So, I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to pick up some Risen Executioner. Obviously, this is a bit speculative with the idea that SOI will make him relevant-to-good. However, in looking at the card, it is kind of mixed bag due to being 4cc, no blocking, and 3 toughness. Moreover, picking him up for SOI is a necessarily limited engagement, due to him rotating upon the next block--this tends to suppress prices unless you are looking at strong tier 1 standard or modern playability--both rather unlikely.
HOWEVER, he's pretty cheap at the moment (starting to rise slowly), from a set that is past being opened currently, mythic, part of a popular tribe, and does something at least sort of unique. Although I doubt zombie tribal will be strong enough to be a tier 1 standard deck, tribal zombies seems at least somewhat likely and the current spoiled cards suggest it may be at least somewhat playable.
So, I ask you Salv, should I buy some chunky zombie lords?
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Well, he's a clear all-star with modern implications. Not a lot of room to grow though, since he's already $20+. By contrast, the executioner, as problematic as he is, can be had for around $4, meaning, even a small bump would be profitable. Either way, I agree that Kalitas is the real deal--I've been picking him up slowly.
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Now that we're actually approaching SOI and starting to see cards, I think he's definitely better than the bulk rate he fetched up until now. I'm kicking myself but I don't really want to play Zombie Lords.dec Zombies anymore anyway so I stayed away.
But here's the thing: What if they decided (since last Innistrad) to re-envision Zombie tribe..from the ground up ? They are the ultimate grindy tribe in black--why not crank that up to eleven, as MaRo likes to say. If we are entering into a world where Zombies will heavily HEAVILY focus upon endless recursion as its central path to victory, he will almost always be BB to endlessly re-cast and pump your army. An unkillable Bad Moon isn't the best thing in a Zombie deck but it's not the worst thing either. Would this effect be a 4-of in that deck though? I kinda doubt that very much.
In casual--let's face it, that's where this thing..lives or dies financially speaking--we already have betterways to do this in our Zombie decks.
Unfortunately, I think we need to see more of the Zombies in SOI to know for sure.
Not a fan, 4 mana is pretty subpar for a lord, even in Standard.
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His price certainly jumped though. I had him for a casual zombies deck and he was a lot of fun there. I'm hoping you guys are right about him in Standard and his price plummets so I can get back into him cheap.
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He's not a steaming pile of poop, folks. He's a lord that has a recursion function and plays pretty well with Zombies who like to eat the yard, like Cemetary Reaper, for example. He's fine.
Now, he's not going to be EXPENSIVE, but he's fine. Spend you $2.00 for a playset so you have them for cube or casual or whatever and then walk away.
He's not a steaming pile of poop, folks. He's a lord that has a recursion function and plays pretty well with Zombies who like to eat the yard, like Cemetary Reaper, for example. He's fine.
Now, he's not going to be EXPENSIVE, but he's fine. Spend you $2.00 for a playset so you have them for cube or casual or whatever and then walk away.
Pretty much this. He won't see competitive play, but he's a casual all-star. Especially with Relentless Dead. Zombies has always been a fun casual tribe to play and he's one of the more unique lords since he can be recurred.
I kinda like him, he's a very decent aggro curve topper. I guess the biggest problem with him is you don't ever want creatures just chillin in the GY. Currently in the zombie tribal we have cards like Gravecrawler, Prized Amalgam and kinda Relentless Dead keeping themselves out of the GY. Zombie token generators like Sarcomancy or Bridge from Below can recieve the zombie pump from Risen Executioner without increasing the executioner's return cost eithor.
Anyway, it's certainly not competitive in any format but definitely some casual fun.
Honestly, when I first posted this, I thought we still might have some zombie support cards coming down the pipe--to make a potential bad-but-FNM-playable style deck around the tribe. I mean the rares are pretty solid, but there really aren't any 1 or 2cc standard zombies to make such a thing work (vampires got all the fun).
Either way, he's held at 5 to 6ish, so there is some demand for the executioner.
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I don't think that price will stick for too long and I'm honestly surprised to hear it's still up there after his little spike.
I just can't imagine what actual 'demand' there is for him, even in casual. The thing is, requiring an empty graveyard is COMPLETELY AT ODDS with what Zombie tribe does, its style of play, not to mention the flavor. It's not like the payoff is even there to begin with. He's just a stupid Bad Moon effect. (Again, we have WAYbetterversions to work with in casual.)
It will take a LOT of good Zombies for this guy to have any reason to see play in Standard. As it is, he has basically no reason to see play anywhere else--no, not even casual.
I don't think that price will stick for too long and I'm honestly surprised to hear it's still up there after his little spike.
I just can't imagine what actual 'demand' there is for him, even in casual. The thing is, requiring an empty graveyard is COMPLETELY AT ODDS with what Zombie tribe does, its style of play, not to mention the flavor. It's not like the payoff is even there to begin with. He's just a stupid Bad Moon effect. (Again, we have WAYbetterversions to work with in casual.)
It will take a LOT of good Zombies for this guy to have any reason to see play in Standard. As it is, he has basically no reason to see play anywhere else--no, not even casual.
Yes, there are better lords, but there are people (myself included) who will jam every single Zombie lord they own* into their EDH deck and shuffle it up. It doesn't MATTER that he costs "more" to recur - he has the ability to recur at all, and that's useful post-wrath when you're staring at an empty hand and an empty board.
HOWEVER, he's pretty cheap at the moment (starting to rise slowly), from a set that is past being opened currently, mythic, part of a popular tribe, and does something at least sort of unique. Although I doubt zombie tribal will be strong enough to be a tier 1 standard deck, tribal zombies seems at least somewhat likely and the current spoiled cards suggest it may be at least somewhat playable.
So, I ask you Salv, should I buy some chunky zombie lords?
Well, he's a clear all-star with modern implications. Not a lot of room to grow though, since he's already $20+. By contrast, the executioner, as problematic as he is, can be had for around $4, meaning, even a small bump would be profitable. Either way, I agree that Kalitas is the real deal--I've been picking him up slowly.
Now that we're actually approaching SOI and starting to see cards, I think he's definitely better than the bulk rate he fetched up until now. I'm kicking myself but I don't really want to play Zombie Lords.dec Zombies anymore anyway so I stayed away.
But here's the thing: What if they decided (since last Innistrad) to re-envision Zombie tribe..from the ground up ? They are the ultimate grindy tribe in black--why not crank that up to eleven, as MaRo likes to say. If we are entering into a world where Zombies will heavily HEAVILY focus upon endless recursion as its central path to victory, he will almost always be BB to endlessly re-cast and pump your army. An unkillable Bad Moon isn't the best thing in a Zombie deck but it's not the worst thing either. Would this effect be a 4-of in that deck though? I kinda doubt that very much.
In casual--let's face it, that's where this thing..lives or dies financially speaking--we already have better ways to do this in our Zombie decks.
Unfortunately, I think we need to see more of the Zombies in SOI to know for sure.
Never mind. Card is terrible.
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With the proper context, though--he won't really be that. He'll be 2 or 3 mana most of the time.
Not saying that makes him suddenly-awesome or playable but just take a look at this 'terrible' 7 mana card..
Nope. Still need my glasses.
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WOW--sorry, guys.
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Don't worry, happens to the best of us. Probably why you missed it in the first place...
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
Card's not going anywhere in any competitive setting that I can think of.
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Now, he's not going to be EXPENSIVE, but he's fine. Spend you $2.00 for a playset so you have them for cube or casual or whatever and then walk away.
Pretty much this. He won't see competitive play, but he's a casual all-star. Especially with Relentless Dead. Zombies has always been a fun casual tribe to play and he's one of the more unique lords since he can be recurred.
Anyway, it's certainly not competitive in any format but definitely some casual fun.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Either way, he's held at 5 to 6ish, so there is some demand for the executioner.
I just can't imagine what actual 'demand' there is for him, even in casual. The thing is, requiring an empty graveyard is COMPLETELY AT ODDS with what Zombie tribe does, its style of play, not to mention the flavor. It's not like the payoff is even there to begin with. He's just a stupid Bad Moon effect. (Again, we have WAY better versions to work with in casual.)
It will take a LOT of good Zombies for this guy to have any reason to see play in Standard. As it is, he has basically no reason to see play anywhere else--no, not even casual.
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Yes, there are better lords, but there are people (myself included) who will jam every single Zombie lord they own* into their EDH deck and shuffle it up. It doesn't MATTER that he costs "more" to recur - he has the ability to recur at all, and that's useful post-wrath when you're staring at an empty hand and an empty board.
* = I do not actually own Undead Executioner.