MTG Salvation

I'd be happy just +1'ing that thing all day long. I'm really not sure adding a true tricolor card to my cube is what I want to do though

Quote from Fredo »

I'd be happy just +1'ing that thing all day long. I'm really not sure adding a true tricolor card to my cube is what I want to do though

True, but this guy sure looks tempting. I think people underestimate his +1. That extra free mana makes a big difference.

Still, three colours you actually have to cast, unlike some other three colour cards.

Heh, I was just wondering why almost everyone was so focused on the dragon-making minus ability while I was salivating over that card advantage and mana acceleration plus abitily. All those comparisons to Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath seem to ignore that Ob's plus ability is forgettable while Sarkhan Unbroken's plus ability is HUGE.

Thanks for making me feel less alone here, you two.

Quote from Incendiaryspade »

I feel like you can't run this without running Ob nixilis of the black oath. Ob seems about as good as Sarkhan, but I was never really tempted to try him out in my cube. I know one is B and one is temur, but it really seems like a three color card should be alot better than a mono black card for the same cost.

I don't agree. While I do also like Ob Nixilis, Sarkhan is much better imo. While Ob Nixilis' plus ability is close to useless, Sarkhan's is much more powerful.

Sarkhan's [+1] is much better than ON's as befits a three colour card. However, I would be far from happy just running a slightly buffed, three colour, five mana Coercive Portal if that's all he did. He absolutely needs to be making dragons to affect the board state, protect himself, and create some sort of win-con. [+1] is a very accetable way to keep him alive while doing so.

I played and cut Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, but that doesn't change my desire to play this card. His +1 is infinitely better than Ob's was, so it opens up avenues for play that Ob didn't have, as well as providing more value even if you do immediately make a creature with it. And the ramp is relevant too, as he can bring you to Titan/Sphinx range even if you miss your land drop, or take you into Hornet Queen range if you do have the land.

Yeah, no doubt that his -2 is the more powerful mode and the basis of his strategy. the +1 is a nice powerful alternative when the situation warrants it.

Another added benefit of the +1 mana is to cast two spells In one turn, the card you drew off your deck and the card off sarkhan. Gives it another nod over coercive portal, which can sometimes strand cards in ur hand if their Cmc is too high.

Love it but it another temptation for me to just play 5 color good stuff

Need more Shard/wedge cards, I support multicolor!!!

His ability to make 4/4 flyers is obviously very good. I just wanted to point out that it is far from the only thing that he does. His plus ability is also very good. In some situations it will even be the more important ability. Reducing him to "He makes a few dragons!" isn't doing him justice.

Note that the plus ability is very good in Wildfire decks and Temur are the most common colors for that deck.

Quote from jmw23 »

Supposing I wanted one of each shard, what are the other serious contenders? Isn't the issue that some shards lack anything top-end, and thus you end up cramming so-so cards in to even them out?

This is exactly what I do, keep one card slot for each tricolor combination. My list:

Bant - Rafiq of the Many
Esper - Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Grixis - Nicol Bolas PW
Jund - Broodmate Dragon
Naya - Meglonoth

Abzan - Siege Rhino
Jeskai - Mantis Rider
Mardu - Butcher of the Horde
Sultai - Damia, Sage of Stone
Temur - Maelstrom Wanderer

While these cards don't get selected highly, they show up in decks more often than you'd think. The two I'm least happy with are Meglonoth (which had been Woolly Thoctar, but that wasn't impactful enough) and Damia (which I am considering switching to Sidisi).

I don't yet know whether I'll pull MW for Sarkhan. He seems solid, and more decks will probably want him than MW. But MW produces such awesome stories that I don't know if I want to pull him back out.

So, after a few months, what's the verdict on Sarkhan Unbroken? Good enough to warrant the three-colour investment? Or not significantly better than equivalent monocolour cards at the same cost? We haven't had the chance to playtest at all, and I've heard little discussion on him around the forum.

We cut him for being too narrow. He is a good card, but being a midrangy, controllish three colour card makes him too narrow for our cube. If it were a extremely powerful card or a incredible role player in certain archetypes this could be forgiven, but it is just a regular good card.

I think he's a good card if you can find the room for him. The 3 colors limit the decks he can go in, but if you can cast him, you usually play him.

Solid card, comparable in power to many of the stronger 5 drops in the cube.... but it's quite narrow.

I am currently running it as a pseudo simic card (find simic too weak outside of edric), but it's close to the chopping block. It fits GU's game plan quite well, provding a threat that can take over the game quickly by itself, and help ramp into something bigger.

The value he generates is incredible, but he is not great at protecting himself. A 4/4 dragon is awsome, but in practise going to 2 loyalty + the dragon blocker has proven to be more vulnerable than I was expecting. If you are behind in the slightest, sarkhan often bites the dust without providing adequate value for 5 mana + card in a rampy deck.

He requires tight play and a deck that can protect him enough that he can generate the requisite value. The upside when he gets a few activations is worth it to try and make that happen.

Just yesterday I drafted him in a Rug good stuff deck and I was happy with his performance.
An interesting situation that highlighted his strength occured during a board stall. I was keeping pace with my opponents whisperwood elemental, with cards being drawn off of sarkhans +1. Unfortunately he was drawing better than me. He was one turn away from amounting a force to alpha strike.

The turn I was about to die, I drew time walk, attacked with my lone dragon for 4, made another dragon and cast time walk. Next turn, I drew a land, +1ed sarkhan to draw a card and hit den protector. Exactly what I needed. Used Den protector to regrowth back time walk, cast it. Attacked with my dragons for 8, passed the turn. Swung for another 8 effectively dealing lethal.

I definitely like him in decks with Wall of Roots and Wall of Blossoms and Spellskites and stuff to protect him when he resolves. But if you can get the gravy-train rolling, he generates a ton of value. And despite being a 3-color card, he's easy to slot into green decks because that color is so good at aiding splashes ...he can come down the turn after a Cultivate or Kodama's Reach with no other help.

Sounds pretty good in ramp decks that splash for Show and Tell and Sneak Attack.

Didn't impress for us, so we are testing maelstrom wanderer in its place, we know we prefer Yasova > Sarkhan but we've never tested the wanderer. Sarkhan's just in a weird spot, he doesn't pull enough into temur colors. My temur decks are generally decks that want to either stall to where they can play stupid fatties, or cheat into play said fatties. which would prefer one of my other 5+ drops. Gruul and simic can use Yasova well enough, while ramp decks seem like they would appreciate the wanderer more.

Excuse my necro.

How has this guy been playing for folks? I haven't been able to cube much since I added it, but when I'm drafting on Cube Tutor I don't ever find myself tempted to take it. Is it still worth playing in a 10 card tricolor section at 450?

Cheers,
rant

It's a good card, but it's absolutely cuttable.

Agreed. Not many decks need a 5-drop finisher badly enough to be in all three colors for this. I originally cut an Izzet card to make room, and I've since cut it for Fire // Ice. Not as exciting, but it sees a lot more play than Sarkhan did once the novelty wore off.

I really really like this PW, but agree that he's cuttable. It's just kind of a weird CMC to have a hard tri color card in cube. I've cut him for Nicol Bolas, PW.

He was decent for us, but we ended up going back to Maelstrom Wanderer since most of our RUG decks were in the market for 8 drops.

I just cut him in the OGW update. A good card, but it never really felt like a great one.

One of my players wants me to cut Sarkhan for Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest. I was thinking of trying out Brutal Hordechief.

Cheers,
rant