[DGM] Ral Zarek

[dontbiteitholmes]

Will probably see play in Standard at some point. There's probably going to end up being some permanent that has synergy with his +1.

In Modern I don't see any place for him right now since he's basically competing with Ajani V in every deck he fits in and Ajani V is just heads and tails better since he locks down a permanent and his -2 also gains life. Both ultimates effectively end the game 90ish% of the time, since if you are enough ahead to +7 either guy wiping all the opponents lands or taking 2.5 extra turns is usually going to finish the job.

In Legacy he's more or less a casual card. I mean I guess he fits in some fringe decks but he's competing with Jace here and coming up way short.

In Vintage unless you have Vault in play he's pretty bad. Once again he's competing with Jace only this time in a format where Brainstorm is banned because 1/4 of your deck is the most broken cards in the history of MtG. Anyone planning on killing a Lodestone with this guy is going to be pretty sad and he's lackluster at best vs. every real deck in the format unless you have some kind of combo going with him, and to be honest there is just a million better ways to make that happen.

[kwis]

Yeah, so stasis lock is my pet deck.

The issue is that red brings nothing else, imo. I am on U/G with Winter Orb, Stasis, Tanglewire. GSZ for mana dorks and untappers to sustain lock along with Garruk. I am currently testing 1 huntmaster to speed up the clockand kill utility creatures that make it through.

I haven't tested Tamiyo but that feels better since the draw is potentially nuts. Tapped Hierarch, Ranger, Dryad arbor, beast token...draw 4 thanks! Tamiyo's +1 is nice as well. If threats make it through, it's usually just one, maybe two, perma tap is nice. But Tamiyo's ultimate sucks in stasis. Surei get my stuff back, but it's no wincon.

Assuming you're playing a spell like Boomerang you can actually turn her ult into a wincon. You should get to some critical mass of lands at which point you can bounce stasis on their endstep and then proceed to bounce a bunch of their stuff into their hand. After a few iterations their entire board will be in their hand and you'll be developed. It might not win the game on the spot but it certainly wins the game.

[Oiolosse]

Agree, Tamiyo's ult is way better. The more i think about it the more i really like Ral's +1. I will def test more red in Stasis. Two lands from Garruknisnhuge though. Cradle, port is so much fun with an active Winter Orb.

[Kayradis]

By itself, its +1 isn't too good at protecting itself.. except perhaps untapping your islands for permission. You could play combat tricks with it but only on your turn, so its +1 needs to interact with something else to reach full utililty. Welder seems pretty good. Stasis is a potential option as well. Untapping Islands each turn is good; tapping down the opponents lands as they try to get enough of them to answer Stasis is also pretty good. It is a win condition all on its own as well both in taking extra turns to push an active Stasis over the top or dealing direct damage with Ral Zarek.

Its worth noting that Ral Zarek's -2 can hit creatures or opposing planeswalkers. Seems good. Not against all of them, but if you lay it down against, say an opposing Jace, you can punish a player if he's been Brainstorming. Its worth noting that 'Lightning Bolts' from Ral Zarek allow you to trade with creatures with less than or equal to 6 toughness.. which just about covers the non-Reanimator size of fat we tend to encounter in Legacy. This also helps in a Ral Zarek vs. Jace showdown in UR Zarek vs. Ux Jace because UR will be packed with Burn to help shrink the Jace quickly before the Jace player acquires too much card advantage. I'd say Ral Zarek is quite aggressive for a Planeswalker and is finally something that aggro control could play. He could easily fit into UR Delver. Ral Zarek can clear the path for Delvers/Goblin Guide, which only need to connect a couple times for the reach to close the deal. Further, his ultimate is quite good. Extra turns in a control deck isn't nearly as dangerous (when you already have Jace to +2 away the opponents turn in a draw-go situation, or a +0 to get the best part of your turn; CA) as extra turns in an aggro control. A UR Delver player who gets extra turns will certainly draw some burn, extra creatures and/or simply extra attack phases for the ones already there. Not to mention, extra turns means extra counters for Ral Zarek, which means extra direct damage.


In general, I think that Jace is probably still better. After all, Jace can bounce huge dudes, and basically just pseudo-mindslaver the opponent by negating the opponents draw with the +2 or fixing their own with the +0. Its easier to stay ahead with Jace as well as get back in the game with Jace.. however.. Ral Zarek looks like he's pretty good in his own way. He has a much shorter term usage than Jace. Ral Zarek has the ability to synthesize well. His +1 works with Stasis as well as Goblin Welder. I'll be trying RUG Stasis in Cockatrice sometime soon, since Goblin Welder is quite good with Quirion Ranger which combos with Stasis and a Tropical Island/Birds of Paradise. He could function like Garruk in GU Turbo Stasis, only Ral Zarek's +1 under a Stasis lock makes your position quite secure. I have quite the experience under Stasis lock; usually, with Garruk, he allows you to build quite a bit of steam and get the lock more and more secure... but if the opponent can find an answer AND play enough lands, then the opponent can break the Stasis lock. In this case, Ral Zarek taps down lands whilst untapping yours. Also, unlike Garruk, while building this lock, you can just unload all your counters into the -2 after holding it for long enough and he becomes your win condition, unlike Garruk, who is primarly just a holder of the lock.

I do like the way where this thread is heading!

[LOurs]

I like this pw in term of card design.
However, at the moment, I cant see where it could be effective among the legacy meta.
Regarding stasis, I think Tezzeret 1.0 has more potential in that archetype : beside being full blue, tutoring and untaping 2 artifacts abilities seem better. It should depend from the win condition though. And tezz cost is 5 cmc vs 4 cmc for zarek, but tezz deserves it imo.
I remain curious to see how this pw can be ran though.

[DragoFireheart]

In Modern I don't see any place for him right now since he's basically competing with Ajani V in every deck he fits in and Ajani V is just heads and tails better since he locks down a permanent and his -2 also gains life. Both ultimates effectively end the game 90ish% of the time, since if you are enough ahead to +7 either guy wiping all the opponents lands or taking 2.5 extra turns is usually going to finish the job.

Ral is better in WUR Mid-range compared to Ajani. He can tap blockers so your Geist can swing through.

[Malakai]

Short answer: He'll have some uses, in fringe strategies. I wouldn't pay more than $10 for him.

[Lemnear]

Short answer: He'll have some uses, in fringe strategies. I wouldn't pay more than $10 for him.

Then you can wait forever.

UWR midrange in Modern is his natural fit. Geist loves all abilities

[phonics]

What if he was 1UR and had three loyalty starting?

[Lemnear]

What if he was 1UR and had three loyalty starting?

"What if" doesn't give us actual cards to fit into existing decks or create new ones. Of course less mana would be better because in this case 4 or 3 loyalty doesn't matter. Try 1RU and 1 loyalty which would have been more likely

[DragoFireheart]

You know, a UWR Modern Control deck running Ral and Ajani would be pretty badass. Ral taps the dude and Ajani keeps him tapped down. Both planeswalkers can burn opposing creatures. You can even have both burn the same creature, allowing you to take our larger creatures. Finally, both can be used to keep down up to 2(!) creatures tapped so a Geist can swing. Tap one with Ral, keep tapped with Ajani. On the next turn, keep the same one tapped with Ajani and then tap another with Ral.

I expect Ajani to go up in price soon.

[TraxDaMax]

By itself, its +1 isn't too good at protecting itself.. except perhaps untapping your islands for permission. You could play combat tricks with it but only on your turn, so its +1 needs to interact with something else to reach full utililty. Welder seems pretty good. Stasis is a potential option as well. Untapping Islands each turn is good; tapping down the opponents lands as they try to get enough of them to answer Stasis is also pretty good. It is a win condition all on its own as well both in taking extra turns to push an active Stasis over the top or dealing direct damage with Ral Zarek.

Its worth noting that Ral Zarek's -2 can hit creatures or opposing planeswalkers. Seems good. Not against all of them, but if you lay it down against, say an opposing Jace, you can punish a player if he's been Brainstorming. Its worth noting that 'Lightning Bolts' from Ral Zarek allow you to trade with creatures with less than or equal to 6 toughness.. which just about covers the non-Reanimator size of fat we tend to encounter in Legacy. This also helps in a Ral Zarek vs. Jace showdown in UR Zarek vs. Ux Jace because UR will be packed with Burn to help shrink the Jace quickly before the Jace player acquires too much card advantage. I'd say Ral Zarek is quite aggressive for a Planeswalker and is finally something that aggro control could play. He could easily fit into UR Delver. Ral Zarek can clear the path for Delvers/Goblin Guide, which only need to connect a couple times for the reach to close the deal. Further, his ultimate is quite good. Extra turns in a control deck isn't nearly as dangerous (when you already have Jace to +2 away the opponents turn in a draw-go situation, or a +0 to get the best part of your turn; CA) as extra turns in an aggro control. A UR Delver player who gets extra turns will certainly draw some burn, extra creatures and/or simply extra attack phases for the ones already there. Not to mention, extra turns means extra counters for Ral Zarek, which means extra direct damage.


In general, I think that Jace is probably still better. After all, Jace can bounce huge dudes, and basically just pseudo-mindslaver the opponent by negating the opponents draw with the +2 or fixing their own with the +0. Its easier to stay ahead with Jace as well as get back in the game with Jace.. however.. Ral Zarek looks like he's pretty good in his own way. He has a much shorter term usage than Jace. Ral Zarek has the ability to synthesize well. His +1 works with Stasis as well as Goblin Welder. I'll be trying RUG Stasis in Cockatrice sometime soon, since Goblin Welder is quite good with Quirion Ranger which combos with Stasis and a Tropical Island/Birds of Paradise. He could function like Garruk in GU Turbo Stasis, only Ral Zarek's +1 under a Stasis lock makes your position quite secure. I have quite the experience under Stasis lock; usually, with Garruk, he allows you to build quite a bit of steam and get the lock more and more secure... but if the opponent can find an answer AND play enough lands, then the opponent can break the Stasis lock. In this case, Ral Zarek taps down lands whilst untapping yours. Also, unlike Garruk, while building this lock, you can just unload all your counters into the -2 after holding it for long enough and he becomes your win condition, unlike Garruk, who is primarly just a holder of the lock.

Nice find.. Stasis.. :O

[Arsenal]

Nice find.. Stasis.. :O

Watch the speculators buy every copy of Statis out; it'll go from a $3 card to a $15 card in the matter of days...

[phonics]

"What if" doesn't give us actual cards to fit into existing decks or create new ones. Of course less mana would be better because in this case 4 or 3 loyalty doesn't matter. Try 1RU and 1 loyalty which would have been more likely

Well I guess I was lazy when making that post, but to me ral's abilities seem more similar to a 3cc planeswalker like Liliana than a 4cc planeswalker.

[bruizar]

Watch the speculators buy every copy of Statis out; it'll go from a $3 card to a $15 card in the matter of days...

oops,

bought out betas

edit:
always had a love for Stasis. Giant troll-deck, but so awesome.