Brimaz...really?!?!

Economics forum

Posted on Jan. 21, 2014, 9:05 p.m. by capriom85

Ok, so for those of you that haven't seen the new "cat caller" yet, here you go:

Brimaz, King of Oreskos 1WW

Legendary Cat Soldier

Whenever he attacks put a 1/1 cat soldier attacking onto the battlefield.

Whenever he block put a 1/1 cat soldier onto the field blocking that creature.

3/4

Ok, that out of the way, does this guy warrant a pre order of over $20?!?! I mean, he is cool, and is the closest thing to Hero of Bladehold we have right now for standard, but I think this is way inflated. I think he would be a pretty cool EDH general, but I am not sold on him being that expensive. Am I missing anything or does this just seem out of place to the TO community?

erabel says... #2

This probably goes in either Spoilers or (because you mentioned the preorder price) Economics. Epochalyptik?

January 21, 2014 9:09 p.m.

lookoutimscary says... #3

He's awesome no doubt, he's one of those cards I suspect is a little overhyped by WotC, so he'll drop in price upon BNG's release

January 21, 2014 9:14 p.m.

Du_Co says... #4

I say the expense is the fact the cat comes in attacking or block with brimaz no just making a token..so really if he blocks, he does 4 damage instead of 3 and if he does die you get a 1/1 token in his place. I mean i think over $20 is a bit much..but i can see him being worth a good bit especially if you have the new first strike enchantment creature.

January 21, 2014 9:15 p.m.

the3rdH0kage says... #5

The cats have Vigilance and Birmaz has been put into the system so you could link him . Brimaz, King of Oreskos

But anyway do I think he warrants a $20 preorder price? no. Do I plan on picking a set of him up about 2 weeks after the set drops. All Day

January 21, 2014 9:16 p.m.

Jay says... #6

Defs a good card, I'd say more around $12 though depending on his play

January 21, 2014 9:20 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #7

@lookoutimscary: Overhyped by WOTC? That's not how the market works.

January 21, 2014 9:21 p.m.

flyguy says... #8

I see him in play all over the place. It will easily become a weenies staple, probably see play in boros, maybe orzhov humans, possibly selesnya. It is incredibly versatile. I even include a playset in the sideboard of bant flash. It stops aggro incredibly well. Overhyped, maybe, but incredibly worth it

January 21, 2014 9:25 p.m.

Jay says... #9

Damn, a playset in the sideboard? That's when you need some main haha

January 21, 2014 9:26 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #10

I would like to point out that he's pretty dang fast for what he costs. For 3 mana, he can dodge Lightning Strike and block X/4s all day. And he attacks and blocks while creating tokens that survive past his death! (Looking at you, Master of Waves )

So can I see why SCG is pre-ordering him at $25? Yeah, I guess; he's pretty boss, and I suspect he will be pretty cool in a Voltron EDH deck when he can hold on to a lot of Swords. Would I pay that $100 for a playset? Hell no. Do I see him ever going over $10, $15 at most when BNG is released? No. Will I gladly buy a playset of him for $40? Hell yeah I would.

January 21, 2014 9:27 p.m.

Epochalyptik That probably wasn't the best wording, but sometimes they (StarCity, ABU, TCG player, etc.) jack up the prices and push the card a little bit and people fall (for lack of a better word) for it and are willing to pay that much sometimes. You're right not necessarily WotC

January 21, 2014 9:27 p.m.

Arachnarchist says... #12

I think the bottom line is that the big stores don't want to undercost cards only to have them skyrocket in price a couple of weeks later. So, yes they overprice cards at release time. Remember how Master of Waves was a 5$ card when theros came out? How about Sphinx's Revelation in Return to Ravnica? Well you can bet that the people who do the pricing for the stores remember. And they're more than happy to overprice cards a little more and sell a few less if it means they don't give up value.

January 21, 2014 9:32 p.m.

2austin5 says... #13

I feel like this card is good, but not game breaking. It just creates more thinking situations in combats in my opinion i.e. do I swing in with my 4/4 knowing it will die but in the process removing the cat, or do I hold back and do the same when blocking. Either way they get the 1/1 body in that situation (assuming you kill Brimaz). So it comes down to how valuable is an extra potential blocker and 1 damage in the meta to follow.

January 21, 2014 9:39 p.m.

Schuesseled says... #14

His price will ultimately depend on how much play he sees. Good body, good tokens, vigilance abound. Quality 3 drop

January 21, 2014 9:49 p.m.

Khanye says... #15

Insert the "dies to removal" comment here. Im surprised nobody trolled with it yet. Definitely a solid 3 drop if you can keep him alive. Worth more than Stormbreath Dragon ? I think not. He should stabilize between $10-$15 hopefully. Although, the mythic tag might keep his price inflated for a while.

January 21, 2014 10:07 p.m.

brokendwarf says... #16

I see this as being a bomb draft card.

January 21, 2014 10:15 p.m.

Schuesseled says... #17

Honestly stormbreath will probably go up at some point.

January 21, 2014 10:38 p.m.

First off, I think it's a great card that could make White Weenie a bit more viable (and I have my own Bant plans for him as well). However, there's no way his price holds over $20 because White still won't be a top archetype and he won't be run as more than a 2-of in lists that have him.

By the way, name a 3-drop non-God that doesn't die to removal besides Witchstalker , who doesn't see a ton of play. Ok, Xathrid Necromancer , but the point remains.

January 21, 2014 10:39 p.m.

capriom85 says... #19

I'd like to hear more about ChrisHansonBiomancin's idea for this guy in Bant.

January 21, 2014 11:55 p.m.

Due to my name, you'll probably be shocked to find out that I like how he curves into Master Biomancer . He also works well with Ephara, God of the Polis , Voice of Resurgence 's token, Grove of the Guardian , Archangel of Thune , and even Trostani, Selesnya's Voice , especially with a Biomancer on the table.

It's funny, we were actually challenged to find a way to make Karametra, God of Harvests viable in Standard on another thread, and I just happened to stumble across a pretty synergistic battery that I like. Basically, the idea is a ramp deck that spams tokens just with creature cards like Voice, Brimaz, Trostani, Scion of Vitu-Ghazi , and Armada Wurm , has Biomancer flinging counters everywhere, Prophet of Kruphix to speed things up and untap Trostani, and a bunch of draw power in the form of Prime Speaker Zegana and Sphinx's Revelation .

January 22, 2014 12:32 a.m.

Jay says... #21

I wish tokens triggered Karametra :/

January 22, 2014 12:35 a.m.

It would seem to fit the Selesnya token theme better, but it would also be horribly broken. See: Sporemound in Standard or Rampaging Baloths .

January 22, 2014 1:14 a.m.

capriom85 says... #23

That Bant list seems like it can get out of hand pretty quickly. It dodges spot removal by flooding the board and with the Biomancer on the table wipes like Anger of the Gods and Mizzium Mortars would soon be out of range. Supreme Verdict and the suite of high cost low playability wipes would be the only real way to deal with that deck once it gets running, but in most of those cases a well planned Rootborn Defenses can ruing your opponents day. I was skeptical at first, because I played against a guy with a similar idea once before (clearly without the Birmaz), and his deck relied way to much on Master Biomancer being on the table. Without the Biomancer his deck would lose to Electrickery even, but your idea seems to be able to function, in theory, without the Biomancer present. Nice idea!

Can you imagine if Rhys the Redeemed was Standard legal during all this?

January 22, 2014 8:43 a.m.

Oh jesus that's pretty broken, it'd be like super-Trostani untapping with Prophet of Kruphix (forgot to mention Kiora's Follower is one of the "dorks"). Also Doubling Season would be ridiculous.

Thanks tho, haha. The way it's currently set up, every 3+cost creature would survive Anger of the Gods besides Prophet and even without Master Biomancer , but yes, Rootborn Defenses is a must, though Ready / Willing is intriguing as well..

January 22, 2014 9:55 a.m.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Mogis, God of Slaughter are good cards but are not worth $20+. I plan on trading any away I open in the first 2 weeks for cards that have established value and then acquire my playsets when they are $8-12.

January 22, 2014 1:32 p.m.

capriom85 says... #26

What scares me about Mogis is that he is active with only a Rakdos Cackler and Rakdos Shred-Freak on the battlefield with him. So, yea, he may very well become a thing.

January 22, 2014 5:22 p.m.

raithe000 says... #27

@capriom85 No, he is not. Hybrid mana symbols add a single devotion to their two colors, but those are not combined to find the devotion to both colors. If you have a Rakdos Cackler and Rakdos Shred-Freak on the field, you have 3 devotion to red, 3 devotion to black, and 3 devotion to red and black, not 6 devotion to red and black.

January 22, 2014 5:36 p.m.

capriom85 says... #28

A friend of mine called the "Wizards Hotline" or whatever it is called, and the definitive answer was that you get both devotion. I am not saying you are wrong, I am just saying a source was cited that makes me question your source.

January 22, 2014 9:09 p.m.

Jacques says... #29

Jp3ngu1nb0y, if they did, there is an infinite combo that would happen between two cards, which personally I would look forward to.

January 22, 2014 10:36 p.m.

"Your devotion to two colors is equal to the number of mana symbols that are the first color, the second color, or both colors among the mana costs of permanents you control. Specifically, a hybrid mana symbol counts only once toward your devotion to its two colors. For example, if the only nonland permanents you control are Xenagos, God of Revels and Rubblebelt Raiders , your devotion to red and green is five."

Source: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/faq/bng

January 22, 2014 10:47 p.m.

This discussion has been closed