MTG Salvation

I searched for a thread on this and didn't see one.

We've gotten a lot of support for the artifact.dec in recent sets, including Origins. Is it time to start putting Shrapnel Blast in? I'm going to test it with my ORI includes and see how it does. Five damage is a LOT and this can just win you the game for the cost of a spare artifact. I realize this can be a dead card if you don't have a disposable artifact. Does that take the shine off of FIVE TO THE FACE?

I'd say this is terrible removal for a cube deck since it requires you to go down two cards compared to every other removal spell. Very few artifacts can synergize with it, off the top of my head you have Wurmcoil Engine and Precursor Golem, plus fringe playables like Daretti and Goblin Welder. And five to the face is only good when it wins you the game, i.e. already ahead in almost every game you'd want to cast this. Not my cup of tea, but may see play in artifact-heavy/spells matter cubes or if you think red needs a way to deal with bigger butts.

Why would you want a conditional burn spell?

The decks that have a high concentration of artifacts in the cube don't really want this card. The artifact.dec is more Welder/Tezz control than a deck that plays like aggro affinity. If you are playing a cube that supports multiples and/or plays aggressive artifact strategies with ravagers & plating and stuff, this could be good. But for a typically structured cube (even one that supports the artifact.dec) I don't see this being good enough.

I think Welder and Tezz control decks would still want this if it showed up in the draft. Removal in cube is always at a premium, this spell will almost certainly wheel, and those decks can theoretically make up for the card disadvantage with the shenanigans they have available. I wouldn't be particularly happy about running it though, as I put it in the second or even third tier of removal spells available to cubers.

P.S. I'll add Myr Battlesphere and Pia and Kiran Nalaar to the list of goodies it plays nice with too.

It's getting closer with the thopter makers but I'm skeptical it's good enough yet.

I think for now, if we want to nudge players into the artifact shebangs, I would think about putting Galvanic Blast first.

Quote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor »

I think for now, if we want to nudge players into the artifact shebangs, I would think about putting Galvanic Blast first.

I forgot everything about Galvanic Blast :o. Isn't a shock that sometimes turns into Flame Javelin in the right deck good enough for a large cube?

Double post oops

Quote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor »

I think for now, if we want to nudge players into the artifact shebangs, I would think about putting Galvanic Blast first.

Oooh, good call. I might like that better.

I have an "artifact-matters" portion for my cube for the longest time already. Since we have a good foundation of Mirrodin and Scars, plus the augmentation with Esper from Alara. And now more recently Wizards has branched into Izzet-ish steam-punk, artifact-loving mechanics from Fiora, Kaladesh and abit from Ravnica. I think the future of artifact matters might be relevant in time.

Galvanic Blast is always a Shock at worst, one can't be too unhappy with that. So when it transforms into a 1cmc Stoke the Flames, it becomes a "revelation", "amazing" to cubers. I like that my drafters can find the subtle parts of Cube and hopefully make an amazing experience with small little things like these.

Quote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor »

I have an "artifact-matters" portion for my cube for the longest time already. Since we have a good foundation of Mirrodin and Scars, plus the augmentation with Esper from Alara. And now more recently Wizards has branched into Izzet-ish steam-punk, artifact-loving mechanics from Fiora, Kaladesh and abit from Ravnica. I think the future of artifact matters might be relevant in time.

Galvanic Blast is always a Shock at worst, one can't be too unhappy with that. So when it transforms into a 1cmc Stoke the Flames, it becomes a "revelation", "amazing" to cubers. I like that my drafters can find the subtle parts of Cube and hopefully make an amazing experience with small little things like these.

Do you have a list of your cube? I'd like to see how many artifacts/artifact enablers you have to run Galvanic Blast.

I'm still in the process of filling things out. But all I can say is that for it to work efficiently, your artifact portion should be as big as one of your colored portion. Treat it like the 6th color.

This is a card I've been thinking about for quite some time now, especially given the myriad of ways to create artifact tokens/ random artifacts in aggressive decks. This can be incredibly powerful, similar to Fireblast for burn decks seeking to burn the opponent out or to remove a critical creature such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.