Long-time lurker here. I just wanted to gather some thoughts (and bring some life back here, hopefully) on the latest card in the set of 3 CMC everyone sacs something: Soul Shatter.
Lets take a look at some similar cards:
Fleshbag Marauder: The classic, everyone sacs a creature, and is a zombie to boot.
Merciless Executioner: A second marauder (for EDH) without the tribal advantage. You could argue this is the "base" effect.
Crackling Doom: Instant speed, sac the greatest power, and it deals some damage to boot. But it is not a creature.
Oath of Liliana: Stays on the battlefield, which is relevant for devotion and enchantress.
Vona's Hunger: Instant speed and has a higher ceiling in the lategame.
Plaguecrafter: The card that shook the archetype. Hits planeswalkers as well, and cards in hand if they don't have a board.
Demon's Disciple: Worse effect than Plaguecrafter, but it is a Cleric.
And I might be missing others.
Which of these cards is "stronger" comes down to a lot of factors. Plaguecrafter hits the most targets, Oath of Liliana is great if you care about devotion, Crackling Doom takes the choice away from your opponents and they have to sac something big + they take damage.
Enter Soul Shatter. I think the closest card to it is Crackling Doom, so I'll be directly comparing them. Also I've been testing them on some lists interchangeably, usually in conjunction with Plaguecrafter and Dark Intimations. Both are instant speed, and both remove something "big". Doom has the advantage of dealing the 2 damage, but Shatter hits both creatures and planeswalkers, and is easier to cast (and you don't need to be on Mardu to play it).
Possibly the most interesting point is the higher CMC vs. higher power difference between the two. I think you can make an argument for either side. For example, if someone attacked you with a Primeval Titan and a Elvish Mystic that has 35 power due to Kessig Wolf Run, you'd wish you had Crackling Doom. However, in the majority of cases, I'd think Soul Shatter will be more relevant. Usually more CMC = a more potent card, and if someone has a Consecrated Sphinx and a Lupine Prototype, you'd definitely want the sphinx dead.
Going forward I think my go-to's will be Plaguecrafter and Soul Shatter. I however think the 2 damage of Crackling Doom makes it very much relevant in drain decks, and you can still make similar arguments for the other cards.
What do you guys think? What are you fielding on your own lists?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Long-time lurker here. I just wanted to gather some thoughts (and bring some life back here, hopefully) on the latest card in the set of 3 CMC everyone sacs something: Soul Shatter.
Lets take a look at some similar cards:
- Fleshbag Marauder: The classic, everyone sacs a creature, and is a zombie to boot.
- Merciless Executioner: A second marauder (for EDH) without the tribal advantage. You could argue this is the "base" effect.
- Crackling Doom: Instant speed, sac the greatest power, and it deals some damage to boot. But it is not a creature.
- Oath of Liliana: Stays on the battlefield, which is relevant for devotion and enchantress.
- Vona's Hunger: Instant speed and has a higher ceiling in the lategame.
- Virtus's Maneuver: Has the upside of returning a creature.
- Plaguecrafter: The card that shook the archetype. Hits planeswalkers as well, and cards in hand if they don't have a board.
- Demon's Disciple: Worse effect than Plaguecrafter, but it is a Cleric.
And I might be missing others.Which of these cards is "stronger" comes down to a lot of factors. Plaguecrafter hits the most targets, Oath of Liliana is great if you care about devotion, Crackling Doom takes the choice away from your opponents and they have to sac something big + they take damage.
Enter Soul Shatter. I think the closest card to it is Crackling Doom, so I'll be directly comparing them. Also I've been testing them on some lists interchangeably, usually in conjunction with Plaguecrafter and Dark Intimations. Both are instant speed, and both remove something "big". Doom has the advantage of dealing the 2 damage, but Shatter hits both creatures and planeswalkers, and is easier to cast (and you don't need to be on Mardu to play it).
Possibly the most interesting point is the higher CMC vs. higher power difference between the two. I think you can make an argument for either side. For example, if someone attacked you with a Primeval Titan and a Elvish Mystic that has 35 power due to Kessig Wolf Run, you'd wish you had Crackling Doom. However, in the majority of cases, I'd think Soul Shatter will be more relevant. Usually more CMC = a more potent card, and if someone has a Consecrated Sphinx and a Lupine Prototype, you'd definitely want the sphinx dead.
Going forward I think my go-to's will be Plaguecrafter and Soul Shatter. I however think the 2 damage of Crackling Doom makes it very much relevant in drain decks, and you can still make similar arguments for the other cards.
What do you guys think? What are you fielding on your own lists?