MTG Salvation

Mirri, Cat Warrior

My basic question is...why doesn't she see (more) play?

The combination of abilities makes her very reliably better than most creatures at lower cmcs and on par with most at similar CMCs. In particular, having first strike plus vig is a very complimentary union of abilities. The only thing holding this back from being an undeniable slam dunk is not having 3 power, but even so she still beats a ton of creatures in combat. Aggro, Midrange and even the rare G/x control shell can all make great use of her.

*Cue Seinfeld impression* What the deal...?

Dying to almost literal everything means she needs better stats. A 2/3 for a 3 drop is pretty lame, despite the other three abilities.

She competes with whatever slot Troll Ascetic holds, and she does not compare favorably

"Dies to everything" is a tad hyperbolic, no? And really, comparing this to Advocate seems off, especially given the fact that this card can punch through deathtouchers and block far better against many of aggro's 2 and 3 drops.

Quote from Edward Mass »

"Dies to everything" is a tad hyperbolic, no? And really, comparing this to Advocate seems off, especially given the fact that this card can punch through deathtouchers and block far better against many of aggro's 2 and 3 drops.

Not really. The only removal that doesn't really deal with Mirri are shock effects. That's why I phrased it as "almost literally everything", the literally may be the tad hyperbolic part because of shock effects.

Green Mirri doesn't have a place in a cube of any size IMO. There are just so many better options available.
If you want a somewhat similar creature, I would try Yavimaya Dryad. I'm looking to swap Wood Elves for it soon in my cube .

She's not awful, but the problem I have with her is that she has three combat abilities, but two of which are mostly relevant for blocking. She's a Wall of Spears on opponent's turns, and you have to hope your playing against green, or else you're attacking with a less than super aggressive card, despite the first strike.

Also, the 3CMC slot for green is pretty competitive, considering that it's chock full of further ramping creatures and utility dorks. Reclamation Sage, Eternal Witness, Wood Elves, Courser of Kruphix and even Yavimaya Elder are all cards I'd run before Mirri, because they just offer more flexibility in use than just a midrange beater.

Also, with the years, she's become less impressive as creeping power curve has increased.

On a French vanilla creature, 2/3 for 3 just isn't a good rate outside of retail limited. If you want a 3-drop beater Call of the Herd, Witchstalker, and Vile Redeemer hit harder and have upside that combined with an extra power are worth quite a bit more than all 3 keywords on Mirri.

Some great value creatures you're not running in that spot you might also consider are Eternal Witness and Nissa, Vastwood Seer.

Okay. Just so we're clear, would any of you play a hypothetical Mirri that was a 3/3 or a 2/4? (No other changes)

Mediocre stats, bad casting cost, doesn't contribute to any archetypes (or theaters for that matter) and nothing that I want to be doing with green. Hard pass. If it was a 3/2 it might be slightly more interesting. It's like a really, really bad Vampire Nighthawk in a color that doesn't even want that.

Mirri's problem is that if you're in a GX aggressive deck where she'd theoretically be pretty ok, there are better aggressive creatures both in green and basically any other color you'd pair it with, so she probably wouldn't make the cut. And if you're in any other GX shell, she's just not good enough because she doesn't support anything specific.

Quote from Edward Mass »

Okay. Just so we're clear, would any of you play a hypothetical Mirri that was a 3/3 or a 2/4? (No other changes)

A 3/3 Mirri would almost put her at the level of Troll Ascetic, a borderline card. You trade one slightly better combat ability for another (first strike vs regenerate) but you get a vastly better second ability with the troll's hexproof. The troll's lower toughness is relatively irrelevant since regenerate allows it to stay on board for an additional cost (and play the indefinite blocker if necessary), and hexproof protects it from all damage-based removal except Pyroclasm effects, but whatcha gonna do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A 2/4 would not change my opinion from 2/3, as I'm looking for creatures that hit harder for their cost, and any that can't do that need to have very special abilities to make up for it (Courser of Kruphix or Gray Merchant of Asphodel for example ). That being said, a 2/4 vigilance for 1GG is extremely high above the curve, and would likely see at least some play, since it would serve as a trump to probably 70% of creatures with mana cost 3 or less

I also prefer Troll Ascetic a lot compariring to Mirri, Cat Warrior. Same as Boon Satyr, Ohran Viper, Wolfir Avenger, Wood Elves and brand new Tireless Tracker. And there's also Viridian Shaman that powered cube managers can run easily before it. I don't run it though, but I should be.

A simple 2/3 first striker for 1GG doesn't appeal to me at all, even with vigilance and a pseudo borderline evasion. I think it's just unexciting and that it doesn't bring enough to the table in order to not being last picked every time.

Quote from Zetsu_Sensei »

And there's also Viridian Shaman that powered cube managers can run easily before it. I don't run it though, but I should be.

I don't think you need to be running a powered cube to want Viridian Shaman/Uktabi Orangutan. There are enough mana rocks and dangerous equipment in my unpowered cube that Uktabi Orangutan always makes my main deck in green if I didn't pull Reclamation Sage that draft.

I agree that Tireless Tracker looks like a great 3-drop for green decks that want to beat down as well as ramp decks, and I haven't gotten to test it yet, but it may well be better than any of the 3-drop beaters I mentioned earlier.

Quote from steve_man »

I'd probably rock Mirri in an old card-frame cube.

It wasn't even great in that format.