For Modern it's going to be nutty. Any card with a potential "Draw 3" on it is worth testing there. For Standard, depending on how the fixing turns out this next set we could end up seeing a lot of it. Right now with fetchlands your 3+ color manabases are already eating a lot of damage to get things stable. Does that mean that we can't play this in Standard? I don't know.
The flexibility of being able to take 1, 2, or 3 damage without changing the cost is really nice. Cycling it feels kind of bad at 3 mana, and when drawing 2 cards I'll wish I was playing Read the Bones instead. At 3, especially alongside things like Seeker of the Way and Siege Rhino it's going to provide a LOT of gas for the right decks.
Would you treasure cruise for 3 mana and replace delve 5 for 3 life? I would. Because it means I have more cards in my graveyard for murderous cut or Tasigur.
Would you treasure cruise for 3 mana and replace delve 5 for 3 life? I would. Because it means I have more cards in my graveyard for murderous cut or Tasigur.
But decks that were casting Treasure Cruiser were casting it for one. And they weren't the same as the decks that were casting Tasigur.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
Maybe it becomes a sideboard card for all decks that have main deck Treasure Cruise as a replacement against those decks that use delve for exile triggers. Otherwise if you're running only 2 colours, wouldn't Read the Bones be better than Painful Truths? That is if you're running black but not 3+ colours, for instance U/B Control.
Oh yes, of course I didn't mean blue decks should play it. I think it's obvious that if you have access to blue mana, you play Cruise or Dig. Otherwise, this is a decent option but only for tri-color decks. Abzan, Mardu and Jund will enjoy this card I think.
The flexibility of being able to take 1, 2, or 3 damage without changing the cost is really nice. Cycling it feels kind of bad at 3 mana, and when drawing 2 cards I'll wish I was playing Read the Bones instead. At 3, especially alongside things like Seeker of the Way and Siege Rhino it's going to provide a LOT of gas for the right decks.
And yeah, it's pretty great. 3 life adds up, but Abzan can easily recoup the loss with Rhinos, and digging for 3 is huge for such a low cost.