Sadly I do not have Strangleroot Geist. Fortunately I got a playset of Young Wolf "Who's a good boy?!"
Oatbran
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Slightly broken with undying... They also made this guildmage so cheap ability wise. I'm slightly afraid of green commons and uncommons.
drpvfx
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
First ability + Woodfall Primus + free, repeatable sac outlet (like Phyrexian Altar) = destroy every unprotected noncreature permanent you want to + gain a crapload of life. Also great for abusing Glen Elendra Archmage.
Granted, this already worked with Melira, Sylvok Outcast, but it's nice to have some redundancy for EDH.
Still, it's nice they made another card that abuses both Persist *and* Undying... we really needed that, right? ;)
Synergy with undying and persist, as well as the entire simic combine for cheap, he will replace of my Sage of Fables in the right decks.
Flyheight
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Card draw, card draw and MORE card draw! That's all Simic does is draw you cards (and win you the game with huge creatures). Oh and he combos with one of my favorite other fatties: sphinx of magosi (although admittedly lorescale coatl is better). Oooh....eheheheh...eheheheh....ehhhheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ooze Flux. >=3
Oh yeah. And his art rocks. Sooooo pretty.
Curlie-Joe
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
loves it
.Blaze.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite of the Gatecrash guildmages. So many things you can do, but so little time.
Purplerooster
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The Indian Giver of 1/1 counters.
dberry02
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I feel this card may be a little overrated. You're still paying the mana cost of creatures plus UG, which will make your creatures really expensive. The draw effect isn't that bad, but if you plan on putting counters on your creatures to draw, it's still going to cost GGUU for one card.
This card would go great with creatures that enter the battlefield with counters already on them. That, with the fact that this creature is a 2/2 for GU makes this a really solid 2 drop in my opinion. I give this card a 3.5/5.
ThinkOriginal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Compare to the art of Quirion Dryad. They were destined to be run together; the synergy is just overwhelming.
_Wicker_
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
No one's posted the synergy with Fathom Mage? Take a counter off fathom mage to draw while making it weaker so it evoves and you draw again. Good stuff.
Also if you have extra mana and nothing to do with it you can pump up cheap creatures multiple times before you cast them.
don_miguel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
well i might be losing something but does the first ability make persist creatures being sacrificed infinite times?? i mean murdeous redcap and sac = instant win??? that must be wrong
This thing is probably one of the best, if not the best, Guildmage. Remove a counter for a card? Worth every penny.
is5
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait this guy DOES play nice with Evolve; well now I know my win condition for my Simic/Azorious control deck.
Enemy_Tricolor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dear god. Run this and Ooze Flux together in a deck, and the undying abuse will be legendary.
SRSFACE
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
@dberry02:
You've got to think outside the box. That first ability + any Cloudshift mechanic means not only are you shifting your dude out of combat or whatever, it'll rejoin with more counters. It also syncs well with Thragtusk because if they play a board wipe and you've got mana open, the token you're about to spawn is going to be way bigger.
The second ability is where this card shines, though. It essentially gives any creature with undying "Regenerate (U)(G). Draw a Card." Maintaining hand advantage while making your undying guys truly undying? Sounds like a winner to me. He's begging to be built around and unlike other guild mages, the deck that does so is viable in standard.
He's a solid 4/5 from me.
Osprey_93
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was kinda hoping before Ravnica released that all the new guildmages would actually have their own guilds keyword ability, though it's obvious why that wouldn't work given what the abilities actually are now.
But if this guy had Evolve, he'd be broken... and it would be magical.
Shalberus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is excellent for making a cheaper and faster deck viable late game. The top ability shines the most when your deck is comprised of nearly all 1 or 2 mana creatures with evolve. Because it is cheap, it can come down early game, and it means that there is a direct correlation between the amount of lands you control and the strength/toughness of your creatures. Excellent with ramp in this regard as well. 4.5 out of 5 in my book, when you take that into consideration.
Okay, for Friday night tournaments, I have been told by two people how his first ability works and I want some clarification.
When creatures enter into play with an additional counter, the counters stay on. Is this correct? I have been told they only enter with the counters, and they are gone after your turn. At least with Zameck's ability. Thank you.
icetiberon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Chand, whoever told you that the counters left eot, doesn't know what they are talking about. They stay on until an effect, or spell would say otherwise (e.g. His second ability). This card would be unplayable if the counters didn't remain. I would google rule assertions these FNM players make to you in the future or ask a real judge.
I am hoping this card makes it in the meta in the future, but currently it is just too slow, and mana intensive. Often you are forced to block with him in aggro decks before abusing his effect. It's a shame because I think he's the best designed guild mage of the block.
Gamecat23
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wrote this card off when the set dropped, but as others have pointed out, Zameck and Undying are just sick. It's essentially a reusable Think Twice + Regenerate creature and untap it in response to any damage or destroy effects. 4 of these with 4 Young Wolf and 4 Strangleroot Geist is a pretty good start to any Simic deck.
MasterBlaster74
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
people complaining about this card being too mana intensive are missing out on how to play this guy. use mostly low cmc creatures with unleash, evolve, undying, morbid, bloodthirst, graft, or even modular to maximize the effect.
a very good card and underestimated by lots of players.
4/5
orzhov20
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
master of waves why should my tokens have to die when their creator does?
jonrds
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh hey look, it's Sage of fables! Sage is better for wizards (since you dont have to activate the first ability) and is much less color intensive (and mono blue), but this comes out a turn earlier and can hit any creature type (making it much more abusable with persist for anything other than glen). It can even activate its first ability multiple times for multiple counters. Both can be quite fun with undying too (although colorless activation cost really helps sage for things like ashnod's altar shenanigans).
baseballdude32
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card would be insane with M14's Kalonian Hydra and just about any hydra card for that matter.
Goff2000
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Excellent Simic card, lots of synergy with all types of play but works especially well with Evolve. Downside is, he's mana intensive but hey, he's in green so no biggie.
Works well with Undying, but I'm not sure about Persist as some commentator's have suggested. Part of the cost is to remove a +1/+1 counter, persist gives -1/-1 counters. It's not possible to pay this cost with a -1/-1 counter I would have thought?
Comments (35)
Fortunately I got a playset of Young Wolf
"Who's a good boy?!"
destroy every unprotected noncreature permanent you want to + gain a crapload of life.
Also great for abusing Glen Elendra Archmage.
Granted, this already worked with Melira, Sylvok Outcast, but it's nice to have some redundancy for EDH.
Still, it's nice they made another card that abuses both Persist *and* Undying... we really needed that, right? ;)
Oooh....eheheheh...eheheheh....ehhhheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ooze Flux. >=3
Oh yeah. And his art rocks. Sooooo pretty.
This card would go great with creatures that enter the battlefield with counters already on them. That, with the fact that this creature is a 2/2 for GU makes this a really solid 2 drop in my opinion. I give this card a 3.5/5.
Also if you have extra mana and nothing to do with it you can pump up cheap creatures multiple times before you cast them.
You've got to think outside the box. That first ability + any Cloudshift mechanic means not only are you shifting your dude out of combat or whatever, it'll rejoin with more counters. It also syncs well with Thragtusk because if they play a board wipe and you've got mana open, the token you're about to spawn is going to be way bigger.
The second ability is where this card shines, though. It essentially gives any creature with undying "Regenerate (U)(G). Draw a Card." Maintaining hand advantage while making your undying guys truly undying? Sounds like a winner to me. He's begging to be built around and unlike other guild mages, the deck that does so is viable in standard.
He's a solid 4/5 from me.
But if this guy had Evolve, he'd be broken... and it would be magical.
When creatures enter into play with an additional counter, the counters stay on. Is this correct? I have been told they only enter with the counters, and they are gone after your turn. At least with Zameck's ability. Thank you.
I am hoping this card makes it in the meta in the future, but currently it is just too slow, and mana intensive. Often you are forced to block with him in aggro decks before abusing his effect. It's a shame because I think he's the best designed guild mage of the block.
I run 4 of these in my Gatecrash evolve deck and it is really powerful. I run it with Cloudfin Raptor, Experiment One, Shambleshark, Elusive Krasis and Fathom Mage. even those little creatures get big in the late game thanks to this guildmage.
a very good card and underestimated by lots of players.
4/5
Sage is better for wizards (since you dont have to activate the first ability) and is much less color intensive (and mono blue), but this comes out a turn earlier and can hit any creature type (making it much more abusable with persist for anything other than glen). It can even activate its first ability multiple times for multiple counters. Both can be quite fun with undying too (although colorless activation cost really helps sage for things like ashnod's altar shenanigans).
Works well with Undying, but I'm not sure about Persist as some commentator's have suggested. Part of the cost is to remove a +1/+1 counter, persist gives -1/-1 counters. It's not possible to pay this cost with a -1/-1 counter I would have thought?
Makes up for the underwhelming Simic Guildmage at least.