You know what, the way that some people have put it into hypothetical decks and situations is making me change my mind on it. It might be better than it seems.
The draw is not relegated strictly to its adapt cost being paid. I think I like it better now.
'buster
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
I'm not on board with this, because I wouldn't play a card that's in the realm of Vodalian Merchant or Merfolk Traders... and I sure as hell don't want that in my rare slot.
This is only worth considering in a shell that makes its trigger fire reliably. Your on-board worst-case - isn't even limited-playable.
It's rare precisely because of that higher ceiling, which is also the reason for why you can't really compare it to the other two cards you linked. I'm personally not concinced that this had to be a rare no matter what, but between this being a 1-drop that can attack for 2 on turn 2 while also looting in the same turn and its potential of looting more without requiring you to actually pay for the effect in the right deck, it's arguably a stronger card than a random 2- or 3-drop that loots upon ETB.
I for one am all aboard the hype train. Having adapt is an important inclusion so that it's never just a 1/1 for 1, but the looting ability itself is absolutely disgusting along side Deeproot Elite. Card selection is very important in grindy games. On turn 1 it's a fine card, but on turn 5+ it will be a house throwing away excess land, to find more merfolk to trigger Deeproot Elite loot more to find more merfolk... We'll see what else gets spoiled, but I suspect this is a merfolk card and only a merfolk card. Merfolk can already do this with Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca ,but doing so forces you stop attacking and is limited by the number of merfolk you have out. Outside of standard, this seems like a no brainer for Ezuri, Claw of Progress edh. It won't be the very best card in the deck, but it will be good.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my Sales 50% OFF everything for the next 48 hours.
You know what, the way that some people have put it into hypothetical decks and situations is making me change my mind on it. It might be better than it seems.
The draw is not relegated strictly to its adapt cost being paid. I think I like it better now.
'buster
This... is exactly what I've been saying about Adapt since it was previewed. Unlike Monstrosity, Adapt doesn't trigger off the Adapt cost itself. So far, not a single Adapt card we've been shown does. Benthic Biomancer? Growth-Chamber Guardian? Zegana, Utopian Speaker? Quite likely any other Adapt critter that has abilities that turn on or trigger when using Adapt? Also do so with +1/+1 counters from any source, not Adapting. That's a big deal. And so much better, and with so much more design space to explore/exploit than Monstrosity, it's stunning.
You can turn something as simple as an Essence Capture into a counterspell that both pumps a creature permanently and loots with this merfolk. You can turn it into a counterspell amd pump card that also tutors for another copy of a growing, self-tutoring bear with the Guardian. You can turn Zegana into a 5/5 trampler 4-drop with no negatives while countering a threat. You can turn on any and all +1/+1 counter-keyed passives on a single creature at once while countering a spell; could suddenly turn a fairly unthreatening creature into a flampler and who-knows-what-else. And that's just one card interacting with Adapt critters.
Adapt has a lot of subtle power going on with it. With the +1/+1 counter-keyed passives and triggers that synergize with Adapt on those cards, each Adapt creature is going to need to be looked at in any deck that will allow it to gain +1/+1 counters at all, because it might very well click and synergize in unexpected and varied ways. Not just this quite nice Benthic Biomancer. But look at something like Growth-Chamber Guardian with Rhythm of the Wild. Suddenly, haste might not be the best option for that creature. Could be, making a 3/3 that tutors for another copy could be better in various board states. If you have the mana to both cast and adapt it, it's instead a 5-drop 4/4 haste that self-tutors. That... can be quite overwhelming. Especially once the game has gone primarily into top-deck mode.
This biomancer, along with every other Adapt card with triggers and passives, is going to need to be carefully examined for synergy that allows you to even ignore the Adapt ability. The Adapt might end up being the mode that is rarely used, but still has value when needed.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The draw is not relegated strictly to its adapt cost being paid. I think I like it better now.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
This... is exactly what I've been saying about Adapt since it was previewed. Unlike Monstrosity, Adapt doesn't trigger off the Adapt cost itself. So far, not a single Adapt card we've been shown does. Benthic Biomancer? Growth-Chamber Guardian? Zegana, Utopian Speaker? Quite likely any other Adapt critter that has abilities that turn on or trigger when using Adapt? Also do so with +1/+1 counters from any source, not Adapting. That's a big deal. And so much better, and with so much more design space to explore/exploit than Monstrosity, it's stunning.
You can turn something as simple as an Essence Capture into a counterspell that both pumps a creature permanently and loots with this merfolk. You can turn it into a counterspell amd pump card that also tutors for another copy of a growing, self-tutoring bear with the Guardian. You can turn Zegana into a 5/5 trampler 4-drop with no negatives while countering a threat. You can turn on any and all +1/+1 counter-keyed passives on a single creature at once while countering a spell; could suddenly turn a fairly unthreatening creature into a flampler and who-knows-what-else. And that's just one card interacting with Adapt critters.
Adapt has a lot of subtle power going on with it. With the +1/+1 counter-keyed passives and triggers that synergize with Adapt on those cards, each Adapt creature is going to need to be looked at in any deck that will allow it to gain +1/+1 counters at all, because it might very well click and synergize in unexpected and varied ways. Not just this quite nice Benthic Biomancer. But look at something like Growth-Chamber Guardian with Rhythm of the Wild. Suddenly, haste might not be the best option for that creature. Could be, making a 3/3 that tutors for another copy could be better in various board states. If you have the mana to both cast and adapt it, it's instead a 5-drop 4/4 haste that self-tutors. That... can be quite overwhelming. Especially once the game has gone primarily into top-deck mode.
This biomancer, along with every other Adapt card with triggers and passives, is going to need to be carefully examined for synergy that allows you to even ignore the Adapt ability. The Adapt might end up being the mode that is rarely used, but still has value when needed.