White's take on Baleful Mastery. Generally better than Declaration in Stone unless you're hitting tokens / clones, and is generally more useful than something like Journey to Nowhere. Being an instant is really nice, a lot of white's removal that can hit planeswalkers are sorceries. Will be jamming this for sure.
Flexible removal is good for both aggressive/ control strategies - Aggressive decks could focus more in winning more via tempo than trying to be as non-interactive as possible.
This is a play pattern I really like.
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Hot take: the casket is empty because Olivia had Edgar Markov exhumed and reanimated. She is going to marry his zombie corpse in crimson vow so that she can gain control (through marriage) the Markov name and usurp control of the plane .. BOOM!
I think this might depend on walker density. Without many ways to get walkers out of the yard, the exile vs destroy there isn’t as relevant as it might be to creatures. I also think the clue is the easiest drawback to swallow on the suite of cheap white removal, or cheap removal in general, as it requires them to spend mana to achieve the reward. Im happy to be spending 1 generic to hit walkers and have a manageable drawback.
I really love this spell, and appreciate more walker-hate at low rates. This will be going in for me.
This is a pretty disappointing instantiation of the long expected “W removal that gives a clue” concept.
Pros:
Instant
Hits PWs
Cons:
2 cmc
Destroy instead of exile
Giving a clue is some pretty real downside as well. Especially with hole, ending, and solitude recently I just have no interest in this — it’s okay but W has a plethora of better (1 cmc and/or card neutral) removal.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I'm not sold on this one but I think the art might be biasing me. Not a fan.
Instant speed is great but I'm agreeing with Sliver Lord that destroy is a real downside. It beats O-ring variants but I prefer Council's Judgment to it.
Council's Judgement is great, but it's a sorcery, and costs 3. I feel like this plays a somewhat different role. In comparison to Winds of Abandon or Declaration in Stone this is great. Destroy vs exile is not that big a deal imo.
Council's Judgement is great, but it's a sorcery, and costs 3. I feel like this plays a somewhat different role. In comparison to Winds of Abandon or Declaration in Stone this is great. Destroy vs exile is not that big a deal imo.
I already don't cube with those though. I guess for me the comparison is probably Unexpectedly Absent and missing more card types is a point against this even if it is more reliable.
It's good (I have been loving Baleful Mastery and this is very similar) but I don't run much pure removal in white and it's top tier spells are excellent. It probably pushes the last traditional O-Ring out of my list because it can hit walkers but it's in a precarious position.
Edit: I take it back because I had already planned to cut O-Ring when I pick up a Skyclave Apparition. Card is very good but unless it beats out Unexpectedly Absent it's not going to make it for me because I can't imagine cutting anything else for a removal spell at this point.
P.S. Sorry for going off topic and talking about my own list. Hard to evaluate cards without doing that because I have no experience designing above 360 and I don't like making proclamations about things being good for bigger sizes when I don't really know.
I'm in the same boat. I have 270 unpowered cube and that means my list is super tight. I'm not really looking for more removal and this doesn't strictly beat anything that I'm already running. The big ticket for me is that this is an instant unconditional 2cmc removal spell, if I decide to push spells matter into white I could see myself potentially running this.
Overall I think this is a great card to have as a option for any cube designer. Happy to see it printed.
I would definitely rather play:
StP
Absent
Judgement
Oust
Solitude
Hole
Path
Ending
Skyclave
Brutal cathar
Winds
and possibly rather play stuff like o-rings, journey, or declaration.
There’s a lot of great W removal that isn’t guaranteed card disadvantage, if this was 1 mana, exiled, or even could hit one more card type maybe we’d be talking.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I would definitely rather play:
StP
Absent
Judgement
Oust
Solitude
Hole
Path
Ending
Skyclave
Brutal cathar
Winds
and possibly rather play stuff like o-rings, journey, or declaration.
There’s a lot of great W removal that isn’t guaranteed card disadvantage, if this was 1 mana, exiled, or even could hit one more card type maybe we’d be talking.
Many of these cards you mention can't answer an Oko, LOTV, Grist, Dack Fayden, etc. A clue token your opponent has to waste 2 mana on is worth it for White to have an answer to cards like those, in addition to nearly every cube creature.
I would definitely rather play:
StP
Absent
Judgement
Oust
Solitude
Hole
Path
Ending
Skyclave
Brutal cathar
Winds
and possibly rather play stuff like o-rings, journey, or declaration.
There’s a lot of great W removal that isn’t guaranteed card disadvantage, if this was 1 mana, exiled, or even could hit one more card type maybe we’d be talking.
Many of these cards you mention can't answer an Oko, LOTV, Grist, Dack Fayden, etc. A clue token your opponent has to waste 2 mana on is worth it for White to have an answer to cards like those, in addition to nearly every cube creature.
Sure fateful abscence can answer those cards... but how much of a selling point is that? It's clearly better than letting the opponent snowball out of control, but is 3 for 1ing yourself against a 3 mana planeswalker a winning strategy?
That kind of reasoning is why I'm not high on this card. It's best exchanges(expensive planeswalkers and baneslayer type cards) are merely tolerable exchanges. Better than dying , some positive mana exchange and breathing room to hopefully deploy your own must answer threat.
On the flip side, there are many board states where it's atrocious, either a useless answer or gross card disadvantage.. Like a flurry of small creatures, wurmcoil engine, ramping -> upheavel/time spiral, reanimation targets with ETB's, indestructable creatures.
I’d estimate a clue Is worth slightly Less than ~3/4 of one card as a rule of thumb. Half a card if I was being generous.
It's a significant difference.
Y'all are way overstating how bad a drawback giving a Clue is. And this card is much better than Winds of Abandon.
This. Things like Path to Exile / Assassin's Trophy / Beast Within do the work for your opponent, and the first two are very commonly played in cubes. I cubed a lot with Declaration with Stone and it's by far the least egregious drawback, especially in the early game where they have to choose between tempo and cashing in on the clue.
Really happy to have a white doom blade of sorts. Going to be cutting Unexpectedly Absent for this. I also think Winds of Abandon is still better than this, but its pretty damn good.
I would definitely rather play:
StP
Absent
Judgement
Oust
Solitude
Hole
Path
Ending
Skyclave
Brutal cathar
Winds
and possibly rather play stuff like o-rings, journey, or declaration.
There’s a lot of great W removal that isn’t guaranteed card disadvantage, if this was 1 mana, exiled, or even could hit one more card type maybe we’d be talking.
Many of these cards you mention can't answer an Oko, LOTV, Grist, Dack Fayden, etc. A clue token your opponent has to waste 2 mana on is worth it for White to have an answer to cards like those, in addition to nearly every cube creature.
These cards are answered by savannah lions. The PW rider isn’t nothing but it’s not exactly crucial for W.
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White's take on Baleful Mastery. Generally better than Declaration in Stone unless you're hitting tokens / clones, and is generally more useful than something like Journey to Nowhere. Being an instant is really nice, a lot of white's removal that can hit planeswalkers are sorceries. Will be jamming this for sure.
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Flexible removal is good for both aggressive/ control strategies - Aggressive decks could focus more in winning more via tempo than trying to be as non-interactive as possible.
This is a play pattern I really like.
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4. Matchup Analysis
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Instant speed is awsome as is it's flexibility for it's cost, but Exile >> Destroy and the clue is a very real downside.
I think baleful mastery is slightly better, and that spell is low tier cubeable.
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I really love this spell, and appreciate more walker-hate at low rates. This will be going in for me.
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Pros:
Instant
Hits PWs
Cons:
2 cmc
Destroy instead of exile
Giving a clue is some pretty real downside as well. Especially with hole, ending, and solitude recently I just have no interest in this — it’s okay but W has a plethora of better (1 cmc and/or card neutral) removal.
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Instant speed is great but I'm agreeing with Sliver Lord that destroy is a real downside. It beats O-ring variants but I prefer Council's Judgment to it.
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I already don't cube with those though. I guess for me the comparison is probably Unexpectedly Absent and missing more card types is a point against this even if it is more reliable.
It's good (I have been loving Baleful Mastery and this is very similar) but I don't run much pure removal in white and it's top tier spells are excellent.
It probably pushes the last traditional O-Ring out of my list because it can hit walkers but it's in a precarious position.Edit: I take it back because I had already planned to cut O-Ring when I pick up a Skyclave Apparition. Card is very good but unless it beats out Unexpectedly Absent it's not going to make it for me because I can't imagine cutting anything else for a removal spell at this point.
P.S. Sorry for going off topic and talking about my own list. Hard to evaluate cards without doing that because I have no experience designing above 360 and I don't like making proclamations about things being good for bigger sizes when I don't really know.
Overall I think this is a great card to have as a option for any cube designer. Happy to see it printed.
StP
Absent
Judgement
Oust
Solitude
Hole
Path
Ending
Skyclave
Brutal cathar
Winds
and possibly rather play stuff like o-rings, journey, or declaration.
There’s a lot of great W removal that isn’t guaranteed card disadvantage, if this was 1 mana, exiled, or even could hit one more card type maybe we’d be talking.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Many of these cards you mention can't answer an Oko, LOTV, Grist, Dack Fayden, etc. A clue token your opponent has to waste 2 mana on is worth it for White to have an answer to cards like those, in addition to nearly every cube creature.
Sure fateful abscence can answer those cards... but how much of a selling point is that? It's clearly better than letting the opponent snowball out of control, but is 3 for 1ing yourself against a 3 mana planeswalker a winning strategy?
That kind of reasoning is why I'm not high on this card. It's best exchanges(expensive planeswalkers and baneslayer type cards) are merely tolerable exchanges. Better than dying , some positive mana exchange and breathing room to hopefully deploy your own must answer threat.
On the flip side, there are many board states where it's atrocious, either a useless answer or gross card disadvantage.. Like a flurry of small creatures, wurmcoil engine, ramping -> upheavel/time spiral, reanimation targets with ETB's, indestructable creatures.
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It's a significant difference.
Last Updated 02/07/24
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This. Things like Path to Exile / Assassin's Trophy / Beast Within do the work for your opponent, and the first two are very commonly played in cubes. I cubed a lot with Declaration with Stone and it's by far the least egregious drawback, especially in the early game where they have to choose between tempo and cashing in on the clue.
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Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
These cards are answered by savannah lions. The PW rider isn’t nothing but it’s not exactly crucial for W.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).