MTG Salvation

Sedgemoor Witch

3 mana black Young Pyromancer with menace and light protection. Looks strong.

Ooooo I like this.

Definitely will test.

This is a great 3 drop for black. Human for those who care about that. Art is great too.

Looks brilliant, that's a very strong suite of abilities indeed. Slamming this in at 410 cards!

I'm definitely planning to test this one. Black isn't quite as well-positioned for this effect compared to red, but the menace and ward are also pretty big upgrades. Definitely testing it, expecting it to stick around a while.

Feels a bit outta color pie to me, but I guess spells matter is five color in the set. Card's super powerful-- not better than Young Pyromancer, but has a ton of upsides for one more mana.

Evasion makes it a pretty good aggro card, and to remove it, you have to bolt yourself. The life gain on pests starts to really matter here. It reminds me of Woe Strider as a 3-drop that does it all.

Really enjoy this card. I’ll make room for it behind Ophiomancer, Flesh Carver, Murderous Rider, and Opposition Agent. That means I’ll be cutting either Drana or New Nighthawk, maybe both and add another instant/sorcery?

I am not certain where this compares to the other black e drops, i know its good, but im not sure it makes the cut in my 410.

I'll try to temper my excitement for a FREAKIN' BLACK YOUNG PYROMANCER... ahem.

As mentioned above, taking advantage of this effect is harder in Black than in Red. And for decks which are primarily interested in the triggered ability, costing 1 more is a real downside... But each trigger is stronger. The tokens are more abusable in Black. Black has Snuff Out and Dark Ritual. The Witch herself is a nontrivial attacker. And even on the off-chance that the card isn't an all-star in your current cube configuration, it opens the door for Spells Matter and Storm support in the future. Yep, I'm slamming this card into my cube.

cackles in Grixis

This card is almost certainly an unpowered staple, and is probably very good in powered cubes as well. I really like this card in R/B Dreadhorde Arcanist decks utilizing Thoughtseize effects to fuel the arcanist's ability. While I'm not saying this card needs arcanist to be good (far from it, this card is great), it does provide another premium spells enabler for the R/B color combination, which is something worth thinking about.

This is a really easy include and is probably staying in the cube for a long time to come. I just hope it isn't $40 at launch.

I like this card.

I've learned to suspend my judgment on cards like this - my instinct is that our black section is actually not really geared for using Magecraft effectively, and I suspect this will probably be a secret Dimir card. Or maybe Rakdos with lots of burn. Menace and Ward definitely seem to favor the aggressive approach.

It has a lot going for it. I think even if you Magecraft once or twice it is good already, and can fit BR aggro (tokens are good against mirrors, Menace against mid/control).

I just dont feel happy removing Drana for this, as she is better as an aggro topper with the better evasion and anthem.

I think it compares pretty favourably to Young Peezy-

Pros

• 2/1 for 1R is really basement acceptable stats, 3/2 Menace for 2B is better as a baseline.
• Young Pyromancer often can't attack profitably, with 1 toughness. Menace doubles the chance of being able to attack favourably and it can swing into 1/1 tokens/Elves
• Witch's trigger tokens are slightly better with the dies trigger
• It's minor, but Magecraft also triggers off copies for stuff like Chain of Smog combo shenanigans if you are into supporting that (I won't most likely)
• Witch gives you a free Bolt to the face in response to removal/theft/activated abilties, Pyro has no such protection
• Black has a lot of broken instants/sorceries, so it should play nicely across archetypes, and happily it doesn't cost 1BB so it will slot into the other U/x, R/x, Jeskai spells matter decks easily

Cons

• Pyromancer being 1 less means it's easier to follow up with a cheap spell same turn
• Red is more of a traditional spells matter colour, I have more support in that colour for sure
• Black 3's is a hyper competitive slot, more so than red 2's

Definitely excited to try out both in Grixis (or URwb if I'm greedy) spellslinger...

I have 23 cards in black alone (22 in my black section plus dismember which slots as colorless) that trigger this in my 465. I like this in rakdos aggro a lot, especially if you're on the play and can wait till after this is in play to use your thoughtseize effects.

My guess is this will settle as a 450 card. I probably won't run it at 360.

It's very good, but I'm confident it is below both Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor.
I actually think the later is a better comparison because they are the same CMC and in competitive slots in colors that aren't the best at spells matters. Mentor is better because:
1) It triggers on any non-creature, not just instant/sorc, which is a big upgrade
2) Having prowess on a token is a massively bigger upside than gaining one life when the token dies. The later is usually almost flavor text, while prowess means tokens can be attacking for 2,3 or even 4 per turn.

With the prowess on mentor as well, I think the base creature is already attacking for as much as the witch on average as well.
The witch does have some upsides like the ward and menace, but I don't think this makes up for the huge advantages of #1 and especially #2

Quote from IMorphling89 »

My guess is this will settle as a 450 card. I probably won't run it at 360.

It's very good, but I'm confident it is below both Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor.
I actually think the later is a better comparison because they are the same CMC and in competitive slots in colors that aren't the best at spells matters. Mentor is better because:
1) It triggers on any non-creature, not just instant/sorc, which is a big upgrade
2) Having prowess on a token is a massively bigger upside than gaining one life when the token dies. The later is usually almost flavor text, while prowess means tokens can be attacking for 2,3 or even 4 per turn.

With the prowess on mentor as well, I think the base creature is already attacking for as much as the witch on average as well.
The witch does have some upsides like the ward and menace, but I don't think this makes up for the huge advantages of #1 and especially #2

While I definitely agree that Mentor is way better, this analysis feels like perfect being the enemy of good. Yes, they are comparable, and you’re probably correct that this won’t crack very many 360 lists, but saying it isn’t as good as Mentor shouldn’t disqualify it. The fact it’s even comparable should be something in this cards favor, if nothing else.

Quote from appleberryblast »

Quote from IMorphling89 »

My guess is this will settle as a 450 card. I probably won't run it at 360.

It's very good, but I'm confident it is below both Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor.
I actually think the later is a better comparison because they are the same CMC and in competitive slots in colors that aren't the best at spells matters. Mentor is better because:
1) It triggers on any non-creature, not just instant/sorc, which is a big upgrade
2) Having prowess on a token is a massively bigger upside than gaining one life when the token dies. The later is usually almost flavor text, while prowess means tokens can be attacking for 2,3 or even 4 per turn.

With the prowess on mentor as well, I think the base creature is already attacking for as much as the witch on average as well.
The witch does have some upsides like the ward and menace, but I don't think this makes up for the huge advantages of #1 and especially #2

While I definitely agree that Mentor is way better, this analysis feels like perfect being the enemy of good. Yes, they are comparable, and you’re probably correct that this won’t crack very many 360 lists, but saying it isn’t as good as Mentor shouldn’t disqualify it. The fact it’s even comparable should be something in this cards favor, if nothing else.

Thanks - seems like you're basically agreeing with my conclusion that this makes 450 card lists but probably not most 360 card lists?
I certainly don't disqualify the card by saying it looks like it probably makes 450 lists but not 360 ones. That evaluation still places it as one of the best cards in the set. 360 lists are super tight at this point.

Thanks - seems like you're basically agreeing with my conclusion that this makes 450 card lists but probably not most 360 card lists?
I certainly don't disqualify the card by saying it looks like it probably makes 450 lists but not 360 ones. That evaluation still places it as one of the best cards in the set. 360 lists are super tight at this point.

Yup, we agree! For some reason my first read of your response was taken as more critical than it was actually worded.

Of note, black has big opportunity to dip more into Aristocrats type decks, and this adds an option to that style of deck!! Too bad Midnight reaper reads nontoken creatures... Even if it adds a bit of fodder and life gain to Recurring Nightmare decks, that's useful.

Powerful card, but a little lower on it than most..
Doesn't slot well into any of the common black archetypes.
Solid splash card or good in UB tempo.

I haven't been impressed with young pyromancer in cube for a lot of reasons and this is a mana extra.
The 3/2 menace body and built in protection is far from flavour text though.

Def wouldn't play this any lower than 540, but easily worth a test.

Quote from LucidVision »

Doesn't slot well into any of the common black archetypes.

That's kinda the same with Monastery Mentor where it didn't fit into white aggro, tokens (this technically is a tokens card, but you don;t play it too much in those decks), flicker, or taxes. But it still performed very well in cube because its incredibly powerful and could be easily splashed into a Blue-Red or Red-Black spells matters deck.

Honestly, I don't think this looks great, but Agadeem's Awakening has been so disappointing that I'd be happy to try this out as another aggro beater and token-producer in black instead. Just the possibility of being a decent aggro threat, a midrange token producer, and a possible UB control payoff excites me enough that I think this is worth the test. Black 3s are good but they certainly aren't stacked enough not to test this

Very excited to have an effect like this in black. I hope it performs well.