Has anyone had many positive experiences with this card?
I do like the idea of supporting token decks, but they are rarely played.
Anthems are at their best with evasive flying tokens and I'm only running two of these @ 460 (Souls + Procession).
Debating if it's strong enough in a flood the board white/weenie style deck?? Would rather just have another two drop to ensure WW hits critical mass?
Has anyone ran battle screech to success before?
I know Wtwlf was a big supporter of Spear at 465, but cut it at 375. With the addition of Banishing Light and Council's Judgment, white 3 mana spells got a lot of competition.
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Hmm I'm definitely torn between the Marauder and Herald of Torment simply because the latter also has an alternative 5 drop mode and black doesn't exactly have a ton in that slot. I already run or plan on running the general consensus of top 4 (Ophiomancer is kinda hard to find in my area.)
As for Spear I have not seen it hit the board in my cube but that is mostly due to not actually being drafted yet. I think if you wanted Battle Screech i'd sooner just try out Emeria Angel instead but I might be underrating the screech due to not having any previous experience with it.
At 450 I run the following B 3cc creatures:
Bone Shredder
Geralf's Messenger
Hypnotic Specter
Master of the Feast
Ophiomancer
Vampire Nighthawk
We did test Marauder and did not find it amazing, so it was cut awhile ago. I also used to run Lili's Specter, and might put it back in over Messenger depending how things go.
Spear has been pretty great here. It is at its best in tokens, but has also been very good in aggro (particularly boros aggro). Turning your gobs of 2/2s into 3/3 is just massive. As for tokens, yeah it is amazing with 1/1 fliers, but it is just fine with 1/1 ground-pounders. Spear into Elspth, Sun's Champ is insane, and it pairs well with Symbol Status, Tempt with Vengeance, Myr Battlesphere etc. None of that is counting it's active ability, which has come in handy in places we did not expect, like UW blink-control. It is currently not on our chopping block, a solid mid performer.
1)Blood Scrivener vs Inquisition of Kozilek vs Tombstalker ? What is the order of preference?
Those cards are so different which such different goals, I am unsure how to respond. What do you need? Scrivener provides sorta ok card advantage (though not enough for us, so we cut it). Inquisition is good disruption. Tombstalker is a solid finisher. Which of those most helps your list?
1. Inquisition is one of the best discard spells you can have. Staple.
2. Tombstalker is evasive fattie in the right color to cast it earlier. Good card.
3. Blood Scrivener is a mostly worse Dark Confidant. Viable filler.
Blood Scrivener did literally nothing when it was in my Cube, and Inquisition and Tombstalker are both great Cube cards.
I am surprised Bone Shredder is getting such little love. I'm hoping most people are considering it a spell. That card is INSANE, very first-pickable. It is amazing in any of the recursive engine decks. It's one of the cards that helps turn your clunky Reanimator deck into more of a value/midrange deck with some combo thrown in as win cons. Shriekmaw and Boneshredder are very important archetypal cards that I would want to see in every Cube.
On the three drop topic, Herald of Torment had been consistently great in my 360 and is even better in the five drop slot, which is also shallow. The Bestow is a house on that guy. I also run Ophiomancer, Hyppie, Nighthawk and Master of the Feast. I would consider cutting Nighthawk or Hyppie for a more splashable option.
For the cube managers who like Geralf's Messenger more than Dauthi Marauder: Is it actually able to be cast on turn 3 reliably?
I feel like you would have to be mono-black for that guy to be playable. The plus side is, of course, if you can cast him reliably, he's super awesome.
EDIT: Also, I forgot about Bone Shredder. That guy seems like a fine option if you like removal strapped to bodies for a 3cmc slot.
I really like Chromantic Lantern. About a month or two ago I would have said Gilded Lotus, but fixing all your mana in 3cc+ mid or control decks.
Kozilek, hands down. Myr Battlesphere, Sundering Titan, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind are all played in my cube over Blightsteel, and in fact, I'd play Darksteel over Blightsteel so you can do some weird tinker stuff and it's worthwhile because you're using blue creatures to attack to win normally anyway.
Memory Jar slam dunk over Ratchet Bomb imo. I'm always for the card that is more fun crazy stories, and that card definitely is.
i'm sure i'll get shouted down for this but 1 black 3 drop that never gets mentioned is phyrexian crusader, he's a relevant creature type & he's damn hard to kill. for the most part only the top end green, black or artifact guys can handle him in combat & if you can get him equipped to anything, that should be enough to get you the win more often then not
@ Spike Rogue - no, i didnt mean for him to be a part of a dedicated infect win, but he is a 5 turn clock; the guy is just a beast in creature combat. anything that isnt @ least 4 power+ isnt going to kill him & he's resistant to alot of the removal spells in most cubes(stp, path, bolt, FTK, Shriekmaw)
@ Spike Rogue - no, i didnt mean for him to be a part of a dedicated infect win, but he is a 5 turn clock; the guy is just a beast in creature combat. anything that isnt @ least 4 power+ isnt going to kill him & he's resistant to alot of the removal spells in most cubes(stp, path, bolt, FTK, Shriekmaw)
Yes, but if it does get removed, then it doesn't matter how many times it managed to get through unblocked before. Your opponent's 8 poison counters mean nothing now if he was your only infect creature.
@ willdice - you're right, & i completely agree that he isnt synergistic when the rest of the cube is all about dealing 20 pts of damage to your opponent but i've also won plenty of games w/ Jace's ultimate & that has nothing to do w/ dealing damage; alternate wincons arent a bad thing. i guess its just never really been an issue b/c the guy is so tough. if my opponent is having to go for the throat or hero's downfall my 3 drop, then i'm pretty ok w/ that. + his "wither" effect on creatures makes the 1's that can kill him in combat less effective going forward. i was just throwing him out there as an option b/c i felt like he's being slept on
I'd hate to be part of the getting shouted down that you were predicting, I think infect really is a good reason to not even consider Phyrexian Crusader for most cubes, let alone as a top 10 3-drop in black. That five turn clock has to start at 0 every single time it's cast if you have no other effects to give poison counters so there are a lot of ways to outrace it even for heavy red and/or white decks that have a hard time getting rid of it.
Change that "infect" to "wither", though, and I'd be all over that card like white on rice.
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Thanks. I guessed Flames is the most solid card. I had no idea where staggershock would appear as I haven't played with it. Does it mostly play out as a flame javelin?
I like Staggershock much more than Flames. It's instant and does more damage. Are there any other advantages to it other than having the potential to kill x/3s?
Has anyone had many positive experiences with this card?
I do like the idea of supporting token decks, but they are rarely played.
Anthems are at their best with evasive flying tokens and I'm only running two of these @ 460 (Souls + Procession).
Debating if it's strong enough in a flood the board white/weenie style deck?? Would rather just have another two drop to ensure WW hits critical mass?
Has anyone ran battle screech to success before?
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As for Spear I have not seen it hit the board in my cube but that is mostly due to not actually being drafted yet. I think if you wanted Battle Screech i'd sooner just try out Emeria Angel instead but I might be underrating the screech due to not having any previous experience with it.
Bone Shredder
Geralf's Messenger
Hypnotic Specter
Master of the Feast
Ophiomancer
Vampire Nighthawk
We did test Marauder and did not find it amazing, so it was cut awhile ago. I also used to run Lili's Specter, and might put it back in over Messenger depending how things go.
Spear has been pretty great here. It is at its best in tokens, but has also been very good in aggro (particularly boros aggro). Turning your gobs of 2/2s into 3/3 is just massive. As for tokens, yeah it is amazing with 1/1 fliers, but it is just fine with 1/1 ground-pounders. Spear into Elspth, Sun's Champ is insane, and it pairs well with Symbol Status, Tempt with Vengeance, Myr Battlesphere etc. None of that is counting it's active ability, which has come in handy in places we did not expect, like UW blink-control. It is currently not on our chopping block, a solid mid performer.
Those cards are so different which such different goals, I am unsure how to respond. What do you need? Scrivener provides sorta ok card advantage (though not enough for us, so we cut it). Inquisition is good disruption. Tombstalker is a solid finisher. Which of those most helps your list?
1. Inquisition is one of the best discard spells you can have. Staple.
2. Tombstalker is evasive fattie in the right color to cast it earlier. Good card.
3. Blood Scrivener is a mostly worse Dark Confidant. Viable filler.
I am surprised Bone Shredder is getting such little love. I'm hoping most people are considering it a spell. That card is INSANE, very first-pickable. It is amazing in any of the recursive engine decks. It's one of the cards that helps turn your clunky Reanimator deck into more of a value/midrange deck with some combo thrown in as win cons. Shriekmaw and Boneshredder are very important archetypal cards that I would want to see in every Cube.
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I feel like you would have to be mono-black for that guy to be playable. The plus side is, of course, if you can cast him reliably, he's super awesome.
EDIT: Also, I forgot about Bone Shredder. That guy seems like a fine option if you like removal strapped to bodies for a 3cmc slot.
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2) Blightsteel Colossus vs Kozilek, Butcher of Truth ?
3)Ratchet Bomb vs Memory Jar vs Triskelion ? What is the order of preference?
Kozilek, hands down. Myr Battlesphere, Sundering Titan, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind are all played in my cube over Blightsteel, and in fact, I'd play Darksteel over Blightsteel so you can do some weird tinker stuff and it's worthwhile because you're using blue creatures to attack to win normally anyway.
Memory Jar slam dunk over Ratchet Bomb imo. I'm always for the card that is more fun crazy stories, and that card definitely is.
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1) Lotus if you're playing a lot of big ramp, otherwise Lantern
2) Kozilek if you're playing ways to ramp/cheat him out, Colossus if Tinker is your only real way to get it to the table
3) I like Triskelion the most, followed by Bomb and then Jar. But Jar can be really good if you support the decks that really want it.
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Yes, but if it does get removed, then it doesn't matter how many times it managed to get through unblocked before. Your opponent's 8 poison counters mean nothing now if he was your only infect creature.
Change that "infect" to "wither", though, and I'd be all over that card like white on rice.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Wither Phyrexian Crusader would be nuts. Kinda like a better Paladin en-Vec in a color that needs it more.
Chaos Warp vs Staggershock vs Flames of the Firebrand vs Mizzium Mortars
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I like Staggershock much more than Flames. It's instant and does more damage. Are there any other advantages to it other than having the potential to kill x/3s?
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