Mistcutter Hydra

[xouman]

Mistcutter Hydra    xg
Creature — Hydra    Rare
Mistcutter Hydra can't be countered.
Haste, protection from blue
Mistcutter Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.
Illus. Ryan Pancoast   0/0


I don't think it would be played at all (in which deck can we play it?), but it's quite nice against blue decks. Cannot be bounced with jace, chumpblocked with snapcaster, and provided you have a good amount of mana it can be a solid finisher. But unless you are playing elves (I think there are better finishers) or a channel deck (a deck around a restricted card? LOL), this is unplayable.

[Saya]

XG for X/X seems a bit heavier.I require the card to be X+1/X+1

[tribet]

That's it boys, I'm out of there! Channel/Fireball is now officially dead!  

[Guli]

I find this card interesting. As far as I know Uncounterability and Haste with pro Blue hasn't been done before. It could go in Human Cavern and you don't need to use a Cavern naming its type (but the cavern can help pumping it). Like the way Decay was used, it is still uncounterable. Never a bad card to topdeck in mid game were you want to close the game fast. With full mox, Deathrite and Noble, you can make this bolt proof (on top of being Jace proof).

Cons: Explosives, Plow, Decay can take care of it. Limited evasion.

I think it can be a 1 off in a deck with Imperial Recruiter around. You can set it up by fetching it and since it has haste and can not be countered, it opens up quick beat down options.

[tribet]

Yes Guli, it's an other interesting creature and it will see some play in Fish decks. Do we really need to state the obvious?

IMHO, this guy is designed as a combo card. Stuff like Channel/Lich's Mirror combo are really tickling me again.

[xouman]

Well, Guli has been a bit more specific. He's right that in a deck built around caverns and with decent acceleration, this hydra can be the late finisher, filling the role of an uncounterable tarmo (much more expensive, but we are talking about mid-late game) with some ups.

Still, to take good advantage of it, a deck should be capable of play it for 4G at least, buy preferably 6G and more. If you are having 3-4 mana at most, exava is a better option.

A combo deck seems the best place, but outside Channel I cannot think a great combination. And is it better than a hardcasted emrakul for 15+ mana?

[AmbivalentDuck]

And is it better than a hardcasted emrakul for 15+ mana?

Wrong question.
Better question: If I can reliably produce a huge pile of colorless mana, what's the best sink for it?

It's not as though Monolith/Power Artifact combos are running rampant right now. And the reason for that is most definitely not, "We don't have good sinks for colorless mana at present."

Best question: Why isn't generating a very large amount of colorless mana and then spending it a viable strategy in Vintage?

[evouga]

Because that requires both generating the mana, and finding the sink. To be a two-card combo that means you need a one-card way of generating large amounts of mana. There's Channel, which is restricted, and...?

Once you start talking about Power Artifact + Basalt Monolith, etc, you're in the realm of three-card combos, which are generally too fragile and difficult to assemble to bother with in Vintage.

[evouga]

As for this creature in particular, I can get a 4/4 uncounterable, haste, pro-blue for 4G. Is that really better than a ~4/5 for 1G? Haste is nice, but in a Caverns-based deck the uncounterability is rather moot...

[vaughnbros]

This is definitely an interesting card although it is unlikely to see play.  

This does bring about the question of how powerful does a X spell have to be in order to be vintage playable?  I don't think we can honestly expect a creature to get more powerful and relevant abilities to our format.

[Samoht]

This is definitely an interesting card although it is unlikely to see play.  

This does bring about the question of how powerful does a X spell have to be in order to be vintage playable?  I don't think we can honestly expect a creature to get more powerful and relevant abilities to our format.

It's fine. Mana Drain likes this card a lot.

[TheShop]

This guy massacres jace.  I am betting it will see very little vintage play, but in legacy...seems solid as a 1 or 2-of.

[StanleyAugust]

This won't see vintage play at all outside some obscure unpowered list that will suck hard.

[MaximumCDawg]

Guys, why are you even looking at this dork?  It's not playable.  Consider the comparison to any other creatures actually played in Vintage...

1G: 1/1 haste, pro blue, no counter =COMPARED TO= 1G: Tarmogoyf (is huge), that frog creature from RTR.
2G: 2/2 haste, pro blue, no counter =COMPARED TO= 2G: Elvish Spirit Guide (2/2 makes mana)
3G: 3/3 Haste, pro blue, no counter =COMPARED TO= 3G: I dunno, Garruk?

This guy is solidly on-curve at all mana costs.  He's a grey ogre and a hill giant.  At no point is he more than marginally better than any other creature at that mana cost.  The flexibility is worth something, sure, but not in Vintage.

He has one potential application, as a finisher for infinite-mana combos that cannot be countered, but - tragically - Hydra does not have trample.  So he'll be chumped.  Good luck with that.

I guess since Akron Horse got it's own thread, the whole set is fair game, huh?

[Saya]

conclusion:just play skylasher

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Well, in the next month it looks like I will have at least one really funny mana drain. If for no other reason just to tell people about it.

[Onslaught]

For whatever reason my brain parsed this as also having Flash, and I was ready to reply saying how crazy everyone was for sleeping on how good it was. Oops!

[Guli]

Yes Guli, it's an other interesting creature and it will see some play in Fish decks. Do we really need to state the obvious?

IMHO, this guy is designed as a combo card. Stuff like Channel/Lich's Mirror combo are really tickling me again.

I don't state many cards as interesting, so when I do, you better pay attention.  I try to be clear and to the point, not the same thing as stating the obvious. In fact, when I read articles of Vintage I also get this feeling of "I already know this, well that was obvious"... But I still understand why it must be written and still enjoy reading. A more detailed analysis was not possible at that given time, because we didn't get to test it yet. But my predictions have been somewhat confirmed by Brian, a highly skilled pilot, who has been doing some tests and says the card is GOOD for exactly the reasons I said when it first was spoiled. I ordered a couple, and will try them.

[Stormanimagus]

Yes Guli, it's an other interesting creature and it will see some play in Fish decks. Do we really need to state the obvious?

IMHO, this guy is designed as a combo card. Stuff like Channel/Lich's Mirror combo are really tickling me again.

I don't state many cards as interesting, so when I do, you better pay attention.  I try to be clear and to the point, not the same thing as stating the obvious. In fact, when I read articles of Vintage I also get this feeling of "I already know this, well that was obvious"... But I still understand why it must be written and still enjoy reading. A more detailed analysis was not possible at that given time, because we didn't get to test it yet. But my predictions have been somewhat confirmed by Brian, a highly skilled pilot, who has been doing some tests and says the card is GOOD for exactly the reasons I said when it first was spoiled. I ordered a couple, and will try them.

I think this guy will shine in fish decks that don't WANT to have access to Cavern:

1. Decks like the winning BUG fish lists that need a high fetch count to find basic swamp for Snuff Out.

2. More traditional Noble Fish lists with Daze.

The fact that he is just uncounterable and can be scaled up as the game goes deeper is a huge bonus. Sure you can play him for 5 as a 4/4 but you can also play him for 2 as a 1/1 in a pinch. That sort of flexibility is one huge reason he is good. Also, he only flips for 1 damage to a bob and that is not irrelevant in the BUG fish lists at all. I would absolutely run this guy in that shell as my finisher and answer to Big Jace decks.

Neat card!

-Storm

[kwis]

As Smmennen and Kevin mentioned in SMIP, from a t1 hierarch (off cavern), this kills a jace on t3. That is really good, I think.