Card is still outstanding. 5 bodies and 9 power is a lot of impact, it has a ton of synergies, and it's good in every matchup. I think it's still the best green 5-drop.
Primal Hunter is a spiffy card, but he's highly committed to green (I would argue GGG is more than 50% harder to ensure than GG) and he doesn't represent the same kind of threat. Like you say, he provides wrath resistance and huge draw potential, but is it worth the restriction?
By restriction, I don't just mean mana cost. Hermit has wider use in Cube. It plays well with Recruiters, Reveillark, swarm strategies that include anthems like Mirari's Wake or Fires=like effects like Sarkhan Vol, sacrifice-based enchantments like Goblin Bombardment or Recurring Nightmare, and is buds with one of my faves, Purphoros, God of the Forge. I think the dynamics of the card continue to make a great include. Meanwhile, Primal Hunter kinda only ever felt at home mono green for us, and there weren't so many cool ways to abuse his two (admittedly strong) abilities. I don't have a problem having narrow cards in cube, but I feel a strong imperative to have them strongly define their own archetype. Like I just recently included Sanguine Bond in my cube; that's a super narrow card but I think it helps define a Lifegain deck, and adds excitement to the game. Primal Hunter feels, in comparison, too generic for the tradeoff of including a narrow card.
I think Deranged Hermit has only gotten better with time and will probably continue to do so. There's tons of cards that synergize with it, and I imagine there'll be more cubable cards printed in the future that will work well with Deranged Hermit, as well.
How do people feel about this card in this day and age?
I personally don't feel Hermit has aged so well. Yes it's still good with blink, opposition, flicker and to a lesser extent skullclamp, but if you don't spend ten mana over two turns you're just left with 4 1/1 squirrel chump tokens. In comparison to other armies in a box like Cloudgoat Ranger or Siege-Gang Commander, this is a little underwhelming.
Even if you pay the echo you only get 9 power, which is par the course for a beatstick like Kalonian Hydra, Wolfir Silverheart or Verdurous Gearhulk. Granted, it's probably better than those beatsticks because the bodies are more spread out and there's value to being wide.
In contrast, something like Whisperwood elemental gives you immediately 6 power across two bodies and 8 power across 3 bodies on the following turn without echo requirement and extra small upsides from the manifest and wrath insurance.
Even more to the point, I'd probably rather being powering out an early planeswalker like Garruk, Primal Hunter turn 3 as I can immediately make a beast, leave my board state extremely resistant to wrath effects, don't lock down my mana next turn with echo, and can use it to draw gas which is huge for green as it has a ton of ramp but not a lot of premium card draw so it's easy to flood out or be left top-decking post wrath.
I've had this exact debate with another strong player in my playgroup, who dislikes deranged hermit and suggested I cut it (I strongly disagreed with him).
He tends to think about green from the viewpoint of heavy/combo ramp, mono green. In that kind of strategy, hermit doens't compare favourably to the best green 5 drops. Whisperwood elemental is probably the best in that strategy (a shared opinion in my playgroup).
However, cube is littered with very powerful payoff cards that quickly turn deranged hermit from medicore, to very good. It is not uncommon for a deck to contain multiple of these powerful interactions.
Skull clamp, Gaea's cradle, Nissa voice of zendikar, Opposition, Recruiter of the guard, Craterhoof behemoth, Recurring nightmare, revilark.
Some of these interactions are so good, that I believe deranged hermit has the highest upside of any green 5 drop.. While not an early pick by any means, it is still a fantastic card. The interactions are frequent and powerful enough to make him my choice for #1 green 5 drop.
Deranged Hermit just isn't the best green 5-drop, but it's one of the strongest 5-drops for cube, period. Looking at the 3-0 individual card analysis, Deranged Hermit is pretty near the top of the 5-cmc section:
Mulldrifter 40 (if you want to count it as a 5-drop)
Mystic Confluence 39
Fractured Identity 36
Deranged Hermit 32
Treachery 28
Whisperwood Elemental ain't bad, but it can't breathe the same air that Deranged Hermit does.
One of my favorite plays in cube is Opposition into Hermit. You just win.
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Hermit is a rare case for a five drop where it benefits greatly from being a 1/1 and auto-dying. It's an engine enabler more than anything, but also serviceable on his own. He's good in basically every green deck, but especially red or white tokens, white blink, black reanimator, bg mid-range. I'd agree he's gotten better over time. In the past he was the primo fires of yavimaya deck 5 drop, but now he's the primo five drop in anything.
I still love hermit. It’s a midrange card at heart, and being able to completely stonewall aggro while alsthis having token synergies is just amazing. Others have mentioned Garruk PH, and although I do thInk Garruk is better, I play both and nd am super happy about it. They are both absurd cards.
Deranged Hermit is still a very strong performer. It was by far the best green 5 drop for me until 2019 came along with Deep Forest Hermit / Nissa, Who Shakes the World. I still say it's in the top 3 alongside those 2.
I'd imagine Deranged Hermit left a lot of cubes for a good amount of reasons:
- Deep Forest Hermit is generally better.
- People wanted to diversify.
- Deranged Hermit is on the reserved list. I wouldn't blame people wanting to sell / preserve theirs, or not bother buying it when Deep Forest Hermit is generally better and EXPONENTIALLY less expensive.
Deranged Hermit still does a lot of work in my cube. In the past 93 drafts in my 3-0 archive this year since the release of NEO, it's only 1 showing behind Deep Forest Hermit:
Deranged hermit is not a “good” card by todays standards imo, it requires a fair bit of synergy. With enough synergy it becomes reasonably powerful and there’s a lot of cards it works well with in cube.
Gaeas Cradle, skull clamp, recurring nightmare, 3 mana Nissa, craterhoof, opposition come to mind.
I currently only play deep forest hermit for that role, but deranged hermit is still a fine cube card.
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By restriction, I don't just mean mana cost. Hermit has wider use in Cube. It plays well with Recruiters, Reveillark, swarm strategies that include anthems like Mirari's Wake or Fires=like effects like Sarkhan Vol, sacrifice-based enchantments like Goblin Bombardment or Recurring Nightmare, and is buds with one of my faves, Purphoros, God of the Forge. I think the dynamics of the card continue to make a great include. Meanwhile, Primal Hunter kinda only ever felt at home mono green for us, and there weren't so many cool ways to abuse his two (admittedly strong) abilities. I don't have a problem having narrow cards in cube, but I feel a strong imperative to have them strongly define their own archetype. Like I just recently included Sanguine Bond in my cube; that's a super narrow card but I think it helps define a Lifegain deck, and adds excitement to the game. Primal Hunter feels, in comparison, too generic for the tradeoff of including a narrow card.
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I've had this exact debate with another strong player in my playgroup, who dislikes deranged hermit and suggested I cut it (I strongly disagreed with him).
He tends to think about green from the viewpoint of heavy/combo ramp, mono green. In that kind of strategy, hermit doens't compare favourably to the best green 5 drops. Whisperwood elemental is probably the best in that strategy (a shared opinion in my playgroup).
However, cube is littered with very powerful payoff cards that quickly turn deranged hermit from medicore, to very good. It is not uncommon for a deck to contain multiple of these powerful interactions.
Skull clamp, Gaea's cradle, Nissa voice of zendikar, Opposition, Recruiter of the guard, Craterhoof behemoth, Recurring nightmare, revilark.
Some of these interactions are so good, that I believe deranged hermit has the highest upside of any green 5 drop.. While not an early pick by any means, it is still a fantastic card. The interactions are frequent and powerful enough to make him my choice for #1 green 5 drop.
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Mulldrifter 40 (if you want to count it as a 5-drop)
Mystic Confluence 39
Fractured Identity 36
Deranged Hermit 32
Treachery 28
Whisperwood Elemental ain't bad, but it can't breathe the same air that Deranged Hermit does.
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I'd imagine Deranged Hermit left a lot of cubes for a good amount of reasons:
- Deep Forest Hermit is generally better.
- People wanted to diversify.
- Deranged Hermit is on the reserved list. I wouldn't blame people wanting to sell / preserve theirs, or not bother buying it when Deep Forest Hermit is generally better and EXPONENTIALLY less expensive.
Deranged Hermit still does a lot of work in my cube. In the past 93 drafts in my 3-0 archive this year since the release of NEO, it's only 1 showing behind Deep Forest Hermit:
Sleight of Hand: 10
Deep Forest Hermit: 10
Esika's Chariot: 10
Fyndhorn Elves: 10
Urza's Saga: 10
Remand: 10
Tropical Island: 10
Blood Crypt: 10
Control Magic: 10
Dauthi Voidwalker: 10
Underground Sea: 10
Wandering Fumarole: 10
Verdant Catacombs: 10
Grist, the Hunger Tide: 10
Once Upon a Time: 9
Flooded Strand: 9
Horizon Canopy: 9
Windswept Heath: 9
Deranged Hermit: 9
Retrofitter Foundry: 9
Tundra: 9
Fabled Passage: 9
Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire: 9
Fact or Fiction: 9
Flametongue Yearling: 9
Scalding Tarn: 9
Reanimate: 9
Brainstorm: 9
Polluted Delta: 9
Scrubland: 9
Abundant Harvest: 9
Steam Vents: 9
Dack Fayden: 9
Forked Bolt: 9
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Deranged has some upsides for recurring nightmare, but generally deep-forest does the same thing but less expensive.
Gaeas Cradle, skull clamp, recurring nightmare, 3 mana Nissa, craterhoof, opposition come to mind.
I currently only play deep forest hermit for that role, but deranged hermit is still a fine cube card.
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