Whenever an artifact or creature enters the battlefield untapped and under an opponent's control, that player may tap that permanent. If they don't, you create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with lifelink.
2/2
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Surprised that no one is discussing this card. It seems kind of insane.
1. First strike becomes Vigilance, making it significantly worse in combat.
2. It affects artifacts instead of nonbasics, which is worse but still very useful against things like mana rocks and treasures, and even random engines like Retrofitter Foundry.
3. Tapping their stuff is their choice - if they don't, you get a free token.
While providing your opponent with a choice is usually bad, I think aggro likes both results. Either their blocker gets delayed for a turn, which is great for you to push damage, or they have their blocker and you gain another body to attack with.
This is simple and not the best with singular evasive bodies such as M&B, but becomes great with multiples and token generation. Oko is not quite as hard to race anymore, Elspeth, Sun's Champion is no longer a roadblock, and Deranged Hermit makes the board huge on both sides.
It becomes even better if you can clone the effect- your opponent can't tap their things twice, so you get another token for free.
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Certainly test worthy, isn't it? Imagining this alongside Regal Bunnicorn or Hellrider is frightening.
If you're looking to cheat expensive artifacts into play, I like Arms Race. It's a Sneak Attack for artifacts only and a more expensive activation, but still potentially quite effective, especially considering that a lot of artifact fatties like being sacrificed.
There are some cubes that have started to test Dress Down as an answer against creatures, and I think this is far better.
While it's only targeting only one target and only when it triggers, it removes its abilities permanently instead of for only one turn, and targets a wider variety of permanents, in addition to having its own body that it can use.
Seems very testable. I personally think it looks great.
If you're looking for this effect, you should probably play Daretti, Scrap Savant first, since it does a lot more for 1 more mana.
Are you asking whether it's worth playing TfT as redundancy? My hunch would be no. Having an artifact in graveyard and on the field AND having this card in hand is a lot more to ask than Tinker's 2 card combo, and without it this card does nothing.
Then again, this could change with the right cube, and there's never a reason not to try. Feel free to test it and report back with your findings.
This is far from an actually good card in comparison with the above, since it doesn't draw cards, gain life, or have deathtouch, but Selesnya doesn't have much to write home about. It does have some uses that might be worth discussing.
Do take note of the last ability, though. Attacking with an insect makes them grow, including the card itself. This means that if Vrestin survives, even a few tokens will eventually grow enough to become a problem if left unchecked.
Again, these are some loops to jump through, but it's definitely not nothing.
<=4mv is a Battle Screech, which attacks for 4. Will almost never be used.
5mv is an overcosted Whirler Rogue, which attacks for 7.
6mv is a 3/3 flier with three 1/1 fliers (finally a good rate), which attacks for 10.
>=7mv is a 4/4 flier with four 1/1 fliers, which attacks for 13.
While I fail to see how most cubes will justify including this, I think it's pretty decent and worth some thought.
Creature-only removal is rare at 4 mana these days, and the few that remain have alternate costs or cost reduction, like Snuff Out. Better yet, most instants also kill planeswalkers, like Baleful Mastery or Lethal Scheme.
I don't think even Hero's Downfall sees much play these days, and it was better than this card.
The adventure is mostly flavor text, but the creature is still solid enough on its own.
A 5 mana splashable pseudo-Questing Beast is cute, and if you are running green aggro you will probably want to run this card.
The attack trigger is also not useless, as there are some Humans sprinked in all colors that are just good, i.e. Dark Confidant, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.
Also quite important is that this doggo is super splashable and can pretty much fit in the top end of almost any deck.
If your cube doesn't include green aggro, this probably won't be good enough for you, but hey maybe this can compete with Thrun, Breaker of Silence somehow.
Thoughts?
When Adipose Offspring enters the battlefield, create a white 2/2 Alien creature token. If Adipose Offspring's emerge cost was paid, instead create X of those tokens, where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.
2/2
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The base mode is two 2/2 bodies for 3W, which is quite good on defense and very splashable.
However, if you already have a creature in play, this becomes better. You have to sacrifice a 2 toughness 2 drop for it to be on par, but if you have a 3 drop this costs only 3. Sacrificing a premium 3 drop like Adeline or Brimaz can net you a total of five 2/2 bodies, which is useful if they become useless by an opponent's Fall From Favor or Opposition etc.
Furthermore, white has plenty of effects that buff creatures, like Luminarch Aspirant, which make this very strong. Along with other buffing effects, like equipment, or Elspeth, Knight Errant's second ability, I'd say you could pretty easily make 4+ bodies for 4 mana, which is a reasonable cost.
This might be pushing it, though, and white 4's are certainly an incredibly competitive cost. What do you think?
When compared to modern green 6 drops, like Old One Eye and Gruff Triplets, this guy just shrivels up and cries in the corner. Certainly not worth running 3 colors for these days.
I can attest to Gut's power. Converting permanents to attacking 4/1 menace skeletons is incredibly effective, and there isn't much you wouldn't want to convert this way. In powered cubes this is exceptionally true because converting moxen to evasive attackers is an incredible option.
While it's true that he really sucks alone and on defense, those have been exceptions rather than the norm.
Overall Gut seems like a spicy pick for red in cubes, especially powered cubes.
A big difference between this guy and Fable is that Fable creates the body as a different permanent, so even if your opponent has a Bolt, you can still enjoy the rest of the benefits. Alternatively, your opponent can kill the saga with a disenchant, but the body still remains and can give you a treasure the next turn.
Breeches relies on surviving to the next combat step, which is a big ask for a creature that dies to bolt, Fatal Push with Revolt, and more.
Furthermore, if you're on defense, Fable is still great, since it creates two bodies to block with and filters your dead cards. This is rare in red, a color so bent on aggression.
Breeches is a decent blocker if not killed, but keeping it up for defense means getting none of the benefits.
To me, Breeches is still not quite fair to compare to Fable. It'll mostly see play in aggro, and even then it'll be vastly outshined by the million Rabblemaster variants in existence today.
How are people comparing this bird to Riders of Rohan, another boros 5 drop?
Honestly I prefer the latter, since it's better on defense, versus removal, and as a more rounded card. The Phoenix is reliant on attacking and is rather fragile by itself, even if it snowballs better - doesn't that feel a bit win more?
I think there's something to be said for the untap ability of this card.
With blue, you get to reuse your looters, and you can dominate with Opposition. With black, you get to keep your Dauthi Voidwalker active. And the best part is in green, where if you have a few mana dorks this does a decent impression of Wilderness Reclamation.
All of this is on top of the Vigilance from combat.
Worth mentioning that Astral Dragon also goes infinite with any non-Aura Oblivion Ring.
Have the first token exile the Dragon and resolve first, and the second token exile the first token. When the second effect resolves, the Dragon will come back, creating 2 more tokens and starting the loop again, each loop creating a 3/3 flier.
However, Vesuvan Drifter in particular doesn't work with ETB effects, so it can suffer from lack of synergy with your cheat targets, including Astral Dragon. It feels pretty bad with Hornet Queen or Myr Battlesphere or even Craterhoof, which are serviceable cheat targets otherwise. Arcane Artisan would probably fit better with most cheat targets.
If this were printed last year, it might have had a decent chance at seeing play as a reanimation target + removal on death.
However, I think that Chaos Defiler really took the main benefit this card gave and pumped it to the extreme, to the point where even if this were 6 mana it wouldn't be good enough to contest it.
1W
Vigilance
Whenever an artifact or creature enters the battlefield untapped and under an opponent's control, that player may tap that permanent. If they don't, you create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with lifelink.
2/2
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Surprised that no one is discussing this card. It seems kind of insane.
It's essentially Thalia, Heretic Cathar for 2 mana, with some major differences.
1. First strike becomes Vigilance, making it significantly worse in combat.
2. It affects artifacts instead of nonbasics, which is worse but still very useful against things like mana rocks and treasures, and even random engines like Retrofitter Foundry.
3. Tapping their stuff is their choice - if they don't, you get a free token.
While providing your opponent with a choice is usually bad, I think aggro likes both results. Either their blocker gets delayed for a turn, which is great for you to push damage, or they have their blocker and you gain another body to attack with.
This is simple and not the best with singular evasive bodies such as M&B, but becomes great with multiples and token generation. Oko is not quite as hard to race anymore, Elspeth, Sun's Champion is no longer a roadblock, and Deranged Hermit makes the board huge on both sides.
It becomes even better if you can clone the effect- your opponent can't tap their things twice, so you get another token for free.
---
Certainly test worthy, isn't it? Imagining this alongside Regal Bunnicorn or Hellrider is frightening.
While it's only targeting only one target and only when it triggers, it removes its abilities permanently instead of for only one turn, and targets a wider variety of permanents, in addition to having its own body that it can use.
Seems very testable. I personally think it looks great.
Are you asking whether it's worth playing TfT as redundancy? My hunch would be no. Having an artifact in graveyard and on the field AND having this card in hand is a lot more to ask than Tinker's 2 card combo, and without it this card does nothing.
Then again, this could change with the right cube, and there's never a reason not to try. Feel free to test it and report back with your findings.
Hornet Queen at home.
Hydroid Krasis at home.
This is far from an actually good card in comparison with the above, since it doesn't draw cards, gain life, or have deathtouch, but Selesnya doesn't have much to write home about. It does have some uses that might be worth discussing.
Do take note of the last ability, though. Attacking with an insect makes them grow, including the card itself. This means that if Vrestin survives, even a few tokens will eventually grow enough to become a problem if left unchecked.
Again, these are some loops to jump through, but it's definitely not nothing.
<=4mv is a Battle Screech, which attacks for 4. Will almost never be used.
5mv is an overcosted Whirler Rogue, which attacks for 7.
6mv is a 3/3 flier with three 1/1 fliers (finally a good rate), which attacks for 10.
>=7mv is a 4/4 flier with four 1/1 fliers, which attacks for 13.
While I fail to see how most cubes will justify including this, I think it's pretty decent and worth some thought.
I don't think even Hero's Downfall sees much play these days, and it was better than this card.
The adventure is mostly flavor text, but the creature is still solid enough on its own.
A 5 mana splashable pseudo-Questing Beast is cute, and if you are running green aggro you will probably want to run this card.
The attack trigger is also not useless, as there are some Humans sprinked in all colors that are just good, i.e. Dark Confidant, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.
Also quite important is that this doggo is super splashable and can pretty much fit in the top end of almost any deck.
If your cube doesn't include green aggro, this probably won't be good enough for you, but hey maybe this can compete with Thrun, Breaker of Silence somehow.
Thoughts?
3W
Creature - Alien
When Adipose Offspring enters the battlefield, create a white 2/2 Alien creature token. If Adipose Offspring's emerge cost was paid, instead create X of those tokens, where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.
2/2
---
The base mode is two 2/2 bodies for 3W, which is quite good on defense and very splashable.
However, if you already have a creature in play, this becomes better. You have to sacrifice a 2 toughness 2 drop for it to be on par, but if you have a 3 drop this costs only 3. Sacrificing a premium 3 drop like Adeline or Brimaz can net you a total of five 2/2 bodies, which is useful if they become useless by an opponent's Fall From Favor or Opposition etc.
Furthermore, white has plenty of effects that buff creatures, like Luminarch Aspirant, which make this very strong. Along with other buffing effects, like equipment, or Elspeth, Knight Errant's second ability, I'd say you could pretty easily make 4+ bodies for 4 mana, which is a reasonable cost.
This might be pushing it, though, and white 4's are certainly an incredibly competitive cost. What do you think?
As mentioned Soul of Windgrace is a popular choice, but other options that I remember being mentioned are Slimefoot and Squee and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King.
While it's true that he really sucks alone and on defense, those have been exceptions rather than the norm.
Overall Gut seems like a spicy pick for red in cubes, especially powered cubes.
Breeches relies on surviving to the next combat step, which is a big ask for a creature that dies to bolt, Fatal Push with Revolt, and more.
Furthermore, if you're on defense, Fable is still great, since it creates two bodies to block with and filters your dead cards. This is rare in red, a color so bent on aggression.
Breeches is a decent blocker if not killed, but keeping it up for defense means getting none of the benefits.
To me, Breeches is still not quite fair to compare to Fable. It'll mostly see play in aggro, and even then it'll be vastly outshined by the million Rabblemaster variants in existence today.
Honestly I prefer the latter, since it's better on defense, versus removal, and as a more rounded card. The Phoenix is reliant on attacking and is rather fragile by itself, even if it snowballs better - doesn't that feel a bit win more?
With blue, you get to reuse your looters, and you can dominate with Opposition. With black, you get to keep your Dauthi Voidwalker active. And the best part is in green, where if you have a few mana dorks this does a decent impression of Wilderness Reclamation.
All of this is on top of the Vigilance from combat.
Have the first token exile the Dragon and resolve first, and the second token exile the first token. When the second effect resolves, the Dragon will come back, creating 2 more tokens and starting the loop again, each loop creating a 3/3 flier.
However, Vesuvan Drifter in particular doesn't work with ETB effects, so it can suffer from lack of synergy with your cheat targets, including Astral Dragon. It feels pretty bad with Hornet Queen or Myr Battlesphere or even Craterhoof, which are serviceable cheat targets otherwise. Arcane Artisan would probably fit better with most cheat targets.
However, I think that Chaos Defiler really took the main benefit this card gave and pumped it to the extreme, to the point where even if this were 6 mana it wouldn't be good enough to contest it.