Zulaport Cutthroat (poll)

EDHdad

Suppose Zulaport Cutthroat was the only card in your deck, and you were facing a level 60 Ob-Nixilis with 119 life.

If you gain 4 mana per turn, it would take 25 turns to kill Ob Nixilis, and you would have gained 4 life.

Compare this to a basic 2/2 for 6, such as Runed Servitor. Runed Servitor would kill Ob Nixilis on turn 14.

If Runed Servitor did manage to last to turn 25, it would be a 32/32, compared to Zulaport Cutthroat at 10/10.

Zulaport Cutthroat is a bad card, not because it's a common, but because it's over-costed. A common 2/2 creature with no ability costs 6. A common 2/2 with minor upside shouldn't cost more than 8 or 9.

If you want to make this playable at 18, then its ability should scale with the size of creatures dying, not the number of creatures dying. If it was "whenever another creature dies, Zulaport Cutthroat deals damage equal to that creatures power to your opponent and you gain that much life", then it might be worth putting into a deck.

span_argoman

EDHdad wrote:

Suppose Zulaport Cutthroat was the only card in your deck, and you were facing a level 60 Ob-Nixilis with 119 life.

If you gain 4 mana per turn, it would take 25 turns to kill Ob Nixilis, and you would have gained 4 life.

Compare this to a basic 2/2 for 6, such as Runed Servitor. Runed Servitor would kill Ob Nixilis on turn 14.

If Runed Servitor did manage to last to turn 25, it would be a 32/32, compared to Zulaport Cutthroat at 10/10.

Zulaport Cutthroat is a bad card, not because it's a common, but because it's over-costed. A common 2/2 creature with no ability costs 6. A common 2/2 with minor upside shouldn't cost more than 8 or 9.

If you want to make this playable at 18, then its ability should scale with the size of creatures dying, not the number of creatures dying. If it was "whenever another creature dies, Zulaport Cutthroat deals damage equal to that creatures power to your opponent and you gain that much life", then it might be worth putting into a deck.

What does Zulaport have to do with creature's dying?

I think Zulaport is overcosted too, but it's potential to combo with Defiant Bloodlord and Bloodbond Vampire is notable imo. 40+ damage to the opponent in one turn isn't a minor upside. Not consistent enough to be a top deck but a nice combo to try once in a while.

EDHdad

Sorry. I got it confused with paper Zulaport. Substitute a creature Entering the Battlefield for a creature dying, if you like.

OK. So assume you have Zulaport Cutthroat, Defiant Bloodlord and Bloodbond Vampire. You cast them in that order. Assume you're facing an Ob Nixilis with 119 life and you get 4 mana per turn.

Turn 5, you cast Zulaport Cutthroat. You have 2 power on the board.

Turn 6, attack for 2. Ob Nixilis is at 117.

Turn 7, attack for 2. Ob Nixilis is at 115.

Turn 8, cast Defiant Bloodlord. Gain 1 life, drain Ob for 6, attack for 2. Ob Nixilis is at 107.

Turn 9, attack for 7. Ob Nixilis is at 100.

Turn 10, cast Bloodbond Vampire. Gain 1 life. drain Ob for 6. Attack for 7. Ob is now at 87. Bloodbond Vamire is at 4 power.

Turn 11, attack for 11. Ob is now 76.

Turn 12, attack for 11. Ob is now 65.

Turn 13, attack for 11. Ob is now 54.

Turn 14, attack for 11. Ob is now 43.

Turn 15, cast your 2nd Zulaport Cutthroat. Gain 1 life. Drain Ob for 6. Zulaport Cuttroat is now 4 power. Bloodbond Vampire is at 5 power. Attack for 14. Ob is now 29.

Turn 16, attack for 14. Ob is now 15.

Turn 17, attack for 14. Ob is now at 1.

Turn 18, either cast your 2nd Defiant Bloodlord, or just attack for lethal.

Ob Nixilis dies in 18 turns with this epic 3 card combo.

****

Alternately, suppose you have nothing but Runed Servitor. Your turns look like this:

Turn 2, cast Runed Servitor. You have 2 power on board.

Turn 3, cast 2nd Runed Servitor. Attack for 4. Ob = 115

Turn 4, attack for 4. Ob = 111.

Turn 5, attack for 6. Ob = 105

Turn 6, attack for 8. Ob = 97

Turn 7, attack for 8. Ob = 89

Turn 8, attack for 10. Ob = 79

Turn 9, attack for 12. Ob = 67

Turn 10, attack for 12. Ob = 55

Turn 11, attack for 14. Ob = 41

Turn 12, attack for 16. Ob = 25

Turn 13, attack for 16. Ob = 9

Turn 14, attack for 18. Ob = dead.

****

In Battle for Zendikar, there was a draft archetype of black-white lifegain. White contained most of the cards which gained life. Black contained most of the cards which profited from lifegain. But in Magic Puzzle Quest, there is no black-white deck which can take advantage of this. Even if there was, Zulaport Cutthroat wouldn't be your guy. Enlightened Ascetic would gain you 1 life per turn for 4 mana. No fuss, no muss. Lantern Scout or Ondu Rising would trigger multiple instances of lifegain for one turn if there are multiple attacking creatures. Resolute Blademaster would combo with lifelink creatures, by giving them all double strike, and hence twice the amount and instances of lifegain.

span_argoman

Yeah I get your point now. Even with the combo, mana-wise it is not efficient.

I would like to propose an alternative example that makes better use of Zulaport's ability though. When I mentioned Defiant Bloodlord and Bloodbond Vampire, it was meant to be either or, not both. Take Zulaport, Defiant Bloodlord and Ruinous Path.

T5. Summon Zulaport, 2 mana left. Ob: 119
T6. Attack for 2. Ob: 117
T7. Attack for 2. Ob: 115
T8. Summon Defiant Bloodlord, heal 1, damage Ob for 6. Attack for 2. Ob: 107
T9. Attack for 7. Ob: 100
T10. Attack for 7. Ob: 93
T11. Attack for 7. Ob: 86
T12. Attack for 7. Ob: 79
T13. Attack for 7. Ob: 72
T14. Attack for 7. Ob: 65
T15. Cast awakened Ruinous Path, heal 6 , deal 48 damage. Attack for 13. Ob: 4
T16. Take out Ob.

Still slower, and more fragile as it needs three different cards. But the idea is to spam summons, which the previous example didn't show.

BigMao

Here's my Zulaport Cutthroat deck; talk about a complete turnaround since when I made the original post. Luckily I got Defiant Bloodlord and Ruinous Path in the past two days.

Planeswalker: Liliana

Creatures:
Zulaport Cutthroat (of course)
Defiant Bloodlord
Bloodbond Vampire

Spells:
Foundry of the Consuls
Dark Petition
Unholy Hunger
Ruinous Path

Supports:
Alhammarret's Archive
Sunken Hollow
Prism Ring

The goal is to trigger life gain as often as possible and Defiant Bloodlord's ability. Foundry of the Consuls and Ruinous Path are used to cast creature tokens to trigger ZC. In lieu of the full combo, Bloodbond Vampire is a decent creature that also benefits from the life gain.

Unholy Hunger is in there to control the enemy as things get set up (the same goes for Ruinous Path). Prism Ring is helpful for triggering life gain more often. Alhammarret's Archive is there to gain more life and draw more cards; I'm not sure if it's really necessary.

Possibilities to swap:
Replace Bloodbond Vampire with Drana's Emissary.
Replace Prism Ring or some other support with Retreat to Hagra.
Replace Foundry of the Consuls with Hangarback Walker, but I don't have this card yet.