B
Creature - Vampire Knight
2B: Knight of the Ebon Legion gets +3/+3 and gains Deathtouch until end of turn.
In the beginning of your end step, if any player lost 4 or more life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Knight of the Ebon Legion.
1/2
This is an interesting take on the aggro black one drop. Not having two power on it's own is a bummer, but +3/+3 for only three mana is pretty solid and deathtouch with the activation helps ensure you will connect. A 4/5 crashing in on turn three is a big deal and likely represents more damage than a 2/1 would. I like that it can grow itself off the back of it's own activation. Also of note, you can activate the ability more than once each turn so if you ever get to 6 mana this can become a monster.
On the downside, investing a turns worth of mana into this only to have it get removed is a huge tempo loss and feels like it could be an insta-loss for an aggro deck.
I quite like this guy.
I think there are many interesting play lines to grow him.
Also note that (if the translation is correct) you can grow him by losing life yourself. So Shockland + Thoughtsieze/Gitaxian Probe or a Dismember will grow him. Granted that probably won't happen to often, but I like the versatility.
It would be cool if this guy simply had deathtouch, instead of needing to activate the pump to get it.
As is, I'm definitely going to consider him at 720, but I'm not sure he's actually better for black aggro than something simple like Vampire Lacerator.
I'm thinking this is good enough. A 4/5 attacker with deathtouch is strong at every stage of the game and it I like how it compares to cards I already run and have success with like Wolfbitten Captive and Kessig Prowler. I also like that this doesn't have to be a strictly aggro creature. Assuming it can trigger off of either player losing life this could also be an interesting card to run in control decks. It threatens to block and kill any attacker and you can hold up interaction with mana to activate. It also becomes a better blocker if you get smacked for a couple big chunks of life. I'm 99% sure I'll be testing this creature.
I like this card quite a bit. It's a nearly unblockable one drop with a lot of play to it. I especially like that he can grow bigger even without sinking mana into it.
Cool Card, The question is at what size does it make it.
I will probably try running it over Diregraf Ghoul. The base power of 1 is pretty bad on this, but it makes a much better top deck, for any that are running green aggro strategies it overlaps with the general design of playing early threats that can grow, is a more interesting design, and even getting the counters on this 1 time with the ability to pump to a 5/6. My biggest concern with this cut is my cube might no longer be able to really support gravecrawler other than treating it as a 2/1. The other difficult thing is that black aggro is sort of turning into a deck that has to spend mana for it's creatures to do anything where it seems like white and red creatures get more static abilities / gain from attacking etc so you can still use your turns to cast additional threats and spells.
I don't think I want a one drop with one power on my aggro deck unless the upside is either higher than this or easier to pull off without investing mana when i want to be developing my board.
Now, the upside on this guy is great when you get it but sinking 3 mana I to this is probably not something that I want to be doing very often.
There are also times where you want to keep the pressure on but don't want to over-commit to the board, especially when playing against sweepers. I'm down for some diversity in my black one drops and I think I'll finally cut Sarcomancy for this. Of all the cards spoiled so far this is my personal favorite. Not saying it's the best or anything, I just really like it.
It's a cool card, but 3 mana is a lot to ask for. Sure, it helps you not overcommit if 3 mana for 3 dmg is a good exchange. And threat of activation is real, although the benefit is just one damage. I'm pretty low on this card and have no intention of testing it. Curious if it overperforms for those who decide to. TBH I would rather play the new 1/1 deathtouch lifelink creature for B.
I can't get around the fact that there is no way this guy swings for 2 on turn 2. Hitting for 4 on turn 3 isn't necessarily more likely than a 2/1 hitting on both turn 2 & 3, because in the latter case, you're probably trying to squeeze in cheap removal alongside your threats to clear the way every turn, which is a more impactful use of your mana. This guy wants everything handed to him to become great, including 3 freaking additional mana. I don't consider 3 mana for 3 damage in an aggro deck to be a good rate when I'm not even developing/altering the board. I'd pass if you want to support black aggro.
It's a cool card, but 3 mana is a lot to ask for. Sure, it helps you not overcommit if 3 mana for 3 dmg is a good exchange. And threat of activation is real, although the benefit is just one damage. I'm pretty low on this card and have no intention of testing it. Curious if it overperforms for those who decide to. TBH I would rather play the new 1/1 deathtouch lifelink creature for B.
Not in a black aggro deck where Ebon Legion would be played.
This card is better compared to Goblin Baneret which did not perform well in my Cube. Both cards are 1 powered 1 drops that make +1/+1 counters and have a pump ability. The advantage that the knight brings is that it can make the counters without the help of another creature or possibly without even attacking. The question is how hard is it to get the counters going. If it just got +1/+1 every turn the card would be completely busted while the floor of zero counters is terrible. I'm intrigued enough to test it over carnophage which is really just not a good card but run out of necessity.
A somewhat minor change like making the deathtouch not contingent on paying 2B for the ability probably might've persuaded me to test this since the floor would be less pathetic, but as is, it is a pass.
I like little dweebs who fill multiple roles, but this seems boring to me. I guess it's more pushed than Basking Rootwalla, but madness 0 is more interesting than anything this dude does.
Am messing around with standard vampires on arena and this guy has massively overpeformed.
Different environments blah blah, but seeing why he's been so good has got me hyped.
In an agro deck, doing 4 damage by turn 3 is trivial and once the counters start to spiral, you don't even need the activated ability before he becomes much better than a generic 2/1.
Once you factor in the activated ability he becomes near unblockable and can occasionally do crazy amounts of damage by himself when you are hellbent and nothing better to do with your mana. Also awsome on defense in removal light situations.
Something particular in cube, but black has a lot of ways to do itself damage. A shock land + a vamp tutor, or a dismember and you trigger his ability to grow without doing 4 damage to them. In standard, I grow the knight by self activate adanto vanguard's indestructable a lot EOT to do extra damage or play around cry of the carnarium.
He's impressed me so much that I'm already 95% confident he's better than the worst black agro 1 drop everyone here is playing. Not going to be a cube all-star or anything, but the bar he's trying to climb is one set by vampire lacerator. Is he better? I'd wager quite a lot the answer is yes.
He also is reasonable in an agressive midrange deck, something that can't be said for many other black 1 drops. So even if he's 99% as good in agro, being playable in more archtypes would make me want to cube him.
I've also been testing him over Tormented Hero as the hero doesn't support my other zombies and isn't recursive. I've been pretty happy with him so far especially alongside the cards Lucid mentioned like vamp tutor and dismember.
While I am high on the card... I’m quite sure the gulf in power between knight of the Ebon legion and a tormented hero or a vampire lacerater are smaller in cube than in standard.
Standard vampires run both knight of the Ebon legion and Skymarcher aspirant. In that environment, knight is so much better that it’s a joke of a comparison.
Cube is a faster format than standard. This makes knight’s activated ability and ability to spiral with the game, harder to utilize...In standard there is more creature combat in the early turns that can invalidate savannah lion type cards.
In standard, there's a lot of resource trading. When two players are trading resources back and forth, a 1 drop that can single handedly take over the game in top deck mode is huge.
Agro decks in a high powered cube environment are more concerned with having as fast a clock as possible, with some disruption.
However, not all cube matches are goldfish busted combo matches. There are fairer battles and creature combat. In those situations knight of ebon legion really shines and laughs at a generic 2/2 for 1. Similar to a card like figure of destiny.
With that being said, given HOW MUCH better knight is than aspirant in standard, it makes me reasonably confident (95%) it will at least be a little better in cube. It's goldfish clock is close to a 2/2 and it's just so much better in creature combat or as a top deck.
So, uh, is this card any good? It looks awful to me, but in the past couple weeks, across multiple platforms, I've heard it described as black's best aggro 1-drop.
That can't possibly be true, can it? People with experience with this card, can you chime in and tell me why I'm crazy for dismissing it?
B
Creature - Vampire Knight
2B: Knight of the Ebon Legion gets +3/+3 and gains Deathtouch until end of turn.
In the beginning of your end step, if any player lost 4 or more life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Knight of the Ebon Legion.
1/2
This is an interesting take on the aggro black one drop. Not having two power on it's own is a bummer, but +3/+3 for only three mana is pretty solid and deathtouch with the activation helps ensure you will connect. A 4/5 crashing in on turn three is a big deal and likely represents more damage than a 2/1 would. I like that it can grow itself off the back of it's own activation. Also of note, you can activate the ability more than once each turn so if you ever get to 6 mana this can become a monster.
On the downside, investing a turns worth of mana into this only to have it get removed is a huge tempo loss and feels like it could be an insta-loss for an aggro deck.
I think there are many interesting play lines to grow him.
Also note that (if the translation is correct) you can grow him by losing life yourself. So Shockland + Thoughtsieze/Gitaxian Probe or a Dismember will grow him. Granted that probably won't happen to often, but I like the versatility.
As is, I'm definitely going to consider him at 720, but I'm not sure he's actually better for black aggro than something simple like Vampire Lacerator.
I will probably try running it over Diregraf Ghoul. The base power of 1 is pretty bad on this, but it makes a much better top deck, for any that are running green aggro strategies it overlaps with the general design of playing early threats that can grow, is a more interesting design, and even getting the counters on this 1 time with the ability to pump to a 5/6. My biggest concern with this cut is my cube might no longer be able to really support gravecrawler other than treating it as a 2/1. The other difficult thing is that black aggro is sort of turning into a deck that has to spend mana for it's creatures to do anything where it seems like white and red creatures get more static abilities / gain from attacking etc so you can still use your turns to cast additional threats and spells.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
Now, the upside on this guy is great when you get it but sinking 3 mana I to this is probably not something that I want to be doing very often.
if you have nothing else to do with your mana, it’s a solid threat.
If you have other things to do with your mana , but can deal considerable damage than it still grows into a big threat for its cost.
The activations also stack so once you get to six mana, it almost has to be killed.
It’s the type of card that you don’t want too many of in an Agro deck, but a couple seem pretty good.
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Not in a black aggro deck where Ebon Legion would be played.
This card is better compared to Goblin Baneret which did not perform well in my Cube. Both cards are 1 powered 1 drops that make +1/+1 counters and have a pump ability. The advantage that the knight brings is that it can make the counters without the help of another creature or possibly without even attacking. The question is how hard is it to get the counters going. If it just got +1/+1 every turn the card would be completely busted while the floor of zero counters is terrible. I'm intrigued enough to test it over carnophage which is really just not a good card but run out of necessity.
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Different environments blah blah, but seeing why he's been so good has got me hyped.
In an agro deck, doing 4 damage by turn 3 is trivial and once the counters start to spiral, you don't even need the activated ability before he becomes much better than a generic 2/1.
Once you factor in the activated ability he becomes near unblockable and can occasionally do crazy amounts of damage by himself when you are hellbent and nothing better to do with your mana. Also awsome on defense in removal light situations.
Something particular in cube, but black has a lot of ways to do itself damage. A shock land + a vamp tutor, or a dismember and you trigger his ability to grow without doing 4 damage to them. In standard, I grow the knight by self activate adanto vanguard's indestructable a lot EOT to do extra damage or play around cry of the carnarium.
He's impressed me so much that I'm already 95% confident he's better than the worst black agro 1 drop everyone here is playing. Not going to be a cube all-star or anything, but the bar he's trying to climb is one set by vampire lacerator. Is he better? I'd wager quite a lot the answer is yes.
He also is reasonable in an agressive midrange deck, something that can't be said for many other black 1 drops. So even if he's 99% as good in agro, being playable in more archtypes would make me want to cube him.
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Standard vampires run both knight of the Ebon legion and Skymarcher aspirant. In that environment, knight is so much better that it’s a joke of a comparison.
Cube is a faster format than standard. This makes knight’s activated ability and ability to spiral with the game, harder to utilize...In standard there is more creature combat in the early turns that can invalidate savannah lion type cards.
In standard, there's a lot of resource trading. When two players are trading resources back and forth, a 1 drop that can single handedly take over the game in top deck mode is huge.
Agro decks in a high powered cube environment are more concerned with having as fast a clock as possible, with some disruption.
However, not all cube matches are goldfish busted combo matches. There are fairer battles and creature combat. In those situations knight of ebon legion really shines and laughs at a generic 2/2 for 1. Similar to a card like figure of destiny.
With that being said, given HOW MUCH better knight is than aspirant in standard, it makes me reasonably confident (95%) it will at least be a little better in cube. It's goldfish clock is close to a 2/2 and it's just so much better in creature combat or as a top deck.
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That can't possibly be true, can it? People with experience with this card, can you chime in and tell me why I'm crazy for dismissing it?
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