There's our Maro's Teaser revelation -> Tiefling Warrior. A 4/2 haste for 4 but really 6 to use its ability. Yay?
'buster
Just if you use it the turn you play it, or did you misread the number? Not trying to be an ass just trying to understand the 6 lol.
Reading the text feels a bit like I'm having a stroke, but it actually checks out as straight forward and easy to understand heh.
4 mana to cast. 2 to activate. 4+2 = 6. If I didn't state it as such then I apologize.
'buster
People often say "X for first use", not "X for using the ability" which is where the confusion came from.
Either way it doesn't seems to be an unreasonable price, 6 mana to Fork twice but you also get a 4/2? Sure there are some restrictions in play here but those are negligible when compared to the fact said 4/2 can also generate even more card advantage.
I like the art. It's pretty unique, fits with the style of New Capenna, seems more dynamic and visually interesting than her Harmonize (which I do think looks fine but unexciting) and is miles better than the living meme that is her Faithless Looting. Not my favorite Magic art or anything but just like her Faithless Looting it is eye-catching and does evokes a strong response out of me, except in this case said "response" isn't a mixture of bewildered amusement and disgust.
As for the card itself... meh. It's no Soul Warden, that's for sure.
Jetmir seems okay, I'd say you need at least the 2nd bonus to be worth it, and while we do have plenty of token interactions in Standard we also have plenty of payoffs in Naya colors at the 4mv slot. The 3rd mode is the "this is how you win games in Commander" mode exclusively, don't think you'll ever achieve this in any serious game of 1v1 but in Commander even a simple army of eight 1/1s plus Jetmir gives you 80 points of Trampling damage.
Raffine seems very good - it grows, it's hard to kill and it sets up the grave, and while it excels in none of the three, setup + threat + protection is such a powerful combination I don't really think it matters. And at 3 mana... I think this could potentially see play in older formats. Probably not as powerful as a Commander though, but go-wide Esper is usually reserved for Skies strategies and having a Commander that takes this niche and adds in graveyard shenanigans is still very exciting.
Lord Xander is very narrow but pretty deece. In Standard, it is the dancing partner Olivia, Crimson Bride has been waiting for all this time. In Commander, it's a fun Timmy-esque Commander that probably won't be super competitive but can really balance out the table by really taking down the player ahead down a few notches, while also being hard to grief with since "half, rounded down" really doesn't hurts anyone that is behind as much. Other than those two, it's an okay-ish reanimator target but we have much better.
There is a caveat here that this is promoting the Commander decks and their playstyles might vary from the main set, like how Silverquill was aggro in Strixhaven but political in Strixhaven Commander
Pretty sure anyone that played with/against Breena, the Demagogue can attest she's at least a 5/7 (sometimes even 7/9) swinging in the air at turn 4 every time. The one that deviated the most was Quandrix but honestly that's because Quandrix itself in the main set had a very weak identity.
Easy guess: Treasures will be a minor subtheme. First reason being that vehicles and artifacts are easy includes in a Art Deco / Gangster set and Treasures are flavorful support for potential artifact matters. Second reason being that we have a card named Contract Killing and it not being reprinted in a gangster set would be criminal.
Far stretch guess: It has been discussed in previous threads before, but I'm onto the idea of New Capenna being a city in Alara. It matches the only two tidbits of lore we have (ties with Elspeth, demons invaded a previously angel-centric town) and the multicolor theme of the set. The biggest clue however may be this old article that stealthily showcases how drastically Grixis changed over the years in the art of Curse of Disturbance.
As for mechanics, Detain and Investigate could be good fits, but if I had to guess we'll be getting a new mechanic akin to Monarch where players fight over a mutual resource. Monarchy itself doesn't really fits the flavor of gangster set, but maybe a new variant where players take control of something by casting multiple spells a turn or having a high permanent count.
Despite not being a huge fan of how Ken was handled individually, they NAILED Ryu and Ken together. While Ken is usually stronger in a vacuum showing how he's a natural, Ryu grows out of Ken via Training and will eventually overcome him through hard work. However, Ken will always rise to the occasion due to Prowess, always giving Ryu a fair fight and a chance to become even stronger. Meanwhile, Ryu also works as a looting engine, providing his friend Ken with his expertise and wisdom (aka. sorceries) so he can also keep fighting at max capacity.
It mirrors their relationship extremely well, and that's not easy to do with the constraints they had here. I'm usually not the kind to ask for cards to be better, but I would love if they toned Ken down a bit and made them both Partners so we could appreciate the layers of flavor-through-card-mechanics being employed here.
I love how people are ignoring the MASSIVE amount of flicker present in white. "He only does his thing once!" Not in the decks that I'D build with him. *evil grin intensifies*
I thought about that, but then again, you'll need a keyword soup board, flickering effects (hopefully repeatable) and lots of waysof turningthe Bloodartifactsinto actual value, since by themselves they are just looting and that's just not good enough.
I'll admit I also thought it sounded like a fun challenge at first, but then I looked at the pile of cards I found to try to make it work and then I remembered Toggo exists. Just play him with Akroma, Vision of Ixidor and your experience will be pretty much the same.
Uhh... okay? Definitely a good card but not sure what it's trying to do in this set. I mean, Dramatic Finale still exists and curves with this, which would be interesting to build around... if Orzhov had a Raise the Alarm in Standard or, hell, any critical mass of go-wide token generators. Sadly, the best token generators in Orzhov for Standard are probably Clarion Spirit (which is a bit of a nonbo since curving Clarion into Kaya makes it so neither card does anything) and Hunt for Specimens (which is fine but extremely unexciting if you're not deep on sacrifice synergies).
We also have Join the Dance, which also curves into Kaya and makes it so that you can plus her for some value on Turn 3, but this forces you into Abzan. The problem is, the Standard mana base simply can't support any aggressive three-color deck, so you're also forced into Midrange, which I'm not sure is a good home for Kaya since her plus says "attack with me or get a bad three mana Luminarch Aspirant".
As-is, I think she has a better shot of seeing play outside Standard. Historic could have some fun with her since they have Raise the Alarm, Intangible Virtue, Battle Screech, Legion's Landing and Serra the Benevolent. Hell, even Modern seems more suited for her, since they have all of the above plus Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom. She also seems fun in Commander, even if as a one-shot Anointed Procession that sticks around and makes blocking a nightmare. As I said, good card, but I have no idea what she's trying to accomplish in this set or even in this current format.
Wait... ANY target? So since you can make a permanent target itself, this card's back and any Stuffy Doll effect goes infinite? Or, if you don't want to flip, this + indestructibility + a damage amp effect like Jaya, Venerated Firemage to kill any player?
This is nice, potentially it's 7 extra power out of nowhere, plus it works very well with both +1/+1 counters and small evasive creatures, both which are plentifulin Aggro decks right now.
Outside of Aggro, it also has the Rogue typing which is very relevant now that Concerted Defense proved itself as one of Tempo's strongest tools even outside Party decks.
Courier Bat is actually pretty nice. If you can gain life consistently, it's a cheaper and evasive Gravedigger.
Meanwhile, Wretched Thong is fine but I doubt will be the two-drop of choice for Zombies and Unhallowed Phalanx is hilarious but mostly seems to be there so that you can try to live the dream with Geralf, Visionary Stitcher. Everything else seems to be chaff.
Either way it doesn't seems to be an unreasonable price, 6 mana to Fork twice but you also get a 4/2? Sure there are some restrictions in play here but those are negligible when compared to the fact said 4/2 can also generate even more card advantage.
As for the card itself... meh. It's no Soul Warden, that's for sure.
Raffine seems very good - it grows, it's hard to kill and it sets up the grave, and while it excels in none of the three, setup + threat + protection is such a powerful combination I don't really think it matters. And at 3 mana... I think this could potentially see play in older formats. Probably not as powerful as a Commander though, but go-wide Esper is usually reserved for Skies strategies and having a Commander that takes this niche and adds in graveyard shenanigans is still very exciting.
Lord Xander is very narrow but pretty deece. In Standard, it is the dancing partner Olivia, Crimson Bride has been waiting for all this time. In Commander, it's a fun Timmy-esque Commander that probably won't be super competitive but can really balance out the table by really taking down the player ahead down a few notches, while also being hard to grief with since "half, rounded down" really doesn't hurts anyone that is behind as much. Other than those two, it's an okay-ish reanimator target but we have much better.
Far stretch guess: It has been discussed in previous threads before, but I'm onto the idea of New Capenna being a city in Alara. It matches the only two tidbits of lore we have (ties with Elspeth, demons invaded a previously angel-centric town) and the multicolor theme of the set. The biggest clue however may be this old article that stealthily showcases how drastically Grixis changed over the years in the art of Curse of Disturbance.
As for mechanics, Detain and Investigate could be good fits, but if I had to guess we'll be getting a new mechanic akin to Monarch where players fight over a mutual resource. Monarchy itself doesn't really fits the flavor of gangster set, but maybe a new variant where players take control of something by casting multiple spells a turn or having a high permanent count.
It mirrors their relationship extremely well, and that's not easy to do with the constraints they had here. I'm usually not the kind to ask for cards to be better, but I would love if they toned Ken down a bit and made them both Partners so we could appreciate the layers of flavor-through-card-mechanics being employed here.
I'll admit I also thought it sounded like a fun challenge at first, but then I looked at the pile of cards I found to try to make it work and then I remembered Toggo exists. Just play him with Akroma, Vision of Ixidor and your experience will be pretty much the same.
We also have Join the Dance, which also curves into Kaya and makes it so that you can plus her for some value on Turn 3, but this forces you into Abzan. The problem is, the Standard mana base simply can't support any aggressive three-color deck, so you're also forced into Midrange, which I'm not sure is a good home for Kaya since her plus says "attack with me or get a bad three mana Luminarch Aspirant".
As-is, I think she has a better shot of seeing play outside Standard. Historic could have some fun with her since they have Raise the Alarm, Intangible Virtue, Battle Screech, Legion's Landing and Serra the Benevolent. Hell, even Modern seems more suited for her, since they have all of the above plus Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom. She also seems fun in Commander, even if as a one-shot Anointed Procession that sticks around and makes blocking a nightmare. As I said, good card, but I have no idea what she's trying to accomplish in this set or even in this current format.
Outside of Aggro, it also has the Rogue typing which is very relevant now that Concerted Defense proved itself as one of Tempo's strongest tools even outside Party decks.
Meanwhile, Wretched Thong is fine but I doubt will be the two-drop of choice for Zombies and Unhallowed Phalanx is hilarious but mostly seems to be there so that you can try to live the dream with Geralf, Visionary Stitcher. Everything else seems to be chaff.