Innistrad

[Tiggupiru]

you dont need first strike creatures, pike gives first strike.

Oh, that I missed, though it doesn't change that much. You still need to have specific ratio of creatures and sorceries/instants for this to actually do stuff. Red/blue tempo is pretty much the only deck, that I can think of, to fall into those specs.

[tonytahiti]

it doesnt change much? first strike is so crucial, like i said, later in the game, it turns every creature you own into the strongest creature on board! wihout first strike, i would never consider playing it. a 9/1 first strike venndilion clique with counter back up is so threatening and is sooo hard to kill in combat! more testing showed that this card is insane in the right shell, i rather have a +6/+0 and first strike on my clique than any other sword very often. plus its cheaper than a sword and if you have a limited amount of creatures, this turns every single one into a 2-3 turn clock, especially with evasion dudes. get your pikes now!

[tonytahiti]

so it seems like brian kibler and brad nelson dedicated their scg premium articles to daybreak ranger today and how good he is. independently. oops.

[Tiggupiru]

it doesnt change much? first strike is so crucial, like i said, later in the game, it turns every creature you own into the strongest creature on board! wihout first strike, i would never consider playing it. a 9/1 first strike venndilion clique with counter back up is so threatening and is sooo hard to kill in combat! more testing showed that this card is insane in the right shell, i rather have a +6/+0 and first strike on my clique than any other sword very often. plus its cheaper than a sword and if you have a limited amount of creatures, this turns every single one into a 2-3 turn clock, especially with evasion dudes. get your pikes now!

Yes, adding first strike doesn't make this any more playable in decks that cannot abuse this card.

Pike is never going to be played outside of casual formats (HL is effectively a casual format as it isn't officially supported format), and it isn't going to see play in a reasonable number of casual decks even. Which means that Pike is never going to spike, or climb, in value. This is because there are way better ways to abuse stocked GY in Innistrad, and even in M12 (Visions of Beyond), and in Mirrodin Besieged (Bonehoard). It might give infect some boost, but aside from that I can not see you making money by ordering hundreds of these.

so it seems like brian kibler and brad nelson dedicated their scg premium articles to daybreak ranger today and how good he is. independently. oops.

You do realize they are talking about standard, right?

That being said, it really looks like it's going to be good (or potentially great) in standard, and I might be undervaluing it in HL, so I would advice to pick a set of these ASAP.

[tonytahiti]

thats cool. do you realize that patrick chapins article today included a so-called "runecaster deck", with runechanter's pike. so patrick chapin writes about that card and posts a decklist, i guess he thinks its gonna see competitive play. you can call me the innovator too. and let me do the set review next time

[Tiggupiru]

We'll have to wait and see how those two cards behave themselves.

And just because I wrote the review, doesn't mean anyone else can't. In fact, it's been quite rare for just one person to do it.

[Mythrandir]

Both daybreaker and pike seem less optimal in Highlander. Especially the daybreaker, which IMO we have lots of better creatures.
The pike is very interesting but compared to the swords seems a bit weak, creature has no evasion, has no protection vs removal. Not saying it won't see play, but if i had to choose between a sword and a pike, i'd definitely go with a sword.

Can pike be a combo part?
Oath + stoneforg mystic + pike? something like that... it's very frail... but who knows.

@tonytahiti, everyone can do a set review! and you still can, if you wish too.

[Ravager Sam]

Snapcaster Mage is going to be fun for sure!

Too bad they won't let us target Gifts Ungiven for it anymore 

[pyyhttu]

Too bad they won't let us target Gifts Ungiven for it anymore

Sure you can. For a few days until October 15th. at least.

I goldfished Snapcaster in my High Tide-pile for a while and even there the mage was nuts. It almost universally seems as if Gifts out --> Snapcaster in to replace.

[Mythrandir]

Too bad they won't let us target Gifts Ungiven for it anymore

Sure you can. For a few days until October 15th. at least.

I goldfished Snapcaster in my High Tide-pile for a while and even there the mage was nuts. It almost universally seems as if Gifts out --> Snapcaster in to replace.

Yeap, i thought exactly the same! No really need to think about that one... just replace your gifts with the mage!

[Nastaboi]

Casting Snap on Snapcaster is beyound awesome, even if you remove pun in equation.

[Tiggupiru]

Oh, Snap. I'm just glad it is not in the same format as Gifts (for long anyway). Blue Eternal Witness isn't exactly a card that would make GU less powerful.

Brimstone Volley is another card, which I failed to mention, that might hold some potential. It made it's debut in standard, at least.

Feels like the card never powers up unless red deck is already winning, but because of the numerous enters-the-battlefield dorks that go into a chump mode against red decks, Volley might get into morbid in reasonable amount of time. There never were too many slots for three mana burn in burn, so this has still an uphill battle to be won.

[Ravager Sam]

Too bad they won't let us target Gifts Ungiven for it anymore

Sure you can. For a few days until October 15th. at least.

I goldfished Snapcaster in my High Tide-pile for a while and even there the mage was nuts. It almost universally seems as if Gifts out --> Snapcaster in to replace.

Hehe my next tournament just happens to be ON the 15th

[Tiggupiru]

Looks like I dropped the ball with this set. A good number of cards have already proven themselves to be viable enough. Here are few examples:

Champion of the Parish - I guess you only need one other human to makes this very good. Attacking for two on turn two is pretty crucial for WW. And WW is brimming with humans as is, it's not unheard of to see this card go 3/3 with perfect curve. I really dislike the deck, although I try to make it work every now and then, this should be a solid inclusion for it.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch - The crucial fact I missed is that Mikaeus is just as good as a two drop than as a four drop. He can grow itself on pace with the land drops, so doesn't matter too much when you play him. This means that you can actually just drop the dude at any time you have an open slot in your curve and let it do it's things. It's also Ranger of Eosable, which makes this even better in white aggro. Totally underestimated this one.

Forbidden Alchemy - very good in Reanimator, decent in elsewhere. Takes a specific deck (slowish UBx-control), but it's pretty decent.

Snapcaster Mage - is still stupidly good.

Liliana of the Veil - The first and the last ability are actually pretty synergic. If they start pitching their excess lands, thay might not be able to play their late drops and the Ultimate will take care of the rest of their board. If they pitch business, they might not be able to take care of Liliana before running out of cards an the Ultimate will then put the final nail in the coffin. It's also pretty sweet that she is the only planeswalker that you don't always want to activate.

Unburial Rites - This is fine as a value card as well. Still don't want to write this off as a combo card either.

Brimstone Volley - I think this has what it takes. Might not go into every MonoR build, but if you have decent number of creatures, this should suffice. I like how you can happily just suicide your dorks just to finish them off with this. It's not like even they can't afford not to block. Three damage for three mana is not a horrible ratio and as long as you use it a guy you need to kill, it doesn't really matter how much damage it was dealt.

Stromkirk Noble - Is very good in red aggro.

Garruk Relentless - I guess this is okay. I mostly stick it to decks that want to kill my own dudes (rector) as both sides can do that. Makes it easier to flip this when you know you have a bunch of mana elves in your deck just anxiously waiting to test their mettle against Garruk. It's semi-decent removal also, but I still don't like it too much.

Daybreak Ranger and Pike are still cards I don't like. Ranger has been underperforming even in standard and I haven't been too impressed by it in HL. Pike needs too specific a deck that I haven't had an opportunity to test it yet, but I still feel like it's quite weak.

[W0lf]

Unburial Rites - This is fine as a value card as well. Still don't want to write this off as a combo card either.

Intuition