This is hot garbage. No evasion, it requires crewing and double blue mana. The only way this piece of trash could have had even a fringe reason for existing is if it was colorless. Then at least you are getting a bad rate on an effect that might not be available to your deck's portion of the color pie. People are comparing this to a creature with the same effect but it's a poor comparison since vehicles require creatures to run them. They are more like equipment or even enchantments since they require creatures to function. This thing compares very poorly to Arcane Flight for instance.
Think about it. Round one you have to play an aggressive off color creature with two power since blue doesn't have two power one drops. Then round two you play this trashcan of a submarine and swing with your 1 drop. Then round three you finally get to crew it and swing for 2 damage and possibly a card if your opponent has somehow failed to play a blocker for three rounds, or you use your mana to play removal to clear a path for this clunker.
Now compare it to Arcane Flight. You can play literally any creature, even a zero mana thopter round one. If you have a zero drop enchant it, if not play any 1cc creature. Round two swing with your flying +1/+1 critter for damage and a card. If you had a zero drop creature then play your regular two drop. If not, you had to pay 1 blue to enchant your critter so play another 1 drop instead with the remaining mana. Round 3 you can now attack with two creatures, one of which is pumped, flies and draws cards and can use your T3 mana any way you like.
There is just no comparison. By round three you have likely done more damage with an uncommon enchantment, have a better board state and have drawn twice as many cards.
It's also one of the better answers I have seen printed for low to mid life walker removal. Being able to kill a walker with up to 4 loyalty and leaving a 4/3 body behind is one of the best trade ups I can think of when it comes to killing walkers and certainly one of the most versatile. Even if there are no creatures on the board the Firewheeler still does work.
Where do you get the up to 4 loyalty? Redirection rule is gone.
Oops! My bad. That was sloppy. I forgot it was only the older cards that targeted players that were given errata to target walkers as well. That makes this card much less shiny.
It really is a shame about the colors. I think if they were both costed the same I might take the Firewheeler over the Kavu in many cases. I used to play Flametongue back in the day and although it was one of my favorite red creature cards the one toughness and inability to go to the dome was often a real kick in the teeth on that thing. I have a lot of bitter memories of just barely falling short of the win because there was some chump blocker left on the field and no gas left in my hand after dropping my Flametounge. The fact that the Firewheeler can remove a small creature, shock the opponent directly and has enough toughness to swing into chump blockers without fear is pretty sweet.
It's also one of the better answers I have seen printed for low to mid life walker removal. Being able to kill a walker with up to 4 loyalty and leaving a 4/3 body behind is one of the best trade ups I can think of when it comes to killing walkers and certainly one of the most versatile. Even if there are no creatures on the board the Firewheeler still does work.
On the down side it has the problem that most jack of all trades have which is it is a master of none. Sure it can go to the dome but only for 2, it can kill creatures, but only relatively small ones, it can kill walkers but only if they are at 4 or less loyalty and it leaves behind a solid beat stick but certainly not one that is brokenly above curve. Still I think the fact that is does all of these things relatively well and at a good value point on the curve makes it an interesting card. I just wish the colored mana cost wasn't so oppressive.
If by some feat of freakish luck we see some sort aggressive Black/Red mid range deck in standard I think this will be one of it's stars, but that seems incredibly unlikely to me.
yeah sure the cards effect has some utility, and riot in all its simplicity is a pretty scary aggro mechanic. however the supporting context to give some framework of what some RGx aggro deck might look like in standard isnt there yet, let alone competing on modern's turf. for example the idea of rug coco that was brought up, interesting to think about but there is no substance because nothing remotely like that has proven to be playable. you are building from scratch with the premise that a coco hitting stuff like a 3/4 (possibly a 2/3) goyf + knuckleblade is something to look forward to.
a nasty turn 3 curveout? lessening the value, not even stopping, an opponents turn 3 removal? its like im listening to starving people fantasizing about eating dirt lol
If all this card had going for it was the hexproof gimmick then sure, but this critter also happens to have a body that is way above curve, probably in the top 5% of all three drops in addition to the versatility to choose between two different versions of said body. One of those versions even has haste which synergizes with the hexproof mechanic extremely well. Like I said I don't see this becoming some sort of mainstay in tier one modern, but the people blowing this off as trash are way off the mark. By far the things that hurt it most are it's colors and a lack of a home.
There is also the fact that traditional Aggro is dead in Modern. I think it's actually dead in any older format. When was the last time you have seen a Zoo deck?
That kind of strategy is not good enough and that's why all the aggressive decks that are being played in Modern have synergies which make them faster and more powerful than they would be with individually good cards. Objectively and without context Gruul Spellbreaker is a better creature than Arcbound Ravager but in the Hardened Scales deck that Ravager will make the Spellbreaker look like a joke.
This is exactly why I pointed out it's not likely to be a tier 1 modern card. Arcbound Ravager remains one of the most powerful creature cards ever printed so of course its not as good as that. That doesn't change the fact that the Spellbreaker is no where near trash level card that some here have erroneously described it as.
yeah sure the cards effect has some utility, and riot in all its simplicity is a pretty scary aggro mechanic. however the supporting context to give some framework of what some RGx aggro deck might look like in standard isnt there yet, let alone competing on modern's turf. for example the idea of rug coco that was brought up, interesting to think about but there is no substance because nothing remotely like that has proven to be playable. you are building from scratch with the premise that a coco hitting stuff like a 3/4 (possibly a 2/3) goyf + knuckleblade is something to look forward to.
a nasty turn 3 curveout? lessening the value, not even stopping, an opponents turn 3 removal? its like im listening to starving people fantasizing about eating dirt lol
If all this card had going for it was the hexproof gimmick then sure, but this critter also happens to have a body that is way above curve, probably in the top 5% of all three drops in addition to the versatility to choose between two different versions of said body. One of those versions even has haste which synergizes with the hexproof mechanic extremely well. Like I said I don't see this becoming some sort of mainstay in tier one modern, but the people blowing this off as trash are way off the mark. By far the things that hurt it most are it's colors and a lack of a home.
Spellbreaker is a bad card. In what subpar deck can we play it anyway ? Zoo wouldn't play a 3-drop unless it's super broken. Loxodon Smiter probably still better. Mantis Rider still better, Steal Leaf Champion still better...
Although I completely agree the Spellbreaker lacks a shell it certainly isn't a bad card. I think all things considered in a vacuum I would probably rate it as a stronger card than Steal Leaf Champion and Loxodon Smiter at the very least. It is an incredibly nasty and aggressive T2 or T3 card to play into your opponent leaving mana open for removal. It basically leaves them with the choice of taking a massive tempo hit and not casting their removal this turn or they have to waste it on a small fry instead of your juicy T3 drop which incidentally can be given haste to beat face immediately. Played on curve this is a very hard card to deal with in an aggro build.
Do I think this is going to be some modern format warping creature, no. But it's far from being bad and may even find some fringe use in the older formats. In standard if we see a competitive aggressive beat down deck in these colors this will be one of the cards in that deck.
Think about it. Round one you have to play an aggressive off color creature with two power since blue doesn't have two power one drops. Then round two you play this trashcan of a submarine and swing with your 1 drop. Then round three you finally get to crew it and swing for 2 damage and possibly a card if your opponent has somehow failed to play a blocker for three rounds, or you use your mana to play removal to clear a path for this clunker.
Now compare it to Arcane Flight. You can play literally any creature, even a zero mana thopter round one. If you have a zero drop enchant it, if not play any 1cc creature. Round two swing with your flying +1/+1 critter for damage and a card. If you had a zero drop creature then play your regular two drop. If not, you had to pay 1 blue to enchant your critter so play another 1 drop instead with the remaining mana. Round 3 you can now attack with two creatures, one of which is pumped, flies and draws cards and can use your T3 mana any way you like.
There is just no comparison. By round three you have likely done more damage with an uncommon enchantment, have a better board state and have drawn twice as many cards.
Oops! My bad. That was sloppy. I forgot it was only the older cards that targeted players that were given errata to target walkers as well. That makes this card much less shiny.
It really is a shame about the colors. I think if they were both costed the same I might take the Firewheeler over the Kavu in many cases. I used to play Flametongue back in the day and although it was one of my favorite red creature cards the one toughness and inability to go to the dome was often a real kick in the teeth on that thing. I have a lot of bitter memories of just barely falling short of the win because there was some chump blocker left on the field and no gas left in my hand after dropping my Flametounge. The fact that the Firewheeler can remove a small creature, shock the opponent directly and has enough toughness to swing into chump blockers without fear is pretty sweet.
It's also one of the better answers I have seen printed for low to mid life walker removal. Being able to kill a walker with up to 4 loyalty and leaving a 4/3 body behind is one of the best trade ups I can think of when it comes to killing walkers and certainly one of the most versatile. Even if there are no creatures on the board the Firewheeler still does work.
On the down side it has the problem that most jack of all trades have which is it is a master of none. Sure it can go to the dome but only for 2, it can kill creatures, but only relatively small ones, it can kill walkers but only if they are at 4 or less loyalty and it leaves behind a solid beat stick but certainly not one that is brokenly above curve. Still I think the fact that is does all of these things relatively well and at a good value point on the curve makes it an interesting card. I just wish the colored mana cost wasn't so oppressive.
If by some feat of freakish luck we see some sort aggressive Black/Red mid range deck in standard I think this will be one of it's stars, but that seems incredibly unlikely to me.
This is exactly why I pointed out it's not likely to be a tier 1 modern card. Arcbound Ravager remains one of the most powerful creature cards ever printed so of course its not as good as that. That doesn't change the fact that the Spellbreaker is no where near trash level card that some here have erroneously described it as.
If all this card had going for it was the hexproof gimmick then sure, but this critter also happens to have a body that is way above curve, probably in the top 5% of all three drops in addition to the versatility to choose between two different versions of said body. One of those versions even has haste which synergizes with the hexproof mechanic extremely well. Like I said I don't see this becoming some sort of mainstay in tier one modern, but the people blowing this off as trash are way off the mark. By far the things that hurt it most are it's colors and a lack of a home.
Although I completely agree the Spellbreaker lacks a shell it certainly isn't a bad card. I think all things considered in a vacuum I would probably rate it as a stronger card than Steal Leaf Champion and Loxodon Smiter at the very least. It is an incredibly nasty and aggressive T2 or T3 card to play into your opponent leaving mana open for removal. It basically leaves them with the choice of taking a massive tempo hit and not casting their removal this turn or they have to waste it on a small fry instead of your juicy T3 drop which incidentally can be given haste to beat face immediately. Played on curve this is a very hard card to deal with in an aggro build.
Do I think this is going to be some modern format warping creature, no. But it's far from being bad and may even find some fringe use in the older formats. In standard if we see a competitive aggressive beat down deck in these colors this will be one of the cards in that deck.