MTG Salvation

Quote from happyjosiah »

Seems about on par with Lotus Bloom, which didn't do enough for us.

I mentioned this in the Rumor Mill thread, but might as well mention it here since LB was brought up.

The difference between having access to 5 mana on turn 4 and 7 mana on turn 4, is remarkable. I don't see a world in which they are even remotely on the same level. But I agree, that Lotus Bloom isn't the greatest in Cube already and that makes this card seem quite unplayable.

I think this card has play ability. But it is either incredibly fringe or it isn't in Modern. I stand by me previous statement, comparing this to other moxes is not a linear comparison. The difference between an extra mana on turns 1, 2, and 3, is substantial and you quickly see that diminish on turns 4, 5, and onward. If this wasn't the case, then something like Farseek and Explor would have way more playability to them.... but they don't because the time in which that mana makes the biggest difference, has come and gone. Suspend 3 is a huge drawback for this card outside of fringe scenarios. The reason it is less of a drawback on Lotus Bloom is that you net 3 mana by the end of those turns.

You want to be going bigger earlier and wider later. This Mox doesn't really achieve either of those.

But once again, I do think the card has niche playability. Historically, cards with Niche playability either become incredibly relevant in their niche or unplayable abroad.

I feel like this card is a trap. It seems good, but it can absolutely be played around to net themselves mana and rebuy back onto the board in a better way than just playing around a wrath.

I think this card is insane in formats where there are not a ton of basics floating around.

Quote from Manite »

Quote from Diarmuid »

I don't know, every time a Mox got spoiled in the last few years, people were initially saying how bad it is, and it always ended up playable somewhere. Free mana for 0 always ended up good, no matter the restrictions.

Yeah, I can picture the arguments:

Chrome Mox - "You have to exile a card, and risk getting 2-for-1ed. Total jank."
Mox Opal - "You have to get three whole artifacts on the battlefield. Unplayable garbage."
Mox Amber - "You need to have a legendary creature or planeswalker on the battlefield. Jaaaaank."
Mox Tantalite - "You have to wait three whole turns!? JAAAAAANK!"

I wonder how many players deride Lotus Bloom for the same reason.

Are you kidding?

Bloom is a 3 mana net after 3 turns... this is a 1 mana net.

The thing is, the earlier in the game you start working above curve, the better. Which offsets things like card disadvantage because you have a power advantage. Turns 3 and onward that advantage starts to decay rather quickly, especially in a fast linear format like Modern.

There are definitely some cards that when resolved onto even marginal board states, can make the game seem decided already. They also come down turns 3-5.

But I have also gotten out of plenty of boards where ti seemed like I was doomed on turn 3 or 4.

I mean, I hear free Strives are good.

This made it into a Reanimator deck last night. The pilot was pretty pleased with it, he said he never cast it on curve, but he did get to discard a Griselbrand to it and draw into a Feldon of the Third Path.

Had a player draft this last night. His goal was to Mono White Aggro people down in Powered Cube, he also drafted God-Eternal Oketra. He got a free 4/4 that I heard about.

Wasn't very exciting.

I may keep this card in for more testing but I suspected it wasn't going to really do anything. I just wanted to see someone live the dream of casting this Turn 2 off a Mox and going full face. :(.

A boy can dream.

We got to see a player to live the dream of Extraplanar Lens with Urza last night. Things got a bit nutty. He didn't get to play his while library, but he got to activate things on the cheap and do it multiple times a turn.

From watching the game, I noticed something that isn't really mentioned here.

Yes, he hit lands on activation... but what seemed to hurt more was also hitting irrelevant spells like Mana Drain. While most things he flipped were lands or playable cards like more artifacts, there were a couple of times he hit a counterspell on his turn after also hitting a land, or hitting a land right afterwards.

But we also got to see an activation into a Mana Vault into another activation of Winter Orb, into a third activation of Tinker, fetching Blightsteel Colossus. So there is that.

I like it. I think it is best to look at this less like a sweeper and more like a spot removal spell with anti-combo sweeper as a ceiling. I might include it in 540, but not entirely likely. I can see interest at 720 for sure though.

I mean, those 4 random cards could be Jace, Snapcaster, and any other 2... plus a Teferi. So what if they put Teferi in a solo pile.

I am unsure how I feel about this card. I want to really like it, but at the same time I am fairly unsure how realistic the payoff for his Welding effect is. I run Time Vault, so I imagine this card with a crazy high ceiling and a fairly decent floor. As wtwlf states, you still get to entomb something off him and that effect is pretty strong on its own, if the deck can utilize it. Some of the Reanimator decks we draft are already targeting things that Goblin Engineer can Entomb, and having a second effect like that can be impactful.

I think with that, plus how high ceilings can be for certain Cubes, it is a card worth keeping an eye on. I am not convinced I will do any testing with it, but I would like to see how it plays for others in more average scenarios.

While these are great, I do run colorless cards that require colorless mana. So the painlands do more than these in that regard, and I value mana fixing over neat effects, at least in anything that is of a cycle.

I just don’t think I have any land cuts for these that I am happy with, and thus will probably pass on them.

Jeeze. Kefnet, we hardly knew ya!

Honestly, Kefnet is so unique in what it does, I would rather cut Whirler. But I don’t run Whirler - so easy choice for me.