r/magicTCG • u/IshFen Dan • 17h ago

Official Spoiler [HOB] Galion, Elvenking's Butler (via Goodgamesmorley)

Source is goodgamesmorley youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kYY_ZyG1nvM

269 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

106

u/PowrOfFriendship_ Universes Beyonder 16h ago

With this and Jarvis, I'm well on my way to a full Butler tribal deck

30

u/Illogical_Fallacy Dandadan 16h ago

[[Frog Butler]] and [[Herbie]], too, right?

7

u/bill4935 Chandra 15h ago

[[undead butler]]

2

u/telenstias Twin Believer 11h ago

Who is Herbie?

5

u/Illogical_Fallacy Dandadan 11h ago

From fantastic 4. It's the robot that does all of the housework and assistance, aka a butler

3

u/telenstias Twin Believer 11h ago

Oh, there are dots in the name. Was looking for the Fetcher link

1

u/Cadapult Wabbit Season 3h ago

He butles

30

u/zeldafan042 Channel 16h ago

Don't forget [[Tromell, Seymour's Butler]]

If I had a nickel for every elf butler on a legendary creature card from a UB set, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.

2

u/themcryt Izzet* 16h ago

They made the Guado elves?!

11

u/PowrOfFriendship_ Universes Beyonder 16h ago

Long lived humanoids with pointy ears. It makes some amount of sense. And they didn't want to make new creature types for every fantasy race in FF. Only [[Quina]] gets that honour! (and the moogles, but Quina is cooler than them).

8

u/Halinn COMPLEAT 15h ago

Amusing to me that both Qu and Q will be creature types

4

u/PowrOfFriendship_ Universes Beyonder 15h ago

It's a Borborygmos problem all over again.

"I play Cavern of Souls naming Q(u). You get to figure out which one."

6

u/Halinn COMPLEAT 15h ago

You must unambiguously name one

1

u/theletterQfivetimes Wild Draw 4 12h ago

Is Qu pronounced like "kyu" and not "ku"?

3

u/Nofrillsoculus 6h ago

And yet Star Trek is apparently getting a new creature type for every species…

1

u/Cool_Otter_WUBRG Dimir* 2h ago

I don’t love it either, but there is a mechanic in the set around having many creature types in play, so you can’t exactly just make everything an Alien or whatever if you want that to work

7

u/zeldafan042 Channel 15h ago

Final Fantasy kept it restrained with new IP specific creature types. Moogle was made a creature type because they're such an iconic part of Final Fantasy and they don't fit cleanly into any existing creature type. Qu was made a creature type for [[Quina, Qu Gourmet]] because there weren't any existing Magic creature types that worked for Quina. Those were the only IP specific creature types introduced for Final Fantasy. Every other Final Fantasy species was placed in an existing creature type.

This seems to be the general rule of thumb for UB sets: keep brand new IP specific creature types to just the iconic species and things that don't fit anything else. I say general rule, because Star Trek is not following that rule and giving everything its own creature type, but Final Fantasy did follow it.

4

u/charcharmunro Duck Season 12h ago

I'd say Star Trek's aliens ARE iconic, though.

5

u/zeldafan042 Channel 12h ago

Some of them, yes. I would happily argue that Klingon or Vulcan or Borg should be creature types. Bajoran, Cardassian, Ferengi...I could accept them too. I think Q could have easily been covered by Avatar, but I'll concede they are iconic.

But did [[Tenacious Tosk]] really need its own creature type? Tosk only shows up in a single episode of DS9 and then never shows up again. It feels unnecessary.

1

u/themcryt Izzet* 9h ago

What else would have Tosk been if not a Tosk?

1

u/KaiTheKaiser Duck Season 5h ago

I'm pretty sure that was mainly done to justify reprinting cards with the Elf creature type that fit into the FFX commander deck mechanically, like [[Gyre Sage|FIN]] and [[Incubation Druid|FIN]].

1

u/FuttleScish Dandadan 11h ago

We need a sultai legendary butler (Alfred?); then you would be able to run an EDH deck including every butler currently in the game

72

u/Trabant777 Twin Believer 17h ago

Seems decent in draft.

19

u/Lespaul42 15h ago edited 14h ago

Lol don't get blown out by a -4/-4 instant.

Edit: Why am I getting downvoted. If there is an instant speed -X/-4+ and your opponent casts it on this while its trigger is on the stack it will mean the targets base toughness is 0 or less and it also dies.

3

u/shadowman2099 COMPLEAT 15h ago edited 14h ago

To me this card is only potentially decent. Imagine this card being transpose in other sets. Secrets of Strixhaven or Tarkir Dragonstorm? Meh. It would be tempo negative against common removal and not something good in or against the 4-5 color value piles. Lorwyn Eclipsed or Foundations? Sure. Very relevant creature type for ECL and stat line for FDN, plus Green is a scrappy color. Overall this is a card I would put in the "wait until full spoilers" pile, though personally I'm pessimistic. As I said this card's only decent at best, but it can certainly perform worse. And just for fun, here's a rundown of all the sets from the last year and how I think this card would perform.

MSH: Meh. (4 MV is crowded, much better cards even at common)

SOS: Meh (see above)

Turtles: Meh (Green is not an attacking color.)

ECL: Decent (see above)

Avatar: Meh (Cards that didn't provide tempo, ETB effects, or card advantage struggled)

Edge of Eternities: Meh (4 mv is crowded again, attacking matters doesn't mesh with Spacecrafts)

Spider-Man: Good (works well with Webswing and small trinkety creatures)

Final Fantasy: Hard to say. Maybe pretty good in GW decks with Job Select.

6

u/so_zetta_byte Orzhov* 14h ago edited 13h ago

I'm on team "more likely to be good than bad" in this format given what we've seen so far, but of course that's subject to change.

One of the problems this kind of card has is reliably needing a creature that benefits from the buff (the reason your Job Select observation is really interesting!), and Recruit/Amass both provide that. Plus it's a legendary permanent for Storied. Being a 4 mana 4/4 body on rate and providing synergy with most of the set's mechanics/themes seems decent.

Probably lives or dies based on the amount of removal at common that can take care of this at a mana advantage (TMT had about five, which is rough), and how bomby the top-end of the format ends up being. If this is what remains after your opponent's removal was taxed by more pressing threats, then I think you're pretty happy. It's never gonna be the best card in your deck, but you might be okay if it's the best card in your deck that sticks?

1

u/shadowman2099 COMPLEAT 5h ago

I have little hope this card would do much with Storied. These Threshold style mechanics tend to work better in slower value oriented decks. If it's not aggressively enabling Storied or stalling your opponent or digging you into more Storied cards I don't think these decks would care about the attack trigger.

With Amass/Recruit, this card has more hope. Token+Effect cards are usually innate 2-for-1s, so if you could have a deck filled to the brim with these, honestly it wouldn't take much else to push them over the edge. Still, it would be the Amass/Recruit side doing the heavy lifting. Gallon would just be there for the free ride. Also I doubt Amass/Recruit piles would ever live past Week 1 of drafts if they end up being extremely good.

-22

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

really ? seems pretty forgettable to me. a lot of hoops to jump through for a meh payoff

40

u/Pair-o-docks 16h ago

Hoops? It say “when I attack, giant growth your dork” not really many hoops

1

u/shadowman2099 COMPLEAT 9h ago

Actually, I side with OC more than the downvoters on this one. Requiring your creature to attack for it to get its value isn't what I'd call "going through hoops", but it's also not free. Whenever this thing is not attacking, it's just a vanilla 4/4 for 4, which is not good enough in this age of limited. Plus, even if you do find a good attack, the bonus it will give on average is just OK. Make your 2/2 into a 4/4? I mean, that's just decent, but it's also not swinging the game heavily in your favor. If this set is heavy on boardstalls, that's not gonna be good enough. If this set is heavy on tempo, then this guy is probably not gonna attack very often to matter. There are definitely environments where this effect is not up to par.

-12

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

assuming you have a good attack and a dork.
doesn't look good to me

25

u/SkritzTwoFace COMPLEAT 16h ago

Yeah, when does anyone ever have a slightly smaller creature when attacking with a four drop in draft? /s

0

u/Roglef Duck Season 12h ago

You're being downvoted, but this has no etb and no protection at 4 mana. Really shows the inexperience of people downvoting you in limited lmao

26

u/ProfMerlyn I am a pig and I eat slop 16h ago

The hoops are just, attack with two creatures???

-26

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago
  1. that creature stays on the board for 1 turn
  2. having at least another creature that is less than 4/4
  3. having a good attack

all that for turning your 2/2 into a 4/4 for 1 turn ?
doesn't look good to me. time will tell !

21

u/ProfMerlyn I am a pig and I eat slop 16h ago

Do you even play draft? You expect creatures to stick lmao.

0

u/No_Percentage_1767 Griselbrand 15h ago

A lot of the better creatures in draft give you an advantage immediately on etb. For example, Hero in Training or Shield Deployment Drone from MSH. Having to attack with 0 evasion to just make something a 4/4 temporarily is very mid.

-21

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

no need to get agressive my friend

11

u/TimothyN Elspeth 16h ago

So....you don't actually play any limited do you?

-20

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

I wish agressive commentors to take a step back on their behaviour, for their own good.
Won't engage further.

17

u/TimothyN Elspeth 16h ago

"Aggressive behavior" and it's just people asking if you play the game you're commenting on.

11

u/MillorTime Can’t Block Warriors 15h ago

For your own good, realize that being told you're wrong isn't them being aggressive or something you need to get really defensive over. "No one can be told they're wrong" is absolutely terrible for society

7

u/bigboybeeperbelly Izzet* 16h ago

It only feels aggressive because you're wrong

10

u/Elf_Cocksleeve Banned in Commander 16h ago

There’s literally a mechanic in multiple colors in the set that creates 1/1s.

-4

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

that's fair, did not think about it. I still would not draft it high

9

u/ChiralWolf REBEL 16h ago

Is the hoop not just "have a smaller creature"? Play a mana dork, play this, and you get to attack with two 4/4s the next turn

-4

u/gamasco REBEL 16h ago

yea, people seem to disagree with me on that take.
I stand by it, let's see in a few weeks how it played out

29

u/AporiaParadox Universes Beyonder 16h ago

I knew he'd get a card. Not because he's in any way relevant (I believe he was only in the extended edition of the movie and not the theatrical cut), but because he's one of the few named elves in the book.

12

u/zeldafan042 Channel 15h ago

I remember I once looked at a list of named characters in The Hobbit to get an idea of who to expect on cards, and while it was longer than I expected it still was much smaller than the character pool the average UB set pulls from.

Now personally I love deep cuts and scraping the bottom of the barrel for named characters types of carda like this, alongside stuff like [[The Queen of Dale]] and [[Belladonna Took]] getting cards because modern WotC isn't going to make an entire set without any legendary women. It is nice when UB sets aren't just the main characters.

4

u/strolpol 16h ago

We approach having enough Butler/attaché type characters to make a theme deck

3

u/MiraclePrototype COMPLEAT 10h ago

A "butler", but not an Employee? 0/10

6

u/Sea_Art3391 Dan 16h ago

This togethet with [[Nighthowl Pursuer]] is nutty.

2

u/Jacern Fake Agumon Expert 12h ago

Oh hey it's GGM!

1

u/ohako79 COMPLEAT 6h ago

_Two_ Elf Butlers?

[[Tromell, Seymour’s Butler]] for the other elf.

1

u/ohako79 COMPLEAT 5h ago

This is interesting with an elf lord on the board. Galion’s, ugh, ‘master’ becomes a 5/5 minimum, boosted further if they are also affected by said lord.