Unless I'm missing something, the only interaction with Engineer is fetching this, not sacrificing it.
I will be considering this card...
You activate the claw. With the trigger on the stack, you can sacrifice it to engineer. You will still get the tutor, but your opponent will not gain control of the claw.
If you do nothing fancy, it's a fairly cheap tutor variant where it gets you two cards and your opponent one card. I can't recall seeing a card like that before, so I'm not certain what to expect. However, the reason I'm excited is because it's an artifact. Now my Tezzeret, the Seeker can find anything. Both Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer break the symmetry while also turning the Talisman into a tutoring engine. And I'm sure there's plenty more to do with the card! Keep in mind, whenever you find a way to break this, THE TALISMAN TUTORS FOR IT.
Overall, the floor seems playable with an incredibly fun ceiling to build for.
I think this card is quite strong, and you could include in many lists. However, I prefer Dack on power-level, and both Saheelis for archetypal diversity. I'm not really interested in a generic goodstuff walker to go alongside Dack.
Unmorphing does not use the stack. This means that there is not an additional round of priority after you unmorph a creature (unless it has a trigger when that happens). If you block with a morph and an opponent passes priority, they will not have an opportunity to kill your creature before damage after you unmorph it. There creature will just die.
That fact makes this a lot more enticing to me.
This is not true. The game moves to the next step/phase when both players pass priority without taking any action. Taking a special action counts as taking an action, so it passes right back to the attacking player before you move to the combat damage step.
You learn something new every day! Thanks for pointing out my mistake. A couple years ago this was explained to me the way I described and I didn't particularly question it. Cheers!
Unmorphing does not use the stack. This means that there is not an additional round of priority after you unmorph a creature (unless it has a trigger when that happens). If you block with a morph and an opponent passes priority, they will not have an opportunity to kill your creature before damage after you unmorph it. There creature will just die.
God-Eternal Kefnet vs. Urza, Lord High Artificer vs. Whirler Rogue, and why?
I know the community has been pretty up on Urza, but the last ability seems very middling to me (it does not get around timing restrictions, so you generally need to do it on your turn). Without that, he makes a Karnstruct and taps artifacts for mana, which is not as game-ending as I'd like it to be. Whirler Rogue can also fit in the artifact shell and can act as a finisher as well as a roleplayer in Opposition decks. GE-Kefnet is a huge flier that occasionally provides value.
Thoughts?
- Whirler Rogue by far has the most applications. Army in a cans are a huge premium in blue, especially with Opposition.
- Urza has the highest ceiling, but is the most narrow of the 3. IMO if you're not supporting Tinker / Tolarian Academy, Urza probably will not be great for your cube.
Urza isn't far behind Whirler Rogue in terms of "Army in a can" and is still quite potent with Opposition. I feel like the mana advantage from urza is worth a lot more than the additional body from Rogue.
there's only so much room for U card-draw. Deep Analysis is at the top of my list of "card draw that I can't seem to fit in my list". Nothing wrong with playing it, and I'll draft it in any blue deck when I draft another cube, but I haven't missed it since I cut it over a year ago.
As far as Drawn from Dreams is concerned, I feel like all my non-combo U decks would prefer Deep Analysis. And even the combo decks wouldn't really care which they had (with a preference towards dreams). Like Deep Analysis, nothing wrong with playing the card, but I don't think it makes the cut in my list.
I almost always lean on the cheaper card in tough decisions like this. You can never have enough of those, where 4cmc+ boom booms have a limited economical need.
I will say, if Ayli is in the cube as a sacrifice outlet, I prefer Cartel Aristocrat in that slot. I've cubed with Cartel Aristocrat for a while now, and my group loves the card. It doesn't have the same "feel bad" of something like TNN because the gameplay often gives the opponent agency to beat a mini-progenitus. And it's a really complex card to play/maximize with your own resources. However if Ayli is in there because of a lifegain theme, that's a cool way to support it!
It's a cool card, but 3 mana is a lot to ask for. Sure, it helps you not overcommit if 3 mana for 3 dmg is a good exchange. And threat of activation is real, although the benefit is just one damage. I'm pretty low on this card and have no intention of testing it. Curious if it overperforms for those who decide to. TBH I would rather play the new 1/1 deathtouch lifelink creature for B.
I think this card is absurd. I think the only black 3cmc creature I like more than it is Ophiomancer. And those cards are very different. In most of my black decks, it's very easy to mitigate the downside. Either abusing it with reanimator or discarding cards like Bloodghast and
Gravecrawler.
Sure it can be chump-blocked, but it's a also three turn clock. We don't get creatures like that until what 6cmc?? It even dodges all the red removal and a good chunk of black removal too.
I could be wrong, but I'm very excited to play with this one!
This card has ranged from very good to insane for me. I think I've cast her in like 6 different games in two separate drafts. I love Dack Fayden a lot but early returns on Saheeli have been tremendous at 540 powered for me.
Definitely a top 3 Izzet card with Dack & Izzet Charm. Really tempting to say it is at least the #2 Izzet card. Translation is that I think it belongs in every 360 list.
These are my kind of cards but I think this one comes up short. Spells matters cards get exponentially worse at higher mana cost. 2-3 is the sweet spot. By 5 docent of perfection shows that it is too late and clunky. For anyone interested in this put Tallrand in first and get 2/2 flyers instead. For 3 colors of mana I would want this to be a lord or 3/5 vigilance or something.
Non-creature clause is a pretty big difference between this and Tallrand. I definitely would have liked a bit more toughenss for 3-colors. Reminds me of Sidisi in that way.
You activate the claw. With the trigger on the stack, you can sacrifice it to engineer. You will still get the tutor, but your opponent will not gain control of the claw.
If you do nothing fancy, it's a fairly cheap tutor variant where it gets you two cards and your opponent one card. I can't recall seeing a card like that before, so I'm not certain what to expect. However, the reason I'm excited is because it's an artifact. Now my Tezzeret, the Seeker can find anything. Both Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer break the symmetry while also turning the Talisman into a tutoring engine. And I'm sure there's plenty more to do with the card! Keep in mind, whenever you find a way to break this, THE TALISMAN TUTORS FOR IT.
Overall, the floor seems playable with an incredibly fun ceiling to build for.
Did you mean to say you're cutting Saheeli, the Gifted?
You learn something new every day! Thanks for pointing out my mistake. A couple years ago this was explained to me the way I described and I didn't particularly question it. Cheers!
Unmorphing does not use the stack. This means that there is not an additional round of priority after you unmorph a creature (unless it has a trigger when that happens). If you block with a morph and an opponent passes priority, they will not have an opportunity to kill your creature before damage after you unmorph it. There creature will just die.
That fact makes this a lot more enticing to me.
Urza isn't far behind Whirler Rogue in terms of "Army in a can" and is still quite potent with Opposition. I feel like the mana advantage from urza is worth a lot more than the additional body from Rogue.
As far as Drawn from Dreams is concerned, I feel like all my non-combo U decks would prefer Deep Analysis. And even the combo decks wouldn't really care which they had (with a preference towards dreams). Like Deep Analysis, nothing wrong with playing the card, but I don't think it makes the cut in my list.
Cards I'm adding that I expect to stay in my cube for a while:
Rotting Regisaur
Cards I'm excited about, but not convinced they'll last through testing:
Voracious Hydra
Kykar, Wind's Fury
I will say, if Ayli is in the cube as a sacrifice outlet, I prefer Cartel Aristocrat in that slot. I've cubed with Cartel Aristocrat for a while now, and my group loves the card. It doesn't have the same "feel bad" of something like TNN because the gameplay often gives the opponent agency to beat a mini-progenitus. And it's a really complex card to play/maximize with your own resources. However if Ayli is in there because of a lifegain theme, that's a cool way to support it!
Gravecrawler.
Sure it can be chump-blocked, but it's a also three turn clock. We don't get creatures like that until what 6cmc?? It even dodges all the red removal and a good chunk of black removal too.
I could be wrong, but I'm very excited to play with this one!
^agreed
Non-creature clause is a pretty big difference between this and Tallrand. I definitely would have liked a bit more toughenss for 3-colors. Reminds me of Sidisi in that way.