Seems really bad. 4 mana for an enchantment that literally does nothing until your next turn. Drawing cards is great but it isn't automatic, it is dependent on you playing guys. Something tells me a U/W deck can't really afford to drop something on turn 4 that literally does nothing, much less something that forces you to play to your weakest game in those colors: creatures.
Most people I play with are pretty old school, so we generally do things with old rules like damage using the stack. We keep the good lifelink rule that came about then but generally feel that a lot of cards just get better in general and not a lot of them get too much worse. What are your thoughts? What are some other rules that you might want to flub in favor of fun?
I went UG, lightly splashing white Fleecemane Lion as well as possibly Setessan Grifin.
I was also torn abour UR splashing black - I feel like that may have been good too.
I agree but I would actually just splash for the removal spell and the lion. I don't think the Griffin is nearly as good as everyone is making it out to be. Sure he turns into a 5/4 flier, but it just gets eaten alive by Nessian Asp, which is equal on the curve but you actually have to spend 2GG in order to get their efficient guy off the board. Not necessarily where you would ever want to be in this format. There are also numerous other 4 power fliers that are around that curve, and there are enough tricks in this format that I don't want to tie up all my mana on double Rootwalla activation for only half the effect. I mean, it doesn't even wear pants half as well as a lot of other things in the format.
That's why you wiped the board on turn 4. Aetherling can handle one heavy hitter though. Realisticly you will not die to halv a dozend heavy hitters on board, but one. There is no reason to put more on the board (for your wrath effect to wipe away). One heavy hitter is enough pressure.
And the weenie decks normally don't feature that many power 4 creatures.
He is a win condition. Elspeth will also be played as a win condition and not as a board-stabilizer. Because 6 mana cc is to expensive for that task!
Yeah, the ult is fair, which probably means weak. Normally ults win the game on the spot.
Perhaps she is playable, but I am not cowering in fear of her being played against me, at least for now (in constructed).
She and Aetherling are on completely different levels as far as threats go. For one, Aetherling isn't really 6 mana, Aetherling is a 7-mana threat. Elspeth gets in there right off and starts clogging the board or clearing it, supporting the already wrath-starved format with a very viable and very solid Retribution of the Meek. If you hit the jackpot and clear the board with her left at 1 you are certainly winning that game.
Sooo...the new Elspeth looks ridiculous. Any mana acceleration into her can end the game pretty quickly. Starting at 4-5 makes her hard to kill and 3 1/1's is super hard to get through even at that stage of the game. The fact that her second ability is a pseudo-wrath makes her pretty insane as just a specific 6-mana wrath.
:4mana::symw::symw: Planeswalker — Elsepth +1: Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-3: Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have flying."Illus. Eric Deschamps #9/2494
All I know is that this into Hive Stirrings generates absurd levels of mana but I never got to use it because I always just had the Bonscythe Sliver to end the game the next turn. On its own it might be a little underwhelming considering we already have a functional reprint of Llanowar Elves and Avacyn's Pilgrim until rotation.
I can see this going into a deck with young pyromancer, and token generating spells
Being that this is the combination that survives rotation I like this application the best. Not to mention the great synergy with Molten Birth. Until rotation, though, I still think Hellrider is the better 4-drop, but this guy makes the competition pretty tough.
Far Away is good in Esper. Turn and burn is not worth enough in grixis because you need to spend 5 mana to kill a creature, in a combination that can run murder at 3 mana
Turn/Burn is worth it because for 5 (or 3 if you have a creature in play) you can potentially get rid of a Thragtusk with no struggle other than the possibility of a Restoration Angel.
Rakdos Drake for me. Puts you in strong yet under-drafted colors (black has two of the worst guilds: Dimir and Golgari) and puts you into the running for two of the better guilds (Orzhov and Rakdos). Sin Collector is not nearly as strong as a possible 2/3 flying body. Chapel Gheist has never been a slouch on aggro and having it for non-restrictive mana is just a bonus.
I'm officially psyched for this card. Ludicrous Snapcaster utility and a very very solid removal spell as well. I'd spend 5 mana on it easy to get a Thragtusk out of the way with no punishment, or if you get saucy you can pull it in combat and wreck all sorts of faces. It can also go to the dome which is pretty insane. Definitely my favorite card spoiled just on how many awesome things it can do.
Turn // Burn
:2mana::symu: // :1mana::symr: Instant // Instant
Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 0/1 red Weird until end of turn.
//
Burn deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Fuse.
I agree but I would actually just splash for the removal spell and the lion. I don't think the Griffin is nearly as good as everyone is making it out to be. Sure he turns into a 5/4 flier, but it just gets eaten alive by Nessian Asp, which is equal on the curve but you actually have to spend 2GG in order to get their efficient guy off the board. Not necessarily where you would ever want to be in this format. There are also numerous other 4 power fliers that are around that curve, and there are enough tricks in this format that I don't want to tie up all my mana on double Rootwalla activation for only half the effect. I mean, it doesn't even wear pants half as well as a lot of other things in the format.
She and Aetherling are on completely different levels as far as threats go. For one, Aetherling isn't really 6 mana, Aetherling is a 7-mana threat. Elspeth gets in there right off and starts clogging the board or clearing it, supporting the already wrath-starved format with a very viable and very solid Retribution of the Meek. If you hit the jackpot and clear the board with her left at 1 you are certainly winning that game.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
:4mana::symw::symw: Planeswalker — Elsepth
-3: Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have flying."Illus. Eric Deschamps #9/2494
Being that this is the combination that survives rotation I like this application the best. Not to mention the great synergy with Molten Birth. Until rotation, though, I still think Hellrider is the better 4-drop, but this guy makes the competition pretty tough.
Turn/Burn is worth it because for 5 (or 3 if you have a creature in play) you can potentially get rid of a Thragtusk with no struggle other than the possibility of a Restoration Angel.
Turn // Burn
:2mana::symu: // :1mana::symr: Instant // Instant
Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 0/1 red Weird until end of turn.
//
Burn deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Fuse.
They're saving that for the special Octodad themed expansion.