Yes this is a good gift for Food Chain. Yes it combos with Rest in Peace or similar effects. And yes it is an efficient creature that's hard to remove.
All of that is good.
BUT WAIT
I have a new goal
I really really want Wizards to print an eldrazi fatty with emerge that exiles cards from the graveyard when it enters play. It would almost be a shame if they didn't.
Okay. I actually have no problem with the cards combining to flip into a extra large removal target. In general, it seems like a totally functional concept and potentially fun mechanic. I do have 2 problems with the implementation though.
First, I hate that it's spread across half of the back face of both of the cards. I wish that you just exiled one underneath the other. I don't like the extra large card and I don't like rotating both cards when attacking. It just seems like a complicated and bad implementation of a fine mechanic.
Second, why would they only print 6 meld pairs total?? Only 3 melded eldrazi and only 1 at common? A card that is basically just a bad rare in limited (Hanweir Battlements) without also pulling a specific second rare? It's like they were so scared that this mechanic wouldn't work they weren't willing to take ownership of it. Give me 5 pairs with more at common or uncommon for the sake of limited play and I'd be happier.
Edit: Battlements is bad in limited, not Garrison.
I think the video hints clearly that her card will (at least try to) answer Emrakul's new card. We should look into that.
I mean it's not like that's too difficult. A simple destroy creature effect will do since it's stapled to a planeswalker and not an instant. It seems doubtful however that any Lili could answer the "Take an opponent's turn" clause.
Personally if Lili saves the day I'm hoping we get an Oath of Liliana... That you can sacrifice to draw a card.
I like the card design a lot. Protection from Instants combined with control of the opponent's turn ensures that almost all removal is blank since you will use it on their creatures. They they have 1 turn to top deck an answer before they get hit for 13, and they're probably going to lose a lot of their board and hand regardless.
The cost reduction ability on this interests me for Standard. This may be the reward Mindwrack Demon needed to see the play it deserves.
It seems way worse for reanimation/cheat into play strategies for eternal formats than OG Emmy BUT it may prove even better for big mana strategies like Tron because 10 mana is much more achievable than 15 and it has a similar manner of ending the game on the spot.
The other truly busted things to add to the engine in limited (don't know about constructed) are Behind the Scenes so the vampires always hit, Groundskeeper so the loop costs 2g instead of 3b and Indulgent Aristocrat to make the vamps a lot bigger.
Prized Amalgam has power with Deathmist and Liliana and Relentless Dead is probably abstractly powerful enough for inclusion. However Diregraf Colossus doesn't have enough zombies around it to be used very efficiently.
Liliana also really prefers to have sac outlets or Sidisi's Faithful. Right now she won't flip immediately so the opponent has time to remove her or play around her.
Bonemtg is right, the deck shouldn't exist without 4 Collected Companies. You're playing a majority of creatures 3 cmc or less, Jace, and Den Protector. Please include Collected Company.
And finally, I'm going to speak for the elephant in the room: The manabase. You need BB, 1U, and 1G on turn two and then 1GG, 1BB, and 1UB on turn 3. The mana for that simply doesn't exist any more. You need to determine which parts of the deck are the most powerful and tailor your mana to those, accepting that you may have to wait and cast the rest later.
Asylum Visitor's inclusion is due to being a 3/1 for 2 with madness, not the possibility of drawing cards. That's gravy. I agree that Olivia's Bloodsworn probably deserves a slot and Sinister Concoction may be efficient enough to earn one as well.
I don't care how aggressive you are, until you convert to a burn deck Alms of the Vein is not a good card. And even then it's very very bad if you cannot discard it. The bottom line for me is that if it isn't a creature or can't hit a creature I don't want to touch it.
I also don't believe in Ravenous Bloodsucker because although it is a repeatable discard outlet, it is a horrible horrible card if you don't activate it. Do you really want to draw a 1/3 for 2 and have no madness cards in hand?
Aggro decks ride the knife's edge killing the opponent before they stabilize. You don't have time to be cute or include anything that isn't applicable immediately almost all of the time. Think about the cards in your deck and what you're trying to do. If you don't kill the opponent before they get to Archangel Avacyn mana you probably lose.
Build the deck like an aggro deck, not a midrange one. The madness deck cannot go as big as other decks no matter which way you build it. It will fold to midrange decks in the midgame. So try to kill them before that happens. Prioritize 1 drops and cheap removal.
I hate Incorrigible Youths but it's still here for now. IMO Heir of Falkenrath and Fiery Temper are easily the best cards in the deck. Bloodseeker is a horrible card and you guys need to abandon it as fast as you can. Neonate may in fact have a place in the deck. As someone who has been playing with Relentless Dead a lot, menace is a deceptively powerful ability.
What exactly do you think that Diregraf Colossus is? They already said that traditional lords were a mistake in Innistrad here. They were bland. That's why they're moving to a less traditional path.
we have a good number of pushed exile removal in standard too. So even if we get some more playable zombies the deck might be hated out before it is even formed.
I think you probably just need a decent sacrifice outlet to avoid this problem. I'm holding out hope for a 1 or 2 mana one.
That is certainly filthy but I'm unsure that the mana would be functional. *If* it is though the combination of Collected Company, Jace, Den Protector, Deathmist Raptor, and Prized Amalgam could be the core of the most disgusting graveyard we've seen in Standard for a long, long time.
I've begun testing the U/B zombies deck on Cockatrice and it seems decent. Diregraf Colossus is a completely absurd card. The mana is quite good as well. The main question marks for me are the 1 and 2 mana spells, sacrifice outlets, and removal besides Compelling Deterrence. The 1 and 2 mana zombies specifically will make or break the deck I think.
All of that is good.
BUT WAIT
I have a new goal
I really really want Wizards to print an eldrazi fatty with emerge that exiles cards from the graveyard when it enters play. It would almost be a shame if they didn't.
First, I hate that it's spread across half of the back face of both of the cards. I wish that you just exiled one underneath the other. I don't like the extra large card and I don't like rotating both cards when attacking. It just seems like a complicated and bad implementation of a fine mechanic.
Second, why would they only print 6 meld pairs total?? Only 3 melded eldrazi and only 1 at common? A card that is basically just a bad rare in limited (Hanweir Battlements) without also pulling a specific second rare? It's like they were so scared that this mechanic wouldn't work they weren't willing to take ownership of it. Give me 5 pairs with more at common or uncommon for the sake of limited play and I'd be happier.
Edit: Battlements is bad in limited, not Garrison.
I mean it's not like that's too difficult. A simple destroy creature effect will do since it's stapled to a planeswalker and not an instant. It seems doubtful however that any Lili could answer the "Take an opponent's turn" clause.
Personally if Lili saves the day I'm hoping we get an Oath of Liliana... That you can sacrifice to draw a card.
The cost reduction ability on this interests me for Standard. This may be the reward Mindwrack Demon needed to see the play it deserves.
It seems way worse for reanimation/cheat into play strategies for eternal formats than OG Emmy BUT it may prove even better for big mana strategies like Tron because 10 mana is much more achievable than 15 and it has a similar manner of ending the game on the spot.
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Geralf's Masterpiece
3 Call the Bloodline
4 Just the Wind
2 Murderous Compulsion
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Broken Concentration
3 Languish
2 From Under the Floorboards
2 Epiphany at the Drownyard
3 Westvale Abbey
2 Drownyard Temple
4 Choked Estuary
4 Sunken Hollow
8 Swamp
4 Island
Prized Amalgam has power with Deathmist and Liliana and Relentless Dead is probably abstractly powerful enough for inclusion. However Diregraf Colossus doesn't have enough zombies around it to be used very efficiently.
Liliana also really prefers to have sac outlets or Sidisi's Faithful. Right now she won't flip immediately so the opponent has time to remove her or play around her.
Bonemtg is right, the deck shouldn't exist without 4 Collected Companies. You're playing a majority of creatures 3 cmc or less, Jace, and Den Protector. Please include Collected Company.
And finally, I'm going to speak for the elephant in the room: The manabase. You need BB, 1U, and 1G on turn two and then 1GG, 1BB, and 1UB on turn 3. The mana for that simply doesn't exist any more. You need to determine which parts of the deck are the most powerful and tailor your mana to those, accepting that you may have to wait and cast the rest later.
I don't care how aggressive you are, until you convert to a burn deck Alms of the Vein is not a good card. And even then it's very very bad if you cannot discard it. The bottom line for me is that if it isn't a creature or can't hit a creature I don't want to touch it.
I also don't believe in Ravenous Bloodsucker because although it is a repeatable discard outlet, it is a horrible horrible card if you don't activate it. Do you really want to draw a 1/3 for 2 and have no madness cards in hand?
Aggro decks ride the knife's edge killing the opponent before they stabilize. You don't have time to be cute or include anything that isn't applicable immediately almost all of the time. Think about the cards in your deck and what you're trying to do. If you don't kill the opponent before they get to Archangel Avacyn mana you probably lose.
4 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Heir of Falkenrath
4 Asylum Visitor
4 Olivia, Mobilized for War
4 Incorrigible Youths
3 Duress
4 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Temper
2 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Swamp
11 Mountain
I hate Incorrigible Youths but it's still here for now. IMO Heir of Falkenrath and Fiery Temper are easily the best cards in the deck. Bloodseeker is a horrible card and you guys need to abandon it as fast as you can. Neonate may in fact have a place in the deck. As someone who has been playing with Relentless Dead a lot, menace is a deceptively powerful ability.
What exactly do you think that Diregraf Colossus is? They already said that traditional lords were a mistake in Innistrad here. They were bland. That's why they're moving to a less traditional path.
I think you probably just need a decent sacrifice outlet to avoid this problem. I'm holding out hope for a 1 or 2 mana one.
That is certainly filthy but I'm unsure that the mana would be functional. *If* it is though the combination of Collected Company, Jace, Den Protector, Deathmist Raptor, and Prized Amalgam could be the core of the most disgusting graveyard we've seen in Standard for a long, long time.
I've begun testing the U/B zombies deck on Cockatrice and it seems decent. Diregraf Colossus is a completely absurd card. The mana is quite good as well. The main question marks for me are the 1 and 2 mana spells, sacrifice outlets, and removal besides Compelling Deterrence. The 1 and 2 mana zombies specifically will make or break the deck I think.
I'm doing the same. I plan to stick Liliana, Heretical Healer and Sidisi's Faithful in there too. You know if Gravecrawler *was* reprinted the deck would go from mediocre to possibly busted. I also would love some Thought Scour or Diregraf Ghoul too