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Magic: The Gathering
- Thread starter Zystral
- Start date
card is awesome esp in a world with lingering souls. perhaps some sort of r/w/b token deck is possible
You're missing the part when you can dump your current hand and get a new one immediately, and potentially do this multiple times without losing card advantage (beyond the first activation).
Invisible Stalker + Whispering Madness + Runechanter's Pike = Unblockable, Hexproof death machine.
So its a 5/5 for 5 with no evasion that drains them for 2 every turn and can't die to sorcery speed removal? Seems... hideously average and probably wont see much play in constructed.
I think you're sorely underestimating this guy. It's roughly equivalent to Thragtusk, which is undisputably one of the best creatures in Standard. An 8 life differential between one turn (unless your opponent has instant-speed removal when you drop it) and immunity to board wipes is definitely comparable to 5 life gain and a lingering Beast token. It can even choose not to phase if you need a blocker. It also can't be killed in one shot by Ultimate Price or Searing Spear, which means the only instant-speed removal spells that can kill it off the top of my head are Victim of Night, Brimstone Volley / Tragic Slip that have Morbid triggered, and the rare Tribute to Hunger. Bounce spells can slow it down of course, but because of that trigger they're not much more effective than they are against Thragtusk.
I'm probably going to be going with Esper midrange, abusing the fact that Geist of Saint Thraft and Obzedat are both Spirits for Cavern of Souls.
My planned list atm is roughly:
4 Geist of Saint Thraft
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Azorius Charm
1 Cloudshift
1 Cremate
1 Dissipate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Runechanter’s Pike
2 Sign in Blood
1 Syncopate
4 Thought Scour
1 Tragic Slip
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Victim of Night
3 Ultimate Price
1 Unburial Rites
1 Unsummon
1 ???
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Watery Grave
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Azorius Charm
1 Cloudshift
1 Cremate
1 Dissipate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Runechanter’s Pike
2 Sign in Blood
1 Syncopate
4 Thought Scour
1 Tragic Slip
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Victim of Night
3 Ultimate Price
1 Unburial Rites
1 Unsummon
1 ???
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Watery Grave
Obviously I will have to make some changes as we see more releases (Dimir and Orzhov Charms and the Orzhov Keyrune are cards I want to know about), but the basic plan is to pressure early game with Geist supported by removal spells, and then use Obzedat to close out the game and give control decks a real migraine, with the Snapcangel package included for obvious reasons.
No, this is absolutely wrong. Thragtusk is literally impossible to remove without bleeding value all over the tablecloth, and he scales insanely with blink effects like Resto Angel.
This guy is fine, but he is not in the slightest comparable to Thragtusk.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Obzedat is not in the slightest bit comparable to Thragtusk because they are more valuable to different decks against different strategies. Obzedat is a card wanted by control decks and against control decks as a finisher. Thrag is found in more mid-range decks and is used to stabilize against and thwart aggro strategies. You don't want to use Obzedat as a counter for aggro, as a control deck you want to be using Obzedat after you've stabilized the board to put your opponent on a 7 damage per turn clock.
I sort of feel bad for everyone anticipating it. .-.
On a positive note, Zameck Guildmage should be interesting in a variety of formats.
EDIT @ below: Same here, though I had been planning to since i knew there was a Return to Ravnica
On a positive note, Zameck Guildmage should be interesting in a variety of formats.
EDIT @ below: Same here, though I had been planning to since i knew there was a Return to Ravnica
Uhhh, the new gideon is quite good. He's literally a one-sided The Abyss in creature matchups and he still provides a solid threat against control because he can only be taken care of by selesnya charm (in creature form, obviously o-ring and the like still work). He also only costs 4 and is better than Gideon Jura most of the time, which is pretty insane. You also literally cannot lose (a real game, obviously if they have mountain + lightning bolt and you are at 3 you *can* lose but you would have lost 10 turns ago if they had that) if you use his ultimate, which is generally a good sign for a planeswalker (I've lost games where I used jtms ultimate fwiw, because the board position remains unchanged).
Rule #1: Never judge a planeswalker by their ultimate, especially a walker who will never reach his ultimate unless you have somehow stalled against a token deck for several turns.
No. Aboslutely wrong on virtually every single point.
First, the ultimate might as well say "-1000000:" because it's exactly as achievable as -15.
Second, even if you actually did get him up to 15 or more counters, his ultimate is actually AWFUL because it removes your board too. All you're doing is turning it into a topdeck fight with your opponent. It's like Karn's ultimate except it costs more Loyalty, and you don't get any cards to start with, and you don't get a new hand, and you don't get a reset life total.
If you ever get 15 loyalty on Gideon, you're practically always better off just attacking with your indestructible 15/15 every turn - you'll win faster.
In fact, just to get 15 loyalty in the first place means you've been gaining loyalty when you should have been attacking with an 8/8 or 10/10 already.
He can't protect himself. He can't protect other Planeswalkers. He doesn't generate card advantage. He doesn't even protect you. All features that the Gideon 1 had. Gideon 1 DESTROYED Aggro matchups - Gideon 2 either gets ignored and you die, or the creatures just attack him, he fogs a turn of damage and you're left with a 2/2.
Basically, Gideon 2 is not even a Planeswalker. He's a 4-mana 6/6 growable creature that is resistant to most removal but with no evasion and who doesn't synergise well with Auras or Equipment or Soulbond. The decks that want an effect like that (basically white weenie only) aren't even good in the first place, and they have plenty of other options, arguably better (e.g. Sublime Archangel, off the top of my head).
This is the only part I disagree with you on. You keep the cards in your hand, so just simply tap your land and after his ult, use the floating mana to cast something. Of course, this requires you to have something in your hand to kill your defenseless opponent with. If so, you have probably beaten your opponent unless you are less than 3 life and your opponent is a burn deck.