MTG Salvation

Not sure if I missed a thread for this, but this seems to be a pretty good rate for power against MV!

A 3 drop that can also be cast in a ramp deck later in the game for good additional power. My issue with the card is that it too weak at each stage compared to other options. For my 3 drops I'm looking for value rather than a stat monster, and this doesn't have enough stats/text to be what questing beast is at 4 mana. At 5 mana you have access to much more deadly 5 drops than a 5/4 trample that also creates 3/3 wolf lands. Note that the land doesn't untap, so this is actually a 6 drop if you want to use the haste... But the 5/4 doesn't have haste, so atacking with a 3/3 isn't that scary for a 6 drop. Once you get to +7 mana, you would rather just have one of green's game ending cards than this midrange stuff.

This isn't what I want in my ramp deck, but I could see it be decent in a gruul fires deck that is happy to see a 4/3 for 3, (even though I would take a rabblemaster creature over this) and a deck that can give the main body haste. So if you support that archetype, this could be an okay card to add, but I'm not impressed with its power.

This is a lot of power/toughness for the cost. If you're the beatdown, you can drop this T2 after an elf and just start bashing w/ a 4-power trampler. And at every cost of 5 or greater, you get some combination of more total power to the board, or a portion of it having haste.

5 mana = 8 power (5 has trample)
6 mana = 8 power (5 has trample, 3 has haste)
7 mana = 12 power (6 has trample)
8 mana = 12 power (6 has trample, 3 has haste)

Etc, etc. That makes this a really effective scaling threat. This is one of the best Elf->Beater threats available, if that's a gameplay style you encourage in your cube.

The lands don't untap, unfortunately. Still seems very strong.

Someone propagated a cube article a while ago about making green more beefy midrange and less super ramp…
This is the epitome of that type of card.
Seems like a great scaleable threat.

my concern is about how soft it is to wrath effects. It’s very possible it’s raw power and scalability more than makes up for that… but I’m hesitant.

Will probabily test as i could imagine it performing much better than I expect.
I expect it to fall barely short in my cube.

I think I'd rather have Lovestruck Beast/Kazandu Mamamoth in my unga bunga green dude slots. Three base toughness means it'll trade too often if you don't "kick" it

What I like about this cycle is we got a lot of good mana sinks for infinite mana combos.

This is both a super ramp payoff, and a beefy 3 drop. That flexibility makes it good.

Quote from LucidVision »

Someone propagated a cube article a while ago about making green more beefy midrange and less super ramp…
This is the epitome of that type of card.
Seems like a great scaleable threat.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/e1yu8f/cube_card_of_the_day_call_of_the_herd/ "Unga-Bunga Green"

I seem to recall 'Cube for Two' doing a video on it too. Yep--here it is.

Thanks for bringing this back up. It's been a while since I thought about this. I applied it to my cube and I've been very, very pleased with the results and so has my playgroup.

I also have a fun little Wolf Tribal thing going on in my cube anyway so I'm quite happy to try this guy out in mine. Slam dunk probably. Really like this entire cycle of 'multikicker' cards. (but kind of a strange set to put them in?)

I agree with the principals of Unga-Bunga but I do not think this needs to be an all or nothing.

The hyper ramp targets are still good for fatty cheat/ hyper ramp. I view the Unga-Bunga as shaving some of the inefficient ramp spells - Kodama's Reach comes to mind, maybe 1 mega fatty and going up on a card like Paradise Druid, 2-3 Unga-Bunga creatures etc.

I don't think we need to completely destroy hyper ramp as a deck for Unga-bunga to succeed.

I don't think we need to completely destroy hyper ramp as a deck for Unga-bunga to succeed.

Agreed, and this card goes well in both decks.

Has this stuck around for anyone? Im looking for an aggressive, beefy, green 3 drops ideally with value and this seems to fit that perfectly, but I dont see it in many lists. Ive found that t1 elf -> t2 goblin rabblemaster has been a consistently strong play, and Im looking for more green cards to fill that role. As it stands, caldaia guardian is really the only aggressive green 3 drop I see played, and even that only leaves 2 power on board, so its not at its best on t2. Has this worked well for anyone or does it not play out well? Another cards Im looking at is Briarbridge Tracker, if anyone has thoughts on that as an alternative.

It's great that he's a scalable threat, but he didn't do enough as 'just' a 3-drop. I'd absolutely run Sentinel of the Nameless City ahead of Adversary.

Yeah, Im definitely going to run sentinel. I realized after posting I should have mentioned him as well. Im still on the lookout for another 3 cmc beater though. This would have made it for me if it had a fourth toughness, but yeah a 4/3 trampler for 3 doesnt quite cut it I suppose.

Quote from 19_f_cali »

Has this stuck around for anyone? Im looking for an aggressive, beefy, green 3 drops ideally with value and this seems to fit that perfectly, but I dont see it in many lists. Ive found that t1 elf -> t2 goblin rabblemaster has been a consistently strong play, and Im looking for more green cards to fill that role. As it stands, caldaia guardian is really the only aggressive green 3 drop I see played, and even that only leaves 2 power on board, so its not at its best on t2. Has this worked well for anyone or does it not play out well? Another cards Im looking at is Briarbridge Tracker, if anyone has thoughts on that as an alternative.

Bloated Contaminator might be the card you're looking for. Beats over pretty much everything at or below its MV, and the proliferate can be relevant when paired with Experiment One types or planeswalkers.