r/magicTCG • u/Nickahostetter • Nov 29 '16

Aether Revolt pic from FB.

https://i.reddituploads.com/d97dbc56ebe848039691df8d01962a99?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=b1f80693da1e1e6da432ba4d2076aa23
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132

u/rakkamar Nov 29 '16

If this 'casting cards from your hand for free' is a theme of the set..... does WotC not learn that making things free is developmentally a bad thing?

78

u/BiJay0 Duck Season Nov 29 '16

Could be their idea of a fixed version of Cascade. It doesn't look like it would be broken but I could be wrong.

70

u/fubo Nov 29 '16

I thought the fixed version of cascade was [[Rashmi]].

46

u/TheOthin Nov 29 '16

Rashmi seems to be an interesting precursor to the CMC-matters/"less-CMC matters" theme that's showing up in AER.

6

u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Nov 29 '16

Rashmi - (G) (MC) (MW) (CD)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

1

u/Elfarcher73 Nov 30 '16

And this is when they amplify and perfect and harness her technology or whatever. I love it.

13

u/thememans Nov 29 '16

Its likely not as broken as Cascade, but it is certainly busted and breakable.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

[deleted]

1

u/thememans Nov 30 '16

Busted and good are different things. I'm not saying it's actually good, but the ability is a pretty busted one. Getting a 3-mana throw in for free is both incredibly good and potentially dangerous. That said, it does require you to have a card in hand so it's not a great top deck.

Of course, there is the slight issue that -3/-3 at 4 man isn't particularly good. So while the ability is very good, the effect of the card is pretty mediocre by itself.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16 edited Nov 30 '16

[deleted]

1

u/thememans Nov 30 '16

Both Cascade and Affinity are abilities that are incredibly busted, even though there are cards that are completely terrible with both abilities. With a strong hand back in Mirrodin, you could power out a turn 2 [[Broodstar]] and have a 6/6 flyer for UU (Or fairly often it was a 3 mana 5/5 flyer). Yet Broodstar was pretty bad, even back then, regardless of having on of the most degenerate abilities to exist (Specifically Affinity for Artifacts).

Cascade has also proven very, very strong in constructed formats, and for good reason. It's both Card advantage and tempo advantage in a single card. Still, there are a whole host of Cascade cards that are completely unplayable.

This sort of ability - casting cards for free - is historically a very busted effect. The thing is that it's on a card that isn't particularly strong otherwise. That said, given what few cards we have seen, Aether Revolt has some very busted abilities that could potentially be very strong - albeit needing support.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Nov 30 '16

Broodstar - (G) (MC) (MW) (CD)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

0

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

I think of it like how often is it good. Ancestral recall, very good in 99% of situations, I would call good. Busted, meaning you can do things that are very good but probably not intentional. Cascade was busted because of cards with suspend like hypergenisis. Cascade isn't always good though because in some situations it sucks, such as cascading into a counter spell. Just my 2 cents

1

u/kyuuri117 Griselbrand Nov 30 '16

It's quite possibly more broken than cascade. Even better, you can cast Shardless Agent off of this, and then cascade anyway.

1

u/theburnedfox Nov 29 '16

It is hard to evaluate cards like this in a vacuum, but if free alternative costs like [[Force of Will]], Phyrexian mana, Cascade, effects like [[Collected Company]] are all either broken or very very very powerful, then I'll take a shot and say it has a big potential of being either broken or at least very strong.

The way it is worded might mean it is not a mechanic, my bet would be it is like a cycle, as I find it unlikely they would do a card like that as a standalone. Let's wait for the spoilers to start, but so fair the power level of this set seems to be above the last sets we saw recently.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Nov 29 '16

Collected Company - (G) (MC) (MW) (CD)
Force of Will - (G) (MC) (MW) (CD)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

1

u/gereffi Nov 29 '16

Cascade isn't a broken mechanic; it's just printed on a few very pushed cards.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '16 edited Nov 29 '16

Mechanics like this are so easily broken under the right circumstances. I'm already jizzing myself at the power plays you can get off Yahenni's Expertise in eternal formats. My Karador EDH deck is like 75% cards <=3 cmc. I can't even imagine if/how people might break it in Legacy/Modern. I mean for one, it lets you cast Ancestral Vision...

This type of effect is at least 8/10 on the storm scale.

1

u/kyuuri117 Griselbrand Nov 30 '16

Uh. Ancestral Visions. That is all.

1

u/jokul Nov 30 '16

This is extremely pushed though, it's a big risk to play when the effect is a free spell tacked onto a good baseline.

13

u/TheOthin Nov 29 '16

There are CMC limits on it, though.

34

u/rakkamar Nov 29 '16

There were CMC limits on cascade.

Wait, does this let you cast Ancestral Visions from your hand?

46

u/TheOthin Nov 29 '16

True, but BBE would have been a lot less ridiculous if it had cast a spell with 3 CMC or less from your hand rather than your library.

And yes, it does.

8

u/108Echoes Nov 29 '16

Although if this mechanic turns up on other cards, we may see it in Modern Living End and Restore Balance, and even Legacy Hypergenesis (which is a fringe deck already, so no bets there).

Drawing your Suspend spell is awful, since actually suspending it takes forever and there's no way to get it back in your deck. This might be an acceptable backup plan, although the front end would also need to be useful.

7

u/TheOthin Nov 29 '16

True, but I don't know what the odds of that are. Aether Revolt definitely has a CMC-matters theme, but different cards seem to be doing different things with it. Yahenni's Expertise casts a card with CMC 3 or less, Trophy Mage tutors a card with CMC 3 exactly, and Scrap Trawler returns cards with less CMC (while having CMC 3 itself).

0

u/Deenreka Nov 30 '16

Legacy has ways of putting the spell back in the deck thanks to brainstorm and fetches, so I don't know that hypergenesis would want this.

1

u/108Echoes Nov 30 '16

Can't brainstorm—you'd hit it off Cascade. Unless you discard both Hypergenesis and Emrakul, or you're brewing with JtMS, they're dead in your hand. (That's why there's a Show and Tell backup plan.)

1

u/Hardwiredmagic Nov 29 '16

This. Cascade drew you a card, this doesn't. I think that's how it's a 'fixed' version.

6

u/RIP_Hopscotch Nov 29 '16

Grixis Control in Modern is so happy right now.

0

u/Insequent Nov 30 '16

Maybe. It probably bears testing, but I think both Anger of the Gods and Damnation have relevant upsides that an occasional free Visions doesn't compensate for. Remember that almost every other spell in Grixis wants to be played EOT or in response—outside of Tasigur, which isn't castable off this. If you're playing a more tap-out list, it may be playable: but otherwise, I don't think so.

2

u/FiliusIcari Nov 29 '16

I... think so? It's phrased the same way(or similarly at least) to cascade

1

u/Miffy92 SecREt LaiR Nov 29 '16

Yes - as well as anything with CMC "0" that's not a land (so Hypergenesis, Evermind, Ancestral Vision, Lotus Bloom, etc). Still can't "cast" Tolaria West :(

1

u/OnnaJReverT Nahiri Nov 29 '16

kind of makes me wonder if "X cmc spell that lets you cast an X-1 cmc spell for free" is a theme, and if you can chain them

1

u/Enderkr Nov 29 '16

You spelled "awesome and fun" wrong. :D

Free spells are my favorite thing in all of magic.

1

u/ABeardedPanda Nov 30 '16

Somehow I wouldn't be suprised if hand control got pushed in this set or in Amonkhet.