You may target frost titan with its own ability (remember that you have to pay 2 for it also) and it will remain tapped when your opponent gains back control of it. As long as the titan remains in the same zone it is the same object.
Even though you are allowed to look at your teammate's hand there is nothing in the 2HG rules about sharing hidden information with them. So your opponent would not be able to look (you could tell him/her what the card is but they cannot look themselves).
You don't have to pay 2 to target Titan with it's own ability. Only opponents do, and you control the Titan when you attack with it.
I'm a huge fan of constructed very synergistic cube environments.
My current cube is currently at 400 cards, adding more every week or so!
It is commons/uncommons with a HIGH priority on deck construction through archetypes.
I've built and played a lot of cubes in the last three years, after being introduced to the format, and I feel like most cubes I've played in are just piles of goodstuff (Not that that is always a bad thing, sometimes people just wanna sling Jitte'd Exalted Angels!). But the environment gets really awkward when your archetypes are just sloppily designed and your overall colors have no synergy.
If we look at Wizard's recent sets, starting with Rise of the Eldrazi, we see that Limited has a lot of synergy among the commons, resulting in common archetypes, and even somewhat constructed decks you can build. How do we achieve this level of synergy among the cards that normal limited environments have?
I'd like to discuss the possibilities, and hopefully you can come up with more!
1) Break the Highlander rule!
I haven't tried this (or any of these yet!), but this one seems pretty logicial. I have only see one cube that breaks the one-ofs rule, and that was including four copies of Mishra's Factory.
To build powerful archetypes, sometimes you just want to nab a lot of a similar common and build around it. This can typically involve increasing your cube size, as well. My current cube has been toying around (while still remaining highlander) with using functional reprints. At one point I've included Mistral Charger and Stormfront Pegasus, various Knights, and a whole lot of cards looking to build an extremely focused white aggro based around evasive two-drops (Which may or may not be everyone's goal).
2) Build-Around Combos
That's an obvious example of synergy. Taking a look at M11 limited shows us Act of Treason and Bloodthrone Vampire at common, with a lot of synergy and it has become a very popular draft archetype. I've included a lot of similar cards in my cube to mimic it.
Not all of these are in my current cube, but have been in and out recently...
Act of Treason
Threaten
Grab the Reins
Fling
Bloodthrone Vampire
Nantuko Husk
Phyrexian Broodling
Reassembling Skeleton
and others.
And it has had success among my drafters (those being familar with M11 limited).
3) Redundant Keywords
Another possibility is to craft an environment that uses keywords from variants to force synergy to build better decks. (IE Metalctaft from Scars of Mirrodin.) This idea is one I would personally not use, as some of these cards can be very awkward outside of their normal limited environments.
4) Tribal and Theme Among Colors
We've seen tribal cubes and theme cubes (Myr Servitor, I'm looking at you) but a way to promote synergy in a single color (or even all colors!) can be through tribal shenanigans! My cube's current green cards are slowly growing into more elf-related cards recently, with the inclusion of Imperious Perfect, Hunting Triad, and a few others. Lords effects can help promote stronger synergy-based deckbuilding, too.
Play Pauper instead. It's FAR FAR FAR FAR cheaper, more skill intensive, and the size of your wallet won't just win games for you. Pauper allows me to play Magic.
Maelstrom Pulse - Will fluctuate with Extended while it's in and probably stabalize at 7-8 overall.
Noble Hierarch - Pick him up at rotation. He'll be a bargain that will regain and most likely gain value in only a few years.
Tarmogoyf - Drop him while he's hot. Once he rotates from extended, you can expect this price titan to fall. He see's legacy play a little, but he's not big enough in legacy to support his current price. Get rid of him now and pick him up for $15 -$20 less in a few months.
All Is Dust - will not see play outside of standard. Don't bank on this card
Jace, the Mind Sculpter - He's in the big bucks for a good long time, unless wizards decides to print a duel decks for him. If they do, play it like a good stock, buy buy buy the duels decks, he'll probably recover. Yeah, he's that good.
Elspeth, Knight Errant - Duel Deck and rotation. There's not much hope for her, she see's very little play out of format, although she does at least see some. but I don't think it'll be enough to save her, dump her now and buy the duels decks. You'll definitely recover the investment that way.
Tezzeret - He's not expensive right now, but has serious Legacy Potential, Hold on to him.
Cards Sticking Around
Vengevine - He's a gamble I'll not take, He's high right now and on the decline. He's seeing less play and I think he's past his peak. Unless something pretty unforseen happens I think it's downhill for this guy. Considering how much green just got and it's not saving him, I wouldn't expect a lot of help from Mirrodin (which is very unlikely to be friendly to green)
Steel Overseer - If you like to speculate, pick him up.
Phylactery Lich - Sword of Body and Mind anybody? hmm, I think I'll hang on to my liches
Nirkana Revenant - Pick her up for $1 all day long, Black is looking fun and with the Mythic symbol, she could catch the curve. (Granted it's not likely, but there's basically no risk, so why not)
Fauna Shaman - I'm hanging on to mine for the long run, she'll always be amazing somewhere, even when she rotates (which isn't for a long time )
Thada Adel, Acquisitor - Again I say Sword of Body and Mind, and comment that she's dirt cheap right now... I think I'll hang on to her. Evasion and rip that awesome artifact out of my opponent's deck... sounds good.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence - She could get really good depending on what happens in SOM. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick her up, but I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to get a few at the right price.
Gideon Jura - He's a complete gamble. Depending on what comes he could be dead nuts or a total dud. With him at $35 right now, I wouldn't make the gamble, because even if he goes amazing I think he tops at 50$. Too much risk for not enough potential gain
Inferno Titan - This guy is amazing with Basilisk collar, even I underestimated it until someone pulled it off against me. Just wait to see people start using him.
Sun Titan - Probably the best titan printed. Sorry Primeval, Sun Titan is amazing. He was the pre-release promo, so he's not going to hit big $$, but from my testing this guy is down right amazing (especially recurring a thoctar on turn 4) yeah, he's that good. He is for Fauna Shaman tricks everything Vengevine wishes he was.
Time Reversal - So, this card looks like it went dud right now, but it's pretty safe at $8 and has a ton of potential. I wouldn't have picked them up when they cam out at $30 or when they started to drop, but I think at $8 they're a fairly good wager if you think what to expect with SOM.
finally, my pick for the ultimate sleeper card... Mindbreak Trap. The card is amazing in the right format and at worst ok in other situations. It's a counterspell that can counter "Can't be countered" spells, and it's the end of storm combo (Remember Grim Monolith getting Unbanned). It's pretty cheap right now and a mythic which makes it a pretty safe gamble and has the potential to explode. This card screems Legacy and Vintage play, but might take a good while before you see a price spike for it. This one is for the people who think about card values in terms of 5 years from now.
I feel like every single idea in this post is entirely incorrect.
Trade binder.
You don't have to pay 2 to target Titan with it's own ability. Only opponents do, and you control the Titan when you attack with it.
Trade binder.
Discussing arbitrary numbers and opinions won't get you as far playtesting would. Unless you wish you were Tim Aten.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
My current cube is currently at 400 cards, adding more every week or so!
It is commons/uncommons with a HIGH priority on deck construction through archetypes.
I've built and played a lot of cubes in the last three years, after being introduced to the format, and I feel like most cubes I've played in are just piles of goodstuff (Not that that is always a bad thing, sometimes people just wanna sling Jitte'd Exalted Angels!). But the environment gets really awkward when your archetypes are just sloppily designed and your overall colors have no synergy.
If we look at Wizard's recent sets, starting with Rise of the Eldrazi, we see that Limited has a lot of synergy among the commons, resulting in common archetypes, and even somewhat constructed decks you can build. How do we achieve this level of synergy among the cards that normal limited environments have?
I'd like to discuss the possibilities, and hopefully you can come up with more!
1) Break the Highlander rule!
I haven't tried this (or any of these yet!), but this one seems pretty logicial. I have only see one cube that breaks the one-ofs rule, and that was including four copies of Mishra's Factory.
To build powerful archetypes, sometimes you just want to nab a lot of a similar common and build around it. This can typically involve increasing your cube size, as well. My current cube has been toying around (while still remaining highlander) with using functional reprints. At one point I've included Mistral Charger and Stormfront Pegasus, various Knights, and a whole lot of cards looking to build an extremely focused white aggro based around evasive two-drops (Which may or may not be everyone's goal).
2) Build-Around Combos
That's an obvious example of synergy. Taking a look at M11 limited shows us Act of Treason and Bloodthrone Vampire at common, with a lot of synergy and it has become a very popular draft archetype. I've included a lot of similar cards in my cube to mimic it.
Not all of these are in my current cube, but have been in and out recently...
Act of Treason
Threaten
Grab the Reins
Fling
Bloodthrone Vampire
Nantuko Husk
Phyrexian Broodling
Reassembling Skeleton
and others.
And it has had success among my drafters (those being familar with M11 limited).
3) Redundant Keywords
Another possibility is to craft an environment that uses keywords from variants to force synergy to build better decks. (IE Metalctaft from Scars of Mirrodin.) This idea is one I would personally not use, as some of these cards can be very awkward outside of their normal limited environments.
4) Tribal and Theme Among Colors
We've seen tribal cubes and theme cubes (Myr Servitor, I'm looking at you) but a way to promote synergy in a single color (or even all colors!) can be through tribal shenanigans! My cube's current green cards are slowly growing into more elf-related cards recently, with the inclusion of Imperious Perfect, Hunting Triad, and a few others. Lords effects can help promote stronger synergy-based deckbuilding, too.
Trade binder.
You can choose the same target when you copy it. He isn't talking about the kicker.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
Or you could just lose to Lotus Petal all day.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
I feel like every single idea in this post is entirely incorrect.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.
Trade binder.