I’m a big advocate for the power of the 4 mana wrath, but this one’s a bridge too far for me. I’m fine dedicating a slot like this to being the payoff for a single archetype, but this isn’t the kind of card that will draw people in. It will always wheel and be a fine role-player when the deck comes together (and I’m not convinced it will even be better than traditional wrath there, two color drafters tend to skimp on fixing). But unless this deck is a real draw that shows up in more than half your drafts, this card looks like it will go unplayed too often.
I personally like this card less than Ghor-Clan Rampager, although maybe I’m underestimating the value of mono-green getting a way to fight planeswalkers. Either way this isn’t the Gruul ace we’ve been looking for.
I really want to like this. It more or less demands you be the beatdown, which might make it too narrow, but if you’re not pressuring Domri it will find a way to ruin your day. I have dreams of curving this directly into a hasty titan or Kalonian Hydra. It fills a similar but opposite role to Sarkhan Vol, since this is fantastic on an empty board but doesn’t to much to improve your existing creatures. It doesn’t really have great pedigree though... the card unfortunately reminds me quite a bit of Kiora, Master of the Depths aka one of the most disappointing misses in recent memory for me. I think this card is an improvement in several important ways, but the comp is not encouraging.
Well, it flunks the comparison to Hallowed Spiritkeeper miserably. You basically need to have a massive or otherwise low-powered cube before this starts to look remotely attractive.
The pump is a super important part of Fires’s value, but I still think this is an overall better card. Not being able to counter creatures is a big deal for control decks in a format short on wrath effects. The +1/+1 counter option is also super nice for creatures that already have haste, with good abilities, a counter theme, etc.
I got burned by the expertise cycle, but cube does have some pretty sick and twisted stuff to be able to flash into play. Draw 7s, reanimation spells, and control magics are all nasty, but even just EOT Fireballing your opponent’s face, dropping a big threat, untapping, and casting a finisher will win games out of nowhere.
This card is going to require a lot of testing to figure out, because it’s hard to gauge how well casting a fireball and your other spells will best sync up, particularly when you’re trying to kill creatures or planeswalkers with it. It’ll almost certainly create some very exciting moments.
Really not too much to say about this. The recursion is a bit slower and more conditional than it’s peers, but it’s still an easy inclusion for any black aggro supporters.
I like Pitiless Pontiff much better than the Bell-Haunt. Cartel Aristocrat is better for shenanigans, but Pontiff just makes ground combat an impossible proposition. Bell-Haunt just isn’t impressive enough on raw power for such a nightmare mana cost.
As far as split cards go, the Azorius one seems like it has a nice play pattern, but the others just seem like a poor fit for peasant.
I guess we’re really desperate for some true Gruul powerhouses, but I’m not seeing it at all. Glorybringer does much of the work that this does at 5 mana in a mono-colored slot, and even that’s not necessarily a staple. The LD clause is highly situational, and the body lacks the raw power of a card you want to rival a Titan. Even the haste is a bit gimped by the fact that this will probably have damage marked on it headed into combat.
Simic in Peasant tends to operate a lot at instant speed in my experience, so I think this card definitely deserves some attention. Rarely do we get a noncreature with such a sweeping and swingy effect these days.
Compare this to a traditional super-ramp card like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Sure, Kozilek is a better 10-drop, but it’s not that much better.
Kozilek is a Cheaty Face (Oath of Druids / Sneak Attack / Show and Tell / Eureka) / Channel payoff. I think it's much better than this.
I wouldn’t vouch for this card if I thought it were solely playable in ramp. I can think of a lot of Bant and Sultai midrange decks where I’d have loved to have an effect like this. It’s not an unfair card, just a fair one that is very good at going over the top.
I’m a bit surprised by tentativeness on this board. I personally think this card is fantastic and want to try it out immediately. I’ve heard the arguments on every card like this before: not blinkable or recurrable, not elite at any point on the curve, not a good candidate for cheating into play, etc. I get it, yet every time the X spells are better than we give them credit for, and we still disrespect them.
I’m going to cast this as a 4 and 5 drop a lot, and I’m going to be happy with it. No, it’s not Mulldrifter at that point. Yes, it’s still a 2-for-1 that impacts the board and makes good use of your turn. At any point past that, this card is fantastic in just about any situation. It’s a massive threat that gets you value no matter what, and more importantly, gives you time to make use of that value. Compare this to a traditional super-ramp card like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Sure, Kozilek is a better 10-drop, but it’s not that much better. And this is a card you can play all the way on down the curve no matter how much ramp you have. I’d happily play it in any UGx deck planning to reach 6 mana at some point. In my experience, that’s a lot of decks.
Also, what do you have to lose? Simic has like 1 1/2 cards that are actually worth the slot, and there’s very little worth playing in one of the most popular Simic archetypes, ramp.
First of all, I just want to say how much I adore the design of this card. They managed to create a planeswalker that doesn’t act like a control card but conveys the atmosphere of control. All the abilities make sense and are a fantastic story fit, and all the while pulling off the trick of being a fair and fun 3 mana walker. Slam dunk.
As for cube, the best comp I can think of for this card would be something like Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. They both slowly take over the game when left to their own devices, pose a real threat when you’re ahead, and have attainable, powerful ultimates. Their bane is that they both support archetypes that aren’t the most popular in their color combinations and aren’t good at swinging a losing game back in your favor.
I’ve played enough Leonin Relic-Warders to not discount this entirely, but you need to come correct to break into the best group of 3-drops in all of cube, and 1 power doesn’t get there.
This card is going to require a lot of testing to figure out, because it’s hard to gauge how well casting a fireball and your other spells will best sync up, particularly when you’re trying to kill creatures or planeswalkers with it. It’ll almost certainly create some very exciting moments.
As far as split cards go, the Azorius one seems like it has a nice play pattern, but the others just seem like a poor fit for peasant.
Am I missing something?
I wouldn’t vouch for this card if I thought it were solely playable in ramp. I can think of a lot of Bant and Sultai midrange decks where I’d have loved to have an effect like this. It’s not an unfair card, just a fair one that is very good at going over the top.
I’m going to cast this as a 4 and 5 drop a lot, and I’m going to be happy with it. No, it’s not Mulldrifter at that point. Yes, it’s still a 2-for-1 that impacts the board and makes good use of your turn. At any point past that, this card is fantastic in just about any situation. It’s a massive threat that gets you value no matter what, and more importantly, gives you time to make use of that value. Compare this to a traditional super-ramp card like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Sure, Kozilek is a better 10-drop, but it’s not that much better. And this is a card you can play all the way on down the curve no matter how much ramp you have. I’d happily play it in any UGx deck planning to reach 6 mana at some point. In my experience, that’s a lot of decks.
Also, what do you have to lose? Simic has like 1 1/2 cards that are actually worth the slot, and there’s very little worth playing in one of the most popular Simic archetypes, ramp.
As for cube, the best comp I can think of for this card would be something like Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. They both slowly take over the game when left to their own devices, pose a real threat when you’re ahead, and have attainable, powerful ultimates. Their bane is that they both support archetypes that aren’t the most popular in their color combinations and aren’t good at swinging a losing game back in your favor.