MTG Salvation

Geist-Honored Monk isn't a card I'm playing... and I don't see in many lists but why? She makes a beefy body and fliers, a great army in a can. She's not Cloudgoat Ranger but fliers are good and the body can be huge in a good token deck.

I assume you're referring to Elspeth Tirel? I like Tirel but have wanted her to be a creature many times when casting Animate Dead or Karmic Guide.

I run her in my Modern Cube and I'm very happy with her. The obvious comparison is with Cloudgoat Ranger. On an empty board, she doesn't provide as much Power as the Ranger ("dam dam, Power Rangeeers!!" ahem) and as such she works better as a curve topper in aggressive W/x strategies. In that role, I find her to be much better than the Ranger. Flying tokens are a lot more relevant and a big beatstick with Vigilance can do a lot of work, especially with Swords.

Sure she becomes smaller the fewer creatures you have, but I find the risk to be worth it more often than not.

I think it's pretty good. It's my next favorite white 5-drop beyond the ones I'm currently using, so I'd probably find room for it at 630.

I run her in my 540 and I really like her, I like cloudgoat more because he's better on an empty and he can get it more damage as a flyer. But she's still solid.

Because its power and toughness decrease as your creatures die, I find it too fragile in combat to be comfortable with it as a single combat trick or removal can become devastating. That said, it's got good upside and it's probably a solid 5th or 6th 5 drop for white, although nothing I'd be extremely pleased to run.

Quote from eidolon232

But if you want some flying creatures, doesn't CGR as a 5/3 offer more? Speaking of Vigilance: the Ranger can increase its damage output even more with cards that grant this ability, most notably Ajani Goldmane.

But doesn't CGR and GHM function very differently? Giving CGR flying is basically like counting him as a 5/3 flier with no tokens, and losing a single Kithkin Token means he no longer has flying. GHM on the other hand always gives you 2 1/1 fliers and the body is modular so it can be smaller and larger than the CGR. The vigilance is also relevant.

As for blinking, well the CGR gives you +1 creature, but all of the Monk tokens are fliers. The monk also gets bigger, and the CGR can gain additional power boosts from the Kithkin tokens, but you still only have one flier and if you chump or even trade, you can't make more tokens if you have other blink effects. Plus the Monk is larger as a whole when blinking.

I don't know, I think both have their place and one isn't better than the other. Just think about it this way, trading CGR himself for an Oona's Prowler is much worse than trading a spirit token for it.

Just think about it this way, trading CGR himself for an Oona's Prowler is much worse than trading a spirit token for it.

One card does not a good example make. Otherwise the existence of Arc Lightning somehow obviates Geist-Honored Monk entirely. Which it doesn't.

I think overall, CGR is considerably better. Doesn't shrink, and gives more power spread across more bodies.

I run it at 720. It's generally very strong and only occasionally awkward.

I think Cloudgoat Ranger is a lot better. It gives me more threats, more power and hits harder through the air.

Its a cloudgoat 2.0. Gets better the more token generators you have.

Agreed. I think if my cube was bigger, I'd add it in to keep my token/anthem support saturation high. I think it's my #5 white 5-drop.

I like Battlegrace Angel more at #5. Getting an immediate life swing and a big blocker, followed by a giant lifelinker next turn, generally helps win the damage race more than a couple of tokens and a ground pounder would. Lifelink and vigilance kind of accomplish the same thing, but the angel has an edge with evasion.

I like Increasing Devotion over this card. The possibility for recursion and abuse is higher for monk, but the five and then inevitable ten tokens is so tough to deal with. My Monk could be doom bladed and kill most of the juice of the card; you doom blade a Devotion token and you still have four of them out. I used to have no respect for Increasing Devotion, but it has beaten me so much that sometimes I'll go against all my principles and hate draft it.

Yeah, I agree. I push tokens pretty hard in my cube, and Increasing Devotion has been much better than the Monk. It's also a great reason to justify keeping Mirari's Wake in!

Just to echo what others have already said..

I play her in my 720 cube and really like her, but I would have to agree that in small cubes you have better options.

Quote from tomchaps

Yeah, I agree. I push tokens pretty hard in my cube, and Increasing Devotion has been much better than the Monk. It's also a great reason to justify keeping Mirari's Wake in!

Staring down 30 power from potentially 1 turn of spells is extremely scary.

I tried her out today in a 4 man draft and she was pretty awesome. Also for those who are wondering, yes, I'd pick her over CGR in this specific instance as her body and tokens were just more relevant. The body allowed her to just smash in a few games where CGR could fly in but not win the race if he did, and I actually caught someone by using an activation of Mishra's Factory, or was it a flash creature, to make her bigger than what was blocking her and thus just eat it. The tokens with flying were great, they got around a Sphinx of Jwar Isle as they could just chump block it when I was low if needed and the Monk could crash in, yes in that specific case CGR might have been good as he could trade potentially trade, but any removal spell, or even a bounce spell would mean I'd lose essentially. The tokens also did some good work when carrying my one equipment to get damage in as they had evasion, CGR could fly and get in there, but then I'd have no blockers for the crack back which would have been bad in those games.

So all and all, I like her.

Quote from Demagogue

A) I actually caught someone by using an activation of Mishra's Factory

B) The tokens with flying were great, they got around a Sphinx of Jwar Isle as they could just chump block it when I was low if needed and the Monk could crash in, yes in that specific case CGR might have been good as he could trade potentially trade, but any removal spell, or even a bounce spell would mean I'd lose essentially.

A) Onboard tricks shouldn't count

B) That'd be the same for the monk's fliers, no? Give or take depending on the time you needed to buy.

I like her too. I just think Cloudgoat Ranger is much better in the vast majority of situations.

We have found Cloudgoat to be slightly better, but it has been closer than expected.

How often are you flashing back Increased Devotion?

-AA

Quote from Antknee42

How often are you flashing back Increased Devotion?

-AA

If the original 5 tokens don't do the job, pretty often. They'll buy time as blockers to get to the 9 mana needed, and if you cast it when you're past 5 mana it's much easier.

Quote from Leelue

A) Onboard tricks shouldn't count

B) That'd be the same for the monk's fliers, no? Give or take depending on the time you needed to buy.

A.) Fair enough, but you can still do it with flash creatures, and GHM always forces them to look at what token producers you may have in play or what things can become creatures.

B.) I'm not sure I understand the question, can you clarify?