Magic Word is probably as good as Claustrophobia, which is currently a 2. Much easier mana cost in exchange for missing like the 1% of the cube that's pingers and looters.
Well Defeat and Smother have completely different restrictions (power versus CMC). Smother is obviously going to play out better, but there's plenty of stuff like Mulldrifter or Acidic Slime or Thieving Magpie which can die to Defeat but not Smother.
Mostly agree with Calibretto, but I'd second Phitt and put Carrion Feeder at 3. Even in "plain" aggro (with a decent creature count, of course) it's rarely worse than a 2/2, and the ceiling when paired with a Blood Artist or Mogg War Marshal... or both... is downright absurd for a 1-drop.
Also think that Lacerator's two toughness is more upside than Tormented Hero, and would swamp those two.
Raptor Hatchling: with no real potential for repeated triggers, this seems pretty useless. Brindle Shoat is a 1 and in a color that has much higher need for a speedbump 2-drop in most of its decks. Maybe this is also a 1 still, but definitely not a 2.
Trove of Temptation: not even getting to Incite their best dude totally kills this card. I mean, it's probably still a 0 if it cast Incite every turn after you spend four mana on it, but whatever.
--
Rigging Runner is mediocre aggro filler. 1 or 2 would be fine. It's worse than most of our current 2's and better than basically everything that's at 1.
If you want a 4-drop that can deter a 3/3 in combat, is this actually doing anything better than... uh... there's no vanilla 3/4 for 4 in white, so let's say Courageous Outrider? At least Outrider doesn't make you hold two of your own lands hostage!
I don't like Sailback at 2 since it's sub-mediocre against so many decks, enough so that by default I don't really want it in my green ramp decks, but it's still... fine. I'd say 1, maybe 1.5 Barely better than, e.g. Bitterbow Sharpshoters which is a current 1, I guess.
Verdant Rebirth is generally just a worse Recover, which is a zero. Yes this is cheaper, but the narrow timing window is a much bigger drawback than shaving off 1cmc so I'd just give it a zero.
Tishana's Wayfinder is like Open Fire to Branchwalker's Incinerate. It's probably just a 0. At 3cmc you need to be able to plan around what you're getting stats-wise (or whether or not it's gonna find a land) and obviously you can't actually control that with the explore mechanic.
I mean I'm aware that Sailor of Means makes a token instead of giving the Quirion Sentinel ability, but it's still just bad.
If its main role is the defensive body, getting it at two mana (Dune Beetle, Wall of Tanglecord, Fog Bank, whatever) is WAY more important than the Treasure trigger. Waiting an extra turn and setting up a future 5-drop is just going to get you that much closer to dead when played against most of the decks (e.g. red/black/white aggro) where a 1/4 vanilla body actually has some use.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Rest generally looks good!
Dirty Rat is Ravenous Rats, which is currently a 1
The gold Ixalan cards look good!
Anurid/Raiders: 1
Pale Rider: 0
Also think that Lacerator's two toughness is more upside than Tormented Hero, and would swamp those two.
Nest Robber is pretty bad filler; very notably worse than a lot of other red 2-drops currently rated "2" like Hellspark Elemental, Lightning Mauler, Kessig Forgemaster, Thriving Grubs. I'd drop it to 1 (and while I'm looking at the red 2's, Sigiled Skink down to 1 or probably just 0, it's awful).
Raptor Hatchling: with no real potential for repeated triggers, this seems pretty useless. Brindle Shoat is a 1 and in a color that has much higher need for a speedbump 2-drop in most of its decks. Maybe this is also a 1 still, but definitely not a 2.
Trove of Temptation: not even getting to Incite their best dude totally kills this card. I mean, it's probably still a 0 if it cast Incite every turn after you spend four mana on it, but whatever.
--
Rigging Runner is mediocre aggro filler. 1 or 2 would be fine. It's worse than most of our current 2's and better than basically everything that's at 1.
If you want a 4-drop that can deter a 3/3 in combat, is this actually doing anything better than... uh... there's no vanilla 3/4 for 4 in white, so let's say Courageous Outrider? At least Outrider doesn't make you hold two of your own lands hostage!
I mean, you can cycle it, but... no. Awful by cube standards.
I'd take Recollect over this by a mile. Grapple with the Past. The fuse card that's the same thing as Recollect. Evolution Charm. Hell, even Nature's Spiral. Pulse of Murasa.
I don't like Sailback at 2 since it's sub-mediocre against so many decks, enough so that by default I don't really want it in my green ramp decks, but it's still... fine. I'd say 1, maybe 1.5 Barely better than, e.g. Bitterbow Sharpshoters which is a current 1, I guess.
Verdant Rebirth is generally just a worse Recover, which is a zero. Yes this is cheaper, but the narrow timing window is a much bigger drawback than shaving off 1cmc so I'd just give it a zero.
Tishana's Wayfinder is like Open Fire to Branchwalker's Incinerate. It's probably just a 0. At 3cmc you need to be able to plan around what you're getting stats-wise (or whether or not it's gonna find a land) and obviously you can't actually control that with the explore mechanic.
--
Isn't Gemhide Sliver a 1? Or a 2, even? So same score for Drover of the Mighty.
If its main role is the defensive body, getting it at two mana (Dune Beetle, Wall of Tanglecord, Fog Bank, whatever) is WAY more important than the Treasure trigger. Waiting an extra turn and setting up a future 5-drop is just going to get you that much closer to dead when played against most of the decks (e.g. red/black/white aggro) where a 1/4 vanilla body actually has some use.