"3R
Creature - Djinn Pirate
Whenever Emberwilde Captain enters the battlefield, you become the Monarch.
Whenever you are attacked, if you are the Monarch, Emberwilde Captain deals damage to the attacking opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand."
I want to try this card. Mono-red getting a body along with pure card draw every turn, and the only way they can stop you is if they attack you to get monarch and take damage (and you're mono red so you'll probably get it back). What do ya'll think?
Thought this looked like a legacy card for red aggro, but I didn't realize this could be nice for cube too. Monarch is no joke, and a 4/2 body is pretty big. The obvious comparison for cube would be Palace Jailer, and while this is certainly worse that's a pretty high floor. Seems to lack versatility, but the power level is certainly there. Might just have to test this card
Assuming they can't kill the body, how much damage on average will this guy probably do from just the trigger each time in cube? maybe like 2 or 3? In legacy that number is obviously higher, but even just 2-3 damage is no joke.
Oh man. Monarch is such a strong effect. But... a red 4-drop... I don't think I can stomach to cut any of the ones I'm running now.
But then, this is monarch...
Exact same thought. I think there's too many better red 4's (including ones I'm already not playing) but getting to be the monarch in red aggro is so good.
Man, this is rough. The monarch is great in red aggro for sure, but I just don't know. If this was somehow scaled down to a 3-drop, I'd probably fit it in, but I like all of my 4-drops a lot, and don't really want to go up in quantity there.
I really like this card the more I think about it. Am I crazy to think this might be a replacement for Flametongue Kavu? Kavu is probably a better card in the aggro decks since you can clear a large blocker and develop the board at the same time, but emberwilde captain also goes in more archetypes, has a higher floor (kavu is bad on an empty board), has an average higher ceiling (kavu is a 2 for 1 almost always, this is a 2:1 most of the time, but left unchecked keeps generating more advantage without any other input from other cards). The other nice thing about monarch is it keeps games from stalling out and keeps the night moving forward.
1) from a cube design, I like that RWBG can each have access to a pretty powerful card engine to help fight against U, and different decks can have some monarch minigames. I don't think 4 cards in a cube though is too much
2)Even though this might be best in red aggro, it can also be good in a lot of other red decks. RG with Derranged hermit, RB Stax, Could see play in Red control decks which generally struggle with card advantage. in both Stax, Wildfire, or Moat decks, if you can keep your opponent low enough on resources, / keep there hand full, when they do manage to attack its possible to create situations where they will lose more life from the 1 or 2 creatures they have in play can even deal.
3) even though this works with other monarch cards, but it combos with Feldon of the third pathin color to retain monarch every turn if you have the mana for it, and throwing a 4 power creature can wear down most decks.
4) The real question is what to cut, and like i said, maybe it's better then kavu overall even though it might not be the best curve topper for red aggro?
I don't really like the mini game that monarch creates in games but this card is pretty spicy.
I wouldnt be surprised if this is a sleeper. I also have a cut for this card in ogre battledriver so might have to look at bringing in monarch to my cube with additional includes of palace jailer and custodi lich
I don't really like the mini game that monarch creates in games but this card is pretty spicy.
I wouldnt be surprised if this is a sleeper. I also have a cut for this card in ogre battledriver so might have to look at bringing in monarch to my cube with additional includes of palace jailer and custodi lich
We played Lich for a while and the issue was always that 5CMC slot being so hard to reach for aggro decks, but the monarchy itself was always incredibly powerful. This and Lich have the same statline, and making the opponent sac a creature usually is not that powerful outside of Liliana of the Veil, so I'd have to imagine being a mana less in a more suited color makes this quite a bit better than the Lich (which is already a totally solid, 540+ playable card to begin with).
Targeted exiling is obviously way better than the abilities on both Emberwilde Captain and Custodi Lich, so maybe Lich is the better cube comparison for this card just due to the statline alone.
This seems just okay to me. As an aggro card, I'd rather have a Hellrider variant. Its only other home is midrange and it seems pretty eh there.
We played Lich for a while and the issue was always that 5CMC slot being so hard to reach for aggro decks
Personally I don't curve to 5 in aggro decks, so I think trying to shoehorn Custodi Lich really isn't doing the card justice. Lich has been great for me and a lot of others.
I think Hellrider will be better on average but if you support red token strategy then this card seems really strong by being able to block dues to keep monarch while forcing them to take damage.
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"3R
Creature - Djinn Pirate
Whenever Emberwilde Captain enters the battlefield, you become the Monarch.
Whenever you are attacked, if you are the Monarch, Emberwilde Captain deals damage to the attacking opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand."
I want to try this card. Mono-red getting a body along with pure card draw every turn, and the only way they can stop you is if they attack you to get monarch and take damage (and you're mono red so you'll probably get it back). What do ya'll think?
Assuming they can't kill the body, how much damage on average will this guy probably do from just the trigger each time in cube? maybe like 2 or 3? In legacy that number is obviously higher, but even just 2-3 damage is no joke.
But then, this is monarch...
Exact same thought. I think there's too many better red 4's (including ones I'm already not playing) but getting to be the monarch in red aggro is so good.
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1) from a cube design, I like that RWBG can each have access to a pretty powerful card engine to help fight against U, and different decks can have some monarch minigames. I don't think 4 cards in a cube though is too much
2)Even though this might be best in red aggro, it can also be good in a lot of other red decks. RG with Derranged hermit, RB Stax, Could see play in Red control decks which generally struggle with card advantage. in both Stax, Wildfire, or Moat decks, if you can keep your opponent low enough on resources, / keep there hand full, when they do manage to attack its possible to create situations where they will lose more life from the 1 or 2 creatures they have in play can even deal.
3) even though this works with other monarch cards, but it combos with Feldon of the third pathin color to retain monarch every turn if you have the mana for it, and throwing a 4 power creature can wear down most decks.
4) The real question is what to cut, and like i said, maybe it's better then kavu overall even though it might not be the best curve topper for red aggro?
I wouldnt be surprised if this is a sleeper. I also have a cut for this card in ogre battledriver so might have to look at bringing in monarch to my cube with additional includes of palace jailer and custodi lich
We played Lich for a while and the issue was always that 5CMC slot being so hard to reach for aggro decks, but the monarchy itself was always incredibly powerful. This and Lich have the same statline, and making the opponent sac a creature usually is not that powerful outside of Liliana of the Veil, so I'd have to imagine being a mana less in a more suited color makes this quite a bit better than the Lich (which is already a totally solid, 540+ playable card to begin with).
Targeted exiling is obviously way better than the abilities on both Emberwilde Captain and Custodi Lich, so maybe Lich is the better cube comparison for this card just due to the statline alone.
Personally I don't curve to 5 in aggro decks, so I think trying to shoehorn Custodi Lich really isn't doing the card justice. Lich has been great for me and a lot of others.
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