of using it a control mirror match up. This feels like a card that you can't really justify it's abilities to power level without knowing what exactly the meta will shape up to be until the entire set is spoiled.
This card isn't bad at all. His +2 is the equivalent of karns plus ability. His minus ability nets you a free spell. His ultimate isn't that useful in most cases, but planeswalkers aren't played for their ultimates. He has a lot of potential for costing 3 rather than Karn's 7.
Actually his +2 is Dream Twist, while Karn's +4 made them "discard a card" and his -X conditionally gains you a card, while Karn exiled a permanent. The mana disparity does not remedy the fact that this card is fringe playable at best and in no way comparable to Karn.
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I once met a man from Seattle
When posting he never did prattle
He was quite a nice bloke
Always quick with a joke
With Magic Cards, he always did battle.
It takes a minimum of two turns for it to *potentially* affect the board at all, during which time it can be killed. It telegraphs whether it's even a threat or not with its + ability. Has this person exiled a threat? Then I should kill this walker. Have they not - then I can continue beating down your life total if I'm aggressive or durdle around with my draw spells and eventually get an answer if I'm not.
It's not a threat to end the game via milling, and is worse than the soon-departing nephalias drownyard, a land, at the task of killing via mill because it costs mana to play, can't be activated at instant speed (or mill yourself if you need to). Against some decks its -X will be a total blank, meaning it can't protect itself.
Its ultimate can't be reached until turn 7, at which point it might as well read "exile target graveyard" against most decks.
Compare it to domri rade, another three mana walker. He draws your cards with his + ability - card advantage. He protects himself with his fight ability. And his ultimate is always incredibly dangerous, even if you're topdecking.
This guy will often do nothing but net you some life.
it doesn't do anything. milling your opponent generally has zero impact on the game unless you actually win by decking your opponent.
Ashiok only actually impacts the game many turns after you've cast it if you get a chance to activate his second (-X) or third (-10) abilities. its just really slow and durdly. possibly playable in a control mirror match where durdly cards are more playable, but in general this is really bad if your opponent is even a little bit proactive.
on first thought, I was like 'cute but bad' but I was considering it next to four mana walkers that protect themselves. Yet this guy is only 3 mana and starts with 5 loyalty. His -x even does protect himself. Seems pretty strong for buying you a bunch of time or getting you value by playing a few free dudes vs aggro while in a control matchup he kinda slips down like Domri and threatens an annoying ultimate (I guess he could also play some scary monster you exile while you keep counter mana up in that matchup too which would probably work well)
I think hes actually pretty hard to evaluate overall though. Could be either quite good, decent or just a bit useless. guess it depends what the new standard meta is like too.
EDIT: also apparently Maze's end is a deck these days... Imagine playing this guy and exiling their one of gates. seems doable!
Actually his +2 is Dream Twist, while Karn's +4 made them "discard a card" and his -X conditionally gains you a card, while Karn exiled a permanent. The mana disparity does not remedy the fact that this card is fringe playable at best and in no way comparable to Karn.
karn costs 7, This is only CMC of 3, That's not just a "mana disparity" its a "mana disparity canyon".
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"Until you have lived as a statue, do not talk to me of pigeons."
—Karn, silver golem
This card isn't bad at all. His +2 is the equivalent of karns plus ability. His minus ability nets you a free spell. His ultimate isn't that useful in most cases, but planeswalkers aren't played for their ultimates. He has a lot of potential for costing 3 rather than Karn's 7.
I wouldn't really compare him to Karn. Karns +4 keeps him alive a lot easier (higher loyalty) , but more importantly it allows for more vindicates. Karn is 7 yes, but he really is mostly used in tron being casted by 3 lands which in effect is also 3. Karn effects the board as soon as he lands being able to blow up anything.
The - ability is also very situational on Ashiok. You need to hit a creature with the +2, then you need to have enough loyalty remained on Ashiok to cast the creature if you hit one (which on turn 3 in a UB I don't expect as much to be able to protect it vs a green deck lets say).
As others have also stated since it exiles it loses synergy with the mill cards from the previous block. IMO if it were mill and then - to cast card from graveyard that could have been better, but it also allows for more counterplay.
Seems pretty bad. No immediate impact, no way to protect himself, potentially no impact even if you untap with the freaking guy. I mean lilly was an edict at worst. This guy is a mill 3 at worst?
Also, Karn's + was a source of card advantage. This guy's +2 literally does nothing the turn you use it.
I think people have fail to realize that the new meta will most likely heavy creatures based deck. His +2 and -X is easy to steal people's creatures. The only UB missing would be board control.
I feel its ultimate is kinda going to be like Elspeth... more relevant to the card instead of in general. (or mainly against certain matchups) Obv a huge threat against control (and in EDH, in general) but I guess if you think about it her -10 can get you there in non-control matchups since you should be killing threats so when she -'s you get rid of their hand AND you can play something in a matter of time to just win the game with. Also makes it so if they try to be conservative they can get punished for that too since they will have to attack her which = less damage to you which = more time to sit and wait all the while she could hit a threat on her own to drop and it only takes one turn to do so (like hitting the dragon on first try). Seems like a card that is very flexible.
he doesn't need defending. The loyalty gain alone is very defensive. your opponent will have to be playing a very aggressive deck to easily kill this card if you +2 every turn. the problem is not fragility to damage. the problem is that the card just doesn't do much.
It's good for Standard. It comes down early enough and gains enough Loyalty to survive most attacks, and can drop some very heavy beats if protected.
It's abilities get stronger in older formats, as Brainstorm can't protect cards from Discard as soon as you land this, and lower costs give you more from the second ability.
Good thing black can discard Abrupt Decay.
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
Well hello Ms. Pointless planeswalker HRU? Well it seems WotC has not given up on making mill almost plausible...lol
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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.
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Begin.
Image leeching removed.
—Lanxal
This card isn't bad at all. His +2 is the equivalent of karns plus ability. His minus ability nets you a free spell. His ultimate isn't that useful in most cases, but planeswalkers aren't played for their ultimates. He has a lot of potential for costing 3 rather than Karn's 7.
Art is pretty ****in' dope though.
Please don't evade the censor. -TK
Actually his +2 is Dream Twist, while Karn's +4 made them "discard a card" and his -X conditionally gains you a card, while Karn exiled a permanent. The mana disparity does not remedy the fact that this card is fringe playable at best and in no way comparable to Karn.
When posting he never did prattle
He was quite a nice bloke
Always quick with a joke
With Magic Cards, he always did battle.
It takes a minimum of two turns for it to *potentially* affect the board at all, during which time it can be killed. It telegraphs whether it's even a threat or not with its + ability. Has this person exiled a threat? Then I should kill this walker. Have they not - then I can continue beating down your life total if I'm aggressive or durdle around with my draw spells and eventually get an answer if I'm not.
It's not a threat to end the game via milling, and is worse than the soon-departing nephalias drownyard, a land, at the task of killing via mill because it costs mana to play, can't be activated at instant speed (or mill yourself if you need to). Against some decks its -X will be a total blank, meaning it can't protect itself.
Its ultimate can't be reached until turn 7, at which point it might as well read "exile target graveyard" against most decks.
Compare it to domri rade, another three mana walker. He draws your cards with his + ability - card advantage. He protects himself with his fight ability. And his ultimate is always incredibly dangerous, even if you're topdecking.
This guy will often do nothing but net you some life.
Other than that, the +2 is huge. That means you could potentially cast a 4 or 5 drop of your opponents on turn 4 and still cast your own ****!
Even if it only nets you a 1 drop, that is still card advantage, and they still have to deal with it. This is a 'walker you must deal with right away.
Love the art and flavor!
—Karn, silver golem
it doesn't do anything. milling your opponent generally has zero impact on the game unless you actually win by decking your opponent.
Ashiok only actually impacts the game many turns after you've cast it if you get a chance to activate his second (-X) or third (-10) abilities. its just really slow and durdly. possibly playable in a control mirror match where durdly cards are more playable, but in general this is really bad if your opponent is even a little bit proactive.
I think hes actually pretty hard to evaluate overall though. Could be either quite good, decent or just a bit useless. guess it depends what the new standard meta is like too.
EDIT: also apparently Maze's end is a deck these days... Imagine playing this guy and exiling their one of gates. seems doable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
karn costs 7, This is only CMC of 3, That's not just a "mana disparity" its a "mana disparity canyon".
—Karn, silver golem
I wouldn't really compare him to Karn. Karns +4 keeps him alive a lot easier (higher loyalty) , but more importantly it allows for more vindicates. Karn is 7 yes, but he really is mostly used in tron being casted by 3 lands which in effect is also 3. Karn effects the board as soon as he lands being able to blow up anything.
The - ability is also very situational on Ashiok. You need to hit a creature with the +2, then you need to have enough loyalty remained on Ashiok to cast the creature if you hit one (which on turn 3 in a UB I don't expect as much to be able to protect it vs a green deck lets say).
As others have also stated since it exiles it loses synergy with the mill cards from the previous block. IMO if it were mill and then - to cast card from graveyard that could have been better, but it also allows for more counterplay.
Grand Arbiter
Omnath
Skittles
Also, Karn's + was a source of card advantage. This guy's +2 literally does nothing the turn you use it.
Modern : RG Titan Shift RG | RG Revolt Zoo RG | RG Ponza RG | RGW Naya Burn RGW
Legacy : RG Belcher RG
It's abilities get stronger in older formats, as Brainstorm can't protect cards from Discard as soon as you land this, and lower costs give you more from the second ability.
Good thing black can discard Abrupt Decay.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
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.