Zendikar Resurgent is Underpowered.

raidan

I recently received Zendikar Resurgent, however this card feels very underpowered for a Mythic.

Lets compare it to 2 other cards:

Shrine Of The Forsaken Gods and Prism Array

All 3 of these cards have a shield value of 3, so that will not be considered.

Shrine Of The Forsaken Gods is rare costs only 6 and is colorless. After 2 turns, you will already already have a gain, even more gain with colorless cards and a bit of luck.

Prism Array is rare and only costs 6. There is a bit of luck involved, but it provides the ability to disable creatures draw many cards. Also this can trigger on either your turn or the AI's turn. And the AI almost always goes for match 4/5s.

Zendikar Resurgent costs 14. For the mana gain aspect, you would have to make a minimum of 7 matches, just to break even. Now this does come with a card draw every time you play a creature. But there are much better ways to draw cards, without relying on playing creatures.

Overall I think Zendikar Resurgent is a decent card, but when compared to rare supports, it feels very under powered for a mythic.

I would suggest either lowering the casting cost and/or increase the mana gain portion.

EDHdad

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods was the first card they sold for cash. When they put a price tag on it, they also pushed the power level. It originally cost more mana, but I don't think it ever cost 14.

Zendikar Resurgent can be triggered multiple times per turn, and also triggers after you've drawn your card at the beginning of the turn. Shrine gives you mana before you've drawn your card, so it might not even power anything, and doesn't help you cast the card you just drew. Zendikar Resurgent's second ability is better than Elemental Bond, which costs 5. One side benefit is that it probably can save a creature-heavy deck from blue bounce effects.

I don't own either card, but I've seen both in action, and I'd prefer my opponent had a Shrine on the field instead of Zendikar Resurgent. I don't know if that's worth 6 mana vs 14, but if they both cost the same, I would play Zendikar Resurgent over Shrine.

If the developers are looking to balance the relative power level of the cards, the solution would probably be to make Shrine and Prism Array cost more, rather than to make Zendikar Resurgent cost less.

raidan

Yes I do agree with many of your points. The potential anti blue bounce mechanic is nice. There seems to be a disparity between rarity and power in this game. Some mythics are incredibly powerful while others are very situational or weak.

Personally I can't think of a time I would want to spend 14 mana on this support vs other options available.

span_argoman

raidan wrote:

Yes I do agree with many of your points. The potential anti blue bounce mechanic is nice. There seems to be a disparity between rarity and power in this game. Some mythics are incredibly powerful while others are very situational or weak.

Personally I can't think of a time I would want to spend 14 mana on this support vs other options available.

Put it in a deck built for cascades. So Sword of the Animist or Nissa's Pilgrimage/Fertile Thicket/Animist's Awakening. It more than pays for itself in a few rounds.

Morphis

Zendikar resurgent is not underpowered "that much".

It can still be good right now in proper deck with proper setup.
Anyways that's to much to ask of a mythic to just be "good".

It should be overall nice/good and great/op with proper setup.

I think it should be 12 mana and allow mana gain(2-3 max) also on card draw.

This ways it:
- requires less initial investment. 2 less is not much but helps
- takes less time to reach break even point. The reduced cost + at least 2-3 more mana each turn (from draw) can make it pay for itself in 2 or 3 turns max.
- can help creature spammer decks. A deck built on casting many small/midrange creatures could get great benefit from it.
- added value for kiora. With the amount of draw blue has, kiora could turn that draw to ramp. It would be the perfect marriage between blue and green.

Just a suggestion;)

EDHdad

Holy Mackerel! I just got Zendikar Resurgent in a prize pack in the recent event. It is stoopidly powerful to the point where it is almost busted. So much mana. So much card draw. It was insane.

My advice to anyone who has this card:

If you have Garruk, play this card. If you don't have Garruk, get a Garruk and play this card.

If you're playing Nissa's Revelation, replace it with this card.

If you're playing Elemental Bond, replace it with this card.

If you're playing Kiora with Thopter Spy Network, play this card.

If you own From Beyond, play this card. For that matter, if you play any kind of Eldrazi Scion, play this card. And Reclaim. If you sacrifice a 1/1 Eldrazi Scion with Reclaim, it will net 15 mana, which is enough to cast this card.

If you run any kind of token strategy, play this card.

I'll go so far as to say that if you're playing Kiora with Day's Undoing, consider replacing it with this card. You'll actually wind up with more card draw and more mana production over the course of the game.

If you play Nissa's Pilgrimage, Fertile Thicket, or any spells or effects which turn gems green, play this card. If one gem turns green and randomly creates a match, you'll have 8 mana at the start of your turn.

If you play a blue deck which relies on bounce as removal, weep in frustration as an increasing number of green opponents play this card.

I don't own Shrine of the Forsaken Gods, and I'm sure it's fine in non-green decks, but Zendikar Resurgent does so much more of what green is trying to accomplish. It rewards you for matching gems and it rewards you for casting creatures. I agree that the initial mana cost is high, but once it's on the field, it's off to the races.