Yep. If red does Sneak Attack/Through the Breach style decks in addition to contributing to reanimation strategies, I think this guy could serve a niche role in those decks. Especially since you don't have tho exile the creature you're copying.
Sneak Attack is what first came to mind (and it's worse than that for sure), but it's actually most similar to Whip of Erebos. The casting cost and activation are each 1 less, and the creature is sacrificed instead of exiled (recursion!) but you have to wait a turn to use it, it's more vulnerable as a creature itself, and it doesn't grant lifelink. The key seems like it is going to be about recurring the same creature every single turn.
Sneak Attack is what first came to mind (and it's worse than that for sure), but it's actually most similar to Whip of Erebos. The casting cost and activation are each 1 less, and the creature is sacrificed instead of exiled (recursion!) but you have to wait a turn to use it, it's more vulnerable as a creature itself, and it doesn't grant lifelink. The key seems like it is going to be about recurring the same creature every single turn.
I think you missed that it makes a token copy of the creature, so it doesn't matter if it eixles or goes to the graveyard (unless you have something that triggers when the token dies). This guy never actually pulls the card out of the graveyard, which makes the creature in the yard that you're trying to recur even more resilient (pathing the token does nothing, for instance). Interesting card for sure.
Seems awesome in theory, though waiting a turn to start the reanimation beats could hurt it. Bringing something like a Myr Battlesphere over and over seems like it can end a game quick, though I'm sure that could be said with a lot of the top end beaters in cube.
This guy seems awesome. Red and green are already paired fairly often with Reanimator. Red offers Faithless Looting, Sneak Attack, and Through the Breach. Excited to get another piece of that puzzle.
I'd test this guy at 360, so he's definitely going to make my 540 and 720.
Flavorwise, this card is like the saddest card in the history of Magic though.
Sneak Attack is what first came to mind (and it's worse than that for sure), but it's actually most similar to Whip of Erebos. The casting cost and activation are each 1 less, and the creature is sacrificed instead of exiled (recursion!) but you have to wait a turn to use it, it's more vulnerable as a creature itself, and it doesn't grant lifelink. The key seems like it is going to be about recurring the same creature every single turn.
I think you missed that it makes a token copy of the creature, so it doesn't matter if it eixles or goes to the graveyard (unless you have something that triggers when the token dies). This guy never actually pulls the card out of the graveyard, which makes the creature in the yard that you're trying to recur even more resilient (pathing the token does nothing, for instance). Interesting card for sure.
Yeah, that. It IS recurrable, unlike whip, but the reason why has nothing to do with the exile vs. sacrifice clause. Interesting that they templated what happens to the creature EOT differently on these two cards. It does have a better interaction with death triggers because of that, but that's kind of a corner case.
Sneak Attack is what first came to mind (and it's worse than that for sure), but it's actually most similar to Whip of Erebos. The casting cost and activation are each 1 less, and the creature is sacrificed instead of exiled (recursion!) but you have to wait a turn to use it, it's more vulnerable as a creature itself, and it doesn't grant lifelink. The key seems like it is going to be about recurring the same creature every single turn.
I think you missed that it makes a token copy of the creature, so it doesn't matter if it eixles or goes to the graveyard (unless you have something that triggers when the token dies). This guy never actually pulls the card out of the graveyard, which makes the creature in the yard that you're trying to recur even more resilient (pathing the token does nothing, for instance). Interesting card for sure.
Yeah, that. It IS recurrable, unlike whip, but the reason why has nothing to do with the exile vs. sacrifice clause. Interesting that they templated what happens to the creature EOT differently on these two cards. It does have a better interaction with death triggers because of that, but that's kind of a corner case.
Woah! Just realized it's FELDON! He's pretty slow unfortunately (there's probably a joke about him needing his cane here), even supporting Sneak Attack and red as a reanimator color I don't think he'll make the cut at 450.
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Wow, card is super interesting. I think this is interactive enough and powerful enough to test, and it meshes well with a lot of red's other stuff, looters and such. Not exiling the card from the GY is a nice trick. And it's very important that this card lacks the 'active this ability only as a sorcery' clause, so it provides options on defense.
And it's very important that this card lacks the 'active this ability only as a sorcery' clause, so it provides options on defense.
More importantly, you can create an end step token and a main phase token, allowing you to attack with two bodies through blockers. It's an important function of Mimic Vat, and it factors in here too.
I'm always wary of creature cards that need a turn of summoning sickness to come online, but there are exceptions like Fauna Shaman and Enclave Cryptologist that have powerful enough of an effect to be worth the risk. I think this is one of those cards. This guy belongs in a heavy red deck with his 1RR cost, but it meshes nicely with the decks that also want to be using Sneak Attack / Through the Breach / Goblin Bombardment / Stax / Pox / etc. etc. I'm not sure it makes the cut at 360, but surely he has a home in anything larger.
Edit: I love how the window frame creates a halo around the mask he is holding. This card is just a slam dunk all around, whether or not you choose to cube with it.
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His 1RR cost is definitely the weakest thing about him. If he were 2R, I could see him being an auto-include in 360s just because he would then be a lock for reanimator support in red and that adds a ton of value to him.
Tested him last night & he was in a sweet Winker deck (Goblin Welder+Tinker). The potential to do truly insane things was there but alas never happened. He ate removal every time he was played (4 times in total) and the controller never untapped with him. I played against it & killed it on sight twice because I saw what he was setting up for & it was scary (Sundering Titans and such in the graveyard). I also wish the casting cost was 2R versus 1RR but at this point we'll continue to test him in our 540. He's not a definite include to me but it does give red decks several other dimensions to build on. The question is how much do we (Cube designers) want to diversify red?
The question is how much do we (Cube designers) want to diversify red?
IMO, a lot. I don't like that red is just in a few camps. I've enjoyed drafting storm in my cubes of various sizes throughout the past 2 years because it gives red a distinct identity beyond what it's already doing in most people's cubes. I hope they give us more cubeable discard outlets in red so we can add to the reanimator package even more than we're able to do.
The flavor and feel of this card are amazing! Art, rules text and flavor text work together perfectly.
It ability is an interesting and potentially powerful effect in red. Kind of a cross between Whip of Erebos (minus the lifegain part) and Mimic Vat. It's just too bad that he costs double red. He seems best in Grixis or Jund reanimator decks or other crazy concoctions that usually run more than two colors. The second red mana really hurts his playability in a three color deck, making it way harder for him to find a home during a draft.
His options open up after a sweet Wheel of Fortune and he can be tutored by Imperial Recruiter. I'd test him based on flavor alone (there's a pun in there).
The biggest issue is the RR as R is normally the 3rd-4th color of the archetypes he's good in.
I expect red to get more cube able looting effects going forward, so this guy might get better.
With time.
A 2/3 body for 3 is below curve but it's not horrific.
The fact he can win games by himself and a single creature in the graveyard for 3 mana is pretty sick.
He's narrow but fun , huge upside and think it's going to stick.
The Timmy's in my play group will nut on this card.
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I think you missed that it makes a token copy of the creature, so it doesn't matter if it eixles or goes to the graveyard (unless you have something that triggers when the token dies). This guy never actually pulls the card out of the graveyard, which makes the creature in the yard that you're trying to recur even more resilient (pathing the token does nothing, for instance). Interesting card for sure.
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Also it's cool to see Feldon.
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I'd test this guy at 360, so he's definitely going to make my 540 and 720.
Flavorwise, this card is like the saddest card in the history of Magic though.
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Yeah, that. It IS recurrable, unlike whip, but the reason why has nothing to do with the exile vs. sacrifice clause. Interesting that they templated what happens to the creature EOT differently on these two cards. It does have a better interaction with death triggers because of that, but that's kind of a corner case.
Red's 3 drops are really interesting to me. Very few of them slot into the typical "mono-red" build, but they tend to be interesting and powerful anyway. Squee, Goblin Nabob, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Goblin Rabblemaster, Guttersnipe, Chandra's Phoenix, etc.
I was already thinking of cutting some mono-red cards for something more interesting. Ill definitely be trying this guy.
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Eldrazi don't hang out in your graveyard tho, alas. Tho I suppose if you hit them when the shuffle trigger is on the stack...
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More importantly, you can create an end step token and a main phase token, allowing you to attack with two bodies through blockers. It's an important function of Mimic Vat, and it factors in here too.
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Edit: I love how the window frame creates a halo around the mask he is holding. This card is just a slam dunk all around, whether or not you choose to cube with it.
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IMO, a lot. I don't like that red is just in a few camps. I've enjoyed drafting storm in my cubes of various sizes throughout the past 2 years because it gives red a distinct identity beyond what it's already doing in most people's cubes. I hope they give us more cubeable discard outlets in red so we can add to the reanimator package even more than we're able to do.
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It ability is an interesting and potentially powerful effect in red. Kind of a cross between Whip of Erebos (minus the lifegain part) and Mimic Vat. It's just too bad that he costs double red. He seems best in Grixis or Jund reanimator decks or other crazy concoctions that usually run more than two colors. The second red mana really hurts his playability in a three color deck, making it way harder for him to find a home during a draft.
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The biggest issue is the RR as R is normally the 3rd-4th color of the archetypes he's good in.
I expect red to get more cube able looting effects going forward, so this guy might get better.
With time.
A 2/3 body for 3 is below curve but it's not horrific.
The fact he can win games by himself and a single creature in the graveyard for 3 mana is pretty sick.
He's narrow but fun , huge upside and think it's going to stick.
The Timmy's in my play group will nut on this card.
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