I put this card in my group's cube about a month ago as part of a Mishra's Workshop package, and although Shops has been mediocre at best, Hellkite's been putting up great numbers. It's weak to unconditional single target removal, but a single connection from Steel Hellkite has single-handedley ended every game that it's happened in to date, no matter how far behind you were before the attack step. At 360 we're maybe being too ambitious once we cut Shops, but until then it's staying in. I haven't seen Hellkite in other cube lists to date and I think it's definitely worth testing out if you're interested. The closest thing I can compare it to is Hero of Bladehold, and it even comes down on the same turn most of the time.
Card is great. I've played it since opened it back in the day. My cube is definitely lower on the power level than most, but Steel Hellkite is first-pick quality there, while still not being overly oppressive. I can certainly attest that it is powerful.
Obviously, it fails the Vindicate test, which is a deal-breaker for a lot of cubers on high-curve creatures. Personally, I'm fine with that: I'd cut it if it were any more powerful than it is.
I used to have Steel Hellkite in my cube, I liked it a lot but it fell to the wayside eventually. I think higher power-level cubes have better options but if you are in a bigger cube or just fancy a change it is a great card.
It is vulnerable to a lot of removal, but the upside if they don't have removal in hand can devastating. A Pernicious Deed every time you connect will win you games pretty quickly. Even if it only gets in one hit/deed
A 5/5 flier is a pretty decent clock especially when it can pump. I didn't often use the pump ability but occasionally I sunk the mana in for those extra point of damage to win a game or trade with a slightly larger threat. Being able to threaten to go to 8 or even 9 power is a pretty quick way to close out a game (or get blown out by instant speed removal).
Good card, if I had afew more slots for big robots I would give it another go.
Steel Hellkite is strong, but failing the Vindicate test is an instant dealbreaker for a 6-drop. I don’t think there’s too much need for Hellkite anyways, plus I like Triskelion / Scuttling Doom Engine more.
I'm probably a bit higher on Steel Hellkite than most, but I run the card and like it. It's not Wurmcoil Engine, but it's still a good 6 mana colorless creature.
I don't think it's very good. If I'm paying 6 mana for a cube card, I better guarantee myself some return on that investment. Card was tested back when artifact creature options were bad, but now that we have good cards available instead, Hellkite is dead for us.
I'd second steve_man's suggestion of Scuttling Doom Engine for tier 2 six drop of choice. FWIW, I like Soul of New Phyrexia more as well. How big does a cube need to be to want three or more colorless six drops? I'd say pretty darn big.
I'd second steve_man's suggestion of Scuttling Doom Engine for tier 2 six drop of choice. FWIW, I like Soul of New Phyrexia more as well. How big does a cube need to be to want three or more colorless six drops? I'd say pretty darn big.
I also just think that Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker have firmly pushed out Steel Hellkite and Scuttling Doom Engine as the colorless value creatures of choice.
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I'd second steve_man's suggestion of Scuttling Doom Engine for tier 2 six drop of choice. FWIW, I like Soul of New Phyrexia more as well. How big does a cube need to be to want three or more colorless six drops? I'd say pretty darn big.
I completely disagree with this statement. Colorless fatties are leagues better for cube than colored ones for countless reasons, and I’d happily play heaps of colorless fatties if it meant that they would push out the colored ones, as colorless fatties can actually be used in more than Oath/Sneak Attack and Reanimator.
I'd second steve_man's suggestion of Scuttling Doom Engine for tier 2 six drop of choice. FWIW, I like Soul of New Phyrexia more as well. How big does a cube need to be to want three or more colorless six drops? I'd say pretty darn big.
I completely disagree with this statement. Colorless fatties are leagues better for cube than colored ones for countless reasons, and I’d happily play heaps of colorless fatties if it meant that they would push out the colored ones, as colorless fatties can actually be used in more than Oath/Sneak Attack and Reanimator.
Obviously colorless > colored in a vacuum, but colored 6-drops > colorless 6-drops in general. Wurmcoil Engine is great, but it really falls off from there. Titans are a pretty pushed cycle, Inferno Titan and Grace Titan in particular have more value / damage than most 7-8 drops creatures.
Again, I agree with steve_man. I wish colorless six drops were good enough to push out the harder to cast colored ones, but unfortunately that's just not the case. Wurmcoil is the only true staple colorless six drop with anything beyond that being a much much lower power level. Even at 720, you'd maybe want one more colorless six drop and, even then, you might even prefer something like Precursor Golem instead. And honestly, even the colored six drops drop off pretty quick beyond the ones you normally expect to see in each color. So I stand by my statement. The cube would need to be pretty darn big before I wanted more than a couple colorless six drops.
Steel Hellkite
I put this card in my group's cube about a month ago as part of a Mishra's Workshop package, and although Shops has been mediocre at best, Hellkite's been putting up great numbers. It's weak to unconditional single target removal, but a single connection from Steel Hellkite has single-handedley ended every game that it's happened in to date, no matter how far behind you were before the attack step. At 360 we're maybe being too ambitious once we cut Shops, but until then it's staying in. I haven't seen Hellkite in other cube lists to date and I think it's definitely worth testing out if you're interested. The closest thing I can compare it to is Hero of Bladehold, and it even comes down on the same turn most of the time.
Obviously, it fails the Vindicate test, which is a deal-breaker for a lot of cubers on high-curve creatures. Personally, I'm fine with that: I'd cut it if it were any more powerful than it is.
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I used to ru this dragon in the early days of my Cube, but unfortunately it has felt outclassed by other high curve creatures.
It is vulnerable to a lot of removal, but the upside if they don't have removal in hand can devastating. A Pernicious Deed every time you connect will win you games pretty quickly. Even if it only gets in one hit/deed
A 5/5 flier is a pretty decent clock especially when it can pump. I didn't often use the pump ability but occasionally I sunk the mana in for those extra point of damage to win a game or trade with a slightly larger threat. Being able to threaten to go to 8 or even 9 power is a pretty quick way to close out a game (or get blown out by instant speed removal).
Good card, if I had afew more slots for big robots I would give it another go.
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I also just think that Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker have firmly pushed out Steel Hellkite and Scuttling Doom Engine as the colorless value creatures of choice.
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I completely disagree with this statement. Colorless fatties are leagues better for cube than colored ones for countless reasons, and I’d happily play heaps of colorless fatties if it meant that they would push out the colored ones, as colorless fatties can actually be used in more than Oath/Sneak Attack and Reanimator.
Seeing the positive reviews on this thread, I might try jamming him back in - if only because of how sweet he looks to newer players.
(Plus people make fun of Triskelion, no matter how vehemently I maintain he hold up)
Obviously colorless > colored in a vacuum, but colored 6-drops > colorless 6-drops in general. Wurmcoil Engine is great, but it really falls off from there. Titans are a pretty pushed cycle, Inferno Titan and Grace Titan in particular have more value / damage than most 7-8 drops creatures.
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