Sometimes, however, the aesthetic desire for mirroring doesn’t translate into equal card power or equally compelling gameplay. Mercenaries versus Rebels in Mercadian Masques are a perfect example of mirroring gone wrong.
Rebels, which search up the mana chain, do everything right. If you resolve a lowly Ramosian Sergeant on turn 1, in the span of a few turns you can be attacking your opponent with anything from a Jhoval Queen to a Chameleon Colossus to a Deranged Hermit (thanks to Skyshroud Poacher), all without ever playing another spell. Rebels defined a format and won a Pro Tour.
Mercenaries did it all backwards. They searched down the mana chain, each one only able to get creatures worse than itself. There is no one-mana Mercenary searcher to compare to Ramosian Sergeant--the earliest searcher you could play was this fellow, Cateran Persuader.
Cateran Persuader is a somewhat-hard-to-cast 2/1 that can search for one-mana Mercenaries. Those are Molting Harpy, Rampart Crawler, Soldier of Fortune, and Mothdust Changeling. A lamer crew you’ll never find. Compare that to his Rebel ánalogue, Ramosian Lieutenant, a 1/2. After four turns of searching once you played a Lieutenant, you might control Lin-Sivvi, Defiant Hero; a Ramosian Sky Marshal; and a Jhovall Queen. After the same four turns of searching after you played the Persuader, you’d have something like three Mothdust Changelings and a Molten Harpy. It’s no wonder Mercenaries never went anywhere. God bless Devon Rule for making them at least somewhat interesting in the Great Designer Search.
The only good thing about Cateran Persuader is that his art is one of the Mercenaries that actually feels like, you know, a mercenary. Just look at Death Charmer, Misshapen Fiend, and Skulking Fugitive and ask yourself, “Who would pay money to these idiots?”
Well said Aaron. I think mercenary should at least be able to search WITHOUT tapping, given that they cannot search for bigger threat.
willpell
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
While Mercenaries were not well executed, the idea has potential. Look at Cateran Summons and Cateran Overlord. That's supposed to be the plan, and let's also remember that this was the last set when black got Dark Ritual, and that it had Delraich, which really SHOULD have been a Mercenary. The idea was that while Rebels would slowly promote their "pawns" and build a force over the game, the Evil Empire would lead with their "queen" and back it up with a bunch of disposable mooks.
You know what would have made Mercenaries better? Well first, it might have helped if they weren't called Mercenaries, as that's not exactly a terror-striking name for the Evil Empire's forces; "Oppressors" might have been better (after all, one of the Caterans had that as a name). But more to the point, they should have been able to recruit WITHOUT TAPPING. So they could attack or block while still churning out as many new dorks as you could afford. Ideally combine this with graveyard-reshuffling so that you never run out of goons, and give more and better ways to put a "queen" out early - the net result would eventually be that you'd see Black pursuing a Lord of the Pit-type strategy where you go "all in" with some front-loaded power and then hope that you don't ever default on your contract with the demons by missing a payment.
Now that I think about it, this would make a great archetype for a set of Hive Demon bugs or something. Meanwhile, the actual Mercenaries seem to make more sense in red, which had two of the game's first three Mercenaries in Alliances (the card Mercenaries in Ice Age is harder to justify, but Rogue Skycaptain was PERFECT).
Cheza
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@ Aaron: Mercenaries didn't lose against Rebels because of the mechanic, but because of the stupidity of R&D members to make black creatures weaker than white ones. As if white would have weaker destruction spells or the black reanimation spells were anything close to being overpowered.
And by the way, not rebels have won the Pro-Tour, but Parallax Wave. With this card, you can remove 3 creatures an opponent controls for 3 turns... granting enough time to win with 3 Steadfast Guards.
Rebels have the big problem that although you can play a Ramosian Sergeant, he is a mere 1/1 until you have 3 mana available. It's getting even worse with the Ramosian Lieutenant or Ramosian Captain. By the 5th turn, you'll have one copy of each of them. Quite underwhelming.
The Mercenaries look downwards, but also have low activation cost. Therefore the Cateran Persuader doesn't have to wait for the fourth land until he can use his ability. In the end, you can have more, but maybe weaker creatures. But weakness isn't such a problem, since you still draw cards and cast better cards normally.
With the rebels on the other hand, you won't have mana for casting spells AND using the activated abilities. So this makes you hope for land cards or similar effects (Gaea's Cradle, Mind over Matter or Awakening).
But all this balance was ruined with the print of Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero. Since she only needs 2 mana to look for an Steadfast Guard, she is REALLY powerful.
If I would have been a designer during Masques block, I would have swapped the rebel and mercenary abilities. - Marshalling the Troops = search your library for a rebel card. - Ramosian Foot Soldier = 1/1 First Strike - Defiant Falcon = 1/2 flying, vigilance - Ramosian Crossbowman= 1/1 : deal 1 damage to attacking/blocking creature - Ramosian Seargeant = 2/1 First Strike, search for rebels - Ramosian Skydiver = 2/1 Flying, protection red/black - Ramosian Lieutemant = 2/2, search for rebels, other rebels get +1/+1 u.e.o.t. - Ramosian Captain = 2/3 search for rebels, : target creature gains protection - Ramosian Commander = 2/4, search for rebels, reshuffle rebels from graveyard into lib. - Ramosian Sky Marshal = 3/3 flying, search for rebels, when attacked, untap all creatures y.c.
For the mercenaries, it fits better that they are hidden and underwhelming. More powerful creatures are paid (in form of mana). They are Sleeper Agents, Assassins or Devoted Minions in search for their evil master. They are the footman who try to open a portal, so that the hordes of horror can enter this realm. Therefore a black merc should be like the current rebel:
- Phyrexian Sleeper Agent = 1/1 search for mercs
This is underwelming until you have 3 mana. Only then, he can bribe a brute or "call your master". In this theme, it fits quite well to add cards like Dark Ritual or Blood Vassal, since they allow you to activate the ability much earlier. Abilities that have "discard a card" in their activation or upkeep cost also fit, since you'll draw cards and don't have te mana to activate the ability AND casting the new spell. (see Mercenary Knight, Vampire Hounds or Zombie Infestation). And I would have loved to see an Mercenary version of Soldevi Adnate or a black version of Llanowar Elves, just to be able to ramp up even faster.
All in all, I believe it would have been better for black to ramp up until they finally have the power to call the Archdemon to this world then for rebels to finally reach a Jhovall Queen (by the time you have 7 mana).
LordRandomness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The idea of searching down the chain needed to be backed up with volume. Rebels search up a few powerful "hero" dudes, mercenaries fling dozens of weenies around, that sort of thing. Even just giving any searched Mercenary haste would have gone a long way; you could then proceed to chain all the way down if you had the mana.
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He's not that great... at least for now. But there are some uses most people tend to not think of: - His ability can be used to shuffle your library like Myr Mindservant. Minor function, but it can have some use. - Artificial Evolution can be used to change "Mercenary" into any other type you like. This can turn Cateran Persuader into a useful, cheap one-drop fetcher. Human and Goblin are two good choices for example. Sneak in a Magus of the Vineyard during your opponent's turn and use the mana. Sylvan Safekeeper and Weathered Wayfarer make a nice team as well. It unfortunately relies heavily on Artificial Evolution, so it's too risky in general. You could also use Conspiracy, but there are plenty of other more effective combos for that. But Cateran Persuader might still make a good one-of in a Conspiracy-centered deck.
Comments (11)
I like mirrors in card design--you know, stuff like White Knight and Black Knight, Incremental Growth and Incremental Blight, Mind Spring and Mind Shatter.
Sometimes, however, the aesthetic desire for mirroring doesn’t translate into equal card power or equally compelling gameplay. Mercenaries versus Rebels in Mercadian Masques are a perfect example of mirroring gone wrong.
Rebels, which search up the mana chain, do everything right. If you resolve a lowly Ramosian Sergeant on turn 1, in the span of a few turns you can be attacking your opponent with anything from a Jhoval Queen to a Chameleon Colossus to a Deranged Hermit (thanks to Skyshroud Poacher), all without ever playing another spell. Rebels defined a format and won a Pro Tour.
Mercenaries did it all backwards. They searched down the mana chain, each one only able to get creatures worse than itself. There is no one-mana Mercenary searcher to compare to Ramosian Sergeant--the earliest searcher you could play was this fellow, Cateran Persuader.
Cateran Persuader is a somewhat-hard-to-cast
The only good thing about Cateran Persuader is that his art is one of the Mercenaries that actually feels like, you know, a mercenary. Just look at Death Charmer, Misshapen Fiend, and Skulking Fugitive and ask yourself, “Who would pay money to these idiots?”
You know what would have made Mercenaries better? Well first, it might have helped if they weren't called Mercenaries, as that's not exactly a terror-striking name for the Evil Empire's forces; "Oppressors" might have been better (after all, one of the Caterans had that as a name). But more to the point, they should have been able to recruit WITHOUT TAPPING. So they could attack or block while still churning out as many new dorks as you could afford. Ideally combine this with graveyard-reshuffling so that you never run out of goons, and give more and better ways to put a "queen" out early - the net result would eventually be that you'd see Black pursuing a Lord of the Pit-type strategy where you go "all in" with some front-loaded power and then hope that you don't ever default on your contract with the demons by missing a payment.
Now that I think about it, this would make a great archetype for a set of Hive Demon bugs or something. Meanwhile, the actual Mercenaries seem to make more sense in red, which had two of the game's first three Mercenaries in Alliances (the card Mercenaries in Ice Age is harder to justify, but Rogue Skycaptain was PERFECT).
Mercenaries didn't lose against Rebels because of the mechanic, but because of the stupidity of R&D members to make black creatures weaker than white ones. As if white would have weaker destruction spells or the black reanimation spells were anything close to being overpowered.
And by the way, not rebels have won the Pro-Tour, but Parallax Wave. With this card, you can remove 3 creatures an opponent controls for 3 turns... granting enough time to win with 3 Steadfast Guards.
Rebels have the big problem that although you can play a Ramosian Sergeant, he is a mere 1/1 until you have 3 mana available. It's getting even worse with the Ramosian Lieutenant or Ramosian Captain. By the 5th turn, you'll have one copy of each of them. Quite underwhelming.
The Mercenaries look downwards, but also have low activation cost. Therefore the Cateran Persuader doesn't have to wait for the fourth land until he can use his ability. In the end, you can have more, but maybe weaker creatures. But weakness isn't such a problem, since you still draw cards and cast better cards normally.
With the rebels on the other hand, you won't have mana for casting spells AND using the activated abilities. So this makes you hope for land cards or similar effects (Gaea's Cradle, Mind over Matter or Awakening).
But all this balance was ruined with the print of Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero. Since she only needs 2 mana to look for an Steadfast Guard, she is REALLY powerful.
If I would have been a designer during Masques block, I would have swapped the rebel and mercenary abilities.
For the mercenaries, it fits better that they are hidden and underwhelming. More powerful creatures are paid (in form of mana). They are Sleeper Agents, Assassins or Devoted Minions in search for their evil master. They are the footman who try to open a portal, so that the hordes of horror can enter this realm. Therefore a black merc should be like the current rebel:
This is underwelming until you have 3 mana. Only then, he can bribe a brute or "call your master". In this theme, it fits quite well to add cards like Dark Ritual or Blood Vassal, since they allow you to activate the ability much earlier. Abilities that have "discard a card" in their activation or upkeep cost also fit, since you'll draw cards and don't have te mana to activate the ability AND casting the new spell. (see Mercenary Knight, Vampire Hounds or Zombie Infestation). And I would have loved to see an Mercenary version of Soldevi Adnate or a black version of Llanowar Elves, just to be able to ramp up even faster.
All in all, I believe it would have been better for black to ramp up until they finally have the power to call the Archdemon to this world then for rebels to finally reach a Jhovall Queen (by the time you have 7 mana).
- His ability can be used to shuffle your library like Myr Mindservant. Minor function, but it can have some use.
- Artificial Evolution can be used to change "Mercenary" into any other type you like.
This can turn Cateran Persuader into a useful, cheap one-drop fetcher.
Human and Goblin are two good choices for example.
Sneak in a Magus of the Vineyard during your opponent's turn and use the mana.
Sylvan Safekeeper and Weathered Wayfarer make a nice team as well. It unfortunately relies heavily on Artificial Evolution, so it's too risky in general.
You could also use Conspiracy, but there are plenty of other more effective combos for that. But Cateran Persuader might still make a good one-of in a Conspiracy-centered deck.