MTG Salvation

I'm not sure this is good enough, but it does a decent amount of cool things all in one card, and I think is worth bringing up. The Control Magic mode is fine, even with the 2-power restriction, and is an acceptable stopgap, and the Reanimator mode helps ensure that you'll have something worth reanimating.

May fall short for me with my section being Baleful Strix, Hostage Taker, The Scarab God and Dragonlord Silumgar, but it would be nice to put a noncreature card back into Dimir.

EDIT: Control Magic mode doesn't cost 2.

That's fair. I just want a noncreature card, and I think this is the best option (not counting walkers). Doesn't mean it's good enough, though.

I like this card quite a bit, and as a small, narrow bonus, the reanimation half can target original Eldrazi if you bin one of them with the Surveil. Giving mono-black a bit of Control Magic is also quite exciting. No Ritual of the Machine sacrifice restrictions here, thank goodness.

Quote from Swarles_Barkley »

Quote from Cythare »

I'm not sure this is good enough, but it does a decent amount of cool things all in one card, and I think is worth bringing up. The Control Magic mode only costing 2 makes the 2-power restriction fine, and is an acceptable stopgap, and the Reanimator mode helps ensure that you'll have something worth reanimating.

May fall short for me with my section being Baleful Strix, Hostage Taker, The Scarab God and Dragonlord Silumgar, but it would be nice to put a noncreature card back into Dimir.

The Control Magic mode costs 4, right? What do you mean?

Whoops, yeah it does. I was even the one who added it to the Spoiler page here and had a brainfart between adding it and coming here to post the card.

Another good Dimir card, yeesh! Think the costing is a bit too fair, but don't mind anyone testing it out.. Of course i mean for large cubes, as the top end of dimir is absurdly stacked.

Broken record, but I like thought erasure more

I think I still like Far // Away more than this card

I think this card is better than it looks, and I could see it comparing with Scarab God/Hostage Taker/Silumgar in the tier-2 card jumble. The Threads of Disloyalty-esque effect is a good defensive measure (especially since it can't be undone by a disenchant/removal spell); and adding Surveil 3 to a reanimation spell is pretty cool. Nobody wants to wait until T5 to reanimate something if that's your primary gameplan, but a fat monster is still a fat monster, even if it shows up a turn or two out of the range where it would be considered broken. I quite like this card, and may give it some extended testing.

I could see this fighting for a slot against Hostage Taker, but I don't think it compares at all to The Scarab God or Silumgar. I also wouldn't refer to those two cards as tier 2. The Scarab God is the number two Dimir card, imo.

Quote from calibretto »

I could see this fighting for a slot against Hostage Taker, but I don't think it compares at all to The Scarab God or Silumgar. I also wouldn't refer to those two cards as tier 2. The Scarab God is the number two Dimir card, imo.

At first blush this seems way worse than hostage taker to me. That card has vastly outperformed expectations for us.

I think Hostage Taker is going to be my cut for testing. Silumgar is a pet card, and I think The Scarab God is stronger than Hostage Taker.

Dimir is a weird section where everyone seems to agree that Baleful Strix is number one, but after that people seem to be all over the place with their rankings. I don't think Silumgar qualifies as a pet card in the least. He's easily the third best Dimir card, imo. Even with the artifact deck in the mix, I'd still put Strix, TSG, and Silumgar all above UB Tezzeret. Hostage Taker has been good, but it's definitely my worst best card in that section and the card I'd be looking at to cut in order to test something new and interesting.

Agreed, evaluations are all over the place. I have Dragonlord Silumgar at #6, and that's not including Creeping Tar Pit or Dimir Signet/Talisman of Dominance. And Silumgar is good! I think UB went from one of the more shallow guilds to a really deep one in a relatively short period of time.

I was surprised there was even a discussion thread for this card let alone debate about it being top 5 for Dimir. I do love hybrid cards but a control magic that only gets 2 mana creatures? Or was weird scry zombify? I hope I ma proven wrong because I do like hybrids but here is where I have dimir right now. (Not including lands and mana rocks)

Cards I play:
Baleful Strix
Scarab God
Dragonlord Silumgar

Cards I wish I had room for:
Ashiok
Hostage Taker
Tezzerat Agent of Bolas
Nightveil Spectre

Cards that have been bumped for newer better, but would draft in others cube
Dimir Charm
Far//Away
Psychatog
Evil Twin

Cards that have never made the cut for me:
Forbidden Alchemy
Duskmantle Seer

I would be surprised is this runs better for me than forbidden alchemy or Dimir Charm, let alone make it into the top two buckets. But as others have said it is a very competitive guild with lots of ways to express yourself.

Note that it's power, not casting cost. There are a lot more creatures with power 2 or less in the higher CMC slots than there are creatures with power >2 in the 0-2cc range.

The front mode will play like a Chupacabra variant of sorts; limited on the targets it can kill but having the advantage of being playable off mono-blue, and not having the drawback that Sower/Control Magic effects have where the opponent can destroy your permanent to get their body back. It's similar to Threads of Disloyalty, but not quite as narrow. It's more of a way to buy time against aggression; stealing a body and trading with another one is well worth the 4 mana, especially considering the comfortable hybrid cost.

The 2nd mode is not built for combo reanimator decks, but as a good value card for midrange and control decks with decent finishers and utility creatures. If I get back a Shriekmaw or Mulldrifter or something, it's a mana-neutral play that adds Surveil 3 to my spell, which is very nice. Even if I grab a 4cc utility creature, adding a 1-mana tax to get access to Surveil 3 is pretty good, especially if you have a toolbox of good targets to snag with it. Not to mention that it can put fatties into play if I have one available. But notice that the card isn't selected until after the Surveil effect goes off. By the time you're playing 5cc spells, 3 cards is a pretty decent percentage of your library. If your deck includes a few fatties or premium 5cc targets, the chances of spilling one aren't insignificant; particularly when this card can be paired with top-of-library manipulation.

And even though it's not relevant for me, cubes that run the Eldrazi super-titan reanimation packages with Shallow Grave and Corpse Dance will get another fun tool here, since you can choose them after Surveilling them into the yard before their reshuffle trigger tucks them away. Some cubes will have fun with that aspect of the card for sure.

I am NOT advocating that this card is immediately playable over cards like Hostage Taker/The Scarab God/Dragonlord Silumgar. I just don't want to be too quick to dismiss it, since both modes are valuable, and it can be hard to evaluate cards that have wildly different effects that are sutured together like this. It's probably more flexible than it looks at first glance.

Interesting. I didn't care much about this card when I first saw it but now I'm intrigued. Will wait for testing results.

Fair but I still think the effect is too expensive for cube. And unlike the proactive two power themes in the cube (recruiter et al) this is going to check the current power on board so snagging Kalonian Hydra, walking ballista, etc. is not happening.

Magnificent. It's the new, versatile reanimate that I didn't know I needed.