Looks like we are getting colored artifacts, like Esper. I am actually surprised by this.
This might be worth it for cube, since it has evasion and you can distribute the four counter any way you want. That makes it rather flexible. I like it more than Wolfir Silverheart. It can buff multiple creatures and isn't blown out by instant speed removal. The total buff being smaller is also fine, since the flexibility and having itself trample makes up for that.
Being an artifact would be mostly a downside though, since green doesn't have any artifact synergies and is not part of the artifact archetype.
I think this is an easy test, personally. How long have we been saying that we want another 6/6 trampled with upside for a green 6 drop. Well, we are getting a five drop that can be that and soooo much more. And hey, if we get a few more green artifacts who's to say there won't be a Jund artifact deck possible in cube? Lol.
So we don't get a 6 mana 6/6 with trample but we got 5 mana 8/8? Sure, I'll test this. It doesn't get hexproof like we want but then it costs 1 less mana.
This is a pretty efficient beater, and it can distribute some power onto its friends. It can guarantee value by putting counters on other creatures, but it still dies to a huge range of cube removal thanks to being an artifact in addition to a creature. I might test it, but I'm not super optimistic.
Interesting, last night I was cubing and thought to myself "Man, I wish I had more ways to put +1/+1 counters on my Triskelion."
Having an ETB is always great for cube, the question is do I like this more than Kalonian Hydra?
PROS
- Doesn't 100% fail the Vindicate test like Kalonian Hydra does
- Can make itself and other creatures to withstand Char / Wildfire / Languish effects (this actually might be this card's best selling point)
- ETB effect can be abused
CONS
- Being an artifact makes him more vulnerable to other types of removal
- Kalonian Hydra can probably kill you one turn faster
I definitely want to test this, the question is what to cut.
4 +1/+1 counters the turn it comes into play is a very powerful effect. It represents 4 hasted damage (value against sorcery speed removal). There are multiple creatures where the "counters" effect is much better than having an 8/8 trample. Lifelinkers, double strikers, true name nemesis, persist, flesh carver, hangarback walker, triskellion.
Getting to choose the distribution of the counters is also relevant if you are playing around certain sweepers. Massacre wurm, elsesh norn, wildfire, fiery confluence, languish etc.
Spreading the threat to 2+ creatures, gets value and damage through spot removal.
I think he serves a very similar role to kalonian hydra and wolfir silverheart... Having slightly less raw damage potential, but more than making up for it with increased consistency and resilience to spot removal.
I'm currently playing neither hydra/silverheart, so not 100% sure he'll earn his keep.. But 95%+ sure he's better than both of them.
Seems good to me. Huge trample body, flexibility, "hasty" damage with other bodies on board, random good interactions with +1/+1 counters matter critters (Triskelion, Finks), etc. Would be happy to swap it in for one of my other 5 drops if I get bored with them.
I'll probable give this a test over kalonian hydra. I would love to be able to build a rug deck that could abuse this with welder, darreti, tinker, ect. I doubt we get enough green artifact support for that but a man can dream.
I just replaced Vorapede with Silverheart, and have been looking out for a Kalonian Hydra. This will shore up that spot instead. Tops the curve in green-based aggro, serves as a threat that can be made to survive Wildfire, plays nicely in blink, buffs tokens, and has evasion. The artifact downside is easy for me to overlook for this kind of flexibility.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
The more I think about it, the more I like it. Being able to Natural Order / GSZ it to buff up your Birds or something to kill a planeswalker / race definitely shouldn't be overlooked.
He curves nicely too, there's a lot of dangerous 4-drops that can benefit from a few +1/+1 counters.
A Wolfir Silverheart with trample that's better against removal seems pretty nice, but given that this isn't really big enough to be a desirable Tinker or NO target, I think the artifact typeline is going to be a bigger drawback than an upside.
A Wolfir Silverheart with trample that's better against removal seems pretty nice, but given that this isn't really big enough to be a desirable Tinker or NO target, I think the artifact typeline is going to be a bigger drawback than an upside.
No doubt that the artifact typeline will be a bigger drawback than upside, but I'm convinced the effect of distributing counters on ETB will much more than make up for that drawback in the resilience department.
Note: Being soft to manic vandal/kologhans command type cards, is partially mitigated by being resilient to GFTT/Shriekmaw/Nekrataal.. cards that were very annoying for silverheart/hydra.
God, Dack fayden is turning into power 9, one set at a time =P
Being an artifact makes it more vulnerable overall but it's a lot better against black than a Kalonian Hydra since it can dodge Go for the Throat, Shriekmaw, and hell, even Vampire Hexmage.
It's definitely going to contend with Kalonian Hydra in my cube.
Note: Being soft to manic vandal/kologhans command type cards, is partially mitigated by being resilient to GFTT/Shriekmaw/Nekrataal.. cards that were very annoying for silverheart/hydra.
Seriously. Beat me to this comment by mere minutes.
I like this, and might try and find room for it somehow, but not over Kalonian Hydra. Losing a full turn off your clock, dying to artifact removal and being unable to be targeted by 'Lark and (both) Recruiters are all significant drawbacks. It has its advantages too, but not enough for me to do a straight replacement. I might try and find another way to get this in though...
Acidic Slime is a staple, IMO, as is Thragtusk and Hermit since they all have extremely (ab)usable ETB triggers. Kalonian Hydra #4 for me since he's just a (very good) big / dumb creature that fails the Vindicate test pretty hard.
It seems very good. Abusable by blink/recursion and serviceable if not optimal for Tinker and Natural Order. I'd be surprised if this is not better than both Vorapede and Whisperwood Elemental. Can definitely be better than Kalonian Hydra. I do not think this edges Wolfir Silverheart, which we like better than other posters here, because it offers 33% less stats.
I like this, and might try and find room for it somehow, but not over Kalonian Hydra. Losing a full turn off your clock, dying to artifact removal and being unable to be targeted by 'Lark and (both) Recruiters are all significant drawbacks. It has its advantages too, but not enough for me to do a straight replacement. I might try and find another way to get this in though...
Technically with another creature on board it has the same clock speed as the hydra.
This might be worth it for cube, since it has evasion and you can distribute the four counter any way you want. That makes it rather flexible. I like it more than Wolfir Silverheart. It can buff multiple creatures and isn't blown out by instant speed removal. The total buff being smaller is also fine, since the flexibility and having itself trample makes up for that.
Being an artifact would be mostly a downside though, since green doesn't have any artifact synergies and is not part of the artifact archetype.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Having an ETB is always great for cube, the question is do I like this more than Kalonian Hydra?
PROS
- Doesn't 100% fail the Vindicate test like Kalonian Hydra does
- Can make itself and other creatures to withstand Char / Wildfire / Languish effects (this actually might be this card's best selling point)
- ETB effect can be abused
CONS
- Being an artifact makes him more vulnerable to other types of removal
- Kalonian Hydra can probably kill you one turn faster
I definitely want to test this, the question is what to cut.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
4 +1/+1 counters the turn it comes into play is a very powerful effect. It represents 4 hasted damage (value against sorcery speed removal). There are multiple creatures where the "counters" effect is much better than having an 8/8 trample. Lifelinkers, double strikers, true name nemesis, persist, flesh carver, hangarback walker, triskellion.
Getting to choose the distribution of the counters is also relevant if you are playing around certain sweepers. Massacre wurm, elsesh norn, wildfire, fiery confluence, languish etc.
Spreading the threat to 2+ creatures, gets value and damage through spot removal.
I think he serves a very similar role to kalonian hydra and wolfir silverheart... Having slightly less raw damage potential, but more than making up for it with increased consistency and resilience to spot removal.
I'm currently playing neither hydra/silverheart, so not 100% sure he'll earn his keep.. But 95%+ sure he's better than both of them.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
Akrasia, a Custom 360 Cube
New To Cube?
Cubing with Two: A Guide to Two-Player Draft Formats
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
He curves nicely too, there's a lot of dangerous 4-drops that can benefit from a few +1/+1 counters.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Cubetutor Link
No doubt that the artifact typeline will be a bigger drawback than upside, but I'm convinced the effect of distributing counters on ETB will much more than make up for that drawback in the resilience department.
Note: Being soft to manic vandal/kologhans command type cards, is partially mitigated by being resilient to GFTT/Shriekmaw/Nekrataal.. cards that were very annoying for silverheart/hydra.
God, Dack fayden is turning into power 9, one set at a time =P
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
It's definitely going to contend with Kalonian Hydra in my cube.
EDIT:
Seriously. Beat me to this comment by mere minutes.
Modern:
Dredge | Restore Balance | Titanshift
My [360][Unpowered][Modern-Frame] Cube
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
Technically with another creature on board it has the same clock speed as the hydra.
4->12->20
0->8->24
Gross oversimplification tho
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg