MTG Salvation

The only things I know I'll be including, so far anyway, are Ancient Silverback and Act on Impulse.

Hey guys! Just wanted to chime in with my thoughts. First of all, I thought this set was rather good for a Core set. We did get some goodies.

Here are my auto-includes:

Reclamation Sage: This should come as no surprise to anyone. This guy fills a gap that we've had for quite some time. A 3 mana, splashable disenchant on a stick, that can also provide a few beats (being a 2 power), was exactly what we needed. Especially with both the green and black curses being so strong. The fact that the ability is a MAY is just gravy. This means that we can play it on a board where we control the only artifacts and/or enchantments. Huge plus. Auto staple status for sure.

Borderland Marauder: A 3/2 for 2 is always grounds for considering. The fact that it's only a 3/2 when attacking is pretty much irrelevant as the decks he'll be going into will be too aggressive to care. He's better than Gore-House Chainwalker because he "can" block. Let's face it, how many times did we cast the chainwalker leashed? Think about the times you did.. weren't you losing anyways? ha. This is a strict upgrade to chainwalker, who has already proven to be a great aggressive card. They are going to work well in tandem.

To be honest, I think these are the serious staples. I do have some cards in mind that I think will do well, but these 2 are the ones that I'd be surprised if all the other Peasant Cubers didn't include.

Here are the other cards I'm going to run:

Frost Lynx: Kor Hookmaster has been doing well in the blink decks, and this is a deck that I really really enjoy enabling. I'll try to give it as many tools as I can. The blue version of Hookmaster will do just fine in my opinion. Cheap, effective, blinkable.... I like it.

Quickling: Similar to Frost Lynx, this guy enables the same type of deck. Whitemane Lion and Stonecloaker have been shining in the blink decks, and I think this guy will find a home in that deck as well. It'll be fun to see where else he finds applications. Perhaps the 4-5 color value deck may try him. I love the flash/bounce ability, and I'm excited to see where this guy fits himself.


Cards I'm on the fence about, but may consider testing:

Stoke in Flames: Just lke Leelue said, this card is probably better than something we're already running. The ability to cast it for free on a stonewalled boardstate can't be overlooked.. and at instant speed. I'm curious how often this would be better than perhaps a Searing Spear. It may find it's way into testing, but perhaps I'll keep an eye out for other peoples' playtesting results.

Ancient Silverback: I think this guy needed trample to be included. I'm not overlooking how insane a 6/5 regenerate is, but I see him more as a 7 drop and since he does nothing upon entering, I can't really justify his inclusion. He is a fat body, but I think I need a bit more on my 6 drops in green to add him.

Altac Bloodseeker: Hmmm... He does seem explosive.. Removing opposing creatures should be relatively easy in the decks he's in right? I'm really trying to imagine his average case scenario. He seems fine. Feels similar to Kiln Fiend, and Fiend has been solid. It's hard to analyze this guy. How often will he just be a 2/1 sitting there. Another card that I might wait for playtest experience from you guys.

Generator Servant: Again, another 2 drop that I'm trying to figure out his average case scenario. I don't think he's good enough. He doesn't get damage through, unless you time it perfectly. I think he's too "situational". Yeah, there'll be times where you sac him, play your turn 3 Flametongue, and get in for 4... but I think most of the time he'll just sit there, waiting for the right time to use his ability, and then you'll find yourself behind and unable to use him effectively. Just my opinion.

Overall, a lot of cards to include and test. Great core set and I am excited to get my hands on some of these.

Quote from Leelue »

I'm extremely surprised people are interested in ancient silverback. Especially over the evasive howlgeist that you can effectively play every time when you reach six mana.

I think it's a pretty close call on howlgeist vs ancient silverback. Silverback's lack of trample is a real downside, but howlgeist's small butt is a big downside for it. Being susceptible to essentially every burn spell in the cube as well as all doom blade effects (without the regeneration clause) makes it vulnerable to about 10% more of a cube's cards than Silverback....they'll need 2 removal spells to deal with geist, but almost every removal spell in the cube takes care of him.

Of course, Silverback can be blocked by 90% of a cube's creatures so I'm not really sure which is the better of the two. Howlgesit might be better...but I'm still super excited to get the ape. I just like having some options for each cube slot, and there hasn't really been much competition in the 6 slot for green.

Quote from BrownDog5117 »

Ancient Silverback: I think this guy needed trample to be included. I'm not overlooking how insane a 6/5 regenerate is, but I see him more as a 7 drop and since he does nothing upon entering, I can't really justify his inclusion. He is a fat body, but I think I need a bit more on my 6 drops in green to add him.

Why do you see him as a 7 drop? Unless your playing against black, it's pretty much out of range of anything a deck can throw at it (barring a morbid brimstone volley, or spending multiple cards)...card like path to exile, oblivion ring, etc will get him with or without regeneration mana.

Maybe I didn't think that one through completely. Maybe your right. I just wish he had trample. .... really badly...

trample would be insane and an auto-include.

And sadly... Probably rare

Quote from ArBoR4817 »

The problem I had with Howlgeist was that I like my 6 drop to be relevant at any board state.

Howlgeist should only lose relevance when your opponent has a five power blocker, as far as my "i just woke up" brain can tell

He is also very bad when you need to stabilize against an aggro deck or just need a blocker in general.

?
He's just as relevant as ancient silverback and doesn't require mana to block more than once.

There are about 10 creatures in my entire cube that require you to have mana to regenerate Silverback when he blocks them.
My experiences with Howlgeist just aren't that good. I know of quite a few examples in games in which he came out on a board with you on 8-10 life and your opponent having an army of 2/x nd 3/x guys. I don't mean to say that you should include Ancient Silverback because I can see why you wouldn't, however I don't think Howlgeist is any better. He is better on the offense but much worse on the defense and i like my six drops to have an impact regardless of game state.

Howlgeist comes back untapped if Doom Bladed while Silverback gets tapped, so there are definitely lots of times where Howlgeist will help you stabilize better.

Sure, there are situations in which Howlgeist is also better on defense, however saying there are lots of times in which this is the case seems like stretching it. Looking at your cube for instance there are like six removal spells (counting shrine of burning rage and fireball) to which that situation applies. I can also think of situations in which Silverback is better on the offense. I just think on average Silverback is the better card.
I do want to mention again that I can understand people not running Silverback. However it does at least seem more versatile than Howlgeist to me.

It's almost like both cards have their own set of pros and cons.

Looking at what there is and how it would fit in the cube, I'm probably going to run the functional upgrades along with everyone else, and only expect to fill other slots as temporary experiments. Generator Servant and Heliod's Pilgrim are the only two I think could find a home, but Servant's looking pretty narrow as I look at its ramp targets.

On Ancient Silverback, I think it's a good card, but that peasant cube, at least my peasant cube, would be a really bad format for it - I run about three 1-for-1 removal effects that care about regenerate, and 6/5 is so huge that it pretty much requires a 2-for-1 to kill through damage or burn anyways. Just due to the evasion, I think Arctic Nishoba or Vulpine Goliath would be much better in my cube for offense and not much worse for defense, and I'm not running either. Which is a shame, because I'm crazy for Silverback's old art.

I think the old art looks downright terrible.

Anyway, I imagine a play like.. generator servant into skinrender and burst lightning as something that you can pull off and be quite rewarding. Or calciderm

Any thoughts on Blood Host? I love a sac outlet, and black 5-drops aren't particularly deep, so I think it could have a home. The mana cost on the sacrificing may push it just outside the range of playable.

I think Fallen Angel fills that role a lot better.

Well, it dies to Lightning Bolt, and thus to almost every imaginable removal spell. Because it does not generate value immediately, this is a real problem. I agree with Delandel that Fallen Angel is better for the role because at least something may be sacrificed for it to save it from being bolted even when you tap out to cast it. Also, Fallen Angel has flying.

yeah i think expensive sac outlets have to cost no mana to be cubeable at this point. though i do like lifegain in black a lot...

also i definitely prefer the evasion on howlgeist to the regeneration of ancient silverback. not even close for me.

Hmm, it seems I might need to give Howlgeist another shot. People seem to like him as a 6 drop. It got cut because of quite a few bad experiences during it's time but that was some time ago and my cube has changed considerably.

He had a shaky start for me but I kept him for... some reason and he's panned out quite well

>yeah i think expensive sac outlets have to cost no mana to be cubeable at this point. though i do like lifegain in black a lot...

If you like lifegain, here are some more options for you:

Basilica Screecher, Sorin's Thirst, Spinning Darkness, Tendrils of Corruption

no one interested in Paragon of Fierce Defiance

I've never seen a color Lord like it before so I'm just warily watching.

Oh and I'm warming up to military intelligence now. It should be easy to have it turn into divination and a third attack will likely close the game out. It also allows you to trade in outclassed minions for cards.

man i forgot that i support tokens in r/w super heavily. maybe i should rethink the r/w paragons a little. maybe the white one is better than goldnight commander?