Hullbreacher literally generates the ability to play all the drawn spells immediately that turn all at the expense of the opponent. It’s leagues better than Notion Thief, who only does what blue already does best, and what blue spells played with Humlbreacher’s treasure mana that turn will already likely do. It’s fast and gives blue something it isn’t as good at as other colors. For 3 instead of 4 and less color intensive. As stated earlier the toughness is also a bonus. It’s all around superior
What drawn spells? Hullbreacher never draws you any spells. You still need to have them to move forward.
Every color can ramp, blue isn't even the worst at it, especially with it's love of artifacts
It's fast mana, temporary ramp. Card advantage will almost always be better, since it will frequently enough be ramp when you need it, and gas too.
In cEDH the card advantage is much less relevant (you simply need a lot less cards to win, critical key cards resolving is enough, not drawing 20+ cards), especially as the difference in 2U vs 2UB manacost is massive.
If you ever hit anything big with this effect, you get a game winning amount of advantage anyway, as the opponent is not drawing the cards, and you end up with 20+ mana to use in Treasure form (which is more than enough to win with all kinds of combos, you can easily play your entire hand right away).
With a full table of combo players, anybody is basically guaranteed to have either a Wheel effect and/or this guy in the very earliest turns of a game, and if this sticks, its game over here and there (its not the same for the Notion Thief, as drawing a lot of cards without mana does not mean you win right away, while wheeling into lots of mana is much more likely to win instantly).
So here the cards just good, regardless, any hit for a big draw spell will be devastating no matter what.
Spell 1 B
Instant
Target player draws three cards
Spell 2 U
Instant
Add UUU to your mana pool.
Which one is better?
If someone wheels, then drawing 21 cards is still better than creating 21 treasures. You'll get the same ramp and the cards you may or may not need to win.
I'm not saying this card isn't good, just that the effect is something we already have a stronger version of in commander. The best part will be denying the draws. The treasures are neat, but not nearly as good as drawing an equivalent amount of cards. Not even close. Most decks could make more mana with the cards anyways.
but... it does 2 things here. they don't get the draws and you get the treasures. you're neutering your opponent and pushing yourself ahead. if they wheel they get rightly ****ed and you have the capacity to keep going through all the treasures you'll get. its not just one opponent either, its all of them. i feel like you're under estimating the potency of that. narset parter of veils sees tons of play just because she shuts off those additional draws. this guy does that, and gives you mana too. its effective against more than just wheels too, brainstorm? sylvan library? treasure cruise? con sphinx? there are just so many ways people draw cards and this goes nope while pushing you ahead enough to either barf something game winning out or at least protect your set up.
comparing it to notion thief... i think its not a fair comparison. sure, notion thief shuts off those draws and lets you draw a ****ton of cards but he doesn't ensure that you can do anything with those cards. i've seen it happen more than a few times where someone draws out, or has to discard 20 cards because all notion thief does is make you draw.
personally, i'd rather shut off my opponents draws and ensure that i have the capacity to play my deck out instead of shutting them off and just drawing a ****ton.
You're far more likely to end up with treasures you can't use than 21 cards in hand that you can't use.
It's the same reason that Reliquary Tower is only useful in bad decks
If someone wheels, then drawing 21 cards is still better than creating 21 treasures. You'll get the same ramp and the cards you may or may not need to win.
I'm not saying this card isn't good, just that the effect is something we already have a stronger version of in commander. The best part will be denying the draws. The treasures are neat, but not nearly as good as drawing an equivalent amount of cards. Not even close. Most decks could make more mana with the cards anyways.
So many games i have seen a player go crazy with Notion Thief just to discard down to 7 and end the turn.
The big advantage is to destroy the opponents with a wheel, which this guy does too, but it also provides Mana right away, which is much more crucial to win immediately, before ending the turn.
Any hand with a tutor will grab you another wheel and you just keep going.
And all that for just 2U instead of 2UB
What it does is simply more relevant.
Beside that decks without black suddenly have access to this (like all the blue/red wheel decks, that suddenly have their pimped up version of Notion Thief, all they could ever ask for).
Having 2 thoughness is also surprisingly relevant to eat a bunch of attacking 1/1 mana creatures without dying or eating the 1 damage pings of Niv-Mizzet (which then cant draw the second card anymore to deal the other 1 damage).
If you get the effect during an opponents turn, the mana is even better, to play more spells right away instead of needing to wait till its your own turn to play all the sorcery speed stuff.
And with all the Smothering Tithe (cards game winning all the time, but white is basically the worst color in cEDH) and Notion Thief in play, the guy with this guy will have the edge (as Notion Thief just doubles the Treasures you get).
Time will tell i guess.
I've literally never seen anybody draw 21 cards and discard at the end of their turn, unless that was part of their plan to win.
I have seen people with large amounts of mana pass turns because they had nothing to do with it.
Not that I am even saying that Hullbreacher is bad. I have said it is good several times. I'm just saying that card draw is and always will be better than rituals.
It's fast mana, temporary ramp. Card advantage will almost always be better, since it will frequently enough be ramp when you need it, and gas too.
In cEDH the card advantage is much less relevant (you simply need a lot less cards to win, critical key cards resolving is enough, not drawing 20+ cards), especially as the difference in 2U vs 2UB manacost is massive.
If you ever hit anything big with this effect, you get a game winning amount of advantage anyway, as the opponent is not drawing the cards, and you end up with 20+ mana to use in Treasure form (which is more than enough to win with all kinds of combos, you can easily play your entire hand right away).
With a full table of combo players, anybody is basically guaranteed to have either a Wheel effect and/or this guy in the very earliest turns of a game, and if this sticks, its game over here and there (its not the same for the Notion Thief, as drawing a lot of cards without mana does not mean you win right away, while wheeling into lots of mana is much more likely to win instantly).
So here the cards just good, regardless, any hit for a big draw spell will be devastating no matter what.
Spell 1 B
Instant
Target player draws three cards
Spell 2 U
Instant
Add UUU to your mana pool.
Which one is better?
If someone wheels, then drawing 21 cards is still better than creating 21 treasures. You'll get the same ramp and the cards you may or may not need to win.
I'm not saying this card isn't good, just that the effect is something we already have a stronger version of in commander. The best part will be denying the draws. The treasures are neat, but not nearly as good as drawing an equivalent amount of cards. Not even close. Most decks could make more mana with the cards anyways.
A weaker Notion Thief, with less restrictive colors. With how rarely I even see Dimir+ decks run Notion Thief, I'm not sure this will be too broken. More played, maybe, but it's fine. Yes, it could have been white, but it's fine in blue too.
Ramp for blue > more draw for blue
It's fast mana, temporary ramp. Card advantage will almost always be better, since it will frequently enough be ramp when you need it, and gas too.
A weaker Notion Thief, with less restrictive colors. With how rarely I even see Dimir+ decks run Notion Thief, I'm not sure this will be too broken. More played, maybe, but it's fine. Yes, it could have been white, but it's fine in blue too.
Raid the RunesXR Instant (Rare)
Exile the top X cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards as though they were in your hand. For each card played this way, discard a card or sacrifice a permanent.
Psionic Char2B Instant (Rare)
Choose one -
• Target player loses 4 life and you lose 2 life.
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or less. You lose 2 life.
Unearthly GraceW Sorcery (Common)
Return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Cycling 2
Mystic Study2W Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may draw a card unless they pay 1.
Rustic Study2G Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, populate unless they pay 1. (To populate, create a token that's a copy of a creature token you control.)
All pretty brilliant cards... Except one.
The first set is all well done. I even like Magic Slip costing 13 more Mana. Yes it's 99.9% of the time a hard counter. Very flavorful. Should cost 2 Mana for balance but it was done well.
The Cloudrat Ranger feels like it missed the mark a bit. Rats give Menace or Intimidation effects. I'd switch it to something like that. But it is pretty well done.
Only real issue is the one you probably already realize. The Arena doesn't feel good. While it loses all it's color shiftiness I like it costing WUU gaining a life and drawing a card.
A little maybe. The main thing is blue doesn't usually do life payments and combining it with card draw is a black thing. I would sooner change the cost to something like exiling cards from your graveyard.
It's definitely more of a bend than the others, that's for sure.
Before limited, this would have been Vizzerdrix.
What drawn spells? Hullbreacher never draws you any spells. You still need to have them to move forward.
Every color can ramp, blue isn't even the worst at it, especially with it's love of artifacts
You're far more likely to end up with treasures you can't use than 21 cards in hand that you can't use.
It's the same reason that Reliquary Tower is only useful in bad decks
I've literally never seen anybody draw 21 cards and discard at the end of their turn, unless that was part of their plan to win.
I have seen people with large amounts of mana pass turns because they had nothing to do with it.
Not that I am even saying that Hullbreacher is bad. I have said it is good several times. I'm just saying that card draw is and always will be better than rituals.
Spell 1 B
Instant
Target player draws three cards
Spell 2 U
Instant
Add UUU to your mana pool.
Which one is better?
If someone wheels, then drawing 21 cards is still better than creating 21 treasures. You'll get the same ramp and the cards you may or may not need to win.
I'm not saying this card isn't good, just that the effect is something we already have a stronger version of in commander. The best part will be denying the draws. The treasures are neat, but not nearly as good as drawing an equivalent amount of cards. Not even close. Most decks could make more mana with the cards anyways.
It's fast mana, temporary ramp. Card advantage will almost always be better, since it will frequently enough be ramp when you need it, and gas too.
Instant (Rare)
Exile the top X cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards as though they were in your hand. For each card played this way, discard a card or sacrifice a permanent.
Psionic Char 2B
Instant (Rare)
Choose one -
• Target player loses 4 life and you lose 2 life.
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or less. You lose 2 life.
Unearthly Grace W
Sorcery (Common)
Return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Cycling 2
Mystic Study 2W
Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may draw a card unless they pay 1.
Rustic Study 2G
Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, populate unless they pay 1. (To populate, create a token that's a copy of a creature token you control.)
If they only have one creature, sure
They're cloudrats
It's definitely more of a bend than the others, that's for sure.
Gitaxian Arena 1UU
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life. Then look at up to one target player's hand, and draw a card.