This is a pretty cool walker! I don't think it's better than Gideon or Elspeth at 4, but I may test it over one of them anyway because Serra seems like a more unique walker and I really like the how fast you can get a Worship emblem online. It seems like a crime, but I may give her a shot over Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
It's very rare to get effects that compliment super old cards like Moat so well. I have strong hopes that she is good in cube and that we will see other cards like this in the near future.
I'm pretty torn on Serra. I think she's probably just as good as Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar but I think what makes her as good is also what makes her unfun. If she didn't have the worship emblem capability I think she would be a fair amount worse than the others, but that emblem in some matchups will just mean the game goes on forever until the player with the emblem finally finds a way to connect to kill you or someone decks. Also, I just don't want 5 walkers for any single color unless I'm running a 540 minimum. So I think ultimately she will be on deck for me until such time my cube expands to that size.
I'm pretty torn on Serra. I think she's probably just as good as Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar but I think what makes her as good is also what makes her unfun. If she didn't have the worship emblem capability I think she would be a fair amount worse than the others, but that emblem in some matchups will just mean the game goes on forever until the player with the emblem finally finds a way to connect to kill you or someone decks. Also, I just don't want 5 walkers for any single color unless I'm running a 540 minimum. So I think ultimately she will be on deck for me until such time my cube expands to that size.
In my limited experience, I'd not worry about her Worship ability too much. She almost always uses her angel making ability first, and when she doesn't, it is to force an attack from your opponent. It is rare that you are so much ahead on board so you can both protect Serra, have enough creatures out so you think you can keep at least of them alive, don't need to pressure the opponent or his walkers and think a Serra Angel won't win the game more quickly than the emblem would. In most cases I have seen the ability used, it was a win more.
I currently rank the planeswalkers as Elspeth > Serra > Gideon, but it is all fairly close.
Serra plays quite often like a creature and not a planeswalker. I'd strongly consider cutting a 5 drop creature for her.
I'm pretty torn on Serra. I think she's probably just as good as Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar but I think what makes her as good is also what makes her unfun. If she didn't have the worship emblem capability I think she would be a fair amount worse than the others, but that emblem in some matchups will just mean the game goes on forever until the player with the emblem finally finds a way to connect to kill you or someone decks. Also, I just don't want 5 walkers for any single color unless I'm running a 540 minimum. So I think ultimately she will be on deck for me until such time my cube expands to that size.
In my limited experience, I'd not worry about her Worship ability too much. She almost always uses her angel making ability first, and when she doesn't, it is to force an attack from your opponent. It is rare that you are so much ahead on board so you can both protect Serra, have enough creatures out so you think you can keep at least of them alive, don't need to pressure the opponent or his walkers and think a Serra Angel won't win the game more quickly than the emblem would. In most cases I have seen the ability used, it was a win more.
I currently rank the planeswalkers as Elspeth > Serra > Gideon, but it is all fairly close.
Serra plays quite often like a creature and not a planeswalker. I'd strongly consider cutting a 5 drop creature for her.
I definitely agree with the emblem not being as problematic as most people make it seem because probably 90+% of the time you're using her -3 immediately. If you are using her +2 right off the bat you're either already winning or beating down with Lingering Souls or something.
Personally I rank the 4-cmc white walkers as Elspeth >= Gideon > Serra.
Hmmm....well since I drafted one, I may give it a whirl. In my limited MH draft experience she made an angel and died to burn so I think more aggressive decks can handle Serra, but then they have to devote more resources to dealing with the Angel and the efforts made to deal with both the Walker and the Angel tend to severely limit their remaining resources. Even if the worship scenario only happens once in a while--every game that happens is a painstakingly slow one for both players involved--and even if this only generally happens in control matchups where the opponent is more likely to have a wrath it is still going to be obnoxious to hope you time the wrath just right so that they just don't play a creature and the worship shield is back up.
Been cubing with Serra for quite a while now, and I have to say that while she’s quite good, I’ve rarely had the emblem be relevant. Aggressive decks pressure you too fast for you to spend 4 mana and not affect the board, and control decks can usually answer the emblem anyway. In one case, I was just decked by an opponent that couldn’t answer the emblem.
Good card and a cube staple, but not oppressive by any means (unless your cube is quite slow).
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Drafted a sweet flying deck recently and curved from spectral procession into Serra, plus to anthem, popped off emblem next turn, played two army in a can creatures after and had more in hand, and sat back while my opponent could do nothing despite having an inkwell leviathan out in play. I could have taken hits from him for 20 turns and he never would have won.
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In my limited experience, I'd not worry about her Worship ability too much. She almost always uses her angel making ability first, and when she doesn't, it is to force an attack from your opponent. It is rare that you are so much ahead on board so you can both protect Serra, have enough creatures out so you think you can keep at least of them alive, don't need to pressure the opponent or his walkers and think a Serra Angel won't win the game more quickly than the emblem would. In most cases I have seen the ability used, it was a win more.
I currently rank the planeswalkers as Elspeth > Serra > Gideon, but it is all fairly close.
Serra plays quite often like a creature and not a planeswalker. I'd strongly consider cutting a 5 drop creature for her.
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I definitely agree with the emblem not being as problematic as most people make it seem because probably 90+% of the time you're using her -3 immediately. If you are using her +2 right off the bat you're either already winning or beating down with Lingering Souls or something.
Personally I rank the 4-cmc white walkers as Elspeth >= Gideon > Serra.
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Good card and a cube staple, but not oppressive by any means (unless your cube is quite slow).
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