I think this guy has to fight pretty hard for a spot in GW, but I think the versatility might be good enough to get there. I am just not sure whos place he will take.
Agreed, this is the best GW card now. I think Pridemage is my cut. I’d cut Mirari’s Wake, which I think is objectively worse, but I support super ramp and Wake can be a critical enabler for that.
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I think Glare of Subdual is still better, but this card is definitely my second favorite (third if you count Horizon Canopy, since it doesn’t fit in as a cycle with other lands).
I wouldn't even put Glare of Subdual in the top 10 and this card is waaaay better than it.
Well that’s a mistake and it isn’t my problem.
I agree ThatOneNinja. What makes Opposition great is that it taps down lands. Glare of Subdual is definitely in the right colors, but not tapping lands means it's not even half the card Opposition is.
I can definitely name more than 10 Selesnya cards than I like more than Glare of Subdual (without even counting Dryad Militant):
- Knight of Autumn
- Kitchen Finks
- Mirari's Wake
- Qasali Pridemage
- Trostani Discordant
- Voice of Resurgence
- Fleecemane Lion
- Sigarda, Host of Herons
- Shalai, Voice of Plenty
- Ajani Unyielding
- Wilt-Leaf Liege
- Gavony Township
- Armada Wurm
- Dromoka's Command
I am going to add this card into the Selesnya section in hope that at the end of the block, we all could add at least one decent card of each guild. This card is very strong but I don't want to cut anything for it.
I agree ThatOneNinja. What makes Opposition great is that it taps down lands. Glare of Subdual is definitely in the right colors, but not tapping lands means it's not even half the card Opposition is.
I can definitely name more than 10 Selesnya cards than I like more than Glare of Subdual (without even counting Dryad Militant):
Although I would like say that it may have been a stretch to say that Glare is the best GW card (it was more of an in the moment thing, but I think I'll still stand by that statement for the time being), I would say I think it's better in basically all situations taht the card you listed other than these specific 5 cards:
- Gavony Township (I've never tried it, but with an opportunity cost so low and in the same colors as Finks, for all I know this could be insnae, but probably not. Speaking of lands with low opportunity cost, I should update my opinion on the Manlands thread I started a while ago)
- Voice of Resurgence (I think Glare is quite a margin better than this card, but does have niche situations where it is absolutely insane so it there are times I think this card might be better suited)
- Qasali Pridemage (Has a similar role in your decks, but costs less mana and can be tutored by cards like Green Sun's Zenith so it has its merits occasionally, but in general is substantially worse imo)
- Knight of Autumn (I think this card looks awesome and I haven't tested it yet, so for all I know this could very well be better)
- Kitchen Finks (I love Finks, and with Knight being printed, I may very well put it in my white or green section because it's just so insane vs almost every deck, but I still think it's worse than Glare)
At least for my playgroup, Glare has been nothing short of amazing. Opposition is insane vs every deck because it can hit creatures vs midrange and aggro, or alternatively artifacts and lands against decks that hardly use creatures. It is blatantly leagues better than Glare, but to explain why glare is so heavily played for us has more to do with what decks see extensive play for us (this may differ from playgroup/cube to the other, so this may be why others don't like it). Glare of Subdual is quite a bit worse vs aggro than Opposition because after you lock down their board, unlike with Opposition, you usually can't lock them off of their mana to stop sorcery speed burn from killing you like Chain Lightning or Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but we've found that it matters a lot less than it looks vs most aggro decks, as once you have board control you can usually win quite quickly anyways, and in powered especially you may be able to tap a random mox or Mana Crypt if they have one laying around and you haven't died yet. Against midrange decks, the mana tapping portion hardly matters, as simply having a Glare or Opp up is enough to win those games as you can functionally remove all their haymakers from the game with your small creatures, while your large creatures are free to swing in for free. Against control, Glare is at its weakest as they can generally just stall out the game and not play any creatures or rocks in favor of simply waiting until they have the mana to drop a big Planeswalker or enough mana to cast a wrath backed up with countermagic to make sure their creature can swing in freely in the next few turns, but even so Glare can help negate the power of a well-timed Treachery, Vedalken Shackles or Arena Rector. Just like Opposition, Glare is excellent vs combo decks as all of them either rely on artifact mana quite heavily of which Glare can answer perfectly, or on a few large creatures of which Glare can lock out of the game (Combo decks/Cards we see here include Reanimateor, Tinker, big mana Wildfire/Burning of Xinye/Upheaval decks that typically rely on artifacts for explosive mana produsction, Mega-Ramp, Stax to some extent, Sneak Attack/Eureka/Show and Tell/Arcane Artisan/Oath of Druids, Living Death, Storm, and Time Vault combos. These all fold to a t3 or 4 Glare of Subdual). This is to say that Glare of Subdual is immeasurably valuable in 3/4 of your matchups as soon as you draw it, and even vs control which your deck may struggle against it offers necessary outs against cards that would normally be backbreaking, as well as helping deal with random rocks they may be playing to aid in supporting their Upheaval. I highly recommend you guys at least try out Glare, as I think it's gotten much better over the years with the vast increase in combo strategies to offset the slow decline of midrange and growth of RDW. I think you'll likely find that somewhere around 80% of your decks heavily rely on either powerful creature synergies or on artifacts to at least some extent, and in those other 20% of matchups (greed-less UW Control and RDW with few to no 4 drops, although they are 2 of our 4 consistently highest preforming decks), it's far from mediocre and instead just worse than a Qasali Pridemage or Knight of Autumn (but to be crystal clear it still holds its own in those tougher matchups).
I realize only now that I've written much more than I had previously intended, but I'm a fast typer so I think it was a half hour well spent. I hope I got my point across eloquently and explained why it's been so good for us, and although with all these great new cards it's going to be harder than ever to squeeze in cards to test with, I would still highly recommend just adding in Glare as a 361st or 451st card and taking it out for a spin if you've been successfully swayed by my rhetoric and can't find room to try it out the normal way. I can personally vouch (I understand that my word won't mean much to people I don't know in person, but nonetheless I think it's important that I personally stand firmly by my recommendation) that Glare is at least worth a try in cubes at least somewhat resembling mine, as the archetypes and targets will likely remain largely consistent between the two.
If you take nothing else away from this already excessively long post, I hope that I have at least convinced you that Glare of Subdual is much better than than just top 11 Selesnya cards, and hopefully at least top 6.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the sweet Winter Orb synergy as well as the more obvious Armageddon synergy that allows you easily win games that you previously may have been unimaginably far behind in.
Ran a few cubes last night and got to witness the card in action. I was a playing a very powerful RB agro-midrange deck with a very slight G and U splash against my opponents GW midrange-beatdown deck.
The difference when he got off to a fast start and made a 4/3, and then when I got off to a fast start gaining 4 life seemed so so good... This was a matchup where reclamation sage was a bad card since I had no enchantments or artifacts. It was surprising to me how often it was correct for him to make a 4/3 even in other matchups.
Though, the versatility showed me it's rarest of downsides.. In our second game, I had a dark confidant and a scarab god on the battlefield at 1 life. Managed to draw a kill spell. Ended up lighting striking his Knight, upkeep animate it with scarab god, gain 4 life.. which gave me the breathing room I nedeed to not die to a dark confidant trigger :P. I could have killed my confidant anyway, but this line seemed better! Downside: When creatures have more powerful ETB triggers, they are better food for your opponents scarab god
Ah yes, the ol' "it's a drawback when it's played against me" bit. The drawback of Ancestral Recall is that sometimes the opponent can play it out of my 'yard with their Dire Fleet Daredevil!
I’d argue that Izzet is pretty good right now. Either way, I got to play this card in a 5-C midrange deck yesterday, and it was great to say the least.
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I'd move Militant to white, not green, as it sees a lot more play in white weenie than in any green decks in my experience.
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Well that’s a mistake and it isn’t my problem.
I agree ThatOneNinja. What makes Opposition great is that it taps down lands. Glare of Subdual is definitely in the right colors, but not tapping lands means it's not even half the card Opposition is.
I can definitely name more than 10 Selesnya cards than I like more than Glare of Subdual (without even counting Dryad Militant):
- Knight of Autumn
- Kitchen Finks
- Mirari's Wake
- Qasali Pridemage
- Trostani Discordant
- Voice of Resurgence
- Fleecemane Lion
- Sigarda, Host of Herons
- Shalai, Voice of Plenty
- Ajani Unyielding
- Wilt-Leaf Liege
- Gavony Township
- Armada Wurm
- Dromoka's Command
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Although I would like say that it may have been a stretch to say that Glare is the best GW card (it was more of an in the moment thing, but I think I'll still stand by that statement for the time being), I would say I think it's better in basically all situations taht the card you listed other than these specific 5 cards:
- Gavony Township (I've never tried it, but with an opportunity cost so low and in the same colors as Finks, for all I know this could be insnae, but probably not. Speaking of lands with low opportunity cost, I should update my opinion on the Manlands thread I started a while ago)
- Voice of Resurgence (I think Glare is quite a margin better than this card, but does have niche situations where it is absolutely insane so it there are times I think this card might be better suited)
- Qasali Pridemage (Has a similar role in your decks, but costs less mana and can be tutored by cards like Green Sun's Zenith so it has its merits occasionally, but in general is substantially worse imo)
- Knight of Autumn (I think this card looks awesome and I haven't tested it yet, so for all I know this could very well be better)
- Kitchen Finks (I love Finks, and with Knight being printed, I may very well put it in my white or green section because it's just so insane vs almost every deck, but I still think it's worse than Glare)
At least for my playgroup, Glare has been nothing short of amazing. Opposition is insane vs every deck because it can hit creatures vs midrange and aggro, or alternatively artifacts and lands against decks that hardly use creatures. It is blatantly leagues better than Glare, but to explain why glare is so heavily played for us has more to do with what decks see extensive play for us (this may differ from playgroup/cube to the other, so this may be why others don't like it). Glare of Subdual is quite a bit worse vs aggro than Opposition because after you lock down their board, unlike with Opposition, you usually can't lock them off of their mana to stop sorcery speed burn from killing you like Chain Lightning or Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but we've found that it matters a lot less than it looks vs most aggro decks, as once you have board control you can usually win quite quickly anyways, and in powered especially you may be able to tap a random mox or Mana Crypt if they have one laying around and you haven't died yet. Against midrange decks, the mana tapping portion hardly matters, as simply having a Glare or Opp up is enough to win those games as you can functionally remove all their haymakers from the game with your small creatures, while your large creatures are free to swing in for free. Against control, Glare is at its weakest as they can generally just stall out the game and not play any creatures or rocks in favor of simply waiting until they have the mana to drop a big Planeswalker or enough mana to cast a wrath backed up with countermagic to make sure their creature can swing in freely in the next few turns, but even so Glare can help negate the power of a well-timed Treachery, Vedalken Shackles or Arena Rector. Just like Opposition, Glare is excellent vs combo decks as all of them either rely on artifact mana quite heavily of which Glare can answer perfectly, or on a few large creatures of which Glare can lock out of the game (Combo decks/Cards we see here include Reanimateor, Tinker, big mana Wildfire/Burning of Xinye/Upheaval decks that typically rely on artifacts for explosive mana produsction, Mega-Ramp, Stax to some extent, Sneak Attack/Eureka/Show and Tell/Arcane Artisan/Oath of Druids, Living Death, Storm, and Time Vault combos. These all fold to a t3 or 4 Glare of Subdual). This is to say that Glare of Subdual is immeasurably valuable in 3/4 of your matchups as soon as you draw it, and even vs control which your deck may struggle against it offers necessary outs against cards that would normally be backbreaking, as well as helping deal with random rocks they may be playing to aid in supporting their Upheaval. I highly recommend you guys at least try out Glare, as I think it's gotten much better over the years with the vast increase in combo strategies to offset the slow decline of midrange and growth of RDW. I think you'll likely find that somewhere around 80% of your decks heavily rely on either powerful creature synergies or on artifacts to at least some extent, and in those other 20% of matchups (greed-less UW Control and RDW with few to no 4 drops, although they are 2 of our 4 consistently highest preforming decks), it's far from mediocre and instead just worse than a Qasali Pridemage or Knight of Autumn (but to be crystal clear it still holds its own in those tougher matchups).
I realize only now that I've written much more than I had previously intended, but I'm a fast typer so I think it was a half hour well spent. I hope I got my point across eloquently and explained why it's been so good for us, and although with all these great new cards it's going to be harder than ever to squeeze in cards to test with, I would still highly recommend just adding in Glare as a 361st or 451st card and taking it out for a spin if you've been successfully swayed by my rhetoric and can't find room to try it out the normal way. I can personally vouch (I understand that my word won't mean much to people I don't know in person, but nonetheless I think it's important that I personally stand firmly by my recommendation) that Glare is at least worth a try in cubes at least somewhat resembling mine, as the archetypes and targets will likely remain largely consistent between the two.
If you take nothing else away from this already excessively long post, I hope that I have at least convinced you that Glare of Subdual is much better than than just top 11 Selesnya cards, and hopefully at least top 6.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the sweet Winter Orb synergy as well as the more obvious Armageddon synergy that allows you easily win games that you previously may have been unimaginably far behind in.
But back on point, Knight of Autumn is an insanely good card.
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The difference when he got off to a fast start and made a 4/3, and then when I got off to a fast start gaining 4 life seemed so so good... This was a matchup where reclamation sage was a bad card since I had no enchantments or artifacts. It was surprising to me how often it was correct for him to make a 4/3 even in other matchups.
Though, the versatility showed me it's rarest of downsides.. In our second game, I had a dark confidant and a scarab god on the battlefield at 1 life. Managed to draw a kill spell. Ended up lighting striking his Knight, upkeep animate it with scarab god, gain 4 life.. which gave me the breathing room I nedeed to not die to a dark confidant trigger :P. I could have killed my confidant anyway, but this line seemed better!
Downside: When creatures have more powerful ETB triggers, they are better food for your opponents scarab god
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