Saturday 13 November 2021

Innistrad: Crimson Vow Preliminary Review Part VII

 

 

0 - unplayable in 40 card singleton

1 - effectively unplayable

2 - has low tier constructed decks it might go in

3 - has mid tier constructed decks it does go in

4 - pretty powerful stuff with several potential homes, able to perform well in lower powered cubes

5 - powerful stuff that is either just too narrow or has too many superior alternatives

6 - fringe cube worthy

7 - cube worthy

8 - cube staple

9 - unpowered cube bomb

10 - powered cube bomb 



Honeymoon Hearse 2

Cool take on not having a crew cost but sadly just a little underpowered. I might play this with inspire or Magda or other tap synergies, perhaps some vehicle ones but it doesn't impress or excite as a stand alone card. 





Bloodvial Purveyor 0

Big fatties that concede advantages to the opponent are generally not worth the risk. Master of the Feast is a prime example of this. Purveyor certainly affords less risk than giving away cards but it is still a long way from nothing. Rummage is good, it will help them find what they need. They might just have an Urza and you gave them loads of mana and made the constructs huge. I do like the design that requires them to use the blood else they get punished for it but it really needed to be something like "gain ward X where X is the number of blood they have" to be relevant. A four drop that dies to removal and offers no other value beyond good stats is a non starter for me, add to that some extra risks and I am totally out. 





Thirst for Discovery 6

A generally positive side grade for Compulsive Research. Big power increase going instant at a small cost of needing a threshold of basic land in your deck. Generally solid card with broad application on top of some good synergies. I don't think it is needed in most cubes right now but it is certainly pretty top of the list when it comes to three mana draw spells I might add. 





Henrika Domnathi // Infernal Seer 8

This is a card that closely resembles Rankle and in that alone it should perform pretty well in cube. This card packs a lot of options and does so with low risk and high power level. It is all the things you want from your more costly cards. The normal baseline for this card will be deploying pre combat and drawing a card followed by transforming the following turn and getting some real work done in combat with your super Vampire Nighthawk. To say Henrika controls the board is almost an understatement. She wins most races with hard hitting lifelinking evasive damage and blocks like a boss if needed. Mostly to beat Infernal Seer removal or a significant trade down will be required. That on top of drawing a card when you make her means that her low end performance is still really quite high. There is also the removal aspect were you can utterly wreck someone by cashing in your goat token etc for their relevant card. Just the threat of it might be enough to force a bad reaction out of an opponent. I actually think this looks better than Rankle, although not by very much. I just like how easy it is to get a two for one with Henrika. I also like how she can do her thing without needing to get through. There is just so much potential for control here. 






Voltaic Visionary 7

Totalled up this is a two mana 4/3 that deals you two damage, has an extra turn of summoning sickness like Incited Rabble, and "red draws" you a card. That is pretty fantastic. It is even better than that as you don't need to take the card or the turn out, you can just get stuck in with a 3/1 or block with it if you really need. This is a bit clunky, risky and slow, but it is also a two drop with great payoff and value. It is ultimately both tempo and card advantage with options sprinkled on top and that is a big old win in any format. The lack of ability to block on the back end makes this sadly a lot less appealing to control and midrange red builds. Even so, much as this card looks a bit tame I cannot see it failing to impress given it succeeds on all key metrics. It is even card quality if you want as there is a may clause on that flip. You can just Shock yourself and not play the card unless it is the exact thing you are looking for so that you can have another go at hitting it on subsequent turns. 






Glorious Sunrise 6

I do rather like this card but worry that it doesn't do much without a board presence. The mana is cool but it is ramping from like 5 to 7 which is hardly the most useful. Life is nice in like one matchup and even then you will need to stick this for a while before it stabilizes for you. Really we want to be drawing cards and giving mini Overruns to our team. Those two modes will do a lot of work if we can ensure they are active. Sunrise is one of those enchantments from the set that feel like planeswalkers, and this is one that feels like a powerful walker when it is suitably supported rather than one that just stands up alone. I want to test this and have it pass but I am fearful that I will just want to play five drops that are themselves threats over this in most situations. Green just has so many good dorks and walkers at five that this is going to struggle. 





Headless Rider 5

A powerful zombie tribal tool that is close to being good enough just by himself. Great wipe protection and a great way to get lots of fodder for sacrificial uses! Cards like Flesh Carver ensure you are not playing this without a healthy zombie count making it too narrow and low power for my drafting cube. Powerful enough however to be going in plenty of constructed decks beyond purely tribal ones, while being a likely lock in there too. 





Wandering Mind 6

Lovely little Cloudkin Seer. While more powerful than Seer the Wandering Mind is unlikely to last in my cube being that much narrower. You need to have a reasonable number of targets, ideally about a third of the deck, which will mostly be fine but wont always make the most out of the card. More over it is gold and a lot less easily played than Seer. Lastly, you want cards like Seer just to help you curve out, being able to hit lands is important with cheaper support cantrips. When you want land with Mind you will have to find another card quality or draw spell and play that and it all gets very slow. Mind will be a great inclusion in some decks but I can't imagine it is going to be an optimal inclusion to a streamlined cube despite the obviously high power level. 





Parasitic Grasp 1

A bit of cute upside on removal is never worth unreliability and this has that problem. It only kills things with three or less toughness and that doesn't cut it. I might consider this in a Necropotence list where my life is quite directly meaningful but I am sure I can find better sources of life without having to make as big of a compromise in my removal. 





Graf Reaver 1

Two mana sorcery speed kill a planeswalker or two mana 3/3 Carnophage / Juzam Djinn style dork. If you want a sac outlet needing to have a planeswalker target rather negates the convenience of this as a support tool. Beyond that the card just seems like a really awful Vampire Hexmage. Less utility, worse body and not proactive. Not sure where or why I might play this. Wanting a card like Hexmage in a zombie deck? Thin...





Mirrorhall Mimic // Ghastly Mimicry 6

Bleh, this is obviously pretty powerful. Clone on the front side is mediocre but certainly doesn't lack for ceiling in cube. The disturb mode is where this gets scary. Stick this and you are probably winning. That is something you can do without ever having to spend a card or even draw this card. Just mill it over and bam, you get the potential to just win the game with some random dork and a free aura. I don't really like either half of this but I cannot deny there is a lot of card here and it needs testing. It looks like the sort of thing that can do well in cube. 






Markov Purifier 2

A bunch of synergies here but the power level is fairly low. Fairly small body, needs support, and is a total tempo sink if you want to gain value, which you need to do if you want to make this card relevant. I might play this in the odd life or cleric deck. I'll never be thrilled about it though. 





Old Rutstein 2

Unpredictable and low impact. I might play this in an environment with a lot of mill synergies but they typically act a lot quicker than this guy can help with. In 40 card decks it is really hard to make slower mill cards work for you. I like this guy but struggle to think where I might play it. 



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