Agree that two CMC ramp creatures needs to be exceptionally resilient or capable of ramping for two+ mana. Also, the feel-bads when your animated land gets bolted or fatal pushed will be immense. The ramp ability will literally just put you at parity at that point.
I don't think this is particularly good in a high power environment. Krasis brings critical card draw and lifegain to the table and fills an important role in ramp-centric Simic decks. At the time it was printed, it was arguably the best Simic card. Now we have an embarrassment of riches with Oko and Uro. At the time this is being printed I'm struggling to think of any place on the curve where I would, more often than not, want this card over any other red creature with the same mana value. I appreciate that the flexibility is meant to offset that weakness, but it needs something more. If this had an impulse draw etb, equal to X, that would have gotten me interested. As is, this is a safe pass.
Also, strongly dislike that we're seeing french vanilla mythics - there is nothing mythic about this card outside of how many red standard decks will likely need a playset of these to be competitive.
Necroing this thread since the reprint means many more people are going to be able to afford to cube this for the first time. Wonder how many people are now intending to pick this up, now that the price won't be as much of a barrier?
Also, could we get a Ravages of War reprint here too? Pretty please? Think is would be brilliant if they made a version with art from Ravnica post War of the Spark.
Does this wording for Lindblum's second ability work better?
Lindblum may be tapped to crew a vehicle as though it were a creature with 1 power. If a vehicle is crewed by Lindblum it gains haste until end of turn.
Necropact2B
Sorcery (R)
Kicker 2B
Target opponent sacrifices a creature. Return up to one target creature card with a mana value of 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If Necropact was kicked, target opponent sacrifices two creatures then return any creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control instead.
I disagree. Some of the benchmarks you are using to evaluate my card are either inaccurately described or outclassed by other already printed and preferred options. For example, Barter in Blood has each player sacrificing two creatures, not one. 4B is the sweet-spot for limited only uncommon reanimation spells -- not reanimation staples such as Persist.
Necropact un-kicked is a fusion of Diabolic Edict and Call of the Death-Dweller both 2-3 CC cards. This loses both the keyword counters provided by Call and the ability to return more than one creature from the graveyard, and gains an edict. It's definitely a tradeoff that is a net positive, but not unreasonably so, especially at a heightened rarity.
The second mode costs 4BB - At that mana cost you should be able to get Dead Drop + Zombify. Surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any card outside of Dead Drop that has this exact same one-sided double sacrifice effect and it is difficult to assign a mana value to a non-delve equivalent of a delve card though my estimate would be about 4B. I don't think it is unreasonable that for an additional B we could see unconditional reanimation added to this as a powerful late game play. This is exactly the kind of situation-based tide turning effect a 6CC sorcery should offer.
Necropact2B
Sorcery (R)
Kicker 2B
Target opponent sacrifices a creature. Return up to one target creature card with a mana value of 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If Necropact was kicked, target opponent sacrifices two creatures then return any creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control instead.
Had a strong feeling that this was better than the initial reception, but I still would not slot this in over Daretti. I'm probably going to slot this in over Dreadbore personally.
Exciting to hear the strong feedback on this one. We have had a buffet of middling 4CC PW options for Gruul and Wrenn and Six never really appealed to me (also not worth a Benjamin to me). I will be picking this up - likely replacing Huntmaster of the Fells.
Nice to see some support for Baneslayer types -- I was pushing this same line in 2020 and the response was almost universally "nope, they're bad, thanks for playing" and then inevitably someone questioned the removal in my cube -- usually without looking at my readily available list. While power focused cube lists do have premium removal, the opponent still has to have it and have it before too much value has been accumulated. There's always going to be a place in my cube for the best 5CC threats that swing the game when unanswered even if they are susceptible to removal.
At 6CC on up I think you do have to insist on immediate value or self-protection -- the only 6CC and above creature I run that doesn't meet that standard is Consecrated Sphinx and this is because the card draw it generally provides makes this card worth it even without these features.
Nice option for less power focused cubes. For me there are three big strikes.
1) 4 toughness - This card already has the same weakness as Consecrated Sphinx by costing six mana and not having any form of self-protection. Dropping the toughness to 4 expands the menu of options that can kill this even further to include several red options (FTK, Chandra) and attacking creatures with 4 power that you need to block.
2) Downgrade to Catalog from Divination.
3) Worse trigger condition - Even with the upfront value, only triggering thereafter on attack is much worse than whenever an opponent draws a card.
Below are some custom land designs for my FF9 inspired set. Once completed this will be a 10 land legendary cycle. All of the lands are legendary painlands that cannot be tapped for colorless, but do have an added ability that only requires tapping.
Cleyra, the Spinning Sands
Legendary Land (R) : Add G or W. Cleyra, the Spinning Sands deals 1 damage to you. : Untap target attacking creature with flying. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.
In FF9, Cleyra is a city protected by a massive sandstorm. Cleyra trades off some pros and cons with Maze of Ith. Unlike Maze, Cleyra is Legendary and can only target flying creatures. Cleyra has the upside of being able to also tap for mana however.
Lindblum
Legendary Land (R) : Add R or W. Lindblum deals 1 damage to you. : Reduce the crew number for target vehicle you control by 1 until end of turn. That vehicle gains haste until end of turn.
Lindblum is the city of industry -- famous for airships. Added a pair of abilities that are powerful due to being free, but still require you to have both a creature and vehicle to take advantage of the ability.
Kuja's Desert Palace
Legendary Land (R) : Add B or R. Kuja's Desert Palace deals 1 damage to you. : Exile the top card of your library. You lose life equal to its converted mana cost plus two and you may cast that card from exile until end of turn.
Really wanted to play off of the Antlion traps in the game. FF9 adds some intrigue to finding Kuja's Desert Palace by making it one a handful of sinkholes but if you pick the wrong one you are attacked by an Antlion. I interpreted that idea into Magic as an impulse draw mechanic, with a potentially substantial life penalty depending upon the card drawn. This is the one I'm the most iffy as to whether it could see print -- even with the "plus two" clause.
This is the new Muscle Burst, but no more useful I'm afraid.
Not sure I understand this comparison. Synthesis has a lot more utility and flexibility then a Kindle/Muscle Burst style card. You're seeing a single uncommon application of the mechanic. Synthesis does not necessarily require duplicate copies of the same card although in this example it does. Synthesis abilities aren't going to be limited to p/t boosts either. Synthesis is primarily a cost reduction mechanic that allows you to have a sideboard similar to a learn-board from which you can cast otherwise reasonably costed equipment at a much more advantageous rate if you can draw and play the two cards that synthesize to make that card.
You need to retemplate this because, as written, its a static ability that will be constantly checking "Do you want to do this" until you do it, but its an easy enough fix.
Much appreciated. Nailing the right wording is often a challenge. What are your thoughts on making the auto-equip dependent upon the equipment entering from outside the game? Too restrictive?
Also, strongly dislike that we're seeing french vanilla mythics - there is nothing mythic about this card outside of how many red standard decks will likely need a playset of these to be competitive.
Also, could we get a Ravages of War reprint here too? Pretty please? Think is would be brilliant if they made a version with art from Ravnica post War of the Spark.
Lindblum may be tapped to crew a vehicle as though it were a creature with 1 power. If a vehicle is crewed by Lindblum it gains haste until end of turn.
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
Testing
Gut, True Soul Zealot
Altar of Bhaal
Watching
Descent into Avernus
Noble's Purse
Sorcery (R)
Kicker 2B
Target opponent sacrifices a creature. Return up to one target creature card with a mana value of 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If Necropact was kicked, target opponent sacrifices two creatures then return any creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control instead.
Necropact un-kicked is a fusion of Diabolic Edict and Call of the Death-Dweller both 2-3 CC cards. This loses both the keyword counters provided by Call and the ability to return more than one creature from the graveyard, and gains an edict. It's definitely a tradeoff that is a net positive, but not unreasonably so, especially at a heightened rarity.
The second mode costs 4BB - At that mana cost you should be able to get Dead Drop + Zombify. Surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any card outside of Dead Drop that has this exact same one-sided double sacrifice effect and it is difficult to assign a mana value to a non-delve equivalent of a delve card though my estimate would be about 4B. I don't think it is unreasonable that for an additional B we could see unconditional reanimation added to this as a powerful late game play. This is exactly the kind of situation-based tide turning effect a 6CC sorcery should offer.
Sorcery (R)
Kicker 2B
Target opponent sacrifices a creature. Return up to one target creature card with a mana value of 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If Necropact was kicked, target opponent sacrifices two creatures then return any creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control instead.
"This is what the people at Stonewall died for!"
and then this zinger about Bearscape....
"I was onboard until I saw Bearscape. It's just too difficult to shuffle my deck with one hand."
At 6CC on up I think you do have to insist on immediate value or self-protection -- the only 6CC and above creature I run that doesn't meet that standard is Consecrated Sphinx and this is because the card draw it generally provides makes this card worth it even without these features.
1) 4 toughness - This card already has the same weakness as Consecrated Sphinx by costing six mana and not having any form of self-protection. Dropping the toughness to 4 expands the menu of options that can kill this even further to include several red options (FTK, Chandra) and attacking creatures with 4 power that you need to block.
2) Downgrade to Catalog from Divination.
3) Worse trigger condition - Even with the upfront value, only triggering thereafter on attack is much worse than whenever an opponent draws a card.
Cleyra, the Spinning Sands
Legendary Land (R)
In FF9, Cleyra is a city protected by a massive sandstorm. Cleyra trades off some pros and cons with Maze of Ith. Unlike Maze, Cleyra is Legendary and can only target flying creatures. Cleyra has the upside of being able to also tap for mana however.
Lindblum
Legendary Land (R)
Lindblum is the city of industry -- famous for airships. Added a pair of abilities that are powerful due to being free, but still require you to have both a creature and vehicle to take advantage of the ability.
Kuja's Desert Palace
Legendary Land (R)
Really wanted to play off of the Antlion traps in the game. FF9 adds some intrigue to finding Kuja's Desert Palace by making it one a handful of sinkholes but if you pick the wrong one you are attacked by an Antlion. I interpreted that idea into Magic as an impulse draw mechanic, with a potentially substantial life penalty depending upon the card drawn. This is the one I'm the most iffy as to whether it could see print -- even with the "plus two" clause.
Not sure I understand this comparison. Synthesis has a lot more utility and flexibility then a Kindle/Muscle Burst style card. You're seeing a single uncommon application of the mechanic. Synthesis does not necessarily require duplicate copies of the same card although in this example it does. Synthesis abilities aren't going to be limited to p/t boosts either. Synthesis is primarily a cost reduction mechanic that allows you to have a sideboard similar to a learn-board from which you can cast otherwise reasonably costed equipment at a much more advantageous rate if you can draw and play the two cards that synthesize to make that card.
Much appreciated. Nailing the right wording is often a challenge. What are your thoughts on making the auto-equip dependent upon the equipment entering from outside the game? Too restrictive?