We found them to be fine, and they are definitely at the top of the heap of the straight white 2/1s, but I think you're missing what I'm trying to explain. These cards might be good in aggro decks, and are arguably better than a variety of white 1 drops like Thraben Inspector or Recruitment Officer in these aggro decks, but the disparity in speed or value isn't substantial enough to warrant playing them over the alternatives. Maybe this is just a side-effect of having such a small cube, but if a card isn't broken (Natural Order) or absolutely fundamental support for an archetype (Craterhoof Behemoth), then the support cards need to go into several decks. White aggro decks need a critical mass of one drops available to function properly, but midrange decks are their own archetype that require their own unique support, and cards like Usher of the Fallen have just not worth been worth playing in slightly higher curve midrange decks, making it exclusively an aggro card. Space is too tight, and that's just too narrow for us.Quote from steve_man »I've had the opposite experience: Dauntless Bodyguard and Usher of the Fallen have performed very well for me, especially compared to the other Savannah Lion variants I've played over the years. Their abilities are very efficient and relevant to what white aggro wants to be doing, where a lot of others have situational abilities like Soldier of the Pantheon / Mardu Woe Reaper. My top 4 Savannah Lion variants (in no particular order) are Kytheon / Isamaru / Usher of the Fallen / Dauntless Bodyguard.Quote fromWe've been super disappointed with Dauntless Bodyguard (and were even more unimpressed with Usher of the Fallen when we played that for a while) since they honestly manage to struggle to do anything for midrange decks when they got played, until people just stopped playing with them outside of aggro decks completely.
I feel like Dauntless Bodyguard requires its own explanation though, as I think its struggles may have had more to do with what specific removal and wraths we play in our cube. Literally almost all of our single target removal isn't "destroy" based outside of the small burn spells (I think before our most recent update it was 5 cards out of 375), and neither are the vast majority of our actual wraths (currently 2 cards, before our last update it was 3). The ability was just legitimately not useful for us at all, and we've had it in for over 4 years at this point.
I feel like on paper they should be decent midrange cards, and I'm sure your positive and repeated experiences with those creatures are completely legitimate, but in our environment they simply haven't performed that way in non-aggro decks.Quote from LucidVision »Same. I’ve activated many an usher ability and dauntless have protected many a creatures and many times have those effected the outcome of the game.
edit: re-read Scott’s post. Not a fan of the philosophy to evaluate 1 drops solely on their usefulness in midrange decks… but I agree, in specifically midrange , most of the white 1 drops will underperform and their relative power will change compared to when they are in Agro.
Though, I actually think both those cards do fine in midrange. One can win the game by itself in theory and the other can protect a key expensive threat.
It's not that aggro creatures have to go into midrange decks too, it's that they usually have to go into more than just aggro. Rotting Regisaur isn't just an awesome aggro creature, it's also a great discard outlet in reanimator. Undermountain Adventurer isn't just serviceable aggro top-end, it's also a sweet midgame enabler for green ramp decks. Ral Zarek gets played in some faster izzet decks, but he also accelerates artifact ramp and can enable Time Vault combos. Not every card can fit this mold, but we generally prioritize inclusions that can.
I should also mention that your assertion that "most of the white 1 drops will underperform and their relative power will change compared to when they are in aggro" is correct in regards to most of the one drop 2/1-esque creatures, but not for small cubes. We personally play 6 white 1s, and between the 2 moms, Thraben Inspector, and this new Recruitment Officer card, I think 2/3s of our 1s will be just as good if not better in midrange decks than in aggro decks. I know the minutia of that statement isn't super important most of the time, but I hope this illustrates that there's an actual precedent set at our size for how almost all of our aggro creatures should play, and that this precedent is routinely met.
Yea I'm in the same boat. I think this is much more comparable to Spectral Sailor, and I think this card's body and combined abilities are both much better than that card or the alternative 2/1 with the hypothesized player ping ability.Quote from Sliver Lord »That card would be wildly *worse* than this one
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Lots of these are corner cases, marginal upsides or just unexciting. But they reveal how ubiquitously reasonable he is in many decks, in many matchups, on many turns. There are stronger cards for this slot, but there aren't many colorless creatures as maindeckable. If you want to spend 1 colorless slot on a card that every player might maindeck every time you draft, try him out.
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I see this card as significantly different than a hybrid Orzhov card, so it isn't occupying a guild slot for me. You can cast either half in an Orzhov deck, but it's also extremely maindeckable in a mono-white deck, while middling in a mono-black deck. When I can find room for it, I'll be using one of my 10 "rainbow slots" where all my hybrid cards & weirdly-colored cards go. It's like a tiny chunk of cards that I can use however I want & break rules lol
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One small edit: Matt Tabak confirmed in this article that "In Booster Draft, sticker sheets aren't drafted. After you open an Unfinity booster, remove the sticker sheet before drafting any cards. Before each game, choose up to three from among the sticker sheets you opened."
I initially think the Limited ruleset will work best for us. If I try them, I'd curate a stack of ~24 sheets out of the total 48, and then randomly give out 3 sheets per player before the draft begins.
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Gideon’s just plain good. Profoundly boring, but considerably effective.
Gideon > Teleportation Circle.
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An affordable boast ability like this is very flexible, and good against walkers that protect themselves. You can activate 2nd main phase after attacking a planeswalker to death and leaving their nonflying creature token alone, which is usually a 2/2 or bigger, if not a nontoken beefer or Nissa manland. Or if their blocker has flying, activate it before blockers.
I think it's perfectly arguable that 3 toughness cuts it from cubes under 540. However, I've started designing some of my creature sections to have 80% vindicate-test-passing creatures, and then 20% failing-creatures-that-absolutely-steamroll-if-unkilled. Like Elder Gargaroth. It's been a fun way to spice up draft picks and building decisions. And this would be my pick for black 4's.
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That is THE biggest problem I have with Kaldheim & other recent sets.
Starnheim Unleashed, Halvar God of Battle, Court of Grace, Glorious Protector, Doomskar, Luminous Broodmoth, UGHHH
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-Starnheim Unleashed
-Glorious Protector
-Doomskar
-Usher of the Fallen
-Esika's Chariot
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I definitely want to see this Ajani in action in a dedicated life-gain deck, seems scary.