Soulfire Grand Master1W
Creature - Human Monk (M)
Lifelink
Instant and sorcery spells you control have lifelink. 2(U/R)(U/R): The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell from your hand this turn, put that card into your hand instead of into your graveyard as it resolves.
2/2
This thing seems very solid to me. It adds some value to aggressive Boros decks by giving you some lifelink on your burn spells, but the exciting part for me is adding "buyback 2(U/R)(U/R)" to my spells in either Azorius or Boros (or Jeskai). I'm wondering how valuable it will be for its third ability. Is 4 mana a lot for that effect? If you can hold up a counter to lock down your opponent's topdecks for the rest of the game, it seems great. I'm planning to make some room for this in my cube.
Most cube instants and sorceries you'll run are pretty cheap, so giving buyback to all of them for four mana sounds about right. You can buy back Lightning Bolt for 2RR or Counterspell for 2UU. The ability to soft-lock your opponent with a counterspell is good but not overpowered, since it requires six mana. So it provides some nice late-game value for a bear. Doubling up on more expensive stuff like Arc Lightning or a kicked Into the Roil is best-case, Christmasland scenarios, I think. Solid contender for the Jeskai slot alongside Lightning Angel, if you're looking for tricolor cards.
It feels like a way better Isochron Scepter that can attack and block, gain life, turn your burn spells into Helixes, copy more than one spell, and doesn't create card disadvantage by imprinting. Of course going from colorless to hybrid means it goes into less decks, but Isochron Scepter is at its best in red or blue decks anyway, and Scepter-on-legs' improvements warrant the color restriction.
Bears with potentially powerful upsides are almost always testable, and this guy's upside seems big on paper. I will definitely push for testing it. Also, another human for cards that care about that.
This is really strong. I like the base stats of a 2/2 LL for 2, that's a good base to work from. It's particularly good in the aggro mirror. The sorceries and instants having lifelink is going to make this even better in the aggro mirror for W/R decks, with not much effect elsewhere. The hybrid mana activated ability is a good mana sink that is largely going to be limited to blue's cantrips and red's cheap burn, as it will cost five to recur a single one mana spell anyway. However this ability could really get out of hand in control, with Frantic Searches, Counterspells, Time Walk (!) and the like providing a large number of degenerate interactions for 6-7 mana. So I would expect it to see play in a few archetypes - I think it's going to be an easy inclusion for us.
Seems incredible. At very worse he's a lifelinking bear which is pretty good, and then he adds so much more value. The only downside is that I find the white weenie/aggro decks lack instants/sorceries if they're base-white, but if you only had a path or STP then this guy is still totally awesome. AND he's another really good human, further making that tribe legit.
I don't usually jump on these hype trains but...dear lord. For a two drop (not even double white! easier to cast than Knight of Meadowgrain!) this is insane (potential) value. Good early game, outrageous late. Windmill slam for sure - though as a moderately budgeted cuber, I'm a little nervous what her price tag might be. Oh Seeker of the Way, we hardly cubed you...
Seems incredible. At very worse he she's a lifelinking bear which is pretty good, and then he she adds so much more value. The only downside is that I find the white weenie/aggro decks lack instants/sorceries if they're base-white, but if you only had a path or STP then this guy gal is still totally awesome. AND he she's another really good human, further making that tribe legit.
There, fixed that for you (but I agree with the points you made).
This card looks very very good to me. It was not that long ago that I had Knight of Meadowgrain in my Cube and this just blows it out of the water entirely. I even feel like this would still be in contention for a Cube slot if it didn't have the 3rd line of text, although that makes it very good in UW decks and even better than it already is in RW decks. Definitely an inclusion.
Going straight into my white section in place of Knight of Meadowgrain. Holy poop what a card! Looks like part of the Yasova Dragonclaw cycle, I'm hopeful for the other three wedges!
And yea, this card is going to be expensive. Like Voice of Resurgence hayday expensive. Lots of formats are going to abuse this card.
Personally, I am not on the hype train. The card seems... ok. The second ability is really weird. It means that this gal is best in Boros decks, but against slower decks, the lifegain rarely matters. Also, how many cards in your deck would actually be affected by it? Three? Four? Maybe five? The third ability is expensive for an aggressive deck, but pretty good once you reach the mana. A 2/2 lifelinker for 1W is unexciting and not really strong (the first strike on Knight of Meadowgrain is really relevant), but it is good enough to maindeck this card and hope that you get enough mana to eventually abuse the third ability.
All that said, she is at least more interesting than Lone Missionary, so I am trying her in that guy's place. Adding another human 2-drop makes Champion of the Parish happy, too.
I like it a lot, exciting card, had to take a double take on instant and sorceries gaining lifelink! Elegant, but unexpected. Will definitely test and most surely cube it permamently.
This is a slam dunk in my 720. Can easily slot into Knight of Meadowgrain or Lone Missionary. The 3rd line is just gravy, a 2/2 lifelinker that turns all burn spells into Lightning Helix is probably good enough on its own.
I'm kind of surprised at how excited everyone is for this card. 1W for a 2/2 lifelink is not even close to cubeable, so we have to evaluate this card based on it's other abilities. Giving your instants and sorceries lifelink is pretty cool, but that means that this is only relevant if you are a WR deck (outside of giving slight value to your Psionic Blast). Most WR decks that get built in our cube are aggressive decks, which value the lifelink a lot less than other types of decks. It does combo very well with Wildfire/Earthquake effects, but in my experience those decks are usually URx or GRx, not WRx.
The last ability seems way too slow to be worth anything in the cube environment. There are already a few ways to get a repeatable Counterspell, and they are all easier to protect than a 2/2. I do like the idea of an infinite Time Walk, but everything about this card seems more like Magical Christmasland than actual good cube stuff.
The abilities are both so unique that they will have to be tested, but I don't have high hopes for this card even in my unpowered 720.
Can somebody explain to me how spells can have lifelink? Does this mean if the spell does damage to a creature or player, you gain that life? Sorry for the noob question... just wanna clarify...
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Can somebody explain to me how spells can have lifelink? Does this mean if the spell does damage to a creature or player, you gain that life? Sorry for the noob question... just wanna clarify...
Yeah you got it. And, while I'm not sure how relevant it is, life loss=/=damage.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
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4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
I'm kind of surprised at how excited everyone is for this card. 1W for a 2/2 lifelink is not even close to cubeable, so we have to evaluate this card based on it's other abilities. Giving your instants and sorceries lifelink is pretty cool, but that means that this is only relevant if you are a WR deck (outside of giving slight value to your Psionic Blast). Most WR decks that get built in our cube are aggressive decks, which value the lifelink a lot less than other types of decks. It does combo very well with Wildfire/Earthquake effects, but in my experience those decks are usually URx or GRx, not WRx.
The last ability seems way too slow to be worth anything in the cube environment. There are already a few ways to get a repeatable Counterspell, and they are all easier to protect than a 2/2. I do like the idea of an infinite Time Walk, but everything about this card seems more like Magical Christmasland than actual good cube stuff.
The abilities are both so unique that they will have to be tested, but I don't have high hopes for this card even in my unpowered 720.
I agree 100%. It is bizarre to me that everyone is claiming the base stats are good because they are terrible in cube. I don't think the other abilities add very much at all. Its not better than Knight of Meadowgrain and it may be objectively better than Lone Missionary but Missionary fills its role better than this card would.
I think this card is cool. I don't think it's amazing, but it's solid enough to warrant testing. A 2/2 lifelink for 1W with two relevant upsides is good. Turning every Bolt into a Helix is cool. And you'll gain an absurd amount of life off Earthquake effects. Not to mention the last ability, which gives buyback to all your cheap instants and sorceries. It gives you bottomless 5-mana Bolts, Cantrips and Swords, and bottomless 6-mana counterspells (which is actually pretty relevant once the game goes long). It also goes infinite with Time Walk. Neato.
This card is interesting. A splashable, 2/2 body with Lifelink is decent. It also upgrades all Burn spells; Lightning Bolts turn into Lightning Helixes, Char now heals for 2, and makes spells like Burning of Xinye and Rolling Earthquake ridiculous! It can also combo with Time Walk and gives value late game to removal and draw spells. I think it's testable!
Edit: I think evaluating this as an control or midrange card is more apt than as an aggro addition.
Soulfire Grand Master 1W
Creature - Human Monk (M)
Lifelink
Instant and sorcery spells you control have lifelink.
2(U/R)(U/R): The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell from your hand this turn, put that card into your hand instead of into your graveyard as it resolves.
2/2
This thing seems very solid to me. It adds some value to aggressive Boros decks by giving you some lifelink on your burn spells, but the exciting part for me is adding "buyback 2(U/R)(U/R)" to my spells in either Azorius or Boros (or Jeskai). I'm wondering how valuable it will be for its third ability. Is 4 mana a lot for that effect? If you can hold up a counter to lock down your opponent's topdecks for the rest of the game, it seems great. I'm planning to make some room for this in my cube.
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It feels like a way better Isochron Scepter that can attack and block, gain life, turn your burn spells into Helixes, copy more than one spell, and doesn't create card disadvantage by imprinting. Of course going from colorless to hybrid means it goes into less decks, but Isochron Scepter is at its best in red or blue decks anyway, and Scepter-on-legs' improvements warrant the color restriction.
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This card looks very very good to me. It was not that long ago that I had Knight of Meadowgrain in my Cube and this just blows it out of the water entirely. I even feel like this would still be in contention for a Cube slot if it didn't have the 3rd line of text, although that makes it very good in UW decks and even better than it already is in RW decks. Definitely an inclusion.
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And yea, this card is going to be expensive. Like Voice of Resurgence hayday expensive. Lots of formats are going to abuse this card.
Edit: And relevant creature type for Champion of the Parish.
All that said, she is at least more interesting than Lone Missionary, so I am trying her in that guy's place. Adding another human 2-drop makes Champion of the Parish happy, too.
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This is kicking my last WW creature out of my cube, if it's cheap enough in price.
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The last ability seems way too slow to be worth anything in the cube environment. There are already a few ways to get a repeatable Counterspell, and they are all easier to protect than a 2/2. I do like the idea of an infinite Time Walk, but everything about this card seems more like Magical Christmasland than actual good cube stuff.
The abilities are both so unique that they will have to be tested, but I don't have high hopes for this card even in my unpowered 720.
Yeah you got it. And, while I'm not sure how relevant it is, life loss=/=damage.
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I've seen these in WRx several times. White has several good creatures that survive Wildfire.
I'm probably cutting Spirit of the Labyrinth for this. It hasn't been terribly impressive, and this is more unique.
I agree 100%. It is bizarre to me that everyone is claiming the base stats are good because they are terrible in cube. I don't think the other abilities add very much at all. Its not better than Knight of Meadowgrain and it may be objectively better than Lone Missionary but Missionary fills its role better than this card would.
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Edit: I think evaluating this as an control or midrange card is more apt than as an aggro addition.
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