God's Willing is a great enabler, yes, but it's the heroic cards themselves that are devastating. Even without Gods Willing, the decks would still do just fine, making do with Triton Tactics, Dauntless Onslaught, Aqueous Form, Battlewise Valor, etc.
Meh. It doesn't impress. I'd grab one if I was badly lacking in removal for whatever reason. Otherwise there are plenty of other cards I'd rather have.
This card is really interesting, in that it is actually both quite powerful and somewhat difficult to use correctly. I think in many cases, just exiling your opponent's best creature every other turn is the way to go. Yes, you give them massive card advantage when you go that path, but they suffer a huge degradation in card quality as nothing good can stick.
I think that is using it incorrectly. Target your own creatures with it, not your opponents. As others have already pointed out, combined with ETB effects, such as Grey Merchant of Asphodel or Mnemonic Wall, this card can generate you great card advantage and keep smacking your opponent upside the head with a great effect.
The trap is going, "Ohhhh, I can exile my opponent's dudes for a turn!" It should be "Ohhhh, I can reuse what used to be one time ETB effects and get some extra cards as gravy on top! Also, I can blink my dude whenever my opponent tries to hit it with bounce or Sip of Hemlock." It is a great card when used correctly and with the right decks. Considering how underrated black is still, I'm more than happy to grab this early on just as a splash card to play with Merchant, Disciple of Phenax, or Mogi's Marauder. If you can get some blue, Omenspeaker combined with this becomes devastating. "Why yes! I would love to draw two cards then filter my next two cards next turn. Thank you for asking. While we're at it, you could just concede now, before I bury you in card advantage or filter through everything to get my 2+ Gray Merchants. " Triton Tactics just makes it silly.
I just had a sudden bit of inspiration. I'm not sure if there is a ruling on this somewhere. I tried to find it, but couldn't find anything.
If I bestow a Nimbus Naiad onto another creature, can I target the Nimbus Naiad with a Gift of Immortality, or does it being an aura when bestowed remove the "Creature" from "Enchantment Creature"?
Correct. Voyages end is just not as interesting as a griptide in a format where bestow exists, and I would rather have the miraculous draw smoothing and defensive option of the omenspeaker in most cases.
My apologies. The statement was in the paragraph discussing Griptide, so I assumed the card in question was Griptide. Yeah, I think I'd probably snag Omenspeaker over Voyage's End, unless I already have a few Omenspeaker and no VEs.
About countermagic, UU is too little to pay for a hard counter but 1UU is too much; the mana system doesn't have enough granularity to hit the 'sweet spot' where it's powerful but fair. Direct damage has a similar problem where 3 damage to a creature or player at instant speed for R is a bit too much but 2 damage is too little. So they've settled into printing soft/conditional counters for 1U that are solidly playable in Constructed and hard counters for 1UU that have some marginal upside. I'm really happy about Dissolve and looking forward to playing it in Limited and Constructed.
Dissolve is one of the very few hard counters that I am intrigued by, since Counterspell got the axe.
Card is still great, but I would pick omenspeaker (the card I would say won me the most games) over it.
Would you mind elaborating? Omenspeaker is a good card, but I'm not quite sure I'd take it over a Griptide unless I already had a few Griptides already.
I'm probably going to try black again in the near future, since black looks to be the least drafted colour in my play area. I'll see if I can get more data that way.
I think black is under-rated in a lot of ways. If people are avoiding black in your area, go for it. We had a guy at a table in our store that was the only one grabbing black. Monoblack with a few Gray Merchants eats face. If everyone is ignoring it, you should have some harpies to deal with fliers, asphodel wanderer and baleful eidolon or a gorgon, if you can, for stalling, and a few March of the Returned or maybe a Journey to the Underworld. Keep everything stalled, until you can merchant them. Swing with the merchants. If they block, journey to the underworld or march of the returned makes them regret it. If they don't block, merchant will slowly finish the job. Blue's powerful bounce just makes you happy, because you get to cast the Merchant again without having to use your own spells.
He triggers all the ordeals on the first attack, and he basically has to be blocked every turn or else you risk taking 10+ damage from out of nowhere. I think him and Wingsteed Rider are easily the best non-rare heroic guys.
Honorable mention to Wavecrash Triton though. He's an absolute house in limited and he's really flying under the radar right now.
I agree. I think a lot of people underestimate many of the Heroic creatures, especially if someone can grab just a few of the needed pieces to pull it off well. A Phalanx Leader and one or two Wingsteed Rider combined with Akroan Crusader and some Cavalry Pegasus can make a very beefy force that flies over the opponent's defenses and is hard to take out without an Anger of the Gods or a random Shredding Winds (Considering the power of fliers in this format, I think this could be a great sideboard card). Go Blue instead of Red and a Wavecrash Triton combined with Voyage's End or Sea God's Revenge, if you can snag one, let's you just march over and smack your opponent in the face.
At my store there are players who are competent enough to know that Grey Merchant is first pickable.
We had a table with one very good player and a bunch of average players. He opened Heliod and got passed a Wingsteed Rider, making him think white. Then he just kept getting passed the Gray Merchant. He shifted to monoblack and ended up with five of the damn things, a Journey to the Underworld, and two March of the Returned. He absolutely destroyed everyone he faced with only a U/W tempo deck giving him a bit of trouble.
The Gray Merchant of death is very much first pickable, especially if you've been getting the signals that no one is in black.
I will take Phalanx Leader over many rares. Pair him with Gift of Immortality and, if your opponent doesn't have enchantment removal or something that can exile, you win. No ifs ands or buts.
I'm not sure Gleemax's comments are intended to be particularly amazing, I think it's more or less the stuff MaRo edits out of his initial critiques to keep the tone positive and constructive, and then he adds some humor and fills things out. Last time around, the audience didn't respond well to the judges using the designers as punching bags when they had no opportunity to dialogue (ie, defend themselves).
That's assuming this individual is Mark, which it likely isn't. Otherwise, he'd have actually used Gleemax instead of GleamAxe.
I concur that his redesigns shouldn't have been included.
That sums it up nicely, but it won't be the first insane combo that Channel has been a part of. Still the lifelink enchantment is a very interesting and elegant Johnny card design, which is more than I can say for most of the other applicants.
Another who has yet to experience the joys of being smacked around by a black devotion deck with Gray Marchent of Asphodel or the nastiness of UB.
I think that is using it incorrectly. Target your own creatures with it, not your opponents. As others have already pointed out, combined with ETB effects, such as Grey Merchant of Asphodel or Mnemonic Wall, this card can generate you great card advantage and keep smacking your opponent upside the head with a great effect.
The trap is going, "Ohhhh, I can exile my opponent's dudes for a turn!" It should be "Ohhhh, I can reuse what used to be one time ETB effects and get some extra cards as gravy on top! Also, I can blink my dude whenever my opponent tries to hit it with bounce or Sip of Hemlock." It is a great card when used correctly and with the right decks. Considering how underrated black is still, I'm more than happy to grab this early on just as a splash card to play with Merchant, Disciple of Phenax, or Mogi's Marauder. If you can get some blue, Omenspeaker combined with this becomes devastating. "Why yes! I would love to draw two cards then filter my next two cards next turn. Thank you for asking. While we're at it, you could just concede now, before I bury you in card advantage or filter through everything to get my 2+ Gray Merchants. " Triton Tactics just makes it silly.
If I bestow a Nimbus Naiad onto another creature, can I target the Nimbus Naiad with a Gift of Immortality, or does it being an aura when bestowed remove the "Creature" from "Enchantment Creature"?
My apologies. The statement was in the paragraph discussing Griptide, so I assumed the card in question was Griptide. Yeah, I think I'd probably snag Omenspeaker over Voyage's End, unless I already have a few Omenspeaker and no VEs.
Dissolve is one of the very few hard counters that I am intrigued by, since Counterspell got the axe.
Would you mind elaborating? Omenspeaker is a good card, but I'm not quite sure I'd take it over a Griptide unless I already had a few Griptides already.
I think black is under-rated in a lot of ways. If people are avoiding black in your area, go for it. We had a guy at a table in our store that was the only one grabbing black. Monoblack with a few Gray Merchants eats face. If everyone is ignoring it, you should have some harpies to deal with fliers, asphodel wanderer and baleful eidolon or a gorgon, if you can, for stalling, and a few March of the Returned or maybe a Journey to the Underworld. Keep everything stalled, until you can merchant them. Swing with the merchants. If they block, journey to the underworld or march of the returned makes them regret it. If they don't block, merchant will slowly finish the job. Blue's powerful bounce just makes you happy, because you get to cast the Merchant again without having to use your own spells.
I agree. I think a lot of people underestimate many of the Heroic creatures, especially if someone can grab just a few of the needed pieces to pull it off well. A Phalanx Leader and one or two Wingsteed Rider combined with Akroan Crusader and some Cavalry Pegasus can make a very beefy force that flies over the opponent's defenses and is hard to take out without an Anger of the Gods or a random Shredding Winds (Considering the power of fliers in this format, I think this could be a great sideboard card). Go Blue instead of Red and a Wavecrash Triton combined with Voyage's End or Sea God's Revenge, if you can snag one, let's you just march over and smack your opponent in the face.
We had a table with one very good player and a bunch of average players. He opened Heliod and got passed a Wingsteed Rider, making him think white. Then he just kept getting passed the Gray Merchant. He shifted to monoblack and ended up with five of the damn things, a Journey to the Underworld, and two March of the Returned. He absolutely destroyed everyone he faced with only a U/W tempo deck giving him a bit of trouble.
The Gray Merchant of death is very much first pickable, especially if you've been getting the signals that no one is in black.
4. Fabled Hero
3. Wingsteed Rider
2. Wavecaster Triton
1. Phalanx Leader
I will take Phalanx Leader over many rares. Pair him with Gift of Immortality and, if your opponent doesn't have enchantment removal or something that can exile, you win. No ifs ands or buts.
That's assuming this individual is Mark, which it likely isn't. Otherwise, he'd have actually used Gleemax instead of GleamAxe.
I concur that his redesigns shouldn't have been included.
That sums it up nicely, but it won't be the first insane combo that Channel has been a part of. Still the lifelink enchantment is a very interesting and elegant Johnny card design, which is more than I can say for most of the other applicants.