I've been keeping an eye on Legacy lately and have noticed two mono black initiative decks (here and here) that 5-0'd in a most recent league. One thing that stood out to me was their choice in initiative creatures, opting to play the common and uncommon 4-cmc black initiative enablers (Vicious Battlerager / Passageway Seer) over the rare enabler (Ravenloft Adventurer).
Of the three, Passageway Seer seems to be the strongest one of the bunch to me.
- Assuming it survives to your endstep, it's a 3/3 with lifelink.
- Assuming it survives to your upkeep and you still have initiative, it can potentially be a 5/5 with lifelink on the attack, and then pump itself to an 6/6 at the end of turn.
- If you swing for 5 + 6 and then get the Lava Axe mode off the initiative, that's 17 damage in two attacks (with the potential to gain 11 life).
While initiative was obviously powerful right out of the gate, this enabler in particular seems to have gone under the radar, possibly due to White Plume Adventurer / Seasoned Dungeoneer / Minsc & Boo hogging all the spotlight. If you're looking for a new initiative enabler, this is probably one of the better 4-cmc ones, and probably the best enabler in black.
I think it's 3/3 -> 5/5, but the point still stands. If the card grants initiative, costs less than 5 mana, has P/T (and can attack) it's worth a close look. This is one of the better ones, and likely the best one in black.
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StaffI've been keeping an eye on Legacy lately and have noticed two mono black initiative decks (here and here) that 5-0'd in a most recent league. One thing that stood out to me was their choice in initiative creatures, opting to play the common and uncommon 4-cmc black initiative enablers (Vicious Battlerager / Passageway Seer) over the rare enabler (Ravenloft Adventurer).
Of the three, Passageway Seer seems to be the strongest one of the bunch to me.
- Assuming it survives to your endstep, it's a 3/3 with lifelink.
- Assuming it survives to your upkeep and you still have initiative, it can potentially be a 5/5 with lifelink on the attack, and then pump itself to an 6/6 at the end of turn.
- If you swing for 5 + 6 and then get the Lava Axe mode off the initiative, that's 17 damage in two attacks (with the potential to gain 11 life).
While initiative was obviously powerful right out of the gate, this enabler in particular seems to have gone under the radar, possibly due to White Plume Adventurer / Seasoned Dungeoneer / Minsc & Boo hogging all the spotlight. If you're looking for a new initiative enabler, this is probably one of the better 4-cmc ones, and probably the best enabler in black.
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So it enters as a 2/2, EOT it's a 3/3, then next upkeep it's a 5/5, etc?
Also, I think Ravenloft Adventurer isn't on MTGO yet, whereas the other two are.
Not having to complete a dungeon to get the full effect is pretty great, as Feywild Caretaker
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StaffWhops, that's what I get for making this post at 4AM (the freezing cold has really messed with my sleep schedule). Fixed the math in the OP.
But yeah, still a cheap initiative enabler that hits like a truck and gains you life to boot. Hard to go wrong with that, hehe.
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