I don't think it is worth it. The decks that want this effect aren't primed to win the clash, and the decks that can win the clash often don't want this. It can't go under Isochron Scepter, either.
As a side note, I have no idea why that card wasnt a changeling spell.
Lorwyn had 6 changeling spells, and none of them are green. This would have been an obvious choice imo.
Anyway, no deck is ever primed to win clash. 40 percent of your deck is lands, which are automatic losses, and you're going to have some amount of ties even in a deck with a large late game.
They're fine, but need the tokens/recursion package to be there before you feel like you're getting value as the threat of sacrificing your actual cards feels worse. That's not really a major hurdle to get over, like bloodthrone is a beast in BW, but it might end up playing worse in UB or something in some builds.
I only run Nantuko Husk, if we start getting better Vampire tribal synergies, I might consider getting the Vampire Aristocrat, but I don't think I'll ever include 2 or more.
I doubt we'd get a trampler or flier for less than 4 mana, though. I would think that a 4 mana 2/2 would just be too reliant on the endgame scenario that its inconsistencies would make it not good enough.
Squirrely, what do you mean by 'worse in most cases'? Blood Bairn is strictly worse in a purely mechanical sense (it can't sacrifice itself), but how often does it come up in actual gameplay? i.e. How often would it have prevented the opponent from gaining 4 life from Faith's Fetters or something similar? I'd guess the tribal synergy would come up more often than those corner cases (and probably the reason you made the swap, I'm just trying to dig into if there was something else to 'worse in most cases')
Was gonna ask for some help. Turns out this actually almost fits with what you guys were talking about. I have a project where I am interested in "sac outlets". Stuff like Viscera Seer and Phyrexian Vault and others where you have somewhere to ship creatures that are about to snuff it.
What options do we have?
Need not necessarily pass the "good enough to cube"-test. "Decent in some decks" is fine.
So the Iconic Masters blind prerelease is a week from today? That's pretty sweet -- will be exciting to see tweets and such trickling in, hopefully with stuff like a silver-symbol Shivan Dragon or who knows what else. Totes ready to drop my $10-20 bucks for a rad CE version (sorry, Beta, not really feeling a $400 purchase).
I don't expect to get Shivan Dragon. They've had so many opportunities to reprint it as an uncommon and never took any of them, why would they do it now?
There's no "Shiv" in Amonkhet (or Theros or Tarkir or Innistrad or Ravnica or...)
It's way too good to be an uncommon by the standard of almost every past core set
It's way too cheap to be a good Masters-set rare (yes there's some bulk crap like Argent Sphinx or Long-Forgotten Gohei, but those cards are usually used to at least signal some draft mechanic, which Dragon doesn't do at all)
I am hopeful about us having access to Shivan Dragon. Thing is, that card is still extremely vulnerable to removal but it hits like a truck if you untap with it. I think its vulnerability and the fact that it does not generate card advantage mean that it should be printable at uncommon, and as _i0 mentioned, there have indeed been surprisingly few opportunities to lower its rarity. In most reprint sets, there would not have been a reason to include Shivan Dragon in the first place but they cannot exclude it from Iconic Masters.
I have tried shivan Dragon as I was frustrated it wasn't uncommon and well its alright. it fits great in a Red control Archetype and becomes super strong there. I played it in a Gruul Fires Stompy deck and it did solid work there.
I honestly will be upset if they dont downgrade it here. I have been asking for this downshift for years and i'll be pretty pissed if in the set that is based off iconic cards doesn't make it an uncommon.
Edit:
So onething I wanted to ask is people's thought on the introdeck walkers. I know it would make my cube C/U+ but I feel some of these walkers are in fact uncommon level of power and several of them seem like fun finishers for control decks.
Six, seven, or eight mana for things that aren't creatures or removal (aside from Bolas, which is the most expensive and also tri-color but at least does an impression of Annihilate)
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
Lorwyn had 6 changeling spells, and none of them are green. This would have been an obvious choice imo.
Anyway, no deck is ever primed to win clash. 40 percent of your deck is lands, which are automatic losses, and you're going to have some amount of ties even in a deck with a large late game.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
My 540 CU/be thread
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
What options do we have?
Need not necessarily pass the "good enough to cube"-test. "Decent in some decks" is fine.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Hidden Stockpile is really good if you support the archetype.
Blazing Hellhound isn't embarrassing if you want to signal the archetype.
Also, how good would a hypothetical Shivan Dragon be? And what other downshifts could we expect?
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
There's no "Shiv" in Amonkhet (or Theros or Tarkir or Innistrad or Ravnica or...)
It's way too good to be an uncommon by the standard of almost every past core set
It's way too cheap to be a good Masters-set rare (yes there's some bulk crap like Argent Sphinx or Long-Forgotten Gohei, but those cards are usually used to at least signal some draft mechanic, which Dragon doesn't do at all)
The upcoming set is called ICONIC MASTERS
So Hellrider, Mizzium Mortars, Seance, Sever the Bloodline, Stoic Angel, Simic Skyswallower, Ulvenwald Tracker and all the other trash rares that I'm too lazy to look up weren't in a set with inanely expensive booster packs?
Watch them do it.
I am hopeful about us having access to Shivan Dragon. Thing is, that card is still extremely vulnerable to removal but it hits like a truck if you untap with it. I think its vulnerability and the fact that it does not generate card advantage mean that it should be printable at uncommon, and as _i0 mentioned, there have indeed been surprisingly few opportunities to lower its rarity. In most reprint sets, there would not have been a reason to include Shivan Dragon in the first place but they cannot exclude it from Iconic Masters.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
I honestly will be upset if they dont downgrade it here. I have been asking for this downshift for years and i'll be pretty pissed if in the set that is based off iconic cards doesn't make it an uncommon.
Edit:
So onething I wanted to ask is people's thought on the introdeck walkers. I know it would make my cube C/U+ but I feel some of these walkers are in fact uncommon level of power and several of them seem like fun finishers for control decks.
The few i think that would be really fun are: Tezzeret, Master of metal, Nissa, Genesis Mage the new intro Jace and Nicol Bolas, the deceiver.
What are your guy's thoughts on this?
The cube is for "bad cards"
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Six, seven, or eight mana for things that aren't creatures or removal (aside from Bolas, which is the most expensive and also tri-color but at least does an impression of Annihilate)