There's virtually no reason you'd want to play a 2/2 for 3 in this format, no matter what kind of upside you get flipping it up. The morph creature has to be played more for the face up side than the face down at the very least.
This is wrong. You are not going to play them morphed 10%, or even 1% of the time in constructed. If you are you're not familiar enough with the cards to understand their uses.
If we're talking about Rattleclaw Mystic only (I've been calling it Shaman this whole time for some reason), I don't see how you can say it's closer to 1% than 10%. Now, I'll admit that I haven't played in a major tournament since Khans rotated in, but I know how to look up deck-lists and see that Rattleclaw is played either in Temur beatdown decks or straight RG beatdown and in addition to that just use a little logic. In the lists I'm seeing, Rattleclaw Mystic is played a lot with Elvish Mystic. So that means any hand with Rattleclaw + Elvish Mystic... you are going to want to morph because you get to morph turn 2. And I can imagine specific starting hands that would favor morphing on turn 3: like 3 lands, Rattleclaw, Caryatid, Stormbreath, Lightning Strike or something like that.
You will NEVER get to morph Rattleclaw. The reason it runs Elvish Mystic is the small chance of turn 2 Savage Knuckleblade or courser. The other reason is because when you have that ETB tapped land you can still cast Rattleclaw on turn 2 so your ramping into 4 drops on turn 3 uninterrupted.
So again there are no 6 drops you care about ramping into with a mystic morph. On top of that you need a LOT of things to go right before that even happens. Like Rattleclaw not getting shot as soon as it is played. Hitting your land drop UNTAPPED.
Even back in Onslaught Morph was a limited mechanic. Willbender was saw play and it wasn't very good either.
This is wrong. You are not going to play them morphed 10%, or even 1% of the time in constructed. If you are you're not familiar enough with the cards to understand their uses.
If we're talking about Rattleclaw Mystic only (I've been calling it Shaman this whole time for some reason), I don't see how you can say it's closer to 1% than 10%. Now, I'll admit that I haven't played in a major tournament since Khans rotated in, but I know how to look up deck-lists and see that Rattleclaw is played either in Temur beatdown decks or straight RG beatdown and in addition to that just use a little logic. In the lists I'm seeing, Rattleclaw Mystic is played a lot with Elvish Mystic. So that means any hand with Rattleclaw + Elvish Mystic... you are going to want to morph because you get to morph turn 2. And I can imagine specific starting hands that would favor morphing on turn 3: like 3 lands, Rattleclaw, Caryatid, Stormbreath, Lightning Strike or something like that.
This is completely outrageous. I've never seen a morphed rattleclaw in a serious game of magic in a competitive level event. Not once. Are you kidding?
The only usable morph I've seen is Ashcloud Phoenix. And even then, I've never actually played it face down. It always goes up and is immediately sac'd to Butcher of the Horde (returning it face down) or just attacks until it's killed or removed. But even then, the morph effect is just a more expensive "return from graveyard" effect. At this point though, I've taken all the phoenix's out of my deck anyway.
You will NEVER get to morph Rattleclaw. The reason it runs Elvish Mystic is the small chance of turn 2 Savage Knuckleblade or courser. The other reason is because when you have that ETB tapped land you can still cast Rattleclaw on turn 2 so your ramping into 4 drops on turn 3 uninterrupted.
So again there are no 6 drops you care about ramping into with a mystic morph. On top of that you need a LOT of things to go right before that even happens. Like Rattleclaw not getting shot as soon as it is played. Hitting your land drop UNTAPPED.
There are no 6 drops, but certainly there are 5 drops.
Actually, I didn't consider comes into play tapped lands. Because if I have 3 lands and 1 comes into play tapped... I could see dropping the t1 dork, t2 rattleclaw face-up with the tap land, and then you still get to 5 mana on turn 3. Technically you are getting just as much mana turn 3 whether you play the tapped land turn 2 (and face up Rattleclaw) or 3 (and face down Rattleclaw). But playing it face-up lessens the blowout potential of a removal spell.
Even back in Onslaught Morph was a limited mechanic. Willbender was saw play and it wasn't very good either.
I don't think Willbender saw play. Exalted Angel saw play and somewhat saw play facedown against some matchups. I believe Exalted Angel was in the RW Astral Slide decks and there was some protection against removal with Slide in play playing it face down.
If your hand is empty and you topdeck a rattleclaw, scoop immediately.
That makes no sense. You could be winning.
Truthfully though. At this point Rattleclaw is the only morph worth playing. His ability to make 2 extra mana next turn will sometimes make him playable.
Example I take a 3 land hand and don't rip another land. Why wouldn't you play him face down so you can get to 5 mana next turn? You could have threats in the 1 and 2 drop slot already. Every hand is different and requires different plays.
Edit: Willbender was played only because Sudden Death was a way to break up the combo. It never was a good card in the deck. It was just barely in due to being a necessary evil.
While I don't know about competitive tournaments I personally like dropping hooded hydra face down on T2 (with help of mana dorks) Polrukanos T3 and then flip hooded turn 4. This is obviously in an ideal world getting the right cards etc. But T4 with both of them up I think is a good thing. That's my two cents.
Is it good enough right now? No, I don't think so. But once it gets a few more Morphs, I think it could become an (annoying) threat. Drown in Sorrow sorta does ruin the deck, though...
The current Morphs may be unplayable in Standard, but it seems like the rest of the Tarkir block may have more surprises in for Morph. If that's the case, I wonder if it will be a Simic base, or if we'll see more usable Morphs in all colors. I'm trying to pick up more of the better Morph related cards from Khans now to prepare for what could be coming. Sagu Mauler, Rattleclaw Mystic, Trail of Mystery, and Ghostfire Blades now.
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----- "I cannot tune a harp or play a lyre, but I know how to make a small city great." - Themistocles
I think the main reason is that in the current meta, unless it's game 2 and you know what your opponent is playing, morphing = durdling. and currently, those who durdle die. By t4 the U/W heroic deck is going to have an enormous creature, big dumb green red monsters will have a few enormous creatures, azban and mardu will have torn your hand apart and played something destined to kill you.
They made it so morph is fun in limited, but it's completely pointless in constructed. I feel like Morph will only be good if they print something like:
Ixidor's Workshop
Land
T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Use this mana only to play cards face-down or to pay morph costs.
Morph is too slow in a format with Fleecemane, Anafenza and Siege rhino. They really needed to push the morphs hard to compete with that. Not only they didn't, they actually seem a bit reserved. Someone already posted this, but compare Master of Pearls to Tribal forcemage. Morph was clearly designed with limited only in mind. The only morph with a reasonable cost/reward is hooded hydra, but it isn't even remotely pushed enough to ompete with Siege rino.
The main problem with morph is it sets up too slow against a relatively strong format, and 3 drop is a powerful sweet spot. You'd really have to find some way to abuse the cards that combo with it a ton in order to make up for the suboptimal curve it hits you with.
The main problem with morph is it sets up too slow against a relatively strong format, and 3 drop is a powerful sweet spot. You'd really have to find some way to abuse the cards that combo with it a ton in order to make up for the suboptimal curve it hits you with.
I actually used Aven in a Temur shell for giggles. The deck wasn't very good (As I was just toying with a bunch of cards to see what worked), but Aven was good enough for me to consider it on the lower end of playable. Sometimes it was the best top deck I could have, in fact, and I rarely felt under the gun enough to not play it out turn 3 as a morph. It has the right mix of being decently costed on both ends for what you get, and a potent ability and reason to use the morph.
The problem with most morphs, however, is that they *don't* have a good reason to use the morph. You just get them into play slightly earlier than you normally would, or you pay far too high a price to be useable in standard for the effect. I think if we had a couple good pushed creature with relevant abilities on the morph (Not amazing, just good reason to morph them), then I think we'd see more useage. Think Bane of the Living, which was one of the better morphs in Onslaught, and actually saw a significant amount of standard play.
Yeah, they kinda screwed up the playability of most morphs in Standard with their rules they clearly set up for limited play morph-clashes of 'winning' (both surviving and killing a 2/2) the morph-clash requires at least cmc 5.
Courser of Kruphix, Hero's Downfall, Goblin Rabblemaster, Banishing Light, Abzan Charm, Brimaz, Mantis Rider, Crackling Doom...
There's virtually no reason you'd want to play a 2/2 for 3 in this format, no matter what kind of upside you get flipping it up. The morph creature has to be played more for the face up side than the face down at the very least.
[THS|SOM|5TH] Devotion to Black
If we're talking about Rattleclaw Mystic only (I've been calling it Shaman this whole time for some reason), I don't see how you can say it's closer to 1% than 10%. Now, I'll admit that I haven't played in a major tournament since Khans rotated in, but I know how to look up deck-lists and see that Rattleclaw is played either in Temur beatdown decks or straight RG beatdown and in addition to that just use a little logic. In the lists I'm seeing, Rattleclaw Mystic is played a lot with Elvish Mystic. So that means any hand with Rattleclaw + Elvish Mystic... you are going to want to morph because you get to morph turn 2. And I can imagine specific starting hands that would favor morphing on turn 3: like 3 lands, Rattleclaw, Caryatid, Stormbreath, Lightning Strike or something like that.
So again there are no 6 drops you care about ramping into with a mystic morph. On top of that you need a LOT of things to go right before that even happens. Like Rattleclaw not getting shot as soon as it is played. Hitting your land drop UNTAPPED.
Even back in Onslaught Morph was a limited mechanic. Willbender was saw play and it wasn't very good either.
This is completely outrageous. I've never seen a morphed rattleclaw in a serious game of magic in a competitive level event. Not once. Are you kidding?
Temur morph is almost there as it is.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
There are no 6 drops, but certainly there are 5 drops.
Actually, I didn't consider comes into play tapped lands. Because if I have 3 lands and 1 comes into play tapped... I could see dropping the t1 dork, t2 rattleclaw face-up with the tap land, and then you still get to 5 mana on turn 3. Technically you are getting just as much mana turn 3 whether you play the tapped land turn 2 (and face up Rattleclaw) or 3 (and face down Rattleclaw). But playing it face-up lessens the blowout potential of a removal spell.
I don't think Willbender saw play. Exalted Angel saw play and somewhat saw play facedown against some matchups. I believe Exalted Angel was in the RW Astral Slide decks and there was some protection against removal with Slide in play playing it face down.
4 Brine Elemental
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Willbender
3 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Cancel
4 Delay
2 Snapback
4 Ancestral Vision
Lands
17 Islands
1 Calciform Pools
4 Desert
4 Dreadship Reef
2 Urza's Factory
Truthfully though. At this point Rattleclaw is the only morph worth playing. His ability to make 2 extra mana next turn will sometimes make him playable.
Example I take a 3 land hand and don't rip another land. Why wouldn't you play him face down so you can get to 5 mana next turn? You could have threats in the 1 and 2 drop slot already. Every hand is different and requires different plays.
Edit: Willbender was played only because Sudden Death was a way to break up the combo. It never was a good card in the deck. It was just barely in due to being a necessary evil.
-Commander-
UBGMill, Sidisi, and Other ShenanigansGBU
WUBRGShingeki no TazriGRBUW
"I cannot tune a harp or play a lyre, but I know how to make a small city great." - Themistocles
Ixidor's Workshop
Land
T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Use this mana only to play cards face-down or to pay morph costs.
The main problem with morph is it sets up too slow against a relatively strong format, and 3 drop is a powerful sweet spot. You'd really have to find some way to abuse the cards that combo with it a ton in order to make up for the suboptimal curve it hits you with.
I actually used Aven in a Temur shell for giggles. The deck wasn't very good (As I was just toying with a bunch of cards to see what worked), but Aven was good enough for me to consider it on the lower end of playable. Sometimes it was the best top deck I could have, in fact, and I rarely felt under the gun enough to not play it out turn 3 as a morph. It has the right mix of being decently costed on both ends for what you get, and a potent ability and reason to use the morph.
The problem with most morphs, however, is that they *don't* have a good reason to use the morph. You just get them into play slightly earlier than you normally would, or you pay far too high a price to be useable in standard for the effect. I think if we had a couple good pushed creature with relevant abilities on the morph (Not amazing, just good reason to morph them), then I think we'd see more useage. Think Bane of the Living, which was one of the better morphs in Onslaught, and actually saw a significant amount of standard play.
EDH DECKS
[to be updated
OTHER DECKS
Hmmmm, I think those free unmorphs (Temur Charger, Ruthless Ripper, etc) might also see some play?
EDH DECKS
[to be updated
OTHER DECKS