[SCD] Pip-Boy 3000

[DirkGently]

This card looks pretty weak to me despite the flexibility, and the popularity isn't crazy high on EDHrec. Yet it commands one of the highest prices of the set.

What do people think? Am I missing something?

Pip-Boy 3000

[ISBPathfinder]

The fact that its on attack rather than on doing damage is nice as it means if you get chumped it doesn't matter. The filter mode is weaker than Mask of Memory but it is again an on attack rather than doing damage to a player trigger.

I think its probably fine. I think the filter and untaps are the ones you would probably want more often for most decks but its also not something that really blows me away. I probably would just avoid it for now assuming its price tag is a bit inflated. To me it doesn't stand out as strong enough that I would expect its long term price to be more than a few dollars.

[Toshi]

What do people think? Am I missing something?

Pip-Boy 3000

I've asked myself the same thing - and i don't see it either.

Sure, it doesn't require you to connect, but i would still prefer Mask of Memory and Bear Umbra.
Untapping "just" two lands would mean they better be top notch lands... and if you're already running and fetching them, you likely have more broken stuff to do with them.

As for looting equipment, Zephyr Boots and Skeleton Key are dead cheap and grant you evasion on top.

Overall: pass

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I bought the Scrappy Survivors precon to ugrade and the Pip Boy has been good in testing. It essentially equips for zero at the cost of doing net nothing on first swing, and after that it filters cards, stacks some stat buffs (that conveniently stick on the creature even after moving the pip boy), or gives you more main phase two mana. None of these things on thier own are very impressive, but the choice between the three each turn at such a low upfront cost is worth the the slot imo. The fact that this slots into Trinket Mage and Urza's Saga packages is just gravy.

Is it super duper staple powerful? No, and pushed cards are lame anyway. Is it nice to have for a very affordable cost in the decks that want it? Yes.

[Treamayne]

Probably not a factor, but if your two lands tap for at least , it combos off with Aggravated Assault.

[ISBPathfinder]

Probably not a factor, but if your two lands tap for at least , it combos off with Aggravated Assault.

I guess you could go deep with that via Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. It sounds like it wants to just be Sword of Feast and Famine but I guess it has the upside of giving you the mana even if you get blocked.

[DirkGently]

I think the attack vs hit trigger differentiation is probably at its least relevant here. It matters a lot of something like Etali, Primal Storm since Etali is fairly large - people will naturally want to chump block rather than take 6, but then you'll still get your trigger. Chump blocking is where the difference is at its greatest, because you aren't losing your attacker and you're getting the value you want while diminishing the amount of threat you're presenting to your opponent (compared to if you needed to give etali evasion and bonk them in the face). But if you're putting pip-boy onto your 6-drop...yeah, you're probably doing it wrong. Where I'd consider running this is something like Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel - an evasive 1-2 drop commander where I can recoup the equip cost immediately and then start getting value on subsequent turns. But a 2-drop commander is probably either getting through for damage or getting blocked and dying (in which case the value generated probably wasn't worth it). Chump blocking is relatively unlikely.

Still better as an attack trigger - barring double strike shenanigans - but I don't think it's a particularly huge improvement most of the time.

@TheAmericanSpirit I can see it being decent - I don't think it's unplayable or anything. I think the untap lands mode is the primary mode, with the loot mode being secondary when you're hurting for good cards more than mana, and the buff mode mostly for making an otherwise-bad attack good, or for finding lethals or whatever.

But I can't really make sense of why the price tag is as high as it is. I know the power is pretty low for the set in general, but still. Nuclear Fallout, Struggle for Project Purity, Idolized, Radstorm, Strong Back for example all seem a lot stronger to me.

For that matter, wtf is going on with the price of Strength Bobblehead? I get that people want to do the bobblehead thing, but strength looks like one of the least impressive or interesting, yet commands the highest price of the lot (and the second highest price in the whole set, between Nuka-Cola Vending Machine and pip-boy).

[Mookie]

If you squint, Pip-Boy 3000 looks like a better Coalition Relic - it costs three mana to play and equip, and gives back two mana every turn. If you don't need the mana, you can loot or pump the equipped creature instead, plus it has all the usual equipment / one mana artifact synergies. I don't think it's amazing, but it's not bad either.

The other likely reason why it has its price may be due to other cards in its precon not being particularly desirable. The total value of cards in sealed product generally hovers a bit above the price of the product - I see them going for $50-60 on Amazon, and the total value of the cards in the precons are in the $60-$75 range. When the total value is higher, people will open the product in bulk (which increase supply and makes prices go back down), and if prices are lower, then the selling price of the sealed product will go down instead. Pip-Boy 3000 just happens to be the most desirable new card in its precon, so it sucks up a bit more of the value. If they were to throw Mana Crypt or some other chase card in the precon and kept the sealed price the same, then the value of all the other stuff in the precon would crash instead.

[pokken]

The thing people always miss on these cards (Sword of the Animist is another typical one) is it requires you to have a creature out before you cast it otherwise you're taking an entire turn off. Or a creature with haste. Equally less common than people think.

So is it great in Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, sure, whatever. But in your random mana dork deck it's hot garbage.

The sequencing patterns of cards that expect you to play a 1 drop creature mean your deck needs close to 15 1 drop creatures. Nobody really does that.

[PrimevalCommander]

I'm not sure you need a 1 drop to get the value off Pip-Boy anyway. It takes 3 mana to play and equip, even spread out over 2 turns unless you have a cost creature you cannot get it equipped until turn 3. So a 1 or 2 drop creature would suffice to get immediate value. And then you need another 2 drop followup to actually want the untap on turn 3. I suspect if I would play this early I'd use the loot or the pump on turn 3 so I can keep my creature alive on turn 4 for the untap trigger to boost my mana to 6 on turn 4.

With Sword of the Animist the deck it's in is playing 20 creatures at 3mv or less, so I can play my 2 and 3 drop creatures as normal, then take turn 4 "off" to play and equip the Sword to get some ramp in. My commander cost 5, so I'm not trying to turbo it out so early. I'm sure these cards offer higher variance than more typical mana rocks, but the ceiling is fetching me 4+ lands over the course of the game and boosting my commanders power to 3-hit kill range.

For Pip-Boy I think the land untap is the main draw, since it turns the creature into a Krosan Restorer, which is pretty cool. Has other flex utility with the other modes as well if your flooded, or want to pump a creature to get it into combat. Neat little card.

[pokken]

I'm not sure you need a 1 drop to get the value off Pip-Boy anyway.

If you have a 2 drop (again, not that many decks running 10+ 2 drop creatures) and play and equip it on turn 3, it's still fairly dubious. Underperforming Cultivate at a pretty high rate is not a good place to be for an equipment.

then take turn 4 "off" to play and equip the Sword to get some ramp in.

Again underperforming Cultivate a pretty high percentage of the time, and everybody cutting Cultivate :D

For Pip-Boy I think the land untap is the main draw, since it turns the creature into a Krosan Restorer, which is pretty cool. Has other flex utility with the other modes as well if your flooded, or want to pump a creature to get it into combat. Neat little card.

It only turns them into an Argothian Elder if you can attack without being blocked or killed (and you don't need the mana pre-combat, which is a really importan t thing to think about if you want to Craterhoof Behemoth). Which is not a sure thing. The flex modes are fine, whatever.

It's neat, it's flexible, but it's going to be worse than Reckless Impulse or Cultivate with some regularity. It's going to get you one trigger and then die to a wipe or then sit on the board and need to be re-equipped.

I think it's a very specific deck that cares about equipment volume (e.g. Nahiri, Forged in Fury or Sram, Senior Edificer) that should actually be playing it for any reason other than funzies.

Another angle is a deck with big mana lands that really cares about that, like Cabal Coffers mono black decks or similar (nykthos, cradle, sanctum, etc.). It's actually potentially really cool in a Serra's Sanctum deck for something useful to do with enchantresses, particularly in a deck without green that can't get critical mass of them.

As a "goodstuff" card draw/filtering/ramp piece, it's extremely questionable, because it relies on you attacking 3 times before it overperforms just like, another copy of Rampant Growth or a signet or something.

[Uncle_Krupi]

Chun-Li loves the Pip-Boy. She

• Likes ratcheting up her power for lifelink/double strike
• Likes looting instants into the graveyard
• Likes untapping lands to cast spells on the attack step

As usual, I think a deck doesn't love multiple diluted options unless all of them are relevant. But ho boy when they are, this might very well be my favourite equip in the deck now.

[3drinks]

I wouldn't pay $7usd for it but if one could get it around half, I might bite. I have an equip toolbox deck and I don't see an immediate hole I need this card to fill.

[3drinks]

Probably not a factor, but if your two lands tap for at least , it combos off with Aggravated Assault.

So Lotus Field + Vesuva let's gooooo!

[NZB2323]

It's cheap, flexible, and doesn't require colored mana. Good with discard synergy, +1/+1 counters, or leaving up mana for a counterspell or something. I'm all for cards costing less money, but this doesn't seem that bad to me.

[Cyberium]

If we look at individual triggers, there are better substitutes, but Pip-Boy let you choose the best of three for current situation, such versatility allows it to go into many deck types.