With MM15's release, Cathodion has been added to the Pauper pool.
The implications, I feel, warrant its own discussion.
Until now, Green was the only monocolor to have access to a three-drop 3/3 without drawback, and even green's were all just vanilla. Centaur Healer was the only nonvanilla no-drawback elephant, which is of course limited to green-white. Now, every color has access to an on-curve elephant.
The only drawback to be considered for Cathodion is that it's an artifact in addition to being a creature, however Pauper generally bears much less artifact hate than other formats. The field generally runs extremely low artifact hate maindeck, with notable exceptions of Qasali Pridemage and Electrostatic Bolt. Sideboard does incur more, but less then other formats - and if your deck doesn't run any other artifact threats, siding in limited removal for a single threat seems misplayed.
The effecient body, and it's mana ability are both interesting. However, an even more interesting notion that draws me to Cathodion is that it directly answer's one of Pauper's greatest single threats: Guardian of the Guildpact. Cathodion outmatches the 2/3 body, and gets around the Guardian's protection like no other non-gold creature in the format for his slot. Many decks have had to adjust in order to answer Guardian's presence, and those that are still lacking can easily pick up a strong body here to do that.
I know I'm going to take a look at a large portion of my pauper collection and evaluate where Cathodion might fit in.
I'd like to hear more opinions and thoughts on Cathodion.
Am I over hyping this to myself, or will he have impact?
I think it will pop up all over, I could put it to good use as a sacrifice/exploit target to ramp in the late game. also he sides in really well all over. I don't think it will have the kind of impact where you couldn't just discuss this in the downgrade discussion post.
I had never thought about the fact that it was a 3 mana 3/3. I guess when it was made, mana burn made it a real drawback.
But what deck could this fit it into? What deck wants to spend 3 mana for a 3/3? What deck wants to ramp up to 6+ mana (aside from Tron, who does it better). I just don't see it having an impact on the "conventional" strategies.
Guardian of the Guildpact is not a card I see played very often. Unfortunately, both the decks I play the most often solve his issue very easily already; one doesn't care about combat damage, and the other trades with a 2-drop, Perilous Myr.
I've been thinking about changing my BR sac deck into something that reaches further into the late game, and this card would work pretty well. But it's just ideas, as of yet!
Perhaps a MUD-style deck? We have the big Eldrazis as a payoff and we could splash Blue for Thoughtcast and Condescend and Capsize as more payoff, and Etherium Sculptor as a way to speed up the deck. We have the Tron-Lands to generate ludicrous mana. I'm not sure where Cathodion fits right there, but I'm pretty sure it can fit.
How about playing it Turn 4, then blocking for a trade, making 3 mana, and then playing Mystical Teachings? This is the only existing deck I can think of that needs tons of colourless mana, but isn't Tron.
Here's something interesting: You get the mana when it hits the graveyard, which is also the time "Recover" effct triggers (Sun's Bounty, Icefall and Grim Harvest).
So, as long as you have a sacrifice effect and BB you can recover AND cast Grim Harvest. Every turn if you target the Cathodion itself.
Interesting idea! You would need a way to convert the colourless mana into coloured mana in order for it to work. I see the synergy, but I think it would need too many components to run smoothly (Cathodion, Recover card, sacrifice outlet, mana filter, and then a way to actually get an advantage from this loop).
Interesting idea! You would need a way to convert the colourless mana into coloured mana in order for it to work. I see the synergy, but I think it would need too many components to run smoothly (Cathodion, Recover card, sacrifice outlet, mana filter, and then a way to actually get an advantage from this loop).
Cards that be used in that loop:
Sadistic Glee
Deathgreeter
Selhoff Occultist
Unruly Mob
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The implications, I feel, warrant its own discussion.
Until now, Green was the only monocolor to have access to a three-drop 3/3 without drawback, and even green's were all just vanilla. Centaur Healer was the only nonvanilla no-drawback elephant, which is of course limited to green-white. Now, every color has access to an on-curve elephant.
The only drawback to be considered for Cathodion is that it's an artifact in addition to being a creature, however Pauper generally bears much less artifact hate than other formats. The field generally runs extremely low artifact hate maindeck, with notable exceptions of Qasali Pridemage and Electrostatic Bolt. Sideboard does incur more, but less then other formats - and if your deck doesn't run any other artifact threats, siding in limited removal for a single threat seems misplayed.
The effecient body, and it's mana ability are both interesting. However, an even more interesting notion that draws me to Cathodion is that it directly answer's one of Pauper's greatest single threats: Guardian of the Guildpact. Cathodion outmatches the 2/3 body, and gets around the Guardian's protection like no other non-gold creature in the format for his slot. Many decks have had to adjust in order to answer Guardian's presence, and those that are still lacking can easily pick up a strong body here to do that.
I know I'm going to take a look at a large portion of my pauper collection and evaluate where Cathodion might fit in.
I'd like to hear more opinions and thoughts on Cathodion.
Am I over hyping this to myself, or will he have impact?
No longer staff here.
But what deck could this fit it into? What deck wants to spend 3 mana for a 3/3? What deck wants to ramp up to 6+ mana (aside from Tron, who does it better). I just don't see it having an impact on the "conventional" strategies.
Guardian of the Guildpact is not a card I see played very often. Unfortunately, both the decks I play the most often solve his issue very easily already; one doesn't care about combat damage, and the other trades with a 2-drop, Perilous Myr.
I've been thinking about changing my BR sac deck into something that reaches further into the late game, and this card would work pretty well. But it's just ideas, as of yet!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
So, as long as you have a sacrifice effect and BB you can recover AND cast Grim Harvest. Every turn if you target the Cathodion itself.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Cards that be used in that loop:
Sadistic Glee
Deathgreeter
Selhoff Occultist
Unruly Mob