On the subject of Morbid Opportunist, is it crazy to consider cutting Liliana's Devotee for him? After several MID drafts, I'd really like to find room. I'm supporting a decent sacrifice theme, tokens, and even persist combo. That's not to mention regular old fair Magic with combat and removal. It seems like he can really grind out the card advantage. I'm thinking either Devotee or Legion Vanguard, but I haven't gotten any reps in with that guy yet.
I think that's a pretty sensible swap. Drawing cards for free does seem better than making a 2/2 for 1B. Which is a shame because I really like Devotee as an aristocrats fodder engine. Perhaps Opportunist digs up fodder too and it's not that different.
Starting to look through the full spoiler, and Cathar Commando caught my eye. Two mana for a flash 3/1 with a Qasali Pridemage/Thrashing Brontodon ability is pretty good. I don't remember seeing this one before, but I like it. Surprise blocker, EOT for an unexpected attacker, or extra removal when you really need it.
Interested in hearing from people who don't like Cathar Commando. Are you not satisfied with everything FunkyDragon said for 1W?
The thing about Ghoulish Procession (and an advantage it has over other the other decayed cards) is that you don't have to cash in your zombies right away. Creatures die all the time, and at a certain point you're going to have enough creatures to overwhelm blockers. That's the best case scenario anyway. The worst case is you spend 1B on a card that does nothing on a losing board but that's true of lots of cards. On an even board it's going to gain incremental value as long as creatures are trading, but maybe you have to force unfavorable trades and that'd be a point against it.
Morbid Opportunist looks neat, but I'm not sure if I have room in the black 3's for it.
Hound Tamer is also neat but I think on the low end of green 3's.
Heirloom Mirror seems fun, enabling reanimator in-colour is definitely an upside, however, sorcery speed is a bit of a bummer. Incidental gravehate on the back is cool, though.
Heirloom Mirror remembers me too much to Bloodsoaked Altar, but I think I would play the Altar before the new one. It costs 6 mana, but is repeteable and faster to enable.
I mean, all proponents of the mirror have been talking about enabling reanimator with it in-colour for minimal cost. Six mana to play the Altar makes it terrible for this particular task - especially because you also need to sacrifice creatures before you even get to activate it and discard a card.
This is also partly why I do not understand n00b's comment about 'spending a lot of resources'. You pay 1 life and 1 mana per discard after an initial investment of 1 card and 2 mana. The sunk cost on the card is repayed once the card flips into a creature that affects the board itself. Maybe they missed the part where you are also drawing a card (hence, rummaging) whenever the card is activated since this is almost unheard of with black discard enablers.
Your initial investment of 1 card + 2 mana is a pretty pathetic tempo move. It's going to take you 3 life (which isn't nothing), 3 cards and 3 turns minimum to get your tapped 4/4 flyer. It's a tempo black hole. Yeah you get to use your demon on turn 6 wow cool.
Triggering off you sacrificing is so much worse than triggering off of any creature (or even just one of your creatures) dying. I'm an aristocrats Stan but even I don't think Fleshtaker makes the cut. I really like the art so I won't fault anybody who plays it for that reason alone.
Diregraf Rebirth seems too expensive in a stacked guild that already has access to all the (very good) black reanimation cards. The comparison to Unburial Rites is interesting but I like to pretend Rites is hybrid so it's not taking one of my guild slots (but let's not retread the hybrid debate).
I think Heirloom Mirror does slightly not enough too slowly to be worth it. Self discard in black is cute but you're spending a lot of resources to get there.
Ghoulish Procession seems at least testable. I think Open the Graves would be very cubeable and at 2CMC this seems like a very fair downsized version of that.
Hobbling Zombie is a neat design in that not only does it kill any creature it touches, but it may actually bore me to death as well with how blandly playable it is.
I want to like Flame Channeler but I'm not convinced there's a deck where the payoff is worth the time you have to sit there and look at your red bear. I guess bears aren't that bad.
I think that's a pretty sensible swap. Drawing cards for free does seem better than making a 2/2 for 1B. Which is a shame because I really like Devotee as an aristocrats fodder engine. Perhaps Opportunist digs up fodder too and it's not that different.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Interested in hearing from people who don't like Cathar Commando. Are you not satisfied with everything FunkyDragon said for 1W?
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Murderous Cut > Infernal Grasp - I could probably trim the various doom blade varients in my list, but I can't choose between my children.
Ambush Viper > Outland Liberator - More value and Viper is admittedly a bit fringe.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Morbid Opportunist looks neat, but I'm not sure if I have room in the black 3's for it.
Hound Tamer is also neat but I think on the low end of green 3's.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Your initial investment of 1 card + 2 mana is a pretty pathetic tempo move. It's going to take you 3 life (which isn't nothing), 3 cards and 3 turns minimum to get your tapped 4/4 flyer. It's a tempo black hole. Yeah you get to use your demon on turn 6 wow cool.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Diregraf Rebirth seems too expensive in a stacked guild that already has access to all the (very good) black reanimation cards. The comparison to Unburial Rites is interesting but I like to pretend Rites is hybrid so it's not taking one of my guild slots (but let's not retread the hybrid debate).
I think Heirloom Mirror does slightly not enough too slowly to be worth it. Self discard in black is cute but you're spending a lot of resources to get there.
Ghoulish Procession seems at least testable. I think Open the Graves would be very cubeable and at 2CMC this seems like a very fair downsized version of that.
Hobbling Zombie is a neat design in that not only does it kill any creature it touches, but it may actually bore me to death as well with how blandly playable it is.
I want to like Flame Channeler but I'm not convinced there's a deck where the payoff is worth the time you have to sit there and look at your red bear. I guess bears aren't that bad.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.