Somebody mentioned Whip of Erebos. Also, Gideon untaps it and, yanno, I can think of worse ways for the inevitable white devotion lists to spend their bazillion mana each turn, even if Gideon arrives late to the untapping party. At least he might find some kitchen tables to hang out at after he completely wrecks a draft pod.
Interestingly, this is the only creature in the current Standard pool that destroys another creature as an EtB. That in and of itself makes it interesting with all sorts of things like, say, Whip of Erebos. The removal is pretty conditional, but there are *alot* of removal worthy creatures in Standard with mismatched P/T. Oh. And none of them are elves currently.
I've been thinking about this one most of the day, and it feels like Sultai would be the best way to go. I think. You get access to Den Protector/Deathmist package as well as cards like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Sidisi, Undead Vizier. You get Mystic, Caryatid, Wayfinder and Elvish Visionary to get the ball rolling early and cards like Silumgar's Sorcerer for a bit of control. Then to close things out you get the Whip of Erebos Hornet Queen shenanigans. The card that really ties it all together in my mind is Palace Siege. I know, I know...Its spendy and it doesn't have immediate impact, but sacrificing a Silumgar's Sorcerer for value, after countering a spell, and then returning it with Palace Siege seems awesome. Obviously the same is true with Elvish Visionary, Den Protector, etc. Throw in a very light smattering of Thoughtseize, Hero's Downfall, Murderous Cut...You've got a deck that seems better than the older whip decks that were proven to be competitive.
Just my 2 cents, for what its worth. I think there are tons of ways to utilize it, but I like the quasi-toolbox package offered by the Sultai color pairing.
I mentioned as much in the card thread, but I feel like Dictate of Karametra would be the enabler for this one to do some really special thing. Flash in Dictate at opponents EoT and now its possible for your X spell to potentially generate mana. With Restock/Den Protector, it might be possible to chain one Animist's Awakening into another...At that point I have no idea what you do. Cast Aurora and gain advantage through the fact that you have so many more permanents in play than the opponent? I dunno. But I do feel, for better or for worse, that Dictate is an important part of the equation to do anything silly with Animist's Awakening.
The jury is still out on HeWhoEatsChumpBlocks, but its worth mentioning that there has already been a white combat trick with an increased effect based on the Renown keyword. Should there be others like it, say a green pump spell that also gives trample if the target is renown, or a red spell that gives double strike if the target is renown...well then...we shall revisit him and perhaps rename him HeWhoEatsOpponents.
Overseer would be a welcome addition to the Standard pool. It also falls into the '+1/+1 counter' philosophy they've adopted of late. Also Eldrazi possibilities in BFZ could be artifact-centric. But I digress. Back to this card...
Maybe even something like Grave Strength? Satyr Wayfinder > 1/1 Hangarback Walker > Grave strength...I mean, we're not breaking any formats, but you could wind up with a 3/3 or 4/4 pretty reliably on T4 that spits out a few fliers when it dies. Throw in some cards like Deathmist Raptor, Den Protector, Bloodsoaked Champion, and the new Evolutionary Leap...Starts to look like a brew bubbling in the ol' pot.
I mean...Shrapnel Blast is still a card? Ghostfire Blade is a pretty reasonable card, but there weren't enough colorless...*coughartifactcough*...creatures to do anything with it. Maybe it works with something along those lines? I'm not seeing it unless they reprint something like Steel Overseer. Yanno tho, it does work off any counters, so I guess you could cast it for 2 and then buff it with Ajani, Mentor of Heroes or the like. Yeah...still not doing it for me.
I really like this card and have fond memories of playing in a bygone era when enchantments didn't have to be creatures to be relevant. I'd love for this to be a thing, but in the current state of Magic, cards that don't have an immediate impact have an uphill battle to work their way into constructed decklists. Maybe this is cheap enough and the effect strong enough to do the trick, but color me skeptical at the moment.
As others have mentioned, the probability math on flipping lands with the green spell is a sobering figure when you work it out using the usual land-to-spell ratio in an average deck. X=5 should hit 2 lands at a fairly reliable rate which is far from exciting. However, that doesn't take into account that the lands come into play untapped, assuming spell mastery, so even in that scenario you actually invested 4 mana instead of 6. Still not great, but much more reasonable. So, while I like the card, these sort of 'high ceiling, low floor' cards typically don't make the cut in constructed where variance is the bane of winning decklists.
I actually enjoy the combo potential much more than the 'fair game' potential of the card. Put a Dictate of Karametra and a Restock/Den Protector into the equation and you suddenly have the ability to vomit *alot* of lands onto the table and possibly generate more and more mana as you do it. Or maybe you go a different direction and use it to fuel something oddball like Aggressive Mining. Powerful and unique cards are generally at their best when they're in powerful and unique decklists.
Amusingly, this gets torched by Atarka and killed by a single wasp swarming around Hornet Queen. Also 7 drop creatures. Doesn't mean this guy is bad, but lots of decks have more game against it than you might initially consider. With Deathmist Raptor also being a pretty big thing, seems like this gentleman...err...gentlemental will be relegated to sideboard play.
Just kinda throwing that out there, but copying Kolagahn's Command or Crackling Doom is pretty ridiculous. Even just copying a Hordeling Outburst is pretty silly. Doubling Revel of the Fallen God makes for a pretty legit win con...5 mana is a whole bunch to invest, but with some of the tempo/CA built into some of Standard's current spells, doubling them could rapidly push a game out of reach. Traditionally cards like this haven't worked, but traditionally we haven't had a format defined by its 6, 7, and 8 drop permanents.
Truth be told, in this mana hungry Standard, I just wanna be the guy that casts 2x Demolish > flip Den Protector > 2x Demolish next turn.
I guess its been...Innistrad Humans?...since we had a relevant tribe in standard. So I'm okay with some of the elf/goblin shenanigans going on here. That being said, I hope this is just a pass through Tribal Town and not an extended stay throughout the BFZ block. I don't hate tribal themes...but its always felt like lazy design that leads to lazy deck building.
Eyeblight Massacre will certainly see sideboard play out of the inevitable elf deck.
I think Dark Dabbling is deceptively useful. Certainly strong in limited, if nothing else.
Swift Reckoning and Psychic Rebuttal have already been mentioned, but I agree with both those. Very solid effects for 2 mana.
...Now where did I put those Back to Natures...
Just my 2 cents, for what its worth. I think there are tons of ways to utilize it, but I like the quasi-toolbox package offered by the Sultai color pairing.
Maybe even something like Grave Strength? Satyr Wayfinder > 1/1 Hangarback Walker > Grave strength...I mean, we're not breaking any formats, but you could wind up with a 3/3 or 4/4 pretty reliably on T4 that spits out a few fliers when it dies. Throw in some cards like Deathmist Raptor, Den Protector, Bloodsoaked Champion, and the new Evolutionary Leap...Starts to look like a brew bubbling in the ol' pot.
I actually enjoy the combo potential much more than the 'fair game' potential of the card. Put a Dictate of Karametra and a Restock/Den Protector into the equation and you suddenly have the ability to vomit *alot* of lands onto the table and possibly generate more and more mana as you do it. Or maybe you go a different direction and use it to fuel something oddball like Aggressive Mining. Powerful and unique cards are generally at their best when they're in powerful and unique decklists.
Truth be told, in this mana hungry Standard, I just wanna be the guy that casts 2x Demolish > flip Den Protector > 2x Demolish next turn.