MTG Salvation

Is this too weak without hitting face? Comparable to Murderous Cut I suppose...

Close, but no cigar. Really needed to be able to go upstairs IMO.

Quote from Wildfire393 »

I think you both are underestimating this card. Hitting five-toughness dudes is big game, especially since Red has trouble with that a lot. And it can hit walkers too, killing most relevant ones the turn they come down. It's practically a red Murderous Cut and I think it's worth considering.

Good point. I do like that it does things unique to the color.
However, costing an extra mana compared to murderous cut is not trivial for it's early game application. I played murderous cut for a while and It was common to pay more than 1 mana for it.

Is this better than Brimstone Volley in the cube? I mean, if you're going to be paying ~3 mana for the effect anyways, I like the one that can go face that also keeps my graveyard intact.

In constructed I think Magmatic Sinkhole will be quite good, because it can be a 1-2 mana spell earlier and more consistently.

This is not bad, but I'm not sure I want it. I wouldn't have thought to compare it to Brimstone Volley, but I like Volley a lot better (and it has put in great work in my cube).

I do like Murderous Cut, but 4B is better than 5R. "Destroy target creature" is also better than "deal 5 damage to target creature". The one advantage this has in the comparison is ability to hit planeswalkers. That's not enough for my cube. To be fair, I do think this is a good enough burn for my cube, but there are a lot of burns that are at that point, and this is not one I'm inclined to prioritize.

I believe Hero's Downfall is a slightly better comparison than Murderous Cut.

From writeups on other sites, it's a great option if it costs 2-3 mana, which seems on par. The floor can be rough, especially early game, but the ceiling can be MUCH higher than Downfall. It's certainly worth a test in my book; anything to keep walkers in check as I keep adding the really sick ones.

I think the proper comparison for this card is Murderous Cut and I believe this a good reason to consider this card. It cannot go upstairs, but removing a big key blocker for the rest of the team to get through is very very valuable. The cost reduction is so huge on this card. Curving this into a haste creature is a huge tempo swing that I can see happening. I would be very surprised to not see this included in most cubes

I think everyone should watch the Abzan vs Mono-red match up in pro tour Magic Origins Semifinals standards; The mono red deck was able to repeatly use its in-expensive red 1-2 drops to get damage through every turn while Roast/ Stoke to flames removed 2 Siege Rhinos, Courser etc.

I've found the 5 damage off Roast in eternal formats (both Legacy and Modern) to be incredibly powerful at removing blockers. Especially for colors such as Red, Green and Blue that lack removal spells, Roast has proven to be a very good card.

Magmatic Sinkhole might not be the most cost effective card, but giving aggressive, control and midrange decks a way to answer planeswalkers that scales well into the late game (more cards to delve) can be incredibly powerful.

I think the card might be a little underpowered for a 360 or 540 cube, but I think the 5 damage effect is incredibly important for any red based deck to have.

I've never played this card personally but I've seen it more than a few times in legacy, where it's certainly good. We don't have it in our cube, but if anybody were to recommend it and say its been great I'd take their word for it. Card is good and versatile but just not the most interesting and can't kill mana dorks/Thalia/Confidant on turns one and two and three, so I would assume that hampers its play-rate. I don't think it's good enough for 360, but I'd probably at least try it out at 450 as some above-average filler. Based on mere modality I'd also probably play Purphoros's Intervention first for its ability to be cast as a shock on turn 2, but I can't speak from experience since I haven't played either, and maybe I'm underestimating the power of this card being an instant.

Edit: MTGS seems to spell Purphoros's Intervention wrong, they have it linked as Purphuros's Intervention lol

I would play both Roast and Magmatic Sinkhole. Both very good cards for helping aggressive decks push creature damage. I'm not sure if they're playable in 360, but I would try to make room for them in 540.

It’s terrible that Roast can’t kill Baneslayer and Lyra (and Gisela). If I’m playing removal that can’t go face in my red aggressive deck I want to make sure it kills all the creatures that wreck me.

Quote from Patrunkenphat7 »

It’s terrible that Roast can’t kill Baneslayer and Lyra (and Gisela). If I’m playing removal that can’t go face in my red aggressive deck I want to make sure it kills all the creatures that wreck me.

That's actually an incredibly fair point. I actually don't play either in my cube - Vanilla 5/5 creatures just don't appeal to me.

Hey @Breathe1234, you mentioned this card in the other thread - how is it for your crew? I feel like since we don't have as many 1-cost spells as in constructed that it's tougher to fill the gy to make this consistently efficient. But I haven't tried it so am curious how it's been for you.

Quote from mblieb »

Hey @Breathe1234, you mentioned this card in the other thread - how is it for your crew? I feel like since we don't have as many 1-cost spells as in constructed that it's tougher to fill the gy to make this consistently efficient. But I haven't tried it so am curious how it's been for you.

This question depends on the texture of the red decks/ white decks in your meta.

There are two forms of red:
- Ramnup Red (8 1-drops), 24-25 lands, curve into Hazoret/ Chandra
- Red- Zoo Aggro (12-14 1-drops), 20 lands, mulligan any hand without 1-drop.

There are similar decks for white/ black/ red aggro decks:
- Aristocrats (requires 7-8 1-drops)
- Black Aggro (requires 7-8 1 drops)
- Red spells matter deck (requires 7-8 1-drops)
etc.

* numbers are from 60 card constructed decks

If you're cube is leaning more towards the Ramnup Red, Black Aggro, Aristocrats, Red spells matter in your cube, the Magmatic Sinkhole increases in stock with helping to push damage in the late game. If its primarily one-drop aggro focused on turn 1 creature, then Sinkhole loses some value.

If you can get this card for 3 CMC consistently, its actually pretty good. Hero's Downfall variants are always welcomed in cube (especially if it costs 1 Red - Increases splashability).

Right on, thanks for the thorough reply! I think we are more zoo-focused though I hadn't really thought about it like that before.