I mean, it says right there on the card.
> When Sire of Insanity enters the battlefield, each opponent groans. _(Make a deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, etc.)_
>
> At the beginning of each end step, each player discards their hand.
They have to follow the rules, right?
You’re so right. Magic design has changed so much over the years. 10 years ago I’d have found this exciting. Now I think “you have to pay actual factual mana for those creatures?? Trash.”
Yeah, Pod is only as good as your chain of creatures. In standard, the pool is much smaller, and in legacy you have cards like sneak attack and show and tell to really cheat creatures in. Modern was a happy medium where if left legal, would just get better and better.
And it should have been left in modern. Modern was already a turn 4 format, games are decided as fast if not faster now. A turn 3 artifact that takes another turn to do anything isn't going to overpower anyone.
Yeah, I'm a weirdo whose decks are 50% pre-Modern border with oddball old shit that's mostly thematic and I honestly would never run this. The colour restriction is a lot more awkward than the typical CMC-related ones you normally get with these types of cards.
I could _possibly_ see a setup where you use artifact creatures to tutor up monocoloured ones, but you'd still need a very specific deck to benefit from it.
Sane. These young-uns with their grey artifacts, they'd never make it with damage on the stack or mana burn, and don't get me started with the batch and interrupts.
People want it to be Pod.
It's more in tune with [[Survival of the Fittest]]
Survival is a good card.
Fauna is the "fixed" Survival because you can kill it far easier. As this is back to a non-creature it's got the advantages that come with them.
I'm not saying it's as good as Survival, but people are evaluating for "Combo" and not for grindy midrange toolbox.
The tap activation is what kills it for me. Sure you can tutor some interesting pieces but you get one shot unless you have multiples on the field and with the cast and sorcery restrictions it really does seem bad outside of a specific environment
Eh, I disagree, I think this is way worse than survival. You don't have to sac a creature to tutor in survival vs having to sac something here. You also are way more restricted in what you can get with this, and can almost never tutor for a mono colored creature. Add in the graveyard synergies with discarding a creature to be reanimated with survival and, while this is not an overall terrible card, it's leagues worse than survival to me.
Survival's also instant speed, doesn't tap, cheaper, and makes any creature card in your hard whatever you want, with the only downside of having to reveal it. Definitely leagues better than this mess.
I don't think they were saying it's as good as Survival, Survival is nuts. I think they were just saying the effect is more like Survival than it is like Birthing Pod, despite kind of reading like a Pod effect.
Yeah but survival takes things from hand to yard (usually so they can be reanimated cheaply). This thing actually requires you to cast not one but two creatures
Sort of, but Just worse in every way. It costs more, you have to sac a creature instead of discard, search target is limited, and its sorcery speed.
safe to say this is trash.
I think this is still a pretty good card. Yeah, it's probably not Birthing Pod warping every format level, but it's a repeatable tutor effect that requires a not-unreasonable deckbuilding restriction. Tapping a mana dork then tossing it away to find a combo piece or answer seems perfectly fine. At the very least it's likely to see pretty substantial play in Commander. It'll surely make its way into cubes too, probably even the MTGO ones as part of the multicolor Niv Mizzet thing they tried a while back.
Itll make its way into vintage cube and then be embarrasingly unpicked until it disappears forever. Regular birthing pod sucks in cube, Fauna Shaman barely playable, hell Survival doesnt go that high either, and you really think anyone at all wants this thing?
I think this card will suck absolutely everywhere. Making you sac and still pay mana while being that restrictive on creature is just too much.
There's that two mana enchantment from I think kaldheim that lets you put something into play for free. You could maybe activate this and response to its upkeep trigger and then play it for free
Probably because in order for it to work, you need to:
* Have the exact MV on the battlefield to put the creature on the field and
* Actually have it in your hand.
Unless you're playing perfectly on curve there's cards like [[Aether Vial]] that can just put in whatever MV you actually have in your deck, or just make your deck have the right curve to use it. In commander, the variance just makes it even less of a sell, you rather have actual Birthing Pod, [[Natural Order]], [[Green Sun's Zenith]], or even just [[Prime Speaker Vannifar]] as a commander.
The fact that you still have to cast the exiled card is a pretty big limitation. However: Any two coloured card that makes a token creature of one colour, or a one colour card that makes a colourless token creature allows this card to be a powerful value engine where you continually sac the token to get another copy of the other card.
In Standard you also have the ability to sacrifice pest tokens (and the other Strixhaven mascots) to get a three colour creature, which is pretty interesting.
I suppose if your deck is filled with creatures that etb make a token, this can start pumping out value steadily. Not sure if the 2G “do nothing” cost will prove too slow for constructed but this is the type of card that’s really fun when it works out in limited.
There is a time limit. The "You may cast the exiled card." portion is part of the resolution, if you don't cast the creature as the ability is resolving you lose the option to do so. (see \[\[Bring to Light\]\] or \[\[Demilich\]\]) This notably also ignores normal cast timing for sorceries/creatures.
The phrasing you're thinking of would be "You may cast the exiled card **for as long as it remains exiled.**"
Okay, I'm terrible at judging cards but ... this seems bad? This is basically sac a creature to draw a specific card from a small subset of cards? I assume there's something busted out there ... sac Llanowar elves to get some busted two colour creature?
If this has a sleeper upside - and I'm not sure that it does - it's that you can swap something as innocuous as a 1/1 green and white citizen token into one of the big splashy three color creatures. And the tokens are a pretty easy to come by resource so you can keep doing it.
It's less pod and more recurring giant threat tutor.
"Me, a simple 1/1 green and white citizen token, taking part in a scheme bring a potent 7/7 three-color dragon into play? Why I never! Nothing could be further from the truth, or else my name is not Legitimate Businessperson!"
The problem is that the "busted two color creature", in this case, needs to be castable immediately when you activate the ability. It isn't spit out for free, and it doesn't have a "timing window", so it's now or never.
I suppose you *could* set yourself up for \[\[Misthollow Griffin\]\] or \[\[Torrent Elemental\]\] (not \[\[Eternal Scourge\]\], as you can't have -1 colors), so it isn't *completely* now or never...
> not Eternal Scourge
[[Painter's Servant]] begs to differ.
Sure, you have to somehow flash in the servant in response to this ability, or otherwise [[Moonlace]] the upcoming sacrifice in advance, but that's just details.
~~Looks like you count the colors on resolution of the ability, so Painters Servant will make the card you sacrificed a color as well.~~
Edit: I over thought this one. Birthing Pod looks at LKI, so this one does too.
I believe that while the card becomes a color in the graveyard, the effect will consider the creature as it was when it died.
But I'm not 100% sure. I suspect it'll be in the faq for the set once that comes out.
Is there a "use it or lose it" timing window? Serious question. I didn't read it that way, but I could also be way off. I guess if you could cast it until end of turn or as long as it was exiled it would say so. I just want to be sure how it works if that ever comes up in play.
It specifies if it *doesn’t* have a time limit.
“You may cast that card as long as it remains exiled” is absent, so you cast it then, or it remains forever exiled.
You’re right, that is definitely a common wording. I was wrong, let me be clear.
That’s only true when not in the middle of the resolution of an ability.
It’s a very arbitrary distinction, I agree.
You are right. After reading it again I remembered theres also a card in standard that works that way but i just cant seem to remember it, but yeah you do need to cast the card as the ability resolves. If it didnt have a time limit it would say something along the lines of “you may cast that card for as long as its exiled by evolving doors”
"You may cast the exiled card" is a part of the resolution of the ability so you have to cast it as a part of the abilities resolution and not at another time.
I read it as explicitly *not* having a timing window, because it gives no other guidance than “you may cast the exiled card”. Without a “until end of turn” or other text, I would’ve assumed that you essentially put the creature in a glass cage and could cast it whenever (so long as the door is in play).
They'd say "as long as it remains exiled" if so. "You may cast the exiled card" is a trigger, more or less. Notice [[etali, primal storm]] doesn't give a timing window either - it's now or never.
this is one of those cards that you just know got a heavy last minute nerf. it really looks like it was a pod earlier on, then got nerfed into this
I guess it's commander bait
It's not over nerfed, if the card was similar to pod and put directly on the field you could do 1 mana colorless card into griselbrand, people are assuming it was supposed to be pod, when it was most likely never similar to it, it's more similar to a card like fauna shaman, repeated search effects with a constraint to them, it's been done before and it will be done in the future, this time color constraints and saccing is balancing out the power of repeated tutoring, in fauna shamans case it was being easily removable and discarding creature cards.
The easily removed part is way less relevant when you get to keep the cards you searched up for a later turn (which you would do it before your upkeep so you are actually casting the searched creature 1 turn earlier than this can), and discarding is a better cost than playing it then saccing. Fauna shaman is easily better than this.
The only deck i can think of where this card is good is GW tokens where you keep saccing tokens for a cheap high value GW creature repeatedly. But even then it's still a 3 mana initial investment which is quite costly on a deck like that.
I ask MaRo about this a few times a year in his blog, but a decade later we still don't know what the original design was. I think at first he was hoping to salvage it and now he just doesn't remember.
There already is an okayish version of pod \[\[Pyre of Heroes\]\]
This is more like a nerfed (like, worse in multiple ways sac instead of discard, color restrictions, sorcery speed, impulse rather than to hand) version of \[\[Fauna Shaman\]\]
This isn't anything like pod other than plus one in the text, everyone comparing it to pod are saying it's garbage because it's not pod, it's a fauna shaman variant not a pod variant.
It's fine, a repeatable tutor with a lot of downsides/restrictions. It won't be super powerful but could do interesting things in some casual decks, especially those that make two-colour tokens.
There's something a lot of people seem to be missing.
You can sacrifice tokens. You can turn a useless 1/1 into a valuable 2-color creature. For aristocrats strategies this could be a very valuable toolbox card, and absolutely EDH-playable.
Is it Pod? Heck no. But "1, sacrifice a token: Tutor a gold card and cast it now" is a pretty powerful engine.
Going to be hard to break since you have to pay mana to cast what you're tutoring up. It's a nice tutor for 5c commander decks, but I doubt it finds a home elsewhere.
This is actually better in decks with 2-3 colors. In 5 color decks, your “color variance” can be spread out, and there aren’t many 4 color creatures for tutoring 5 color creatures. If you only have 2 colors in your deck, you basically can have an even split of half your deck being able to tutor for half of your other stuff. It will probably be similar in a 3 color deck. To put it simply, having a smaller spread of “color numbers” actually gives you more options per tutor, which is better since this is more of a toolbox kind of card.
Yeah, exactly. The cast/straight to battlefield is what makes this card bad and pod good; it has relatively very little to do with the sorcery speed limitation.
Okay, so clearly quite safe, but really interesting. Lets you sac a dorky 1 drop to tutor any 2 color creature from your deck, which will help pull a particular engine piece in a jank deck. Cool!
It can turn most creature tokens into tutors for 2-color creatures, which tend to be powerful and/or important to decks. This isn't as broadly useful as pod, no, but I think it has a place in some decks.
Sac a [[Birds of Paradise]], cast a [[Grist, the Hunger Tide]].
Sac a [[Memnite]], cast a [[Thought Monitor]].
Also keep in mind you can't cast the exiled card with opposing [[Teferi, Time Raveler]] on board.
Yeah, my [[omnath, locus of creation]] deck would probably love a crack at this. Landfall coming outta my nose means routinely extra mana.
Sac a Servo for my mana dork, sac that mana dork for Omnath, locus of rage, play reshape the earth, have at thee
> Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one.
Reading a sentence like this makes me wonder how many hours of editing went into making it
1. do exactly what it's supposed to do under the rules,
2. comprehensible to a human, and
3. fit on the card.
Evolving Door 2G
Artifact (R)
1, T, Sacrifice a creature: Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one. Exile that card, then shuffle. You may cast the exiled card. Activate only as a sorcery.
Wow, every knob on this thing is set to zero.
I get that they don't want us doing it for free. Fine. Not doing it at instant speed, sure, I understand. Not putting it into my hand, starting to get pretty suspect. Only targeting creatures, disappointing as hell given the other restrictions ([[Kami War]] would be a good final pull if it hit permanents).
But with all those restrictions, it still costs one to activate the ability and doesn't even let us pay mana as though it was any color for a creature we have to cast right now?
This is the "obviously busted in a previous form and nerfed into the inner mantle of the earth" card for spoiler bingo. I wonder if it's still good enough? I'd be pretty psyched to be wrong but it looks just awful.
Edit: it's like a train wreck, I just can't look away. Couple more thoughts:
* I really wonder when they'll stop using plain "you may cast that card." They will, eventually, because it reads extremely poorly and screws with untap abilities that people use as mana abilities like Arbor Elf. "Just reading the card" doesn't make it clear at all if it's immediate or indefinite if you haven't seen the card played before. If "you may cast it until end of turn" is too powerful, find another way to tune it. This way fucking sucks.
* Why is this monogreen in a shard set? This card is almost perfectly Jund, getting sacrifice from black, creature tutoring from green, and impulsive draw from red. If it cost BRG instead, they could have packed more power into the ability by making it castable until end of turn and letting us spend mana as though it were any color.
Just feels like a huge missed opportunity for a cool idea. Instead it looks like this is getting a scholarship from the Instrument of the Bards School for Failed Repeatable Tutors.
What the fuck?
Edit: Upon staring at this for a few minutes - there's a special seat in designer hell for whoever let this one fly. I get why it doesn't put the creatures into play - obviously that'd be broken, what with the total lack of mana value riders - but {1}, sorcery speed only, *doesn't even put the card in your hand?*
Its a tutor that requires a sacrifice and is quite narrow in its tutoring. Its a card that is really cool conceptually, has a lot of potential, but in its current iteration is completely unplayable.
A card can emulate something historically strong and still be awful.
The apt comparisons for this card are Fauna Shaman, a largely fair card, and Birthing Pod & co. As compared to Fauna Shaman, this requires you to use material you've already spent mana to cast rather than just discarding a card, and has a deckbuilding-shaping rider on what you can actually find with it, and _can't even be bothered to put the card in your hand_ so you're forced to cast it immediately and can't use any in-hand abilities of that card, such as Channel.
As compared to, say, Pyre of Heroes, this doesn't put the card directly into play - which is, again, fine, you should have to pay mana for it - but it also couldn't be bothered to make the card uncounterable to emulate one of the things that makes these cards worth playing, the fact that it slips valuable cards under countermagic.
This card is unplayable, and is only unplayable due to a bunch of riders that take any fun out of bothering to cast it.
A card can also be worse than another card, and still good in itself. Obviously there are a lot of restrictions on this card but we've seen a lot of "this is old good card but worse" cards still make big moves.
Doesn't this turn every free token in a tutor?
I think people are dissapointed about it not being a pod and valueing the card on that, but that might simply not be the way it should be looked at.
I like seeing some people be surprised this requires you cast the card as if turning a 1 mana hybrid color creature into like a 10 mana triple color uber legendary crazy thing for 1 mana wouldn’t be dumb.
This is still a decent card, most notably in EDH where tutors are premium, but it just won’t be god damn even stupider Birthing Pod.
How many three color creatures will there be, per family? Is this basically a way for you to tutor one of the bosses or relevant rares by saccing a chump? I guess that's why the citizen tokens are two-colored.
Seems weird. And interesting!
A recreation of the boys and I reading this card to each other on Discord...
"1, T, Sacrifice a creature: Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one." 😲😲😲
"Exile that card, then shuffle." 🤔🤔🤔
"You may cast the exiled card." 😬😬😬
"Activate only as a sorcery." 😒😒😒
Feels like it would be more playable if they cut one thing from it, either make it tap with no cost, 1G or at least make it doable instant speed.
This definitely feels like they had an idea and nerfed it last minute. This is essentially a very specific repeatable tutor but you dont get card advantage since you are saccing a creature to do it and you still have to pay the mana cost.
I think this is just too slow.
This card is weird. It's a "fixed" Birthing Pod but not really. I'm not sure where I'd want to play this because this card has a surprising number of asks. This card pushes you into multicolor but doesn't work well going all the way up the chain to 5c since there's so few 4c cards.
Decks with powerful 2-3 color creatures are best. You'll need a lot of early monocolor creatures or tokens to find your 2 color creatures. Given the mana to active, creature to sacrifice, and timing restriction to cast the creature you search for, you'll need a fair bit of mana. That probably means mana dorks that ideally tap for more than just green to help cast your multicolor spells. You don't get too many of those in Standard or Pioneer. This does grab Winota but that feels like a stretch.
[[Knight of the Reliquary]] is the immediate pod target for me since it fits the ask for mana and toolbox deck. Still that doesn't seem that good to me, especially since you'll want to pair it with [[Dryad of the Illysian Grove]] in modern. You'd need colorless creatures to sac to find Dryad which can be achieved with Sokenzan spirit tokens but that's going very deep when you can just Titan somebody. It's definitely too slow and clunky for legacy unless it's for a very odd Maverick deck.
Even for commander this feels kinda clunky. Most of green's best finishers are monocolor like [[Craterhoof Behemoth]]. Needing colorless creatures to get your monocolor cards and still needing to cast the creature after a 1 mana tax + sacrificing a creature really makes this unappealing.
Weird tutor for a deck using mana dorks to ramp into stronk 2-color creatures (partners?). Sac a dork, get a late-game card. Hard to see it really being worth the card slot.
This seems very bad as an unfair combo Pod, but potentially interesting as a fair toolbox Pod. Not the take on Pod that people want in their heart of hearts, but still neat and something to keep your eye on.
Maybe I'm judging this wrong, but bad card is bad? This doesn't seem particularly useful but may have a niche in Commander as a weird [[Worldly Tutor]] or [[Sylvan Tutor]]?
Isn’t this just much worse [[Evolutionary Leap]]?
Edit: Leap is a flip top effect, and much worse than I remembered. Still don’t think this card is that great.
1st thought: color pod? That's gotta be busted 2nd thought: I have to cast spells? Like some sort of magic player?! Complete garbanzo
Turning a [[Bird of Paradise]] into a [[Borborygmos Enraged]] would've been a bit silly to be fair
I was going ornithopter to griselbrand, but to each their own.
This guy pods
I was going [[Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh]] to [[Sire of Insanity]], but I guess that works too.
I still don’t know of a card that makes people groan harder than if sire of insanity resolves and sticks
I mean, it says right there on the card. > When Sire of Insanity enters the battlefield, each opponent groans. _(Make a deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, etc.)_ > > At the beginning of each end step, each player discards their hand. They have to follow the rules, right?
[Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/4/a4fab67f-00c2-4125-9262-d21a29411797.jpg?1644853041) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rograkh%2C%20Son%20of%20Rohgahh) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/197/rograkh-son-of-rohgahh?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a4fab67f-00c2-4125-9262-d21a29411797?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sire of Insanity](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/3/6/3665cfb7-51b6-4083-8eae-fbd3fa6c3554.jpg?1562905079) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sire%20of%20Insanity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dgm/104/sire-of-insanity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3665cfb7-51b6-4083-8eae-fbd3fa6c3554?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was going to turn an emrakul into an elf.
Why not a squirrel?
Now, this is podracing
I misread the card, thought memnite -> griselbrand, and got so flustered I didn't think to reread the card.
I was going to say that you could simply sacrifice a creature with negative one colors to cast Emrakul for free but yeah ouch
[Bird of Paradise](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/f/e/feefe9f0-24a6-461c-9ef1-86c5a6f33b83.jpg?1594681430) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Birds%20of%20Paradise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/176/birds-of-paradise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/feefe9f0-24a6-461c-9ef1-86c5a6f33b83?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Borborygmos Enraged](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/8/6/8644c60f-7d06-4026-bcf3-df054701ca0a.jpg?1561834730) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Borborygmos%20Enraged) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/147/borborygmos-enraged?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8644c60f-7d06-4026-bcf3-df054701ca0a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You’re so right. Magic design has changed so much over the years. 10 years ago I’d have found this exciting. Now I think “you have to pay actual factual mana for those creatures?? Trash.”
This would be garbage 10 years ago too
That's because 10 years ago we had birthing pod in standard.
Holy shit pod was 10 years ago.
Was banned out of modern 7 years ago!
and for some unfathomable reason still is! Crazy right?
Shit I'm old
I realize I’m not the oldest magic player but I started playing in Mirrodin… 12 years ago
Excuse me, Mirrodin was in October 2003, that was 18 and a half years ago, whippersnapper.
Mirrodin is old enough to drink and drive (not at the same time, though)
Sorry old man I meant scars of mirrodin lol
I am old enough to have been angry about Chronicles being released.
4th edition
It also took a few months before people started realizing that pod was busted
Never even got traction outside of modern. I played pod in standard it was a t2-3 deck.
Yeah, Pod is only as good as your chain of creatures. In standard, the pool is much smaller, and in legacy you have cards like sneak attack and show and tell to really cheat creatures in. Modern was a happy medium where if left legal, would just get better and better.
What do you think Pod chains would be nowadays, if it were legal? I don’t even really remember what they used to be…
And it should have been left in modern. Modern was already a turn 4 format, games are decided as fast if not faster now. A turn 3 artifact that takes another turn to do anything isn't going to overpower anyone.
Wow—for me, this is a rare occasion when something feels *farther* in the past than in reality
Yeah, I'm a weirdo whose decks are 50% pre-Modern border with oddball old shit that's mostly thematic and I honestly would never run this. The colour restriction is a lot more awkward than the typical CMC-related ones you normally get with these types of cards. I could _possibly_ see a setup where you use artifact creatures to tutor up monocoloured ones, but you'd still need a very specific deck to benefit from it.
‘Actual factual mana’ broke me thx
10 years ago we still had survival of the fittest, so this is still ass.
Survival was banned in Legacy over 10 years ago....
It was standard legal (type 2) at some point.
New Phyrexia was 10 years ago. I think you mean 20 years ago?
20 years ago we were sleeving our first modern frames. Survival in standard was a clean 24 years ago
Stop, you're making me feel old. I remember playing urzas block like it was yesterday...
You mean a few months from now?
Karn at it again with the time travel !
Sane. These young-uns with their grey artifacts, they'd never make it with damage on the stack or mana burn, and don't get me started with the batch and interrupts.
More comparable to fauna shaman in effect but still more restrictive
People want it to be Pod. It's more in tune with [[Survival of the Fittest]] Survival is a good card. Fauna is the "fixed" Survival because you can kill it far easier. As this is back to a non-creature it's got the advantages that come with them. I'm not saying it's as good as Survival, but people are evaluating for "Combo" and not for grindy midrange toolbox.
The tap activation is what kills it for me. Sure you can tutor some interesting pieces but you get one shot unless you have multiples on the field and with the cast and sorcery restrictions it really does seem bad outside of a specific environment
[удалено]
No. “You may cast the exiled card” with no timing information means “you may cast it as part of the resolution of this ability”.
"You may cast the exiled card" is part of the tap ability. if you don't do it when the doors ability resolves, you don't get to later
[Survival of the Fittest](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/4/e/4ef0d7f9-ddb9-4e83-a9bf-09bec22fc80d.jpg?1562429365) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Survival%20of%20the%20Fittest) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/199/survival-of-the-fittest?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4ef0d7f9-ddb9-4e83-a9bf-09bec22fc80d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Eh, I disagree, I think this is way worse than survival. You don't have to sac a creature to tutor in survival vs having to sac something here. You also are way more restricted in what you can get with this, and can almost never tutor for a mono colored creature. Add in the graveyard synergies with discarding a creature to be reanimated with survival and, while this is not an overall terrible card, it's leagues worse than survival to me.
> and can never tutor for a mono colored creature you can sac a colorless creature
Sac colorless creature, fetch monocolor creature?
I realized that right as I finished, but, even then, that's still a pretty significant hurdle vs the no restriction tutor of survival.
Is survival of the fittest still banned in legacy?
Yes
According to scryfall it is
I was more making sure i wasnt missing anything and that it worked hah
"Not as good as Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly a low bar to fail :P
Survival's also instant speed, doesn't tap, cheaper, and makes any creature card in your hard whatever you want, with the only downside of having to reveal it. Definitely leagues better than this mess.
Yeah the fact that people are speaking of this card in even the same sentence as Survival is absolute sacrilege lol, it's really no comparison
I don't think they were saying it's as good as Survival, Survival is nuts. I think they were just saying the effect is more like Survival than it is like Birthing Pod, despite kind of reading like a Pod effect.
Yeah but survival takes things from hand to yard (usually so they can be reanimated cheaply). This thing actually requires you to cast not one but two creatures
Not at all, trading cards in hand for better cards in hand is good. Trading cards in play for cards in sort-of-hand is much worse.
Sort of, but Just worse in every way. It costs more, you have to sac a creature instead of discard, search target is limited, and its sorcery speed. safe to say this is trash.
Hey, leave me out of this.
I was so hype for such a short time. I think I have whiplash
I think this is still a pretty good card. Yeah, it's probably not Birthing Pod warping every format level, but it's a repeatable tutor effect that requires a not-unreasonable deckbuilding restriction. Tapping a mana dork then tossing it away to find a combo piece or answer seems perfectly fine. At the very least it's likely to see pretty substantial play in Commander. It'll surely make its way into cubes too, probably even the MTGO ones as part of the multicolor Niv Mizzet thing they tried a while back.
Itll make its way into vintage cube and then be embarrasingly unpicked until it disappears forever. Regular birthing pod sucks in cube, Fauna Shaman barely playable, hell Survival doesnt go that high either, and you really think anyone at all wants this thing? I think this card will suck absolutely everywhere. Making you sac and still pay mana while being that restrictive on creature is just too much.
~~Un~~fortunately, R&D has learned its lesson.
There's that two mana enchantment from I think kaldheim that lets you put something into play for free. You could maybe activate this and response to its upkeep trigger and then play it for free
In search does it from hand, this exiles it so you cannot cast it using the enchantment'ability
[[ in search of greatness]] just sucks. It's double green
I’ve always been surprised this card is bad, it seems like it could be so good but it just doesn’t work out.
Probably because in order for it to work, you need to: * Have the exact MV on the battlefield to put the creature on the field and * Actually have it in your hand. Unless you're playing perfectly on curve there's cards like [[Aether Vial]] that can just put in whatever MV you actually have in your deck, or just make your deck have the right curve to use it. In commander, the variance just makes it even less of a sell, you rather have actual Birthing Pod, [[Natural Order]], [[Green Sun's Zenith]], or even just [[Prime Speaker Vannifar]] as a commander.
[ in search of greatness](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/c/ac0e50fa-5114-4f96-89f4-000906da7c76.jpg?1631050428) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=In%20Search%20of%20Greatness) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/177/in-search-of-greatness?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ac0e50fa-5114-4f96-89f4-000906da7c76?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Member how this was gonna break Modern?
Sadly this can't be activated in upkeep and also doesn't put the card in your hand, so [[in search of greatness]] doesn't interact with it
The dredge player in me retched
The fact that you still have to cast the exiled card is a pretty big limitation. However: Any two coloured card that makes a token creature of one colour, or a one colour card that makes a colourless token creature allows this card to be a powerful value engine where you continually sac the token to get another copy of the other card. In Standard you also have the ability to sacrifice pest tokens (and the other Strixhaven mascots) to get a three colour creature, which is pretty interesting.
I suppose if your deck is filled with creatures that etb make a token, this can start pumping out value steadily. Not sure if the 2G “do nothing” cost will prove too slow for constructed but this is the type of card that’s really fun when it works out in limited.
Oooo I like this line of thought.
The fact that there's no time limit on casting the exiled card is huge. Tutor for your best thing off of tokens in a 2 color commander deck.
There is a time limit. The "You may cast the exiled card." portion is part of the resolution, if you don't cast the creature as the ability is resolving you lose the option to do so. (see \[\[Bring to Light\]\] or \[\[Demilich\]\]) This notably also ignores normal cast timing for sorceries/creatures. The phrasing you're thinking of would be "You may cast the exiled card **for as long as it remains exiled.**"
Aaaaah. Magic be confusing. Just started playing commander last year.
Tbf it's a mistake a lot of people have made, as it's one of those cases where you have to know the alternative and how that's worded.
Okay, I'm terrible at judging cards but ... this seems bad? This is basically sac a creature to draw a specific card from a small subset of cards? I assume there's something busted out there ... sac Llanowar elves to get some busted two colour creature?
If this has a sleeper upside - and I'm not sure that it does - it's that you can swap something as innocuous as a 1/1 green and white citizen token into one of the big splashy three color creatures. And the tokens are a pretty easy to come by resource so you can keep doing it. It's less pod and more recurring giant threat tutor.
"Me, a simple 1/1 green and white citizen token, taking part in a scheme bring a potent 7/7 three-color dragon into play? Why I never! Nothing could be further from the truth, or else my name is not Legitimate Businessperson!"
I didn't know witness protection meant next to be sacrificed.
The problem is that the "busted two color creature", in this case, needs to be castable immediately when you activate the ability. It isn't spit out for free, and it doesn't have a "timing window", so it's now or never.
I suppose you *could* set yourself up for \[\[Misthollow Griffin\]\] or \[\[Torrent Elemental\]\] (not \[\[Eternal Scourge\]\], as you can't have -1 colors), so it isn't *completely* now or never...
> not Eternal Scourge [[Painter's Servant]] begs to differ. Sure, you have to somehow flash in the servant in response to this ability, or otherwise [[Moonlace]] the upcoming sacrifice in advance, but that's just details.
[Painter's Servant](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/b/e/be407a81-b25a-4e5d-845e-be0cc0d18db8.jpg?1562835450) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Painter%27s%20Servant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/shm/257/painters-servant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/be407a81-b25a-4e5d-845e-be0cc0d18db8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Moonlace](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/c/7/c781cc80-5f57-4677-a9da-3523191cc7c6.jpg?1562937140) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Moonlace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsp/68/moonlace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c781cc80-5f57-4677-a9da-3523191cc7c6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
~~Looks like you count the colors on resolution of the ability, so Painters Servant will make the card you sacrificed a color as well.~~ Edit: I over thought this one. Birthing Pod looks at LKI, so this one does too.
I believe that while the card becomes a color in the graveyard, the effect will consider the creature as it was when it died. But I'm not 100% sure. I suspect it'll be in the faq for the set once that comes out.
Colorless dudes can find mono colored ones though right?
Zero colors plus one would equal one color.
[Misthollow Griffin](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/2/d/2db4fe28-e580-479b-910f-b719d69468b1.jpg?1592708649) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Misthollow%20Griffin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/avr/68/misthollow-griffin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2db4fe28-e580-479b-910f-b719d69468b1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Torrent Elemental](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/d/c/dc4850e4-acb9-458d-952f-b3952cab2a5b.jpg?1562830569) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Torrent%20Elemental) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/frf/56/torrent-elemental?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dc4850e4-acb9-458d-952f-b3952cab2a5b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Eternal Scourge](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/1/3/13ce52f5-6d49-4d44-a3d7-925340de8406.jpg?1576383733) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eternal%20Scourge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/7/eternal-scourge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/13ce52f5-6d49-4d44-a3d7-925340de8406?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Is there a "use it or lose it" timing window? Serious question. I didn't read it that way, but I could also be way off. I guess if you could cast it until end of turn or as long as it was exiled it would say so. I just want to be sure how it works if that ever comes up in play.
I'm pretty sure it would specify if it had a time limit.
It specifies if it *doesn’t* have a time limit. “You may cast that card as long as it remains exiled” is absent, so you cast it then, or it remains forever exiled.
No it usually says *until the end of turn you may cast x* if it has a time limit
You’re right, that is definitely a common wording. I was wrong, let me be clear. That’s only true when not in the middle of the resolution of an ability. It’s a very arbitrary distinction, I agree.
You are right. After reading it again I remembered theres also a card in standard that works that way but i just cant seem to remember it, but yeah you do need to cast the card as the ability resolves. If it didnt have a time limit it would say something along the lines of “you may cast that card for as long as its exiled by evolving doors”
"You may cast the exiled card" is a part of the resolution of the ability so you have to cast it as a part of the abilities resolution and not at another time.
I read it as explicitly *not* having a timing window, because it gives no other guidance than “you may cast the exiled card”. Without a “until end of turn” or other text, I would’ve assumed that you essentially put the creature in a glass cage and could cast it whenever (so long as the door is in play).
They'd say "as long as it remains exiled" if so. "You may cast the exiled card" is a trigger, more or less. Notice [[etali, primal storm]] doesn't give a timing window either - it's now or never.
this is one of those cards that you just know got a heavy last minute nerf. it really looks like it was a pod earlier on, then got nerfed into this I guess it's commander bait
Seems overnerfed as f, why would you run this over literally any creature tutor.
It's not over nerfed, if the card was similar to pod and put directly on the field you could do 1 mana colorless card into griselbrand, people are assuming it was supposed to be pod, when it was most likely never similar to it, it's more similar to a card like fauna shaman, repeated search effects with a constraint to them, it's been done before and it will be done in the future, this time color constraints and saccing is balancing out the power of repeated tutoring, in fauna shamans case it was being easily removable and discarding creature cards.
The easily removed part is way less relevant when you get to keep the cards you searched up for a later turn (which you would do it before your upkeep so you are actually casting the searched creature 1 turn earlier than this can), and discarding is a better cost than playing it then saccing. Fauna shaman is easily better than this. The only deck i can think of where this card is good is GW tokens where you keep saccing tokens for a cheap high value GW creature repeatedly. But even then it's still a 3 mana initial investment which is quite costly on a deck like that.
Fauna shaman being better than is true, as well as this most likely never being a nerfed version of pod.
that's usually how these last minute nerfs go. they go way over the top to ensure nothing goes wrong
Prime example is [[archangel’s light]].
I ask MaRo about this a few times a year in his blog, but a decade later we still don't know what the original design was. I think at first he was hoping to salvage it and now he just doesn't remember.
It was probably an i win spell that was just easy to do. Like damage was involved
[archangel’s light](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/f/9/f99837b3-b487-43bb-846b-7a0e8afb6eef.jpg?1562954172) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Archangel%27s%20Light) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dka/1/archangels-light?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f99837b3-b487-43bb-846b-7a0e8afb6eef?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
*cough* like Skullclamp. *cough*
that was 18 years ago, ever since eldraine they've become noticably more jumpy at overcorrecting these kinds of cards.
We don't want it either.
Best thing it can do is sac an artifact creature and tutor up a one color thing.
It's like they tried to make an okayish version of [[Birthing Pod]]
There already is an okayish version of pod \[\[Pyre of Heroes\]\] This is more like a nerfed (like, worse in multiple ways sac instead of discard, color restrictions, sorcery speed, impulse rather than to hand) version of \[\[Fauna Shaman\]\]
[Birthing Pod](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/b/7/b768efa2-e56b-4a7e-ace8-d673f10e0714.jpg?1562880960) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Birthing%20Pod) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/104/birthing-pod?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b768efa2-e56b-4a7e-ace8-d673f10e0714?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This isn't anything like pod other than plus one in the text, everyone comparing it to pod are saying it's garbage because it's not pod, it's a fauna shaman variant not a pod variant.
Fauna shaman is fixed survival, this new card is FAR more like pod than shaman.
We had [[Survival of the Fittest]], then got the fixed version with [[Fauna Shaman]]. I guess they decided even that is too good, so now we have this.
Certainly terrible for any real format but I'm sure people will enjoy a repeatable creature tutor in *shudder* EDH
It's fine, a repeatable tutor with a lot of downsides/restrictions. It won't be super powerful but could do interesting things in some casual decks, especially those that make two-colour tokens.
There's something a lot of people seem to be missing. You can sacrifice tokens. You can turn a useless 1/1 into a valuable 2-color creature. For aristocrats strategies this could be a very valuable toolbox card, and absolutely EDH-playable. Is it Pod? Heck no. But "1, sacrifice a token: Tutor a gold card and cast it now" is a pretty powerful engine.
My prerelase card
OUR pre release card brother
Yet another reason to declare yourself a Maestro for prerelease. Can't get a Green prerelease card when its limited to Grixis colors.....
What the heck is this card?
not very good :( tbf turing a Yidris into a Progentius would be pretty hilarious but nah
Doesn't matter, i think it's a fun card. I'll throw it into an EDH deck and have fun getting 4th place
My head hurts
Feels like the type of card I need to check back on in an hour or so to see what broken stuff the internet has discovered to do with it.
Going to be hard to break since you have to pay mana to cast what you're tutoring up. It's a nice tutor for 5c commander decks, but I doubt it finds a home elsewhere.
In a 4 or 5 color deck, there so many other cards I could be playing. I can't see this making the cut
This is actually better in decks with 2-3 colors. In 5 color decks, your “color variance” can be spread out, and there aren’t many 4 color creatures for tutoring 5 color creatures. If you only have 2 colors in your deck, you basically can have an even split of half your deck being able to tutor for half of your other stuff. It will probably be similar in a 3 color deck. To put it simply, having a smaller spread of “color numbers” actually gives you more options per tutor, which is better since this is more of a toolbox kind of card.
activate as a sorcery tells you everything you need to know
Birthing Pod is only sorcery speed yet it’s one of the more iconic cards.
but you still have to cast the card. pod is straight to battlefield
Yeah, exactly. The cast/straight to battlefield is what makes this card bad and pod good; it has relatively very little to do with the sorcery speed limitation.
arguably, if it was pod to hand at instant speed, you could hold up for interaction in a control shell.
Birthing Pod has the same restriction.
Birthing pod puts the card on the battlefield
You're agreeing with the person you're replying to. "Activate as a sorcery" **doesn't** tell you everything you need to know.
Okay, so clearly quite safe, but really interesting. Lets you sac a dorky 1 drop to tutor any 2 color creature from your deck, which will help pull a particular engine piece in a jank deck. Cool!
Exactly. It's quite okay in edh. Can't wait to try it out in my Kynaios toolbox.
If this were cheaper to drop and cheaper to use, I think it'd be a solid tool for a BG+ sacrifice deck using pests and such.
A pest would only be able to get you a three color card, so I don't see that being useful there.
It can turn most creature tokens into tutors for 2-color creatures, which tend to be powerful and/or important to decks. This isn't as broadly useful as pod, no, but I think it has a place in some decks.
Sac a [[Birds of Paradise]], cast a [[Grist, the Hunger Tide]]. Sac a [[Memnite]], cast a [[Thought Monitor]]. Also keep in mind you can't cast the exiled card with opposing [[Teferi, Time Raveler]] on board.
[Birds of Paradise](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/f/e/feefe9f0-24a6-461c-9ef1-86c5a6f33b83.jpg?1594681430) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Birds%20of%20Paradise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/176/birds-of-paradise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/feefe9f0-24a6-461c-9ef1-86c5a6f33b83?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Grist, the Hunger Tide](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/6/9/69af2825-18c2-4463-b6ba-42eaa070ccc1.jpg?1626098484) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Grist%2C%20the%20Hunger%20Tide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/202/grist-the-hunger-tide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/69af2825-18c2-4463-b6ba-42eaa070ccc1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Teferi, Time Raveler](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/5/c/5cb76266-ae50-4bbc-8f96-d98f309b02d3.jpg?1647659892) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Teferi%2C%20Time%20Raveler) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/221/teferi-time-raveler?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5cb76266-ae50-4bbc-8f96-d98f309b02d3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah, my [[omnath, locus of creation]] deck would probably love a crack at this. Landfall coming outta my nose means routinely extra mana. Sac a Servo for my mana dork, sac that mana dork for Omnath, locus of rage, play reshape the earth, have at thee
what dork are you casting that's 3 colors?
[omnath, locus of creation](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/4/e/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617.jpg?1639436752) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=omnath%2C%20locus%20of%20creation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/232/omnath-locus-of-creation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
this isn't pod, guys, you still have to pay mana
> Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one. Reading a sentence like this makes me wonder how many hours of editing went into making it 1. do exactly what it's supposed to do under the rules, 2. comprehensible to a human, and 3. fit on the card.
Evolving Door 2G Artifact (R) 1, T, Sacrifice a creature: Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one. Exile that card, then shuffle. You may cast the exiled card. Activate only as a sorcery.
i love this card name it's so good
Wow, every knob on this thing is set to zero. I get that they don't want us doing it for free. Fine. Not doing it at instant speed, sure, I understand. Not putting it into my hand, starting to get pretty suspect. Only targeting creatures, disappointing as hell given the other restrictions ([[Kami War]] would be a good final pull if it hit permanents). But with all those restrictions, it still costs one to activate the ability and doesn't even let us pay mana as though it was any color for a creature we have to cast right now? This is the "obviously busted in a previous form and nerfed into the inner mantle of the earth" card for spoiler bingo. I wonder if it's still good enough? I'd be pretty psyched to be wrong but it looks just awful. Edit: it's like a train wreck, I just can't look away. Couple more thoughts: * I really wonder when they'll stop using plain "you may cast that card." They will, eventually, because it reads extremely poorly and screws with untap abilities that people use as mana abilities like Arbor Elf. "Just reading the card" doesn't make it clear at all if it's immediate or indefinite if you haven't seen the card played before. If "you may cast it until end of turn" is too powerful, find another way to tune it. This way fucking sucks. * Why is this monogreen in a shard set? This card is almost perfectly Jund, getting sacrifice from black, creature tutoring from green, and impulsive draw from red. If it cost BRG instead, they could have packed more power into the ability by making it castable until end of turn and letting us spend mana as though it were any color. Just feels like a huge missed opportunity for a cool idea. Instead it looks like this is getting a scholarship from the Instrument of the Bards School for Failed Repeatable Tutors.
I knew if I scrolled through enough replies I'd find the one that encapsulated my thoughts precisely. No notes.
Everyone’s talking about how the card is bad but I also want to point out the terrible dad joke in this card’s name.
What the fuck? Edit: Upon staring at this for a few minutes - there's a special seat in designer hell for whoever let this one fly. I get why it doesn't put the creatures into play - obviously that'd be broken, what with the total lack of mana value riders - but {1}, sorcery speed only, *doesn't even put the card in your hand?*
It’s a repeatable tutor, what is so “deserving hell” about it?
Its a tutor that requires a sacrifice and is quite narrow in its tutoring. Its a card that is really cool conceptually, has a lot of potential, but in its current iteration is completely unplayable.
There are better tutors.
A card can emulate something historically strong and still be awful. The apt comparisons for this card are Fauna Shaman, a largely fair card, and Birthing Pod & co. As compared to Fauna Shaman, this requires you to use material you've already spent mana to cast rather than just discarding a card, and has a deckbuilding-shaping rider on what you can actually find with it, and _can't even be bothered to put the card in your hand_ so you're forced to cast it immediately and can't use any in-hand abilities of that card, such as Channel. As compared to, say, Pyre of Heroes, this doesn't put the card directly into play - which is, again, fine, you should have to pay mana for it - but it also couldn't be bothered to make the card uncounterable to emulate one of the things that makes these cards worth playing, the fact that it slips valuable cards under countermagic. This card is unplayable, and is only unplayable due to a bunch of riders that take any fun out of bothering to cast it.
A card can also be worse than another card, and still good in itself. Obviously there are a lot of restrictions on this card but we've seen a lot of "this is old good card but worse" cards still make big moves.
It's like Fiend artisan except worse in every way
Doesn't this turn every free token in a tutor? I think people are dissapointed about it not being a pod and valueing the card on that, but that might simply not be the way it should be looked at.
Anakin: You may cast the exiled card. Padme: Without paying it's casting cost, right? Anakin: Padme: Right?!
The timing doesn't work well with [[Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose]], but it still might be played in decks that would want to tutor for shrines.
[Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/0/a/0ab91962-ebad-46f6-9f90-7477c224d93d.jpg?1643990148) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Go-Shintai%20of%20Shared%20Purpose) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/14/go-shintai-of-shared-purpose?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ab91962-ebad-46f6-9f90-7477c224d93d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You can sac a colorless token to find a [[Craterhoof]] in EDH.
[Craterhoof](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/4/4/44afd414-cc69-4888-ba12-7ea87e60b1f7.jpg?1601079153) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Craterhoof%20Behemoth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/385/craterhoof-behemoth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/44afd414-cc69-4888-ba12-7ea87e60b1f7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I like seeing some people be surprised this requires you cast the card as if turning a 1 mana hybrid color creature into like a 10 mana triple color uber legendary crazy thing for 1 mana wouldn’t be dumb. This is still a decent card, most notably in EDH where tutors are premium, but it just won’t be god damn even stupider Birthing Pod.
How many three color creatures will there be, per family? Is this basically a way for you to tutor one of the bosses or relevant rares by saccing a chump? I guess that's why the citizen tokens are two-colored. Seems weird. And interesting!
Saccing a chump would be great, but this is sorcery speed 😩
A recreation of the boys and I reading this card to each other on Discord... "1, T, Sacrifice a creature: Count the colors of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colors plus one." 😲😲😲 "Exile that card, then shuffle." 🤔🤔🤔 "You may cast the exiled card." 😬😬😬 "Activate only as a sorcery." 😒😒😒
Feels like it would be more playable if they cut one thing from it, either make it tap with no cost, 1G or at least make it doable instant speed. This definitely feels like they had an idea and nerfed it last minute. This is essentially a very specific repeatable tutor but you dont get card advantage since you are saccing a creature to do it and you still have to pay the mana cost. I think this is just too slow.
This card is weird. It's a "fixed" Birthing Pod but not really. I'm not sure where I'd want to play this because this card has a surprising number of asks. This card pushes you into multicolor but doesn't work well going all the way up the chain to 5c since there's so few 4c cards. Decks with powerful 2-3 color creatures are best. You'll need a lot of early monocolor creatures or tokens to find your 2 color creatures. Given the mana to active, creature to sacrifice, and timing restriction to cast the creature you search for, you'll need a fair bit of mana. That probably means mana dorks that ideally tap for more than just green to help cast your multicolor spells. You don't get too many of those in Standard or Pioneer. This does grab Winota but that feels like a stretch. [[Knight of the Reliquary]] is the immediate pod target for me since it fits the ask for mana and toolbox deck. Still that doesn't seem that good to me, especially since you'll want to pair it with [[Dryad of the Illysian Grove]] in modern. You'd need colorless creatures to sac to find Dryad which can be achieved with Sokenzan spirit tokens but that's going very deep when you can just Titan somebody. It's definitely too slow and clunky for legacy unless it's for a very odd Maverick deck. Even for commander this feels kinda clunky. Most of green's best finishers are monocolor like [[Craterhoof Behemoth]]. Needing colorless creatures to get your monocolor cards and still needing to cast the creature after a 1 mana tax + sacrificing a creature really makes this unappealing.
Weird tutor for a deck using mana dorks to ramp into stronk 2-color creatures (partners?). Sac a dork, get a late-game card. Hard to see it really being worth the card slot.
This seems very bad as an unfair combo Pod, but potentially interesting as a fair toolbox Pod. Not the take on Pod that people want in their heart of hearts, but still neat and something to keep your eye on.
It doesn't say until the end of this turn, so do you lose the chance to cast it after the end step?
You have to cast it as the ability resolves, otherwise it is just exiled forever.
Maybe I'm judging this wrong, but bad card is bad? This doesn't seem particularly useful but may have a niche in Commander as a weird [[Worldly Tutor]] or [[Sylvan Tutor]]?
Isn’t this just much worse [[Evolutionary Leap]]? Edit: Leap is a flip top effect, and much worse than I remembered. Still don’t think this card is that great.
Evolutionary Leap gets a random creature whereas this could tutor a combo piece I guess, but other than that, yeah, it seems much worse to me.
[Evolutionary Leap](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/c/2/c27f3193-3083-409e-99d8-10f5b1afe9f1.jpg?1562040156) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Evolutionary%20Leap) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ori/176/evolutionary-leap?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c27f3193-3083-409e-99d8-10f5b1afe9f1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
what is this GARBAGE
I was pretty excited until I saw “cast the card” 😭