To be fair, Krenko is awesome (better than Kraken, sure) and doesn’t compete for the same slot. Other than color, a big difference between those two cards is offensive requirement for making creatures vs defensive flexibility and building an army with a couple turns and a draw spell.
Chasm Skulker was pretty bad for us because It sort of plays out like Browbeat if you don’t have a way to sacrifice it. Wrath decks have ORing effects, and your opponent isn’t going to Wrath to give you tokens. They figure out ways to chump and survive long enough to deal with the card. The only time I really liked Chasm Skulker was in a Twister/Wheel combo deck.
Kraken is medium overall, but I do like the blue token support for Clamp/Opposition.
So, I'll chime in as someone who still has Nadir Kraken but is kinda turning against the card.
Something maybe a bit uncommon about my cube is that I'm supporting a cycling theme, and it happens to run fairly strong in blue. Additionally, I have a lot of the UG Flash stuff in either color, and in my Simic guild section as well. This is an environment where blue decks have LOTS of access to instant speed "Draw a card" and the like, and I think it's something both Kraken and Chasm Skulker really like. I even run Faerie Vandal and a few other cards as part of a similar theme.
Nadir Kraken is... a taxing card on my psyche. Having to pay every time you want to activate the ability leads to missed triggers because there's only so much you can pay. Even if you successfully cast a Wheel, you have to pay for each and every counter you put on the guy. It's very close to being something I want, but I think the cost just ends up being prohibitive unless you're in the late game, where you have plenty of mana.
Could you elaborate on what makes this better than Chasm Skulker? Skulker gets counters for free and gives you wrath-protection.
Agreed. I also think Skulker is better for these exact two reasons. Kraken was disappointing for us because the activation cost was prohibitive and because all my eggs were in the same basket on the table at the same time. It's a fine card, but it didn't survive the testing process with us.
As a comparison, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin grows also grows the main body, grows the board wider, faster, has a splashable mana cost, in a less competitive color (where it's a better fit) ...and it does it for free.
Krenko has to attack to grow. This grows as much and as quickly as you can abuse it and sit back and wait like blue loves to do.
They can both be abused, and the growth of each effect can be modified by other cards. And red likes to attack just as much (if not more) than blue likes to sit back and wait. Except Krenko does it for free, and Kraken ties up your resources.
They can both be abused, and the growth of each effect can be modified by other cards. And red likes to attack just as much (if not more) than blue likes to sit back and wait. Except Krenko does it for free, and Kraken ties up your resources.
My concern with krenko is that in cube it is very easy to deal with a 3 mana 2/3 that's attacking by turn 4 (probably). On the flip side, lots of ways to abuse and grow kraken (and your army of 1/1s) before kraken attacks.
Well, I'd tell you not to be concerned. Krenko has been an absolute freakin' unit, and the Kraken was a tremendous letdown. For us anyways. Obviously YMMV.
Had a good experience with kraken the other day and will give it a bit more time to prove itself. I am waiting to see how it will play with the addition of rielle, the everwise and if a looting/drawing archetype can help it find more of a home.
Chasm Skulker was pretty bad for us because It sort of plays out like Browbeat if you don’t have a way to sacrifice it. Wrath decks have ORing effects, and your opponent isn’t going to Wrath to give you tokens. They figure out ways to chump and survive long enough to deal with the card. The only time I really liked Chasm Skulker was in a Twister/Wheel combo deck.
Kraken is medium overall, but I do like the blue token support for Clamp/Opposition.
Something maybe a bit uncommon about my cube is that I'm supporting a cycling theme, and it happens to run fairly strong in blue. Additionally, I have a lot of the UG Flash stuff in either color, and in my Simic guild section as well. This is an environment where blue decks have LOTS of access to instant speed "Draw a card" and the like, and I think it's something both Kraken and Chasm Skulker really like. I even run Faerie Vandal and a few other cards as part of a similar theme.
Nadir Kraken is... a taxing card on my psyche. Having to pay every time you want to activate the ability leads to missed triggers because there's only so much you can pay. Even if you successfully cast a Wheel, you have to pay for each and every counter you put on the guy. It's very close to being something I want, but I think the cost just ends up being prohibitive unless you're in the late game, where you have plenty of mana.
Basically, this. Very, very, very medium.
Krenko has to attack to grow. This grows as much and as quickly as you can abuse it and sit back and wait like blue loves to do.
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My concern with krenko is that in cube it is very easy to deal with a 3 mana 2/3 that's attacking by turn 4 (probably). On the flip side, lots of ways to abuse and grow kraken (and your army of 1/1s) before kraken attacks.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!