This card might have some legs in cubes where black leans heavily towards sacrifice themes. It's a fun effect to have, but I'm not sure it's more playable than Cabal Therapy, and most people don't even play that.
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I quite like this card, and I do have an aristocrats/sacrifice thing going on in my list. I'm pretty full on black one-drops though, and I'd much rather keep Putrid Imp as my stretch-playable 1 mana 1/1 with evasion. Will probably test because Therapy is such a sweet effect and having a repeatable one that adds a little mini-game of your opponent playing out stuff that the previous trigger saw while you decide how aggressively you sac to match their pace of play.
I just wish the creature type was Nightmare Minion or something, something that actually linked to the Otarian cabal.
In a singleton draft format, the card is near impossible to guess. So you have to cast a peek/discard spell then you wait for the next turn to use it effectively. By then you still should have a creature to sac(itself is fine), and the card you want to target should have not been cast yet.
Without a peek/discard spell you have to wait 2 turns to name a targeted card correctly.
Comparing to its inspiration, Cabal therapy, this is worse because Therapy can be cast twice on the same turn. I’d rather put Therapy fist, and I dont even run it. So personally I will pass on the Therapist.
On the plus side, this can work in a grindy environment as long as you have a constant supply of creatures to sac. First is just a Peek, but the succeeding ones are Coercions. This is a good payoff for Aristocrats archtype, so it maybe worth testing there.
I like this card a lot. I'm not really interested in Serra (seems like a yet another generic goodstuff walker), but this is cool as hell.
Unfortunately, this only triggers AT THE BEGINNING of your precombat main phase, which means by the time you cast this, it's too late to activate it that turn. That's what makes this less exciting for me. Other than that, it's super cool. I'm in the market for good hand disruption.
Yeah I agree. While I like the card a lot, the fact that you can't use it immediately makes me skeptical that it's useful since you may brick on the first activation.
Sadly, doesn't work with sorcery-speed Threaten-effects.
Very slow engine for token strategies. I think Sadistic Hypnotist is the much better card for that role.
Yeah, the more I think about this, the more nonbos it has that should be combos. You should be able to Duress first, then trigger this. That's just basic tech. It's a shame. Should've triggered on second main phase.
I like the idea behind this card. I want more cheap, disruptive sac outlets in Black. If it was a zombie, it would have helped, if it triggered later, would've helped. All in all, probably won't make the cut for me.
I totally missed that it only triggered on the precombat main, and with that additional limitation it's definitely lost a lot of stock for me, no longer on my radar.
Ugh, If this were a zombie and the effect was either duress or thoughtseize instead of a cabal therapy, I’d be under the leg into double windmill backflip slamming this into my cube.
I’ve tested cabal therapy and was very disappointed, even relative to my low expectations.... and I expect this to be worse.
I don't think this is nearly good enough for cube. As noted by LucidVision, I'd be excited if this was a Duress or Thoughtseize (although then I'd think it would be a bit strong), but it's too inconsistent for cube, and its body isn't enough for it to unseat anything else at 1.
I also don't think Cabal Therapy is good enough for cube, but this is definitely not Cabal Therapy.
I'd play it if it was a 2/1 instead of a 1/1 menace ...but that has nothing to do with this card's ability. I don't think cube is the place for this kind of effect.
The thing that I like most about this card is that wotc might include some more 1 mana black creatures comparable to grave crawler in the set. Or at least i can hope ...
This card might have some legs in cubes where black leans heavily towards sacrifice themes. It's a fun effect to have, but I'm not sure it's more playable than Cabal Therapy, and most people don't even play that.
From the mind of Raymond Swanland: Valla, a plane made entirely out of brownish spikes.
I just wish the creature type was Nightmare Minion or something, something that actually linked to the Otarian cabal.
Edit: I guess Horror is relevant for Thing In The Ice
Without a peek/discard spell you have to wait 2 turns to name a targeted card correctly.
Comparing to its inspiration, Cabal therapy, this is worse because Therapy can be cast twice on the same turn. I’d rather put Therapy fist, and I dont even run it. So personally I will pass on the Therapist.
On the plus side, this can work in a grindy environment as long as you have a constant supply of creatures to sac. First is just a Peek, but the succeeding ones are Coercions. This is a good payoff for Aristocrats archtype, so it maybe worth testing there.
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Unfortunately, this only triggers AT THE BEGINNING of your precombat main phase, which means by the time you cast this, it's too late to activate it that turn. That's what makes this less exciting for me. Other than that, it's super cool. I'm in the market for good hand disruption.
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Very slow engine for token strategies. I think Sadistic Hypnotist is the much better card for that role.
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I’ve tested cabal therapy and was very disappointed, even relative to my low expectations.... and I expect this to be worse.
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I also don't think Cabal Therapy is good enough for cube, but this is definitely not Cabal Therapy.
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