MTG Salvation

Lightning Mauler

I was just thinking about this card. Suppose he's played on curve turn 2:

- Turn 2 Lighning Mauler.
- Turn 3 Goblin RabbleMaster Variant. ETB soulbond the Lightning Mauler. Both swing in on turn 3.

If its turns 4-5, he could still soulbond with a creature potentially on the field, or another 2 drop in hand to both swing in on the turn they're played.

Similarly, we could also turn 1 creature, turn 2 soulbond, swing in for 2 on the turn it comes out.

This could be even stronger in a deck that curves into Prime Speaker Vannifar, Doom Whisperer or Thragtusk

Why would the floor be that low though? Isn't soulbond a you may?

I'll have to try him out to see.

Card was okay, but nothing great. I cut it years and years ago and have had no desire to re-add it.

I guess its floor lies in the lack of impact on its own. It does close to nothing alone, but on the other hand it gives haste to all your new creatures.

Quote from Resarox »

I guess its floor lies in the lack of impact on its own. It does close to nothing alone, but on the other hand it gives haste to all your new creatures.

Well, one of your new creatures. Once paired, it can't unpair until the other creature's gone.

Wow I just realized I've been reading soulbound wrong for a long time.

Quote from mblieb »

Wow I just realized I've been reading soulbound wrong for a long time.

Ya, if you could unbond at will, it would be amazing. Pair this to your 1-drop so you can swing with haste, and then also pair it w/ your Rabblemaster for big beats on T3, and then pair it to your Flametongue for even more awesomeness ...it would be amazing. But once you play this as a Nest Robber, you can't give haste to anything else until the 1-drop you paired it to dies. Which will likely be in combat, making the ability even less useful. So then the ideal play is to wait with it, run it out as a Goblin Piker and then just pair it to something on a future turn. But the problem with that is that it just has less impact than running a better 2-drop would've been instead. Especially if you don't have a bomb target to pair it with. It played decently, and sounded great on paper, but was a bit of a disappointment in practice. I (we) played this card for a long time, back when we were all in desperate need of playable 1R creatures ...but that time has long passed.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from mblieb »

Wow I just realized I've been reading soulbound wrong for a long time.

Ya, if you could unbond at will, it would be amazing. Pair this to your 1-drop so you can swing with haste, and then also pair it w/ your Rabblemaster for big beats on T3, and then pair it to your Flametongue for even more awesomeness ...it would be amFor exaazing. But once you play this as a Nest Robber, you can't give haste to anything else until the 1-drop you paired it to dies. Which will likely be in combat, making the ability even less useful. So then the ideal play is to wait with it, run it out as a Goblin Piker and then just pair it to something on a future turn. But the problem with that is that it just has less impact than running a better 2-drop would've been instead. Especially if you don't have a bomb target to pair it with. It played decently, and sounded great on paper, but was a bit of a disappointment in practice. I (we) played this card for a long time, back when we were all in desperate need of playable 1R creatures ...but that time has long passed.

Those are all good points, but I do want to talk about deck consistency here in context with the entire cube.

As a Legacy Affinity player, I play a full playset of Springleaf Drum, its horrendous - its blanked by your own Chalice of the Void + its miles off from Mox Opal or Ancient Tomb, but it nevertheless provides the 8-12 sources of blue mana + 8-12 sources of fast mana your 60 card deck needs. (Your deck needs to mulligan without one of these in your opening hand).

But I digress. When playing an aggressive red deck, it is ideal to have a 1 drop Using the hypergeometric distribution calculator:
- 5 1-drops gives you a 64% chance of opening with a 1-drop
- 7 1-drops gives you a 77% chance of opening with a 1-drop

I found an opening with a 2-drop haste and occasionally a strong hand with a 2 drop + haste 3 drop is also equally strong as an aggressive deck with a 1-drop on turn 1 (Which is why I advocate Robber of the Rich).

If your deck has enough Jewelry + one drops, you're strategy could very reasonably to mulligan any hand without a 1-drop (or Jewelry, or haste 2 drop.)

The problem is I'm not sure if I can justify including that many red 1 drops in my cube. I've been on the record about how much I dislike red drop aggressive creatures - especially in grid drafts and my playgroup really dislike playing aggressive standard level decks in an environment with Vintage Level cards. But they are nevertheless important in keeping the meta game in check.

I see Lightning Mauler as a way to retain the aggressive nature of an aggressive deck with a "slightly" lower number of 1-drops, but also letting other archetypes do some pretty cool things.

Generator Servant is another creature that might assist with those goals.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Generator Servant is another creature that might assist with those goals.

I really like Generator Servant - Really nice card. Turn 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Thundermaw Hellkite, Koth of the Hammer have been pretty cool. If white - Hero of Bladehold, Leonin Warleader

I like Nest Robber variants, and I run 4 at 360. When I played Lightning Mauler in other cubes, I was fairly happy with it, and I thought it did its job well enough. However, Lightning Mauler has a weakness the other Nest Robbers don't, in that it's pretty bad post-Wrath. Something like Robber of the Rich can come down while the opponent is tapped out after a Wrath to continue on the beatdown plan, where Mauler is summoning sick, and can then be answered by a blocker or removal spell. I think Mauler is still a fine 2-drop for larger cubes, though even those cubes can get by without it.

Quote from jamis »

I like Nest Robber variants, and I run 4 at 360. When I played Lightning Mauler in other cubes, I was fairly happy with it, and I thought it did its job well enough. However, Lightning Mauler has a weakness the other Nest Robbers don't, in that it's pretty bad post-Wrath. Something like Robber of the Rich can come down while the opponent is tapped out after a Wrath to continue on the beatdown plan, where Mauler is summoning sick, and can then be answered by a blocker or removal spell. I think Mauler is still a fine 2-drop for larger cubes, though even those cubes can get by without it.

I really like Nest Robber variants myself. Some days I really wish Ash Zealot was Red- Colorless rather than Red-Red - then it would be a slam dunk. But with so many good red 2 drops, the competition is just really tight.

With so many good top ends like -Hazoret the Fervent, Koth of the Hammer, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Thundermaw Hellkite, Hellrider. I'm not that concerned about my red decks post wrath.

Quote from Breathe1234 »

Quote from jamis »

I like Nest Robber variants, and I run 4 at 360. When I played Lightning Mauler in other cubes, I was fairly happy with it, and I thought it did its job well enough. However, Lightning Mauler has a weakness the other Nest Robbers don't, in that it's pretty bad post-Wrath. Something like Robber of the Rich can come down while the opponent is tapped out after a Wrath to continue on the beatdown plan, where Mauler is summoning sick, and can then be answered by a blocker or removal spell. I think Mauler is still a fine 2-drop for larger cubes, though even those cubes can get by without it.

I really like Nest Robber variants myself. Some days I really wish Ash Zealot was Red- Colorless rather than Red-Red - then it would be a slam dunk. But with so many good red 2 drops, the competition is just really tight.

With so many good top ends like -Hazoret the Fervent, Koth of the Hammer, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Thundermaw Hellkite, Hellrider. I'm not that concerned about my red decks post wrath.

I think Robber of the Rich is the best variant of tis sort - I would definitely play Robber over Lightning Mauler or Ash Zealot. It's splash able, aggressive, and in properly aggresive decks has high probability of generating card advantage.

Yah Robber has been very good. Ash Zealot's double red has been incredibly problematic.

The ones I'm running are Earthshaker Khenra, Robber of the Rich, Ash Zealot, and Impatient Iguana.

At 360 Powered we play 7 red 2s:
Dire Fleet Daredevil
Eidolon of the Great Revel
Young Pyromancer
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Lightning Mauler
Earthshaker Khenra (just in for red 2-drop density, has been pretty mediocre)
Shrine of Burning Rage (really starting to show its age with all the incidental artifact hate and is likely on the way out)

First 4 are fantastic, but we still play Mauler and he's still the fifth best red 2 imo. Card curves great into red 3s and operates as a pseudo 3/4/5 curve topper for aggro decks. Definitely better than Earthshaker Khenra at least, but I can't say I've tried Robber of the Rich in cube by comparison, but I have played it in standard and been generally unimpressed with it.,

Next time we draft I'll probably ask about bringing Embereth Shieldbreaker back in place of Shrine or Khenra if I can remember to, but I don't think Mauler is even close to getting cut for us, so take that how you want to I guess

I just want to mention how much I love this discussion - I really the direction of "why I play X and what does it take to make him good".

- I'll have to give Dire Fleet Daredevil a try - but the "problem" is there are too many good red 2 drops!
- Eidolon is a bit of a non-starter for myself because of its double red. I recently had to cut Knight of the Holy Nimbus and put Knight of the White Orchid on watch list because of their double white casting cost.

Quote from Breathe1234 »

I just want to mention how much I love this discussion - I really the direction of "why I play X and what does it take to make him good".

- I'll have to give Dire Fleet Daredevil a try - but the "problem" is there are too many good red 2 drops!
- Eidolon is a bit of a non-starter for myself because of its double red. I recently had to cut Knight of the Holy Nimbus and put Knight of the White Orchid on watch list because of their double white casting cost.

Breath, Eidolon of the Great Revel is quite a bit better than both of those double white CC spells you cut, so the double red CC is an acceptable cost/issue to warrant its inclusion