[SCD] Calcite Snapper

[Antonius]

Calcite Snapper

1UU

Creature - Turtle

Shroud
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may switch Calcite Snapper's power and toughness until end of turn.

1/4

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So, what decks could possibly run this? Well, CB-top. He's a good blocker that stops most of the smaller Zoo creatures from getting at you and can even stall some Lhurgoyfs before sorcery or enchantment hits the yard. He protects himself, survives firespout and is a reasonable clock on an open board. Granted, Goyf is all-around better as a blocker and finisher but Goyf only has protection in the form of CB...and turtle fits into a different slot altogether.

At 3cc and blue, the only other card that can be compared to Turtle is Clique. I think Turtle might have a few advantages over Clique:

Turtle can stem the bleeding if you're facing down a couple of cats on your 3rd turn. At that point, Clique can't help you stabilize or even trade because of opposing bolts.

Clique gives you a form of reverse-card selection by hosing your opponent's hand when it ETB. Turtle generates card advantage by forcing your opponents to play more Cats into your firespouts.

Turtle is 1 turn faster as a clock, provided you can make the land drops (something you generally want to do, turtle in play or not) but Clique has evasion.

Clique is legendary. Multiple turtles makes any kind of Nacatl beatdown impossible because Firespout just becomes too vicious. Multiple turtles also swing for game quickly.

Where the turtle is awkward:

versus Goyf - Clique doesn't help you there either
versus Piledriver - again, no help from clique
versus Islandwalk - ditto
versus Gatekeeper - but you're going to sack Clique anyways...unless you'd rather sack Goyf?
versus Clique - turtle can't protect Jace from the opposing clique...but it can race if you get the land drops. On the flipside, legend-rule on the opposing clique also kind of sucks since you don't get to hose their hand as they did to you.
versus Elspeth -- Yeah, evasion makes Clique the best at sniping planeswalkers. Turtle can bash Jace, however, because of his shroud...but the board has to be open.

Overall, I think the turtle could be worth testing in some 4c Goyf/Jace lists, but I think he would really be great in UWx Jace lists. UWx often runs more removal and counters in their 2cc spots instead of Goyfs, and as such can get rid of any creatures that crowd out the turtle, while either parking it in front of Jace/Elspeth then either going for ultimate or bouncing/spouting opposing dudes and swinging for game with fetchlands.

[frenchy-man]

Is it a joke ?

[GGoober]

Eh, not really, Calcite Snapper is run quite competitively in MUC, but I'm not sure if he fits in Countertop. He's not really fighting for Clique's slot since some lists don't even universially run Clique. I would think of him as a meta-game slot against Zoo, but if I wanted to beat aggro/Zoo, I'd play Bant Countertop. RWM beats Clique/Calcite Snapper if you're worried about Zoo-ish matchups.

If it's tribal you worry, then Firespout does well against those metagames.

[Valtrix]

Seems like to me he's just a poor clock and poor blocker...I'd rather just play vedalkan Shackles at 3cc, or just play some paths/EEs/creature removal. He seems very, very weak.

[Antonius]

Yeah--Shackles is pretty strong, but I don't like how you have to actively protect it from Qasali. It's also a dog against grip and needle.

I completely forgot about War Monk. Haven't seen him in a lot of lists recently. Most of the 4c CB lists I"ve seen run 4 goyf/2 Clique as their creature base. I suppose you can get more mileage out of the lifelink. But I don't like Bant and I don't like Lhurgoyfs.

Calcite is strong in MUC because its usually one of the only creatures in their list. In UWr CB, the same would probably be true.

[DragoFireheart]

Seems like to me he's just a poor clock and poor blocker...I'd rather just play vedalkan Shackles at 3cc, or just play some paths/EEs/creature removal. He seems very, very weak.

At least he is castable compared to Rhox War Monk, who gets screwed over by Wasteland. Also, shackles loses to Pridemage.

[GGoober]

Shackles is not a good answer to Zoo. Zoo creatures outgrow Shackles fast, and you can only activate shackles turn 4, which so happens to be close to the fundamental win-turn for Zoo (Turns 4-5 depending on how much disruption/defense you can muster).

Calcite Snapper is good in pure control decks, where the aim is to run a control deck that creates as many dead creature removal spells in opponent's hand e.g. Landstill not playing creatures, MUC playing shroud creatures.

He fits nicely in MUC, 1/4 is relevant, shroud makes him unkillable. But in a countertop shell, you have much more options. MUC is more pressed with limited choices due to color restrictions.

[Antonius]

He fits nicely in MUC, 1/4 is relevant, shroud makes him unkillable. But in a countertop shell, you have much more options. MUC is more pressed with limited choices due to color restrictions.

What other options do you have in UWr? Lets see some good spells that hit that 3cc spot:

Oblivion Ring
Aura of Silence
Vedalken Shackles
Ensnaring Bridge
Vendillion Clique

Firespout

You're running Firespout, period, but you have 2-3 more 3cc slots. O-Ring is good removal and Aura of Silence is underrated (IMO) but neither of them are finishers. You've already pointed out the flaw in Shackles. Ensnaring can be a house, but has some of the same flaws as Shackles and it also requires you to run Enlightened because i doubt anyone is going to run multiple bridges. Also, bridge doesn't end the game--it makes winning with Jace ultimate easier, but Jace ultimate doesn't get there in a timely manner.

So, the only comparison is Clique.