MTG Salvation

I will play this over Frost Titan that I have runned in my cube yet

I think it might be worth testing as well. Lots of ways to abuse this and draw 3 card per turn is pretty good. I don't think this is better than sphinx though,

This card is what Frost Titan should have been. The defensive ability goes a long way to shore up the tempo loss typical of dropping a 6 mana fattie, and in combination with its ETB and attack triggers it makes the Arbiter a uniquely intriguing option for reanimator decks. I think among the decks interested in a 4UU creature, All-Seeing Arbiter beats out Consecrated Sphinx in most of them; it's only in ramp decks which Sphinx has the edge (and there both are overshadowed by Hydroid Krasis anyways). I'm still running the Sphinx, so I'll be swapping the Arbiter in. But over time, I've been coming to value expensive blue permanents less and less, so its stay might be short-lived.

I like this card. Slot is highly contested with room for only a couple options. My first instinct is it's a level below consecrated sphinx/torrential gearhulk in power, but it's not too far away.

I find sphinx rarely gets removed at instant speed before the opponents draw step, so the ETB trigger vs draw step benefit isn't a big difference, comparing them directly. The 6 toughness comes into play more than I'd have thought as well.

Immediate pay off through removal, board stabalizing capabilities and requiring removal asap is a winning recipe for a 6 mana card.

Nice option for less power focused cubes. For me there are three big strikes.
1) 4 toughness - This card already has the same weakness as Consecrated Sphinx by costing six mana and not having any form of self-protection. Dropping the toughness to 4 expands the menu of options that can kill this even further to include several red options (FTK, Chandra) and attacking creatures with 4 power that you need to block.
2) Downgrade to Catalog from Divination.
3) Worse trigger condition - Even with the upfront value, only triggering thereafter on attack is much worse than whenever an opponent draws a card.

I'm curious enough to try this card over Sphinx. Being an ETB trigger is a big deal even though the long-term upside isn't as good.

Looks like Dr Manhattan from Watchmen.

Quote from Humpty_Dumpty »

Looks like Dr Manhattan from Watchmen.

One noticeable difference.

Cheers,
rant

Note that the -X/-0 will only trigger if this card is still on the battlefield when you discard. If they Infernal Grasp this in response to the trigger, you won't get the -X/-0. Worth keeping that potential weakness in mind.

Quote from steve_man »

Quote from OneRingToGruulThemAll »

Note that the -X/-0 will only trigger if this card is still on the battlefield when you discard. If they Infernal Grasp this in response to the trigger, you won't get the -X/-0. Worth keeping that potential weakness in mind.

Assuming the translation is correct, you still would get the trigger. The trigger would go on the stack before your opponent can even do anything. They would have to kill this BEFORE you discard, like in response to a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy activation.

I think he meant the ETB trigger, not the discard trigger?
The ETB trigger doesnt have the discard as part of it's cost, so if you kill arbiter in response to the ETB trigger, his -X/0 ability doesn't trigger.