It may just be a little too awkward of a card to make work. It's not a control finisher, because those decks will typically have fewer creatures to upgrade, but it's not an aggro finisher because it costs too much mana to be worthwhile, but it's not a midrange finisher, because upgrading midrange creatures isn't enough of an upgrade... It's also kind of like a guild card (but not really) because it's really bad in it's own color (my blue section has significantly fewer creatures than my other sections) but gets better with whatever other color you add to it.
That said, a lot of c/ubes are ETB: The Gathering with all the Omenspeakers and Sea Gate Oracles of the world. I could see it working in a control deck that plays all the value and removal creatures, but to pick those over counterspells and removal spells you kind of have to be in that mindset from the start. It's a really cool build-around but if you're not going in that direction from the start or your c/ube doesn't really go hard on token-makers or ETB creatures it may not live up to its full potential.
I do kind of want to put it back in, I always liked it way more than the amount that it got drafted/played would indicate.
Man I'm sorry guys i have been busy so I haven't been able to keep up but today's card: Zephid's Embrace.
Shroud, +2/+2 and flying seems alright. sure its 2 mana tacked on to a spectral flight for shroud but in my opinion its worth it as shroud makes the flier typically game ending. I'm not running it but I feel it could be worth cubing.
Auras get a bad rap, and this one protects your investment and reduces risk for pants decks. On power level it seems perfectly fine, and as suggested could run away with a game if put on the right target. Appreciate what Leelue is saying, promoting interactivity (or at least avoiding lack of interactivity) can be a conscious design choice. I guess if you want that type of effect but want to keep the interactivity, Cartouche of Knowledge seems the closest analogue. If it resolves and eats removal, at least you mitigated your risk by getting the card back (or they could print a colour shifted Griffin Guide).
They get a bad rap rightfully so, especially in peasant where the main concern for auras (removal) is present in abundance, but this is a bit different. Jade Guardian + One With The Wind is a recent example of how stupid broken an X/X flying hexproof/shroud creature can be when there's a lot of spot removal, and there are only so many sac effects that can only be relevant for so long. Making any creature the 'Jade Guardian'-part of the deal is so disgusting. I don't have much experience with Embrace outside of its limited format in the MODO flashbacks last year, but it was really gross there.
Not a fan, you'll almost always end up on the losing end of that exchange unless you've got serious lifegain to go along with it. Having said that, slapping a Gift of Orzhova (if anyone still plays that card) on this guy is a real fast clock.
I think that the "suicide aggro" archetype in general doesn't exist anymore. Black doesn't need to rely on heavy downside cards to attack anymore, aside from maybe reckless spite (and fire covenant, if it isn't banned).
Regardless, these lifeloss cards have antisynergy with one another.
Has Wanted Scoundrels worked out for those who tried it?
Eh not really. There's a lot that kills/trades with it, more than you'd think, and its *awful* when it dies. It's truly a feast/famine card, as it wrecks when it can attack but it could really use a 4th toughness if my opponent gets lotus petals for killing it. Great with equipment/enchantments if you have those, but it's tough running a card you almost never want to trade with since you're going to trade your 2s in the course of your games.
Yeah that's a key point: their cons are so different that it's tough to compare, sometimes you're in a race and literally can't attack with the 4/4, other times your opponent is clearly stuck on mana or could clearly swing the game pack with a couple petals and then the 3 toughness really is glaring.
I feel like the life loss is much harder to stomach as more decks are trying to race than not, and that makes it much easier to stomach one less tougness if I wanted to include either. Like, how many times can you really afford the 4/4 getting chumped? And there will be a number of times where it's just extra mana and it's not really useful whereas the lifeloss can be horrible.
This card I feel alone gives me urges to convert my dimir archetype to an artifact archetype. Paired with Thopter Foundery and Arsenal Thresher It could lead to a fun guild with decent potential.
But back to the card of the day: a 3/3 for 5 mana isnt great but the ability to grow +1/+1 for each Lotus petal you make for 2UB seems grand for more control focused decks.
Seems way too slow on its own. It would either have to start out bigger or have a cheaper way to grow. But I suppose if you have enough of an artifact theme in the guild so that it reliably hits the table as a 4/4 and sometimes 5/5 it starts to look interesting.
Related question: What guild is the best fit for the artifacts-matter archetype? Is it doable within all three Esper-pairs?
I mean it's probably good if your cube has Faerie Mechanist in it, but very weak otherwise.
Late-game mana sink abilities are cool, but coming on a 5-mana 3/3 just kills the card since it starts out so far behind.
Something like Shapers of Nature is vastly better -- starts as an OK-for-cost body, and actually builds into something more than a bigger vanilla creature (I mean you CAN use the treasure for something, but if you're spending mana on making them... you don't need to use them usually).
Disciple of the Vault is interesting as thopter and servo-generation could provide some cross-synergies between artifact matters in BX and sacrifice-decks in BY (probably BR).
EDIT: If I wasn't so tired I might have tried to clean up that sentence with some punctuation or perhaps even grammar.
Just to be clear I wasn't meaning yes lets move it over now because its broken, I was more meaning my inner-johnny sees a lot of fun deck building opportunities with this idea of dimir artifacts.
Cranial Plating is probably the big 'artifacts matter' pay-off card for us but I don't think that theme is quite viable (yet?) in C/Ube (without skewing your entire design ethos around it).
It's not great when your black pay-off card goes seamlessly into Gruul or Azorius decks
As I've never played with this Im speculating but here's what I kinda think of it:
This is one of the few shadow cards I have considered in the past. Shadow is an interesting mechanic and adds a cool aspect to attacking. The scout offer a more defensive control an unblockable beater that can evade removal at the cost of a card.
We used to run lantern spirit way back here and there. Thalakos Scout is sorta an inevitable clock, which is an interesting idea but I assume it's too slow.
We used to run lantern spirit way back here and there. Thalakos Scout is sorta an inevitable clock, which is an interesting idea but I assume it's too slow.
This is what I imagine. Plus there will be a number of scenarios where you don't really want to discard anything to save your 2/1 shadow creature. That's even worse if you spend time & resources saving it and then eventually get to a point where you need it to live but don't really have anything you want to discard and you're left with a tough choice that is seemingly all wrong answers.
That said, a lot of c/ubes are ETB: The Gathering with all the Omenspeakers and Sea Gate Oracles of the world. I could see it working in a control deck that plays all the value and removal creatures, but to pick those over counterspells and removal spells you kind of have to be in that mindset from the start. It's a really cool build-around but if you're not going in that direction from the start or your c/ube doesn't really go hard on token-makers or ETB creatures it may not live up to its full potential.
I do kind of want to put it back in, I always liked it way more than the amount that it got drafted/played would indicate.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
Shroud, +2/+2 and flying seems alright. sure its 2 mana tacked on to a spectral flight for shroud but in my opinion its worth it as shroud makes the flier typically game ending. I'm not running it but I feel it could be worth cubing.
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
.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
And thanks Jovin for starting this back up. I can always help too on this.
Regardless, these lifeloss cards have antisynergy with one another.
Has Wanted Scoundrels worked out for those who tried it?
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
4/3 and 4/4 are different enough that I probably still like this more than the Pirates, though the different downsides can vary wildly.
I feel like the life loss is much harder to stomach as more decks are trying to race than not, and that makes it much easier to stomach one less tougness if I wanted to include either. Like, how many times can you really afford the 4/4 getting chumped? And there will be a number of times where it's just extra mana and it's not really useful whereas the lifeloss can be horrible.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
This card I feel alone gives me urges to convert my dimir archetype to an artifact archetype. Paired with Thopter Foundery and Arsenal Thresher It could lead to a fun guild with decent potential.
But back to the card of the day: a 3/3 for 5 mana isnt great but the ability to grow +1/+1 for each Lotus petal you make for 2UB seems grand for more control focused decks.
Something like the 1U aura that enchants artifacts and turns them into 5/5s is much better.
/
This card might be good enough to run in an artifact deck, but may not be good enough to change your cube for.
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
Related question: What guild is the best fit for the artifacts-matter archetype? Is it doable within all three Esper-pairs?
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Late-game mana sink abilities are cool, but coming on a 5-mana 3/3 just kills the card since it starts out so far behind.
Something like Shapers of Nature is vastly better -- starts as an OK-for-cost body, and actually builds into something more than a bigger vanilla creature (I mean you CAN use the treasure for something, but if you're spending mana on making them... you don't need to use them usually).
Or as a much less exciting but still quite solid card, Dhund Operative.
EDIT: If I wasn't so tired I might have tried to clean up that sentence with some punctuation or perhaps even grammar.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
It's not great when your black pay-off card goes seamlessly into Gruul or Azorius decks
As I've never played with this Im speculating but here's what I kinda think of it:
This is one of the few shadow cards I have considered in the past. Shadow is an interesting mechanic and adds a cool aspect to attacking. The scout offer a more defensive control an unblockable beater that can evade removal at the cost of a card.
Im interested to hear peoples thoughts on it.
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
This is what I imagine. Plus there will be a number of scenarios where you don't really want to discard anything to save your 2/1 shadow creature. That's even worse if you spend time & resources saving it and then eventually get to a point where you need it to live but don't really have anything you want to discard and you're left with a tough choice that is seemingly all wrong answers.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic