We did play this for a bit, the appeal being that red aggro decks will gladly play any burn hey get, and it serves as an alt wincon for control/midrange/combo decks.
Card just felt too clunky and didn't get maindecked much tho, we're trying Ranger's Firebrand in that slot now.
Besides Rona, Herald of Invasion which we currently play, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is the most appealing of these cards to me, but I'm not sure if it grows enough to make it good enough, especially since we cut most of the NEO legendary lands.
Without other purposeful legendary support, how big does Yoshimaru need to consistently get when cast on turn 1 or 2 to make up for the fact that it'll be stranded as a 1/1 most of the time past turns 3 or 4. Maybe 4/4? Or is 3/3 enough? I feel like routinely getting 2 counters is the baseline that would make me want to try this, but I haven't liked Isamaru, Hound of Konda in years so this being a 2/2 would be a serious disappointment.
I've got some experience with this in standard and it's quite good there, hadn't thought to try it out in cube though. This seems like it could be a decent fit, and although much worse defensively than Plague Engineer, I like that this offers a tutor-able way for even control and combo decks to gameplan for stealing Initiative which has been a niche we've talked about wanting to fill. I'll ask around to others who I know play this in standard to see if we should give this a whirl.
The Blitz mechanic has been really impressive tbh, we've even been playing with Riveteers Requisitioner too and that's similarly versatile, although gets non-blitzed quite a lot more often than I'd imagine this does.
I could imagine part of the issue with a card like Gemstone Cavers vs Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors is that these cards generate the extra mana at the cost of a single card: themselves. When you play an Ancient Tomb in your aggro or ramp deck, it accounts for 2 mana at the cost of a single card, meanwhile for Gemstone Caverns to push you a turn ahead costs 2 cards for the same mana. The card sees play in legacy in only one deck in Initiative Stompy, in large part because the value generation from 8 initiative creatures can offset the pseudo card-disadvantage compared to Tomb or City of an effect like this.
I think there's also a separate issue of the decks that really desire these effects often tend to be aggro decks and combo decks, both of which tend to play fewer lands and more spells, and as such tend to have worse fixing to begin with. A land that is colorless half the time you draw it in your opener, and that is colorless anytime as a topdeck might be a tough sell for a lot of those decks, even if it can tap for multiple colors a fraction of the time.
Now I say all that as someone who's never actually played this card myself before in my life, and certainly never seen it activated against me in cube, so maybe it's a new age and with the onslaught of cheap (4cmc or below) card advantage engines like Initiative/Monarch, Planeswalkers, crazy card advantage fatties to cheat into play early, or other pushed midgame value permanents that generate value like The One Ring/Sheoldred, the Apocalypse/Radagast the Brown/etc this might be better than ever.
Has anyone played with this before in cube recently?
Our issue with this was that it only goes in aggro and midrange decks, which is fine, but our best black one drops to play one turn one are hand-attack, so the plan to play this on turn two following your best one drop doesn't just seem kinda easy to disrupt, but just generally inconsistent. This also seems like a decent midgame topdeck but a bad lategame one, which while not surprising for a 2 drop, is still kind of disappointing.
It's meant to generate value but often struggles to do so, and it's meant to be aggressive which it's better at on turn 2 but is still slow and gives opponents outlets to disrupt it. I think we'll pass for now, but if others find good success with it I'll be sure to give it a spin.
How so? I thought Fear, Fire, Foes! seemed pretty bad compared to all the other red board-clears that already exist. I'm not sure how good this is, but I definitely like it more, and both cards just do fundamentally different things. The flashback is the entire reason why this card seems interesting to me.
Was looking for more red board clears, and came across this on scryfall. Never played it before, but have played Lava Dart before which was decent. We've been playing Subterranean Tremors for a bit now and the most common use for it has probably been the 2 mana Breath of Darigaaz mode. While this can't get up to three damage, it can get to 2 damage at 4 mana, and can specifically be discarded for value for a 1 damage board-clear down the line. Has anybody ever played with this, or have any initial impressions or thoughts of the card?
I don't love that it can't hit 1/1 flying tokens like Lingering Souls or some of the good 1 toughness flyers like Vendilion Clique or Birds of Paradise, but I don't think there too many of those that should create an issue.
I love modal cards, especially removal, and this being able to represent 2 or 3-for-1s seems appealing, although possibly narrow or even inefficient.
Looks good but I think might be a little slow for us. Colored Mazemind Tome seems decent, but just not something we're personally looking for in our environment unless it proves to be really strong.
It's a fine fattie, and haste is strong, but no ETB makes this a difficult sell for me. As others have said too, that cycling ability is strong but I think costs too much mana for reanimator decks. Wish it was 3 mana for 1 treasure, since I know they can't do 2 mana for the 1 treasure again á-la Magma Opus.
Card looks quite good, but at least for us white 2s are getting tight, and Cathar Commando is the closest comparison. Cathar Commando has the upside that it's much less susceptible to removal (good for burst, carrying equipment, and killing PWs) and can be played in control and combo decks as an Impeccable Timing.
I don't think this is an effect we need multiple of, but larger cubes would likely be excited about this. However, I do specifically like that this answers early game mana rocks and even power much faster than a Cathar Commando, although the sorcery speed on this card's ability activation could prove to be an issue to if you want to block with it and sacrifice it during blocking combat like a Cathar Commando.
Repeatable Hedron Archive for card draw and ramp that can also cast removal or counterspells in control and combo decks the turn you play it. I'm a big fan of Archive, and this seems even better. I plan on playing both.
Seems good on-color for storm and ramp, but I'm not sure how much the fair UG decks want this effect over like an Ice-Fang Coatl if you don't play storm. Wheels being easier to cast and forcing your opponent to draw are pretty focal to what makes them so good, and we aren't playing cards like Time Spiral or Commit // Memory already. I think I prefer the Coatl, but maybe I'm underestimating how much the instant speed is worth or how splashable the effect is. Worth noting this wheel is discard-based not shuffle-based, which is definitely the more powerful option and makes it much more desirable to splash for in reanimator I guess?
Second best RW card for us probably. I don’t think this is just an aggro card either, the rate is really good at cmc 4+ and can be card draw if you need it to be in your RW Sneak Attack decks. Even in a long game, the odds that they have enough blockers to defend you from taking the monarchy AND to get it back aren’t great.
If you’re on something non-aggressive, you can just not attack if you think monarchy is gonna backfire, but if you’re against a deck that’s real light on creatures, even just currently, then you can just opt to swing with one or two and draw some cards. Imo monarchy is super sketchy outside of aggro and midrange decks, but you can just not activate the monarchy trigger if it’s that bad you still get tons of stats.
I don't think we're personally looking for a straight anthem effect, there's plenty of effects that benefit going wide that have bodies/value on their own, but this is certainly the best of the ones that don't.
I was largely unimpressed with Fall From Favor when we tested it, as it's basically only an aggro/midrange card, and requiring a target to cast it on ended up being a tough sell. Having useful targets can become an issue for these effects, and we've since cut Treachery and Control Magic too for the same reasons. Non-Sower of Temptationcontrol magic effects feel a little bit dated imo since they're mostly just good vs midrange decks, and this doesn't break that mold enough for me to want to try it. Definitely a very pushed card tho
Card just felt too clunky and didn't get maindecked much tho, we're trying Ranger's Firebrand in that slot now.
Without other purposeful legendary support, how big does Yoshimaru need to consistently get when cast on turn 1 or 2 to make up for the fact that it'll be stranded as a 1/1 most of the time past turns 3 or 4. Maybe 4/4? Or is 3/3 enough? I feel like routinely getting 2 counters is the baseline that would make me want to try this, but I haven't liked Isamaru, Hound of Konda in years so this being a 2/2 would be a serious disappointment.
The Blitz mechanic has been really impressive tbh, we've even been playing with Riveteers Requisitioner too and that's similarly versatile, although gets non-blitzed quite a lot more often than I'd imagine this does.
I think there's also a separate issue of the decks that really desire these effects often tend to be aggro decks and combo decks, both of which tend to play fewer lands and more spells, and as such tend to have worse fixing to begin with. A land that is colorless half the time you draw it in your opener, and that is colorless anytime as a topdeck might be a tough sell for a lot of those decks, even if it can tap for multiple colors a fraction of the time.
Now I say all that as someone who's never actually played this card myself before in my life, and certainly never seen it activated against me in cube, so maybe it's a new age and with the onslaught of cheap (4cmc or below) card advantage engines like Initiative/Monarch, Planeswalkers, crazy card advantage fatties to cheat into play early, or other pushed midgame value permanents that generate value like The One Ring/Sheoldred, the Apocalypse/Radagast the Brown/etc this might be better than ever.
Has anyone played with this before in cube recently?
It's meant to generate value but often struggles to do so, and it's meant to be aggressive which it's better at on turn 2 but is still slow and gives opponents outlets to disrupt it. I think we'll pass for now, but if others find good success with it I'll be sure to give it a spin.
Was looking for more red board clears, and came across this on scryfall. Never played it before, but have played Lava Dart before which was decent. We've been playing Subterranean Tremors for a bit now and the most common use for it has probably been the 2 mana Breath of Darigaaz mode. While this can't get up to three damage, it can get to 2 damage at 4 mana, and can specifically be discarded for value for a 1 damage board-clear down the line. Has anybody ever played with this, or have any initial impressions or thoughts of the card?
I don't love that it can't hit 1/1 flying tokens like Lingering Souls or some of the good 1 toughness flyers like Vendilion Clique or Birds of Paradise, but I don't think there too many of those that should create an issue.
I love modal cards, especially removal, and this being able to represent 2 or 3-for-1s seems appealing, although possibly narrow or even inefficient.
I don't think this is an effect we need multiple of, but larger cubes would likely be excited about this. However, I do specifically like that this answers early game mana rocks and even power much faster than a Cathar Commando, although the sorcery speed on this card's ability activation could prove to be an issue to if you want to block with it and sacrifice it during blocking combat like a Cathar Commando.
Relic of Sauron
Repeatable Hedron Archive for card draw and ramp that can also cast removal or counterspells in control and combo decks the turn you play it. I'm a big fan of Archive, and this seems even better. I plan on playing both.
If you’re on something non-aggressive, you can just not attack if you think monarchy is gonna backfire, but if you’re against a deck that’s real light on creatures, even just currently, then you can just opt to swing with one or two and draw some cards. Imo monarchy is super sketchy outside of aggro and midrange decks, but you can just not activate the monarchy trigger if it’s that bad you still get tons of stats.