seems like one of those cards that will go in pretty much every black commander deck.
seems like a super weird kicker templating.
Is Cruel Tutor a card you put in every commander deck?
Sure, flexibility is nice, but there are already so many better tutors (Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor, etc.) and this is clearly inferior to those, that is a bold claim to say that will go in "every black commander deck" (also to use the second effect you pretty much want a monoblack deck, not any black deck).
cruel tutor? no... but this is leagues above cruel tutor....
for 5 mana, you tutor up one card, draw it alongside 2 other cards.....
only blue gets to draw 3 cards for 5 mana usually.
and commander is a singleton format with a dominant strategy in comboing.... so tutoring is naturally just better than usual in comander and this card does tutor something WHILE GAINING CARD ADVANTAGE....
the 3 life is completely irrelevant in a format you have 40 life and where someone will just combo kill the entire table anyway.
so... no, I won't run a tutor that leaves me a card down and takes a turn of to give me the card I'm looking for in the next turn...
but I'll happily play a tutor that leaves me 2 cards up while fetching my missing combo piece any day of the week.
while this is mostly inferior to Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor you cannot play multiples of anything.... and this is fighting for the 3rd place in best tutors ever printed on black for commander....
so, yes, I'll play this in pretty much every black commander deck that's trying to win (i.e. combo)
Problem is, that if you are willing to spend 4+ mana, there are WAY more tutors....Beseech the Mirror, Coveted Prize, Dark Petition, Demonic Collusion, Diabolic Tutor, Final Parting, Increasgin Ambition, Insidious Dreams, Mastermind Acquisition, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, The Cruelty of Gix, etc...most of them with additional upside that are way more relevant than simply adding 2 more random cards in hand. So yeah, even in a 100 card singleton format, there are simply TOO MANY TUTORS available to say that this one in particular will be "in every black deck.". It's just a slightly more than average Diabolic Tutor, thats' it.
don't forget that 3 mana draw 3 lose 3 is pretty good anyway....
seems like one of those cards that will go in pretty much every black commander deck.
seems like a super weird kicker templating.
Is Cruel Tutor a card you put in every commander deck?
Sure, flexibility is nice, but there are already so many better tutors (Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor, etc.) and this is clearly inferior to those, that is a bold claim to say that will go in "every black commander deck" (also to use the second effect you pretty much want a monoblack deck, not any black deck).
cruel tutor? no... but this is leagues above cruel tutor....
for 5 mana, you tutor up one card, draw it alongside 2 other cards.....
only blue gets to draw 3 cards for 5 mana usually.
and commander is a singleton format with a dominant strategy in comboing.... so tutoring is naturally just better than usual in comander and this card does tutor something WHILE GAINING CARD ADVANTAGE....
the 3 life is completely irrelevant in a format you have 40 life and where someone will just combo kill the entire table anyway.
so... no, I won't run a tutor that leaves me a card down and takes a turn of to give me the card I'm looking for in the next turn...
but I'll happily play a tutor that leaves me 2 cards up while fetching my missing combo piece any day of the week.
while this is mostly inferior to Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor you cannot play multiples of anything.... and this is fighting for the 3rd place in best tutors ever printed on black for commander....
so, yes, I'll play this in pretty much every black commander deck that's trying to win (i.e. combo)
it would be pretty fine without that last "make it suspect" line because you'd be able to take a creature from your opponent and block with it.....
like Ray of Command before it.
withoout that possibility it's just a super terrible Threaten.
Funny how the card with the current highest collect evidence number so far is also the one where people aren't going, "Collect evidence is a overly expensive pile of trash, remove this mechanic!" I mean it's freecasting so I get why, but still funny.
because during spoiler season people oftentimes analyze every card as if it was played fairly, except for crazy combo pieces like this thing right here.
I mean, this card is so stupid poweful in it's effect that I'm absolutely certain that if you do some crazy self mill in the first turns, into a reanimate spell targeting this and cast Gifts Ungiven you just win on the spot, and this is just the first thing that came into my mind.
I still think that this is mostly jank and it will be simply way too hard to make this work in any competitive format.
but the card has an effect so spectacularly crazy that makes me want to try it.
Tamiyo could be fine, I think.
Ral is pretty bad.
Looks good to me.
Fateful Handoff, Sol'Kanar the Tainted, Coveted Falcon, Archfiend of the Dross deck just becomes more and more attractive to my janky senses.
I don't think anyone is seriously considering this card outside of Janky weird decks....
this is certainly not seeing competitive play anytime soon.
so, yes, the card won't be breaking any metas and will be super fun when it works, you're on spot with this analysis.
now I need to build around this.
don't forget that 3 mana draw 3 lose 3 is pretty good anyway....
cruel tutor? no... but this is leagues above cruel tutor....
for 5 mana, you tutor up one card, draw it alongside 2 other cards.....
only blue gets to draw 3 cards for 5 mana usually.
and commander is a singleton format with a dominant strategy in comboing.... so tutoring is naturally just better than usual in comander and this card does tutor something WHILE GAINING CARD ADVANTAGE....
the 3 life is completely irrelevant in a format you have 40 life and where someone will just combo kill the entire table anyway.
so... no, I won't run a tutor that leaves me a card down and takes a turn of to give me the card I'm looking for in the next turn...
but I'll happily play a tutor that leaves me 2 cards up while fetching my missing combo piece any day of the week.
while this is mostly inferior to Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor you cannot play multiples of anything.... and this is fighting for the 3rd place in best tutors ever printed on black for commander....
so, yes, I'll play this in pretty much every black commander deck that's trying to win (i.e. combo)
and even then... it might not even be a staple....
seems like a super weird kicker templating.
still, probably waaaay too many hoops to jump in standard.....
in commander should be great.
you can use it to cast Emrakul, the aeons torn for 4 mana and still gain the "on cast" trigger.
it creates copies of the cast card, so, it enters the battlefield as a token.... so, whatever you cast with it, Three Blind Mice can copy...
man.... this card is absurdly busted and I'll be VERY surprised if it doesn't create new busted decks in some format.
it would be pretty fine without that last "make it suspect" line because you'd be able to take a creature from your opponent and block with it.....
like Ray of Command before it.
withoout that possibility it's just a super terrible Threaten.
because during spoiler season people oftentimes analyze every card as if it was played fairly, except for crazy combo pieces like this thing right here.
I mean, this card is so stupid poweful in it's effect that I'm absolutely certain that if you do some crazy self mill in the first turns, into a reanimate spell targeting this and cast Gifts Ungiven you just win on the spot, and this is just the first thing that came into my mind.
I still think that this is mostly jank and it will be simply way too hard to make this work in any competitive format.
but the card has an effect so spectacularly crazy that makes me want to try it.
one of those "7 mana: you win the game" types of deals depending on what you cook.
the first card that pop into my mind is Gifts Ungiven