Where is Sarkhan?

tiuffw

Maveric78f wrote:

The first ability is the same as Ob Nixilis but with one less card draw.

The mistake you're making here is to think that just because something is half as good as something else, that means it's bad. Sarkhan's first ability is extremely powerful and cheap, and continues to be even tho Ob can do it twice as well. Think Retreat to Coralhelm and Prism Array; Clearly Retreat to Coralhelm is rubbish if you compare it to Prism Array, but if, for any reason, you just can't get your hands on a Prism Array, you should give Retreat a go, because it's actually really good.

Maveric78f wrote:

The second ability is quite similar to Saheeli's first ability but it costs a creature and 3 additional loyalty just for +2/+2.

Again, I think it's a mistake to compare this ability to a similar one. Sarkhan's second isn't as good as his first, but it's far from useless... if your creature is smaller than a 6/6, then you've given it +X/+X AND a useful evasion ability. Killing your creature might actually give you some advantage if, say, it's a stack of Devil tokens or Scions. You don't have to replace a brand new creature with a Dragon, you can replace one which has already done it's job in combat and is on it's last health point, or which you know is going to die fruitlessly in combat this turn.

Sarkhan's second ability is not a high powered ability, but it has uses. In that way it's similar to Nahiri's second, or Gideon1's first.

Maveric78f wrote:

The third ability looks the same as Nahiri's third ability, but narrower (works only with dragons) and costs once again 3 more loyalty.

I can't argue with you there. His third is pretty awful You might use it from time to time, tho, if you had the loyalty to spare, like maybe Ajani's third, or Liliana1's second...

Maveric78f

tiuffw>

I agree that first ability is useful and will probably be played every turn. I would even add that Ob Nixilis draw 2 ability is so strong that you cannot sustain drawing 3 cards a turn: you won't have time to play them. As a consequence, Ob Nixilis first ability is more like draw 2, then exile one. Still better, but not this much better.

Second ability is really bad. In RB decks, do you really want to play creatures that are less than 4/4? Is evasion useful when you are supposed to be able to destroy the whole opposing board every turn? What I see is that you give +2/+2 and summoning sickness for 9 loyalty.

If one day I buy and play Sarkhan, I will only play first ability. I already do that with Nissa, but Nissa's first ability is top notch.

But, once again, the fact it's the only RB planeswalker makes it worth buying in my oppinion.

Ciotog

I've actually built a deck around using his second ability to eat zombies and spit out dragons. Oath of Liliana + Graf Harvest + Prized Amalgam = unlimited supply of zombies to destroy for dragons (PA just means I don't have to reset my zombie token stack every time I make a new dragon). It helps that the rest of the deck is low cost creature removal or hand destruction with harness the storm to keep cycling them.
I rarely need to use his first ability, and I only use his third if a cascade gives me the loyalty points.
Still wish I had any dragon cards.

wink

That's interesting. Sarkhan works well even without having any dragons? I've been ignoring him because of dragonlessness.

Ciotog

I went about 40 QB's before RNG decided I should lose a match. Full deck is in the Zombie strategies post:
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=51122

I still want some of the dragons on principle and will probably breakdown and buy at least 1 of the 300 Flying creatures packs this weekend.

Mainloop25

Maveric78f wrote:

If one day I buy and play Sarkhan,

See, this is the problem. Based on actual experience, he is a good planeswalker. I use his 3rd the least but his 2nd is very good with regenerating tokens or scions, both for triggering "on-destroy" effects, or when you need an extra creature to do more damage. As someone who had used him for months, I can say his abilities are better in practice than in text.

The only thing I don't love about him is the ok mana gain spread across the colors. These days it's more advantageous to have a dual color pw get at least +3 on their corresponding colors.

wink

How necessary is Anguished in that Sarkahn deck? (I don't have it)

wink

The mana gain does give me pause. What kind of ramp would you use to compensate? Anyone know?

Ciotog

Anguished is in there mostly as a reflex to deal with hex proof creatures, as I much prefer demolish for supports and grip for creatures (cost and self damage bothers me). Anguished actually annoys me more often than not because I tend to drawn 2-3 in a row and can't use it to the full effect, the AI doesn't usually have a creature+support to destroy. I'm thinking of switching it out for Fleshbag Marauder, I'll have to start poking around for something else that can deal with Hex proofed creatures, not sure what all the options are for Red/Black.

Plastic

wink wrote:

The mana gain does give me pause. What kind of ramp would you use to compensate? Anyone know?

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods is great. Otherwise try Drownyard Temple, Corrupted Grafstone, Smoldering Marsh or Cinder Glade. I'd say that's probably the order I'd go from best to worst, with DT and CG being nearly tied (IMO).

Ciotog

Plastic wrote:

wink wrote:

The mana gain does give me pause. What kind of ramp would you use to compensate? Anyone know?

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods is great. Otherwise try Drownyard Temple, Corrupted Grafstone, Smoldering Marsh or Cinder Glade. I'd say that's probably the order I'd go from best to worst, with DT and CG being nearly tied (IMO).

Sadly the only one of those I have is Smoldering Marsh so I just kept myself to fairly cheap cards (12 or less)...I would love to have Shrine or Temple in this deck though.

wink

Languish would work to deal with hexproof. Think that'll be synergistic with your deck?

Ciotog

If I had it available I think you would be right, forgot that card existed. I just swapped over to FM and we'll see how it goes. Hex proof creatures aren't so common.

wink

Does red have anything that can deal with hexproof?

Ciotog

Rolling thunder is the only one I can think of offhand as it targets all your opponent's creatures. I just have never really been a fan of the cost.

And the Red mythics I don't have (grumbles): Chandra's Ignition, Kozilek's Return, Nahiri's Wrath, Tyrant, Wolf of Devil's Breach...

And probably Devil's Playground (continues grumbling). I think this one would be my favorite choice if I could just get the card. Works well with the conversion to dragons and Harness.

wink

Yeah, any of those red mythics would be great to have. Someday....

wink

Oooh...Devils Playground sounds perfect. And I actually have it!