Do you think if Savvy Hunter was a 2/4 with Deathtouch and the food token abilities it has would have made it in Rock? I feel like they missed a real opportunity there in not making it a 2/4 with deathtouch but it may have been too powerful at that point idk. With the flavor text and a name like "Savvy" Hunter and Golgari colors how could you not of given it deathtouch lol.
Ha, right? Deathtouch goes nicely with T4 and also really makes the attacking/blocking prerequisite extremely appealing. That said, I’m still not sure it’d be strong enough to displace existing threats-but maybe it could be a techy one-of with Burn in the meta!
This looks really cool and lots of fun! The only glaring issue to me is that Unearth doesn’t look like the right fit, since it misses Rankle and Hazoret and has negative synergy with Bloodghast.
After jaming a few casual games agaisnt my mate. I realised this and swapped them both out for Dreadhorde Arcanist, because there has a lack of t2 action; Decks sweet thought.
This card probably shines best in BW midrange shells right? Pairs decently with Souls/Bitterblossom, grabs swords pretty well. BW doesnt have other hasty threats to compete with it either. Not convinced it's good enough there either but I think it would be a much better home than BGx.
Completely agreed. It may or may not be good enough there, but that’s certainly a more promising shell! Any marginal interest BGx may have had in this card has gone out with window with the reveal of Questing Beast IMO.
@@IndividuumNot True, but when the effect is happening to both players it's usually not very good outside of a few exceptions. For example, if you're in top deck mode and you need to use the sacrifice ability to clear the opponents board; it will also hit Rankle.
hi there, didn't comment for a while ahah. I kinda dislike this card, because none of his abilities, save the discarding one, can be generally good, but also we need to keep an eye on this card, some good things can be done with this, for example you could play it with bitterblossom.. Good commentary as always , thanks
This is well said; keeping an eye is exactly correct, because in the right shell access to these abilities on repeat could do some real work. You’re welcome, and thanks right back at you!
I'd like to try them in my bad Sultai Delirium deck, just as a one-of. I also think they might be good in a Rakdos Madness type deck, where the discard mode helps more.
Rankle seems awesome but probably not good in midrange build of BGx decks. But I can see him in a aggro BG deck with more hexdrinkers, strangleroot Geist and an over all lower curve than midrange? GB aggro with haste boys sounds fun?
Ya no one expects green or black to have haste! But have you seen the 3rd place rock deck at SCG Modern IQ Montgomeryville on September 1? 4 Tireless trackers in the main! The format is slow enough to live the dream!
This card has a very fun design but it's not competitive. It looks great for the 99 of a Commander deck though! The only Modern deck that came to mind was Yuta Takahashi's UB Control deck, which has a large faeries subtheme. But Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Cryptic Command are the 4-drops that deck wants. Maybe if a Modern madness deck had more support, but madness cards need to be designed to be pretty weak to avoid total bustedness.
Yeah, and there’s also Mistblind Clique competing for the slot as well. Tough times for Rankle, lol. Too true about Madness; if Madness cards were stronger, they (in conjunction with Looting) could well have pushed BGx midrange out of the format altogether!
When I first saw Rankle I never even thought someone would even consider him in any BGx deck. The only place I could’ve seen him working out in would be a UB faerie aggro/tempo deck. Also there was a fairly unorthodox Rock list that top 8ed an IQ recently and I was wondering if you would possibly be making a video of it like you did with the Pernobyl list a while back.
Was it this one? www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22989&d=357587&f=MO if so, it certainly is unorthodox. Let me know if this is the one, and I’ll see if I can make time for an analysis vid!
In my opinion his most valuable ability is the discard and could see him be good vs critical mass decks where you could lili up tick and rankle discard to run them out of resources twice as fast. I do think that is a bit to niche/slow to warrant a spot for that reason though. in a jung shell is has the same synergy with W6 and lili but still pretty meh. I still agree with your conclusion but figured i would throw those uses out.
I'm just happy that you call this segment "Will it Rock?"
I’m sure I heard that somewhere else first, so I can’t really take credit...but it definitely fits!
I have a single spot for him in Fairies but I agree - not for those about to Rock.
That sounds like a good call! And lol’d at those about to Rock 😁
A possible shell for this card is U/B Faries with Scion of Oona giving protection and using Bitterblossom to break the symmetry of the edict
This sounds extremely promising, good call!
@@grimgaming5497 thanks!!
Another call is oona blackguard to give it a +1/+1 and make the opponent discard up to 2 cards a turn.
very good analysis of mantis rider
Do you think if Savvy Hunter was a 2/4 with Deathtouch and the food token abilities it has would have made it in Rock? I feel like they missed a real opportunity there in not making it a 2/4 with deathtouch but it may have been too powerful at that point idk. With the flavor text and a name like "Savvy" Hunter and Golgari colors how could you not of given it deathtouch lol.
Ha, right? Deathtouch goes nicely with T4 and also really makes the attacking/blocking prerequisite extremely appealing. That said, I’m still not sure it’d be strong enough to displace existing threats-but maybe it could be a techy one-of with Burn in the meta!
How about Rakdos low resources mid
Using new mate rankle and a few synergies he premotes.
Brewed this list up, very rough~
4 Bloodghast
2 Dark Confidant
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Rankle, Master of Pranks
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Smallpox
4 Fatal Push
2 Unearth
1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
2 Bitterblossom
4 Field of Ruin
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Swamp
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Nurturing Peatland
1 Mountain
side
2 Molten Rain
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Angrath's Rampage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Plague Engineer
1 Abrade
1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
1 Collective Brutality
This looks really cool and lots of fun! The only glaring issue to me is that Unearth doesn’t look like the right fit, since it misses Rankle and Hazoret and has negative synergy with Bloodghast.
After jaming a few casual games agaisnt my mate. I realised this and swapped them both out for Dreadhorde Arcanist, because there has a lack of t2 action; Decks sweet thought.
Arcanist seems like gas here!
This card probably shines best in BW midrange shells right? Pairs decently with Souls/Bitterblossom, grabs swords pretty well. BW doesnt have other hasty threats to compete with it either.
Not convinced it's good enough there either but I think it would be a much better home than BGx.
Completely agreed. It may or may not be good enough there, but that’s certainly a more promising shell! Any marginal interest BGx may have had in this card has gone out with window with the reveal of Questing Beast IMO.
Rule of thumb is; if the effect allows the opponent to choose, it's not good for you. Therefore Rankle is just rank.
Very true, LoTV being the exception which proves the rule!
that rule is a thing but makes no sense in case of "sacrifice" since it can also be an upside against indistructable/protection/hexproof
@@IndividuumNot True, but when the effect is happening to both players it's usually not very good outside of a few exceptions. For example, if you're in top deck mode and you need to use the sacrifice ability to clear the opponents board; it will also hit Rankle.
I really want to build around him. I wanted a faerie legendary creature. I got Alela and I got Rankle. I'm so excited 😁
Awesome, I wish you happy and fruitful brewing!
hi there, didn't comment for a while ahah. I kinda dislike this card, because none of his abilities, save the discarding one, can be generally good, but also we need to keep an eye on this card, some good things can be done with this, for example you could play it with bitterblossom.. Good commentary as always , thanks
This is well said; keeping an eye is exactly correct, because in the right shell access to these abilities on repeat could do some real work. You’re welcome, and thanks right back at you!
I'd like to try them in my bad Sultai Delirium deck, just as a one-of. I also think they might be good in a Rakdos Madness type deck, where the discard mode helps more.
These are definitely the sorts of shells that could maximize Rankle’s upsides. Hope it works out for you!
Rankle seems awesome but probably not good in midrange build of BGx decks. But I can see him in a aggro BG deck with more hexdrinkers, strangleroot Geist and an over all lower curve than midrange? GB aggro with haste boys sounds fun?
Whew, this sounds like a ton of fun. Strangleroot in particular looks like a wonderful fit!
Ya no one expects green or black to have haste! But have you seen the 3rd place rock deck at SCG Modern IQ Montgomeryville on September 1? 4 Tireless trackers in the main! The format is slow enough to live the dream!
I hadn’t until now. 2 Nissa and 2 Kalitas as well, plus a maindeck Pulse of Murasa. Wow. Grinding for days!
Grinding is what BGX is best at!
This card has a very fun design but it's not competitive. It looks great for the 99 of a Commander deck though! The only Modern deck that came to mind was Yuta Takahashi's UB Control deck, which has a large faeries subtheme. But Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Cryptic Command are the 4-drops that deck wants. Maybe if a Modern madness deck had more support, but madness cards need to be designed to be pretty weak to avoid total bustedness.
Yeah, and there’s also Mistblind Clique competing for the slot as well. Tough times for Rankle, lol. Too true about Madness; if Madness cards were stronger, they (in conjunction with Looting) could well have pushed BGx midrange out of the format altogether!
As soon as I saw this spoiled, my first thought was " can't wait for GF to talk about this card"
Keep it up man, love the stuff as always 👍😎
Thanks very much Grant, will do!
When I first saw Rankle I never even thought someone would even consider him in any BGx deck. The only place I could’ve seen him working out in would be a UB faerie aggro/tempo deck. Also there was a fairly unorthodox Rock list that top 8ed an IQ recently and I was wondering if you would possibly be making a video of it like you did with the Pernobyl list a while back.
Was it this one? www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22989&d=357587&f=MO if so, it certainly is unorthodox. Let me know if this is the one, and I’ll see if I can make time for an analysis vid!
If he was 4/3...
Or even 3/4!
Grim Flayer MTG yeah
No :(
☹️
Almost a repeatable smallpox
Yeah, for sure! If you look at it that way it makes me want to play it alongside Bloodghast and maybe Gravecrawler with lots of other zombies.
In my opinion his most valuable ability is the discard and could see him be good vs critical mass decks where you could lili up tick and rankle discard to run them out of resources twice as fast. I do think that is a bit to niche/slow to warrant a spot for that reason though. in a jung shell is has the same synergy with W6 and lili but still pretty meh. I still agree with your conclusion but figured i would throw those uses out.
Yep, very true...he’s probably best perceived as a 5th, and worse, LoTV!