Excited to finally play some new cards, even if many of them are just new versions of existing ones. Could lead to some big shakeups in the cube, particularly in green.
This card bears a strong resemblance to Smuggler's Surprise. They each have a mode which enables fatty cheating alongside a generic failsafe mode, a combination that I find very appealing. Unfortunately, the failsafe mode for Lively Dirge is also its premium mode, so it can't be a self-contained enabler + payoff like Smuggler's Surprise can. As for its individual modes, paying 3 mana for a sorcery speed entomb is just rough, even for decks that can leverage it. Instant speed would have gone a long way towards making this card more palatable.
Looks like a great card for grindy matchups. But as far as Black 4s with powerful ETBs go, I would prefer Ravenous Chupacabra in more circumstances for the immediate board impact. The discard punishing/synergy is a nice touch, but it isn't as exciting on a 3 toughness 4-drop.
My initial impression was that this was a win-more card. If I'm playing control and my opponent's best play is to tap out against a bunch of open blue sources, the game is basically already in the bag, and the only difference Smirking Spellcaster would make is closing out the game quicker. But then I started thinking, what if I'm not playing control. What if I'm playing UW or UR tempo and I'm slightly ahead when I hit 5 mana. Better yet, what if I'm just splashing Blue in like a midrange WB deck and I pass the turn with 4 W/B lands and a Raffine's Tower untapped. How on earth is my opponent going to play around this guy then? The super splashable cost is critical here--this card is so much worse if your opponent is wary of it. But at 4U, Smirking Spellcaster can be played in just about ANY deck, and if your opponent gets caught off guard they are screwed. Which unfortunately makes it a bit of a gotcha card, but the power is undeniably there.
I was way overhyped for Primaris Eliminator, so when I see another Black 5-drop with a sweeping effect alarms start going off in my head. I do like the flexibility of Harvester's Disfigure mode far more than the Eliminator's Chupacabra mode. But I still have this sinking feeling that this card is going to be relegated to the sideboard way too often.
If the ETB shock kills a creature, and each activation costs 0.5 cards (but makes a 3/3 that's worth a card) don't you start at parity and create +0.5 cards per activation, never being behind?
True. In my head I'm comparing it to the likes of Bonecrusher Giant and Twinshot Sniper, which are ripping a +1 off the cuff. So to clarify, I'm looking at 3 activations to get better than a 2-for-1.
Green has become a really good tertiary color for artifact decks in recent times, and this card would be right at home there. Outside of those, Bristlebud Farmer's still a solid Baneslayer, so it's mileage just depends on how much removal's floating around.
Requiring other artifacts to be sacrificed already makes this card pretty narrow. But my bigger gripe is that it typically costs about half a card to generate an artifact, so every activation is setting you back 0.5 CA. You're going to need 3 activations before this Legion Extruder really feels like a good deal, and that's just too slow for my taste.
Goldvein Hydra is not a "good stuff" card, it is a synergy card.
I see this as a powerful (playable) green fireball type effect.
You want to pair this with Gaea's cradle, basalt monolith infinite combo, channel, tolarian academy, rofellos, berserk, 5 mana nissa, mana vault, sac outlets etc.
A big problem with green ramp is the amount of mana it can produce is wildly inconsistent. If you get your (vulnerable) mana elves killed, you will often be stuck at 3-4 mana. If you draw a bunch of elves and they live, you might be able to produce 6-8 mana easily. If you draw cradle, you might be able to produce 12 mana.
An X spell that can serve as utility at cheaper CMC's and a game winniner at higher CMC's works very well with green's strengths and weaknesses.
Agree with this 100%. A card that's both a ramp enabler and a ramp payoff is super valuable. Outside of those decks, I think it's pretty middling.
I suspect that since targeting occurs before activation costs are paid, you can't immediately bring it back after sacrificing it. Could very well be wrong though.
Among black 1-drops, Forsaken Miner is probably 2nd only to Bloodsoaked Champion in how easy it is to recur, but at half the cost. And it has an extra toughness to boot. Yeah, I'll be cubing this guy for a LONG time.
The Cancel/Catalog/Artistic Refusal modes are all pretty mediocre, so the instant speed clone effect has to pull someoweight. In my experience, Phyrexian Metamorph was rarely used to copy a player's own permanents, though admittedly the cube has changed a LOT since then. Right now I think I prefer Confounding Riddle because of its Forbidden Alchemy mode, also Convolute edges out Cancel for me.
Dust Animus
Forsaken Miner
Slickshot Show-Off
Sandstorm Salvager
Testing:
Duelist of the Mind
Phantom Interference
Three Steps Ahead
Smirking Spelljacker
Harvester of Misery
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
Ornery Tumblewagg
Smuggler's Surprise
Vaultborn Tyrant
Lavaspur Boots
Watching:
Lively Dirge
Hostile Investigator
Legion Extruder
Bristlebud Farmer
Goldvein Hydra
Excited to finally play some new cards, even if many of them are just new versions of existing ones. Could lead to some big shakeups in the cube, particularly in green.
True. In my head I'm comparing it to the likes of Bonecrusher Giant and Twinshot Sniper, which are ripping a +1 off the cuff. So to clarify, I'm looking at 3 activations to get better than a 2-for-1.
Agree with this 100%. A card that's both a ramp enabler and a ramp payoff is super valuable. Outside of those decks, I think it's pretty middling.
Among black 1-drops, Forsaken Miner is probably 2nd only to Bloodsoaked Champion in how easy it is to recur, but at half the cost. And it has an extra toughness to boot. Yeah, I'll be cubing this guy for a LONG time.