MTGNexus

Tanazir Quandrix is so disappointing to me. I guess my days of waiting for a Simic Legend to build around that tickles my interests and desires for the color combination while not oppressing my opponents or grinding games to a halt like Pir, Imaginative Rascal and Toothy, Imaginary Friend or Momir Vig, Simic Visionary tend to isn't over yet. Here's hoping Zimone is good?

Resculpt - remember the complaints about Ravenform? They're baaaaaaaack. A 4/4 is pretty chonky, at least.

I love Hall Monitor, but they really messed up on the flavor text. They should wrote it as if he was losing his mind and having meltdown over a bunch of students.

Resculpt, though. Ravenform detractors please "steel" yourselves.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Resculpt - remember the complaints about Ravenform? They're baaaaaaaack. A 4/4 is pretty chonky, at least.

You give more, but it's cheaper, and an instant. Yeah, I will probably run this in some decks. Giving someone a 4/4 in exchange for their Lithoform Engine or some key creature? Sounds solid to me.

Expression Rehearsal great card. Wont be a power house but real, real solid. Will see a ton of play for me

Archmage Emeritus I kinda like it for lower power EDH tables. Ive played Teferi's Ageless Insight before and it works. It will be fun in weaker tables

Efreet Flamepainter same. It lacks the immediate impact but will be fun in casual tables. It triggers twice each attack step, right?

Valentin, Dean of the Vein I wanna play them in Anafenza. Seems ok, it hates and I guess. Someday I'll succesfully brew Kethis, the Hidden Hand historic & taxes and it will be fun.

Blade Historian I guess this is nice, right? I'll insta slot it into Kykar, Wind's Fury seems a lot of fun with tokens

solve the equation nice budgety tutor it will help a bunch of newer/budget players to get consistency and thats nice.

Elite Spellbinder probably better in 60 card formats but I also think I'll play it anyway. Good wit Drannith Magistrate . Hatebears everywhere 2021 lets go Thalia crew

I really hope we get a magecraft Guttersnipe clone

Tanazir Quandrix is like a Craterhoof Behemoth from the command zone. Very different for Simic.
You can turn all your mana dorks into lethal attacks with Invigorate, Mutagenic Growth, Vines of Vastwood, Become Immense type spells.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Resculpt - remember the complaints about Ravenform? They're baaaaaaaack. A 4/4 is pretty chonky, at least.

I'm crossing my fingers for another black enchantment removal at this rate.

I've found Angelic Ascension to be pretty untenable in most decks - a 4/4 is getting to the point where the cure is worse than the disease. I'd wager that Resculpt will be a forgotten card, one that will turn treasures into brawlers in limited and occasionally serve as an out against a bomb dragon, but won't cut it in any other format including ours.

Does that make me any less salty about blue getting another artifact destruction spell after MaRo said Ravenform wasn't a precedent? No, not really. But at least this is less good - it's honestly more like a flashy Ensoul Artifact than a reliable removal spell.

Hawk wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I've found Angelic Ascension to be pretty untenable in most decks - a 4/4 is getting to the point where the cure is worse than the disease. I'd wager that Resculpt will be a forgotten card, one that will turn treasures into brawlers in limited and occasionally serve as an out against a bomb dragon, but won't cut it in any other format including ours.

You might be right, but I dunno. Ascension never appealed to me because giving someone a big flyer is a lot worse than giving someone a big vanilla ground pounder. This elemental isn't signicantly better than a beast or elephant token, and few people blink twice at handing those out in exchange for versatile removal. This card is less versatile, but it also exiles, which is a big point in its favor.

Like I said, I think I will be likely to try this out in some decks. Especially those which have some disposable chump blockers.

re: Resculpt

I think the evasion makes it a huge deal when compared to Angelic Ascension. If you're playing mostly flying creatures, it won't matter all that much to you. Second, if you're playing some sort of pillowfort, it might get leveraged against other people. I think this card is probably worse than Ravenform despite the instant speed, but I don't think it's unplayable.

Sinis wrote: ↑

3 years ago

re: Resculpt

I think the evasion makes it a huge deal when compared to Angelic Ascension. If you're playing mostly flying creatures, it won't matter all that much to you. Second, if you're playing some sort of pillowfort, it might get leveraged against other people. I think this card is probably worse than Ravenform despite the instant speed, but I don't think it's unplayable.

Artifact is also waaaaay more relevant type than planeswalker in most games.

This card is much better than Ravenform because it's cheaper and instant. As long as you can fade some 4/4s

For those wondering, per MaRo, Resculpt and Ravenform "aren't precedent" as the council of colors decided they don't want blue to have this effect. A little late, seeing as there will be two cards with this effect, but at least it this isn't a test that ends up breaking something (I end up cursing Resculpt to break all mono-blue decks).

I think Wandering Archaic is actually going to be an underrated card probably for all it's existence.
The sort of value you can get off it, especially in more competitive games will always be great as people just don't pay for these type of effects.
It's just one of those cards that is hard to see the face value at first, but I bet is going to be a monster of value unless removed.
Therefore I don't think it will see much play, but really should be on peoples radars.

darrenhabib wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I think Wandering Archaic is actually going to be an underrated card probably for all it's existence.
The sort of value you can get off it, especially in more competitive games will always be great as people just don't pay for these type of effects.
It's just one of those cards that is hard to see the face value at first, but I bet is going to be a monster of value unless removed.
Therefore I don't think it will see much play, but really should be on peoples radars.

I have been thinking about it, and I don't think it will be that good. When you play it, this is what will play out:
1. Someone will cast cantrips or ramp spells into it. They don't mind you getting a tiny bit of advantage, especially by turn 5.
2. Someone will cast a board wipe or another spell you cannot benefit from.
3. Someone will cast targeted removal, and negotiate with you "I will pay the 2 unless you promise to use the copy kill the other player's creature". You may be less inclined to help them if they are targeting your Archaic.
4. Opponents will just play permanents until Archaic is dealt with.
5. sometimes to try to gang up against an archenemy someone can use it politically to help you find an answer.

It is not Rhystic Study. RS triggers on every spell, comes down earlier, is harder to kill... and, an extra card is less scary than knowingly giving your opponent your big spell.

So ya, I don't think it will be a staple. It will get played for sure, but the fact is that 5 mana is a tough spot to play a card that does nothing unless people allow it to do something.

I may play it in Zedruu the Greathearted, copy it and give tokens to everyone. Party town.

Guardman wrote: ↑

3 years ago

For those wondering, per MaRo, Resculpt and Ravenform "aren't precedent" as the council of colors decided they don't want blue to have this effect. A little late, seeing as there will be two cards with this effect, but at least it this isn't a test that ends up breaking something (I end up cursing Resculpt to break all mono-blue decks).

Rowan, Scholar of Sparks's backside, Will, Scholar of Sparks also technically features this experiment on his ult (expanding it to target permanent), but yeah, the indication seems to be that that's it. I can see the logic behind trying it: it's very similar to transforming creatures, in that you're taking 1 form of problem permanent and making it into a different form, but not eliminating the problem entirely. I also wouldn't be surprised if it's partially prompted by blue control decks wanting answers to The Great Henge. I can also see why the Council took a while, but eventually decided against it: turning artifacts into creatures gets them caught up in the sort of mass wipe effects control decks want to be playing anyways, and made it too easy to deal with stuff like the Henge.

Wallycaine wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Guardman wrote: ↑

3 years ago

For those wondering, per MaRo, Resculpt and Ravenform "aren't precedent" as the council of colors decided they don't want blue to have this effect. A little late, seeing as there will be two cards with this effect, but at least it this isn't a test that ends up breaking something (I end up cursing Resculpt to break all mono-blue decks).

Rowan, Scholar of Sparks's backside, Will, Scholar of Sparks also technically features this experiment on his ult (expanding it to target permanent), but yeah, the indication seems to be that that's it. I can see the logic behind trying it: it's very similar to transforming creatures, in that you're taking 1 form of problem permanent and making it into a different form, but not eliminating the problem entirely. I also wouldn't be surprised if it's partially prompted by blue control decks wanting answers to The Great Henge. I can also see why the Council took a while, but eventually decided against it: turning artifacts into creatures gets them caught up in the sort of mass wipe effects control decks want to be playing anyways, and made it too easy to deal with stuff like the Henge.

Also, random 1/1s and 4/4s really do not count as downsides in their biggest format, Commander.

I wish that instead they made it like a O-Ring effect... create a 4/4 token with "When this token leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to play under its owner's control"

Personally, I'm looking forwards to running Wandering Archaic in Animar.

• Pair with Possibility Storm to double-tax opponents' spells
• Colorless non-artifact creature works well with Cloudstone Curio
• Gives stack interaction by making countermagic cost more.
• Flip side can be cast it into Possibility Storm to hit Primal Surge for massive style points.

Meanwhile, I'll compare Resculpt to Reality Shift, which I consider to be one of the best spot removal spells in blue - gives your opponents a slightly larger creature (4/4 instead of a 2/2), but that creature can't be flickered / bounced for value, and you can also hit artifacts. Seems very strong.

This was a strong day for RFG removal. I know I will find a spot for Baleful Domain in a few black decks.

We got some okay removal overall in this set so far.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

• Rootha, Mercurial Artist is fine, but generally outclassed by actual copy effects.

She can dodge from harm when you cast an instant cantrip, that's something at least.

OH BOY Baleful Domain is a cycle of reduced-cost spells! These feel like nice, fun cards for EDH.

Oh boy Approach of the Dragon decks. I don't know if I'm excited or if we'll see a pile of meme decks like Ashling the Pilgrim, 99 mountains or the pile of Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker Shadowborn Apostle decks.

That said, I think Verdant Mastery could see some solid play. It's a bit late game for a lot of metas, but I think it'll do work, especially with the reduced cost mechanic. Neat stuff!

set feels VERY designed for Arena, with a lot of its rules text being fairly meta and noncombative, cmc checks and triggers everywhere, multiple modes of casting or channeling, muy red exiled cards to keep track of, 0/0 tokens with counters on them and generally a higher complexity than Lorwyn or Amonkhet which I'm told were too complicated to be friendly to new players =P I kinda approve but the set is so opaque to me, I'll tell you what I think about it in five years.

but I do know that I wanna cast Magma Opus through Dream Halls. I almost don't care what the results are but that's a Dream Halls nerd plant to me

Its worth noting that Wandering Archaic actually gets better the higher in power level you go. In cEDH you will frequently see counter wars, tutors, Ad Naus/Peer, combos like IsoRev (that depending on the opponent only going 1 or 2 mana positive per cast, could lead to you winning instead with yours resolving first each time). Mana is tight, and if the power of early Mystic Remora is anything to go by, ritualing or neoforming into Archaic could massively complicate the table.

darrenhabib wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I think Wandering Archaic is actually going to be an underrated card probably for all it's existence.
The sort of value you can get off it, especially in more competitive games will always be great as people just don't pay for these type of effects.
It's just one of those cards that is hard to see the face value at first, but I bet is going to be a monster of value unless removed.
Therefore I don't think it will see much play, but really should be on peoples radars.

I 100% agree @darrenhabib. The more competitive or streamlined your deck is, the more value the Archaic will generate. It stops counter wars cold. Can we just reflect on that fact for minute? WOTC printed a card that lets you ALWAYS win a counter war unless your opponent has a significant amount of mana available. Free tutors on what was supposed to be an opponents game-winning turn. You have a massive draw spell you need to resolve a la Ad Nauseam? Better have 7 mana for that bad boy PLUS mana open to stop the counter wars that will happen And even if it's only copying cantrip spells (like Preordain or Brainstorm) I will take FREE card selection every game to further my plans.

It's a pure colorless card, so you can ritual into it on T2/T3 consistently and it's NOT an instant or sorcery spell itself, meaning that it dodges a significant amount of stack interaction and removal spells at cEDH style tables. When I saw it I remember my jaw dropping and thinking "Oh no, they printed a new Rhystic Study". Even if it's 5 mana, people will still find a way to cast it quickly and protect it because it can generate SO MUCH free value.

Accordingly, the card scales DOWN in power the less competitive you are imo, where permanents are more prevalent in games.

This is one of the few cards I personally preordered immediately when I saw.

Got some thoughts about new cards:

Wandering Archaic is Tron's newest answer to Prowess, effectively shutting down their early game creatures as long as they can survive to cast it.

Resculpt could go in a mighty brew with its friend Ensoul Artifact. Targeting your own Memnite, Ornithopter or Darksteel Relic to have a 5/5 / 4/4 on T2 looks playable.

Dragon's Approach is ridiculous. I've got ideas of a mono-red self-mill brew using Hollow One as backup with all the self-mill favourites such as Goblin Lore and Burning Inquiry to speed out Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Dragon Mage.