This set is a bit bland on mechanics for me, considering we have dino's & pirates to play with, let alone the other tribes here.
There are also some very good cards, like Growing Rites of Itlimoc, but I can't afford that!
I'm really intrigued by Sunbird's Invocation because it could be super powerful if built well, but it's also not obvious what the deck should be (at least to me) like much of the rest of the set (just gather the tribe together & there you have it). Might not be Lurking Predators, but it gives you flexibility to actually play something other than creatures.
That's an interesting possibility. I think there are a lot, that's why I like the card. I'm not big on planeswalkers in multiplayer because you get 1 use & that's it, but anything that repeatedly casts or put stuff on the battlefield for free is exactly my idea of fun. I haven't had good luck with my Dragonstorm deck that's very ritual heavy, I can't seem to get the combination right with any consistency & wind up w/ a hand of mana & no payoffs or a hand of fatties & Dragonstorms but no way to get them out, but someone else played one against me & it went off insanely, so I'm sure it's just me or something I'm not doing right there. If I were building a multiplayer Sunbird deck it would be t1 Burgeoning, t2 Wheel of Fortune or Windfall depending on how many colors I was in, t3 Sunbird's Invocation, t4 onward hopefully double up on whatever the deck is actually supposed to be doing, so I'd just be using it for a value engine like Lurking Predators or Mind's Dilation. There are undoubtedly a lot more devastating uses for it though, especially if you are doing top deck manipulation & playing w/ infinite combos (which are banned in our playgroup).
I think the issue is how do you keep the card from then whiffing? It's tougher than cascade because cascade always gives you something even if you cast a huge spell & just wind up with a mana rock or some cheap removal. It kind of seems like you want to have a bunch of spells of the same cmc so say virtually everything else is 6cmc (or whatever) then you always go out 6 cards & you either get one of your setup cards or one of your whatever the deck is doing cards (at that price it's probably a good stuff deck though). The problem is at 6 cmc the deck becomes somewhat glass cannonish in that if your 1st few turns don't work out right then you're done for, but it's just for fun so whatever.
Sunbird's Invocation doesn't discern what type of card we're casting, which for me is a huge advantage.
There's high-cmc with conditional costs or alternative costs to get them into play early, like Blasphemous Act, Avatar of Fury, Bedlam Reveler, Divergent Transformations, Oxidda Golem etc., and that's just in red. Obviously you wouldn't build with these all together, I'm just saying.
....But if you look at artifacts, the affinity mechanic might be useful potentially?
I dunno, I can't help but feel a card like this requires a copious amount of card draw to fuel large combo-style turns where you spew 10 cards in a single turn, provided you have the mana to do it. Could be very swingy....
I also love that it doesn't care about what type of spell you are casting. The other thing I love is that you get multiple options if you aren't just casting a bunch of one mana Lightning Bolt or something. I mean, I really enjoy playing Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, but the problem with the deckbuilding is you kind of need every card to be useful virtually all the time (or at least if your commander has done his job) if you don't want to miss your cascade triggers. So then you wind up being stuck hoping you get to In Garruk's Wake rather than just playing Damnation because if Yidris is out chances are you don't want to blow up the board. I hadn't thought about the alternative costs stuff. All those split cards & Vial Smasher the Fierce favorites like Treasure Cruise would let you cast pretty much anything you wanted.
I can't stop thinking about what this card might be capable of, and how to twist it? LOL Sunbird's Invocation could be interesting in those decks with a LOT of the same/similar CMC.
I run a deck with Madcap Experiment (into Platypus) with a heap of 4cmc cards like Clever Impersonator, Dack's Duplicate, Stunt Double, Sakashima the Impostor etc. The deck is predominantly 4cmc apart from card draw, the only card above 4cmc is Platypus.
Sunbird here would allow me the chance to get a 2-clone-for-one, but also put Platypus on the bottom of the deck (exactly where I want it to be).
I think you're right, this card does look interesting for a deck builder.
I don't think it's in the same power level as many of the other oppressive cards like Gary, Lurking Predators etc., but it does have a very flexible effect that could blindly slot into a lot of decks as a 1 or 2.
I feel like having almost everything at the same cmc is the safe option. The issue is that if it's below 6 you can't get the other sunbirds, but maybe 1 is enough or if you're playing 4 cmc stuff you play 4 Clever Impersonator to copy it unless there's a better option?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
New set, new options, high on flavor.
What are you looking forward to?
I'll be playing:
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
4x Mardu Shadowspear
4x Night Market Lookout
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Thornbow Archer
4x Thrull Parasite
4x Vicious Conquistador
2x Leechridden Swamp
16x Swamp
Instant (6)
2x Supernatural Stamina
2x Touch of Moonglove
2x Tragic Slip
1x Dolmen Gate
4x Skullclamp
3x Smuggler's Copter
Sorcery (4)
4x Immortal Servitude
Unclaimed Territory is very likely to find a home in non-mono casual tribal decks.
Revel in Riches sounds like a very nice build-around.
As of now, that's literally it.
Actually quite happy as I've been spending far too much $ on cards for several months now.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
There are also some very good cards, like Growing Rites of Itlimoc, but I can't afford that!
Unclaimed Territory is almost the card I wanted it to be (Cavern of Souls).
Revel in Riches? (Compare with Black Market). I'm gonna pass, I find *I Win!* to be a mood kill.
Dire Fleet Ravager? I wonder if this is going to be more useful in drain decks?
Pirates as a tribe have a few old cards like Rishadan Footpad & Kukemssa Pirates that help this tribe.
Sanctum Seeker, Captivating Crew & Hostage Taker - I'm ordering some of these.
These are the only cards I'm definite on so far, but I haven't digested it all yet.
I'm assuming a set of Burning Wish etc. to grab whatever you might want in a typical red deck full of mana and looting etc.?
I think the issue is how do you keep the card from then whiffing? It's tougher than cascade because cascade always gives you something even if you cast a huge spell & just wind up with a mana rock or some cheap removal. It kind of seems like you want to have a bunch of spells of the same cmc so say virtually everything else is 6cmc (or whatever) then you always go out 6 cards & you either get one of your setup cards or one of your whatever the deck is doing cards (at that price it's probably a good stuff deck though). The problem is at 6 cmc the deck becomes somewhat glass cannonish in that if your 1st few turns don't work out right then you're done for, but it's just for fun so whatever.
There's high-cmc with conditional costs or alternative costs to get them into play early, like Blasphemous Act, Avatar of Fury, Bedlam Reveler, Divergent Transformations, Oxidda Golem etc., and that's just in red. Obviously you wouldn't build with these all together, I'm just saying.
....But if you look at artifacts, the affinity mechanic might be useful potentially?
I dunno, I can't help but feel a card like this requires a copious amount of card draw to fuel large combo-style turns where you spew 10 cards in a single turn, provided you have the mana to do it. Could be very swingy....
Sunbird's Invocation could be interesting in those decks with a LOT of the same/similar CMC.
I run a deck with Madcap Experiment (into Platypus) with a heap of 4cmc cards like Clever Impersonator, Dack's Duplicate, Stunt Double, Sakashima the Impostor etc. The deck is predominantly 4cmc apart from card draw, the only card above 4cmc is Platypus.
Sunbird here would allow me the chance to get a 2-clone-for-one, but also put Platypus on the bottom of the deck (exactly where I want it to be).
I think you're right, this card does look interesting for a deck builder.
I don't think it's in the same power level as many of the other oppressive cards like Gary, Lurking Predators etc., but it does have a very flexible effect that could blindly slot into a lot of decks as a 1 or 2.