Combustible Gearhulk 4RR
Artifact Creature- Construct
First Strike
When ~ enters the battlefield, target opponent may have you draw three cards. If that player doesn't, put the top 3 cards of your library into your graveyard, then ~ deals damage to that player equal to the total converted mana cost of those cards.
I'm sure most of the time, the opponent will take the gamble and deal the damage rather than giving you three cards to work with. However, later in the game, life totals might just put the opponent in a lose-lose situation when this guy hits the board. Lack of evasion is a bit underwhelming, but at least this Gearhulk is going to do something for you just by entering the battlefield. Also offers amazing synergy with the other red-based artifact support.
17 lands in your deck (40%)
Average deck CMC = 3 (arbitrary, but probably good baseline)
Average Damage = .4*3*3 = 3.6
Looks like on average you are dealing 3-4 damage when this ETBs, which does not seem that great. Of course, there are lots of ways to abuse this ability and get high CMC cards on top of your deck, but I feel like if you don't have ways to break this the other player will opt for damage almost every time unless they are super low on life.
Red Consecrated Sphinx (kind of?), you got my attention. I think most players would be afraid of taking the damage and would just let you draw cards, not sure though.
Really awesome in a Recurring Nightmare deck, fuels your hand and graveyard and has huge targets to deal damage with.
I'm not sure about that math. Shouldn't it be .6*3*3=5.4 damage? And in a deck with average cmc of 4, it would be 7.2 damage average.
But I don't think the average damage is as important as the possibility of an killing/crippling blow. Like, if your deck has a lot of mana dorks/rocks and then a bunch of 6+ cards to use, your opponent has to decide whether to risk 12+ to the face, even if it's a low probability.
And if it does whiff, then at least you got a bunch of your low-end stuff of the top of your deck, so the quality of your remaining cards should be higher.
Also Daretti shenanigans, etc., since it's an artifact.
Still not sure it actually makes the cut, but probably worth some testing.
Seems real good to me. It's a card that will require testing to see how often the draw 3 happens vs the damage, though. I like having another big artifact option in red besides Bosh, which I just added.
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
Red Consecrated Sphinx (kind of?), you got my attention. I think most players would be afraid of taking the damage and would just let you draw cards, not sure though.
Really awesome in a Recurring Nightmare deck, fuels your hand and graveyard and has huge targets to deal damage with.
You are joking right? This is more of a browbeat on a stick without. Easily the worst hulk in my book. I like that it is 6/6 but unless my opponent is <7 I am doubting I would ever get to draw the cards. No way am I trying this.
I get that it fuels graveyard and that it is an ETB effect but we can do better gents. So unless you worship the ground goblin welder walks on move along.
It is a real shame because I wouldn't mind another red fatty, and Bosh is the best big red artifact card but I don't think this is beating it.
For those brave enough there recently was an endless topic on the value of Browbeat in the General forum, I think. I can't really decide whether this card is worth the cost or you'll most often have the situation where you want to draw cards when the opponent decides to takes damage and vice versa.
I don't think it's hard to influence your opponent on what they should do. Any Brainstorm / scary effects / Scroll Rack / one mana tutors can work nice with this guy, specifically in decks that can cheat him in.
17 lands in your deck (40%)
Average deck CMC = 3 (arbitrary, but probably good baseline)
Average Damage = .4*3*3 = 3.6
If you use this method it should be:
0.6*3*3 = 5.4
Further more I would argue that most decks that include this would have a slightly higher average CMC.
Good point, thanks for catching that. So lets for sake of argument say the average CMC of a deck that runs this is 3.5: 0.6 * 3.5 * 3 = 6.3 damage. Not bad, but hardly a game ender in it's own right. Unfortunately, I think this card is not going to cut it.
Part of me thinks if Soul of Shandalar isn't good enough for 360, why would this be? I suppose having an immediate effect if it resolves--unlike SoS--is an advantage although SoS has an ability that can be activated from the graveyard, so they kind of cancel each other out. I like this card for large cubes, but I think it needs some testing even at mid-size. I'm thinking viability at 360 is on the "no" side of "most likely not".
17 lands in your deck (40%)
Average deck CMC = 3 (arbitrary, but probably good baseline)
[Average Damage = .4*3*3 = 3.6
It's probably easier to just calculate the average CMC of every card in your deck, not separating lands and spells and assuming the average cost of each spell is 3. So that gives you:
((23 spells * 3 Avg. CMC)+(17 lands * 0 CMC))/40 cards in deck = 1.725 CMC for any one card in your deck
So, 1.725*3 = 5.175 damage on average
Or you could be lazy and approximate it as such: 2/3 of your deck is 3 CMC, so binning 3 cards would give you 6 damage on average.
For those doing the math, don't forget that you already have some lands on the battlefield in order to cast it or whatever is cheating it into play. So it wouldn't just be 17 lands.
Soul of Shandalar seems both better and more reliable at damage output than this guy. Obviously this could flip ten damage in one go, but that's not guaranteed. I don't really like this one at all.
The fact that this works well with Daretti and Welder is the only real reason to consider it, IMO. It's not in the same league as Inferno Titan and I'm not sure it even beats out Soul of Shandalar on raw power level.
I think this is way better than Soul of Shandalar, ETB trigger >>>> expensive activated ability. I'm wondering how this competes with Bosh in powered cubes. Currently I have Bogardqn Hellkite to be added in my next update as my red super fattie, but I may consider testing this for funsies.
I like Soul more because I have all the power of choice. I can choose to blow up a creature or choose to dome my opponent for three. I can also repeat this effect as many times as I have mana available. With this guy, my opponent can just choose whichever effect is better for them. There are times when the damage could potentially kill them, and they just give me the cards. The damage output will not be consistently high enough to make him worth the investment.
For those doing the math, don't forget that you already have some lands on the battlefield in order to cast it or whatever is cheating it into play. So it wouldn't just be 17 lands.
That's not really how it works when you calculate average CMC based on overall deck composition--an average cost is an average cost is an average cost. Surely, it will be different every single time you play this card, but after infinite iterations, you'll find that the average damage dealt depending on different deck composition at the time you played it equals the average damage calculated based on the pre-game deck composition. And yes, this even accounts for the times you binned your 3 highest CMC cards off a turn 1 mox, land, black lotus, sneak attack, hulk and a turn 30 binning of 3 lands. Those are outliers and they don't matter in the long run.
This is definitely not a slam dunk, and I know how weak punisher effects are, but I still think it could warrant testing. Browbeat is terrible and not worth a card, but this is a legitimate threat with a Browbeat strapped on for "free." The combination of dropping a threat and forcing the Browbeat decision may actually be ok. Also, this is the most recurable and abusable combination of card types in cube in a color that actively supports shenanigans. Something to think about.
This is definitely not a slam dunk, and I know how weak punisher effects are, but I still think it could warrant testing. Browbeat is terrible and not worth a card, but this is a legitimate threat with a Browbeat strapped on for "free." The combination of dropping a threat and forcing the Browbeat decision may actually be ok. Also, this is the most recurable and abusable combination of card types in cube in a color that actively supports shenanigans. Something to think about.
Yeah with Welder and Daretti and Feldon being legit cards, this is something I would like to test before tossing it out. I would rather a synergistic card like this over most of the other 6 drop options that aren't staples/firm inclusions, the question is if the damage output will be enough to warrant that. If some of the math of 5 damage average here is legit then that's a number where I start to get really intrigued.
Artifact Creature- Construct
First Strike
When ~ enters the battlefield, target opponent may have you draw three cards. If that player doesn't, put the top 3 cards of your library into your graveyard, then ~ deals damage to that player equal to the total converted mana cost of those cards.
I'm sure most of the time, the opponent will take the gamble and deal the damage rather than giving you three cards to work with. However, later in the game, life totals might just put the opponent in a lose-lose situation when this guy hits the board. Lack of evasion is a bit underwhelming, but at least this Gearhulk is going to do something for you just by entering the battlefield. Also offers amazing synergy with the other red-based artifact support.
Modern:
Dredge | Restore Balance | Titanshift
My [360][Unpowered][Modern-Frame] Cube
What are the odds of that, and are they high enough to count as a strike against it?
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
17 lands in your deck (40%)
Average deck CMC = 3 (arbitrary, but probably good baseline)
Average Damage = .4*3*3 = 3.6
Looks like on average you are dealing 3-4 damage when this ETBs, which does not seem that great. Of course, there are lots of ways to abuse this ability and get high CMC cards on top of your deck, but I feel like if you don't have ways to break this the other player will opt for damage almost every time unless they are super low on life.
Really awesome in a Recurring Nightmare deck, fuels your hand and graveyard and has huge targets to deal damage with.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
But I don't think the average damage is as important as the possibility of an killing/crippling blow. Like, if your deck has a lot of mana dorks/rocks and then a bunch of 6+ cards to use, your opponent has to decide whether to risk 12+ to the face, even if it's a low probability.
And if it does whiff, then at least you got a bunch of your low-end stuff of the top of your deck, so the quality of your remaining cards should be higher.
Also Daretti shenanigans, etc., since it's an artifact.
Still not sure it actually makes the cut, but probably worth some testing.
If you use this method it should be:
0.6*3*3 = 5.4
Further more I would argue that most decks that include this would have a slightly higher average CMC.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
You are joking right? This is more of a browbeat on a stick without. Easily the worst hulk in my book. I like that it is 6/6 but unless my opponent is <7 I am doubting I would ever get to draw the cards. No way am I trying this.
I get that it fuels graveyard and that it is an ETB effect but we can do better gents. So unless you worship the ground goblin welder walks on move along.
It is a real shame because I wouldn't mind another red fatty, and Bosh is the best big red artifact card but I don't think this is beating it.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Good point, thanks for catching that. So lets for sake of argument say the average CMC of a deck that runs this is 3.5: 0.6 * 3.5 * 3 = 6.3 damage. Not bad, but hardly a game ender in it's own right. Unfortunately, I think this card is not going to cut it.
EDIT: The math here is wrong:
It's probably easier to just calculate the average CMC of every card in your deck, not separating lands and spells and assuming the average cost of each spell is 3. So that gives you:
((23 spells * 3 Avg. CMC)+(17 lands * 0 CMC))/40 cards in deck = 1.725 CMC for any one card in your deck
So, 1.725*3 = 5.175 damage on average
Or you could be lazy and approximate it as such: 2/3 of your deck is 3 CMC, so binning 3 cards would give you 6 damage on average.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Maybe if this were a 5/5 for 5? Eh? The effect is cool though.
Cubetutor Link
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.
But in all seriousness this is a whiff in a powered cube of a smaller size.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Yeah with Welder and Daretti and Feldon being legit cards, this is something I would like to test before tossing it out. I would rather a synergistic card like this over most of the other 6 drop options that aren't staples/firm inclusions, the question is if the damage output will be enough to warrant that. If some of the math of 5 damage average here is legit then that's a number where I start to get really intrigued.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic