Quote Originally Posted by Lea Plath View Post
So I am looking at playing Jeskai Combo on friday, probably the Nissa-less build from the PT. I like the satyrs.

Anyone playing the deck at the moment?
Played it for a few weeks, honestly it's pretty bad. It folds to interaction and takes forever to get going, but if you think you've got it solved then go ahead and try it. Of note is Ivan Jen's version from Star City Oakland, a heroic aggro deck with an infinite combo available. It's got a better game plan but it's still not very robust and it plays different. My recommendation if you like the Caryatid version is to trim down on Commune With The Gods in favor of your other dig spells, you end up pitching combo pieces too often so it's a one step forward two steps back kinda deal. Also, Tormod's Crypt is good as a one of for your artifact and the rest should probably be Briber's purses.

Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
In this post, I reach for straws in ways to make a couple of cards even marginally useful.

First off, we have Meandering Towershell, which is a rare with 5/9 with islandwalk, but has the "benefit" of exiling itself when it attacks, only to return later, on your NEXT turn to enter the battlefield tapped and attacking. The flavor is interesting (it's so slow it takes forever to get there), but the timing of the exile and return seem to render it just plain bad, since you're still paying enough mana that 5/9 is only marginally better than "good."

So far, the only use I've been able to come up with is potentially the Kheru Lich Lord, which lets you spend 2B to randomly return a creature from your graveyard. The Lich Lord give said creature flying, trample, and haste, but exiles it if it leaves the battlefield for any reason and at the end of the turn. With the Towershell, you could use the Haste to attack immediately, and then its own exile effect would not conflict with the Lich Lord's, but would still return it next turn.

However, not only is the Lich Lord random in what it brings back, but the Towershell's return is a turn later, so even if exiling and returning didn't strip off all effects not printed on the card itself, the trample and flying would have expired. I'm not sure that combo is anything more than an amusing notion.

Maybe it's useful because it makes hitting it with negative effects not that great? Nothing would stick through its self-exile. But you can't use it to save it from destruction, because it's only when it attacks, so even that's kinda meh.


The other one is Embodiment of Spring. On the one hand, it's a U for a 0/3, and in theory the 1G(T)+sacrifice is both mana ramp and color-fixing. However, it's color-fixing where you've already had to provide two different colors, and it takes at least two turns of waiting. It is deck-thinning, a little...but the Burnished Hart is almost as good and exchanges having one more mana cost for having no color requirements. Is there reason to play this over, say, a Sylvan Caryatid? Or even a Voyaging Satyr or a Kiora's Follower?

The one "trick" I have thought of with this one would be to combine it with Athreos, and there are obvious problems with that (not the least of which being that Athreos costs two more colors). But at least that would make sacrificing it either cost your opponent 3 life, or put it back into your hand for re-use in land fetching. Still, the Burnished Hart does the same.


How would you guys make these cards useful? Can they be made useful? Embodiment at least has the excuse of being Common, so it's allowed to be a little on the weak side. But the Towershell is Rare!
Towershell is just bad, HOWEVER, if you are interested in using it anyway. Bearer of the Heavans dies, total wipe, Towershell meanders back in to kill them slowly and painfully.

Embodiment of Spring is intended for limited, however it is a great option if you care about lands more than mana, such as the Dictate of Karametra + Villainous Wealth control deck.