As for cube specifically the effects are pretty minor. The legend tag is pretty meaningless in a singleton format. Time of Need and Hero's Demise are hardly big names and they are not relevant for the planeswalker changes anyway... The planeswalker rule previously made for some extra choices to be made in building decks and in cube design. You didn't want to over do it on any one kind of walker. That is all gone. Now each walker based on their merits alone! If the best three walkers for your deck are all Jace's you can now ram them all in and not worry about it. It was super rare that you would be in a position where you already had one type of a walker in play and you wanted to make another one of the same type. This is because most cubes kept same type walkers curtailed and people wouldn't typically build with more than two of the same type. It rarely came up and when it did you were well prepared for it. I suspect with the design and build restrictions gone we will start to see a lot more instances of the same walker in play. I say a lot more but in reality it is still a pretty small number. Getting a walker to stick and then getting another into play means you are pretty far ahead in most cases. Those games are mostly already won.
Basically this is just a way of saying that planeswalkers with lots of decent iterations of themselves will become better. Specifically the ones that are still good but reside further down the list. Mind Sculptor gets no better as a result of the changes but all the other Jace's do get better. Some of those that were close to good enough for cube before may just edge over that line. I think the more expensive Garruk's benefit from these changes. I think many of the Liliana iterations gain some value as well. Specifically Heretical Healer who you often want to play alongside Liliana of the Veil but due to lacking control over the flip mechanic often felt rather risky. Nissa is the other walker I think benefits from this change as there are lots of good ones. She may not be that numerous a walker compared to Jace but she five very good ones. Both Garruk and Nissa being green there will not be an influx of both, green has plenty of walkers as it stands and will only have room for one or two returns at most. I might have considered Apex Predator but I think the new Vraska will be taking up his potential cube slot. Gideon is perhaps the only other walker this has that much effect on. While I only have 3 iterations of him (including Kytheon) that I want in cube they are cards I am happy running together. Aggressive white decks being what they are that extra freedom and consistency will go a really long way. Ajani and Chandra have loads of versions but few are good, you rarely find yourself in a position of wanting more than one. I have wanted all the Daretti's before!
Seems like Gideon gets slightly worse now that he is a karakas target
ReplyDeleteVery true. I didn't overly consider that as I "banned" Karakas a little while back and had him join the ranks of the power and comparably silly cards.
ReplyDeleteToo many of the interesting dorks are legends and it kind of ruled them out. Tasigur, Kalitas, that sort of thing. I banned it before the flipwalkers but it would have been oppressive with those too. While certainly not the most busted of the cards I have banned, perhaps even the least potent, it was a completely free addition to a deck and ruined loads of cards. I felt it had a very negative impact on the format and am happy it is gone. Whenever I face Kari Zev I want it back however...
Ha yeah I get that. The only card I banned was blightsteel because I hate infect but that card looks positively tame these days. I love the venser and clique locks too much to ever cut karakas, and have found generally that my cube has enough land destruction to deal w it. However if I ever cut down on the land kill it might have to go.
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