MTG Salvation

I was surprised not to see an SCD for this card already:



I think it's pretty interesting at the very least. The 3-toughness allows you to attack with this into a lot of boards (enabling the Inspired trigger), and the 1/3 body the turn it resolves will probably blank a whole combat step before it starts giving every nonland card in your hand Transmute 0 once a turn. Is it just me, or does that seem like a worthwhile ability to have? Dimir is a pretty tight section when it comes to supporting specific types of decks, but this creature seems pretty good to me. Thoughts?

The effect is quite powerful, but I would have preferred a Fauna Shaman-like ability. As it is, I think it's a bit more unreliable than what I would have liked. Great with Opposition, though (but then again, what isn't? :p).

Me too. I don't like Inspired much either. But the 2cmc and the 3-toughness increase that reliability quite a bit.

I feel like ~50% of the time it's just going to be a 1/3. I'd like a self contained way to tap it without attacking, or some form of evasion. It is a really cool ability though.

Quote from wtwlf123

Me too. I don't like Inspired much either. But the 2cmc and the 3-toughness increase that reliability quite a bit.

More the 3rd toughness than the 2CMC, I think (by the way, how has Pain Seer been performing?). Its BCS is quite good, but its WCS is a harder-to-cast Lumengrid Warden... but maybe by the time this can no longer attack it helped sculpt your hand enough so that doesn't matter. I may have room for this, but I'm still not sold. What kind of card would people consider cutting to get this in?

Playing with Pain Seer for quite a while now, I can assure you that 3 toughness on that stage of the game will get a trigger far more often than just 50% of the time.

Meh, it's not the best card, but I thought it had some promise. Transmuting is so cool, and this allows me to do it with a variety of different CMCs. Plus, it can allow me to simply dump a fatty if I need to, or exchange a counterspell for a reanimation card. In combo decks like Tinker and Reanimator, I don't need to Transmute all game. Probably just once.

Quote from wtwlf123

Playing with Pain Seer for quite a while now, I can assure you that 3 toughness on that stage of the game will get a trigger far more often than just 50% of the time.

But do we really want a conditional tutor that is best in combo/control decks and must be played on turn 2-3 to have any real impact?

I think it depends on what you're doing with your UB section. If you play a lot of combo decks, then yes. Dimir is loaded with cards that help support specific decks, and doesn't have that many universally valuable cube cards. So depending on what those decks are, I could see this guy being a role-player for Tinker combo or reanimation builds in the #4-6 slot in Dimir somewhere.

I also think this guy could be great in the dimir tempo decks I like. Exchanging that non-exciting creature for the bounce/removal I need. Maybe unloading that late game thoughtseize for ancestral recall. That said I think it would have a chance as monocolor, being about as good as Omenspeaker, with a higher power level in exchange for consistency.

Definitely worth talking about, but would you drop Shadowmage Infiltrator or Baleful Strix for this guy. No way.

Also my fatties that I ant to reanimate are rarely anywhere close in casting cost to anything else in my deck.

This doesn't really help tempo decks. They want cards that will either further their board position and/or roll back the opponent's. You can't afford to durdle for cards with an underpowered beater.

Transmute itself is an extremely narrow mechanic to have. It's cool that it has peripheral uses for reanimator and other shenanigans, but alongside this card's weaksauce stats I would need to see a lot more than just one activation to earn a spot in multicolor.

This looks like garbage to me, it's a hard to cast 1/3 for 2 that conditionally gives one of your cards transmute.

I'd consider this if it allowed you to discard lands, since it would mean you always have something to do with the trigger. As is, the curves in combo decks are so spread out that I feel the trigger will be too situational to give you a full card's worth of value on a regular basis.

I'll pass on this. Really, I don't want to attack with a 1/3, but I have to in order to use its ability. Seem weird.

Man, the idea behind this card is cool. I just don't like Inspired as a mechanic though. The only way its worth it is if the effect you get off the Inspired trigger is game breaking otherwise it just takes too long with too many things that could go wrong. Bums me out though because giving all my cards Transmute 0 seems super fun. Toolbox.dec FTW!

Imagine an artifact that cost UB and came into play tapped. You tap it to transmute a card. That is something to get excited about.

Inspired is just so bad that the creature has to be almost good enough on it's own, or the effect has to break the game in half. I feel worse about these cards than miracles.

Quote from DerBK

There are already two very good 1/3 creatures in UB, i don't think that a third one is needed. They don't exactly overlap in applications, but the decks taht would want them are similar and i don't think that this new guy can compete with the tried and true cards.

Do you think this guy is better than Finkel? Because i don't.

It certainly isn't better, but it's worth noting that it also costs one less to play.

Like so many cards so far from this set, I think this is testable but doubt it will make a lasting impact.

Yeah I did a double take on this bad boy(girl?), glad to see someone made a thread on her.

First off there's room in U/B, depending on your cube size and support for strategies.

Next this effect is bonkers. Transmuting for free on any card you want is so unbelievably strong. You use to have to pay 1 and 2 colored mana for that effect, on okay cards. Now you get to do it on any card, like those that interact with the Graveyard. In black. Mind. Blown. Toss Bone Shredder for you Recurring Nightmare? Toss your Force Spike for that Mind Twist? I know I'm using amazing cards, but honestly who doesn't make a U/B deck without at least one of the bees knees of cards.

But there is a downside. You need to be able to tap the creature somehow. This is a drawback, and it gives your opponent time to react. Thank god this creature only costs 2 mana though and on a 1/3 body, so even if it dies, it's not like you have invested everything into it. And let's not kid ourselves that your opponent doesn't want to kill this creature quickly either, before it starts running him over with card selection and/or card value if you have combos that can be setup.

Now if you can get the effect off once, you've paid UB for 5 mana worth effects. 2 mana for a 1/3 body, 3 mana for the transmute effect. That's some value. So as an evaluator, I'm evaluating this card as a strong competitor for the U/B slot if the odds of getting the effect at least once are high.

As to how to get the card to tap and live? Opposition and Artifacts are one way, cheap removal is the other (which we all know blue/black doesn't have very many options in). The odds of not getting the effect are not as low as some are saying.

Now as I see it, that means that this card is a fine card, but as someone who love Psych, and run both tempo and artifact packages, I don't know if this will make it in my cube (on the fence). But for anyone not in that boat, I urge the testing of this card. It's got huge potential and can fit in a multitude of decks. It really does have a lot going for it.

I think that UB likes to play a lot of combo archetype decks, and in medium-large cubes trying to see them work, this could be a reasonable tutor effect for grabbing a whole variety of useful tools. I never suggested that it would crack the top of the Dimir section or that it should be pushing Finkel out of peoples lists. I'm not saying the card's a staple, just suggesting that it's worth close inspection depending on what your UB decks look like.

Quote from BK »

Do you think this guy is better than Finkel?

Nope, never said it was.

Quote from RJRellik »

As to how to get the card to tap and live?

You just attack with it. 3 toughness makes it really easy to get the inspire trigger to work in the cube. Playing with Pain Seer extensively has shown me that it's quite easy to get at least 1 activation out of the card, and with a 3rd toughness, it would happen almost every time.

I do believe deep analysis will be this card's best friend. Fire//Ice and Tamiyo and Maze of Ith aren't perfect as enablers but they are on color and in my cube already. If this thing could work the ceiling is enormous. I mean get through with this gal just once and get your jitte. Next turn cast + equip and do it forever....

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from RJRellik »

As to how to get the card to tap and live?

You just attack with it. 3 toughness makes it really easy to get the inspire trigger to work in the cube. Playing with Pain Seer extensively has shown me that it's quite easy to get at least 1 activation out of the card, and with a 3rd toughness, it would happen almost every time.

Hahaha sorry thought that went w/o saying. Was just trying to angle it from the views of those worried about attacking in, or getting it later game (which is silly to worry about with a two drop). But its nice to have some experienced commentary about the likelihood of getting the inspired effect off. Definitely makes me feel more strongly about the strength of this card.

It's relatively uncommon for me to not get at least 1 card off the Seer. Makes me think that I should be able to get at least 1 transmute from this Disciple. If that grabs my reanimation spell or Tinker, it's done its job. Does that make it a staple? Of course not. Simply worth consideration if you play a lot of decks that are trying to combo out and/or assemble engines. Like a BB/u Pox/Stax deck would love this kind of critter, as an example. In addition to reanimator and Tinker builds.

Don't forget if you really want to you can discard your fatty to this this and not find anything just to get something in the yard if you already have a reanimation spell. Not great but if you are trying to combo you are often willing to do painful things to get griselbrand in the yard.

Ya, I mentioned that above, and I think it's a relevant upside for sure. It can go into "Oona's Prowler" mode if it has to.

I'm interested in testing this. I think the ability itself is pretty powerful and deserves the testing. Now the question is, how often do I really see myself attacking with a 1/3. I think the 1/3 body will be a good blocking deterrent for a few turns at the least. What I'm interested in are the times I get to slap him in on turn 2 in the control mirror and just start tool boxing away my random creature removal for higher impact spells in a mirror situation. I also imagine that playing this guy off a mox is probably pretty nutty.

All this said though, I really wish it cost like UUB or 1UB and had intimidate because then I think it would be an auto include.

I might have tried this card if it were blue or black, but there is no way that this makes it into my Dimir section.