Overall I'm happy with it. Love the flavor/design behind Meld and Emerge, lots of fun stories being told on the cards. Hard to tell just by looking, but on the surface it looks like an interesting set for limited, which is how I'll experience most of the cards.
I think she's good, but the competition at the 4-drop slot is probably just too stiff in Standard atm given that she really wants to be played in the same spots as Collected Company does (i.e. beside all of those excellent 2-3 mana value dudes in Gx) and that's probably just a better card. So maybe post-rotation she picks up some slack left in its wake? Or maybe in the current Standard she'd be worthwhile in a similar Bant midrange deck that plays some of the good 2-3 mana dudes (thinking stuff like Advocate and Tracker) but doesn't want to run the requisite # needed to support CoCo.
On the casual side she's a great fit for my Bant-walkers control deck in EDH, where the first two abilities are ok and the ultimate is fantastic and quickly attainable.
Defensive pick a more concise expression for that ?
lol, given that the Magic community at large has been using the phrase "hate drafting" for almost 20 years now I'd say sticking with that is probably more useful than switching to another slightly more descriptive term that people won't be familiar with.
Add Infect to the list of Modern decks that she does serious work against. She kills all three of the creatures they typically run: Elf/Agent/Hierarch. Basically leaves them with Inkmoth as their only way to get the kill. Although on the draw she could be too slow if they have one of their own nut draws.
In an environment where her +1 actually kills stuff pretty regularly then she looks very appealing. Clearly that's not Standard at the moment, but maybe it could be eventually. Actually might be more regular targets in Modern, although she could just be too slow there.
Outside of that then I generally agree with you, probably playable in a midrangy Rock style deck, where her +1 kills stuff or lets your Advocates/Trackers/Recruiters/etc win early combats, and then her -2 combines with those types of efficient value-oriented green creatures to win the attrition game. Of course there is a lot of competition for slots in those goodstuff decks, so hard to tell without playtesting if she is worthy. Having more payoffs for filling up the yard would help some, with Grim Flayer being the most obvious candidate.
Definitely better than anticipated. Going in I assumed it was a Wx Humans card, but at this point I'd just call it a good card that happens to be at its best in that deck. Turns out +1/+1 and vigilance does enough that I'm happy to have one of these in most decks.
I can only speak to my own experiences with MTGO, which I have been playing a ton of over the past year, but for me it has worked very smoothly with minimal technical problems. And my internet connection is relatively weak. So from a personal standpoint I absolutely stand by the assertion that the MODO clock implementation is infinitely better than the IRL version (i.e. one that is nearly nonexistent).
New Kozilek is actually much better protected from removal.
New Emrakul is weaker than the old version (and far less expensive to cast), but still has substantial protection between the ability to disrupt them with the Mindslaver and the protection from instants.
So basically this is just a complaint that they don't shuffle back in? Does that really bother you that much from a flavor standpoint? If it does then try this: Consider the next game played the equivalent of it being shuffled back in. They aren't literally killing your Kozilek with a mere Doomblade, just slowing him down.
Really just seems like whining that new Emrakul isn't as powerful as old Emrakul, which seems like an unreasonable and unhealthy bar to set. Old Emrakul is the best big creature ever printed, to the point that it is/was too powerful. Printing something that matched or exceeded that would likely have been a mistake.
I've had this an inordinate # of times for a rare and been pretty happy with it. I did kill myself with it the first time I drafted it, but with some experience you get pretty good at timing it right. Very easy to steal wins out of nowhere with this, or just put opponents in no-win situations. Allows you to make plays that really wouldn't make sense otherwise, catching the opponent off guard. Especially nice in RB aggressive decks, where burn can help get them to the right spot.
Not heavily invested either way, as I have no interest in Werewolf tribal...but I agree with those who say that this missed the mark. Epic legendary werewolf that people have been excited about for years...I would expect it to check at least one of the following boxes:
- Exciting as a Commander - Just not the case at all here. He's playable in Commander, but not exciting on any front (power level, build-around-me potential, werewolf tribal).
- Exciting as a constructed playable - He's playable in constructed, I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a 1-2 of here and there in midrange decks that lean aggressive, but no one is getting excited about him from either a Johnny or a Spike standpoint.
I don't think this needed to be both of those, but it should have at least done one of them very well in order to call it a "hit". But who knows, maybe I'm underestimating its Standard potential and it will actually be a home run on that front.
Patently strange. Not really useful in control decks. Kinda interesting for aggro decks, but both players have to be low. Not gonna make the cut in constructed, but in Limited it should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Agreed. Love the card, but it is tough to see exactly where it fits. Aggro and midrange just aren't interested in a 3-mana rock, even with some upside. Control could use it, but the life loss is brutal against more aggressive decks.
The ONLY spot I could see it in constructed is in a control-control mirror, where both sides are actually fine. But is it strong enough there to warrant a sideboard spot? Probably not, there have to be better mirror breakers than this (negates, fat hexproofers, etc..).
I think that Bruna, the Fading Light makes Gisela, the Broken Blade playable and not the other way around. The fact that if Gisela dies early on Bruna can threaten to bring her back and transform in same turn makes her a very dangerous 4 drop.
Also want to mention that Bruna can bring back Archangel Avacyn so that's a thing.
I quite disagree to the extent Gisela does not need anything to be playable. Bruna is a tool you can use but that's like saying T Regent isn't playable without other dragons to trigger his 3 damage ability for more value.
A flying 4/3 first striker alone for 4 mana is playable. Life link is just gravy. Bruna on the other hand will see much less play, Although it does say any Angel or Human so she's far from bad. Remember also her trigger is on cast, so even if countered, you still get to bring something good back.
The only problem with Gisela is she has the exact same mana cost that Gideon does and depending on your deck, Gideon may fit better. off the top of my head, Gisela seams great in a w/x midrange deck or even w/u control(tho 4/3 does speak to a more aggressive deck than an Esper Dragon type deck). At 4 mana, she's aggressively costed and can go toe to toe with Ojutai.
Sounds about right. Gisela seems fantastic in the Gx creature-heavy matchups, where removal is limited and she can dominate most combats, win races, and kill planeswalkers. But Gideon is a much better option against removal-heavy control decks, while also being a major threat in his own right. So I'd guess for the time being she'll be mostly crowded out by him, but it could be a meta-call.
Seems pretty bad. Not even close to competitive constructed playable, and even in EDH this is pretty low impact for the cost unless you really build around it.
I think a big reason you are seeing that now (and have for a while under the NWO) is the trend towards goodstuff decks of various speeds. Most of the winning decks are Green-x goodstuff just playing the most efficient creatures/walkers on a pound for pound basis. Synergy matters but is not the priority. In that kind of environment it is natural to see rares/mythics seeing such heavy play.
On the casual side she's a great fit for my Bant-walkers control deck in EDH, where the first two abilities are ok and the ultimate is fantastic and quickly attainable.
lol, given that the Magic community at large has been using the phrase "hate drafting" for almost 20 years now I'd say sticking with that is probably more useful than switching to another slightly more descriptive term that people won't be familiar with.
Outside of that then I generally agree with you, probably playable in a midrangy Rock style deck, where her +1 kills stuff or lets your Advocates/Trackers/Recruiters/etc win early combats, and then her -2 combines with those types of efficient value-oriented green creatures to win the attrition game. Of course there is a lot of competition for slots in those goodstuff decks, so hard to tell without playtesting if she is worthy. Having more payoffs for filling up the yard would help some, with Grim Flayer being the most obvious candidate.
Ulamog new and old both have indestructible.
New Kozilek is actually much better protected from removal.
New Emrakul is weaker than the old version (and far less expensive to cast), but still has substantial protection between the ability to disrupt them with the Mindslaver and the protection from instants.
So basically this is just a complaint that they don't shuffle back in? Does that really bother you that much from a flavor standpoint? If it does then try this: Consider the next game played the equivalent of it being shuffled back in. They aren't literally killing your Kozilek with a mere Doomblade, just slowing him down.
Really just seems like whining that new Emrakul isn't as powerful as old Emrakul, which seems like an unreasonable and unhealthy bar to set. Old Emrakul is the best big creature ever printed, to the point that it is/was too powerful. Printing something that matched or exceeded that would likely have been a mistake.
- Exciting as a Commander - Just not the case at all here. He's playable in Commander, but not exciting on any front (power level, build-around-me potential, werewolf tribal).
- Exciting as a constructed playable - He's playable in constructed, I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a 1-2 of here and there in midrange decks that lean aggressive, but no one is getting excited about him from either a Johnny or a Spike standpoint.
I don't think this needed to be both of those, but it should have at least done one of them very well in order to call it a "hit". But who knows, maybe I'm underestimating its Standard potential and it will actually be a home run on that front.
Agreed. Love the card, but it is tough to see exactly where it fits. Aggro and midrange just aren't interested in a 3-mana rock, even with some upside. Control could use it, but the life loss is brutal against more aggressive decks.
The ONLY spot I could see it in constructed is in a control-control mirror, where both sides are actually fine. But is it strong enough there to warrant a sideboard spot? Probably not, there have to be better mirror breakers than this (negates, fat hexproofers, etc..).
Sounds about right. Gisela seems fantastic in the Gx creature-heavy matchups, where removal is limited and she can dominate most combats, win races, and kill planeswalkers. But Gideon is a much better option against removal-heavy control decks, while also being a major threat in his own right. So I'd guess for the time being she'll be mostly crowded out by him, but it could be a meta-call.