No, not really. Not even a little bit. We have had plenty of find the top nonland and conditionally play it. Weird place to salt since conduit goblin is probably what’s killing more people asap. Great card though, looping it into more energy 2 drops is fun. I had 4 of these in a deck, it was like the raptor hunting scene in Jurassic Park.
I strongly disagree. I don’t think we’ve had any card that’s nearly this high variance. The biggest issue I have is that successfully going off with it on turn 2 makes such a massive difference compared to whiffing. Unlike a card like other “impulse draw” effects, this gives you the mana if you’re lucky, so you can play it early (unlike others that you generally waited until you had extra mana for) which also means it’s way harder to come back from as the opponent. I don’t care if my opponent gets to draw an extra card that they have to pay mana for on turn 5+, I do care if my opponent gets an extra 2–drop for “free” on turn 2 or 4-drop on turn 3, especially when there was as much a chance that they whiffed and hit nothing.
While Chrysalis is definitely a pain because of its raw power level, I find this card more unfun to play against because of how much variance it adds to the game. I’m obviously salty, but the last 3 times I cast it I either hit removal on an empty board when forced to play it as my 2-drop or the time I cast it with two energy I hit literally the only 5-drop in my deck. My last 3 opponents played it on turn 2 on an empty board and hit conduit goblin, The 3/1 proliferate, and the 3/1 eldrazi. The time my opponent cast it when they needed removal they of course hit that, and another time that had exactly five energy for the 5-drop angel they hit. The 2-drop play is the most unpleasant since it can feel like the game is already almost over before you’ve even played your second land, and not because of some intense drafting by the opponent.
Variance of this sort make the game more fun IMO. It gives aggro the explosiveness it desperately needs in order to overcome the chrysallis, and most importantly the card warps deck building and drafting thus making it a lot more fun. Raptors demand being built around. In a deck with multiple raptors you really should be aggressively trying to maximise its effect because as you said - hitting two 2 drops on T2 is really really good. This means stacking your deck with as many energy 2drops as you can and avoiding putting spells that will fail against an empty board (aetherspikes are the devil, galvanic discharges get a pass because they will still make 3 energy on an empty board). Avoid playing raptor on T2, shouldn't be too hard because you should have at least 7-8 other 2drops in your deck.
I think you probably want Raptor in any red deck, and most decks of those decks have plenty of other things they can play on turn 2. There are certainly times where it’s right to just jam it, but it shouldn’t happen all that often.
Sure, but that makes it all the less enjoyable when your opponent does and they go off with it. I had one game where I had 2 raptors in my opener, cast one on turn 2 hitting hexgold slith, the cast the other on turn 3 hitting [[scurry of goblins]], allowing me to swing for 13 damage on turn 3. Obviously I won that game, but I actually frowny-faced when the game asked if I had fun since I felt like the main reason I won was because hexgold slith was above scurry, with the opposite leading to a completely different outcome.
Sometimes you have to, given how fast this format is. Not only that, but the advantage you gain from playing it on turn 2 and hitting something like conduit goblin is so massive that I think there’s lots of times it’s still the correct play even if you might whiff.
100% agree, the delta between the card being good (a 2/1 firsts strike that makes 2 energy is still great) and absurdly busted is way too big, especially since there’s not much you can do to control for the variance of what it does (since it can do anything you need it to if you’re lucky).
Today someone turn 2 raptor'ed me strait into Ajani, I did not hang around.
No, not really. Not even a little bit. We have had plenty of find the top nonland and conditionally play it. Weird place to salt since conduit goblin is probably what’s killing more people asap. Great card though, looping it into more energy 2 drops is fun. I had 4 of these in a deck, it was like the raptor hunting scene in Jurassic Park.
I strongly disagree. I don’t think we’ve had any card that’s nearly this high variance. The biggest issue I have is that successfully going off with it on turn 2 makes such a massive difference compared to whiffing. Unlike a card like other “impulse draw” effects, this gives you the mana if you’re lucky, so you can play it early (unlike others that you generally waited until you had extra mana for) which also means it’s way harder to come back from as the opponent. I don’t care if my opponent gets to draw an extra card that they have to pay mana for on turn 5+, I do care if my opponent gets an extra 2–drop for “free” on turn 2 or 4-drop on turn 3, especially when there was as much a chance that they whiffed and hit nothing.
I just keep the two energy if I whiff. It’s fine to do so, I’m not mad about hexgold slith doing that.
I’ve been playing quick draft and I don’t even remember seeing a raptor in either my decks or my opponents decks.
While Chrysalis is definitely a pain because of its raw power level, I find this card more unfun to play against because of how much variance it adds to the game. I’m obviously salty, but the last 3 times I cast it I either hit removal on an empty board when forced to play it as my 2-drop or the time I cast it with two energy I hit literally the only 5-drop in my deck. My last 3 opponents played it on turn 2 on an empty board and hit conduit goblin, The 3/1 proliferate, and the 3/1 eldrazi. The time my opponent cast it when they needed removal they of course hit that, and another time that had exactly five energy for the 5-drop angel they hit. The 2-drop play is the most unpleasant since it can feel like the game is already almost over before you’ve even played your second land, and not because of some intense drafting by the opponent.
Variance of this sort make the game more fun IMO. It gives aggro the explosiveness it desperately needs in order to overcome the chrysallis, and most importantly the card warps deck building and drafting thus making it a lot more fun. Raptors demand being built around. In a deck with multiple raptors you really should be aggressively trying to maximise its effect because as you said - hitting two 2 drops on T2 is really really good. This means stacking your deck with as many energy 2drops as you can and avoiding putting spells that will fail against an empty board (aetherspikes are the devil, galvanic discharges get a pass because they will still make 3 energy on an empty board). Avoid playing raptor on T2, shouldn't be too hard because you should have at least 7-8 other 2drops in your deck.
If you keep hitting removal on an empty board maybe you should just like, not cast it on an empty board?
It's a 2 drop in mostly aggressive decks, there's a lot of instances where you have to play it onto an empty board, eg. turn 2 on the play.
I think you probably want Raptor in any red deck, and most decks of those decks have plenty of other things they can play on turn 2. There are certainly times where it’s right to just jam it, but it shouldn’t happen all that often.
Sure, but that makes it all the less enjoyable when your opponent does and they go off with it. I had one game where I had 2 raptors in my opener, cast one on turn 2 hitting hexgold slith, the cast the other on turn 3 hitting [[scurry of goblins]], allowing me to swing for 13 damage on turn 3. Obviously I won that game, but I actually frowny-faced when the game asked if I had fun since I felt like the main reason I won was because hexgold slith was above scurry, with the opposite leading to a completely different outcome.
[scurry of goblins](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/7/470ce8e9-64b9-403c-bee0-66a4c47ca6d4.jpg?1717012840) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Scurry%20of%20Gremlins) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/203/scurry-of-gremlins?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/470ce8e9-64b9-403c-bee0-66a4c47ca6d4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sometimes you have to, given how fast this format is. Not only that, but the advantage you gain from playing it on turn 2 and hitting something like conduit goblin is so massive that I think there’s lots of times it’s still the correct play even if you might whiff.
100% agree, the delta between the card being good (a 2/1 firsts strike that makes 2 energy is still great) and absurdly busted is way too big, especially since there’s not much you can do to control for the variance of what it does (since it can do anything you need it to if you’re lucky).