Thread by @JasonILTG

Two combat tricks today! You're Ambushed on the Road, and must channel a Bull's Strength to escape! I haven't been liking the set that much, so haven't been drafting much recently, but I'll still continue these threads occasionally. 1/x

Bo3 ALSAs of 7.96 for Ambushed and 7.63 for Strength - Ambushed is the lowest white common and dropping a bit, while Strength gets picked a bit higher and is rising. 2/x

I think cheap, efficient combat tricks often tend to be underrated - some recent examples include Wings of the Cosmos in KHM and Big Play in STX. They're not flashy, but winning a combat for 2, or especially 1, mana is often a huge tempo swing. 3/x

Obviously, Ambushed is not as good as Wings. They both give the same P/T boost for the same 1 mana, but the untap + flying on Wings leads to more blowouts and more surprise lethals, while the upside of rescuing your creature on Ambushed is significantly less exciting. 4/x

But that doesn't mean Ambushed is bad! +1/+3 still wins combats, and the rescue mode is one of the best clean answers to Price of Loyalty (shoutouts to @Sierkovitz for data!). It's not a top common by any means, but it's still a solid effect that I'm happy to include one of. 5/x

Bull's Strength, on the other hand, is a card that I'm actively excited about. It plays extremely well with big creatures like Owlbear and Herdgorger - it blows out double blocks that your opponent will probably make, and the trample on Herdgorger can be surprise lethal. 6/x

The untap also helps you play both offense and defense - if you attack and they block to trade, you get them, and if they just take it and try to race, you also get them. It also randomly hoses blue's tap removal, and helps your Lurking Roper if you're short lifegain. 7/x

The caveat is that you want to be a green deck that attacks - you shouldn't put Strength in your UG decks running Secret Door. And if you are attacking, Bull's Strength can serve as the only interaction you need - your opponent likely can't afford to avoid blocking forever. 8/x

I've often found myself low on removal in green, since others take Spoils much higher than I do. But I make do with Strengths - in some decks I'd say it's better than Spoils. The more Gnoll Hunters you have, the more you want Strength; the more Basilisks, the more Spoils. 9/x

Conclusion: efficient combat tricks are often underrated, and You're Ambushed on the Road and Bull's Strength are two prime examples of this. Both go near last, but Ambushed is a solid playable, while Bull's Strength can play like premium interaction. 10/10

Here's a spicy trophy where I elected to play Bull's Strength over Spoils of the Hunt: 17lands.com/deck/9355a029b…

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