[Single Card Discussion/Ideas] Storm Entity

[Stamford]

From MTGSalvation forum boards,

Storm Entity
Creature - Elemental (TS) 
Haste
Storm Entity comes into play with a +1/+1 counter for each other spell played this turn.
1/1

Ok, at first look, why do you want to play this over Empty the Warrens?

Disadvantages:
Dies to Swords to Plowshares
Dies to Chain of Vapor / Echoing Truth / bounce.
Can be blocked by Dark Confidant, Goblin Welder and other weenies.
Will never be bigger than a Darksteel Colossus.

Advantages:
2 mana ----- 1R is the easier to get than Empty the Warrens
It has haste.
It is unexpected damage, meaning if your opponent has a Necro or something down, just redrew his hand and got down to 4 life and was thinking that he would not die during your turn as you only have 3 cards in hand. ( Narrow example, i know it is.)

Those are the adavantages at surface value.

My own opinions ----
In a Control-Combo or whatever deck, you could essentially just go, Land, Mox, Mox, Storm Entity.
This would give you a 3/3 beater while you still have cards in your hand. Granted it does not seem like much, a 3/3 beater could stall against Fish, serve as a 6 turn clock against your opponent just like Dark Confidant while you restock your hand and board position in such a way that your opponent cannot recover fast enough to stop the 3/3.

In a long drawn-out match between two control decks, especially after a mainphase counterwar, you could just drop Storm entity as a 2/3-turn clock, (remember it has haste) and hopefully, win the game before your opponent can recover. It will most likely be a 6/6 after such a war and would kill as fast as a DSC. DSC kills in 3 turns technically, from the turn you play it. So does Storm Entity with haste.

Alternatively,
We have seen UB Fish and SS flying around, and recently, UWB SuperFish, which packs Jotun Grunt and possibly MM.

Why not a UR Fish or URB Fish with Storm Entity, together with an Erayo-lock?
Storm Entity could be cast as early as turn 1-2 with the help of Moxen/artifacts, and easily as a 4/4 or 5/5.
Furthermore, it attacks the moment it enters and that means a 1-turn faster clock.
It also gives you more reason to pack Moxen and run the Erayo Lock as with Storm Entity, you now have 8 chances of utilising your fast mana more efficiently.
We have seen Jotun Grunt as a good beater.
Most of the time, it is cast earliest turn 3, in order to have enough cards in both graveyards to feed it. (Unless you are playing vs Ichorid/Graveyard reliant decks.)
However, Storm Entity can be cast anytime, and in the worst case scenario, as a topdeck, you can always make it a 2/2 with haste.

Looks good? I think its a hidden gem and could work particularly well in Fish variants with Erayo-locks.

Discuss!

[GrandpaBelcher]

I want to try this out in the sideboard of one-land Belcher as a Wishable threat.  That would up the threat count to twelve (4 Belcher, four Warrens, Wheel, Jar, and now two Living Wishes) and further reduce the need for tutors and therefore other colors.

Imagine a play like this:  Mox, Land Grant for Taiga, Rite of Flame, pitch Elvish Spirit Guide, Living Wish, Storm Entity at 5/5.  Not too shabby.  It might not be as threatening as Belcher, but it's probably comprable to EtW.  5/5 seems about average for this guy in Belcher, and obviously it could be a lot more.  The best part is that Belcher, EtW, and this guy all cost the same reasonable amount of mana.

Also you could side two or three in against Fish.

Actually, I could see some people preferring this guy's size to EtW's quantity.  If everyone's packing hate to multiple 1/1 dorks, they might have trouble handling a 5/5 or 6/6 beatstick.  Not to mention that it's two mana cheaper.  And the way it's worded here, I'm not sure if it's affected by Stifle.

[desolutionist]

I don't think this card has any other applications.  For two mana, you can just play a Jotun Grunt.  If you ever get Storm higher than 3, you're better off just playing Empty the Warrens or Tendrils.  (I also don't think a 3+x/3+x is ever problematic for any deck)

[BreathWeapon]

I've done a lot of testing with this card, and one of the things people have to take into consideration with it is that it can be cast on the same turn as Goblin Charbelcher and Empty the Warrens, so while the average seems like it should be about 4 to make it a 5/5 or so, it really gets closer to a 7/7 after everything else is all said and done with.


Also, remember, that this thing can be cast for 1R after a Draw 7, which is nothing with Simian Spirit Guide and Moxen in this deck, and it becomes a turn one 10/10 haste one turn clock of total ass whooping.

In R/g/u Belcher with Living Wish, this card would be a total house (keep in mind I've only really tested him in Legacy, but you can find my thread over on TheSource).

[A.-1.]

Like Lochnivar said the card is correctly worded without the Storm mechanic and reminder text. It is not vulnerable to Stifle like EtW and it costs two less.
3 spells played this turn:  Entity 4/4, 8 damage over 2 turns (haste)....EtW eight 1/1s, 8 damage over 2 turns (non-haste), etc.
They both do the same amount of damage versus a deck running no creatures. It seems like a perfectly good card either maindeck or sideboard for Belcher decks.

Edit:  spelling

[Mana Duane]

OK so it dodges stifle but it is vulnerable to counter spells! One of the things that makes storm so strong is that it is uncounterable. I don't think the question is whether we want one big creature or lots of Goblin tokens but rather whether we want an uncounterable win condition or not and (as far as I'm concerned) that's a very easy decision to make.
Also are we sure it even dodges stifle? I could see it worded: "When storm entity comes into play put a 1/1 counter on it for each other spell played this turn"

[Disburden]

This guy just seems more vunerable than any of the goblin tokens Empty the Warrens creates. Wasn't Colossus pushed aside because he was one big fat target for removal? I know he was more of a dead card than this dude, but once the're both on the board they become the same basic target to STP and every single bounce spell imaginable. I would much rather effect the board by creating multiple 1/1 Goblins than having one guy sit there that is a 5/5 Counterable bounce target. Also, why waste a living Wish for this guy when you could create Goblins or find a very useful out Versus deck X?

[IceOaks]

Jus a thought of mine...
According to what i know, there are many cards that can deal with a single monster creature but when u have 20 goblin tokens, there is only one easy-to-cast card that can deal with it, which is Echoing Truth, and if i'm not wrong, few decks play it main board, or at least in my meta game.

I know there are other cards such as Massacre, but the fact that to play this monster or ETW, u'd be playing red, and few decks mix red n white. This means to cast Massacre, one would have to hard cast this sorcery, and its casting cost is rather high, so if i were able to come up with a plan to summon a 6/6 Entity, i'd rather have 10 tokens. Harder to deal with.

I guess an early Storm Entity would help greatly but think about it, the decks that would play this, would be storm decks and storm decks play quite few kill cons. You'd probably need about 3-4 of this creature to make a difference, and there is simply no space to fit this creature in.

[Stamford]

Jus a thought of mine...
According to what i know, there are many cards that can deal with a single monster creature but when u have 20 goblin tokens, there is only one easy-to-cast card that can deal with it, which is Echoing Truth, and if i'm not wrong, few decks play it main board, or at least in my meta game.

I know there are other cards such as Massacre, but the fact that to play this monster or ETW, u'd be playing red, and few decks mix red n white. This means to cast Massacre, one would have to hard cast this sorcery, and its casting cost is rather high, so if i were able to come up with a plan to summon a 6/6 Entity, i'd rather have 10 tokens. Harder to deal with.

I guess an early Storm Entity would help greatly but think about it, the decks that would play this, would be storm decks and storm decks play quite few kill cons. You'd probably need about 3-4 of this creature to make a difference, and there is simply no space to fit this creature in.

Alternatively, you can try fitting it in a Fish deck which uses moxen and lotus like SS.
It can be played, as mentioned in the first post in greater detail, together with Erayo so as to maximise the advantages of running moxen.

It can make UR Fish possible and possibly be the Jotun Grunt of UR Fish, with the only difference that it is going to be able to be played on turn 1-2 and with Haste, which means a much, much faster clock as compared to Jotun Grunts.

[twault]

I think this could work in Belcher. It's a nice wishable target for the sideboard. If you happen to cast Belcher and it get's countered, you can use any remaining mana for Living Wish and cast Storm Entity. I wouldn't play this instead of ETW, but I'd use it in addition to it. After all, Living Wish is already used in most of the new builds anyway, so giving up a sideboard slot isn't that bad, especially when your game plan needs an adjustment.

[IceOaks]

Jus a thought of mine...
According to what i know, there are many cards that can deal with a single monster creature but when u have 20 goblin tokens, there is only one easy-to-cast card that can deal with it, which is Echoing Truth, and if i'm not wrong, few decks play it main board, or at least in my meta game.

I know there are other cards such as Massacre, but the fact that to play this monster or ETW, u'd be playing red, and few decks mix red n white. This means to cast Massacre, one would have to hard cast this sorcery, and its casting cost is rather high, so if i were able to come up with a plan to summon a 6/6 Entity, i'd rather have 10 tokens. Harder to deal with.

I guess an early Storm Entity would help greatly but think about it, the decks that would play this, would be storm decks and storm decks play quite few kill cons. You'd probably need about 3-4 of this creature to make a difference, and there is simply no space to fit this creature in.

Alternatively, you can try fitting it in a Fish deck which uses moxen and lotus like SS.
It can be played, as mentioned in the first post in greater detail, together with Erayo so as to maximise the advantages of running moxen.

It can make UR Fish possible and possibly be the Jotun Grunt of UR Fish, with the only difference that it is going to be able to be played on turn 1-2 and with Haste, which means a much, much faster clock as compared to Jotun Grunts.

Ok... Hmm... I'm not a fish player so I can't really comment much but according to a fishy friend of mine, he told me that the main thing about a fish deck is such that each creature has an ability that contributes to the synergy of the deack and bites at the same time. This creature has no other purpose other than to beat, so I don't really think it'll be quite a good fit in fish...

[Stamford]

Jus a thought of mine...
According to what i know, there are many cards that can deal with a single monster creature but when u have 20 goblin tokens, there is only one easy-to-cast card that can deal with it, which is Echoing Truth, and if i'm not wrong, few decks play it main board, or at least in my meta game.

I know there are other cards such as Massacre, but the fact that to play this monster or ETW, u'd be playing red, and few decks mix red n white. This means to cast Massacre, one would have to hard cast this sorcery, and its casting cost is rather high, so if i were able to come up with a plan to summon a 6/6 Entity, i'd rather have 10 tokens. Harder to deal with.

I guess an early Storm Entity would help greatly but think about it, the decks that would play this, would be storm decks and storm decks play quite few kill cons. You'd probably need about 3-4 of this creature to make a difference, and there is simply no space to fit this creature in.

Alternatively, you can try fitting it in a Fish deck which uses moxen and lotus like SS.
It can be played, as mentioned in the first post in greater detail, together with Erayo so as to maximise the advantages of running moxen.

It can make UR Fish possible and possibly be the Jotun Grunt of UR Fish, with the only difference that it is going to be able to be played on turn 1-2 and with Haste, which means a much, much faster clock as compared to Jotun Grunts.

Ok... Hmm... I'm not a fish player so I can't really comment much but according to a fishy friend of mine, he told me that the main thing about a fish deck is such that each creature has an ability that contributes to the synergy of the deack and bites at the same time. This creature has no other purpose other than to beat, so I don't really think it'll be quite a good fit in fish...

In certain fish builds, Jotun Grunt is ran, mainly as a fat beater and as a solution to GY-abusing decks.

In other fish builds, Isamaru and Savannah Lions are ran mainly to speed up the clock and have a faster game before control is out of their hands.

There are mainly two variants of Fish.
1) Fish with artifact mana.
This fish normally wants to get out an early Erayo flipped or get out an early Dimir Cutpurse or Dark Confidant coupled with countermagic to out-card advantage the opponent and eventually winning. It could also play Jotun Grunt as a beater to speed up the clock. This fish is weak to other fish or aggro decks however due to the creatures being too focused on gaining card advantage and dealing against Control/Combo decks. It also plays Null Rod.

2) Fish without artifact mana.
This fish does not play much artifact mana except for the moxen in colour and lotus. It plays Isamaru and Savannah Lions and/or Meddling Mage or Grim lavamancer if its blue. The mian point of this deck is to win with control still in their hands before the control/combo opponent gains enough long term advantage to win.

[mulder]

It doesn't trample and can be chumped till eternity :-/ . Warrens tokens are more difficult to block. Besides, this card dies to every creature removal card available. Duplicant, Swords, Chain of Vapor, Edict, ...

[Almighty]

I think this is one of those cards you will scarcely see in the Top 8, but will have no problem knocking out people who underestimated it in the early rounds.

[ShamanBen]

I am completely behind running it as a wish target in R/G belcher, as there are many times I would love for living wish to be a threat. It by no means replaces or overshadows belcher and EtW, but it is a nice addition and has some advantages. No room in the main, but not a bad option for certain momentary situations. There were three times in tournament play today that I wished I had something to get with living wish.

[SiegeX]

Also are we sure it even dodges stifle? I could see it worded: "When storm entity comes into play put a 1/1 counter on it for each other spell played this turn"

Yes, it for sure dodges Stifle as this is an ASCIP (As Comes Into Play) effect which is a specific type of replacement effect, not triggered (or activated for that matter.)  See rule 419.6i if you're interested.