MTG Salvation

Quote from Bellectrons »

Speaking of graveyard decks, I think Relentless Pursuit could be the card I've been looking for as a way to support graveyard strats without being too narrow (on top of Satyr Wayfinder). Admittedly, I haven't tried Grapple with the Past or Winding Way or the like, but I've just been worried they are too weak outside of GY decks - this new card is at least potential card advantage and so might be able to slot into midrange green decks more easily.

Grapple with the Past is better than it looks. Instant speed is good, and it picks up enormous amounts of value in the late game. It's definitely better than Relentless Pursuit.

Acolyte of Affliction seems pretty decent next to Golgari Findbroker. Mindwrack Harpy is pretty impressive for a planeswalker deck card.

Elspeth's Nightmare seems awesome, but don't like them getting a chance to screw you out of chapter II. In many situations, they'll be able to rig a whiff. I'm always a fan of incidental grave hate though (loads of it in this set).

This would be cool if it could become a copy of an enchantment too. Oh well.

What about Agonizing Remorse? 1B and 1 life seems like a decent rate for this effect.Divest and Duress have been feeling narrow.

In one card it allows you to hold up for a counter, or play a good card if they don't play something you want to counter. That's swell. But I'm not convinced this is actually better than Power Sink, which I'm still happy to play.

I'd hardly call this a weak sideboard card. It's a baby Loxodon Warhammer with Trusty Machete costs. This card is actually gross, and I'll not play it because I think it'll be just as unfun as other Behemoth Sledge type cards. Anything holding this is a frustrating life-gain engine.

All that said, I don't know that this is actually stronger than Basilisk Collar, which I don't think sees a lot of play. Still the card is powerful, even if it's not small cube material.

This is not better than Bonesplitter, but it's proper competition is Bloodforged Battle-Axe, and Basilisk Collar. I think there's a solid argument for each.

(Edit: Updated image)

Fresh off of Anax, Hardened in the Forge, we have a more powerful version of the effect in black. A 1/1 copy of a creature is pretty nuts, crucially retaining ETB and death triggers. Sacrifice your Blood Artist, and still have one. You can have your minions and eat them too. Evoke Shriekmaw for double triggers and a 1/1 fear. There's a lot this does.

The stats are solid, and it works in or out of an aristocrats shell. If you have something scary like say Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, they have to spend two removal spells on it, since a 1/1 Norn is still a big problem. You have to remove the demon first (and four toughness ain't bad).

Oh, and it's an enchantment. This card is nuts. It's not without downside, since you have to exile the creature to get the token. But it's definitely nuts.

Holy butts! And I thought Anax was good!

For my 425 mostly peasant (the big cube is not currently under construction, and maybe I should stop calling the little one mostly peasant, as it's really just another b-lister now.)

Cards I'll add (if and as I get them):

Ajani's Chosen -> Archon of Sun's Grace
Sunhome Stalwart -> Eidolon of Obstruction
Queen's Commission -> Omen of the Sun
Bazaar Trademage (bad results) -> Nadir Kraken
Impulse -> Omen of the Sea
Thieving Magpie -> Shimmerwing Chimera
Master of Predicaments -> Thryx, the Sudden Storm (this is a placeholder slot anyway)
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp -> Serpent of Yawning Depths (this might be an unfun card, and I'll probably not get one, since it isn't in the base set)
Piper of the Swarm -> Aphemia, the Cacophony
Ob Nixilis's Cruelty -> Erebos's Intervention or maybe Elspeth's Nightmare
Catacomb Dragon -> Gravebreaker Lamia
Undertaker (sad) -> Mire Triton (allowing below)
Gorging Vulture -> Woe Strider (which allows Viscera Seer -> Pilfering Imp)
Orcish Cannoneers -> Anax, Hardened in the Forge
Skewer the Critics -> Omen of the Forge
Nylea's Emissary -> Arasta of the Endless Web
Champion of Rhonas -> Renata, Called to the Hunt
Slaughterhorn -> Setessan Champion
Flaxen Intruder -> Chainweb Aracnir
Lovestruck Beast -> Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
Roar of the Wurm -> The First Iroan Games
Garruk's Horde -> Treeshaker Chimera
Hedron Archive -> Nyx Lotus
Key to the City -> Soul-Guide Lantern (maybe)
Coiling Oracle -> Enigmatic Incarnation (just to try it)

Most of the mythics are too much for my power level, but these I would test if I opened them:
Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis
Kiora Bests the Sea God
Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
Ox of Agonas
Nylea, Keen-Eyed
Calix, Destiny's Hand


Edit: More spoilers have come since then--
Leafcrown Dryad -> Destiny Spinner
Divest -> Agonizing Remorse
Miraculous Recovery -> Elspeth Conquers Death

I'll probably be playing this, but that's mostly because I want to include a lot of enchantment creatures.

The hate effect is far from devastating, so this really is mostly a Youthful Knight. Against a planeswalker based deck, this can be trouble, but many planeswalkers have ways of removing this dude anyway.

I'll probably cut Sunhome Stalwart for this. I'd say Stalwart's +0/+1 and mentor tends to outweigh this guys' narrow and light taxing effect, and I wouldn't make the switch if I didn't care about enchantments (also Stalwart is boring). I'd play this over Adanto Vanguard, but I never liked that card.

I was surprised nobody else made a thread for this. Its implications are larger in other formats, but it's still a helluva mana rock. The obvious competition is Thran Dynamo. It's a classic case of higher floor versus higher ceiling. Generally, the higher floor (Dynamo) wins out, but there are definitely some reasons to go for the lotus. It's more fair, for one thing (for those of us who like fair mana).

If your guild section has a lot of heavy hybrid costs (Dominus of Fealty, Arcanist's Owl, Boggart Ram-Gang, etc.) high devotion is pretty easy to come by, and these also allow the lotus to tap for large amounts of mana in two colors. Naturally, these cards also make Theros gods a lot more playable, and could perhaps be considered part of a devotion package. Maybe you wouldn't want to play this without some light devotion package, but I think it's a decent card even without that, and is itself a reason to consider devotion.

I like the idea of Dreamshaper Shaman, but I'm not convinced that it isn't complete jank.

the card (since it's just in the leak):

Dreamshaper Shaman 5R
Enchantment Creature- Minotaur Shaman
At the beginning of your end step, you may pay 2R and sacrifice a nonland permanent. If you do, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland permanent card. Put that card onto the battlefield, and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
5/4

It costs so much, and the ability is pretty hard to abuse. Most decks can't guarantee that all the other nonland permanents they're playing are gonna be swingy. Even spellslinger decks are going to end up bringing out less than massive Guttersnipes. It' not really a format where you can build a deck to Polymorph into Artisan of Kozilek reliably. Even so, you've paid almost as much mana as you would've to hard-cast the Artisan.

That said, this can be pretty cool in a deck with a lot of etbs. Red has plenty of Beetleback Chief and Ghirapur Gearcrafter type guys, which give you more sacrifice fodder. If you build a deck with a sort of Birthing Pod approach, this guy can be a sweet engine if he doesn't get removed.

It's a super cool effect, but the card is just too expensive to do something so risky. Throes of Chaos is a safer way to do something kinda similar. But then again, this is also a pretty big creature that can do it all while attacking if it needs to. I dunno. My heart tells me it's sweet, but my mind tells me it's bad.

Here's an interesting one:

"Dryad of Life's Gift" W
Enchantment Creature - Nymph
Lifelink
1, Sacrifice "Dryad of Life's Gift": A creature or enchantment you control gains protection from a color of your choice until end of turn.
1/1

It's a one time Mother of Runes on a Nip Gwyllion body, plus it hits enchantments and is one. Threatening to counter their removal isn't nothing. It's no Mother of Runes, but few things are.

This is a strange but powerful card. It's a three mana Growth Spiral (plus 3 life) that can eventually come back and be very much a titan. UUGG and five cards is a steep cost, making this really an archetype specific card for a cube with a heavy graveyard theme. If you aren't that, you might as well play other great Simic cards. If you are, it is by no means crazy that this could escape more than once, and a few triggers is enough to bury your opponent with tempo. Blue and green both come by cards in the graveyard with ease if an environment is geared to make it so.

I've only just realized how similar this is to Pawn of Ulamog. This has better stats, and compares somewhat favorably, but it probably won't make
it in places Pawn doesn't.

That said, I'm definitely a fan of both Pawn of Ulamog and Sifter of Skulls. It's a really powerful ability, and gets better in multiples.

The wording is still awkward with that double negative. But if escape is doable, these titans will be good.