Calling a 3 mana 1/1 'developing the board' is an euphemism. A 2/1 can at least trade with a reasonable amount of creatures, but a 1/1 without evasion reads 'you gain 3 life' at best at that point of the game. Sure, it's better than nothing, but it doesn't add much to a 3 cmc card and I certainly wouldn't say that it's worth half a card.
You will however develop the board with the card you tutored up. I just wanted to point out that a body that blocks or may hold back 2/1 creatures will give you a better chance that you actually can play the card you tutored for in contrast to e.g. Diabolic Tutor.
Also, I don't see a reason why you would even tutor up value cards like Mulldrifter. The reason why they're good is that they provide good value for a low cost, but if you need 8 mana over two turns to play Mulldrifter with a 1/1 as a bonus then the ratio becomes terrible and you would have gotten more value by simply playing a 'real' three drop, even if it's one tier below Mulldrifter.
Mulldrifter is just an example for an overall good card. Btw, Mulldrifter on turn 5 or 7 is still good value for low cost. Maybe Mulldrifter was a bad example. Need removal: Palace Jailer; need tokens: Belfry Spitir; need a central archetype card: Elite Scaleguard ... and the list goes on. Its the flexability that males tutors good, the ability that you can react to a specific board state.
The reason why people aren't unhappy with Recruiter is that you always get something useful out of it, but I think if you are honest to yourself and ask yourself whether a decent 'real' three drop (like, say, Fire Imp or Cloudkin Seer) would have helped more in a specific situation the answer is 'yes' more than 50% of the time.
Sure, but if I need removal I would rather draw the Recruiter than Cloudkin Seer to tutor up for removal. If I play against a control deck I would rather have Imperial Recruiter than Fire Imp to tutor up for card-draw or pressure. I completely agree with you that the Recruiter is never the most mana efficient solution, but it is more often than not the best solution for the current situation on the board.
I don't think tutors are problematic or unfair at all in peasant. There are no two card insta kill combos like in constructed or even regular cube. I run all the Mirage tutors and Demonic Tutor and I would run more if there were any worth running. It's the easiest way to enable archetypes with only few playable, but important cards.
Agree ... and thats a reason I like tutors better in peasant than e.g. in powered cubes.
Also I think tutors create interesting decisions in drafting, deck-building and playing, which is something we value very high - of course, this an individual opinion.
Let us consider, do our cubes actually want good tutors? Peasant cube is about fair magic to me. You can do some nice synergy stuff in peasant cube, but nothing worth tutoring for in my opinion ... In fair magic the converted mana cost of a card matters, and playing 2/3 mana extra (for the tutor) to get a specific card is, in my opinion, not really fun.
The two arguments are contradictory or am I missing your point? Your are saying that the tutor targets are not powerful enough in a peasant environment and that its not fair to be able to search a card for 2-3 extra mana. For me I especially like in peasant that there are no targets that straight up win you the game and that tutoring just can give you efficient or synergistic cards. I like having that flexibility and tool-box feeling.
But rather than giving people the cards to find their 1 Blood Artist, I'd rather give them the option to draft Zulaport Cutthroat as well, or give them alternatives like Goblin Bombardment
Here I have to disagree but that is just a peronal cube building preference. Tutors give you redundancy in effects without having to dedicate redundant slots in your cube. I would rather have Blood Artist and Imperial Recruiter in my cube than Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, as the latter are kind of the same. The advantage of the Recruiter is that in one deck it is Blood Artist #2 and in another deck Mist Raven #2.
Tutors also require you to remember what is actually in your deck to play them effectively.
Sure, but you should have a rough outline of your drafted deck in your head anyways, shouldnt you?
Again, I kind of get what you are saying and maybe it is just personal preference. I like flexibility and I like redundancy and tutors can give you both. I do appreciate the discussion as I maybe biased since I played lots of unpowered cube and in this environment tutors are more powerful (and more unfair).
I get what you are saying, but I think comparing Imperial Recruiter to Diabolic Tutor is not entirely fair. Sure, Diabolic Tutor can get you anything but it costs 4 mana and double colored mana, which might sound like an obvious argument but has an important implication: non-creature tutors get very very bad the more expensive they are. They dont impact the board - you just change the tutor for the tutored card and if the tutor is very epensive that is all you do during that turn (and the tutored card sits in your hand). Menawhile, your opponent advances their board and/or attacks you. Although the Recruiter only gets you a subset of the cards Diabolic Tutor can get, it gives you a blocker that (to a certain) extent negates the disadvantages of tutor cards. I completely agree with you that the follow-up play (i.e. the creature you tutored for) has to be very good to justify all the effort and this is where testing will give me the required data.
I've never played Imperial Recruiter, but I've never been a big fan either. Without any way to abuse the etb ability it's just a bad Worldly Tutor, a card that is already pretty mediocre even in a color that is all about creatures. Don't see the value you get from Recruiter, simply running another 'real' three drop will be better in 90% of cases unless you somehow manage to draft a combo deck that needs a specific 2 power card (which is unlikely in peasant).
For me the Recruiter would be a value card as it can find cards like Palace Jailer, Mulldrifter, Ravenous Chupacabra, Riftwing Clodskate, etc.. Actually I was surprised how many valueable targets the Recruiter has in each color. Also note that compared to Worldly Tutor you get the creature immediately, which is a huge difference compared to putting the card on top of your library. Also a 1/1 body is valueable as a blocker, blink target, sac. outlet, etc..
Somehow I didnt realize that Imperial Recruiter got reprinted and is now affordable. I was looking through my list and to be honest the Recruiter has a lot of valuable targets (removal, token-generators, utility-creatures, etc.) and I consider including the card in my list.
Has anybody any expericne with the Recruiter in the peasant enviroment?
Sorry for weering off-topic, but what are our best options for flash creatures in blue, green and simic? And what are some "almost there" options?
After playing some WAR selaed and drafts I got a better view on the set and on some cards.
Although these experiences are fro WAR limited they surely can be translated into cube to a certain degree: Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor: brilliant card, creates bodies, card filerting and the static ability is very relevant. Narset, Parter of Veils: in the right deck she is way better than a draw two, although not getting a third activation in cube (lack of proliferation) hurts massively. The most important plus is that she only costs 3 mana. Angrath, Captain of Chaos: as pointed out by others, he is fine. His static ability is very strong though. Would be better if didnt amass 2 but instead just creates a 2/2 token. Samut, Tyrant Smasher: I do enjoy the card. Giving all your creatures haste is very dangerous for the opponent and the scry is a nice card filtering in a color combinations that really can struggle finding the correct mix of lands and spells. Dovin, hand of Control: He is good at what he does, which is buying time, but thats it. He doesnt create creatures and doesnt draw cards. He is a pure UW control card in my opinion.
I really like both new PW, not only because of their powerlevel but also because they are hybrid and interesting.
Dovin is very annoying for the opponent and buys you a lot of time. Just think about mythic Kiora.
Saheeli has a very good static ability and creates artifacts herself which you can turn into your best creature with her -2.
Strictly better Tendo Ice Bridge. For those who run colorless cards (including me) this is an interesting card. Also, in case other cards with energy will be playable, the card becomes even a little bit better.
Is it allowed to take the pictures from magiccards.info?
So this is about Land Tax, one of the classic cards.
I recently have the feeling that this card isnt as good as it was two or three years ago. I know that there are still awesome cards to combine with like Forbid but it seems like in the decks Land Tax fits there are just so much spells I would play before. Am I the only one?
Very interesting. Cards like Karakas will make all of my white decks but I dont want to give it a spot in my white section. I disagree with adding any fixing lands, though.
You will however develop the board with the card you tutored up. I just wanted to point out that a body that blocks or may hold back 2/1 creatures will give you a better chance that you actually can play the card you tutored for in contrast to e.g. Diabolic Tutor.
Mulldrifter is just an example for an overall good card. Btw, Mulldrifter on turn 5 or 7 is still good value for low cost. Maybe Mulldrifter was a bad example. Need removal: Palace Jailer; need tokens: Belfry Spitir; need a central archetype card: Elite Scaleguard ... and the list goes on. Its the flexability that males tutors good, the ability that you can react to a specific board state.
Sure, but if I need removal I would rather draw the Recruiter than Cloudkin Seer to tutor up for removal. If I play against a control deck I would rather have Imperial Recruiter than Fire Imp to tutor up for card-draw or pressure. I completely agree with you that the Recruiter is never the most mana efficient solution, but it is more often than not the best solution for the current situation on the board.
Agree ... and thats a reason I like tutors better in peasant than e.g. in powered cubes.
Also I think tutors create interesting decisions in drafting, deck-building and playing, which is something we value very high - of course, this an individual opinion.
The two arguments are contradictory or am I missing your point? Your are saying that the tutor targets are not powerful enough in a peasant environment and that its not fair to be able to search a card for 2-3 extra mana. For me I especially like in peasant that there are no targets that straight up win you the game and that tutoring just can give you efficient or synergistic cards. I like having that flexibility and tool-box feeling.
Here I have to disagree but that is just a peronal cube building preference. Tutors give you redundancy in effects without having to dedicate redundant slots in your cube. I would rather have Blood Artist and Imperial Recruiter in my cube than Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, as the latter are kind of the same. The advantage of the Recruiter is that in one deck it is Blood Artist #2 and in another deck Mist Raven #2.
Sure, but you should have a rough outline of your drafted deck in your head anyways, shouldnt you?
Again, I kind of get what you are saying and maybe it is just personal preference. I like flexibility and I like redundancy and tutors can give you both. I do appreciate the discussion as I maybe biased since I played lots of unpowered cube and in this environment tutors are more powerful (and more unfair).
For me the Recruiter would be a value card as it can find cards like Palace Jailer, Mulldrifter, Ravenous Chupacabra, Riftwing Clodskate, etc.. Actually I was surprised how many valueable targets the Recruiter has in each color. Also note that compared to Worldly Tutor you get the creature immediately, which is a huge difference compared to putting the card on top of your library. Also a 1/1 body is valueable as a blocker, blink target, sac. outlet, etc..
Has anybody any expericne with the Recruiter in the peasant enviroment?
Off my head: Bounding Krasis, Fleetfeather Cockatrice
The design is brilliant though.
Although these experiences are fro WAR limited they surely can be translated into cube to a certain degree:
Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor: brilliant card, creates bodies, card filerting and the static ability is very relevant.
Narset, Parter of Veils: in the right deck she is way better than a draw two, although not getting a third activation in cube (lack of proliferation) hurts massively. The most important plus is that she only costs 3 mana.
Angrath, Captain of Chaos: as pointed out by others, he is fine. His static ability is very strong though. Would be better if didnt amass 2 but instead just creates a 2/2 token.
Samut, Tyrant Smasher: I do enjoy the card. Giving all your creatures haste is very dangerous for the opponent and the scry is a nice card filtering in a color combinations that really can struggle finding the correct mix of lands and spells.
Dovin, hand of Control: He is good at what he does, which is buying time, but thats it. He doesnt create creatures and doesnt draw cards. He is a pure UW control card in my opinion.
Username was MagicFever
Thx
Dovin is very annoying for the opponent and buys you a lot of time. Just think about mythic Kiora.
Saheeli has a very good static ability and creates artifacts herself which you can turn into your best creature with her -2.
@Narvuntien: Raheeli feeds herself with artifacts
So this is about Land Tax, one of the classic cards.
I recently have the feeling that this card isnt as good as it was two or three years ago. I know that there are still awesome cards to combine with like Forbid but it seems like in the decks Land Tax fits there are just so much spells I would play before. Am I the only one?
Very interesting. Cards like Karakas will make all of my white decks but I dont want to give it a spot in my white section. I disagree with adding any fixing lands, though.