So, there are a couple of interesting cards previewed. Gravecrawler is the pretty clear star at the moment: It looks like an improvement over Reassembling Skeleton in a lot of the decks that play it, and it's an easy tip to perform well in the great 'Best multiplayer card in Dark Ascension' showdown.
My other observation so far is about Chalice of Life . I know the autocard isn't going to be working yet (and it doesn't seem to be on the visual spoiler yet), so I'll tell you in words that its flip requirement reads 'If you have 10 more life than your starting life total, transform Chalice of Life'. I guess we're going to see a new template for this kind of effect. Ain't nobody being added to the Serra Ascendant family, then.
So, what else. Undying looks like a neat mechanic (well it's pretty much a known quantity thanks to Persist, so there's not a great amount to say), Fateful hour is cute but unlikely to be worth playing with (barring tricks like Form of the Dragon ), and the added-power Flashback cards seem like they could be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing more of those guys. So, what does everyone else think?
People are grossly overestimating Gravecrawler . The value of cards like Bloodghast , Nether Spirit and Reassembling Skeleton is that they're standalone strong. You're not required to have other creatures in play and whatnot. I really can't think of anything other than a dedicated zombie deck that could play it. The obvious card to pair it with is Grimgrin, Corpse-Born , but that's hardly game-breaking. Oh yeah, and all of those retarded Rooftop Storm + Burning Vengeance + a sac outlet + a zombie in play decks are just... retarded lol. Herp derp, an 8 million card combo, how could that possibly backfire?
Chalice of Life seems lackluster at best. Dedicated lifegain decks have access to much better win conditions, and this card is pathetically weak when it comes to boosting your HP. It suffers the problem of being a jack of all trades, but master of none. It can, in theory, fill many roles in the deck, but it can't do any of them well. I'd be hardpressed to make room for this card in any of my White lifegain decks.
Undying looks fine as long as they print some decent creatures with it. The Green dude, for example, seems very good in Constructed. Still, we'll need a Kitchen Finks type card if we really want to see something special.
Fateful Hour is probably going to be useless. I imagine that it will be a pure White/Green human mechanic so the colors that could actually abuse it (Black and Red) won't be able to. I could even see it being detrimental since it will give people a big incentive to finish the low life players off. They'll be getting powerful effects otherwise after all. I dunno, maybe Green can do something with Sylvan Library , but then again we don't even know what other colors are getting the mechanic so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
We've only seen 15 cards but the only playable one in mutiplayer is the Thraban Doomsayer so far. He's just a body who taps to put bodies into play. That's always been perfectly viable in multiplayer. I couldn't care less about his Fateful Hour ability, but I mean it's not exactly a bad thing to have around if needed. Actually, I guess Mondronen Shaman is playable. 4 mana 5/5 with a relevant ability. I don't like werewolves in general, but this one seems fine. The one thing that I like about him is that he actually punishes the player who flips him. "Oh, by the way, you take 4." That's what really separates him from other WWs in my mind. It's just not a free-roll to play 2 spells and flip him back. I like that.
P.S. Screw Ravenous Demon . Cause you know, we needed another horribly underpowered Lord of the Pit ripoff to slam in our trash binders...
My guide to Black multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/18893722?sdb=1&post_num=1#322195706
My guide to Red multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28999213/?sdb=1&post_num=1#517562879
My guide to White multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29011349/?sdb=1&pg=last#517773211
My guide to Green multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29034323/Tichs_Guide_to_Green_Multiplayer_Cards_and_Strategies
Brilliant; Firefox ate my post. No, 'typing' does not mean 'refresh'.
So, yes. I'm certainly not advocating Chalice of Life as a playable card; I'm interested in its templating. It looks like they've decided to eliminate 2HG/EDH brokenness in life-threshold triggers. Good work.
I'mm not seeing the isssue with Gravecrawler . No, it doesn't fit in every deck. But a sacrifice deck requiring a Zombie in play is not exactly overblown-combo central. It is not difficult; he slots into most decks of that style right away. It's true that Bloodghast triggers off something you were doing anyway, but it triggers once, on turns that you play a land (so, after the first few turns, less than 50% of the time). I'm certainly not tryng to imply that Bloodghast isn't good, but 'having a Zombie' is a meagre requirement for a whole lot of decks that would like 'B: Pat sacrificce costs/trigger sacrifice triggers'. He's not asking the player to fill the deck with do-nothing card to make him work. Carrion Feeder is not a rare sac outlet. This isn't a Zombie tribal deck; it's a sacrifice deck, which isn't avoiding Zombies.
Downside: Sorcery speed. That's a shame, but it's equal to Bloodghast and less restrictive than Nether spirit .
The other downside is that he doesn't work in multiples, but at this point we're comparing 'Bloodghast when I have four copies in the grayeyard' to 'Gravecrawler when I don't have a Zombie in play'. Not quite fair, especially as the ideal Bloodghast situation takes a whole lot more work to arrange.
It might just be personal bias, but I'm not seeing the appeal. When I play with Ghast or Skele it's because I want to abuse Skullclamp or something. I don't want my deck to have a bunch of terrible zombies when all I really want is a body that keeps coming back. Carrion Feeder is a sac outlet, I won't argue with that, but it's not one that I want to have in my decks + I don't want to rely on having it survive. I just need a body who gets 'er done. Again, maybe I'm just horribly biased, but I can't think of a single deck that I use that could use the Crawler over Ghast, Skele, or N.Spirit. I just think that it's overrated in anything besides a dedicated zombie deck. Don't get me wrong, it's great with Vengeful Dead and whatnot, but it still just seems limited in scope.
My guide to Black multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/18893722?sdb=1&post_num=1#322195706
My guide to Red multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28999213/?sdb=1&post_num=1#517562879
My guide to White multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29011349/?sdb=1&pg=last#517773211
My guide to Green multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29034323/Tichs_Guide_to_Green_Multiplayer_Cards_and_Strategies
Jesus, Tich, there's enough pretension in your first post here for... for me to feel the need to point out. The multiplayer forum is under the Casual section. Lighten up.
The arbitrary label that this forum is listed under shouldn't have any influence on the critical assessment of the spoiled cards and mechanics of DKA. If you want to join the masses of people who think that every card is "broken," by all means. There's a whole whack of people who think that MBC is going to be the next big thing because they have a 9 power flying finisher. That's fine. I can't help it if I see some terrible cards and mechanics (that won't see play) where others don't. I was under the impression that the purpose of this thread was to discuss the various cards as they're being spoiled. You're free to provide your own point of view if you want, rather than just telling me that you don't like my take on things. My arguments are clear and simple, feel free to challenge them if you disagree.
My guide to Black multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/18893722?sdb=1&post_num=1#322195706
My guide to Red multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28999213/?sdb=1&post_num=1#517562879
My guide to White multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29011349/?sdb=1&pg=last#517773211
My guide to Green multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29034323/Tichs_Guide_to_Green_Multiplayer_Cards_and_Strategies
Tich I didn't post because I disagreed with anything you said, I posted because the level of pretentiousness in your presentation is likely to make people not want to contribute anything.
Here's your first post: Grossly overestimated obvious thing is obvious, hardly worth it, retarded, retarded again, LOL herpderp incredulity. Pathetically weak lackluster jack of none-do-well has no room anywhere. Useless, detrimental, unplayable, couldn't care less, and P.S. screw thing because sarcasm.
It would take me significant conscious effort to be that negative. Just because we're on the internet doesn't mean we have to be unbearable.
Hey, being that negative is easy for me. I'm just a very negative guy. No one's putting a gun to your head and forcing you to read my posts. It's not like I was interacting with you at all until you replied. I'm going to speak my mind and give my honest opinion because I enjoy doing it. Quite frankly, I couldn't care less if you/others don't enjoy reading it.
Aso, I think you're being somewhat unfair. I did highlight the playable cards (in my eyes) in addition to the ones that I'm not fond of. Again, I was giving a critical analysis of the cards that I felt were relevant.
My guide to Black multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/18893722?sdb=1&post_num=1#322195706
My guide to Red multiplayer cards and strategies: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28999213/?sdb=1&post_num=1#517562879
My guide to White multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29011349/?sdb=1&pg=last#517773211
My guide to Green multiplayer cards and strategies http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/29034323/Tichs_Guide_to_Green_Multiplayer_Cards_and_Strategies
Fateful Hour is probably going to be useless. I imagine that it will be a pure White/Green human mechanic so the colors that could actually abuse it (Black and Red) won't be able to. I could even see it being detrimental since it will give people a big incentive to finish the low life players off. They'll be getting powerful effects otherwise after all. I dunno, maybe Green can do something with Sylvan Library , but then again we don't even know what other colors are getting the mechanic so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
It looks like it was made by the same people who thought that Avatar of Hope was a good card. Still, no matter what colors the cards are in, you could always pair it with Black or Red to try to work it, although it honestly seems far too risky and far too narrow to be worth it. Personally, I'm really interested in this added bonus for flashing cards back. Increasing Devotion seems like an obscenely good way to develop board position out of nowhere (say, post-sweep) and break ahead of everybody else. It's like its already-proven cousin Conqueror's Pledge .
Faithless Looting is the card that I'm most excited about in this set. It's going to completely redefine the nature of red-based control decks (I'm specifically thinking of Boros control, neither of whose colors lend themselves to card advantage). The fact that it lets you filter through your library not one, but two times is a massive boon to red decks that want to shape their hands.
Mondronen Shaman seems like it could work well in red-based burn decks. She's basically Kaervek Jr and I imagine that she'll do quite a bit of damage before she leaves the battlefield.
Undying seems like a pretty neat mechanic. Strangleroot Geist seems like it would be fun to pair with Skullclamp . You clamp him, draw two, then attack for three. Even without the tricks, its good anti-wrath protection, same as Persisting critters.
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
How to autocard (do this to specify a card in your posts): Type [c]Black Lotus[/c] to get Black Lotus . Type [c=Black Lotus]The Overpowered One[/c] to get The Overpowered One .
