I think a fairer comparison for angel would be wurmcoil engine. They both often win the game when paired with a chalice on 1, and often dominates the board in one way or another.
The major difference is how quickly they stabalise. Angel is a faster wurmcoil to me. Wurmcoil is stronger in almost every aspect, but might need a turn or two to stabalise, whereas Angel does it instantly.
Is it actually a bad matchup now? I haven't played it in a long time, but I suspect it would be because of Blessed Alliance and the fact that we're running less stormbreathes than we used to.
I really like it, I think its a powerful 3-4 drop and running one or two could be good.
At the very least, if we keep getting cards that nonbo with relics, we will reach a point where cutting them can be a good option. Right now GDD by itself isn'enough to entice me.
As result of that, testing changes are that much harder. How many games do you have to play to say that Walking Ballista is good, if you only draw every other game?
I usually compare it to whatever card I'm replacing. If I draw a ballista, I ask myself if it would be better if it were a Spatial or a Solemn right now. Same goes for Gearhulk=Titan, Remand=Manaleak=SupremeWill, and boardwipes.
- Sundering Titan and Platinum Angel are both fine cards, but i've always struggled with both. Platinum angel would always get Path'ed; Sundering Titan would sometimes do more damage to me than to my opponent. I think bringing them out of the board was the correct choice for me (Landing sundering titan and leaving the 4-colour Scapeshift player with just 2 basic islands was mindblowing
Sundering Titan can be argued, but I think Platinum Angel should definitely be mainboard. It is vulnerable without a chalice to back it up, but a lot of the times where I tutor for it or play it, it's my last resort. It's there to win you games you have no business winning, and there will be some games where the opponent simply can't beat it.
If want to keep playing Crucible, you might consider running a copy of Gifts along with it. There are a lot of trap packages you can create with crucible.
I think the point is, fabricate has been discussed ad naseum on here and the general conclusion is, it's an unnecessary
Pretty much this. The question of "Why don't we play Karn/BigEldrazi/TKS/Tolaria/White/Xcard?" pop up so often that a lot of the older players don't bother answering them anymore.
The 2/2 body is farm more versatile than the abilty to get o-stone or batterskull, especially against aggro, like you just said.
Yes the things I said are obvious, but they are reasons. It's like saying if I were to say Lightning Bolt is better than Shock because it does 3 damage instead of 2, and you were to tell me that's not a good argument because it's too obvious. I'm not going to bother arguing with that kind of logic, so you can keep using your "Shock"
I've been playing wurmcoil a lot in other decks, and its pretty much GG against most decks without path. It forces the opponent to spend so many resources and so much time dealing with it. With Koth, Mind stones, and Chandra it should be pretty easy to land it early enough. The only thing is that it doesn't do much against combo decks.
You're better off with 2-3 spatials in the main instead of the dismembers. 3 Dismembers seem way too many and painful to cast. You should replace the Tect edge with Field of Ruin, it's pretty much strictly better. If you really want to run that 1 random talisman, you might as well switch it to Talisman of Dominance so it can make Dismembers less painful. Spell Pierces don't seem any good, since most of the time we're choked on blue anyway and U vs 1U isn't much of a difference. Negate is probably better most of the time. Or even Mana Leak if you're expecting to face a lot of aggro/creatures.
Your next most cost($) effective upgrade is probably either Ugin, or a Ballista, and then 2 Chalices. I'm not sure how good EE is for it's $$ to effectiveness ratio.
fabricate doesnt leave a body and batterskull dies to kcommand, push, and isn't big enough to stop the formats big creatures like tasigur, angler, tks smasher and goyf
Surgical is card disadvantage, and crumbling dust is better against tron. It is true that it has more versatility, but we already run x4 relics in the main. I'm not sure we need even more graveyard hate.
Dies to K-command, Fatal Push, and doesn't even trade with the bigboys of the format Tasigur/Angler. You can still use it with Godo or Reckoner for some insane/janky value, but Wurmcoil is better right now because it can straight up win games by itself against most decks without Path.
Thunderbreak was pretty decent, but we have better cards now. Mainly ToD. Hes good when we're even or ahead on board because Flying is pretty good ability, but he doesn't do much when we're behind.
Tip/Reminder for Tron matchup: You should try to animate their lands with Koth and then kill them with Skreds to keep them off 5-6 mana. Our removal don't do much against their creatures anyway. Be sure to target the most recent land they played if possible to prevent them from floating mana, and retapping the land for mana to blow O-stone.
Obliterate is usually too slow and only for madmen. Play it mainboard.
The major difference is how quickly they stabalise. Angel is a faster wurmcoil to me. Wurmcoil is stronger in almost every aspect, but might need a turn or two to stabalise, whereas Angel does it instantly.
Is it actually a bad matchup now? I haven't played it in a long time, but I suspect it would be because of Blessed Alliance and the fact that we're running less stormbreathes than we used to.
how do we do against emeria titan?
At the very least, if we keep getting cards that nonbo with relics, we will reach a point where cutting them can be a good option. Right now GDD by itself isn'enough to entice me.
I usually compare it to whatever card I'm replacing. If I draw a ballista, I ask myself if it would be better if it were a Spatial or a Solemn right now. Same goes for Gearhulk=Titan, Remand=Manaleak=SupremeWill, and boardwipes.
Sundering Titan can be argued, but I think Platinum Angel should definitely be mainboard. It is vulnerable without a chalice to back it up, but a lot of the times where I tutor for it or play it, it's my last resort. It's there to win you games you have no business winning, and there will be some games where the opponent simply can't beat it.
If want to keep playing Crucible, you might consider running a copy of Gifts along with it. There are a lot of trap packages you can create with crucible.
Pretty much this. The question of "Why don't we play Karn/BigEldrazi/TKS/Tolaria/White/Xcard?" pop up so often that a lot of the older players don't bother answering them anymore.
Yes the things I said are obvious, but they are reasons. It's like saying if I were to say Lightning Bolt is better than Shock because it does 3 damage instead of 2, and you were to tell me that's not a good argument because it's too obvious. I'm not going to bother arguing with that kind of logic, so you can keep using your "Shock"
I made a discord for us to talk about the deck, or just to chill. Hop on in
https://discord.gg/t2y9aEp
Your next most cost($) effective upgrade is probably either Ugin, or a Ballista, and then 2 Chalices. I'm not sure how good EE is for it's $$ to effectiveness ratio.
Thunderbreak was pretty decent, but we have better cards now. Mainly ToD. Hes good when we're even or ahead on board because Flying is pretty good ability, but he doesn't do much when we're behind.
Tip/Reminder for Tron matchup: You should try to animate their lands with Koth and then kill them with Skreds to keep them off 5-6 mana. Our removal don't do much against their creatures anyway. Be sure to target the most recent land they played if possible to prevent them from floating mana, and retapping the land for mana to blow O-stone.
Obliterate is usually too slow and only for madmen. Play it mainboard.