So a lot of us play Glorious Anthem, and for obvious reason, but what about other anthems that seem to be less popular? I know Marshal's Anthem competes with a lot of 4 drops, and isn't particularly great as a 6 drop reanimation spell, but it does provide decent value in the 6-8 drop mode while still being an Anthem... But what about Gaea's Anthem? I mean it's a colour shifted Glorious Anthem and Green has a decent amount of tokens, just like white, while also having a lot of mana dorks that don't mind the Anthem effect for themselves. Not to mention something like Phantom Centaur and friends love themselves some Anthems. Also, GW tokens has always been something people tried, from Ghazi-Glare to Township-Tokens.
Divine Sacrament is probably the best anthem that nobody remembers exists. It has come close to making it into my cube on more than one occasion.
I ran Gaea's Anthem for awhile in my cube, but I found few green decks wanted it. Green is better off exploiting its inate beef and efficiency than than trying to pump its weenies. White profits off having a flat aggressive curve, so anthem is good there. Green profits off having a bell curve and 3-drops on T2. Anthem is pretty lackluster in that kind of deck.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
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Marshal's Anthem proved too expensive, and I cubed it for a good while.
White has more aggro creatures and more token support than green, so Glorious Anthem outplays Gaea's Anthem as well.
All the best anthem effects are attached to creatures or are planeswalkers nowadays (Accorder Paladin, Soltari Champion, Mirror Entity, Hero of Bladehold, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Mikaeus the Lunarch, Ajani Goldmane).
That being said, I still feel more people should be looking at Divine Sacrament. That card is just ridiculous. "Oh, you wrathed me? Now every bear I play is a 4/4"
Edit: hahaha, you nathed most of my list with your edit
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I played Sacrament in my classic cube. It can be a beating if the right deck (mono-white) and the right situation (threshold) happen together. But the consistency was so much lower than than Glorious Anthem was that it ended up being cut. I had more luck with Jihad (now THAT card can be disgusting in mono-white).
This was mentioned earlier today but Look At Me, I'm R&D can really make anthem+token strategies insane. So can Staying Power in combination with things like Battle Cry or self pump.
Its a fun subtheme to add to white if you have enough space available to support it (cards like Raise the Alarm)
I'll be honest and say that I don't understand the appeal of Glorious Anthem. I play Honor of the Pure in my Cube and upon discussion we decided that the majority of decks that are going to be able to pay 1WW on 3 are going to be playing a majority of White creatures anyhow. Thus Honor of the Pure is a generally (not always) better version of it. The only exception we found was for the Opposition deck that nut-drafted all of the green token producers as well.
I had more luck with Jihad (now THAT card can be disgusting in mono-white).
How did it end up playing out - was it closer to something like a pump spell that had a chance of sticking around than an anthem? Was it difficult to get the WWW in non-mono white decks? Did the opponent typically have ways of controlling if it stuck around and if so, did it affect how it ended up being?
There are quite simply (almost) no decks where I would like to maindeck an anthem that does nothing over a creature, token generator, piece of equipment, or removal spell. This used to be a viable constructed strategy, but going 3/2 lions and 4/4 first strikers don't dominate the board the way they used to.
Thankfully, there are a good amount of anthems on a stick (or land/walker) these days.
I'll be honest and say that I don't understand the appeal of Glorious Anthem. I play Honor of the Pure in my Cube and upon discussion we decided that the majority of decks that are going to be able to pay 1WW on 3 are going to be playing a majority of White creatures anyhow. Thus Honor of the Pure is a generally (not always) better version of it. The only exception we found was for the Opposition deck that nut-drafted all of the green token producers as well.
Whereas for us, a 1WW enchantment was not an insurmountable cost for a 2-color deck, and the ability for all my W/X decks to have an anthem instead of just my WW decks made Glorious Anthem the far superior card.
I don't play Anthem in aggro much anymore though, as others have said, it's been outclassed by the anthem effects strapped to creatures. I do like GA for token decks though, and those are often 2-colors as well.
How did it end up playing out - was it closer to something like a pump spell that had a chance of sticking around than an anthem? Was it difficult to get the WWW in non-mono white decks? Did the opponent typically have ways of controlling if it stuck around and if so, did it affect how it ended up being?
It wasn't hard to get it to stick around for more than one turn. But it played like a Divine Sacrament that was dedicated to mono-white.
So a lot of us play Glorious Anthem, and for obvious reason, but what about other anthems that seem to be less popular? I know Marshal's Anthem competes with a lot of 4 drops, and isn't particularly great as a 6 drop reanimation spell, but it does provide decent value in the 6-8 drop mode while still being an Anthem... But what about Gaea's Anthem? I mean it's a colour shifted Glorious Anthem and Green has a decent amount of tokens, just like white, while also having a lot of mana dorks that don't mind the Anthem effect for themselves. Not to mention something like Phantom Centaur and friends love themselves some Anthems. Also, GW tokens has always been something people tried, from Ghazi-Glare to Township-Tokens.
More so, both Craterhoof Behemoth and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite are fans of tokens, ramp, and reanimator effects.
So what are your thoughts guys? Did I miss any general anthem effects? Why do we play Glorious over Gaea's so much?
I ran Gaea's Anthem for awhile in my cube, but I found few green decks wanted it. Green is better off exploiting its inate beef and efficiency than than trying to pump its weenies. White profits off having a flat aggressive curve, so anthem is good there. Green profits off having a bell curve and 3-drops on T2. Anthem is pretty lackluster in that kind of deck.
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White has more aggro creatures and more token support than green, so Glorious Anthem outplays Gaea's Anthem as well.
All the best anthem effects are attached to creatures or are planeswalkers nowadays (Accorder Paladin, Soltari Champion, Mirror Entity, Hero of Bladehold, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Mikaeus the Lunarch, Ajani Goldmane).
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Sadly, I agree with you. Ajani Goldmane and Sorin 2 kinda set the bar nowadays. Not to mention Mikeaus the Lunarch, Pianna, Nomad Captain, Soltari Champion, and Accorder Paladin.
That being said, I still feel more people should be looking at Divine Sacrament. That card is just ridiculous. "Oh, you wrathed me? Now every bear I play is a 4/4"
Edit: hahaha, you nathed most of my list with your edit
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Its a fun subtheme to add to white if you have enough space available to support it (cards like Raise the Alarm)
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How did it end up playing out - was it closer to something like a pump spell that had a chance of sticking around than an anthem? Was it difficult to get the WWW in non-mono white decks? Did the opponent typically have ways of controlling if it stuck around and if so, did it affect how it ended up being?
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Thankfully, there are a good amount of anthems on a stick (or land/walker) these days.
Whereas for us, a 1WW enchantment was not an insurmountable cost for a 2-color deck, and the ability for all my W/X decks to have an anthem instead of just my WW decks made Glorious Anthem the far superior card.
I don't play Anthem in aggro much anymore though, as others have said, it's been outclassed by the anthem effects strapped to creatures. I do like GA for token decks though, and those are often 2-colors as well.
It wasn't hard to get it to stick around for more than one turn. But it played like a Divine Sacrament that was dedicated to mono-white.
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