I'm a little surprised not to see a thread on this guy yet. It's not a red Savannah Lions that would be an auto-include for red aggro, but it is pretty close to being a mono-colored Fires of Yavimaya for 1 mana. Sure, it's easier to get rid of than the original Fires or Lightning Greaves, but it's also a lot easier to fit into your curve, and it can even attack and block in a pinch. I could see this being great in midrange decks, and even pretty decent in an aggro deck that doesn't have many naturally hasty creatures.
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I too wanted to make a thread on this card as well as it seems pretty incredible to me at first pass. The damage output from this card in a deck that curves out is likely going to be far greater than an Isamaru, or even a Wild Nacatl in a number of circumstances. The drawback of course being that this does promote overextension onto the battlefield, with a weakness to both mass removal and targeted (in a sense). That said, this is generally going to be a better topdeck later in the game than most most traditional 1-drops would be, so at least it scales (mildly) well.
I am not sure if I want to run it on its own though. Then again, having this on turn one and curving into 2-, 3- and 4-drop would deal more damage than a normal 2/X 1-drop would. Provided that none of those creatures had haste to begin with.
Seems okay for a Fires deck, but I don't like it for generic aggro. While it can represent more damage an an aggro beater in some scenarios, running threats that don't themselves attack can carry a hefty drawback. It can lead to overextension, and its value is entire subject to the contents of your hand. I think I'd rather run Jackal Pup rather than a 1-drop that makes my other Jackal Pups better. I just need to be able to apply pressure with threat-light hands, and this makes a deck that can be vulnerable to spot removal and early blockers even more polarized towards that weakness. TL;DR: I need each threat to be able to apply its own pressure in my aggro decks.
Now, a deck loaded with Kalonian Hydras and Inferno Titans? That's the kind of shell where the payoff is high enough to play a card like this. If you support a Fires shell, this looks like a fun enabler in it.
If he himself had haste (which honestly feels really logical here), he'd probably be in. As is, I think it's too useless as a beater and can't be a surprise element. One of the reasons Lightning Mauler is sweet because he can grant haste the turn you play him. So mauler typically beats right away on an empty board and later in the game you can couple him with something big and make a surprise alpha strike.
If you wanted to specifically support the fires archetype, I don't hate it, but even in a fires deck I'm not THAT happy to play the card.
Granting haste to a fat creature is awesome and all, but it comes at the cost of a card , a mana, an untap step and aggressively exposes you to 2 for 1's in the process. Useless by itself, Terrible top deck etc.
I prefer Generator servant by a significant margin and I don't see anyone playing that card at the moment.
I think what he's saying, is that if you spend your 1-drop slot just to give your 2-drop haste, and the opponent kills/blanks the 2-drop, you've gotten nothing from your 1-drop. It's a pretty big tempo setback for aggressive decks to take up parts of your curve on support cards when situations arise where they don't add to your clock. Sometimes it'll be worth more damage than a Jackal Pup, but I don't want to run the risk that it won't. But that's just for aggro. I'd wager Inciter is intended to be used for more midrangey decks where that won't crop up as much. I wouldn't play this in aggro.
But it's not really a 1-sided Mass Hysteria or Fervor effect; when you play an army-in-a-can card (or any time you play more than one threat in a turn) it doesn't give 'em all haste. A big selling point to cards like Sarkhan Vol and Fires of Yavimaya and the like is how powerful they curve into cards like Deranged Hermit, Siege-Gang Commander and Precursor Golem. No such synergy with the Inciter.
[...] it's also worth noting that Inciter, unlike Mass Hysteria, Fervor or Fires of Yavimaya, is a creature that can deal damage [...]
The other side of that coin, is that because it's a creature, it dies to the mass removal that clears your board away, and unlike Fires/Fervor/Sarkhan/Hammer, can't then immediately provide haste to your new threats to regain a tempo advantage.
Fires enablers on creatures need to be threats themselves to be worth it, IMO. Absolute floor for me is Lightning Mauler since it's playable in both aggro and midrange. This thing having haste itself probably still wouldn't be worth it to me.
This guys ability on a 2/1 would make him a instant staple; a 2/1 for 1 with upside in the late game.
I think he is about as strong as a 1 drop with this effect can be, and for that reason I'll give him a shot, I don't know if he will stick after afew more 2/1 for 1 creatures but I'm happy to have him till then.
I'm a little surprised not to see a thread on this guy yet. It's not a red Savannah Lions that would be an auto-include for red aggro, but it is pretty close to being a mono-colored Fires of Yavimaya for 1 mana. Sure, it's easier to get rid of than the original Fires or Lightning Greaves, but it's also a lot easier to fit into your curve, and it can even attack and block in a pinch. I could see this being great in midrange decks, and even pretty decent in an aggro deck that doesn't have many naturally hasty creatures.
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I am not sure if I want to run it on its own though. Then again, having this on turn one and curving into 2-, 3- and 4-drop would deal more damage than a normal 2/X 1-drop would. Provided that none of those creatures had haste to begin with.
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Now, a deck loaded with Kalonian Hydras and Inferno Titans? That's the kind of shell where the payoff is high enough to play a card like this. If you support a Fires shell, this looks like a fun enabler in it.
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Granting haste to a fat creature is awesome and all, but it comes at the cost of a card , a mana, an untap step and aggressively exposes you to 2 for 1's in the process. Useless by itself, Terrible top deck etc.
I prefer Generator servant by a significant margin and I don't see anyone playing that card at the moment.
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But it's not really a 1-sided Mass Hysteria or Fervor effect; when you play an army-in-a-can card (or any time you play more than one threat in a turn) it doesn't give 'em all haste. A big selling point to cards like Sarkhan Vol and Fires of Yavimaya and the like is how powerful they curve into cards like Deranged Hermit, Siege-Gang Commander and Precursor Golem. No such synergy with the Inciter.
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The other side of that coin, is that because it's a creature, it dies to the mass removal that clears your board away, and unlike Fires/Fervor/Sarkhan/Hammer, can't then immediately provide haste to your new threats to regain a tempo advantage.
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I think he is about as strong as a 1 drop with this effect can be, and for that reason I'll give him a shot, I don't know if he will stick after afew more 2/1 for 1 creatures but I'm happy to have him till then.