MTG Salvation

Sifter Wurm 5GG
Creature - Wurm (U)
Trample
When Sifter Wurm enters the battlefield, scry 3, then reveal the top card of your library. You gain life equal to that card's converted mana cost.
7/7

It's an uncommon worth our consideration! As someone who loves Pelakka Wurm, I'm a pretty big fan. A lot of people have called this a nerfed Pelakka Wurm but I'm not sure that is true so here's a quick analysis. As someone who runs Pelakka Wurm as my final green fatty, this is definitely on my radar.

Pros/Cons vs. Pelakka Wurm
Pro: Less intensive green mana cost.
Pro: Provides immediate card selection impact in the form of an abusable ETB trigger. Doesn't have to die to trigger.
Pro: Arguably more reanimator friendly with the ability to immediately fix draws.
Cons: Doesn't replace itself. No draw.
Cons: Life gain will almost always be less than the 7 provided by Pelakka Wurm.
Cons: Life trigger requires you to reveal the card placed on top.

It's like Pelakka Wurm and a bad card had a baby!

How many times have you needed the full 7 life provided by Pelakka Wurm? How many times has the card draw on Pelakka Wurm failed to come to pass because it was bounced/exiled/pacified/etc and not killed? If this is fixing your next couple of draws, gaining you life, and giving you a huge body that is pretty substantial I'd say. I'd happily entertain a more fleshed out argument of why this is demonstrably worse though.

I think scry 3 on ETB is better than draw a card on LTB. I think I prefer this to the Wurm.

I think I'll try it out alongside Pelakka. I always like to have some lifegain in my recurring nightmare, reanimator or ramp decks.

I agree that the easier casting cost is basically irrelevant, but I think I prefer the immediate value of the Scry 3 on this over the death trigger on Pelakka Wurm for ramp and reanimator decks. There are definitely better options than either for cubes with access to rares, but I think I'll give this a shot over Pelakka in my Peasant cube.

I strongly prefer Pelakka Wurm to this.

I think this will get you far less than 7 life on average, closer to 3. The new card plays worse with Reanimate and Death, as well as Sneak Attack and Recurring Nightmare. Those are some of the main reasons to want Pelakka Wurm.

Ya, I don't really include Pelakka Wurm in my fair cube decks as just a 7cc dude. I really only add it into decks that can abuse its triggers and reanimate it early. And in those kinds of decks, Pelakka Wurm is going to be a better card. So I see no use for this guy outside of maybe C/Ubes?

I like Pelakka Wurm much better than this. I like a guaranteed seven life and a guaranteed card draw on death more than a scry 3 and an uncertain amount of life gain. For larger peasant lists, I could see this guy alongside Wurm for more reanimation and ramp support, but he doesn't replace him.

Assumed this was for Peasant when I saw the link.

I think:

Pelakka Wurm >> This Dude > Plated Behemoth >>> Brooding Hulk

Mostly because at the point you hit 7 mana in Peasant, you're trying to stem the bleeding, and Pelakka Wurm's combination of Lifegain and giant body generally helps a lot.

Quote from teach_the_controversy »

Assumed this was for Peasant when I saw the link.

I think:

Pelakka Wurm >> This Dude > Plated Behemoth >>> Brooding Hulk

Mostly because at the point you hit 7 mana in Peasant, you're trying to stem the bleeding, and Pelakka Wurm's combination of Lifegain and giant body generally helps a lot.

Now add in cards like Hornet Queen and Avenger of Zendikar and the similar 8s and 6s and Sifter Wurm seems like it has less and less of a place.

Of course, I wasn't suggesting this trumps Hornet Queen/Terastodon/Woodfall Primus (Avenger maybe IMO). That's why in the OP I referred to this as having potential to be my "final green fatty" as in the worst of the best that just perhaps makes the cut in my 450 unpowered. If you don't have space for Pelakka Wurm then this definitely doesn't get there for you.

The split of people who think this is better/worse then Pelakka Wurm is quite interesting though. Its going to be very situational and I'm not sure there's any great way to determine which ends up being more relevant besides anecdotal evidence.

I actually think the guaranteed Scry 3 is better then the draw-a-card on death trigger. Because it happens immediately you can dig to help keep the game going your way rather then possibly getting a blind draw later in the game. Proactive vs reactive. However, how much life will Sifter Wurm net you. Maybe 4? What if you want that maze of ith on top? And you have to reveal the card. I think I'll stick with Pelakka because people know and love him. The devil you know.