I think you are missing my point there. My point was that I didn't take him for the card advantage in an attempt to waac you guys. I took him because random seemed fun. I'm pretty sure I am not using him to his full potential what with all our restrictions and the fact that I make sub par decks anyhow.
Cannon has been using one of the most hated edh cards for a while, I forget if it is Avacyn or Iona but anyhows, it's not that bad because he hasn't made a disgusting deck with it. He wins some, he loses some. We are pretty friendly players so I'm not sure you would need to worry about maelstrom as much as you think you would.
It comes back to my point of context. I know you didn't like my earlier comparison but that Zombie Lord guy for 3 is pretty amazing in a tuned zombie deck right? We can agree on that. But in a non zombie deck he is ok at best. I think most cards depend on what deck they are in as to their actual real power. Some, like say, primeval titan, sol ring etc are just good in anything.
Some cards have blatantly shifting power depending on what is in the rest of the deck. Eg Populate cards are amazing in an all token deck, tremendous value. But in a non token deck they are entirely useless. Same card, differing power. That is true of a huge amount of cards. Now Maelstrom may still be very good due to his card advantage thing, regardless of what you cards are, but surely even his quality alters somewhat by what is in the rest of your deck. Even if it is just a bit.
Maybe I will play vs cannon with him some time just to see how he does. Maybe against Avacyn. 8 mana commander-off!
