MTG Salvation

What are people's experiences or thoughts regarding this card? I'm always on the fence about it since it seems like such an awkward way to deal with Planeswalkers, but have those of you who have played with it in the MODO cube seen it in action enough times to have an opinion on it? I have a large cube so one-drops are always in high demand and think this card might warrant inclusion.

For Reference,

It's not much more than a planeswalker removal, to be honest. On the other hand, that's pretty good.

Another card that has impressed me like hell is Pithing Needle (and of course Phyrexian Revoker). I was always glad to pick one up for later sideboarding and I ended up siding it in in virtually every matchup, to the point that I'll probably run it maindeck the next time I see it. Planeswalkers, equipment, manlands, looters, levelers, Cursed Scroll, Scroll Rack, tappers... There is bascially no matchup where it's a dead card.

It seems way to narrow to include in the mainboard of any deck I'd be happy with, but if you have a large colorless section, sure, it could probably fit in there. There aren't many artifact creatures anyway and this is at least decent.

Quote from Toad

It is also pretty good if you end up drafting some Persist or Undying dudes. In my Cube, on top of killing Planeswalkers, it has been used to make these two keywords stronger, to screw Vivid lands, to blank Sigil of Distinction and to reset creatures like Mikaeus.

The good thing with Hex Parasite is that it's value can only increase with time.

I hadn't thought of the percist/undying interaction. That seems quite powerful.

Quote from Happy Gilmore

I hadn't thought of the percist/undying interaction. That seems quite powerful.

I once had Hex Parasite and Glen Elendra out for a total noncreature lockdown. I also once was able to replay Finks maybe four times with it.

It's definitely a fun card that adds some unexpected interactions beyond planeswalker hate.

I think that smaller cubes that feel like they're planeswalker heavy could use it to keep them under control with an extra tool, but other than that, the planeswalker density is going to be too light in larger cubes and it's just too narrow a card otherwise.

It has some interesting interactions with other cards too, like Persist and Undying, but it doesn't typically justify a card based on those interactions alone. It really needs to be Heat Ray-ing planeswalkers to justify itself.

I cut Hex Parasite from cube not too long after adding it. It just didn't seem to do enough. Granted, it was in and out of my cube so fast I probably didn't give it a fair chance, but it never wowed any of my players.

Cheers,
rant

It's been going pretty late in MTGO draft and I've yet to play against it or seen anyone run it. Being a somewhat tricky narrow card that's what I'd expect anyways but it's still a bad sign that I haven't seen anyone make it work in somewhere around 30 drafts.

Quote from rantipole

I cut Hex Parasite from cube not too long after adding it. It just didn't seem to do enough. Granted, it was in and out of my cube so fast I probably didn't give it a fair chance, but it never wowed any of my players.

This is exactly what happened here. I thought it was going to be pretty popular as an excellent answer to planeswalkers, but it just never lived up to the hype, even with the persist interactions sprinkled in.

I can see both sides of this arguement. Before Hex was cut, we had some fun with all the various token nonsense you can get away with. Even so, with one planeswalker per color, there wasn't enough work for him to do to justify keeping him. If I ran more planeswalkers at 450, I might change my mind.

I've found it to be a card of extremes. It's either awesome; killing planeswalkers, resetting persist, or controling your own Smokestack, or it's a Mons's Goblin Raiders. It can do a lot of neat tricks but the quantity and quality of the 'walkers in your cube, and how much this concerns you, would be the main reason to include it.

My experience so far is limited. However, I ended up with it a couple of times on MTGO over the weekend, both times I was building aggro decks. I say "ended up with" because I was never really actively wanting it, but took it late in packs that had nothing else for me. I never really wanted to maindeck it, so I viewed it as a sideboard card. I brought it in a few times (since a lot of decks run Planeswalkers, so maybe it should have been maindecked?). Anyway, I only drew it a couple of times and both times there wasn't any good use for it, so it was just a 1/1. When my opponents did have PWs, I don't remember thinking "if only I had Hex Parasite.

Not the greatest analysis ever. However, based on my experience I'm considering cutting it not as "terrible" but certainly as "underwhelming".

Just my 2 cents.

Quote from Nof

Black aggro isn't really played in my Cube, and Hex Parasite is often seen as a sideboard card, leading to the poor MD% of 33%.

I don't think Hex Parasite should have anything to do with black aggro.

It's in my 720 list, and I like it. It's a colorless 1-drop creature that does a lot of different good things. It's not narrow; it has a lot of synergies in different types of decks, and it obviously kills all planeswalkers. I like it.

It does a few small things, but it doesn't justify itself unless it's shooting planeswalkers. It's not really worth a card unless it's going good things. It was very narrow in our testing with it.

I think they made it too cheap to make it truly good. A 2/1 for 2 that removed them (perhaps slower or for more mana?) in exchange for +1/+1 counters would have been cool.

I agree. A fixed Hex Parasite would be awesome. Especially if the counters it absorbs turn into +1/+1 counters for itself.

Quote from jmw23

Even so, with one planeswalker per color, there wasn't enough work for him to do to justify keeping him. If I ran more planeswalkers at 450, I might change my mind.

Interesting. On Planeswalkers alone, at how many would you guys feel a hate card like this would become necessary? I'm currently running 22 'Walkers in my Modern Cube, so I'm at about 5.5%. Thing is, Planeswalkers are always high picks, so you can usually expect to see several of them in drafts, which makes that ratio somewhat misleading.

Just pulling this thread up because I noticed Thrull Parasite is a lot worse Hex Parasite, thought I'd poll the forum on Hex Parasite again. I feel like trying him out because I can always use more artifact creatures.

Thrull Parasite gains you life at the very least, draining counters is just a bonus.

My group has been having good experience with Hex Parasite recently. He has a lot of targets in my cube, so it's rare to see him go super late anymore these days.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx

Just pulling this thread up because I noticed Thrull Parasite is a lot worse Hex Parasite, thought I'd poll the forum on Hex Parasite again. I feel like trying him out because I can always use more artifact creatures.

While Thrull is worse at removing counters, it does a lot more when you don't need that ability. Sure, when your opponent has a planeswalker out, I'd rather have the Parasite, but in any other case, I take the life-draining Thrull.

Its main virtue is as a 1/1 Extort. The slightly crappy counter hate is a nice bonus, but not the main point. It's a nice card I think, especially if you can get a few activations off. Black lifegain is very valuable, so it could warrant testing.

Quote from Goodking

Its main virtue is as a 1/1 Extort. The slightly crappy counter hate is a nice bonus, but not the main point. It's a nice card I think, especially if you can get a few activations off. Black lifegain is very valuable, so it could warrant testing.

Black lifegain is very good in cube but there are much better options. I recently reincluded Bottle Gnomes again, which I think is much more playable than a 1/1 exort + bad ability. I really hope we get better exort cards because the exort creatures I'd run have to be almost good enough without exort.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx

Black lifegain is very good in cube but there are much better options. I recently reincluded Bottle Gnomes again, which I think is much more playable than a 1/1 exort + bad ability. I really hope we get better exort cards because the exort creatures I'd run have to be almost good enough without exort.

You might be right. I don't have any idea about how extort will play out yet. Attaching free value to spells is great and all, but 1/1 is a pretty irrelevant size. I wish it were a 2/1 for 2, ideally.