@Al I think your wrong on your opinon about Ulvenwald Captive. Im not sure about the fliprules, but if you use it to pay for itself its tapped. And does flipping use the stack? If so youd telegraph the flip a full turn if your plan is to flip it on opp end step that it probably wont survive. And no, CC2 mana dorks are horrible in powered cubes especially in green. I cubed Werebear for years which is sooo much better, and finally its not even in my tier2 cube anymore because its so bad.
A 1/2 is just so useless, even without defender.
For "6" or 7 (actually its 9..) i expect something better than a vanilla 4/6 which it basically is. Compare to Villagers of Estwald
And I definitely dont think its worse because of its mana ability, I just ignore it. Actually I think than in the Innistrad limited its a pretty solild card because it ramps you into even more expensive cards, but for cubes, even slower ones. MEH
For slower cubes its a perfectly acceptable card. Its primary use is being a 2 cost mana dork, which are not great in general, but I wouldn't say they are terrible either. The ability to transform just provides you with a mana sink if you have nothing better to do. Also, one major upside it has over Werebear is the second point of toughness. Mana dorks in general are very susceptible to split damage / pingers, and this one doesn't just die to a 1 damage ping.
Rampant not only fixes your mana, it also thins your library and fills your gy. But speaking about my tier1, Rampant Growth is almost unplayable. You cant afford to skip your second turn for an additional land drop. And why should I, we have Sakura-Tribe Elder and Viridian Emissary and Wall of Roots and 6? 1 drop mana elves, Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl. There is infinite better ramp available. Even the Myr are better, because theyre colorless cost is more flexible.
Ofc its deck depending, but on regular the time youre going to flip Captive you also have treshold, especially since gy support is on the rise. And bear is immedediately a 4/4 even as topdeck.
Looking from another angle, the closest competitor to captive i run is Elvish Aberration, which I still like more because its not weak to removal, thins your deck, and can fix your green. And theyre also is Wirewood Guardian which has a better body for the same (flip) cost. The downside, they dont directly ramp and cant block if used for "mana". The question is, what do i rate higher. The flexibilty of captive or the reliabilty of landcycling. I guess Ill stick to the cycler, but it makes captive look a little better.
I tend to agree. I have Werebear in my cube primarily for graveyard matters decks with black. Ramp is secondary. I'm still not sold on the captive. He isn't a dead draw late game like a Llanowar Elf, but that is it.
Ok, hear me out. Now essentially the Captive is a wierd hybrid of those cards where it takes away the Werewolf mechanic and makes it a manual, pricy action; think Level Up. I am not in love with any of these cards, but the Villagers of Estwald has been in my cube forever because it is a fine filler that does some work when there is the right timing. Captive may do the same. I will never put it in the top 10 picms from a pack... but for Sealed or the later turns of pack 3 where your cards dry up, there are worse things.
Defender was not necessary, but I think they wanted a strict mana creature like Vine Trellis, but could not bring themselves to have an Eldrazi Horror Wall.
If this guy acts like your Rampant Growth, but dies to Firebolt, so be it. That is somewhat ok. If it helps you get a turn 3 4cc beater and then a few turns later jumps in the fight when you have nothing relevant, that is cool too. Never better than Borderline. However, I think I will test such a mess of a card and find out it works when it needs to and adds variety to my cube built on being more interactive.
PS: I still acknowledge how bad it really looks on paper.
It is a reprint and the only thing going for it is that cheap, cheap cost of U. I don't really see room for it in a powered cube or even my own mess of a cube.
It is a reprint and the only thing going for it is that cheap, cheap cost of U. I don't really see room for it in a powered cube or even my own mess of a cube.
I was thinking it could have a spot in spells matters, because it protects your few threats. But yeah, its probably way too niche.
strictly better ironclaw orcs.
this could also lead to red bears with upsides in the future. i believe in the powercreep.
but the powerlevel of the cards is really awkward anyway. look at Ishkanah, Grafwidow, if it wasnt a legends it could easily be a common as well and id probably wont run it in tier1
strictly better ironclaw orcs.
this could also lead to red bears with upsides in the future. i believe in the powercreep.
but the powerlevel of the cards is really awkward anyway. look at Ishkanah, Grafwidow, if it wasnt a legends it could easily be a common as well and id probably wont run it in tier1
There's no reason for hyperbole. 5 mana for up to 6/11 worth of power over 4 bodies with a mana sink attached may not crack standard or rare cubes but is crazy good in most limited formats.
Its a slightly worse color shifted Knightly Valor. If you don't already cube Knightly Valor, then I doubt this will make the cut. Green has better pump auras as it is. The only upside to this being green is that green actually has hexproof creatures, whereas white does not.
Yeah, the Wolfkin Bond is meh. If it gave trample it might be more tempting. You would hopefully be able to get at least one turns worth of damage through if your opponent had a removal spell ready to go once they untapped.
There has been a couple of uncommon cards spoiled so far that could of been commons in days gone past. Noose Constrictor is a Wild Mongrel with reach swapped for changing colour. It would of been a great addition for more madness support. I would also prefer the Mongrel in most situations due to the potential to protect yourself from black removal.
Olivia's Dragoon seems good. Black desperately needed a playable discard outlet. Not nearly as good as Wild Mongrel, but Black 2 drops are pretty weak, so it will definitely make the cut for me.
I agree. This comes out early so you can start discarding sooner rather than later and a bear body is always ok. I'm liking both the black common 2 drops so far. They both fill roles I've been looking for in black. They aren't super exciting but quite acceptable. A 1B 2/2 with upside seems pretty rare for black.
I dig that you can get him out first turn for potential second turn Gorgon shenanigans, but his base stats are pretty runk. I guess he can also be a better late game draw if you have threshold.
A 1/2 is just so useless, even without defender.
For "6" or 7 (actually its 9..) i expect something better than a vanilla 4/6 which it basically is. Compare to Villagers of Estwald
And I definitely dont think its worse because of its mana ability, I just ignore it. Actually I think than in the Innistrad limited its a pretty solild card because it ramps you into even more expensive cards, but for cubes, even slower ones. MEH
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Ofc its deck depending, but on regular the time youre going to flip Captive you also have treshold, especially since gy support is on the rise. And bear is immedediately a 4/4 even as topdeck.
Looking from another angle, the closest competitor to captive i run is Elvish Aberration, which I still like more because its not weak to removal, thins your deck, and can fix your green. And theyre also is Wirewood Guardian which has a better body for the same (flip) cost. The downside, they dont directly ramp and cant block if used for "mana". The question is, what do i rate higher. The flexibilty of captive or the reliabilty of landcycling. I guess Ill stick to the cycler, but it makes captive look a little better.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
AL compared Rampant Growth to Captive and I referred to his statement. In case you missed that.
And Abberation is the closest thing to Captive in my cubes. Early its fixing, later a threat.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
My singleton Masters Cube
Ok, hear me out. Now essentially the Captive is a wierd hybrid of those cards where it takes away the Werewolf mechanic and makes it a manual, pricy action; think Level Up. I am not in love with any of these cards, but the Villagers of Estwald has been in my cube forever because it is a fine filler that does some work when there is the right timing. Captive may do the same. I will never put it in the top 10 picms from a pack... but for Sealed or the later turns of pack 3 where your cards dry up, there are worse things.
Defender was not necessary, but I think they wanted a strict mana creature like Vine Trellis, but could not bring themselves to have an Eldrazi Horror Wall.
If this guy acts like your Rampant Growth, but dies to Firebolt, so be it. That is somewhat ok. If it helps you get a turn 3 4cc beater and then a few turns later jumps in the fight when you have nothing relevant, that is cool too. Never better than Borderline. However, I think I will test such a mess of a card and find out it works when it needs to and adds variety to my cube built on being more interactive.
PS: I still acknowledge how bad it really looks on paper.
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T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
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I was thinking it could have a spot in spells matters, because it protects your few threats. But yeah, its probably way too niche.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Bearly playable.
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this could also lead to red bears with upsides in the future. i believe in the powercreep.
but the powerlevel of the cards is really awkward anyway. look at Ishkanah, Grafwidow, if it wasnt a legends it could easily be a common as well and id probably wont run it in tier1
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
There's no reason for hyperbole. 5 mana for up to 6/11 worth of power over 4 bodies with a mana sink attached may not crack standard or rare cubes but is crazy good in most limited formats.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
There has been a couple of uncommon cards spoiled so far that could of been commons in days gone past. Noose Constrictor is a Wild Mongrel with reach swapped for changing colour. It would of been a great addition for more madness support. I would also prefer the Mongrel in most situations due to the potential to protect yourself from black removal.
My singleton Masters Cube
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
My singleton Masters Cube
My singleton Masters Cube
My singleton Masters Cube