MTG Salvation

MaRo spoiled this card, is this as good or better than Earthquake if you're playing it?

NOT an earthquake variant, but the extra effects are really powerful and interesting. Do you y'all think this is worth testing?

The fact that it can't hit players makes it a little bit more narrow, in that red burn decks don't want to play it.

On the other hand, the fact that at 5 mana this becomes destroy most creatures and all artifacts makes it very interesting as a sweeper. I think it will need to be tested. My initial thought is pass, but there's potential.

While does not deal damage to the dome, this is worth testing over Earthquake. The potential to use it as artifact removal and lesser potential for a 8/8 token makes it worth consideration

Quote from steve_man »

Looks at least as good since decks sporting EQ usually aren't aggro decks. EQ is nice in the fact that it's a kill condition and can end the game in a draw if need be. Not sure how I feel, but initial impression is positive.

I would always run an earthquake as reach in an aggro deck. It's a great last card to cast once you get them to 5 but they've gummed up the ground.

Aren't the decks that would want a painless Earthquake also the decks that are most likely to run a bunch of manafacts? I fear that the Shatterstorm bonus will often be a hindrance. Being a sweeper + a finisher in the (very) late game is a nice bonus on the other hand.

8/8 is a benefit but rare, no player damage seems like a slight net positive, but shatter storm is probably a net negative. Not sure about this one, but will probably try for a bit.

wont make it over rolling earthquake for me.

I tend to play these effects with mana rocks, and I don't want to blow up my own. I'd rather cast my threat the following turn than wipe the board for 9 to get a threat.

I'll test this, it works best in big red/green decks or an midrange red deck, and good flexible artifact removal is... Hard to come by. Plus I can definitely see the 8/8 happening and a subset of my red decks hates the taking 6 when clearing the board with earthquake(not over earthquake but maybe star storm?

Fact that you can't kill walkers or finish off a player with it makes this much worse than rolling earthquake and worse than OG earthquake IMO. Perfectly fine card if a cube wants a 3rd of that effect though, or if the shatterstorm effect is particularly relevant.

Not hitting players, planeswalkers or flying creatures makes this worse than either erathquake. If your cube is just starting out or if you run a 720+ list you could do worse than this card but I don't think smaller cubes need this.

Seems solid if you don't have artifacts yourself, but then you deck is kind of bad in all likelihood.

Um... This is ridiculous! Earthquake with an insane ceiling is definitely an auto-include for my Cube.

1. The lack of hitting players is a big drawback since you can no longer sweep an opponent's 'walker away with their creatures, and it loses the ability to double as reach.
2. Earthquake decks LOVE mana artifacts and utility artifacts. I think the 5+cc mode sweeping away all the artifacts will be a bust more often than a boon.

So, I like Earthquake more for those two reasons.

HOWEVER. I really like this card. The fact that it doesn't hit players makes it better for pure control decks. The fact that it can sweep away artifacts will be very good in some shells. And, if you get flooded and/or it's super late-game, it makes its own 8/8 body. Plus, the card is super flavorful and fun!

I'll be finding room to test this out, but certainly not at the cost of Earthquake or Rolling Earthquake, which are two cards I rate really highly in the cube.

Even if you play mana rocks, you do not have to pay X>=4 if you do not want to. It will still serve as a cheap sweeper as reliably as the original, but without damaging you in the process. With the ability to answer artifacts with a setback or pop a finisher I think it may just about edge out the original earthquake's ability to hurt planeswalkers.

Specifically triggering on 4 is going to be an issue. A lot of my 'Quake decks go in Wildfire shells, where I'm loading up on X/5 creatures. Needing to sweep at 4 but costing me all my manafacts in the process is certainly going to show up, and be a drag when it does. And killing 'Walkers becomes more and more important with each set. Not hitting players will certainly be problematic on that front all the time.

But I'm not advocating against including Tremors. Only that I wouldn't want to lose my original 'Quake to do so. I actually really like this card and I can't wait to cube with it.

I feel like I'm already running too much X spell in red in 360, so I'll pass.

REALLY awesome design though.

I like this card but I'm good with red sweepers: Double EQ, double Wildfire, Fiery Confluence, and Chandra are more than enough for me at 540.

I definitely wouldn't cut either Earthquake for this, being able to kill players and planeswalkers is just too important, but I could see testing this over Fiery Confluence or Chandra, Flamecaller. Fiery Confluence is more limited in terms of the size of creatures it can kill, and for all that Chandra does she's a dead card until you hit 6 mana, so either of those seem like it could be a reasonable cut for this. Am I out to lunch here?

So wait, can this deal lethal to Wurmcoil Engine or Hangarback Walker and then destroy the tokens that come into play after they die?

Quote from HalPessimistPal »

So wait, can this deal lethal to Wurmcoil Engine or Hangarback Walker and then destroy the tokens that come into play after they die?

No, but it can deal lethal to Wurmcoil Engine and then destroy it with lethal damage still marked on it.