MTG Salvation

I looked and didn't find an SCD of this card. Best thing I found was a discussion of blue finishers that talked about Meloku a bit. I want to understand what makes Meloku so good and why she is universally played. I can't seem to use her and no one in my playgroup drafts her. When she does get drafted and happens to be on-color, she still doesn't make the deck. I know this card is powerful but I don't understand why and would like to see some discussion on the topic.

Btw its a he. Meloku gives you an army at instant speed, can stabilize you, and close games out relatively quickly. He allows you to reset your lands as well which is a bonus.

I think Meloku is one of the best blue creatures in the cube. He can preserve you life total while he wins the game for you, and can make instant speed blockers and threats in response to whatever the game-state calls for. It takes a little bit of practice to figure out the perfect timings for how many and when the Illusions should be created, but after a little experience, he's a back-breaking creature. Additionally, there are a ton of cube cards that he has insane synergy with (basically all things that tokens benefit from) which increases his value even further. Not to mention any land shenanigans you might want, ways to fill your hand with extra cards if you need them, "free" tokens when you don't have another land drop, and the beautiful single-blue in the mana cost that makes him so splashable. He has absolutely stood the test of time.

Quote from wtwlf123

I think Meloku is one of the best blue creatures in the cube. He can preserve you life total while he wins the game for you, and can make instant speed blockers and threats in response to whatever the game-state calls for. It takes a little bit of practice to figure out the perfect timings for how many and when the Illusions should be created, but after a little experience, he's a back-breaking creature. Additionally, there are a ton of cube cards that he has insane synergy with (basically all things that tokens benefit from) which increases his value even further. Not to mention any land shenanigans you might want, ways to fill your hand with extra cards if you need them, "free" tokens when you don't have another land drop, and the beautiful single-blue in the mana cost that makes him so splashable. He has absolutely stood the test of time.

How can I convince people to start main-decking him? Meloku feels like destroying your own lands when you read him, and it's turning people off.

Draft him yourself, use him to crush your enemies, and they'll develop a healthy respect for him. It's not destroying your resources, it's using them effectively to create an advantageous board state. What do you need a ton of mana for when you have UU for a Counterspell up and a Meloku on the board? Or try drafting it with a Forbid and watch people pack it up. Or a Skullclamp. Or an Opposition. Or even something as simple as a basic Anthem effect.

Now you've got me reliving the time I got out a turn 3 Meloku off a Mana Drain. Good times. But seriously, Meloku is really one of the best blue creatures. DerBK and wtwlf gave good reasons. Just play it and crush your enemies. For really fun times, pair him up with Ajani Goldmane, Curse of Predation, or Opposition.

Cheers,
rant

Meloku is a relatively slow and fragile card and I think it is perfectly reasonable to cube without it. People will tell you that it turns unused mana into creatures, but that is not entirely true: you also have to give up one land drop per creature. This can be advantageous, especially later in the game where you tend to have many lands that produce mana and few cards that you can spend it on, but in the earlier stages of the game, a land drop is a huge cost.

The main reason I play Meloku is because of the synergies it has with token strategies and because it lets you do many fun and interesting things in combination with other magic cards I love (Forbid, Skullclamp, Opposition, Looter il-Kor, Shelldock Isle to name a few). It is also powerful enough that if at least a few players like to play with it, it is a reasonable choice for the heavily contested 5+ slot in blue. But if your Cube is fast and decks deploy significant pressure in the first few turns, it can be hard to stabilize with Meloku. A card like Sphinx of Jwar Isle may do a better job in those circumstances and if no one in your group is attached to Meloku, leaving it out is what I would advise.

if your Cube is fast and decks deploy significant pressure in the first few turns, it can be hard to stabilize with Meloku. A card like Sphinx of Jwar Isle may do a better job in those circumstances

Since Sphinx can't apply pressure and protect me simultaneously, and can't tie up multiple threats on defense, I'd argue that it's significantly worse at stabilizing in those circumstances than Meloku is.

Quote from wtwlf123

Since Sphinx can't apply pressure and protect me simultaneously, and can't tie up multiple threats on defense, I'd argue that it's significantly worse at stabilizing in those circumstances than Meloku is.

Or they could be holding a removal spell and kill Meloku on the spot, which leaves you with a single 1/1 illusion. It is always situational which card would be better.

Anyway, I don't think there is anything wrong with playing Meloku. I just think there is nothing wrong with not playing it either.

We will have to agree to disagree, which happens from time to time with cube-related discussion.

and as an added bonus he's larkable and recruitable. I'm a sucker for 2 power, high ceiling dudes.

Meloku is not the uncuttable bastion it once was, being slow and kinda fragile for a 5 drop. Despite that, I love the card - its splashability, synergy with other effects in a variety of deck types, and uniqueness are all enough for my to keep it for a lot longer. It is one of the best grindy finishers around and does a decent job of protecting its caster. Although I somewhat agree with Konfusius - I wouldn't fault a group for not running it. It's a sort of half-way house between the tricky synergy cards like Squee and Reveillark and the raw efficacy of something like Aetherling. Although we don't tend to run the former group, it's a great card for us.

Meloku has received a new lease of life since I started to push tokens in my cube. It's a fun archetype and spans all five colours to some extent.

Meloku is possibly the most flexible blue finisher outside of JTMS. It creates tempo, card advantage (if you've a thing for lands), board advantage. It retriggers landfall, is splashable in a GW token deck. Planeswalkers hate to see this card. It's also cool bros with Avenger of Zendikar. lol

Granted, it's not a T5 impactful card, but once you untap it's on another level. Can't compare it to Aetherling (a card I refuse to put like Memory Adept), Meloku allows you to race or helps you when you're behind.

Quote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor

It creates tempo

I'm curious, what do you mean by that? Tempo is something I find difficult to talk about because it is a relatively complex concept, but I would not have associated Meloku with "creating tempo".

Tempo, to me, is gaining early board position and maintaining it for as long as needed to get your opponent to 0 life. This can be achieved by various means, notably cheap threats and cheap mana acceleration to gain early board position and cheap removal, cheap tricks, cheap counters and cheap bounce to maintain that board position by killing or delaying opponents creatures.

If anything, Meloku is a liability in that tempo game because it costs 5 mana but can easily be answered by various 1-2 mana spells. This is also the main issue I have with the card - it is just so slow that in some match-ups it can easily be a dead draw or an overpriced chump blocker.

If you go to magic wikia, tempo means pace of the game. By casting and untapping with Meloku, you sort of create a slow tempo suddenly against an aggressive strategy.

And when people mention tempo swing, it usually means the tables have turn, or such that the pace of the game is being controlled by said player. If my opp has been beating me down with a 4/5 goyf, I can virtually stop his attack by spending 1 mana each turn and still attack with meloku, and still have 4-5 mana open.

As for your third paragraph, most creatures are susceptible to said 1-2cmc removal spells too. And that doesn't really take away it's flexibility and potential to take over a game.

Perhaps Meloku may be too tight on your 450 cube. But try to take him on a general perspective.

What's the early 2017 consensus on Meloku? It seems pretty low impact these days. I wish we had a better blue 5 drop that made tokens.

Still easily one of my favorite blue creatures. If I untap with it, I'm pretty likely to win from that spot.

But what I like most of all about Meloku is how it interacts with other cards. It works well with Opposition, 'Clamp, Purphoros, Recruiter, Forbid, landfall effects, anthems/battle cry, Reveillark, and others. It's a good card on its own, but when you can pair it with effects that make it stronger, it can really get out of control.

Quote from CuberAng »

I guess we can consider ourself happy about her. And remember: she's splashable.

*him. *he's.

Yup. It's in the flavor text. 5 times.

I still like it a lot, but more so in my combo list versus my midrange list. He's straight up busted with opposition and fastbond. In a midrange list with fewer degenerate plays, he's still solid just not so far over the curve that playing him without setup steals you wins.

I still think this card is made of win. It misses the top 20 blue cards these days because 1) blue got a number of powerful creatures in recent years (Nemesis, flip Jace, Sphinx) and 2) blue is insane. I think it's my favorite card to snap up after I draft Moat.

Cheers,
rant

One of my favorite blue finishers. So fun to untap with this guy and opposition. And I love that he is splashable.

Meloku the Clouded Mirror was discussed here in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread. Is your opinion of this card clouded by nostalgia or do I need a reminder or how good it can be?

Quote from TheGroglord »

Meloku the Clouded Mirror was discussed here in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread. Is your opinion of this card clouded by nostalgia or do I need a reminder or how good it can be?

I think you need a reminder.

Splashable, insane with Opposition (during your upkeep, tap all your lands). Great on offense and defense, murders planeswalkers with all the flyers. Bunch of little guys to put equipment on, great with anthem effects, purphoros, stax effects...