- Heliod's Pilgrim: The newest addition to the bunch, it's probably the most powerful tutor, available to search any Auras without restriction, and makes a great pair with Auramancer. This is offset by only having 1 power and by the Auras themselves being fragile and prone to get 2-for-1'd, but it's toolbox is practically limitless and growing with each set. People are still brewing with this, so no definite archetypes have spawned from it yet, but it's just a matter of time. Some of it's best targets include Rancor, Reality Acid, Dead Weight , the magemark cycle or Pentarch Ward How to make this better: It's difficult, really. Besides swapping it's P/T, simply adding 1 more to power, or directly searching any enchantment there isn't any way, and searching for any enchantment would be pretty busted.
- Trinket Mage: Second best tutor in the game close to Pilgrim. We already know him since he spawned two entire archetypes by himself: Dimir trinkets, an UB control deck based around generating card advantage and gaining life with Sylvok Lifestaff with self-sacrificing creatures, and Caw Blade, where he fetches any weapon much like Stoneforge Mystic plus sideboard hate cards. In both decks he can act like a Civic Wayfinder in a pinch, searching for Artifact Lands. How to make this better: Just let it search artifacts with CMC 2 or less, although since he was printed as an Uncommon in Scars of Mirrodin alongside it's twin Treasure Mage, I highly doubt this would happen any time soon, but I would be more than happy to fetch for Signets, Vulshok Morningstar, Kitesail, Courier's Capsule and a ton of other utility artifacts on top of what he can already fetch.
- Fierce Empath: Better relegated to midrange and high mana producing decks like Tron, this little guy has a lot of room to improve. His relevant targets include the Eldrazi, Auroch's Herd, Maul Splicer, Fangren Marauder, Hooting Mandrills, Gurmag Angler, Twisted Abomination, Krosan Tusker, the affinity Golems, Walker of the Grove and not many more. How to make this better: As I said, there's a lot of room for improvement in this one. First of all, make it a 2/2, or at least a 2/1. Second, tone down his CMC restriction so he can fetch more creatures: by fetching creatures with 4 CMC or greater he would be pretty good, and fetching with 5 CMC or greater he would be ok. Alternatively, searching for keywords like Mwonvuli Beast Tracker could also be ok. Finally, searching creatures with power 4 or greater could also be an option. If wizards prints a creature following these criteria, it could very well surpass Pilgrim as the best tutor in the game.
- Goblin Matron: The worse of the "cycle", since it's only relevant in tribal Goblins, and even then, Goblins have already a lot of reduncance and prefer to spend 3 mana to finish the job or cast more than one 1/1 body. Relevant targets include Beetleback Chief, Sparksmith, Goblin General and Mogg War Marshal. How to make this better: you can't. You have to design something totally different because this is too narrow, something more akin to Imperial Recruiter. The opposite to the green tutor, it could fetch creatures with power 2 or less or CMC 3-2 or less. Alternatively it could search for Instant/Sorcery cards, although it might step a little on Blue's toes, it's ok for Red to do these kind of things as well. Also make it a 2/1 so the body isn't irrelevant.
The Black tutor is a very complicated one, because Black's color pie on tutoring allows it to get everything, and a Demonic Tutor on a stick would be very busted, so I think that searching for any card with CMC 2 or less plus losing 2-3 life could work, although I don't know about Wizards' stance on this one. It would need to be in a big CMC set like Scourge, ROE, or what is shaping up to be KTK, with just bears and irrelevant/narrow chaff at 2 or less CMC to make this happen, or alternatively in promotional products like Duel Decks where rarity doesn't matter, but if we're lucky enough this could happen.
Do you think it's possible for the "better" versions to see print at common some day? Are they too busted? Personally, I think the inclusion of all these would induce a fresh breath into the format and shake up things quite a bit by spawning some new archetypes without being too broken, and they would raise the power of the format enough that provided the right tools, all colors could compete and give a reason for multicolor decks to exist in Tier 1 (Golgari with the Black tutor and the fixed Empath anyone?)
I disagree with your analysis of Goblin Matron. It's such a useful cards for Goblins. In fact, It definitely sees more competitive play than any other tutor you've mentioned here. The most common cards it fetches are Sparksmith, Goblin Bushwhacker or sometimes a singleton Tarfire.
Don't underestimate the Matron!
It's actually funny that black doesn't have a tutor. It still has the set of Transmute spells, though. I like Dimir House Guard, and Shred Memory is great because 2-mana is a great tutor mana cost, and it has a relevant ability.
While Dimir might have Transmute, it's actually a very narrow (only cards with the same CMC as the card, so it requires some point in your curve to be clogged with targets) and one-shot tutor that doesn't come on a stick and usually has the 3 CMC, only with double colors or even multicolor, so a 2B creature to complete the cycle would be great. I'd be more than happy if Fierce Empath gets upgraded like I said and Black gets an efficient tutor on a stick. What do you think are the odds of this happening under the NWO?
He's just a more expensive Heliod's Pilgrim. I'd rather have the Pilgrim since he has the Human synergy (and the Cleric if you're willing to go that deep) and a nice cost of 3 CMC, which is symmetrical with the other colors and allows him to be cast earli. Plus, Hartebeest being countered or killed is such a big tempo loss.
People tend to group similar, symmetrical cards as cycles (see Snapcaster Mage / Tarmogoyf / Stoneforge Mystic / Dark Confidant / Young Pyromancer?). I purposefully excluded creatures that only fetch Basics since they lack any sort of utility except for fixing the mana in three or more color decks and even then you have duals and Terramorphic Expanse. I agree that the black one is pretty difficult too, since it's in Black's color pie to tutor for anything. Really the only thing I can think about for it to be balanced for Pauper is what I stated in the OP: Search for a card with CMC 2 or less and pay 2-3 life for it.
the black one is pretty difficult too, since it's in Black's color pie to tutor for anything. Really the only thing I can think about for it to be balanced for Pauper is what I stated in the OP: Search for a card with CMC 2 or less and pay 2-3 life for it.
"What's in my deck that costs 2 or less that I want to pay life for?" is a bit complicated for what is supposed to be entry-level Magic.
Yeah, sadly NWO will prevent something like this to ever being printed, but we could hope for an expert set where this has some synergy, or possibly being printed and then downgraded down the road. Either way, it'll be a long time
Does Dimir House Guard count as a tutor on a stick? True, not possible to have a creature and a tutor at the same time, but decently playable as a creature anyway. Not that there's that many 4-drops in Pauper I can think of off the top that I'd be that hot to have in my hand anyway.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
This signature holds priority until end of comment.
How about just a really expensive tutor-creature? like paying 7 mana for a 2/2 that tutors for anything?
That would be too unplayable unless you're running Tron lands, and you would be splashing Black to the mix for a tutor. I don't think that would see play anywhere, and it wouldn't mirror the symmetry of the other 4...
Does Dimir House Guard count as a tutor on a stick? True, not possible to have a creature and a tutor at the same time, but decently playable as a creature anyway. Not that there's that many 4-drops in Pauper I can think of off the top that I'd be that hot to have in my hand anyway.
As you pretty much said yourself, you can't have the creature and the tutor at the same time, and it doesn't find too many relevant things. It's however a nice sac outlet with the option to transmute itself into another card, but certainly not what we're looking for here.
- Heliod's Pilgrim: The newest addition to the bunch, it's probably the most powerful tutor, available to search any Auras without restriction, and makes a great pair with Auramancer. This is offset by only having 1 power and by the Auras themselves being fragile and prone to get 2-for-1'd, but it's toolbox is practically limitless and growing with each set. People are still brewing with this, so no definite archetypes have spawned from it yet, but it's just a matter of time. Some of it's best targets include Rancor, Reality Acid, Dead Weight , the magemark cycle or Pentarch Ward How to make this better: It's difficult, really. Besides swapping it's P/T, simply adding 1 more to power, or directly searching any enchantment there isn't any way, and searching for any enchantment would be pretty busted.
- Trinket Mage: Second best tutor in the game close to Pilgrim. We already know him since he spawned two entire archetypes by himself: Dimir trinkets, an UB control deck based around generating card advantage and gaining life with Sylvok Lifestaff with self-sacrificing creatures, and Caw Blade, where he fetches any weapon much like Stoneforge Mystic plus sideboard hate cards. In both decks he can act like a Civic Wayfinder in a pinch, searching for Artifact Lands. How to make this better: Just let it search artifacts with CMC 2 or less, although since he was printed as an Uncommon in Scars of Mirrodin alongside it's twin Treasure Mage, I highly doubt this would happen any time soon, but I would be more than happy to fetch for Signets, Vulshok Morningstar, Kitesail, Courier's Capsule and a ton of other utility artifacts on top of what he can already fetch.
- Fierce Empath: Better relegated to midrange and high mana producing decks like Tron, this little guy has a lot of room to improve. His relevant targets include the Eldrazi, Auroch's Herd, Maul Splicer, Fangren Marauder, Hooting Mandrills, Gurmag Angler, Twisted Abomination, Krosan Tusker, the affinity Golems, Walker of the Grove and not many more. How to make this better: As I said, there's a lot of room for improvement in this one. First of all, make it a 2/2, or at least a 2/1. Second, tone down his CMC restriction so he can fetch more creatures: by fetching creatures with 4 CMC or greater he would be pretty good, and fetching with 5 CMC or greater he would be ok. Alternatively, searching for keywords like Mwonvuli Beast Tracker could also be ok. Finally, searching creatures with power 4 or greater could also be an option. If wizards prints a creature following these criteria, it could very well surpass Pilgrim as the best tutor in the game.
- Goblin Matron: The worse of the "cycle", since it's only relevant in tribal Goblins, and even then, Goblins have already a lot of reduncance and prefer to spend 3 mana to finish the job or cast more than one 1/1 body. Relevant targets include Beetleback Chief, Sparksmith, Goblin General and Mogg War Marshal. How to make this better: you can't. You have to design something totally different because this is too narrow, something more akin to Imperial Recruiter. The opposite to the green tutor, it could fetch creatures with power 2 or less or CMC 3-2 or less. Alternatively it could search for Instant/Sorcery cards, although it might step a little on Blue's toes, it's ok for Red to do these kind of things as well. Also make it a 2/1 so the body isn't irrelevant.
The Black tutor is a very complicated one, because Black's color pie on tutoring allows it to get everything, and a Demonic Tutor on a stick would be very busted, so I think that searching for any card with CMC 2 or less plus losing 2-3 life could work, although I don't know about Wizards' stance on this one. It would need to be in a big CMC set like Scourge, ROE, or what is shaping up to be KTK, with just bears and irrelevant/narrow chaff at 2 or less CMC to make this happen, or alternatively in promotional products like Duel Decks where rarity doesn't matter, but if we're lucky enough this could happen.
Do you think it's possible for the "better" versions to see print at common some day? Are they too busted? Personally, I think the inclusion of all these would induce a fresh breath into the format and shake up things quite a bit by spawning some new archetypes without being too broken, and they would raise the power of the format enough that provided the right tools, all colors could compete and give a reason for multicolor decks to exist in Tier 1 (Golgari with the Black tutor and the fixed Empath anyone?)
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Don't underestimate the Matron!
It's actually funny that black doesn't have a tutor. It still has the set of Transmute spells, though. I like Dimir House Guard, and Shred Memory is great because 2-mana is a great tutor mana cost, and it has a relevant ability.
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
While Dimir might have Transmute, it's actually a very narrow (only cards with the same CMC as the card, so it requires some point in your curve to be clogged with targets) and one-shot tutor that doesn't come on a stick and usually has the 3 CMC, only with double colors or even multicolor, so a 2B creature to complete the cycle would be great. I'd be more than happy if Fierce Empath gets upgraded like I said and Black gets an efficient tutor on a stick. What do you think are the odds of this happening under the NWO?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Yeah, sadly NWO will prevent something like this to ever being printed, but we could hope for an expert set where this has some synergy, or possibly being printed and then downgraded down the road. Either way, it'll be a long time
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
That would be too unplayable unless you're running Tron lands, and you would be splashing Black to the mix for a tutor. I don't think that would see play anywhere, and it wouldn't mirror the symmetry of the other 4...
As you pretty much said yourself, you can't have the creature and the tutor at the same time, and it doesn't find too many relevant things. It's however a nice sac outlet with the option to transmute itself into another card, but certainly not what we're looking for here.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
http://hgcube.blogspot.com/ (help me Make my Custom CUBE!)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=382498
The "Make a Proxy Thread
Redit Proxy Article "current gallery"
MY LEGACY ALTERS