Ugin's Conjurant intrigues me. Colorless, scales according to your mana, supports +1/+1 counters, and circumvents your opponent's lifelink/deathtouch effects. It's a shame that it removes "that many" counters rather than just one like the Phantom creatures or Undergrowth Champion, but I might consider testing it.
Scaleable X/X is cool, but the replacement effect is a pretty big drawback in the face of pingers, smaller burn spells, and even just chump blockers.
Still, it's a Cathodion on T3 (where the drawback will matter much less often) and sometimes huge on T10, which is nice flexibility
I would advise very heavily against making "slots" for walkers. Play cards that are better than bad ones, regardless of card type
I disagree with this statement whole heartily.
Everyone on this forum plays some number of cards that are worse than others, that is just a fact. People lower the power of their cube or want to have a specific synergy or archetype, you don't have to just play the best cards available. Many people also increase the size of their cube, it just happens. I started at 360 and have overtime increased it to 380 when I felt it was appropriate.
PWs are a lot different than any other type of magic card and it adds another dimension to the game. I think for the most part the PWs are pretty strong cards and will play out better than most imagine they will. Increasing each of my mono-colored sections from 57 -> 58 cards is negligible and going from 380 -> 390 cards overall is also negligible.
I have been really happy with where my cube is at, but I am also happy to increase the overall size of my cube by ~2.6% to include another aspect of the game that we have previously not had the opportunity to play with in our limited format.
Uh, none of this actually justifies the "slot" idea
If Tayo works out, great. If he's last-pick trash and you're adamant about using "slots", you force yourself to do one of three bad options:
1. Keep a useless card in your cube for the sake of 'balance'
2. Switch to what's likely an even worse alternative (The Wanderer)
3. Cut the other four mono-colored Walkers, even if they're performing well
I mean it's functional at doing that, but I think it is just worse than mono-colored competition like Pollenbright Druid and the 4/4 for 3G, or older stuff like Tezzeret's Gambit
It's like -- would Rakdos aggro decks play Hackrobat? Yeah, sometimes I guess, when you can draft it 12th, which will be about its average case.
It's been overshadowed a bit by the flashy planeswalkers, but Jaya's Greeting is another interesting addition to the suite of burn options available. I've recently cut a lot of my straightforward red burn both in an attempt to power down the removal landscape as well as just reduce redundant and boring cards like Searing Spear and Lighting Strike, but Greeting occupies the space between those and something like Magma Jet in a way that gives it a slight niche. The downside of missing players is a consideration if you are concerned, as I was, about the dynamic of red or red splashing control/midrange decks scooping the burn away from aggressive red decks, as this is more attractive to those decks, making it less likely that a red aggro deck gets rewarded by picking it up on the wheel.
I mean, it's a fine choice as "worse" option that still functions well
If all you want is cards that are picked highly by the most decks, skip it and keep Incinerate + variants. Burn/aggro still would use this happily to clear blockers, though
Flame Slash is also just better, big difference between 1 and 2 cmc and even does extra damage. The CMC is just miles more important than either scrying or instant-speed, though.
+impacts the board more every time (tapping)
+extra value as a shatter
-more expensive cycling
-doesn't hit enchantments
-no exile (pretty slim relevance)
I'd say nope but it's certainly close and I've been happy with Forsake as a maindeckable Disenchant
To be fair, if I had slots to dedicate to red cantrips for Spells Matter, I would definitely consider Warlord's Fury. DOM was not particularly heavy on archetypes it would support, as far as I can tell, but the effect it offers for 1 mana, attached to a cantrip, is pretty decent. Of course, this still means that the effect by itself would be worth half a mana per turn or so. But then, Nahiri also being (sub-optimal) removal still gives her a chance to provide a higher, less niche floor than Fury.
Right, the fact that you think it's a Spells Matter card and not worth it just as a pump effect is exactly my point.
DOM did some weird ramp and 5C things but still had a lot of creature-centric decks (esp in red), and Fury was just... filler, because giving your team first strike on your turn isn't actually reliably good.
Also, I'm not sure how a 4cmc conditional removal spell / weird anthem can ever have a higher FLOOR than something with Cycling: R
12 of the 13 planeswalkers we've seen thus far are super unimpressive, but I'm gonna give them more leeway for testing just because we've never seen the card type in the format before (Kiora is the standout by far)
Nahiri, as the most recent topic of discussion here, looks like she just sucks. The times you'll get two meaningful activations out of here are times you're already winning anyway and can somehow keep winning despite your very subpar 4cmc investment with her. Nobody plays Take Vengeance, I absolutely don't want Magus of Take Vengeance.
This place is pretty dead, yeah. I recommend actually playing Magic, walking a dog, exercising, or literally anything other than the same cycle of garbage on a different forum.
Scaleable X/X is cool, but the replacement effect is a pretty big drawback in the face of pingers, smaller burn spells, and even just chump blockers.
Still, it's a Cathodion on T3 (where the drawback will matter much less often) and sometimes huge on T10, which is nice flexibility
Uh, none of this actually justifies the "slot" idea
If Tayo works out, great. If he's last-pick trash and you're adamant about using "slots", you force yourself to do one of three bad options:
1. Keep a useless card in your cube for the sake of 'balance'
2. Switch to what's likely an even worse alternative (The Wanderer)
3. Cut the other four mono-colored Walkers, even if they're performing well
It's like -- would Rakdos aggro decks play Hackrobat? Yeah, sometimes I guess, when you can draft it 12th, which will be about its average case.
You won't proliferate anything on T2, and by the time you're getting proliferate value you care drastically less about the 2/3 body. Very clunky.
Something like STE or Rampant Growth is weak to unplayable in aggro and amazing on ramp
(1-drop elves are amazing in both)
Kasmina
Kiora
Dovin
Eternal Taskmaster
Kasmina's aura
Merfolk Skydiver
Paradise Druid (best card / easiest staple in the set by miles)
Saheeli
I mean, it's a fine choice as "worse" option that still functions well
If all you want is cards that are picked highly by the most decks, skip it and keep Incinerate + variants. Burn/aggro still would use this happily to clear blockers, though
Flame Slash is also just better, big difference between 1 and 2 cmc and even does extra damage. The CMC is just miles more important than either scrying or instant-speed, though.
+impacts the board more every time (tapping)
+extra value as a shatter
-more expensive cycling
-doesn't hit enchantments
-no exile (pretty slim relevance)
I'd say nope but it's certainly close and I've been happy with Forsake as a maindeckable Disenchant
I'm much less interested in Jaya, a conditional red 5-drop... hard to imagine it making the cut in a lot of decks
Right, the fact that you think it's a Spells Matter card and not worth it just as a pump effect is exactly my point.
DOM did some weird ramp and 5C things but still had a lot of creature-centric decks (esp in red), and Fury was just... filler, because giving your team first strike on your turn isn't actually reliably good.
Also, I'm not sure how a 4cmc conditional removal spell / weird anthem can ever have a higher FLOOR than something with Cycling: R
Fury was weak chaff in DOM limited and got zero attention for our format...
Nahiri, as the most recent topic of discussion here, looks like she just sucks. The times you'll get two meaningful activations out of here are times you're already winning anyway and can somehow keep winning despite your very subpar 4cmc investment with her. Nobody plays Take Vengeance, I absolutely don't want Magus of Take Vengeance.