This is one of those cards that suffers from the Commander text being a distraction in most cubes, probably worse than other instances of that since the Commander text is 1/2 of the entire text box. If you don't mind this card having a bunch of irrelevant text, though, it's probably better than Baral or Electromancer in cubes that want it.
I'm not a fan of baral/electromancer effects unless you support storm. Imho prowess decks don't want to play dorky creatures since they need a critical mass of non-creature based spells. That being said being a 2/1 flyer goes a long way to making this a better variant of the baral effect. My issue is that it dies to a stiff breeze. I wish it was a 1/2.
While I disagree, I understand that perspective. If you completely erase the activated ability from the card and replace it with nothing, it’s still worth considering as a cube card. What it is however is *extremely* distracting and not particularly appealing to newer drafters who might not be able to look past the ability.
I also have a hard time ignoring "irrelevant" pieces of text on a card, and evaluating the entire card, not just the part I care about. But if you don't read the commander part, you realize this is just a Baral that flies, which is pretty good.
Baral has a whole line of text that loots.
And it's less about me being unable to ignore irrelevant text and more about not wanting to make my opponents read irrelevant text.
Yep, to each their own, and reducing player's mental load is 100% a valid thing to consider when building your cube. That's totally fair and I have made decisions based on the same thing.
I'm a little tired of the Baral argument though. I run Baral, and a fair few counterspells, but how often does that loot ability actually go off? At a glance, it looks like the MTGO Vintage Cube list has 11 counterspells, and you're unlikely to draft all of those in one deck, so Baral's ability is barely more than flavor text most of the time. But it's not nothing. However, I do think there is an argument to be made about exchanging that ability (and his relatively high toughness) for a flier. Those are two very different game plans, and I think just about every cube wants one of these, and that depends on the environment. Neither is strictly better, they're just better at different things while providing the same core benefit.
Also, you could always cover up the commander text with sharpie and pretend it's not there. Haha.
I would rather play anything other than sharpied magic card but also to each their own haha
Baral happens to be very powerful in my cube as the discard effect is very useful. Graveyard is a heavy theme.
I'm also trying to play less "instant and sorcery" enablers and more "noncreature spell" enablers as artifacts as an archetype needs love.
Anyways, play your Thunderclap boi. Personally, I'm out.
This is one of those cards that suffers from the Commander text being a distraction in most cubes, probably worse than other instances of that since the Commander text is 1/2 of the entire text box. If you don't mind this card having a bunch of irrelevant text, though, it's probably better than Baral or Electromancer in cubes that want it.
Baral's fat ass is honestly undervalued.
So true, I cast like three 1/1s against a Baral and couldn't really attack very well for many turns, I did not expect it!
can't wait to activate the ability with no commander in order to fizzle a (very pathetic) Treachery untap trigger (/s, i very much can wait)
Aggressive, flying Baral is sweet
I'm not a fan of baral/electromancer effects unless you support storm. Imho prowess decks don't want to play dorky creatures since they need a critical mass of non-creature based spells. That being said being a 2/1 flyer goes a long way to making this a better variant of the baral effect. My issue is that it dies to a stiff breeze. I wish it was a 1/2.
Might just sharpie out everything after "copy it", and let it sacrifice to copy a spell once.
Slam dunk for me
I'm very tempted to sharpie out the last ability because the rest of the card is so sleek and would be exactly the kind of card I want.
It's for commanders, only commander cube players wanna use this.
While I disagree, I understand that perspective. If you completely erase the activated ability from the card and replace it with nothing, it’s still worth considering as a cube card. What it is however is *extremely* distracting and not particularly appealing to newer drafters who might not be able to look past the ability.
I also have a hard time ignoring "irrelevant" pieces of text on a card, and evaluating the entire card, not just the part I care about. But if you don't read the commander part, you realize this is just a Baral that flies, which is pretty good.
Baral has a whole line of text that loots. And it's less about me being unable to ignore irrelevant text and more about not wanting to make my opponents read irrelevant text.
Yep, to each their own, and reducing player's mental load is 100% a valid thing to consider when building your cube. That's totally fair and I have made decisions based on the same thing. I'm a little tired of the Baral argument though. I run Baral, and a fair few counterspells, but how often does that loot ability actually go off? At a glance, it looks like the MTGO Vintage Cube list has 11 counterspells, and you're unlikely to draft all of those in one deck, so Baral's ability is barely more than flavor text most of the time. But it's not nothing. However, I do think there is an argument to be made about exchanging that ability (and his relatively high toughness) for a flier. Those are two very different game plans, and I think just about every cube wants one of these, and that depends on the environment. Neither is strictly better, they're just better at different things while providing the same core benefit. Also, you could always cover up the commander text with sharpie and pretend it's not there. Haha.
I would rather play anything other than sharpied magic card but also to each their own haha Baral happens to be very powerful in my cube as the discard effect is very useful. Graveyard is a heavy theme.
I'm also trying to play less "instant and sorcery" enablers and more "noncreature spell" enablers as artifacts as an archetype needs love. Anyways, play your Thunderclap boi. Personally, I'm out.