It's a grizzly bear that can draw cards and leaves an equipment when it dies. Nothing earth-shaking, but it's not hard to get a card or two out of it, and if it does, it's more than paid for itself. Additional equipment synergy can be cute too.
The equipment is a bit like an odd Curiosity effect, and those tend to play alright.
We've been testing Citizen's Crowbar, and this puts that card to shame. Definitely going to test this, love the synergies this provides while being decent at rate and being a good value enabler for white aggro and midrange decks.
I don't really see a deck that wants to play this. If you don't have a 1-drop or a hasty follow-up, you can at earliest draw a card with this is on turn four, but in aggressive decks with many 1-drops, the card applies little pressure and doesn't help you make profitable attacks in any way.
There is a win-more effect where you only draw cards if you can profitably attack with multiple creatures, but if you fall behind the equipment does nothing. Notably, equipment is normally great insurance against board wipes as you can make creatures you follow up with more threatening, but this equipment does nothing until you have multiple creatures deployed again.
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Okay so between this and the Prototype dudes in white, I think this is meant to be part of a Standard deck with Touch the Spirit Realm. Cool to blink, but also hard to achieve in cube (we're usually targeting creatures, not artifacts). I don't think it makes the cut unless you've really gone in hard on this kind of strategy.
I've decided to give this a test since there's a lot of value / synergies to be had here with this card.
- A card that generates two game objects that just isn't a one time use like Treasures / Maps / etc or a simple 1/1 is very rare for 2 mana. The attack trigger is fairly simple to achieve and can easily make this a 3 for 1.
- White has become one of the better colors when it comes to providing critical mass for artifacts. There's only going to be more of these types of cards as they print more ways to use random artifacts lying around since they keep making things that generate food / treasure / clues / etc.
- More hits for Stoneforge Mystic is always nice. Being able to fetch for bodies has become especially important when contesting monarch / initiative.
Thinking about this more, this shares a lot of qualities with Fable of the Mirror Breaker. Both generate a 2/2, and if you get rid of that creature, you still have value with the saga / equipment. What makes Fable busted is that you don't have to jump through any hoops for it to keep doing its thing even if the token dies. This generates a lot of value assuming it does its thing uninterrupted, and it's not too difficult to get back on track if your 2/2 does die. Not to mention this has the bonus of being an artifact AND equipment.
Thinking about this more, this shares a lot of qualities with Fable of the Mirror Breaker. Both generate a 2/2, and if you get rid of that creature, you still have value with the saga / equipment. What makes Fable busted is that you don't have to jump through any hoops for it to keep doing its thing even if the token dies. This generates a lot of value assuming it does its thing uninterrupted, and it's not too difficult to get back on track if your 2/2 does die. Not to mention this has the bonus of being an artifact AND equipment.
My problem is you don't get the trigger until turn 3 AND this is assuming your opponent doesn't have a profitable blocker + you have a 1-drop.
Thinking about this more, this shares a lot of qualities with Fable of the Mirror Breaker. Both generate a 2/2, and if you get rid of that creature, you still have value with the saga / equipment. What makes Fable busted is that you don't have to jump through any hoops for it to keep doing its thing even if the token dies. This generates a lot of value assuming it does its thing uninterrupted, and it's not too difficult to get back on track if your 2/2 does die. Not to mention this has the bonus of being an artifact AND equipment.
This is true for any card with Living Weapon or For Mirrodin!, and most of those we deem not good enough to play.
This is true for any card with Living Weapon or For Mirrodin!, and most of those we deem not good enough to play.
Living Weapon / For Mirrodin generate two game objects, yes, but the big difference is that this equipment can continue to generate value, has square stats, and only costs 2 mana. Simply comparing this to Living Weapon isn't helpful since most Living Weapon cards are overcosted, don't continue to generate value on the board, and the creature being a 0/0 dies if the equipment itself is dealt with. IMO, the closest comparisons to this card are Fable of the Mirror Breaker and Staff of the Storyteller.
There's so much potential value with this card for only 2 mana.
- It's a 2 for 1 by itself
- A single trigger turns this into a 3 for 1
- It's not too hard to trigger if the 2/2 gets removed
- Every trigger increases your odds to continue triggering this again
- Being an artifact lying around is more useful than ever with Gut / Bombardiers / Karnstructs / Urza / etc.
I mean, I get that there is a difference and that most Living Weapon cards are bad, but the powerlevel between this and Fable seems so huge that the comparison is rather conceptual.
This card is solid. It's not at Fable's level (or anything close to it, really) but it's a decent card. I've been testing it for a bit, and I recently gave it a permanent slot. Happy to have it around, and it performs just fine.
I mean, I get that there is a difference and that most Living Weapon cards are bad, but the powerlevel between this and Fable seems so huge that the comparison is rather conceptual.
I mean, I get that there is a difference and that most Living Weapon cards are bad, but the powerlevel between this and Fable seems so huge that the comparison is rather conceptual.
This card is solid. It's not at Fable's level (or anything close to it, really) but it's a decent card. I've been testing it for a bit, and I recently gave it a permanent slot. Happy to have it around, and it performs just fine.
To be clear, I said that this shares similar qualities to Fable of the Mirror Breaker, not is similar in power level / consistency.
It's a grizzly bear that can draw cards and leaves an equipment when it dies. Nothing earth-shaking, but it's not hard to get a card or two out of it, and if it does, it's more than paid for itself. Additional equipment synergy can be cute too.
The equipment is a bit like an odd Curiosity effect, and those tend to play alright.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
There is a win-more effect where you only draw cards if you can profitably attack with multiple creatures, but if you fall behind the equipment does nothing. Notably, equipment is normally great insurance against board wipes as you can make creatures you follow up with more threatening, but this equipment does nothing until you have multiple creatures deployed again.
Based on initial impression, I'd play both Barbed Spike and Citizen's Crowbar before this card.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
No it’s called “For Mirrodin!”
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
haha, funny! =)
- A card that generates two game objects that just isn't a one time use like Treasures / Maps / etc or a simple 1/1 is very rare for 2 mana. The attack trigger is fairly simple to achieve and can easily make this a 3 for 1.
- White has become one of the better colors when it comes to providing critical mass for artifacts. There's only going to be more of these types of cards as they print more ways to use random artifacts lying around since they keep making things that generate food / treasure / clues / etc.
- More hits for Stoneforge Mystic is always nice. Being able to fetch for bodies has become especially important when contesting monarch / initiative.
- Can be blinked for value.
- Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot really appreciate extra fodder lying around.
- Creates a rebel token, which is extremely hard to come by for Otharri, Suns' Glory
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My problem is you don't get the trigger until turn 3 AND this is assuming your opponent doesn't have a profitable blocker + you have a 1-drop.
This is true for any card with Living Weapon or For Mirrodin!, and most of those we deem not good enough to play.
Living Weapon / For Mirrodin generate two game objects, yes, but the big difference is that this equipment can continue to generate value, has square stats, and only costs 2 mana. Simply comparing this to Living Weapon isn't helpful since most Living Weapon cards are overcosted, don't continue to generate value on the board, and the creature being a 0/0 dies if the equipment itself is dealt with. IMO, the closest comparisons to this card are Fable of the Mirror Breaker and Staff of the Storyteller.
There's so much potential value with this card for only 2 mana.
- It's a 2 for 1 by itself
- A single trigger turns this into a 3 for 1
- It's not too hard to trigger if the 2/2 gets removed
- Every trigger increases your odds to continue triggering this again
- Being an artifact lying around is more useful than ever with Gut / Bombardiers / Karnstructs / Urza / etc.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Big difference between a 0/0 and a 2/2
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Ya I agree, Fables power level is much higher.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
To be clear, I said that this shares similar qualities to Fable of the Mirror Breaker, not is similar in power level / consistency.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra