3 colorless for a 2/2 Double Strike is probably decent enough on its own to slot into any aggressive creature deck, and the Unearth ability + discard/draw 3 trigger gives it additional reach for late game in red decks while having potential for reanimation shenanigans via Reveillark, Sun Titan, Unearth, etc.
Not even bringing up the Meld aspect since its unlikely but is another facet for the card.
It's a bit slow at face value, but the unearth trigger is extremely powerful. As a standalone red aggro threat, it's decent, but there's already a lot of things that have very similar functions (Earthshaker Khenra / Phoenix of Ash / Squee, Dubious Monarch). Can't say I'm interested in this right now, but I might give it a spin if / when I decide to re-test Mishra's Workshop.
Seems interesting to me.
If you have a deck that can abuse it, it's really powerful... But my gut tells me those decks won't come up often enough to justify the overcosted front side.
Might test !
When I initially read this card I thought you get the trigger whether it entered from your graveyard or not and was very excited, sadly that's not how it works.
The front half seems far too weak to see play in any aggro decks (the red 3-drops it has to compete with are amazing), so it's just down to how well you can exploit the unearth and reanimation trigger. As others mentioned, this is solid with Goblin Engineer, but I'm not sure what kind of deck without that card would want to play this. Probably passing on this one unless it tests well for others.
This is quite an exciting version of "ETB, discard your hand, draw three". Anje's Ravager was more a more powerful trigger, as they can do it every turn, but it was on a riskier/clunkier body. Not sure if it gets there by itself, but if you're already running Goblin Engineer, Unearth, Alesha, Who Smiles At Death & others, it could be great. I love the colorless front.
I just realized that this probably means that Unearth will be a returning mechanic in BRO. Hopefully there'll be some sweet new ones, this and Praetorian Predator from 40K are close for me.
To be fair, this card came out 14 years ago, almost half of MTG's lifespan
If your cube can abuse the ETB from Graveyard, this gets a lot more interesting of an inclusion because it's an artifact/2power. We do have an example of Ox of Agonas which has the same draw functionality, but I don't think anyone actually cubes. Not an auto-include - really depends on how your cube is setup.
The problem is you really need to treat this as a red 3-drop (in a deck that can't get the unearth value this card is extremely sub-par as it dies to every damage, murder, and shatter effect in cube) and red 3-drops are so stacked. The unearth is a really good post-wrath turn in aggro though - you dome them for 4 and get to draw 3. Leaning towards not testing at 465, but could be convinced.
I think including Phyrexian Dragon Engine without Mishra would be like including only one half of a known combo -- when a drafter opens pack 1 by picking Kiki-Jiki, they do so expecting that the cube will contain other combo pieces like Pestermite and Exarch. For years I thought about cutting Hanweir Battlements for being underpowered, but I worried it would be false advertising for drafters to pick Hanweir Garrison then spend the whole draft keeping an eye out for a Battlements that isn't even in the cube (in the end, I cut both parts of the Hanweir package at the same time).
I feel like most people who ran Hanweir Garrison / Gisela, the Broken Blade didn't run their respective meld halves. If anything, I remember hearing more about hating meld being flavor text / deceiving players of a combo that isn't there than actually wanting to run both cards.
Speaking of deceiving of a combo that actually isn't there, I personally don't think that isn't too much of an issue. Players can still build a good deck if they're building around a combo that isn't there, at least for these types of cards. For example, I always say the best Kiki-Twin decks should be able to win without the combo.
I think including Phyrexian Dragon Engine without Mishra would be like including only one half of a known combo -- when a drafter opens pack 1 by picking Kiki-Jiki, they do so expecting that the cube will contain other combo pieces like Pestermite and Exarch. For years I thought about cutting Hanweir Battlements for being underpowered, but I worried it would be false advertising for drafters to pick Hanweir Garrison then spend the whole draft keeping an eye out for a Battlements that isn't even in the cube (in the end, I cut both parts of the Hanweir package at the same time).
I dunno, those are pretty different scenarios. Twin and Kikki are pretty bad cards without the combo, and there's an extremely known combo with them that players expect to see. Conversely, the Garrison is a good card on its own, and you'd play it in lots of decks you wouldn't bother with the battlement in. I've run it for years and never had any complaints.
I think this is worth consideration.
3 colorless for a 2/2 Double Strike is probably decent enough on its own to slot into any aggressive creature deck, and the Unearth ability + discard/draw 3 trigger gives it additional reach for late game in red decks while having potential for reanimation shenanigans via Reveillark, Sun Titan, Unearth, etc.
Not even bringing up the Meld aspect since its unlikely but is another facet for the card.
Worth testing? Thinking 450/540 might like this.
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StaffMy High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
If you have a deck that can abuse it, it's really powerful... But my gut tells me those decks won't come up often enough to justify the overcosted front side.
Might test !
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The front half seems far too weak to see play in any aggro decks (the red 3-drops it has to compete with are amazing), so it's just down to how well you can exploit the unearth and reanimation trigger. As others mentioned, this is solid with Goblin Engineer, but I'm not sure what kind of deck without that card would want to play this. Probably passing on this one unless it tests well for others.
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StaffMy High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My how the power has crept.
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To be fair, this card came out 14 years ago, almost half of MTG's lifespan
If your cube can abuse the ETB from Graveyard, this gets a lot more interesting of an inclusion because it's an artifact/2power. We do have an example of Ox of Agonas which has the same draw functionality, but I don't think anyone actually cubes. Not an auto-include - really depends on how your cube is setup.
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465 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I think including Phyrexian Dragon Engine without Mishra would be like including only one half of a known combo -- when a drafter opens pack 1 by picking Kiki-Jiki, they do so expecting that the cube will contain other combo pieces like Pestermite and Exarch. For years I thought about cutting Hanweir Battlements for being underpowered, but I worried it would be false advertising for drafters to pick Hanweir Garrison then spend the whole draft keeping an eye out for a Battlements that isn't even in the cube (in the end, I cut both parts of the Hanweir package at the same time).
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StaffI feel like most people who ran Hanweir Garrison / Gisela, the Broken Blade didn't run their respective meld halves. If anything, I remember hearing more about hating meld being flavor text / deceiving players of a combo that isn't there than actually wanting to run both cards.
Speaking of deceiving of a combo that actually isn't there, I personally don't think that isn't too much of an issue. Players can still build a good deck if they're building around a combo that isn't there, at least for these types of cards. For example, I always say the best Kiki-Twin decks should be able to win without the combo.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I dunno, those are pretty different scenarios. Twin and Kikki are pretty bad cards without the combo, and there's an extremely known combo with them that players expect to see. Conversely, the Garrison is a good card on its own, and you'd play it in lots of decks you wouldn't bother with the battlement in. I've run it for years and never had any complaints.
465 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588