Second thread today is another short one on another Witherbloom card, though one that is much different: Fortifying Draught. Pronounced like "draft", but I almost always say "drawt" anyways. 1/x
ALSA of 6.97 in Bo3. From the Card Evaluation Metagame graph, it looks like it's currently on an upswing, but its history, like Plumb, is pretty swingy. 2/x
The baseline of Draught is just a decent combat trick, like Moment of Triumph. And a cheap combat trick that gains life is pretty good in many Witherbloom decks; see my thread on Infuse with Vitality for a more detailed description of why:
Compared to Infuse, the baseline of Draught is more efficient, but generally a bit worse at winning combats. But it also can help do the last 2 points of damage for lethal, which Infuse can't do. 4/x
However, the real upside of Draught is as a synergy/combo card with other lifegain. At the low end, Witherbloom Pledgemage makes it +3/+3. But just one Cram Session makes it +6/+6, which can very much kill out of nowhere. 5/x
The biggest combo with Draught is Weather the Storm. If you cast X spells, then cast Draught, and cast Weather with Draught on the stack, you end up gaining 3X+8 life: +8/+8 for no other spells, +11/+11 for one other, and beyond that it's basically always lethal. 6/x
I wouldn't necessarily advocate for putting Weather the Storm in your deck just to combo with Draught. But if you have more lifegain synergies, you can certainly get wins out of nowhere with Weather without giving up too much. 7/x
Conclusion: Fortifying Draught is very similar to Infuse with Vitality, as a good combat trick that incidentally powers lifegain synergies. But Draught is also an explosive payoff for gaining life, and can sometimes kill out of nowhere. 8/8
Very short thread today on Infuriate. ALSA 6.96 in Bo3. I'm surprised it's actually been trending slightly downwards in its Card Evaluation Metagame graph. 1/x
Infuriate is just a really solid combat trick. +3/+2 for 1 mana is just a good rate, especially in this set where the creatures are fairly small. +3/+2 basically guarantees you win any combat, and being a Lava Spike on an unblocked creature is great too. 2/x
Infuriate goes best in Lorehold decks, where combat tricks are exactly what you want to leverage ground creatures like Eager First-Year and Stonebound Mentor. But it can also do work in tempo Prismari; sometimes you just deal the last 5 points with an Infuriated Apprentice. 3/x
First thread today (there will be two to make up for the lack of one yesterday) is a short thread about Plumb the Forbidden. 1/x
ALSA of 6.98 in Bo3. Looks like the Card Evaluation Metagame graph has it as not changing much on average, but with a lot of variation up and down for it and a lot of other black uncommons. Not sure exactly what to make of that. 2/x
At a baseline, Plumb can function similar to Village Rites: you can use it to recycle useless creatures, as a sac outlet, or in response to removal. Evaluating it this way, it looks pretty bad, as it costs 1 more mana and 2 more life. 3/x
Late and short thread today about Owlin Shieldmage. Future threads are likely to also be later, as I am now on the west coast instead of the east coast of the US. 1/x
ALSA of 7.02. Looks like its Card Evaluation Metagame has stayed fairly stable for the whole format. 2/x
I don't really have a great comparison for Owlin Shieldmage. A 5 mana 3/3 flier is slightly overcosted, but the Ward 3 makes it play out much differently: with it, Shieldmage is basically a guaranteed 3 damage, either from Ward or from attacking. 3/x
Early thread about Spiteful Squad today because I'm going to be on a flight tonight to California. 1/x
ALSA of 7.33. Looking at the Card Evaluation Metagame graph, it seems that it's actually been going down since the start of the format. Maybe people are comparing it to Star Pupil, and moving it down as Pupil goes down? 2/x
Squad might look similar to Star Pupil, as it has the same modular-like ability. But they are fundamentally different cards. Pupil's is an aggressive 1-drop that needs extra +1/+1 counters to function, while Squad needs no extra counters and gums up the ground with value. 3/x
Today I'm wrapping up my streak of talking about tricks/creature enhancements with Enthusiastic Study. I'll definitely be talking about at least one more in the future (looking at you, Fortifying Draught), but that won't be for a bit still. 1/x
ALSA of 7.51 in Bo3, making it the second-lowest-drafted learn spell, only above First Day of Class. Though, judging by the Card Evaluation Metagame graph, that data might be a bit outdated from being an average; Study is now roughly tied for third among red commons. 2/x
Even judging from the higher recent numbers, I still think Study is underrated. I think it is clearly the third best red common, and possibly even better than Pigment Storm. I believe this for the same reason I think First Day of Class might be fourth: learn/lesson is busted. 3/x
Today I'm talking about Essence Infusion, which is a card that I think is both overrated and underrated in Bo3. I know that's kind of a contradictory thing to say, but I'll explain. 1/x
ALSA 7.77 in Bo3, which is exactly the same as Professor's Warning, a card that I generally like better. Here's the Card Evaluation Metagame graph for it; looks like it's been gaining in popularity a lot recently. 2/x
So first of all, why do I think Infusion is overrated? Well, this is tied to how I like to build my Silverquill decks: more fliers, fewer counters. My ideal aggro Silverquill deck wins by having too many fliers for opponents to deal with, not by loading up on one creature. 3/x