You have to look at these a bit beyond just being "2G for a Cradle"
It's more that you get the a creature out of the top 4, you get to sorta search for the land and play it (it's not taking the land drop even if you flip it that turn.). So yes its slower than Cradle but Cradle is ridiculously OP and even if it wasn't on the reserved list I doubt we would ever see it come back. They are trying to give you some extra value for that 2G upfront cost.
This is why the edh precons were week. Cards like this were left out in order to sell packs of ixalan if you bought the precon and wanted to maintain tribal support.
This is an uncommon buying it for say $1 or so is a far better deal than buying packs trying to open one. If they wanted to really make people opt for busting this card for their Tribal EDH decks they would bump it to rare.
Judging by the leaked pictures, this set looks like it got some real creative attention, not just lip service. I'm psyched (but I might not buy much or any of it).
Yep, and this is why they stopped making un-sets after the first two.
It basically served as a minor distraction for players that might draft with it once or buy a pack on a lark but it had trouble selling a lot of product to people.
It is indeed Bolas carving his victory over the gatewatch.
The full picture really shows off how awesome the artist made these, I think the way they frame them in the cards really takes away from this original art piece.
Well people do like leonin I think. That's why we have had them in multiple planes including Mirrodin, Alara, Theros and Dominaria.
But outside of Raksha Golden Cub and some fringe Kemba/Brimaz EDH decks, most people didn't think of it as an actual cat tribal until AKH imo.
So they're kind of artificially generating the demand for this product. Nonetheless that demand certainly exists now though.
Cats make tons of sense in AKH since the Egyptians held cats in high esteem. Wounding or killing a cat carried strict penalties in Egypt, and you can see cats depicted across a lot of hieroglyphics.
Sure they are pushing cat tribal a bit right now in Hour of Devastation and Amonkhet, but not having significant cats of note would feel like a flavor fail if Amonkhet block just passed them by.
This card is pretty terrible. Great art but the rest is just gross. Three mana for a 2/2 that you have to pay W and exert to get the tokens, effectively removing it from combat for two turns. Honestly, I don't know if I'd play this in casual edh...And I'm a cat person...
You realize it makes tokens as fast as a Imperious Perfect right? Now elves are an easier tribe to get going, and Perfect does pump her tokens but they both generate 2 tokens every other turn, this card does it while spending less mana.
Actually the turn after this loses summoning sickness Perfect actually can only make one token and this thing makes two.
I know WotC was trying to tie them into the set somehow, but the choices feel really random, like the cohesive glue that is supposed to hold them together is a bit of a weak bond. I guess the 20/20 hind sight of this go-a-round is why these special foiled sets aren't going to be in every set, just when they feel appropriate.
Well that and eventually they would have to start doubling back on released ones and release them again. I mean there is a lot of stuff they can do with these not on the reserve list but after 5-6 more sets of these you would likely go over a majority of the most notable cards.
Smart design by Wizards here doesn't play well with Blue's best creature right now, Torrential Gearhulk. So decks will have to pick and choose if this card is worth a slot in say Temur Tower or some form of blue control with Gearhulk.
The best thing about cards like this is if in game 1 you get them with a card like this they play around it in game 2 and game 3 in nearly every case. Nothing like side-boarding these out for other cards after your opponent is likely to be so damn careful about having one untapped land for every spell they cast in the subsequent games.
This is definitely a tad overpriced, but i do like that it is far easier to cycle in most cases than Miscalculation.
Keep in mind that the Never/Return is card advantage it is slow but in a control deck having the option to eventually make a 2/2 down the line is a big bonus. Ruinous Path can make a land into a 4/4 but that has a huge initial cost of 7 mana in one turn this card gives you more flexibility, with getting that 2/2 whenever its convenient.
A white zombie... What's next, green vampires and black angels?
There has been 3 completely black angels printed in magic before so yeah, already that has happend. White has had a couple multi-color zombies with black and Stillmoon Cavalier can be cast with just white mana.
It can tussle better than any mana dork before it, I mean it fits how games play out perfectly in the early game you want that extra mana eventually most mana dorks become extremely expendable though and become chump blockers after a certain point. Meanwhile this guy after tapping it for mana on turn 3-5 will be a 3/4. We won't be seeing any mana dorks that cost G again in standard since they have said they lead to too many lopsided games when drawn in the opener or for a turn 1 play.
At least we are exploring new design space with mana dorks and they are now allowing them to do other things besides tap for mana until they eventually get in the way of a large attacking creature to buy some time.
Werebear from 15 years ago. but since R&D has such short memory, of course reinventing the wheel seems novel.
Well this taps for any color mana and Threshold is usually a bigger hurdle than tapping this 3 times, unless its late game when you play that Werebear. But, its been 15 years since that card came out, I am an old enough player to have played with it but plenty of current players have never even seen that card.
I just hate that this is the reason why it's rare. I just want them to not care about limited so much.
The card is likely a bulk rare, so you are looking at 50 cents per copy after a month or so. Also its pretty selfish to say, they shouldn't care about limited because your statement is like care about my format more than a format I don't care about.
I gotta say that so far, I'm not impressed. This set just feels very weak thus far. All of the interesting cards seem to have serious drawbacks, like the -1/-1 cards. The fact that the Channeler is supposed to be "good" disappoints me greatly. Not saying it has to be a birds or Hierarch, but the fact it's limited by the number of counters you have on the Channeler itself is very limiting. It's no doubt interesting design, but feels super weak.
It can tussle better than any mana dork before it, I mean it fits how games play out perfectly in the early game you want that extra mana eventually most mana dorks become extremely expendable though and become chump blockers after a certain point. Meanwhile this guy after tapping it for mana on turn 3-5 will be a 3/4. We won't be seeing any mana dorks that cost G again in standard since they have said they lead to too many lopsided games when drawn in the opener or for a turn 1 play.
At least we are exploring new design space with mana dorks and they are now allowing them to do other things besides tap for mana until they eventually get in the way of a large attacking creature to buy some time.
I'm sure Path will always be in demand, so the price will fall and start climbing again. And take that, rare Inquisition!
They have printed Path like 7 times since it first came out back in Shards block the card is reprint immune it always just goes back to a high value in no time.
I think her biggest problem is drawing multiples just seems pretty bad, now obviously the planeswalker rule makes extra copies sometimes superfluous. But in her case unless you are hitting a land drop every turn you will eventually have trouble using that 5/5 to beat down with, especially against controlling decks that might have more answers for them.
It's more that you get the a creature out of the top 4, you get to sorta search for the land and play it (it's not taking the land drop even if you flip it that turn.). So yes its slower than Cradle but Cradle is ridiculously OP and even if it wasn't on the reserved list I doubt we would ever see it come back. They are trying to give you some extra value for that 2G upfront cost.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
This is an uncommon buying it for say $1 or so is a far better deal than buying packs trying to open one. If they wanted to really make people opt for busting this card for their Tribal EDH decks they would bump it to rare.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
It basically served as a minor distraction for players that might draft with it once or buy a pack on a lark but it had trouble selling a lot of product to people.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Sure they are pushing cat tribal a bit right now in Hour of Devastation and Amonkhet, but not having significant cats of note would feel like a flavor fail if Amonkhet block just passed them by.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
You realize it makes tokens as fast as a Imperious Perfect right? Now elves are an easier tribe to get going, and Perfect does pump her tokens but they both generate 2 tokens every other turn, this card does it while spending less mana.
Actually the turn after this loses summoning sickness Perfect actually can only make one token and this thing makes two.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Well that and eventually they would have to start doubling back on released ones and release them again. I mean there is a lot of stuff they can do with these not on the reserve list but after 5-6 more sets of these you would likely go over a majority of the most notable cards.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
This is definitely a tad overpriced, but i do like that it is far easier to cycle in most cases than Miscalculation.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
There has been 3 completely black angels printed in magic before so yeah, already that has happend. White has had a couple multi-color zombies with black and Stillmoon Cavalier can be cast with just white mana.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
At least we are exploring new design space with mana dorks and they are now allowing them to do other things besides tap for mana until they eventually get in the way of a large attacking creature to buy some time.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!