MTG Salvation

Quote from Crispen_Smith »

Quote from mikeyG »

Quote from Xcric »

Thats cute.

Cycling is really pushed which is nice, bit i still have doubts itll take off as an archetype

I suppose that depends. RW Slide decks were the Standard competitive decks for a hot minute the last time cycling had any support, and that was really just a couple cards. They are pushing a lot harder this time, so I could see the archetype getting some traction. It'll be a limited archetype for sure, and will likely become one in Commander. Will it be competitive in Standard like in 2002/2003? That's the question.

The last time?

Yeah, the last time that cycling had the support to make it competitive (which, at the time, was really only a handful of cards). I know cycling was in sets and blocks since Onslaught, Xcric was just commenting on whether cycling-focused decks would take off as an archetype (presumably in the competitive sense as that's Xcric's jam) and I bought up the RW cycling decks of yore just as an example of how little it took to make it competitive then so maybe the archetype will have what it needs now as well.

Quote from Xcric »

Thats cute.

Cycling is really pushed which is nice, bit i still have doubts itll take off as an archetype

I suppose that depends. RW Slide decks were the Standard competitive decks for a hot minute the last time cycling had any support, and that was really just a couple cards. They are pushing a lot harder this time, so I could see the archetype getting some traction. It'll be a limited archetype for sure, and will likely become one in Commander. Will it be competitive in Standard like in 2002/2003? That's the question.

Quote from TheOnlyOne652089 »

Its the kind of hair that lumps you in a group, people will judge you for that hair and looks, like it or not.

The slut outfit doesnt help the case either.

WotC promoted that kind of "style" since Battlebonds all for "representation" check mark stickers, and putting that kind of references in a fantasy game hurts the immersion by putting too much current time references into the game (its a trigger).

Clearly its a trigger for you. Want to get anything off your chest?

Yea, its pretty much the "new" Harley Quinn style, and that movie tanked pretty hard too (its just too much on the horrendously annoying spectrum).

Birds of Prey? It's got the fourth-highest box office take of the year, with no Chinese market to sell to. It did $200 million on a budget half of that, so it did fine. It likely would have hit a quarter of a billion if this wasn't the worst year ever and I doubt the studio considers it a disaster, nor does it appear audiences found it just too much on the horrendously annoying spectrum. It has 78% on RT, so audiences seemed to take to it.

One day we'll have a Waste Not/Badgersaur variant in every color and I cannot wait.

I'm not sure about the Trilobite at all, but the Badgersaur is great in a variety of decks.

Sweet Jesus I am going to give myself a headache tracking all of the copies of spells I'll be slinging. This singlehandedly gives a lot more potency to spellslinging decks in multiplayer. There were always options, but this static ability is just wonderful.

All three are good utility for the deck. I think the Herald is quite pricey, but depending on the build it could be game winning all on its own.

The Wave is great without the cycling aspect, it'll always net you something from everyone making it an X for 1 where X is the number of opponents you have. Yes, half of what you'll pick off are mana rocks of some kind, but that still matters in terms of early game. I think the cycling cost is far too high outside Gavi, but it's quite the huge wallop in Gavi so that's neat.

Resonance is fine. Not my style, but it'll do things for somebody, I'm sure.

Well, Gavi's deck is pretty much immediately worth it on cost. All four of those cards were going to be on my singles shopping list for upgrades, and that would have set me back $35 on their own (if Fluctuator was even in stock). Great cards for the deck, two of which are amazing reprints for availability and cost control.

Very unique, exceptionally flavorful, and it creates a lot of tension around the board. Interestingly, in multiplayer you may not even get a say in the doom at all which will make it too fast in some instances for some players to do anything about.

And in terms of politics, that last player is going to be the one who catches all the blame. Hahaha I love it.

I love this. It defacto makes most of your things uncounterable unless you risk it to flash on other player's turns, but even then you can just play round other player's capacity to counter. It encourages your opponents to screw each other over and not you, and it's costed well. This will be a staple for a variety of decks and that's awesome.

I dig them. They can be used separately, are better together, and are somewhat unique. The math comes down to how many counters Yannik is going to give and how many triggers Nikara gets. Nikara triggering off more than just dying is a huge help, and of course plays into Yannik's tucking and counter gifts.

I don't know how strong they are, but I think they're worth trying to find a home for.

Quote from wallycaine »

Quote from mikeyG »

So your opponents can pay to grow it and then toss the grenade at someone else? It's unique, and I think it's a lot of fun. You get to swing and not take the blame. A great Hydra for any tribal commander deck.

And I believe the person they tossed it at can pay to toss it back at them. While it's not going to happen often, you can sometimes create a bidding war over who doesn't want to get hit.

Of course, I just assume most will toss it to the player who isn't able to do anything about it. Depending on the translated wording, though, yes, a bidding war could erupt. I just don't think they'd last too many exchanges before somebody can't pay and get stuck with it.

If nothing else, it'll frustrate control players when their math gets thrown off and they can't counter/remove Until their turn, anyway) your postcombat mainphase plays.

Heck yeah!! This is just the gas I need for my Odric Soldier tribal! For 3WW or 4WWW I'm likely to get 8-12 tokens, double that with Annointed Procession. At instant speed. Even if not used for Strive, it'll create an instant chump army to complicate an attack coming your way in a pinch.

So your opponents can pay to grow it and then toss the grenade at someone else? It's unique, and I think it's a lot of fun. You get to swing and not take the blame. A great Hydra for any tribal commander deck.

Quote from wallycaine »

I just wanna point out that nothing prevents you from dropping the hawk again the same turn it bounces itself. If ramping becomes that important, you can just keep hitting people, bouncing the hawk, and replaying it that same turn. So it doesn't have to ramp on turns 3, 5, and 7, it can ramp on turns 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 if you can keep connecting and want to invest in it.

That's not a terrible point to make, and I thank you for it. I just don't understand why you'd want to invest two mana every turn for this, if you do you are likely losing. In my play groups, I'd play this for sympathy and political points because tying up two mana every turn for woefully vulnerable and conditional catch up ramp is really janky and my usual opponents would just feel bad for me.

Interesting tension. Are 1/1s worth giving opponents more cards? Maybe not, but that doesn't mean this card doesn't have big potential. It generates a ton of value for you and even a Psychosis Crawler changes the scenario for your opponents significantly. And the tokens themselves can be weaponized with ETB effects and/or sacrifice outlets.

You definitely need to build around it because it can give an advantage to an opponent, but the right decks with the right political plays and I think Xyris is great.