This creature is really good in combat. Blocking it profitably is really hard, but I think it is really important to note that the nemesis is insanely good on defense as well. What does red aggro do against this thing? Bolt it and get that redirected at their own creature? Attack their 2-power early drops at it and lose 2 creatures every attack step? It seems you only really lose out against instant-speed non-damage-based removal, and even then, this is a 3-drop; you can't trade down that much in mana.
Not the best 3-drop against control or combo though, or when ramped out, so I think this is a fair bit worse in powered cubes. For my unpowered red section, this card seems sweet.
Boros Reckoner with a much cleaner mana cost and haste is pretty strong. This probably doesn't crack the top 3-4 Rabblemaster variants for me (Bombardiers / Laelia / Gut / Squee), but it's still quite strong. This is actually better against most super fatties than other Rabblemaster variants since it's very difficult to block this without taking a massive amount of damage and turning off life gain against things like Atraxa / Griselbrand / Archon of Cruelty.
A strong 3-drop for sure, in a suite of other strong cards. The 3 drop section is becoming incredibly deep for red, I'm not sure this will make it in at 630, as good as it is.
Sulfuric Vortex was a powerhouse in red, and its weakness was that it didn't affect the board. This guy is a hasty on-rate dude, that when dealt damage, either kills something else or Vortexes them for the rest of the game, with no way to remove the effect. Does no one remember how strong Vortex is for aggro and burn decks?
I dare to say that this might be better than Laelia strictly for burn decks, because the effect is stronger than a slowly growing creature and seeing some more cards. In fact, I can even see it being played in something like red control - paired with something like Chandra, Awakened Inferno it could represent the epitome of inevitability.
This is probably a bit of an exaggeration, because the card is very vulnerable to destroy effects, but I'd say this card should still get some more attention, and strikes my eye as test worthy.
Sulfuric Vortex was a powerhouse in red, and its weakness was that it didn't affect the board. This guy is a hasty on-rate dude, that when dealt damage, either kills something else or Vortexes them for the rest of the game, with no way to remove the effect. Does no one remember how strong Vortex is for aggro and burn decks?
I dare to say that this might be better than Laelia strictly for burn decks, because the effect is stronger than a slowly growing creature and seeing some more cards. In fact, I can even see it being played in something like red control - paired with something like Chandra, Awakened Inferno it could represent the epitome of inevitability.
This is probably a bit of an exaggeration, because the card is very vulnerable to destroy effects, but I'd say this card should still get some more attention, and strikes my eye as test worthy.
This card represents two design spaces I really hope they don't explore:
- Punishing one type of removal over the other - i.e. Red/ Green Damage, Combat based "removal" vs Black-White destroy removal
- Zones/ effects you cannot interact with - i.e. emblems, companions.
I think this card is actually quite good. Those who have played Boros Reckoner back in the day know how annoying it is to kill / block. And a power crept Boros Reckoner is quite scary:
- Dies to Bolt, but will often result in a 2 for 1 or Bolting yourself.
- Very difficult to block. Small creatures blocking it will usually result in removing another creature or dealing 1-2 damage to your opponent / planeswalker. If your opponent has two 2/2s, your opponent is put in a really bad situation. Chump block probably results in losing both your 2/2s for nothing, and double blocking is either a 1 for 2 or a 1 for 1 + 4 damage to your opponent's face. Large creatures particularly don't want to block it either because they'll either trade down mana wise or get burned to the face very hard.
- Is much better than Laelia right off the bat until later in the game where you can immediately play the spells you exile.
- Removing life gain can often remove any comeback an opponent might be able to stage against an aggro deck.
When you remove all the shortcomings of Boros Reckoner and give it haste and a clean mana cost, then you have a creature that's pretty on-par with Laelia / most Rabblemaster variants.
Yeah, I'd put this one below Bombadiers / Fable / Laelia / Gut but in competition for 5th best red 3 cmc creature - this seems as good or better as any rabblemaster variant.
Yeah, I'd put this one below Bombadiers / Fable / Laelia / Gut but in competition for 5th best red 3 cmc creature - this seems as good or better as any rabblemaster variant.
I've found the gap between the best and worst red cards is extremely high. If this proves to be strong, I would be very happy.
I didn't care much about this when I first saw it, but it has grown on me and now I think it's really strong and will definitely try to find a way to test.
Initial testing has been very positive. Unlike other similar aggressive creatures, this really pressures not just IF they can deal with it, but also HOW they deal with it. Dealing with this via burn / combat is an absolute nightmare that will usually end up in a 2 for 1 or just straight damage to your opponent's face / weakening a planeswalker. Cheap damage based removal has only gotten better over time as threats are smaller / more efficient these days, and that really works in this card's favor. Pretty confident in this being at least a top 4 Rabblemaster variant (something with haste or that can create something that can attack immediately) alongside Bombardiers / Laelia / Gut.
This card lacks the raw damage output of your typical Rabblemaster variant, and it performs poorly against spot removal. However, Mono Red decks generally don't struggle in those departments. What they do struggle against are fatties, particularly ones with lifelink, getting put into play early on, and those are the exact type of cards which Screaming Nemesis excels against. This looks like an incredible tool for RDW, and I'm excited to give it a spin.
This card lacks the raw damage output of your typical Rabblemaster variant, and it performs poorly against spot removal. However, Mono Red decks generally don't struggle in those departments. What they do struggle against are fatties, particularly ones with lifelink, getting put into play early on, and those are the exact type of cards which Screaming Nemesis excels against. This looks like an incredible tool for RDW, and I'm excited to give it a spin.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've played Goblin Rabblemaster variants multiple times in Vintage cube and I find it generally very unrealistic for the rabble master variant to be able to attack through a contested board, especially on the draw.
I've consistently found Screaming Nemesis to be incredibly strong either when you're ahead OR when you're behind.
Rabble variants definitely got a lot weaker over time, since the board states where the initial 1/1 and the others could attack with impugnity are much less common these days.
One thing that LSV brought up when he talked about Duskmourn in a cube video was pointing out how good as an aggressive creature that's also good in creature matchups. I tried it out after he put that video and I'd been very happy with it - the rabblers left my cube some time ago but Nemesis likely has staying power.
This creature is really good in combat. Blocking it profitably is really hard, but I think it is really important to note that the nemesis is insanely good on defense as well. What does red aggro do against this thing? Bolt it and get that redirected at their own creature? Attack their 2-power early drops at it and lose 2 creatures every attack step? It seems you only really lose out against instant-speed non-damage-based removal, and even then, this is a 3-drop; you can't trade down that much in mana.
Not the best 3-drop against control or combo though, or when ramped out, so I think this is a fair bit worse in powered cubes. For my unpowered red section, this card seems sweet.
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I dare to say that this might be better than Laelia strictly for burn decks, because the effect is stronger than a slowly growing creature and seeing some more cards. In fact, I can even see it being played in something like red control - paired with something like Chandra, Awakened Inferno it could represent the epitome of inevitability.
This is probably a bit of an exaggeration, because the card is very vulnerable to destroy effects, but I'd say this card should still get some more attention, and strikes my eye as test worthy.
This card represents two design spaces I really hope they don't explore:
- Punishing one type of removal over the other - i.e. Red/ Green Damage, Combat based "removal" vs Black-White destroy removal
- Zones/ effects you cannot interact with - i.e. emblems, companions.
I don't think its a very good card either.
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StaffI think this card is actually quite good. Those who have played Boros Reckoner back in the day know how annoying it is to kill / block. And a power crept Boros Reckoner is quite scary:
- Dies to Bolt, but will often result in a 2 for 1 or Bolting yourself.
- Very difficult to block. Small creatures blocking it will usually result in removing another creature or dealing 1-2 damage to your opponent / planeswalker. If your opponent has two 2/2s, your opponent is put in a really bad situation. Chump block probably results in losing both your 2/2s for nothing, and double blocking is either a 1 for 2 or a 1 for 1 + 4 damage to your opponent's face. Large creatures particularly don't want to block it either because they'll either trade down mana wise or get burned to the face very hard.
- Is much better than Laelia right off the bat until later in the game where you can immediately play the spells you exile.
- Removing life gain can often remove any comeback an opponent might be able to stage against an aggro deck.
When you remove all the shortcomings of Boros Reckoner and give it haste and a clean mana cost, then you have a creature that's pretty on-par with Laelia / most Rabblemaster variants.
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I've found the gap between the best and worst red cards is extremely high. If this proves to be strong, I would be very happy.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've played Goblin Rabblemaster variants multiple times in Vintage cube and I find it generally very unrealistic for the rabble master variant to be able to attack through a contested board, especially on the draw.
I've consistently found Screaming Nemesis to be incredibly strong either when you're ahead OR when you're behind.
One thing that LSV brought up when he talked about Duskmourn in a cube video was pointing out how good as an aggressive creature that's also good in creature matchups. I tried it out after he put that video and I'd been very happy with it - the rabblers left my cube some time ago but Nemesis likely has staying power.
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