This card is no where near the level of Vengeant. His plus 1 is a combo as the untap matters far more than the tap. His -2 is just meh. Vengeant's Frosting effect mattered a lot and the lack of that on this card makes it neither a tempo (how are you taxing the opponent on THEIR turn?), an average defensive card (4 mana and no life gain).

Just a pretty meh card until the combo pieces show up (if at all).

That makes him less than solid btw. Below average for sure at this point.

Cel.erity

United States4890 Posts

April 09 2013 19:02 GMT

#6903

Yeah, the best planeswalkers have + abilities that can defend themselves. Ral can't do that. The planeswalker he most resembles is Liliana, so let's compare them:

-Liliana costs 3 mana instead of 4.
-Liliana's + ability is straight up better.
-Liliana's - ability is probably better, but it's close.
+Ral starts with 4 loyalty so he can - two turns in a row.

So he's basically a worse Liliana, but in exchange he's blue. He has a +1 that doesn't disrupt control decks, so he can be played in one. Will he see play? Likely, but keep in mind Liliana is not dominating standard right now, and this guy is overall an inferior version.

Kinie

United States3106 Posts

April 09 2013 19:36 GMT

#6904

Aaron Forsythe spoiled another card today on his Twitter account, but to save time and searching, here's what it says/does (spoiler tag holds the image proper).

+ Show Spoiler +

Renounce the Guilds - 1W
Instant - Rare
Each player sacrifices a multicolored permanent.
"Scores will die in the name of peace. This is what you call compromise?" - Gideon Jura, to Aurelia

So, another card that gets around Hexproof and other pesky multicolor things (Falkenrath Aristocrat, Olivia, St. Traft), and is potentially a card that will see play in Modern and Legacy white weenie decks (2 mana instant speed LD? Yes please).

Audemed

United States893 Posts

April 09 2013 19:52 GMT

#6905

Wow, my god that's good removal. The only permanent in my deck that would hit is reckoner too, and in many situations I'll gladly trade him for something more menacing. Dual lands are still colorless, right?

Sn0_Man

Tebellong44238 Posts

April 09 2013 19:53 GMT

#6906

Yeah, its not land destruction. All lands are colourless unless under the effect of something like Painter's Servant.

EDIT: okay dryad's arbor is green but you get the idea.

cLAN.Anax

United States2847 Posts

April 09 2013 20:12 GMT

#6907

"Scores will die in the name of peace. This is what you call compromise?"

Lol. Gideon mad at the Boros (at least Aurelia). No wonder Wizards made him mono-white in Gatecrash and not WR.

Edit: Random question. Wanna make sure I have this right.

Someone suggested on Gatherer that playing Sudden Disappearance on oneself would combo well with Gideon, Champ of Justice. But... Gideon would be exiled and couldn't trigger his ultimate until the end step when everything came back, right? Plus, one can only activate loyalty abilities during main phases, correct?

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

April 09 2013 20:28 GMT

#6908

On April 10 2013 04:36 Kinie wrote:
Aaron Forsythe spoiled another card today on his Twitter account, but to save time and searching, here's what it says/does (spoiler tag holds the image proper).

+ Show Spoiler +

You know I had a friend during one of our Lorywn drafts thought that Islands were blue permanents. Please don't be like my friend and find out the hard way

Card seems fine, not sure what it really does right now, hits...Detention Sphere is probably the most relevant permanent right now. None of the creatures really matter as much since Devour Flesh and Azorious Charm are doing a good job covering all the bases.

KtheZ

United States813 Posts

April 09 2013 20:48 GMT

#6909

IMO I think this is a pretty good sideboard card, but I don't like how they tacked on "each player' rather than just "target player". The spell only hits a very minor subset of cards; why tack on the extra downside of hitting both players?

Its like devour flesh: 1B for sac upside +life downside (or vice versa)
This card is : 1W for sac upside Only multicolored downside Hits both players downside

I can see it doing good work against detention spheres, but I think its usage will vary so much (from sacing a chump to nuking a planeswalker) that it will be quite unreliable.
It's also completely dead against mono-colored decks (which arent really in standard)

Audemed

United States893 Posts

April 09 2013 21:15 GMT

#6910

Well the "downside" of only multicolored is actually what makes it great. Played a game at a PTQ a few weekends ago, I had silverblade + nearheath, angelic overseer + nearheath, 2x angel of jubilation on the board, he has 2 thrag beasts, thrag, and then olivia. He completely wipes my board over the course of a few turns with olivia since I can't actually swing in at him with his 30-odd health as i'd lose the board. I play this card, olivia is the only target on the whole board, I win ez.

Kinie

United States3106 Posts

April 09 2013 21:27 GMT

#6911

Ok, I derped on the land thing, my bad.

I think it might be semi-relevant due to it being a removal spell in a color that normally doesn't have removal via sacrifice (that's a black thing, not white). It gives decks with white in the manabase another spell to kill D-Sphere, Olivia, etc.

slyboogie

United States3423 Posts

April 09 2013 22:28 GMT

#6912

Ooohhhh, so cool. This is a nice hurdle for Geist of St. Traft decks.

MoonBear

Straight outta Johto18973 Posts

April 10 2013 00:42 GMT

#6913

Good tech against Boggles and Geist in Modern. Also hits Smiters, DRS, Ajani V and the occasional Sorin. I think it's nice tech as a sideboard card.

MCMcEmcee

United States1609 Posts

April 10 2013 02:55 GMT

#6914

doesn't hit gladecover scout, curiosity/spiritdancer, or coronet so I dunno how great it is against anything but the actual bogles.
Also Spell Snare is a card in Modern (and Dispel will be around in most Geist decks in Standard).

Shotcoder

United States2316 Posts

April 10 2013 03:01 GMT

#6915

On April 10 2013 05:28 Judicator wrote:

Show nested quote +

You know I had a friend during one of our Lorywn drafts thought that Islands were blue permanents. Please don't be like my friend and find out the hard way

Yup, used to think mountains were red in the days of Koth and Kor Firewalker. Lost a lot of games due to this...