MTG Salvation

If green supports green ramp that much I think we have to re-evaluate this card. It gives you a jump blocker every turn to buy time until your fatties hit the board and it ramps for one a turn.



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Infinitely better in Multiplayer situations, as you could imagine. I can picture it being a very good ramp card in those situations. Outside of that, probably questionable.

Well, it certainly helps pox for many reasons : you have token to sacrifice, or you have a reliable mana source while you are disrupting both you and opponent mana. Like people said above, it is a bit slow but efficient if you go super ramp mode.

It's been good since I added it in. It really helps out the super ramp package, and it's great in a Pox/Stax kind of deck.

And it's chump blocker, not jump blocker.

Question: How is this bad against aggro? free chump blocker every turn can give me 2 or 3 extra turns as ramp, which could be the game.

It's one free chump blocker each turn starting turn 4 and costs 3 mana. Most 3 mana creatures could have traded with an aggro creature and produced a similar effect, if not a better one, and done it turn 3 instead of turn 4.

It's not useless as a chump blocker, but that is definitely one of the worse roles. I think this card is cool as a roleplayer for tokens, pox, and ramp archetypes though. It just has neat synergies and is quite strong when it's not against aggro.

i like it in a black green control stax/braids deck with cards like pernicious deed. I;ve added Doubling Season, and being able to ramp up faster is very cool.

As ramp it seems better sgainst aggro than most alrernatives. Better rhan cultivate or harrow

Ya, it's not great against aggro; working only as a poor-man's icy manipulator. But you could do worse.

This:

Quote from Trunkers »

I run it as an intersection between ramp and Smokestack archetypes.

Is a cool description for Awakening Zone. It's the exact reason why I included it, and it's done a good job of supporting both of those archetypes.

There's also nothing dirtier than curing awakening zone into opposition

Quote from resum

There's also nothing dirtier than curing awakening zone into opposition

True. It's been a good UG card in general, but definitely better with Opposition.

Necro alert!

With a lot of cubes now running token as well as ramp and pox archetypes, has this card gone up in value?

I only cut it late at 360. I would definitely be running it at 450; it works wonders with black Stax decks, ramp decks, equipment and Opposition effects. It is way more versatile than a vanilla ramp spell. If you've never run it, try it out.

We've started playing it again and it's been a lot of fun. My wife and I did a grid draft a week or so ago and she had it and Skullclamp going which was really neat, she used the creatures to draw cards some turns and then used the mana to play all the cards she had drawn. I had it in a deck with Purphoros a while ago, and that was really good too.

I run it, but have never been super happy about it. Cruse of Predation is changing that. It is fantastic with Skull Clamp, and I am excited to try it with Purphorous too.

I recently added in Farseek as a random ramp spell to re-try in the cube. I think I'll add this in instead.

I enjoy playing with it in my 450. It's one of those cards that interacts with plenty of other archetypes that aren't immediately apparent.

Quote from wtwlf123

I recently added in Farseek as a random ramp spell to re-try in the cube. I think I'll add this in instead.

Ya I can see this over a 2 drop ramp spell. Its gaining value with cards like Curse of Predation and Purphuros.

Thanks for the input. I think I'll give it a go too.

I'm really not sold on this card, but I've been wrong before so it wouldn't be the first time.

I can see some cute interactions with things like Purphuros and Skullclamp (maybe Curse of Predation - but it's going to take a few turns to be worth it there). Stax is a solid idea though, I can dig that (though IMO Ophiomancer is a thousand times better in this capacity).

Any other interactions I'm missing? I can certainly be persuaded here. I do like synergistic cards.

When I use it before, it's use to generate mana and blocker. The blocker are nice, gain a body each turn is not bad.

Quote from ahadabans

I'm really not sold on this card, but I've been wrong before so it wouldn't be the first time.

I can see some cute interactions with things like Purphuros and Skullclamp (maybe Curse of Predation - but it's going to take a few turns to be worth it there). Stax is a solid idea though, I can dig that (though IMO Ophiomancer is a thousand times better in this capacity).

Any other interactions I'm missing? I can certainly be persuaded here. I do like synergistic cards.

In addition to the already mentioned Pox, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Skullclamp, Curse of Predation, Smokestack, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Opposition, it's got passable synergies with Mirror Entity, Ajani Goldmane, Elesh Norn, Entreat the Angels, Nether Traitor, Blood Artist Recurring Nightmare, Bonfire of the Damned, Gaea's Cradle, Craterhoof Behemoth, Overrun, Mirari's Wake, Voice of Resurgence and Tangle Wire, as well as being a solid ramp spell in general and a source of chumps to chump with.

I see potential for the token interactions.

But as a ramp spell? This thing is subpar. Look at all the other options you have a three mana. Wood Elves gives you a land right now that you can use this turn and every turn thereafter. Cultivate gets you a land in play and one in your hand. Even Search for Tomorrow (which can be played turn one for one mana which is nice).

The only way you get more out of awakening zone is if you stock pile 0/1 tokens and blow them all on one turn (and really you don't get more mana, you just get more mana now at the risk of getting nothing if your opponent can kill some 0/1 tokens - not exactly challenging). Coalition Relic this is not.

Unless I'm reading this card wrong.

Quote from ahadabans

I see potential for the token interactions.

But as a ramp spell? This thing is subpar. Look at all the other options you have a three mana. Wood Elves gives you a land right now that you can use this turn and every turn thereafter. Cultivate gets you a land in play and one in your hand. Even Search for Tomorrow (which can be played turn one for one mana which is nice).

The only way you get more out of awakening zone is if you stock pile 0/1 tokens and blow them all on one turn (and really you don't get more mana, you just get more mana now at the risk of getting nothing if your opponent can kill some 0/1 tokens - not exactly challenging). Coalition Relic this is not.

Unless I'm reading this card wrong.

Is there some reason you're intentionally ignoring everything else the card does? It's both a ramp spell and a token support card. Not just a ramp spell. Nobody said it was a Coalition Relic. But does Coalition Relic pay your Smokestack upkeep or chain-block a beater? How about benefit from an Anthem effect or get sick-nasty with Opposition? Does it give you fuel to get your Gargadon into play or carry a Sword?

It's a ramp spell and it's a token engine. There are uses for both and you should evaluate it as if both of those functions will be used, and that your players won't pretend it only does one thing.

Wood Elves ramps you just the same as Awakening Zone. You'll have +1 mana every turn thereafter for both. The only thing is you can't stockpile mana with wood elves, and you don't get 1 power and forest with Awakening Zone.

It's not the best ramp spell, sure, but it's good enough. It's the non-ramp stuff that puts it over the top, and the fact that you have perfect control over how many creatures or mana you want to use.