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Quote from dschumm »Card as been good for me. I decided to try it on a whim because it did so well in draft. Overperformed most times it was played as it does everything a grindy deck wants to do. A sultai deck that 'uses the whole buffalo' often comes out of drafts of my cube (Emrakul, Gory, good removal, a few counters a few walkers, reanimation for value instead of combo etc.) That said the proactive black decks don;t want it, as it is quite slow. Feels really nice out early with Dark ritual etc, but what doesn't?
Quote from Blue_Oneironaut »I'm generally not a fan of the token-generating spells, because I frequently find them lackluster outside of specific decks. Specialized cards are okay, but I also don't feel they're amazing in the decks that want them, either. Exceptions for me are X-cost spells, because these can be fantastic mana sinks in the late game, or a good plan for big mana decks. Getting four bodies for 4 mana is pretty good. And, if you're working with anthems like Spear of Heliod, this can actually be pretty potent. But, I would first compare them to cards like Hero of Bladehold and Leonin Warleader. These two cards are already doing a great job of giving you tokens for your investment, and I think in a much better way. Additionally, there are a bunch of 4cmc walkers like Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar that also add to token support. I think the primary benefit here is that you get a burst of tokens immediately. But, apart from that benefit, I have to ask: do you really need more tokens? Because, we already have lots of cards that plop a bunch of dudes onto the field. Even in white, at 5cmc, you've still got stuff like Cloudgoat Ranger if you really want it, and even more people nowadays include Angel of Invention. These cards have the added benefit of having blink interactions, which a spell-based tokens generator lacks. Now, all that aside, if you still insist on playing cards like Sram's Expertise or this, I think that's totally valid but I highlight the above to really parse out why you'd want this card. If your primary goal is just maximum tokens in one go, then you already know your answer on a per-card basis: this makes 4 dudes for 4 mana. But, if it's not so cut-and-dry, Expertise does grant you an uncommon tempo advantage that might enable some fancy plays. I think if you consider it a toss-up, examine just what exactly what 3-drop you plan to freely drop to make use of that feature. If you can't particularly think of how to abuse it, maybe you want the dogs.
Quote from asmallcat »Hell is this even that much better than triplicate spirits? That's a card very few cubes are playing.