[SOI] Westvale Abbey/Ormedhahl, Profane Price

[gkraigher]

Oracle Text

T: Add C to your mana pool.

5, T, Pay 1 life: Put a 1/1 white and black Human Cleric creature token onto the battlefield.

5, T, Sacrifice five creatures: Transform Westvale Abbey, then untap it.



Oracle Text

Flying, lifelink, indestructible, haste.

I really like this card as it has 3 abilities.  Taps for colorless, makes creature tokens (albeit at a heavy cost), and finally the large upside for the card is creating this incredibly huge, hasty monster with lifelink.

I can see this card being played as a 1 of in MUD lists with hangarback walker/arcbound ravager.  

[p3temangus]

Do you get to sacrifice hagerback and then sacrifice the tokens? I don't think it works like that, but even if it did, if Shops has 5 creatures on the board have they not already won the game? I mean if your opponent has a moat or an army of Monks *maybe* not but still...

[gkraigher]

no, you would have to sac hangarback first, then sac the tokens.  

[xouman]

Even with new rules of transform, the cost is 0 so it gets hit by repeal, among most other bouncers. For mud I only like it against oath, where you can have extra spirits, and this creature owns griselbrand.
Against mud it can be metamorphed/duplicanted, and you are losing 5 creatures in the process (and good luck playing + tapping the land against mana denial strategies and without MWS support)
Against quick aggro it probably arrives late.
Against control you should be fine with 5 creatures, you don't need this. And if you have 5 free mana, to create tokens, play something else.


5 mana to create a token is too much, and having to sacrifice 5 creatures is also a whole world. This is like a semi dark depths (not really comparable, but has similarities), which sees little play despite being probably better.

[vaughnbros]

5 mana is way too much for these abilities.

[p3temangus]

5 mana is way too much for these abilities.

Especially in shops, where generic mana costs you either 2 life, a waste effect or a factory activation.

[cutlex]

How does this card work with Duplicant? Which side is face-up in exile?

[gkraigher]

How does this card work with Duplicant? Which side is face-up in exile?

As long as a card exiled with Duplicant is a creature card, Duplicant has the power, toughness, and creature types of the last creature card exiled with Duplicant. It's still a Shapeshifter.

In every zone, this card is a land card.  The only time it is a creature is if it is in play, transformed.  So Duplicant would be a 2/4

[TheWhiteDragon]

nvm

[thecrav]

As with Dark Depths / Thespian Stage, this gets shut down on the battlefield by Pithing Needle and on the stack with Wasteland. However, unlike Depths/Stage...

5, T, Sacrifice five creatures: Transform Westvale Abbey, then untap it.

You're going to be real blown out when your opponent uses Wasteland after you've paid that cost.

[gkraigher]

I've thought more about this card.  I still love it.  There is a very simple reason why.  It does something early in the game by tapping for mana.  It does something in the middle of the game by making tokens.  It has a HUGE payout late in the game.  

Let's take a "bad" matchup for MUD in Oath of Druids.  Sacrificing tokens and making a dude that makes Dromoka look like a small fly seems good to me.   

[TheWhiteDragon]

Except you need to sac 5 tokens, whereas Oath will kill you when you have just 1 in play.