MTG Salvation

Quote from stonecrowe »

Less flexible targeting still outweighs a restrictive casting cost in my opinion.
If you have no creatures available or creatures too important to sac, Collateral Damage is the worst kind of dead weight in your hand.

Outside of corner cases like having a guttersnipe in play, there isn't a benefit to casting lava spike until the game is essentially over. Unless you're ending the game with zero creatures in play which would deny you the ability to cast it, the new bad burn spell is essentially offering you the same functionality (again, discounting corner cases) but offering you more salient corner cases to take advantage of (2 for 1ing yourself to kill a must answer creature)

That's kinda what I'm thinking too, actually.

Quote from majikian »

I just wouldn't run either of them. We're not exactly short for quality burn options.

Yeah. A while back someone asked about Blazing Salvo, and you (Majikian) listed off 30+ sub 3-mana burn spells all better than that... and I'm pretty sure the same basic list applies when discussing Collateral Damage.

I'm guilty for liking Collateral Damage enough to test it. Yeah it's going to be hell on earth when you topdeck the card on an empty board, but I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and see if it can surprise me.

I can't wait to see it used with an Unearthed Hellspark Elemental, or a Pyreheart Wolf that's eating removal, or Threaten and Mark of Mutiny, or Perilous Myr, etc. I want to see how it plays out before I dismiss it completely just because I'm intrigued by the card.

Considering the fact that I thought about, briefly... very briefly, Reckless Abandon, shows that I at least owe it to Collateral Damage to test it.

As much as I'm with you on Collateral Damage, it won't work with Hellspark Elemental. It'll just get exiled instead per how Unearth works. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not on board with giving it a shot. Fling has worked out pretty well for me, and I've got enough token-makers in the cube to give CD a spin.

I think you misunderstood me. I meant just getting another 3 damage out of Hellspark after combat the turn you Unearthed it, rather than letting it just die.

Indeed I did misunderstand you. My bad.

I wanted to post my experiences with Humble Defector, since I'm likely the only person trying it and this seemed like a good place to do so.

First, the good: Humble Defector is a pretty good card if you're not playing with it fairly. I've seen it be sacrificed to Thoughtpicker Witch and Mortarpod, and even gated with Stonecloaker. There's also some mild upside for passing it and then pinging it, or bouncing it, or Flame Jabbing it. It can be a 2/1 attacker until you have shenanigans and then activates.

Now, the bad: It has to be a 2/1 attacker until you have shenanigans, which has gotten to be pretty lousy these days. Even sometimes when you are using it unfairly, it's not super powerful. 1R to draw two cards next turn is good and there's the added versatility of being a creature, but it doesn't blow my socks off. Also, I don't run a lot of sacrificing effects compared to most people here.

Summary: Mileage may vary based on the number of 'cheating' effects you cube, but with enough of them, I think Humble Defector is just under the Torch Fiend level of playability: a 2/1 for 2 that can have good upside in the right circumstances.

EDIT: I think that under Torch Fiend level probably isn't good enough for my cube longterm, especially since drawing cards isn't in demand as much as destroying artifacts can be. But I'll be testing it for a while more.

It's enticing, in its own way. Not sure when I'll be able to test it though.

Anyone have any updates about how FRF are doing in their cube?

Heelcutter, Woereaper and Frost walker are great. Haven't had experience yet with Sabertooth.

Why has frost walker been good? I feel like x/1 creatures are just so vulnerable no?

If you clear the war for him one time, he deals 1/5th your opponent's life to them. And he gets to attack into an X/4.

Anyone with results on Orc Sureshot? It hasn't seen any action over here yet.

Quote from inscho »

Anyone with results on Orc Sureshot? It hasn't seen any action over here yet.

Sprout Swarm.

Yeah I saw him a couple times. He was good.

Turned Raise the Alarm into a removal spell.

How has Temur Sabertooth been for others? I never bothered to try it cuz it doesn't seem like value town to me.
I'd rather have a Cudgel Troll to be a "hard to kill" dude.
But of course it doesn't have the bounce ability.

The bounce ability is why you play him, the indestructible clause is the gravy that makes him strong. Evaluate him in that context and see if that's something you'd like to have in your green decks.

Anyone bother to test out Write into Being?