[CNS] Brago, King of Eternity

[MTGFan]

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/cards/conspiracy/22487-brago-king-of-eternity

Brago, King of Eternity 2

Legendary Creature - Spirit

Flying

When ~ deals combat damage to a player, exile any number of target nonland permanents you control, then return those cards to the battlefield under their owner's control.

2/4

Recently spoiled commander from the new Conspiracy set. So we already have Restoration Angel, which has proven to be Vintage-playable with CITP guys like Trinket Mage and Vendilion Clique.

Is this better or worse? It doesn't have Flash and it doesn't have an immediate effect like Restoration Angel, but it has the ability to generate long-term card advantage by repeatedly blinking creatures. This is a long term investment - much in the same way that Jace and Dark Confidant don't necessarily generate immediate card advantage, but have the potential to generate enough card advantage over ensuing turns to bury the opponent.

And this isn't limited to blinking creatures either. Brago can blink a Tangle Wire during your turn to reset it before your opponents turn.

I think in some decks this card could be as good as or even better than Restoration Angel. Imagine blinking Trinket Mage twice with two connections from this guy. The 4 toughness protects it from lightning bolt, and the flying ensures it will connect consistently.

[Will]

I think this guy is a lot worse than Restoration Angel in Vintage. My reasoning is that it doesn't do anything when it first comes into play. When Craig Berry and I were first talking about playing Restoration Angel in Vintage last year we equated it to a Nekrataal. Often times, your opponent will swing in with a creature that dies to a 3/4 without thinking about it, which lets you blow them out by flashing in Restoration Angel and blocking. Brago certainly offers more value long term, but his value is contingent upon you having multiple other CIP guys on the battlefield.

My main concern is that this guy does not have Flash and is contingent upon having other creatures on the field. By himself he does nothing, no one is going to swing in with their Dark Confidant when you have this guy out, but they might swing their Dark Confidant into 4 untapped mana and the Restoration Angel in your hand. Being a spirit and a Legend also don't help Brago's case. I think this guy won't see much play if at all in Vintage and will at most be a sub optimal 1 of in a Blue Angels-esque shell.

[Protoaddict]

Angel is hands down better I think. It has an instant effect on the field, plays nicer with counter magic because of flash, has more power, and technically has an easier casting cost though i doubt that is relevant.

While this guys can lead to larger gains overall in a protracted game, if you just X for 1ed your opponent with an angel flash into power of some sort, how much longer is that game realistically going to go? There are not to many practical situations where this card is going to prove itself better than the angel.

[GrandpaBelcher]

When I first started playing with Angel, it did two things that really impressed me:
1) It could be played with Standstill on the stack;
2) It blocked Delver.

Flash is great, even without the Angel's effect.

[diopter]

I'm under the impression Restoration Angel replaced Salvagers in Bomberman because it has a more immediate impact on the board (at the cost of the closing speed of Salvagers).

This card has neither immediate board impact nor closing speed. On its face it seems underwhelming, though I'm sure you should test it.

[Demagoguery]

As others have said, Angel is a lot better.

The blink effect on Angel is more of icing on the cake, that allows you to get extra benefit from your other value creatures. The real benefits to Angel are that it's a flier with a reasonable power and a toughness that gets around Bolt, it can flash in to block something that's attacking in without dying, and it can also flash in and surprise kill a Jace if they didn't fateseal, which is pretty big.

This guy on the other hand is completely all in on the blink plan, which is nice but not the end all be all of Angel. Not only that, but his blink can be negate if needed, since they can block to prevent it.

[diopter]

I think with the flying that if it gets online, the blink plan will be pretty reliable. The question is whether that's actually any good.

[AmbivalentDuck]

One thing that's mildly overlooked: this has amazing interactions with clone effects, Tangle Wire, and planeswalkers.

Ie. Jace twice per turn, reset Tangle Wire to 4. This isn't for critters, this is for super friends.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Does this allow you to untap all your lands too?

I agree it's a different benefit than RestoAngel, but being able to leverage: CIPs, Planeswalkers and using your mana 2x a turn seems worth looking at.  Too bad it doesn't have a better creature type.

[dangerlinto]

Does this allow you to untap all your lands too?

No

"target nonland permanents"

[MTGFan]

But it does allow you to tap Mana Vault / Mana Crypt / Moxen twice in one turn.

This ability could be such a beating if it just connects once - re-use all your artifact mana, reset a Tangle Wire, use Jace a second time, get another artifact with Trinket Mage... all in one turn.

With enough permanents in play, this is almost like a Yawg-Will level of power when it connects. Ok, maybe an exaggeration, for sure, but if you have 3+ permanents that can benefit from blinking (any artifact mana, planeswalkers, tangle wire like effects, CITP guys like Snapcaster / Trinket Mage / Stoneforge Mystic)... that's alot of card / mana advantage in one turn.

[Zeksagmak]

I'm more interested in the return to play trigger.  Does it trigger separately for each thing you exile or can 1 stifle just ruin your day?

[MaximumCDawg]

Getting this guy to trigger is almost as much work as getting Inspired guys to trigger.  At least he flies and he's bigger than most creatures who might consider blocking him.  The ability is nice, I guess, but I don't see a way to transform it into an overwhelming advantage or blowout that you would expect from your 4 drops.  Most of the suggestions in this thread so far amount to using him as a win-more condition with other cards that are just fine on their own (Jace, Wire, Trinket Mage, Snapcaster). 

I suppose it's true that hitting with him while you have a Tiago and Jace on the field is probably game over, since you will bury the opponent in card advantage.  But if you weren't winning with Jace and Tiago on the board already....

[TVand]

I'm more interested in the return to play trigger.  Does it trigger separately for each thing you exile or can 1 stifle just ruin your day?

It's all one single triggered ability which, if it resolves, happens all in a row.  So after he hits someone they could Stifle the trigger, but that would mean you never exiled anything in the first place.  I don't think there's a way to 'strand' the exiled cards - certainly not with Stifle.

[AmbivalentDuck]

I'm more interested in the return to play trigger.  Does it trigger separately for each thing you exile or can 1 stifle just ruin your day?

It's all one single triggered ability which, if it resolves, happens all in a row.  So after he hits someone they could Stifle the trigger, but that would mean you never exiled anything in the first place.  I don't think there's a way to 'strand' the exiled cards - certainly not with Stifle.

Porticullis or the like.

It's also sort of interesting that this guy + Tez lets you fetch and untap Time Vault in the same turn. He functions very like Time Walk with planeswalkers, but it's not clear that he's not win-more in that regard.

[Guli]

I see this:

- Recruitable
- Avoids Bolt and Decay
- Karakas protects it
- Anti Delver/Clique
- Massive Tempo reward
- Spirit is a good type now

And I have been active in Legacy for a while now, and I can say this, it is like wizards printed this card merely for the Vial/Recruiter Human Legacy deck (which isn't really known). Every desired effect has been fit in, the only thing it could have had was being Human, but I have been using Spirit type in my latest design. So it is rather suspicious (strange word choice I know), I feel like being stalked. It is however very positive news for that deck. For Vintage, I think it will be hard to pull off. There are many great cards at 4CC in Vintage.

[gkraigher]

guli,

Could you post a decklist or a link to the deck?  I am curious as to what is in it.  Thalia, Imperial Recruiter? 

I think this ability is certainly exploitable, and it takes a while to construct which makes it both fair and inevitable.  I like it when they print powerful cards that have set up times, with that being said I am happy with this printing, I just don't know what to do with it. 

[Guli]

Example list? It is in my signature at all times.

[ben_berry]

Example list? It is in my signature at all times.

The link doesn't work. Permission to edit denied

[Guli]

Example list? It is in my signature at all times.

The link doesn't work. Permission to edit denied

Sorry it wasn't published. Now it is.

[serracollector]

I like the simetry with meddling mage and clique allowing you to see opponents hand remove one threat then prevent a second with mage. Thats an interesting soft lock.

[MaximumCDawg]

- Recruitable
- Avoids Bolt and Decay
- Karakas protects it
- Anti Delver/Clique
- Massive Tempo reward
- Spirit is a good type now

I love your deck strategies generally, Guli, but most of these points are equally valid if we're talking about Restoration Angel.  The interaction with Karakas and Spirit has yet to be proven valuable, and the "massive tempo" you are talking about is even more situational than the benefit you get with Restoration Angel.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't think you've proven the case for this card yet.

[Guli]

- Recruitable
- Avoids Bolt and Decay
- Karakas protects it
- Anti Delver/Clique
- Massive Tempo reward
- Spirit is a good type now

I love your deck strategies generally, Guli, but most of these points are equally valid if we're talking about Restoration Angel.  The interaction with Karakas and Spirit has yet to be proven valuable, and the "massive tempo" you are talking about is even more situational than the benefit you get with Restoration Angel.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't think you've proven the case for this card yet.

Restoration is a great card in Vintage. But it is not comparable to Brago in a context/deck that has Imperial Recruiter and Captain Sisay with Karakas/Lavinia lock (my legacy reference). I was just going to post my thoughts on 4 casting cost 'bombs' in vintage again. We had a similar discussion in the Human thread already, and we already have this 'dogma' or 'norm' (maybe better) that in Vintage the 4cc spells need to be nearly game winning. The difference between Exava/Thief and Brago is that Brago lacks the speed and surprise value hence the 'I nearly win'. When Exava comes in and can do what it is designed to do, she steals the game. Notion Thief has a similar way of blowout games. Brago does not have this instants effect that can end the game. Even Jace has the bounce ability which is highly relevant against Tinker. Would you need another 4cc, or better, do you have the luxury to use more slots to further make Jace and other cards that are already value with some etb effect better? The problem is not a question of if this is strong, it is strong, but it is about using that slot. If you use 1 slot, would you use your demonic or vamp to get this? I hardly think so. And running more than one consumes even more slots/resources.

In the Legacy deck that I present however, I already have 4 Recruiter and 2-3 Sisay to get this card. I can afford running it as a singleton and still find it in the games were I get time to blink my recruiter to get another big threat and retrigger Lavinia without having to use Karakas and mana or Vial.

[brianpk80]

I love your deck strategies generally, Guli, but most of these points are equally valid if we're talking about Restoration Angel.  The interaction with Karakas and Spirit has yet to be proven valuable, and the "massive tempo" you are talking about is even more situational than the benefit you get with Restoration Angel.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't think you've proven the case for this card yet.

This is what Guli said about Brago, King of Eternity:

"For Vintage, I think it will be hard to pull off."

He's talking about his Legacy deck which is a powerful but very alien context compared to the UWx control shells that ran Restoration Angel in Vintage. 

I'm under the impression Restoration Angel replaced Salvagers in Bomberman because it has a more immediate impact on the board (at the cost of the closing speed of Salvagers).

It's the opposite; Salvagers & Sower of Temptation have been tearing up the East Coast this year but the Angels have flown away. 

[MTGFan]

Wow, I hadn't realized how insanely good this guy is in Guli's Legacy deck. I've played against it before and something like this could really push it over the top.

[Guli]

Well yes, when a deck uses AEther Vial and Imperial Recruiter to enable and find bombs, Brago is going to be a very strong Recruiter line in certain situations. You could also Recruit for Recruiter and Brago can then blink them all again.