I'm surprised no one created a thread for Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis yet. I've never created an SCD thread before,so I hope this is the correct way to do it.
So what do we all think about her? It's clear she's powerful, but is she powerful enough to break through the super-competitive white 4cc slot?
Her -1 ability can put a lot of pressure on an opponent and there is potential for it to end the game immediately in an aggro deck.
The -2 works nicely with the -1 and on its own gives you 4 bodies over two turns.
-3 is meh. It can save you if you need it.
The Escape ability is the great unknown. When you can tick her down and then replay her, this will be pretty great. However, 6 mana and exiling 4 cards will be tough. That is going to rule this card out from playing a huge role in aggro decks.
I'm not convinced I want to cut anything from my cube for Elspeth, SN. I think larger cubes will get some mileage out of it.
I think the Escape mechanic is super interesting - a planeswalker that can recur seems really powerful. That being said, Elspeth seems to have been designed with that in mind to be fairly weak, and I'm not convinced she'll find a slot in my cube. If the Escape cost was lower I could see it working out, but I don't quite see the deck/archetype she would fit into.
We’re definitely going to try her, but I’m more excited about her than some of my Cube regulars. My prediction is that the -1 is better than first glance.
My biggest issue with elspeth is her low/decreasing loyalty and the strength of her competition.
As far as raw damage output goes, she’s impressive in a white Agro deck. Her -1 is a pretty good rate, but does require 2 creatures on board to leverage properly.
In higher powered cubes, the raw damage output she can produce is a selling factor and I expect her to be decent.
It’s possible I’m underestimating the recursion ability, but 6 mana and graveyard exile is a lot in an aggressive deck.. and think she’s too inefficient for a control deck. (The -2 and -3 are meh).
My early prediction would be a solid walker that is clearly a tier below Elspeth 1.0/Gideon/Serra
While I'm happy to see that the Soldier tokens come come with a 'race' in addition to their 'class', I'm having a hard time accepting that a character that requires not one but two W to join your ranks carries the title "Sun's Nemesis", even if her archenemy is literally named after the sun.
Worth noting is that there is a minor synergy with her in white in blinking or bouncing her to reset her loyalty so she can activate more loyalty abilities without having to Escape.
Kor Skyfisher returns her to hand, Felidar Guardian blinks her, etc.
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So what do we all think about her? It's clear she's powerful, but is she powerful enough to break through the super-competitive white 4cc slot?
Her -1 ability can put a lot of pressure on an opponent and there is potential for it to end the game immediately in an aggro deck.
The -2 works nicely with the -1 and on its own gives you 4 bodies over two turns.
-3 is meh. It can save you if you need it.
The Escape ability is the great unknown. When you can tick her down and then replay her, this will be pretty great. However, 6 mana and exiling 4 cards will be tough. That is going to rule this card out from playing a huge role in aggro decks.
I'm not convinced I want to cut anything from my cube for Elspeth, SN. I think larger cubes will get some mileage out of it.
Cheers,
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As far as raw damage output goes, she’s impressive in a white Agro deck. Her -1 is a pretty good rate, but does require 2 creatures on board to leverage properly.
In higher powered cubes, the raw damage output she can produce is a selling factor and I expect her to be decent.
It’s possible I’m underestimating the recursion ability, but 6 mana and graveyard exile is a lot in an aggressive deck.. and think she’s too inefficient for a control deck. (The -2 and -3 are meh).
My early prediction would be a solid walker that is clearly a tier below Elspeth 1.0/Gideon/Serra
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Kor Skyfisher returns her to hand, Felidar Guardian blinks her, etc.