Sphinx is actually really good when I’ve played with it and it synergizes super well with KikiJiki. Only risk is sometimes you get dangerously close milling yourself.
I don’t think it’s a bad card I’m just annoyed I got 3 of them out of the prerelease and bundle I opened. Of course I also admit, getting 3 mythics (especially 2 in a prerelease is also nice) idk I just wish I got any other mythic.
[[Lingering Souls]] being one of the most popular cards kind of threw a bucket of cold water on Lili’s effectiveness the first time around. She wasn’t awful but she wasn’t a powerhouse either.
Yeah in general that’s true. Souls being a 4x in a lot of archetypes then specifically hosed Lili, because 1, the tokens have evasion, 2, you don’t care to discard it, and 3, it made multiple bodies to protect against the -2. So it made her +1 card disadvantage for her controller, and her -2 read “target player chooses a creature to put a -1/-1 counter on.”
Yeah the spring and winter sets tend to increase he power level of the format, sometimes significantly. Really will depend how good the go wide decks are. But it may take meathook massacre rotating
I think she's great. Opponent played her, +1'd her, they threw a [[Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant]] in the graveyard, and I took with a [[The Cruelty of Fix]] the next turn.
So that turned out pretty swell for me. A+ card.
She wasn’t even dominant in standard of HER day. She was played in a deck or two and that’s about it. Honestly I think she’ll see play but people here are wwwaayyyyy over estimating her impact just because she is probably one of the most well known modern staples.
She’s better than I expected but I don’t think she’s an overwhelming card. People play and respond to it incorrectly.
I see a lot of players neglect that they can get ahead on board or forget that as the user you don’t need to always plus it.
To me, she’s a good anticontrol card.
Shout out to that person on MaRo's blog decrying the fact black was so unplayable and obviously hated by WotC and why do they love white so much?
Like clockwork, every time.
Yeah... Last time people complained about green, every green card got "gain life, ramp, draw a card, and turn your opponent's creatures into elks" stapled onto it.
People complain too much. They deal with an absolute deluge of "Wizards HATES color X, they want to kill color X" for a year or two when a color is in a small slump, so they juice it up to the point that even absolute dinguses can notice that it's gotten stronger.
Rinse and repeat.
That is literally design policy. Choose one strategy or color to be dominant for a year, then overcome it with the next strategy or color, then repeat. That's how they fight power creep in Standard -- they try not to print more powerful cards for an existing strategy or a dominant color, instead they bump up some other part of the game until rotation removes the previously dominant one.
No way. Wizards is terrified of ever making Blue good again. Everyone knows Timmys and kitchen-table-only players spontaneously combust within 100km of efficient counterspells or card draw.
[[Fall of the Thran]] in Dominaria but it was 6 mana and a saga that would return lands from the graveyard to the battlefield for both players for 2 turns afterward. [[Boom / Bust]] in planar chaos was 6 mana in red for an Armageddon effect. Everything better than that is Legacy only.
My favorite pet theory based on absolutely nothing is that Karn rigs Jace such a way that he does not entirely lose control upon compleation and throws him at Phyrexians to be a double agent of sorts. That would make for a flavor where JTMS makes total sense.
If he gets compleated he will probably get a "Compleated" keyword walker though.
Mono Red seems good against a lot of the format at the moment, with a lot of haste and the Rabbit Battery as an enabler, so you CAN go quite fast. Unfortunately, Mono Red can't deal with Sheoldred well. 4/5 blocks all your threats, the life gain makes racing harder, and any of the 5 damage removal you can play sucks.
The general consensus was “This card isn’t bad, the abilities are actually strong, it’s just kind of unexciting.” I think everyone knew the card was really bonkers powerful, it’s just the Praetors generally have really splashy abilities, while she just kinda… sits there.
Well, let's think about this for a sec. [[Sheoldred]]'s abilities create an extremely powerful clock that your opponent has to fight against. Sure it's not as much of an instant threat as, say, Vorinclex; but you'll certainly feel just as bad not being able to deal with it at instant speed and losing two life on your upkeep. The fact that it's a much slower threat is just flavor and makes Sheoldred no less epic than the others.
Compare to all other praetors. Maybe it’s more like urabrask. But every other praetors has been 6+ mana and pretty much a nuclear bomb on the board. That’s what they mean by epic - like Timmy epic.
This Sheoldred is good, but much more like something like graveyard trespasser. Not a great look for a creature literally nicknamed “the apocalypse”.
She’s basically like a siege rhino variant. A good card, but kind of boring compared to other praetors.
As a more spike player, I prefer the playability of this Sheoldred, but I see what is missing compared to other praetors - a 2-3 extra mana cost and some dumbass ability that makes commander players nut instantly.
You got this on the nose.
I think Sheoldred is very playable in her current form and impactful precisely because she was tuned as a strong 4-drop. That said, she does not have the “oh shit” factor that you get from dropping Vorinclex or Jin.
I wanted to see a 6 drop that gave my opponent a choice during each upkeep: let me draw a card and they lose 2 life or sacrifice a permanent on a similar body.
I swore seeing sheo as this big ass worm meant she was going to get a [[massacre wurm]] type effect.
Hell, I'm pretty sure she did have it at one point.
She’s the kind of card you think it’s costs 5 and it’s little unimpressive, once you realize she’s only 4, all of a sudden she’s actually much more powerful. Her and LotV are the reason mono B can switch between aggro or control
Again, no one thinks she's bad. They just think that she's not epic. There's a big difference. She's a strong, efficient card, yes.
But Sheoldred represents the pinnacle of one of the largest threats the multiverse has ever seen; the top end of all phyrexians. She's supposed to be going toe to toe with Nicol-Bolas and Emrakul in terms of threat power.
This is not that. This is a strong card, but not an epic one. It doesn't feel like its existance represents a threat to all life everywhere and a creature who singlehandedly could kill multiple planeswalkers with relative ease. It feels like it could have just as easily been a vampire progenitor on Innistrad; a scary threat, sure, but not a threat to the multiverse.
Im in no way a lore expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but the phyrexians feel more of a "we exist so we will always come back untill we win" rather then this huge powerhouse for. The power of many more then a Emrakul.
[Here](https://youtu.be/3tfxLOb67Mw?t=5185) is CovertGoBlue's initial thoughts. That said, after the early access he [changed his tune.](https://youtu.be/FG98vyZ0Gjk?t=1127)
I understand what people were saying, but at four mana this card is pretty epic. I think the comparison to the seven mana card just leaves a sour taste in peoples mouth. It’s crazy powerful and punishes your opponents for playing the game.
Strong and epic are too different adjectives.
This card is insanely efficient, yes. But it's not epic. It's not the type of creature you'd expect to be on par with Nicol Bolas, Emrakul, etc, as the be-all-end-all threat to the multiverse.
That's what the Praetors represent; an end to all life as it is. They are insanely dangerous powerhouses that represent the pinnacle of Phyrexia.
Whereas this seems like it could be just as easily be printed on a mythic rare legendary vampire that was introduced for a single appearance.
I think people just think that her abilities just aren’t living up to someone titled “The Apocalypse” Take the new Jin from NEO, it’s incredibly powerful and but also expensive, I think people expected something more on that level of praetor rather than something that compares more to Urabrask than Jin or maybe even Vorinclex. Obviously she is incredibly good and almost always a remove ASAP or lose the game type of threat, but I guess people wanted something even better.
I think standard was always the format sheoldred was best suited for. She is a 4-mana overstatted beater, which is a pretty standard-specific niche. Calling her insanely powerful is overstating things though; she isn't the card pulling people into Black right now.
In fairness, she would have been a lot worse in a format where things like [[Heartless Act]] or [[Vanishing Verse]] were common cards. When [[Infernal Grasp]] is the most common cheap removal that actually hits, which causes the user to take their 2 damage in the process anyway, she is indeed pretty great.
It’s funny. If siege rhino would die to removal so easily, then it would not be that good either. Lightning helix ETB is really just not that good. But lightning helix ETB and a big fatty with trample? Now we’re talking.
Sheoldred is just a siege rhino variant. Easier to cast, worse floor (getting killed immediately), higher ceiling (draining the opponents life to 0 by itself without even attacking).
It would probably look a bit embarrassing in the main if [[vanishing verse]] were still in Standard.
Yes, but Goyf was only that high pre-Push, because of its resistance to Bolt. Since Push, Goyf dies easily to removal, and wouldn't you know, his play percent and price both went down.
Goyf was still *fairly* high in price and saw a healthy amount of play even after Fatal Push came out, from what I remember.
I think the release of MH1, and subsequently MH2, which brought a massive pool of cards which were of a higher power level were more instrumental in the downfall of goyf. Goyf being reprinted in Ultimate Masters and also Times Spiral Remastered also probably didn't help matters.
Removal spells die to Goyf, not the other way around. Since it almost always dodged bolt the only efficient way to remove it (before push was printed) was path to exile and well that's a 2-for-1 just to get rid of a 2-drop. Every other removal spell was even on mana or more expensive than goyf.
Basically nobody thought she would be weak.
The question was always, why is Sheoldred, a 6/6 to start with, now connected to a huge monster and called the Apocalypse now a 4/5 with a not very exciting ability.
No I definitely remember people downplaying all of the black cards. Specifically with Sheoldred, “it doesn’t have an etb effect so it’s a week 4 drop”.
I dont play much standard but 4 mana for a card that does nothing the turn its played is meh to me, itll be a removal magnet. But again I havent looked at the meta after rotation.
It is removal magnet but somehow the card has the hidden effect on arena that you will never draw your removal to deal with it while it is on the field.
Because removal is not an answer to Sheoldred, you need at least removal+removal+removal.The rest of the curve before her with underdog, harvester, anvil, lili, double ob and fable of the mirror breaker (the red oko) demands attention or you'll be ground to nothing, sheoldred is just the last nail on the coffin.
That's true in a vacuum.
What sets Sheoldred apart is how other things in the meta incentivize the type of removal people feel compelled to run and how *those cards* line up with Sheoldred.
All of the "cheap" removal either can't kill her 1 for 1 or at least gives up some minor resource like a card or life so it's not as much of a disaster when she's removed, and all of the more expensive cards that deal with her at a still acceptable rate aren't efficient enough to be happy using them on the various cheap creatures you still need to answer.
The loss of effects like Vanishing Verse and Skyclave Apparition are very noticeable.
Did you even played during the previous standard ? The package shambling gast, deadly dispute, eyetwitch, Lolth, ect was really strong during a good amount of time. Orzhov midrange/control was completely destroying monowhite and monogreen before Street of Capenna but had a bad mashup to naya runes i believe. Black was the strongest color with white. Black was never gone.
Esper midrange built around Missionary, Raffine, and Serra Paragon (and Liliana, Underdog, Wedding Announcement, etc etc). One of the best standard recursion/value engines I’ve seen in a long time.
Also lifelink has premium value now that painlands are back.
Thats what I've been playing on arena. Its good but there's so much removal it can be rough. When you flash in a toxrill from your library for 3BB though it feels so nice.
I wonder why black keep getting better one drops than white whereas this is by essence where white is supposed to shine. Like knight of the elbon legion.
Your definition of “better” is very broad. Every color can have “good” one drops that do what that color is good at doing. White is better at efficiently stated 1 drops. Notice that Black 1 drops have good Black effects but rarely ever are efficient stat-wise.
I don't know about in Standard, but I have absolutely *loved* the black knight in Historic. Shutting down all of the thousands of Soul Sister decks feels so fucking good.
You can hold the mana up for removal on your opponents turn and then if you don’t have to use any instants you can dump it into evolved sleeper. It’s perfect for what a midrange deck wants to do, you’re never over investing with it
I don’t totally get it either. I think it’s fine. But 90%+ of the time I play [[Ascendant Spirit]] I’m underwhelmed. In theory it’s a good mana dump I guess, but these cards just seem like magnets for removal, flushing away your investment.
1-2-3 mana is a lot less than 2-3-4 mana. That's 3 mana less all told, and you get to draw as soon as you pay the 3, so you're not quite as unhappy to see an Infernal grasp the moment he ticks up.
Nuts sheoldred got the same fate as [[Vorinclex, monsterous raider]] did I guess I have to really wait for her price to go down to get her to compleat the cycle.
I got a phyrexian Vorinclex at $60 a good while after Kaldheim released, and then he still dropped hard and now the Phyrexian version is the cheapest 🥲
If you run Vengful Strangler with Serra Paragon you can get around the ability as it loses it when it transforms before it gets exiled. Sac it with a spell or creature ability, when attached creature dies, you get it back without the Serra Paragon effect.
As an old player, I pegged Rabbit Battery and Phoenix Chick as phenomenal cards for the archetype they're meant for, red deck wins. Your average RDW wants early threats that aren't dead off the top of your library and mana sinks for when you flood out, which both of these cards fill.
Both have already made it into my cube, some of the best 1-drop red creatures in standard since Goblin Guide.
Absolutely. It's a 1 drop that either eats removal (instead of a more valuable target) or is allowed to grow into a mana dump and repeatable card draw while you drain your opponent to death from your Shelodred/Anvil/Lili/Meathook. It's just a solid role player.
I’ve had fun with it. The costs to evolve are low so low you almost never waste mana. Didn’t get that other 1 or 2 drop? Just sink it into him, at instant speed.
Current set is Invasion 2.0, and the next set is time travel shenanigans going back to the Urza/Mishra war. Followed by new Phyrexia and then the finale.
Cut Down is a 1-mana [[Murder]] for 90% of the game. It locks down any sort of pump-centric lines before they can even get rolling, and keeps aggro off the board. Unless you can either: a) get a big creature on the board early, or; b) evade a 1-mana Murder with counters, almost all of your early game creatures are essentially DOA. I think ramp and control are gonna be the new creature-win-con decks now, while burn and the persistent Izzet spellslinger decks are gonna be the big non-creature archetypes.
The set hasnt officially released yet, and there are other mythics that are gonna chew on the price a bit, like lili, paragon, lotus, and hydra. Sadly most of the value IS on the mythics.
I’ve now opened 45 packs and haven’t seen a copy of Cut Down 😂… but I’ve opened 2 of each of the Mythic Rares pictures here, including a foil phyrexian print Sheoldred 🔥
Me staring at my 3 Sphinx of Clear Skies… c’mon… do something!
Sphinx is actually really good when I’ve played with it and it synergizes super well with KikiJiki. Only risk is sometimes you get dangerously close milling yourself.
I don’t think it’s a bad card I’m just annoyed I got 3 of them out of the prerelease and bundle I opened. Of course I also admit, getting 3 mythics (especially 2 in a prerelease is also nice) idk I just wish I got any other mythic.
The monkey's paw curls. Congrats, you opened three Vesuvan Diplomacy!
Honestly speaking I am planning to buy atleast 1 of those. Unlike the sphinx who I plan to probably never use unless I finally build sphinx tribal
You did this to me!
That card looks absolutely sick for commander tho. It makes me want to build Orvar.
I got two thran gateways and no mythics at all. Count yourself lucky.
Lilly of the veil good in standard? I never would have guessed 😂
Shocked
Fetched
Pinged
Gained
Bounced
Flabbergasted
Banded
Siege rhino'd
Yargle’d
Stop trying to make "fetch" happen.
--Pithing Needle
He's 6'5" , 6'9" with the afro"..."Fletch ,what a player !"
Serra Paragon is only up there because it lets you cast your Lili from the graveyard.
Remember when people had doubts, Pepperidge Farm remembers.
People confuse her being pushed out of modern with her being bad. She only got pushed out because MH1/2 pumped up modern's power level to a 12.
she wasn't that good in Standard the first time around.
Last time you weren't on curve to drop Sheoldred the next turn. Those % are close for a reason.
She was pretty good. Saw play in Jund Mid and GB Mid. Certainly not meta-warping though, and she’ll likely lose prominence as time goes on.
[[Lingering Souls]] being one of the most popular cards kind of threw a bucket of cold water on Lili’s effectiveness the first time around. She wasn’t awful but she wasn’t a powerhouse either.
That and Aristocrats was one of the dominant decks back then kinda made PWs bad
What do you mean my 4 power flying, haster is good against planeswalkers?
Yeah in general that’s true. Souls being a 4x in a lot of archetypes then specifically hosed Lili, because 1, the tokens have evasion, 2, you don’t care to discard it, and 3, it made multiple bodies to protect against the -2. So it made her +1 card disadvantage for her controller, and her -2 read “target player chooses a creature to put a -1/-1 counter on.”
Yeah the spring and winter sets tend to increase he power level of the format, sometimes significantly. Really will depend how good the go wide decks are. But it may take meathook massacre rotating
This is why black was gone so long. It needed to make a proper entrance.
Black was gone? I've been seeing Meathooks everywhere.
And black would likely disappear if and when Meathook goes bye-bye. Mono black isn’t busted by Liliana, it’s busted by MHM.
yeah but Black was a strong color even before DMU, it had the whole Deadly Dispute/Eyetwitch/Shambling Ghast package, plus Lolth
I think she's great. Opponent played her, +1'd her, they threw a [[Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant]] in the graveyard, and I took with a [[The Cruelty of Fix]] the next turn. So that turned out pretty swell for me. A+ card.
Funny. I played a graveyard deck. Waited until they got their Jin-Gitaxias then made them sac it. A+ card indeed.
Honestly I had my doubts, given how Standard has changed since her heyday.
She wasn’t even dominant in standard of HER day. She was played in a deck or two and that’s about it. Honestly I think she’ll see play but people here are wwwaayyyyy over estimating her impact just because she is probably one of the most well known modern staples.
Depends. She had her time in the age of MBD/Rock and the other black decks
She wasn’t that great her first time in standard and there were very long stretches where she saw no meaningful play.
She’s better than I expected but I don’t think she’s an overwhelming card. People play and respond to it incorrectly. I see a lot of players neglect that they can get ahead on board or forget that as the user you don’t need to always plus it. To me, she’s a good anticontrol card.
Turns out Black's real good.
Black *absolutely fucks* in this set
Real good what?!?! Don't leave me on the edge like this!
good craic
Black is never good craic.
Are you saying black don't craic?
I get the joke, but I think in this case this could be read either as a contraction or possessive. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Shout out to that person on MaRo's blog decrying the fact black was so unplayable and obviously hated by WotC and why do they love white so much? Like clockwork, every time.
Can I complain about green now just so I get more fun green cards?
Yeah... Last time people complained about green, every green card got "gain life, ramp, draw a card, and turn your opponent's creatures into elks" stapled onto it.
Yeah they seem to like to make a giant swing one way or the other
People complain too much. They deal with an absolute deluge of "Wizards HATES color X, they want to kill color X" for a year or two when a color is in a small slump, so they juice it up to the point that even absolute dinguses can notice that it's gotten stronger. Rinse and repeat.
That is literally design policy. Choose one strategy or color to be dominant for a year, then overcome it with the next strategy or color, then repeat. That's how they fight power creep in Standard -- they try not to print more powerful cards for an existing strategy or a dominant color, instead they bump up some other part of the game until rotation removes the previously dominant one.
Hey, the super niche strategy of running lands in your deck needed support, okay?
Sorry, blue is next in line, then we've gone full circle from red, then it's green again
No thanks. Blue doesn't need a turn it's gets enough extra ones as it is
No way. Wizards is terrified of ever making Blue good again. Everyone knows Timmys and kitchen-table-only players spontaneously combust within 100km of efficient counterspells or card draw.
I'm just waiting for \[\[Armageddon}} to be printed into standard again. Make land destruction viable again.
Lol, i'd settle for a stone rain
[[Rain of Salt]] is one of my favorite cards. It causes everyone else to match the name.
[Rain of Salt](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/4/7/4792293a-e11d-4c5e-bbd9-6f09e69ee617.jpg?1562909891) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rain%20of%20Salt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/usg/206/rain-of-salt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4792293a-e11d-4c5e-bbd9-6f09e69ee617?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
How long has it been, out of curiosity?? Every frikken set has a wrath, when was the last time we got geddon, or anything remotely like it??
[[Fall of the Thran]] in Dominaria but it was 6 mana and a saga that would return lands from the graveyard to the battlefield for both players for 2 turns afterward. [[Boom / Bust]] in planar chaos was 6 mana in red for an Armageddon effect. Everything better than that is Legacy only.
One of my favorites all time.
Every color can do Timmy things.
Can confirm, drawing 21 cards is an absolute bliss in the Timmy side of my cold blue heart.
Does this mean a JTMS in standard next
Honestly if Jace gets compleated and they just reprint JTMS but with that flavor? Sick as hell.
My favorite pet theory based on absolutely nothing is that Karn rigs Jace such a way that he does not entirely lose control upon compleation and throws him at Phyrexians to be a double agent of sorts. That would make for a flavor where JTMS makes total sense. If he gets compleated he will probably get a "Compleated" keyword walker though.
Last time this happened we got Throne of Eldraine
I mean... I loved eldraine but will admit it wasn't healthy for the game
Honestly it’s reds turn lol
god please no. i have amonket standard PTSD
Red/White was pretty good last standard, and will probably be good again within a set or two when it gets its painland and like 1 more good 2-drop.
They had theirs
Red has been great for a long time.
Pulled [[Shivan Devasator]] and [[Serra Paragon]] in my sealed pre-release box. I still lost all my games because I am bad at Limited lol.
[Shivan Devastator](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/1/f/1f5d274c-3a03-4f0d-97e8-7eef6508105d.jpg?1658428648) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shivan%20Devastator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/143/shivan-devastator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f5d274c-3a03-4f0d-97e8-7eef6508105d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Serra Paragon](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/c/e/ce295f1e-fb31-4275-a5d3-8c6f29afff40.jpg?1662148431) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Serra%20Paragon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/32/serra-paragon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce295f1e-fb31-4275-a5d3-8c6f29afff40?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Phoenix chick is why I want to play mono red aggro, must protect the tiny birb.
Nothing like playing two on the same turn on Arena SCREEE SCREEE
why protec when he come bac?
The bird only attac and come bac, no protec.
Birb prottac
I wanna build mono red shenanigans with the chick and the new red phyrexian mana guy and maybe the 1/2 trampler?
Mono Red seems good against a lot of the format at the moment, with a lot of haste and the Rabbit Battery as an enabler, so you CAN go quite fast. Unfortunately, Mono Red can't deal with Sheoldred well. 4/5 blocks all your threats, the life gain makes racing harder, and any of the 5 damage removal you can play sucks.
Twinferno + Strangle ez
I was finding that I'd have to 2for1 myself to get it off the board, only to have my opponent slam another one next turn
Sheoldred is an awesome card
Am I crazy for thinking that people didn’t think Sheoldred would be good in standard? Card is insanely powerful.
I don't think people said she was weak, just that she wasn't epic for a praetor.
The general consensus was “This card isn’t bad, the abilities are actually strong, it’s just kind of unexciting.” I think everyone knew the card was really bonkers powerful, it’s just the Praetors generally have really splashy abilities, while she just kinda… sits there.
Well, let's think about this for a sec. [[Sheoldred]]'s abilities create an extremely powerful clock that your opponent has to fight against. Sure it's not as much of an instant threat as, say, Vorinclex; but you'll certainly feel just as bad not being able to deal with it at instant speed and losing two life on your upkeep. The fact that it's a much slower threat is just flavor and makes Sheoldred no less epic than the others.
Compare to all other praetors. Maybe it’s more like urabrask. But every other praetors has been 6+ mana and pretty much a nuclear bomb on the board. That’s what they mean by epic - like Timmy epic. This Sheoldred is good, but much more like something like graveyard trespasser. Not a great look for a creature literally nicknamed “the apocalypse”. She’s basically like a siege rhino variant. A good card, but kind of boring compared to other praetors. As a more spike player, I prefer the playability of this Sheoldred, but I see what is missing compared to other praetors - a 2-3 extra mana cost and some dumbass ability that makes commander players nut instantly.
You got this on the nose. I think Sheoldred is very playable in her current form and impactful precisely because she was tuned as a strong 4-drop. That said, she does not have the “oh shit” factor that you get from dropping Vorinclex or Jin. I wanted to see a 6 drop that gave my opponent a choice during each upkeep: let me draw a card and they lose 2 life or sacrifice a permanent on a similar body.
I swore seeing sheo as this big ass worm meant she was going to get a [[massacre wurm]] type effect. Hell, I'm pretty sure she did have it at one point.
She’s the kind of card you think it’s costs 5 and it’s little unimpressive, once you realize she’s only 4, all of a sudden she’s actually much more powerful. Her and LotV are the reason mono B can switch between aggro or control
It’s not about in game efficiency, it’s about being flashy. Sheoldred *just* drains life. It’s not very impressive even if it’s good.
Again, no one thinks she's bad. They just think that she's not epic. There's a big difference. She's a strong, efficient card, yes. But Sheoldred represents the pinnacle of one of the largest threats the multiverse has ever seen; the top end of all phyrexians. She's supposed to be going toe to toe with Nicol-Bolas and Emrakul in terms of threat power. This is not that. This is a strong card, but not an epic one. It doesn't feel like its existance represents a threat to all life everywhere and a creature who singlehandedly could kill multiple planeswalkers with relative ease. It feels like it could have just as easily been a vampire progenitor on Innistrad; a scary threat, sure, but not a threat to the multiverse.
Im in no way a lore expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but the phyrexians feel more of a "we exist so we will always come back untill we win" rather then this huge powerhouse for. The power of many more then a Emrakul.
Exactly. They have to have an answer in a turn or two, or else she completely runs off with the game by just sitting there.
> Well, let's think about this for a sec. Thought about it for a sec. Mythic rares should be more than just efficient creatures.
you'll get your 4/5 for 4 creatures with a suite of straightforward abilities and you'll like it
They can be efficient creatures AND other things. There’s no one kind of appeal that any rarity is restricted from.
She's probably one of the biggest flavor fails I've ever seen. But the card itself is extremely well designed and powerful.
[Here](https://youtu.be/3tfxLOb67Mw?t=5185) is CovertGoBlue's initial thoughts. That said, after the early access he [changed his tune.](https://youtu.be/FG98vyZ0Gjk?t=1127)
u/fiskerton_fero is still right though. That's just one guy with some terribad analysis.
I understand what people were saying, but at four mana this card is pretty epic. I think the comparison to the seven mana card just leaves a sour taste in peoples mouth. It’s crazy powerful and punishes your opponents for playing the game.
Strong and epic are too different adjectives. This card is insanely efficient, yes. But it's not epic. It's not the type of creature you'd expect to be on par with Nicol Bolas, Emrakul, etc, as the be-all-end-all threat to the multiverse. That's what the Praetors represent; an end to all life as it is. They are insanely dangerous powerhouses that represent the pinnacle of Phyrexia. Whereas this seems like it could be just as easily be printed on a mythic rare legendary vampire that was introduced for a single appearance.
I feel that it should've been a seven mana card. It's called "the apocalypse." It should be an instant game-ender, not a slow, valuey clock.
Idk man, the apocalypse doesn’t mean instant death, sometimes it’s a slowly creeping and painful demise
Yeah it's definitely powerful but more boring than a slice of white bread, people like big splashy effects on the praetors
Much more epic than Urabrask
Not that it matters much but urabrask’s ability counters sheoldred’s
Ooo, now that's some flavor.
You say that like people weren't saying the exact same thing about Urabrask not being epic.
god, what do people want. the card to rise again like jesus?
I think people just think that her abilities just aren’t living up to someone titled “The Apocalypse” Take the new Jin from NEO, it’s incredibly powerful and but also expensive, I think people expected something more on that level of praetor rather than something that compares more to Urabrask than Jin or maybe even Vorinclex. Obviously she is incredibly good and almost always a remove ASAP or lose the game type of threat, but I guess people wanted something even better.
I think standard was always the format sheoldred was best suited for. She is a 4-mana overstatted beater, which is a pretty standard-specific niche. Calling her insanely powerful is overstating things though; she isn't the card pulling people into Black right now.
Yes. Peoples assessment was that she dies to removal.
In fairness, she would have been a lot worse in a format where things like [[Heartless Act]] or [[Vanishing Verse]] were common cards. When [[Infernal Grasp]] is the most common cheap removal that actually hits, which causes the user to take their 2 damage in the process anyway, she is indeed pretty great.
It’s funny. If siege rhino would die to removal so easily, then it would not be that good either. Lightning helix ETB is really just not that good. But lightning helix ETB and a big fatty with trample? Now we’re talking. Sheoldred is just a siege rhino variant. Easier to cast, worse floor (getting killed immediately), higher ceiling (draining the opponents life to 0 by itself without even attacking). It would probably look a bit embarrassing in the main if [[vanishing verse]] were still in Standard.
[vanishing verse](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/1/e12573fe-aee3-49db-93e2-d00972cbb3b1.jpg?1624740338) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=vanishing%20verse) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/244/vanishing-verse?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e12573fe-aee3-49db-93e2-d00972cbb3b1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If it dies to removal it’s trash /s
Pretty sure Goyf does too and it hit 200$ at one point
Yes, but Goyf was only that high pre-Push, because of its resistance to Bolt. Since Push, Goyf dies easily to removal, and wouldn't you know, his play percent and price both went down.
Goyf was still *fairly* high in price and saw a healthy amount of play even after Fatal Push came out, from what I remember. I think the release of MH1, and subsequently MH2, which brought a massive pool of cards which were of a higher power level were more instrumental in the downfall of goyf. Goyf being reprinted in Ultimate Masters and also Times Spiral Remastered also probably didn't help matters.
Yeah, because they had great removal for Goyf (Prismatic Ending, Solitude, etc...). Creatures with no ETB that line up with the formats removal suck.
Removal spells die to Goyf, not the other way around. Since it almost always dodged bolt the only efficient way to remove it (before push was printed) was path to exile and well that's a 2-for-1 just to get rid of a 2-drop. Every other removal spell was even on mana or more expensive than goyf.
Basically nobody thought she would be weak. The question was always, why is Sheoldred, a 6/6 to start with, now connected to a huge monster and called the Apocalypse now a 4/5 with a not very exciting ability.
REALLY got her ass kicked by Elesh norn way back when? :V
I still don't think it's purely sheoldreds build around good. But your already choosing black for other powerhouses.
No I definitely remember people downplaying all of the black cards. Specifically with Sheoldred, “it doesn’t have an etb effect so it’s a week 4 drop”.
I dont play much standard but 4 mana for a card that does nothing the turn its played is meh to me, itll be a removal magnet. But again I havent looked at the meta after rotation.
It is removal magnet but somehow the card has the hidden effect on arena that you will never draw your removal to deal with it while it is on the field.
Because removal is not an answer to Sheoldred, you need at least removal+removal+removal.The rest of the curve before her with underdog, harvester, anvil, lili, double ob and fable of the mirror breaker (the red oko) demands attention or you'll be ground to nothing, sheoldred is just the last nail on the coffin.
That's true in a vacuum. What sets Sheoldred apart is how other things in the meta incentivize the type of removal people feel compelled to run and how *those cards* line up with Sheoldred. All of the "cheap" removal either can't kill her 1 for 1 or at least gives up some minor resource like a card or life so it's not as much of a disaster when she's removed, and all of the more expensive cards that deal with her at a still acceptable rate aren't efficient enough to be happy using them on the various cheap creatures you still need to answer. The loss of effects like Vanishing Verse and Skyclave Apparition are very noticeable.
Just a couple of uncommons in there, for fun 😌
LOOKS LIKE BLACKS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS
Did you even played during the previous standard ? The package shambling gast, deadly dispute, eyetwitch, Lolth, ect was really strong during a good amount of time. Orzhov midrange/control was completely destroying monowhite and monogreen before Street of Capenna but had a bad mashup to naya runes i believe. Black was the strongest color with white. Black was never gone.
It's a meme homie
People use certain memes to express certain ideas.
Ugh I hated that deck. It was like slow you down to a halt with never ending blockers
In all honesty my friend I only play commander. Haven't looked at standard much. I just wanted to make a meme. But I do appreciate the enlightenment.
The last time I played standard was Golgari Zombies back in RTR/ISD. It’s been EDH since.
People missing out on Phyrexian Missionary
Jesus. 2/3 lifelink with kicker upside for 1W? How did i not see this yet. Good looking out
Esper midrange built around Missionary, Raffine, and Serra Paragon (and Liliana, Underdog, Wedding Announcement, etc etc). One of the best standard recursion/value engines I’ve seen in a long time. Also lifelink has premium value now that painlands are back.
Orzhov Cleric tribal 🥰🥰🥰
Thats what I've been playing on arena. Its good but there's so much removal it can be rough. When you flash in a toxrill from your library for 3BB though it feels so nice.
That card is ridiculous. I love it.
What's so good about [[Evolved Sleeper]]? Is it just a decent black midrange creature in a meta that's now excellent for that space?
Its repeatable draw if things get to that point. On a one drop. That gets big. It just checks a ton of boxes
You ever been so Phyrexian you turned into an Arena?
I dont think anyone would be asking why its so good if it actually just turned into one at BB1
I wonder why black keep getting better one drops than white whereas this is by essence where white is supposed to shine. Like knight of the elbon legion.
Your definition of “better” is very broad. Every color can have “good” one drops that do what that color is good at doing. White is better at efficiently stated 1 drops. Notice that Black 1 drops have good Black effects but rarely ever are efficient stat-wise.
For the record, Black hasn’t had a 2/1 for 1 without downsides.
To be fair they got “mirrored” knight two drops and the white one is better than the black one
I don't know about in Standard, but I have absolutely *loved* the black knight in Historic. Shutting down all of the thousands of Soul Sister decks feels so fucking good.
Haha i bet. I feel like the lifegain abilities are a wash but first strike is better than menace
One drop creature that gets infinitely big and draws cards. What more could one ask for?
You can hold the mana up for removal on your opponents turn and then if you don’t have to use any instants you can dump it into evolved sleeper. It’s perfect for what a midrange deck wants to do, you’re never over investing with it
I don’t totally get it either. I think it’s fine. But 90%+ of the time I play [[Ascendant Spirit]] I’m underwhelmed. In theory it’s a good mana dump I guess, but these cards just seem like magnets for removal, flushing away your investment.
This one cost one less for each level and the draw is not an attack trigger.
1-2-3 mana is a lot less than 2-3-4 mana. That's 3 mana less all told, and you get to draw as soon as you pay the 3, so you're not quite as unhappy to see an Infernal grasp the moment he ticks up.
Yeah, ok I guess I didn’t compare the costs. That’s true. It not needing snow mana is less restrictive too.
[[Figure of destiny]] and variants have been recieved pretty well. This one is similar, with repeatable draw after it becomes a 3/3 deathtoucher.
Nuts sheoldred got the same fate as [[Vorinclex, monsterous raider]] did I guess I have to really wait for her price to go down to get her to compleat the cycle.
I got a phyrexian Vorinclex at $60 a good while after Kaldheim released, and then he still dropped hard and now the Phyrexian version is the cheapest 🥲
[Vorinclex, monsterous raider](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/9/2/92613468-205e-488b-930d-11908477e9f8.jpg?1631051073) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vorinclex%2C%20Monstrous%20Raider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/199/vorinclex-monstrous-raider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/92613468-205e-488b-930d-11908477e9f8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Blue... bad?
Time to maindeck bouncer's beat down
If you run Vengful Strangler with Serra Paragon you can get around the ability as it loses it when it transforms before it gets exiled. Sac it with a spell or creature ability, when attached creature dies, you get it back without the Serra Paragon effect.
Liliana minus, then I get in there to finish her off with Phoenix Chick
Phoenix Chick kinda surprises me, but then again, so did Rabbit Battery.
Was confused as well as a new player. Was watching some videos about the new expansion and alot were saying pheonix chick was dirt.
As an old player, I pegged Rabbit Battery and Phoenix Chick as phenomenal cards for the archetype they're meant for, red deck wins. Your average RDW wants early threats that aren't dead off the top of your library and mana sinks for when you flood out, which both of these cards fill. Both have already made it into my cube, some of the best 1-drop red creatures in standard since Goblin Guide.
Yeah Cut Down is really good even outside of standard
it's about as good as Disfigure.
Is evolved sleeper really that good? Seems weak in the black removal meta right now
Absolutely. It's a 1 drop that either eats removal (instead of a more valuable target) or is allowed to grow into a mana dump and repeatable card draw while you drain your opponent to death from your Shelodred/Anvil/Lili/Meathook. It's just a solid role player.
I’ve had fun with it. The costs to evolve are low so low you almost never waste mana. Didn’t get that other 1 or 2 drop? Just sink it into him, at instant speed.
Is there a top 10 for Bo3?
Been out of MTG for a while. Is this set related to uza story wise?
Current set is Invasion 2.0, and the next set is time travel shenanigans going back to the Urza/Mishra war. Followed by new Phyrexia and then the finale.
Omg I need to find some packs. The urza saga was some of my favorite content. They do books for this series as usual?
No. Short stories on the Wotc website
[удалено]
The triome enable it for one mana and there's a card you can activate it mana ability to enable you swing w 7/7 hexproof lifelink.
Cut Down is a 1-mana [[Murder]] for 90% of the game. It locks down any sort of pump-centric lines before they can even get rolling, and keeps aggro off the board. Unless you can either: a) get a big creature on the board early, or; b) evade a 1-mana Murder with counters, almost all of your early game creatures are essentially DOA. I think ramp and control are gonna be the new creature-win-con decks now, while burn and the persistent Izzet spellslinger decks are gonna be the big non-creature archetypes.
Visit us for more: 👉https://mtga.untapped.gg/meta
Except I have to pay to see explorer 🥲
There go my hopes of Sheoldred being a reasonable price anytime soon I guess.
The set hasnt officially released yet, and there are other mythics that are gonna chew on the price a bit, like lili, paragon, lotus, and hydra. Sadly most of the value IS on the mythics.
Hydra?
I want an apology from everyone who said Evolved Sleeper was bad.
I’ve now opened 45 packs and haven’t seen a copy of Cut Down 😂… but I’ve opened 2 of each of the Mythic Rares pictures here, including a foil phyrexian print Sheoldred 🔥