MTG Salvation

Quote from Metamind »

Was it played/tested exclusively in non-aggro decks?

No. It's not a good control card. It is an amazing aggro card though.

It's essentially a colorless Skizzik that leaves a better Grafted Wargear behind. Nutzo.

And crew 2 works great in an aggro deck, since most of your 1- and 2-drops will have 2 power. Plus there aren't usually that many bigger creatures in an aggro deck where you would feel bad for "overcrewing". All in all, aggro decks are the best fit for this vehicle. Especially non-red ones where haste is a rarity and thus a serious gift.

So long as you're crewing with a 2/1 or 2/2 creature, this is essentially +3/+2 or +3/+1 plus trample, and sometimes haste ...for what amounts to an "equip cost" of 0. Without losing the creature if you lose the Cruiser.

Can't say enough good things about the Cruiser.

Thought it would be more valuable for green midrange decks, as they have little access to haste, lots of creatures and Cruiser is great at killing planeswalkers. Standing in face of the competition of 4 drops in aggro decks is great news.

Nah, green midrange hits pretty hard already. This provides a curve-topping punch and gifts value to the lategame 2/1s that can often stall out in usefulness. Red has good hasted 4-drops already, but none of the other aggro colors have a 4-drop that hits as hard as the Cruiser. And even in red, this card is starting to look favorable to some of those options. It's really quite good.

Skysovereign is the vehicle that green midrange wants.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

So long as you're crewing with a 2/1 or 2/2 creature, this is essentially +3/+2 or +3/+1 plus trample, and sometimes haste ...for what amounts to an "equip cost" of 0. Without losing the creature if you lose the Cruiser.

Can't say enough good things about the Cruiser.

I'm sold. Just want to say, that in combat with equipments you lose the creature, but not the equipment. With a vehicles it's just the other way round. And in case of aggro one or two drops, I would probably rather keep the vehicle (unless I have no other creature out).

Unrelated: Chariot of Victory looks odd now. In the future, magic players will ask, why the hell is that not a vehicle?

Quote from voiddisciple »

in combat with equipments you lose the creature, but not the equipment. With a vehicles it's just the other way round.

That's also my concern. Isn't that thing going to die in combat pretty often? With 3 thoughness only, it seems really easy to kill. This is were the comparaison with Grafted Wargear bothers me. I do understand it when you're looking at an empty board, but I mean, that thing isn't indestructible.

I would imagine that vehicles plays a lot like a different sort of champion than equipment.

Is that a fair comparison?

Kinda, but not really. The ability to change the body that Crews the vehicle and being able to use newly cast creatures makes it play too dissimilarly to Champion. It's not a perfect comparison to Equipment either, but I think it's closer.

I feel like the vehicles are pretty similar to equipment but I really enjoy the subtle ways they play differently. I played against all three recently in testing and I definitely felt less safe facing down an empty board with a ready-to-be-crewed Fleetwheel Cruiser or Skysovereign than I would have facing down an empty board with a Sword. The pseudo haste vehicles provide is one of their most fun and powerful aspects I think.

One of those key difference comes attached to vehicles with a low crew cost though. Skysovereign, for example, I'm far more comfortable sitting on the other side of an otherwise empty board because a lot of creatures can't crew it off the top. This Cruiser though (and to a lesser extent, the Copter) ...I never really feel safe.

Quote from JohnnyDegenerate »

Quote from SCDL »

Quote from JohnnyDegenerate »

I think I still like the Masticores more. Without other creatures on the board, it's effectively a Skizzik without the kicker.

Except it's colorless. And can be activated later. Seems dramatically better than an unkicked Skizzik.

An empty board is actually a great time to lay this down, because if you have any gas left you can tap them when they're summoning sick for the most value.

You make a salient point. Partially because I was thinking of it in the wrong archetype. I'll put new thought into it and see what I come up with.

Wait... Someone being reasonable and considering someone else's opinion?!? I thought this was the internet? Kudos to you sir!

I think some of these vehicles might warrant testing, including this one. I will be interested to see how often they break stalls.

Another cool interaction that came up with this guy:

I was playing control and my opponent had this and Skysovereign in a Boros fast midrange/beatdown deck with several different manlands (Mishra's Factory, Mutavault, Needle Spires, Blinkmoth Nexus). I was playing Dimir control with plenty of sweepers/removal. I ended up losing several games because my Damnation/Languish/Toxic deluge couldn't get rid of my opponent's vehicles andr he was literally ALWAYS able to crew them with manlands. It was actually pretty cool to watch even though I got demolished.

This won't happen every game but it's definitely worth noting how well manlands work with vehicles. Hilariously nonsensical flavor, but it works.

Cruiser was pretty good yesterday in the first draft after our Kaladash update. The trample was strong and the fact that he is not a creature during the opponents turn was a big advantage. My opponent couldn' steal him with Treachery or kill it with sorcery speed creature removal.
The fact that this always is a creature the turn you play it is a huge advantage compared to other vehicules. We ended up only testing this card and Sovereign, because that one seemed harder to evaluate without actual testing.

Does anyone think this should get play in a 450 powered cube? My colorless section feels really tight.

Cheers,
rant

Yes, it absolutely should.

Quote from rantipole »

Does anyone think this should get play in a 450 powered cube? My colorless section feels really tight.

Cheers,
rant

I like it better than captain's claws, undiscovered paradise, and masticore in your colorless section. This seems like a definite include for 450 and up cube. It may find a home for a while in my 360. I am continually finding that midrange is spoiled for choices, so moving more 4-5 drops into aggro curve topper role is fine.

I was thinking of pulling the Masticores for vehicles. TBH the Masticores never seem to be popular picks. Maybe my playgroup just doesn't know how to use them effectively (myself included), but these vehicles seem sweet!

Quote from Counthermula »

I was thinking of pulling the Masticores for vehicles. TBH the Masticores never seem to be popular picks. Maybe my playgroup just doesn't know how to use them effectively (myself included), but these vehicles seem sweet!

Yeah me too. Seems like this deals damage quicker than Molten-Tail Masticore.
Unlike equip, crewing is an instant so you can cast the top decked 2 power creature and crew this before removal.

I initially wasn't planning on including any vehicles in my 360, and was thinking of this as the third best one, but this seems to be a lot of praise. For those that like this would you run it at 360? How about the other two vehicles?

I'm planning to shoehorn both Fleetwheel Cruiser and Smuggler's Copter in my cube, which is in the process of growing from 375 to 450. But even at 360 I'd try to include Fleetwheel.

Quote from simpygdog »

I initially wasn't planning on including any vehicles in my 360, and was thinking of this as the third best one, but this seems to be a lot of praise. For those that like this would you run it at 360? How about the other two vehicles?

I would extensively test the cruiser at 360. I probably wouldn't cube the others at that size.

Would anyone mind suggesting me what should I cut?
Really looking forward to including this.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/21694