MTG Salvation

I see this card in a lot of cube lists, but it has been completely underwhelming in my cube. Maybe my group is not using it correctly? Would someone care to explain what makes this card so good?

Quote from Zazimash

I see this card in a lot of cube lists, but it has been completely underwhelming in my cube. Maybe my group is not using it correctly? Would someone care to explain what makes this card so good?

Its an efficient SPLASHABLE creature, and great against counters. I'm still waiting for a good green 3 drop to replace it.

I like it. Card advantage that generates threats. On curve. And it's splashable. A pair of 3/3s have a big impact on the board, and they come from a single card. They can help you both stabilize and pressure, and prevent over-extension because the threats can be played separately.

It is very solid card advantage. The question is: Would you play a 3/3 for 2G that draws you a card when it enters the battlefield? Call of the Herd is pretty much this.

Call gives you two 3/3s - which is a relevant size - for a reasonable price in a single card. 5GG for two 3/3s would suck, but splitting the cost in two is something else entirely. The two installments curve out nicely and a turn one mana elf gives you a perfectly fine play turn two and turn three that cost you only a single card. And you don't even have to play the first half at all. You can also discard the card and still play the second part. A 3/3 for 3G would suck, but a 3/3 for 3G that doesn't cost you any card at all is pure card advantage.

Another advantage is that you can play the card both offensively and defensively. Two 3/3s are big enough to pressure a player with their attacks and can end the game with a little support in three swings. Being two threats also makes spot removal less relevant against those elephants. On the defense, they block all those 2/2s and 2/1s that fill out the aggro decks ranks nicely.

Call of the Herd is damn near the perfect midrange card. I'm not overly impressed by it, but I think it deserves its slot in the cube. It's just a really solid card that shines in midrange and can often make an appearance in aggressive decks as well.

Call isn't a flashy card, it's just a strong stable card. It makes a 3/3 which is a sizable body and let me tell you, the worst feeling in the world is having to remove a 3/3 token that they can just replace for 3G next turn...

Not much sample size for the avenger I take it

I like call of the herd, but I could see cutting it, I like it in decks with a lot of discarding since it gives me value in the graveyard, and it with life from the loam is also a nice synergy.

Like everyone else is saying:

There isn't anything mind-blowing about it, but it is 2 creatures in 1 card, and right on curve.

A 3/3 on turn 3, then another 3/3 on turn 4. If this were my only creature in my starting hand in a midrange deck, I wouldn't feel too bad about keeping it, because it's 2 creatures.

It's a great card that gives you a lot of value. 3/3 for 3 mana which only requires one green is pretty okay but getting another 3/3 for 4 mana later on is gravy on top. In my powered 450 cube and unless they made a better version of it it'd be hard for me to cut unless creature power creep ramps up in the future.

Was wondering how opinions on this card has card over the past two years.
Still seems strong and flexible to me. Did it age poorly for anyone?

Quote from CommonerCoffee »

Was wondering how opinions on this card has card over the past two years.
Still seems strong and flexible to me. Did it age poorly for anyone?

I feel like it had already aged poorly when the OP was written 2 years ago

It's currently on the bench for me, but that's likely temporary. I think it's a good card.

I love the concept of this card, it's just that a card has to be truly exceptional if it's not a creature with an ETB or LTB effect. If this was a 3/3 for 2G creature that you could exile from your graveyard for 3G to make a Beast, I would be playing it.

We're still happy with it. It's just a solid value effect in all sorts of green decks and it's pretty common to get value from discard with it as well, so it's not a card we've really had to consider cutting, and innocuous as it seems.

I don't think so. I can understand the OP being underwhelmed by it. To me it's one of those solid, unspectacular cards that is only good because it helps midrange against control, and it isn't useless elsewhere.

Quote from Asenion »

I love the concept of this card, it's just that a card has to be truly exceptional if it's not a creature with an ETB or LTB effect. If this was a 3/3 for 2G creature that you could exile from your graveyard for 3G to make a Beast, I would be playing it.

Nice. I don't know if anyone got this or not.

Many of the conspiracies make this card much better, especially Double Stroke, although Brago's Favor and Iterative Analysis are great with it as well.

That being said, I don't like the card unless you support green aggro, in which case it's probably pretty good.

Immediate Action doesn't work. You can't name "Elephant" with it.

Oh, true, my bad. I edited the previous post accordingly.

I think it's still worthy in a list with room. With the uptick in unconditional spot removal and wrath effects over the past couple sets, a solid two-for-one that spreads out board pressure over the course of a game has value. Most importantly, it only requires one green, a sore point amongst that color's three drops.

I'll be cutting the elephants for Reclamation Sage when it comes out in M15, however. I had skimped on artifact hate creatures until lately, and I expect most decks will appreciate the added utility over a good curve filler.

This guy really never did it for me. While I do like the discard for value factor it has, a 3/3 for 4 is no deep analysis. We are in an era now where I wouldn't play 2 drop 3/3s or 4 drop 6/6 vanillas.

I find this guy just so far behind the curve now, it is felling much more like half a card and half a card. 7 mana in green should be gettign me 2 5/5s no 3/3. It also is upping my non-creature count in green which isn't something I like to for unexciting things.

There is no issue with people still running it. But this has never a pretty low ceiling for me.

Quote from dschumm »

We are in an era now where I wouldn't play 2 drop 3/3s

What? Cloistered Youth is a great card, and it's worse than this. A straight-up 3/3 for 1G, 1R, 1W or 1B would be fantastic.

I believe he's referencing Kalonian Tusker.

[edit - to be honest, I kinda forgot about Call of the Herd as I took it out a little while ago. I may bring it back, since it's kind of like Firebolt where its individual modes aren't too great, mana-cost wise but the flexibility can help it.]

Quote from Goodking »

Quote from dschumm »

We are in an era now where I wouldn't play 2 drop 3/3s

What? Cloistered Youth is a great card, and it's worse than this. A straight-up 3/3 for 1G, 1R, 1W or 1B would be fantastic.

Yeah I was talking about the Tusker. Personally I like Cloistered Youth better than Call of the Herd and it is worse that a vanilla 2 drop.

The problem is that Call of the Herd is a Midrange green card and I have a metric ton of midrange green options available and only need a few. The youth is a aggro card which I need a lot of, is human which I like, and is better at being big on turn 2 than most anything in white.

CotH is fine, but how often do you want to drop this on 3 compared to another 3 drop in your hand? Is that second 3/3 really something I want to be doing insted of Thrun or Polukronous or any other 4 drop in the deck.

Don't get me wrong card advantage is nice against control but against aggro my cards are all better, as long as I live long enough to cast them. If I play both sides of CotH and my other 3-4 drops against aggro, I have won.

1W mana cost is also much, much better than GG mana cost.

If I add in Champion of the Perish, I'll likely find room for Cloistered Youth as well. It's just on the fringe of playability for me at powered 360.

I would play Call of the Herd in a powered 360 if:

1) I supported green aggro
2) I played with the above conspiracies I listed, since they make the card so much better and Iterative Analysis is incredibly strong with flashback cards, of which green does not have many. I've found combining conspiracies on flashback cards to be the most useful thing you can generally do, so I may be adding in Deep Analysis back in on that fact alone to see how it goes. Call of the Herd is one of Green's very few great flashback options (if not the only one).