This looks pretty awesome... much better than the last Avacyn! Pretty sure I could find a cut for this (I'm running Wingmate Roc, so it'd probably be swapped out).
Jesus Christ, what a Serra Angel. I know Baneslayer, Cloudgoat and Reveilark are pretty good, but I think this will make it in and stay there for a long time.
If it didn't give itself indestructible it would be a lot worse for control.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
Yeah, I love this card. I like having combat tricks in my cube but I've ended up cutting many of them over the years because they just aren't getting played enough to justify their spots. Here's a combat trick/anti removal spell attached to a bomb creature. Yes, it's hard to not telegraph this trick but hey your getting a Serra Angel with all upside so it's gonna be good when cast no matter what. There can be a lot of neat interaction with Avacyn and she's really abuseable when combined with good sac outlets. Anyway, Linvala, the Preserver was not long for my cube lol.
I'm not as excited as you guys. This card looks a bit unpowered to me. Simply not sold yet. There's at least four white 5-drops that are strictly better IMO. Maybe even five depending on how much you like Wingmate Roc.
Avacyn flip size seems meh. She loses vigilance for +2/+1 boost on her base stats and then hit creatures, including yours, and your opponents for 3. I don't know... Transform trigger doesn't look that easy for a white 5-drop either.
Her upsides are that she protects your creatures from removal & wrath and also act as a potential combat trick. But then what? Simply a Serra Angel... that can blow out your board by surprise. So is this a midrange card? If yes, it looks like a risky one. While it has flash, it doesn't seem to fit that well into traditional cube's control builds either. Strange card. Doesn't know what to think about it. For now, I guess I'll pass.
When she flips she can probably swing for 9 that turn... This card is nuts. In a midrange deck swinging for 9 is pretty good, I'd sacrifice my smaller dudes to do that. It's front side is great my only reservation is whether the backside will be downside often, which I really don't believe it will be. If they waste removal on one of your dudes she hits really hard that turn.
I'm pretty sure this is being underestimated. If you're on control, you get to flash in a beefy flier as a combat trick that doesn't die to a random Bolt/Go for the Throat/etc. If you're on mid-range, it lets you blank a Wrath or even make a "bad" attack. If you're on aggro, it can blank a Wrath or let you blitz in while threatening a Bolt attached to a beefy flier if they block. You're almost guaranteed value if this isn't countered.
It's not Baneslayer, but I suspect it's better than Reveillark.
Certainly playable, but I don't like it more than Baneslayer Angel / Cloudgoat Ranger / Reveilark at the moment. I'm currently running Karmic Guide (which is a pet card of mine).
Decisions, decisions...
I also want to say that I absolutely think the art of the non-transformed side is extremely boring and uninspiring.
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this card – definitely one of the most mythic feeling mythics I've ever seen. Clearly the power level ranges from high to insane, with the very rare dip to unplayable in certain decks.
Here's a bit of blasphemy: I might swap out Baneslayer herself for this lady. (I've never been a big fan of protection, anyway...)
I like this card but that is probably more based on my like of flash creatures. I am not sure what I could cut for this but this excites me even though it probably isn't a long term staple.
Flash is crucial and makes her a really strong card. Sure, your opponent can use a removal to transform her at an inopportune time, but that only hurts you if you have a lot of small creatures out. A really flashy (heh) and mythic card.
I'm not as excited as you guys. This card looks a bit unpowered to me. Simply not sold yet. There's at least four white 5-drops that are strictly better IMO. Maybe even five depending on how much you like Wingmate Roc.
Avacyn flip size seems meh. She loses vigilance for +2/+1 boost on her base stats and then hit creatures, including yours, and your opponents for 3. I don't know... Transform trigger doesn't look that easy for a white 5-drop either.
Her upsides are that she protects your creatures from removal & wrath and also act as a potential combat trick. But then what? Simply a Serra Angel... that can blow out your board by surprise. So is this a midrange card? If yes, it looks like a risky one. While it has flash, it doesn't seem to fit that well into traditional cube control builds either. Strange card. Doesn't know what to think about it. For now, I guess I'll pass.
I'm trying to understand how there are four white 5-drops that are strictly better. I'm not saying she automatically jumps over the current 5-drop staples, but strictly better seems like a pretty tough position to defend.
I'm sure he misspoke, unless there are 4 other white 5-drops with flash, vigilance, and flying that you and I both have never heard of. Replace "strictly" with "simply" or "much", and that's probably what he was trying to say.
I suspect it's better than Reveillark.
Sacrilege! Reveillark is virtually guaranteed value, and it's part of infinite combos that are like catnip to my playgroup. This makes it and Karmic Guide sacrosanct.
I'm intrigued, but the competition is tough at 5 in white. I'm also not convinced that situations come up often enough where the ETB clause can be taken advantage of to matter, or that this can be flipped reliably enough. In fact, unless you have a sac outlet on board the ETB effect actively works against flipping Avacyn. The 5-drop I'm least excited about in my cube right now is Cloudgoat Ranger, but if new Avacyn is just a Serra Angel with flash 90%+ of the time, I think I'd rather have CGR.
I'll be keeping an eye on others' testing results, but I don't think I'll be in a hurry to add this one.
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Great card is great. Snap include. Serra Angel with flash, a global indestructible blanket at instant speed, and transforms into a 6/5 beater that full Slagstorms everything? Sign me up.
I'll happily give this a test slot. As far as the "4 strictly better 5 white drops" assertion, I don't agree. Incinerate is strictly better than Searing Spear. But this vs the top white 5 drops is a completely different comparison. At face value I think I might prefer this guy to baneslayer in many decks. They are both powerful but in different ways. I believe this card is on the power level as the other white 5 drops but it wants (and gives) a different game state that I find interesting.
Only real downside for me is I dont care for flip cards but I'll suffer the mechanic for this guy.
Looking awesome! It's certainly on purpose that it's difficult to flash her in and flip her right away, because giving your side indestructible and then Slagstorming would be too nasty. I don't think the flip trigger will be a hurting you all that often, so I read this as an all upside value card.
I'm not sure about the word strictly, yeah maybe I misspoked. What I meant is that there is four better 4-drop out there. Reveillark, Baneslayer Angel, Cloudgoat Ranger and even Karmic Guide are all better suit for cube environment IMO. I'm just not as excited as you guys about this flash Serra Angel. Even if she can combat trick and act like wrath shield. In most case, she just going to die to a removal. I think that's something a 5-drop must avoid in some way. I mean, she's kind of doing it, but for your earlier creatures. So you somehow have to wait for a removal window to play her and actually get value out of it.
About the flip, I just can't imagine her just simply transform without any sac-outlets. And I'm also mixed about the Slagstrom effect strap to her. Could be good, could be bad. Not a snap include for our playgroup. Maybe we'll proxy and test just in case we're wrong.
Huh?
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On the better 5-drops: if you're putting a mark against Avacyn for dying to removal, you have to put a MUCH bigger mark against Baneslayer for the same reason. At least you can avoid sorcery-speed stuff, protect your team, and can block in combat w/o dying to bigger baddies if that's what you're dealing with. Baneslayer crushes smaller boards, but still struggles in certain spots. I don't think "dying to removal" is a fair mark against Avacyn at all, because she avoids a LOT of that removal by having flash and the temp indestructibility
This is a great card but I am not sure I am in the market for another white 5 drop creature. I am still running Dictate of Heliod in my flex spot and the token deck does so well that I think its overkill so I will probably try her in that spot assuming we don't get other great white cards in this set.
Flash, Flying, Vigilence
When Avacyn ETB, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
When a non-Angel you control dies, flip.
4/4
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Flying
When this creature transforms, it deals 3 damage to each other creature and each opponent
6/5
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Pretty cool looking card. Could be strong enough, though it does cost 5. Thoughts?
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If it didn't give itself indestructible it would be a lot worse for control.
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strictlybetter IMO. Maybe even five depending on how much you like Wingmate Roc.Avacyn flip size seems meh. She loses vigilance for +2/+1 boost on her base stats and then hit creatures, including yours, and your opponents for 3. I don't know... Transform trigger doesn't look that easy for a white 5-drop either.
Her upsides are that she protects your creatures from removal & wrath and also act as a potential combat trick. But then what? Simply a Serra Angel... that can blow out your board by surprise. So is this a midrange card? If yes, it looks like a risky one. While it has flash, it doesn't seem to fit that well into traditional cube's control builds either. Strange card. Doesn't know what to think about it. For now, I guess I'll pass.
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It's not Baneslayer, but I suspect it's better than Reveillark.
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Decisions, decisions...
I also want to say that I absolutely think the art of the non-transformed side is extremely boring and uninspiring.
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Here's a bit of blasphemy: I might swap out Baneslayer herself for this lady. (I've never been a big fan of protection, anyway...)
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I'm trying to understand how there are four white 5-drops that are strictly better. I'm not saying she automatically jumps over the current 5-drop staples, but strictly better seems like a pretty tough position to defend.
Sacrilege! Reveillark is virtually guaranteed value, and it's part of infinite combos that are like catnip to my playgroup. This makes it and Karmic Guide sacrosanct.
I'm intrigued, but the competition is tough at 5 in white. I'm also not convinced that situations come up often enough where the ETB clause can be taken advantage of to matter, or that this can be flipped reliably enough. In fact, unless you have a sac outlet on board the ETB effect actively works against flipping Avacyn. The 5-drop I'm least excited about in my cube right now is Cloudgoat Ranger, but if new Avacyn is just a Serra Angel with flash 90%+ of the time, I think I'd rather have CGR.
I'll be keeping an eye on others' testing results, but I don't think I'll be in a hurry to add this one.
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Only real downside for me is I dont care for flip cards but I'll suffer the mechanic for this guy.
About the flip, I just can't imagine her just simply transform without any sac-outlets. And I'm also mixed about the Slagstrom effect strap to her. Could be good, could be bad. Not a snap include for our playgroup. Maybe we'll proxy and test just in case we're wrong.
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Huh?
------------------------------
On the better 5-drops: if you're putting a mark against Avacyn for dying to removal, you have to put a MUCH bigger mark against Baneslayer for the same reason. At least you can avoid sorcery-speed stuff, protect your team, and can block in combat w/o dying to bigger baddies if that's what you're dealing with. Baneslayer crushes smaller boards, but still struggles in certain spots. I don't think "dying to removal" is a fair mark against Avacyn at all, because she avoids a LOT of that removal by having flash and the temp indestructibility
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