I allow each guild up to two slots for hybrids and/or split cards, and the competition for that in Golgari is pretty craptacular, so I don't mind using that slot for an additional 2CMC reanimation spell, since reanimator decks often involve both black and green anyway.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
A lot of my Golgari decks end up as Ramp/Reanimator hybrid decks, so I can easily see Life // Death in those decks, where either half could be strongest depending on the draw you end up with.
Uh, Life is just completely useless in like 90% of hands. It's only castable when you want to make an alpha attack... and it's not even great at that (at six lands, you maybe will accomplish a Lava Axe worth of damage if a bunch of other things go right).
Like, if I reliably saw decks that wanted to cast an early Exhume after Faithless Looting or Frantic Search, I'd consider Life // Death as some redundancy for that, but otherwise it just doesn't seem remotely good enough compared to every other commonly played reanimation spell.
Cunning Sparkmage is certainly my first pick for this effect, but I could see playing this if you want to go deeper and support a 'pinger control' deck. I think you'd have to be pretty heavy on self-mill / looting synergies to cube it instead of Cunning Sparkmage (if you only want one), but at least the unearth option gives it a little value there.
I suppose it has the option to kill an X/2 by blocking, activating, dying, and then unearthing. Prodigal pyromancer can also do this. I checked the evaluation thread, Sparkmage got a 3 and this got a 2. Spikeshot Goblin also got a 2.
Probably this is better than Spikeshot, but I think I might cube the goblin over this as a second pinger just to get more different playing cards.
I suppose it has the option to kill an X/2 by blocking, activating, dying, and then unearthing. Prodigal pyromancer can also do this. I checked the evaluation thread, Sparkmage got a 3 and this got a 2. Spikeshot Goblin also got a 2.
Probably this is better than Spikeshot, but I think I might cube the goblin over this as a second pinger just to get more different playing cards.
Unfortunately unearth is sorcery speed only, so no blocking duty.
Yeah... Spikeshot Goblin is definitely better than this one. Then again, I find that card to be quite under-appreciated. Being able to turn from a pinger to a bomber is huge.
As for Vithian Stinger, I consider it worth considering if you like standard pingers, as it essentially has a pretty telegraphed 2-mana ability to deal one damage to something and provide a body for other effects at the same time. (It can even ping for 2 in the same turn if you have a sac outlet.) The fact that Cunning Sparkmage is not telegraphed is that card's greatest asset (well, and the fact that it can immediately kill some X/1 as it enters play). I would call this the third best pinger - but no one needs three pingers. With enough GY support, it can be picked over the other two in order to further stabilise such strategies.
If you're really looking for a white sweeper effect for control decks, I don't think there's a better option than this aside from possibly Arrow Volley Trap. However, I think it's ultimately too narrow as well as too inefficient.
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Uh, Hail of Arrows kills a Dauthi Slayer or Jackal Pup on early turns, that seems far more important than needing to do exactly five damage for five mana.
Hail is also a purely defensive card, whereas Roil's Retribution can be used in either against attacking or blocking creatures. I don't really think any of the three are good, but getting blocking creatures gives Retribution some extra advantages.
Uh, Hail of Arrows kills a Dauthi Slayer or Jackal Pup on early turns, that seems far more important than needing to do exactly five damage for five mana.
So do Sunlance and Immolating Glare and Blessed Alliance? All of them have late game applications as well. Hail of Arrows mana/damage ratio is terrible in the early turns and it's often bad late game as well, when it's supposed to be good (in the same way that Roil is often bad late). Using Hail as early overcosted removal doesn't really help it. On the other hand, being able to do damage to blocking creatures adds something significant over all those other White spells. Turns out the mana/damage ratio is not good enough for it to make Retribution good, but it's a theoretical reason to want to play it. I don't see the same case for Hail.
Using Hail as early overcosted removal doesn't really help it.
What? Of course it does. It kills a 2/1 on T2 and the entirety of Lingering Souls on T5. Pretty much nothing else does that in white.
We're talking about cards that are pretty much 100% for control decks. That flexibility is far more appealing than the amount of games where you need to target blocking creatures.
No, I agree with _i0 here - the fact that the card does things in different phases of the game with some level of efficiency is really important. Admittedly, Roil's Retribution's offensive abilities are a point in that card's favour and Hail of Arrows in the late game really suffers from the combination of its restriction and clear signalling a lot of the time. However, the card doing double duty is huge as it will not be stranded on your hand when you do not get to 5 mana or are working towards it but need a removal spell. I might even consider running the card, honestly. Then again, by now, some probably take that admission as a strike against the card.
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450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
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https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pionewer
-- Updated with Murders at Karlov Manor
Probably this is better than Spikeshot, but I think I might cube the goblin over this as a second pinger just to get more different playing cards.
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
As for Vithian Stinger, I consider it worth considering if you like standard pingers, as it essentially has a pretty telegraphed 2-mana ability to deal one damage to something and provide a body for other effects at the same time. (It can even ping for 2 in the same turn if you have a sac outlet.) The fact that Cunning Sparkmage is not telegraphed is that card's greatest asset (well, and the fact that it can immediately kill some X/1 as it enters play). I would call this the third best pinger - but no one needs three pingers. With enough GY support, it can be picked over the other two in order to further stabilise such strategies.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
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Uh, Hail of Arrows kills a Dauthi Slayer or Jackal Pup on early turns, that seems far more important than needing to do exactly five damage for five mana.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
So do Sunlance and Immolating Glare and Blessed Alliance? All of them have late game applications as well. Hail of Arrows mana/damage ratio is terrible in the early turns and it's often bad late game as well, when it's supposed to be good (in the same way that Roil is often bad late). Using Hail as early overcosted removal doesn't really help it. On the other hand, being able to do damage to blocking creatures adds something significant over all those other White spells. Turns out the mana/damage ratio is not good enough for it to make Retribution good, but it's a theoretical reason to want to play it. I don't see the same case for Hail.
What? Of course it does. It kills a 2/1 on T2 and the entirety of Lingering Souls on T5. Pretty much nothing else does that in white.
We're talking about cards that are pretty much 100% for control decks. That flexibility is far more appealing than the amount of games where you need to target blocking creatures.