Oh man I hope this ends up being inexpensive because this card looks absolutely insane to me.
Probably the best response ever to an opponent's turn 3 Grafted Wargear equip amongst many many other incredible potential blowouts.
Not much to say besides that he is good. 3 mana, 3 loyalty, powerful +1 ability, powerful -2 ability, meaningful and achievable Ult. It's like Liliana of the Veil all over again. Sure, being multicolored restricts him somewhat, but he's in one of the weaker guilds which will be glad to have him.
I'd run him in EDH Cube too, the Looting supports Reanimator decks like Sedris, as well as Niv Firemind
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Moderator Helpdesk
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
This is a really cool card. It is powerful without being just broken, helps out various archetypes, and is finally a card you can open and be pulled into Izzet.
The only question is what to cut...currently running:
Fire // Ice
Izzet Charm
Ral Zarek
Steam Augury
Looking at Steam Augury probably.
Well before Dack was printed I considered Augury the second best Izzet card. I'll likely cut the Charm which has been nothing more than OK. Izzet has gotten quite a bit of help recently but the fact that its ~5th best card is just "OK" tells us it's still the weakest guild. At least it's got two great cards at the top of the heap.
Cyclonic Rift when not overloaded (you gain control of the target before it bounces and since it's "you don't control", the actual spell will fizzle. This also lets one gain control of non-land permanents, so planeswalkers are fair game.
Also, Turn // Burn is good and on-color - you can gain control of two creatures out of it when fused.
Still even without uses for the ultimate, I think the -2 is great in powered cube and +1 is strong as well. A stellar card that will make me break my own "max 1-walker per guild rule", since I don't want to cut Ral Zarek.
Looting as a +1 ability on a 3 mana planeswalker is madness. I like Ral and all, but this is the first Izzet card worthy of the title "cube staple". Can't wait to play with him... if only he were legal in modern so I could include him in my Loam deck.
No izzet cards excite my play group so it will be good to give this a try. Turn 3 is a key turn for my counterburn decks so we will see if this guy is an eleven, like many on this forum believe, or a 8.5, like I feel he is . Don't get me wrong, I might play a sorcery that was 1UR take control of target artifact. But when they haven't dropped a sword, he looks like loot+gain 4 life to me. And the ultimate is garbage. I am sure someone will get cute with fire/ice or go off with Rancor, but it is no 9/9 kraken every turn.
I like it because izzet is soft, and he is fun. Looting makes combo decks better(Yeah), another answer for troublesome artifacts(Awesome), and he is a 3 drop.
The trouble is, I hope to open one, as I think he will be expensive.
But when they haven't dropped a sword, he looks like loot+gain 4 life to me.
This is my feeling as well. I'm willing to accept the fact that I'm probably missing what makes him such an immediate 'staple'. Can someone elaborate? As someone that doesn't run Jitte or the swords, but does support the artifact deck, it seems to me like he'll still mostly just be repeatable looting.
Repeatable looting is really, really, really good both for certain archetypes and for improving card quality in hand. He's only Loot + gain 4 life if you have nothing on board, and if your opponent attacks Dack. In that case you're two cards closer to an answer though.
The artifact package doesn't really matter here. Just stealing any artifact, permanently, for 3 mana - and keeping Dack on the board! - is awesome. He would've still been good with 2 loyalty and that ability!
If he really has a +1 faithless looting and -2 steal an artifact, there is no way his starting loyalty is any higher than 2. That +1 alone is absurd on a 3CMC PW.
Welp, now I'm enjoying some tasty crow pie.
This seems so pushed. It's pretty clearly an auto-include in every normal cube. Also, mythic in what is going to be a normal sized set. Ugh this guy is gonna be at least $30.
Also, best Izzet card for cube? I think he is. Certainly better than Ral, and I think better than electrolyze.
He might only best izzet for cube because I am convinced it is the worst guild. I don't have a list but I would be surprised if he was in the top 10 gold cards for cube.
Don't get me wrong. I will love running this out if I have protection to start gaining mad card selection, and forcing them to maybe hold back on artifacts.
What I won't love Dack(and why Ral has sat in the sideboard of some of my decks that can cast him) is that you need board presence, and that is something my reanimator decks often struggle with.
No izzet cards excite my play group so it will be good to give this a try. Turn 3 is a key turn for my counterburn decks so we will see if this guy is an eleven, like many on this forum believe, or a 8.5, like I feel he is . Don't get me wrong, I might play a sorcery that was 1UR take control of target artifact. But when they haven't dropped a sword, he looks like loot+gain 4 life to me. And the ultimate is garbage. I am sure someone will get cute with fire/ice or go off with Rancor, but it is no 9/9 kraken every turn.
I like it because izzet is soft, and he is fun. Looting makes combo decks better(Yeah), another answer for troublesome artifacts(Awesome), and he is a 3 drop.
The trouble is, I hope to open one, as I think he will be expensive.
He's definitely not at his best in counterburn. He's better in cubes with more fixing. He's at his best in Reanimator, UWR control, 4 color control or the occasional RUG build.
In most local cubes, these archetypes are more common than counterburn anyway.
I only mention counterburn/spell mater as an archetype becasue it is the most common I see for Izzet decks. Our reanimator decks tend to be jund or dimir.I feel like this guy and the prophetic flamespeaker may encourage some grixis control which is exciting to me. I am also bringing back pyroclasm to deal with all the aggro and set up defense for that grixis deck.
In addition to decks that want things in the yard like reanimator, anything with card draw is going to be absolutely insane. You do need to have a grip of stuff (Preferably excess ladns) to make the looting at it's best, but if you cast, for example, Compulsive Research and then activate Dack's +1, you're going to be loaded with gas for the rest of the game.
Now I'm just fearing the insanely high price that he will probably have :/
FTFY
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Probably the best response ever to an opponent's turn 3 Grafted Wargear equip amongst many many other incredible potential blowouts.
I'd run him in EDH Cube too, the Looting supports Reanimator decks like Sedris, as well as Niv Firemind
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
I concur; I can't believe that he can steal artifact creatures, too. That AND a starting loyalty of 3
Well before Dack was printed I considered Augury the second best Izzet card. I'll likely cut the Charm which has been nothing more than OK. Izzet has gotten quite a bit of help recently but the fact that its ~5th best card is just "OK" tells us it's still the weakest guild. At least it's got two great cards at the top of the heap.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Some cool combos with his ultimate:
Sea Kings' Blessing / Dwarven Song / Sway of Illusion (or, out of color, Heaven's Gate / Sylvan Paradise / Touch of Darkness) = Steal all the creatures!
Battlefield Thaumaturge + Reality Spasm = Steal all the permanents!
And considering his +1, it shouldn't be too hard to dig up the cards needed to pull it off!
Cyclonic Rift when not overloaded (you gain control of the target before it bounces and since it's "you don't control", the actual spell will fizzle. This also lets one gain control of non-land permanents, so planeswalkers are fair game.
Also, Turn // Burn is good and on-color - you can gain control of two creatures out of it when fused.
Still even without uses for the ultimate, I think the -2 is great in powered cube and +1 is strong as well. A stellar card that will make me break my own "max 1-walker per guild rule", since I don't want to cut Ral Zarek.
Cubetutor Link
I like it because izzet is soft, and he is fun. Looting makes combo decks better(Yeah), another answer for troublesome artifacts(Awesome), and he is a 3 drop.
The trouble is, I hope to open one, as I think he will be expensive.
Visual Spoiler
Draft!
The artifact package doesn't really matter here. Just stealing any artifact, permanently, for 3 mana - and keeping Dack on the board! - is awesome. He would've still been good with 2 loyalty and that ability!
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Welp, now I'm enjoying some tasty crow pie.
This seems so pushed. It's pretty clearly an auto-include in every normal cube. Also, mythic in what is going to be a normal sized set. Ugh this guy is gonna be at least $30.
Also, best Izzet card for cube? I think he is. Certainly better than Ral, and I think better than electrolyze.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
Don't get me wrong. I will love running this out if I have protection to start gaining mad card selection, and forcing them to maybe hold back on artifacts.
What I won't love Dack(and why Ral has sat in the sideboard of some of my decks that can cast him) is that you need board presence, and that is something my reanimator decks often struggle with.
Visual Spoiler
Draft!
He's definitely not at his best in counterburn. He's better in cubes with more fixing. He's at his best in Reanimator, UWR control, 4 color control or the occasional RUG build.
In most local cubes, these archetypes are more common than counterburn anyway.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg