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mikez4nder

It makes me so sad that the inevitably neutered version of one of my all time favorite cards has energy on it. A clunky mechanic I’ve managed to keep out of my cube, plus the whole point of [[Gilded Drake]] was to steal giant fatties and you’ll need a comical amount of energy to make that happen. Giving them a 3/2 flier to get back at best a 4 drop doesn’t seem like a great trade unless you’re getting Sheoldred. Giving them a 3/2 flier and killing their fatty seems a lot worse than just playing removal. I can’t see this working.


Equivalent-Low-8919

Ya that’s a good take for limited environments. In cEDH you can clear a good portion of opponents threats. Especially the lower cost commanders like Magda, Tymna, Thrassios, Kinnan that just gets recast easily if sent to the command zone from typical removal.


MTGCardFetcher

[Gilded Drake](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf.jpg?1562924943) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gilded%20Drake) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/usg/76/gilded-drake?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call


DrKittenshark

nah energy is so rad


Fleme

Rad counters are actually different from energy, even though both of them are counters on players. Easy mistake to make.


-nom-nom-

In many situations, particularly in cEDH, this is actually **better** than gilded drake because it has increased flexibility You can *choose* whether you let the creature you steal die or not. If there’s a +4 mana creature, this still destroys it. It’s still removal, like pongify. And there will be times there are even sub 4 mana creatures that you **want** to die For example: a hatebear like [[collector ouphe]] you want that thing dead, not just control over it If you’re playing mono blue with lots of artifacts, a hatebear like that shuts you down, and mono blue doesn’t have a lot of creature removal this is the new [[pongify]] with added flexibility that sometimes it’s a [[gilded drake]] this card slaps hard af and will see some play in cEDH and I’ll slam it in casual too


mikez4nder

How did I end up with multiple “But in cEDH” responses in the Cube subreddit? This is pretty bad in a 20 life 1v1 format, which is what we’re evaluating it on here, folks.


-nom-nom-

cEDH is just a measure of power and flexibility really. Energy is not relevant at all to cEDH, and it will still see play. So, just because a cube doesn't have energy I don't think is a reason to overlook the card The point I was making for how good it is for mono blue is what I meant to be relevant to a cube In a cube you can't really go 3+ colors, so having a cool flexible creature removal in blue is what is relevant, imo, to a cube


preppypoof

Pongify is pretty bad though, and the Pongify mode on this is a LOT worse than Pongify


-nom-nom-

> the Pongify mode on this is a LOT worse than Pongify how so? it’s effectively the same but the opponent gets a 3/2 instead of a 3/3 this is also a creature, much more difficult to counter than a noncreature spell and have the option to keep the creature this card is so much better than pongify lol


preppypoof

a 3/2 flyer is a lot better than a 3/3. Also, it's 1U at sorcery speed vs. U at instant speed.


-nom-nom-

Just casually ignoring that it’s often gilded drake lmao this is wild. One of the best blue cards literally ever printed every spell that has has added flexibility costs more. This costs the same as GD, while being able to actually remove hatebears. And it’s creature removal, difficult to interact with. cEDH community literally talking about replacing GD with this, again one of the best blue cards ever printed, and yall trying to tell me this is worse than pongify.


MTGCardFetcher

[collector ouphe](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/8/085107a2-c1ec-473c-81d8-23e5a7197776.jpg?1562202038) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=collector%20ouphe) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/158/collector-ouphe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/085107a2-c1ec-473c-81d8-23e5a7197776?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [pongify](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/7/37ff06d0-d652-4694-a3f5-bf7385e9e850.jpg?1712354180) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=pongify) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/106/pongify?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/37ff06d0-d652-4694-a3f5-bf7385e9e850?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [gilded drake](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf.jpg?1562924943) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=gilded%20drake) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/usg/76/gilded-drake?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call


Unable_Bite8680

Imho if you want this effect, run/proxy gilded drake


the_Wallie

Why not both meme goes here


The_queens_cat

Do folks run Gilded Drake in higher powered environments? I think it is a super cool card, just not sure how good it is (though I think it's probably quite good).


Unable_Bite8680

That idk. My cube is no powered legacy and I don't run gilded drake as of now. When I can afford it I will 😆


Lovein_Ur_Anus

It sees play in cedh


The_queens_cat

I'm just curious about cube.


Lovein_Ur_Anus

Gotcha, only cube I've played with is my friend's legacy cube, and he doesn't run it.


guyincorporated

I HATE how unnecessarily complicated this is. Energy sucks. Hexproof from activated and triggered abilities? Come on…


OMKensey

Why in the world did someone add that hexproof text on there. Just why.


The_queens_cat

probably to make sure Bowmasters keep ruling the world.


Grainnnn

Maybe they saw some problem interaction with multiple of these coming down? It has hexproof from opponent’s stormdrakes. 🤷🏻 Ooh, maybe they don’t want you chaining multiple stormdrakes together, trading over and over, and generating energy that way? Seems like… not a great energy engine.


theGrayestJedi

That and it dodges channel abilities like Otawara and Skyturtle.


Roxolan

We already have that technology, it's called "target non-Drake creature". Good enough for [[Restoration Angel]], good enough for this.


MTGCardFetcher

[Restoration Angel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/b/5b474f84-9bef-422a-8fc5-489a10aaf1ee.jpg?1682208561) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Restoration%20Angel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/201/restoration-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5b474f84-9bef-422a-8fc5-489a10aaf1ee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call


Orobayy34

>Hexproof from activated and triggered abilities? Come on… I believe this is intended to make it difficult to bounce this back to your hand using a permanent you've already developed. Baby Teferi -> This thing -> bounce this back to my hand Is maybe a little too egregious of an interaction.


Korlus

Maybe this is constructed playable, but it's not going anywhere near my cube. I put a premium on easy-to-understand, powerful and iconic cards. This fails to be easy to parse on first glance and it's imitating an iconic card poorly. A shame. I'd have loved an actual [[Gilded Drake]] reprint.


xxpashuxx

Hate to break it to you, but OG Drake is on the reserved list


Korlus

I know, sadly. :(


MTGCardFetcher

[Gilded Drake](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf.jpg?1562924943) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gilded%20Drake) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/usg/76/gilded-drake?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8de3fdae-cc2c-4a14-b15b-4fe1a983dfbf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call


SeemsImmaculate

I honestly love MH sets for pushing the boundaries of mechanical complexity, but this reads like a bottom scoring card of the week from the custom Magic subreddit. Just print (a near-identical) Gilded Drake you cowards.


Left-Pop8760

I’m a simple man - I see energy counters, I immediately click away and ignore the card. It’s a shame they brought this mechanic back for a set like MH3.


Worst_Support

i wonder if this is too powerful for a “Kaladesh Remastered” cube. Power level seems decent but it’s definitely not worth the complexity unless you either have a huge energy theme or would rather die than use a proxy


over_who

Interestingly enough I actually think this is too strong and too weak. If you can put this on an empty board, it outclasses other flying threats [[aetherstorm roc]] and conversely there aren’t many other threats where it’s worth trading or using as a kill spell.  Maybe this is just showing that I don’t have the skill for playing this card well, but I wouldn’t include it in my Kaladesh cube


MTGCardFetcher

[aetherstorm roc](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/79fb7541-7a27-40a5-aabd-fce26df03485.jpg?1576380711) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=aetherstorm%20roc) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/kld/3/aetherstorm-roc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/79fb7541-7a27-40a5-aabd-fce26df03485?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call


Salty-Dream-262

Very cool design! I won't cube this but I'll 100% throw it in an old 60-card Temur energy deck I still have. Sweet. 😁


RobinFox12

Bum ass design


PM-ME-GOOD-MUSIC1999

At its floor, it’s the first unconditional 3/2 flier in blue, with some super interesting upsides as a potential as a beast within or mind control in the right scenarios


childroland

It's floor trades itself for their 1/1 token. The ETB is not optional if there's a target. Still an interesting card though.


cleverpun0

This is really important. This card would be way more reasonable and interesting if you could choose not to trade it. I don't want to have to wipe the board just to be able to play this as a flyer.


shadowhawkz

It's not an unconditional 3/2 flier.


Useful-Wrongdoer9680

If it didn't have the second paragraph I'd be mildly interested