 | Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Penny Dude
Member Since: 5/1/2008
Number of Replies: 21
Last Post: 3/27/2009 |
| | Another New Card! Knight of New Alara | Knight of New Alara 2gw
Creature - Human and Knight (R)
Each other multicolored creature you control gain +1/+1 for each of its color.
2/2 |
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 | Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| This guy just seems like a sub-par Wilt-Leaf Liege. Although they could both be run in the same deck.....
Pwn'd. |
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| Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Penny Dude
Member Since: 5/1/2008
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| A 8/7 Woolly Thoctar on turn 4 seems pretty good along with a 6/7 War Monk. |
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| Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| I just have a couple problems with it. Yea, it's cool, and it can definitely beat face.
1: It doesn't generate card advantage unless your attackers take out some blockers.
2: The simplest of kill spells makes him totally worthless.
3: There are tons of better 4-drops in Standard already. Rafiq, Ajani, Garruk just to name a few.
Pwn'd. |
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| Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| Path to Exile, Condemn, Tarfire, Terror, Incinerate, Flame Javelin, Volcanic Fallout, Jund Charm. All these cards are reasons why this guy will be irrelevant.
Pwn'd. |
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| Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| In Limited, Hell Yea!!!!
Pwn'd. |
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 | Date Posted: 3/24/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| I think it is a decent card but I don't like how they are shoving multi-colored cards down my throat in this next set. I didn't mind Shards of Alara but a entire set of nothing but gold cards seems about as cool as Legions to me.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| Well, compared to Rafiq this guy makes multiple guys better. He will be good with those Eventide mimic guys. They become 4/3 even if you don't have a spell to make them better. Groundling Pouncer becomes a 4/3 that can be pumped up to a 5/5 flyer if your opponent has a flyer. Figure Of Destiny starts as a 3/3 - 4/4 - 6/6... I think it will be good for those kind of decks. Will I ever play this card? Probably not.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| ...and can we please stop all the "this guy dies to removal" argument for a creature. Unless it has shroud, just about every creature dies to most removal! This includes Rafiq!
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Barack Obama |
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| You know what? I am going to play my Royal Assassins now. Fragility be damned.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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 | Date Posted: 3/25/2009
Posted By: Matthew Ratz
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| Its worse than just dying to removal. He can get your whole army killed in one swing....
Playing to Win is Playing for Fun - Matthew Ratz |
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| Rafiq has a three toughness, however. This means he dies much less easily. All the spells Ben listed kill the Knight of New Alara, but only half of them kill Rafiq. Rafiq and Wilt-Leaf Liege are both much better.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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| However, Rafiq only brings benefit if a lone creature attacks, where Knight of New Alara allows your entire army to attack with benefit!
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Barack Obama |
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| It's Marton Stromgald Strategy, you're all in.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Let's do an experiment. Let's take the top 8 decks at Pro Tour Kyoto and see how they fare against a Knight Of Alara, a Wilt-Leaf Liege, or a Rafiq Of The Many. Let's assume there are 1-2 other creatures benefiting from their bonuses.
Deck 1 - 5 color control:
- Plumeveil can kill all of our subjects, but doesn't stop the benefits. Plumeveil can stop the one creature attacking that's getting exalted and double strike.
- Wall Of Reverence can block pretty much any one creature, but doesn't stop the benefits. Mr. Reverence can also stop the one creature attacking that's getting exalted and double strike.
- Cryptic Command can tap all of your creatures, and bounce one. Blah, blah, blah...
- Terror kills all 3 of our subjects.
- Volcanic Fallout kills all of our subjects. If you are at 4 life and your opponent attacks with a 4/4 that can receive all the benefits from any of our subjects. If you have Rafiq they can just kill the 4/4 before he gets exalted. You cannot kill the 4/4 with the other 2 subjects because he is now at least a 6/6.
- Cruel Ultimatum. Weenies with Liege and Knight fare better after this resolves.
Deck 2 B/W Tokens:
- Terror
- Attacking with one creature as a strategy doesn't work so well, when one of the many tokens can just block the solo creatures.
Deck 3 Boat Brew:
- Siege Gang Commander. Sac one goblin and kill the Knight.
- Path To Exile takes care of all 3 subjects.
- Wrath Of god hurts weenie strategies.
- The Knight will have a tough go at this deck.
Deck 4 Dark Bant:
- Nameless Inversion can kill Knight and Rafiq.
- This deck could actually benefit from the Knight. It actually plays a few creatures that people referred to as too fragile to make it in Standard: Tidehollow Sculler, Gaddock Teeg, and Rafiq!
Deck 5 R/W Kithkin:
- Path To Exile
Deck 6 Boat Brew:
- Siege Gang Commander
- Path To Exile
- Banefire with enough mana can kill all of our subjects. Knight being the easiest and Liege being the hardest.
Deck 7 B/W Tokens:
- Path To Exile
Deck 8 Faeries:
- Shriekmaw can kill all 3 subjects.
- Agony Warp, by itself, can kill 2 of the subjects.
- Cryptic Command
It looks like Wilt-Leaf fares best against the top 8. It's important to note that Wilt Leaf and Knight use similar strategies, attacking with multiple creatures at once, while Rafiq gets the best results when only one creature attacks. I noticed a lot of Bitterblossoms. Are these not a pain for the one creature strategy? There were plenty of Path To Exiles and they deal with all 3 of our subjects. I didn't see any Condemns, Tarfires, Incinerates, Flame Javelins, and Jund Charms. The 2 that only killed the Knight weren't even present in the top 8. I do see the Knight filling the Wilt-Leaf's role when the Lorwyn sets rotate.
I can see decks with the Knight, Woolly Thoctar, Rhox War Monk, Qasali Ambusher, Knotvine Mystic, Knight of the Reliquary...
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Date Posted: 3/26/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| Bitterblossom only makes one token, and they lose one life. Give the lone attacker with double strike trample and it's essentially game over. I personally would prefer a 1/6 double striking Doran over a 3/8 with no extra abilities. Attach a Loxodon Warhammer and it gets nuts.
Pwn'd. |
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| Date Posted: 3/26/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
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| FYI, the Dark Bant decks don't have to attack with only one creature. In fact, when it comes down to it, if you have a Rafiq and 3 other big creatures, it is MUCH better to attack with the 3 creatures.
Pwn'd. |
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| Date Posted: 3/26/2009
Posted By: Tim Scott
Member Since: 4/9/2008
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| All that said, this guy is going to be a badass block creature, since olny three of the kill spells mentioned are in block and all do not show in every deck.
Evil will always triump because good is dumb. |
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| Date Posted: 3/26/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| True Timmy, I actually look forward to playing Shards block once Reborn is out even though I'm not excited about Alara Reborn itself.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| Rafiq actually kills the Wall of Reverence if it blocks him, the other two do not. When attacking Rafiq becomes a 4/4 double striker. Rafiq and Wilt-Leaf Liege are potent threats by themselves, while the Knight compels you to play multiple creatures at once. This makes you much more vulnerable to mass removal effects, such as Wrath of God. The Knight is probably better if you have Horde of Notions or Sliver Queen in play, but Rafiq and Wilt-Leaf Liege seem better in just about every other possible scenario. If you have a large amount of creatures in play, many of them are apt to be mono-colored tokens. In this instance Wilt-Leaf Liege is much better. The Knight is only effective if you actually play all the creature spells in your hand and pray they don't have a mass removal spell. Dark Bant does seem to be the one stratefy he might work in though. This deck allready plays both Wilt-Leaf Liege and Rafiq, however, and I'm not certain that adding a 2/2 creature for 4 mana is worth it here either. There is a pretty good reason that Marton Stromgald never saw much constructed play.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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| Keep in mind that we will get a plethora of new multi-colored creatures in this new set!
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Barack Obama |
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| I played Marton Stromgald a lot back in the day. Marton was in a lot of Goblin decks.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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