Through the Breach or Stormbreath Dragon (I both support big red and have good cheat targets + running Show&Tell and Eureka as well as full reanimator package)
Ojutai's Exemplars or Ranger of Eos or Sublime Archangel (I support spells-matter and token/weenie/anthem)
Grim Haruspex or Herald of Torment
Triskellion or Steel Hellkite
Aurelia's Fury or Boros Reckoner
Probably Primal Command, but I happen to be a fan of Thornling. I don't run either at 540, but they're both solid options.
Through the Breach is the much more unique effect, and helps support an archetype. I think it's more important than the dragon.
Exemplars is my favorite of that lot. It's been a house in the spells matters deck.
I like Herald more than Haruspex, simply because the Herald can give black something to do with 5 mana.
Triskelion over the Hellkite for me.
Boros Reckoner over the Fury, unless you play a lot of big mana W/R control/ramp shells.
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and Keep 2 from these sets:
Dictate of Heliod / Wingmate Roc / Archangel of Thune
Sewer Nemesis / Disciple of Bolas / Desecration Demon
Sidisi, Undead Vizier / Puppeteer Clique / Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth / Slayer's Stronghold / Kor Haven / Dust Bowl
Thank you for the advice! It's much appreciated, I am trying to separate the wheat from the chaff and find I have to tweak my tweaks more than I should due to sloppy thinking.
Well noted about the performance of Exemplars I wasn't sure it was as good as it looks on paper. I think its Primal over Thornling for me after all Green isn't hurting for dangerous creatures and Primal Command is more unique, has anyone played it?
Point taken vis-a-vis Through the Breach, you would have vastly more experience playing it... I will give it a whirl (it goes in sneak-show-pod-survival / recur / reanimate shells does it not? RB RG Ru or some combination of same?)
About Trike, it's rarely drafted here even though I support blink a little more deeply than the norm (Parallax Wave, Brago as a commander for ex.), I was thinking that it has seen its day, I am guilty of not drafting him unless I hit Goblin Welder first and want to be in that deck, perhaps I am wildly undervaluing it. Not that the Hellkite is any great shakes and risks being a valueless investment if there is timely removal. I may have been lucky with it so far in the Kaalia deck or with a haste enabler where my opponent couldn't answer it at instant speed. I see the Hellkite and Triskelion as being equally situational. Is it a case of including the 6-drop which is less vulnerable?
I am strongly considering dumping Kaalia and moving Alesha to my commanders, which might be the lesser evil, not the foggiest idea what I would replace her with. My "general nonguild multicolor 10 slot section" looks like this: Alesha, Brutal Hordecheif, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Sarkhan Unbroken, Shu Yun, Siege Rhino, Yasova, Soulfire Grand Master, Warden, and Tasigur. What are people running that have a catchall section like this?
Last question: WRT Dust Bowl, I had it in for a bit before I bought a Wasteland but couldn't puzzle out what shells it fit properly as I don't support lands-matter/recur to the hilt at my cube size: ie. no Titania, Edge of Autumn, Harrow, or the like: just running Loam/Crucible/KotR/Vinelasher Kudzu/and the usual landfall suspects aside from Avenger (I wonder if not going deep on lands matter mistake in and of itself). Other than land recursion decks as a LD engine, where does Dust Bowl shine? Or perhaps a resource-expensive Wasteland is good enough on its own? Which would lead me to believe an expensive Maze of Ith would be equally good enough?
Anyway, I appreciate the feedback. I'm finding the lower-priority card decisions to be much harder to suss out than the obvious all-star & well-rounded inclusions.
I like Kozliek better, but if you are looking for a super fatty and don't need it reanimated I can't recommend Worldspine Wurm enough.
I'm glad you threw out this recommendation, because I've decided to give it a trial run myself. Looks like fun!
Last draft my buddy was playing Jund reanimator and the Worldspine Wurm hit the table 5+ times(Out of 12 games). The game ended that turn or the next every time.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
Of those three, I only run Tombstalker. I feel my playgroup appreciates it enough. I ran Bloodgift Demon until Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath was released. They were filling the same space, and Ob felt like the stronger of the two. I've never seen the allure of jamming Persecutor, because it requires you to use another of your cards to remove it once you would otherwise have won.
I also tried Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath and it was ok, but i'm also one of those guys who don't want to too many PWs unless they are clearly good enough, maybe the time for the Persecutor has come? or not... haha
I classify Ob Nixilis as a 5-drop creature, since the correct play is almost always to immediately make a demon, then see if he can survive to make a second demon two turns later. He can't be cheated out like actual creatures can, but he plays pretty similarly otherwise.
I've only had a couple of instances with him where making a token wasn't the correct line, but it's pretty rare. It plays like a 5cc creature the vast majority of the time.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
I brought Zealous Conscripts back in after a 5 month hiatus. I nearly forgot how awesome she was until I saw her steal a Kiora with 5 counters during the last draft. Man, I'd run her in my small cube even without the Kiki package.
I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
I brought Zealous Conscripts back in after a 5 month hiatus. I nearly forgot how awesome she was until I saw her steal a Kiora with 5 counters during the last draft. Man, I'd run her in my small cube even without the Kiki package.
I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
Zealous Conscripts will always have a very special place in my heart, as it's the card that got me into the top 8 of my first major tournament (IQ), defeating a guy I really didn't like (who had also tried to pressure me to concede for money) in the most fantastic way. That aside, it's just an amazing card.
I think Pod has been seeing less play in a lot of lists. It's a very particular card and can be hard to build around; you get it early and the curve just doesn't pan out like you want or you pick it late and you haven't been able to plan for it. I love trying, but it's tough when you fail.
URGImperial AnimarGRU BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB WURNarset NostalgicRUW UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU UBlue BraidsU GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
I brought Zealous Conscripts back in after a 5 month hiatus. I nearly forgot how awesome she was until I saw her steal a Kiora with 5 counters during the last draft. Man, I'd run her in my small cube even without the Kiki package.
I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay srict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
I brought Zealous Conscripts back in after a 5 month hiatus. I nearly forgot how awesome she was until I saw her steal a Kiora with 5 counters during the last draft. Man, I'd run her in my small cube even without the Kiki package.
I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay srict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
I brought Zealous Conscripts back in after a 5 month hiatus. I nearly forgot how awesome she was until I saw her steal a Kiora with 5 counters during the last draft. Man, I'd run her in my small cube even without the Kiki package.
I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay strict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
I'm currently at 380~ cards in my cube, including the conspiracy constructs, and am going to make the jump to 400. However, I'm not sure if I want to get there solely by mono-colored cards, or by going from 3 to 4 for each guild. I'm leaning towards going to 4 for the guilds, but I'm sure that might have some kind of unforeseen negative effect on the draft. It would end up as 55 of each color and 4 of each guild vs 57 of each color and 3 of each guild. Any opinions?
I would stay at 3 per guild with that small of a jump. You're only adding 20 cards. You don't want half of your additions going to gold cards. If you were going to 450, then I could see adding a fourth card to each guild.
Dakra Mystic or Willbender or Kira, Great Glass-Spinner?
I have Dakra Mystic and Kira in my cube currently. I included a morph package with Dragons of Tarkir, but I didn't include Willbender (I have Stratus Dancer and Vesuvan Shapeshifter in blue). I feel like Willbender has too few targets.
I'm thinking to drop Kira - it hasn't performed very well and the double blue cost really hurts the card.
Willbender is actually my favorite card of the three, so I'd be in favor of dropping either of those creatures to get it in. Especially with a 2-3 card per color Morph theme. Kira is an okay creature, and gets much better as part of the devotion tempo package if you support it. But otherwise, I'd like the WIllbender more. He's narrow, but when he hits, it's usually a blowout. Don't forget that he can redirect abilities too, so every ETB effect in the cube can be deflected in addition to the spells.
Willbender is actually my favorite card of the three, so I'd be in favor of dropping either of those creatures to get it in. Especially with a 2-3 card per color Morph theme. Kira is an okay creature, and gets much better as part of the devotion tempo package if you support it. But otherwise, I'd like the WIllbender more. He's narrow, but when he hits, it's usually a blowout. Don't forget that he can redirect abilities too, so every ETB effect in the cube can be deflected in addition to the spells.
Thanks for the fast reply :). How do you feel about Dakra Mystic compared to Kira then?
I also have Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest and Pestermite in the cube. They could be considered for cuts too.
Dakra Mystic or Willbender or Kira, Great Glass-Spinner?
I like Kira the best but if it hasn't performed very well for you guys then you should just cut it. No use keeping a card you guys don't like. Why not try Deceiver Exarch since you already include Kiki and Pestermite? Harder to pull off in a bigger cube but I like having some combo flavour in my own cube.
Willbender is actually my favorite card of the three, so I'd be in favor of dropping either of those creatures to get it in. Especially with a 2-3 card per color Morph theme. Kira is an okay creature, and gets much better as part of the devotion tempo package if you support it. But otherwise, I'd like the WIllbender more. He's narrow, but when he hits, it's usually a blowout. Don't forget that he can redirect abilities too, so every ETB effect in the cube can be deflected in addition to the spells.
Thanks for the fast reply :). How do you feel about Dakra Mystic compared to Kira then?
I also have Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest and Pestermite in the cube. They could be considered for cuts too.
I like Kira more than the Mystic. And Shu Yun more too. I'm not a huge fan of Pestermite, but if you are playing the combo, it needs to stay, obv.
Probably Primal Command, but I happen to be a fan of Thornling. I don't run either at 540, but they're both solid options.
Through the Breach is the much more unique effect, and helps support an archetype. I think it's more important than the dragon.
Exemplars is my favorite of that lot. It's been a house in the spells matters deck.
I like Herald more than Haruspex, simply because the Herald can give black something to do with 5 mana.
Triskelion over the Hellkite for me.
Boros Reckoner over the Fury, unless you play a lot of big mana W/R control/ramp shells.
Roc > Dictate > Archangel
Nemesis > Disciple > Demon
Sidisi > Ob Nix > Clique
Bowl > Haven > Stronghold > Urborg
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Well noted about the performance of Exemplars I wasn't sure it was as good as it looks on paper. I think its Primal over Thornling for me after all Green isn't hurting for dangerous creatures and Primal Command is more unique, has anyone played it?
Point taken vis-a-vis Through the Breach, you would have vastly more experience playing it... I will give it a whirl (it goes in sneak-show-pod-survival / recur / reanimate shells does it not? RB RG Ru or some combination of same?)
About Trike, it's rarely drafted here even though I support blink a little more deeply than the norm (Parallax Wave, Brago as a commander for ex.), I was thinking that it has seen its day, I am guilty of not drafting him unless I hit Goblin Welder first and want to be in that deck, perhaps I am wildly undervaluing it. Not that the Hellkite is any great shakes and risks being a valueless investment if there is timely removal. I may have been lucky with it so far in the Kaalia deck or with a haste enabler where my opponent couldn't answer it at instant speed. I see the Hellkite and Triskelion as being equally situational. Is it a case of including the 6-drop which is less vulnerable?
I am strongly considering dumping Kaalia and moving Alesha to my commanders, which might be the lesser evil, not the foggiest idea what I would replace her with. My "general nonguild multicolor 10 slot section" looks like this: Alesha, Brutal Hordecheif, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Sarkhan Unbroken, Shu Yun, Siege Rhino, Yasova, Soulfire Grand Master, Warden, and Tasigur. What are people running that have a catchall section like this?
Last question: WRT Dust Bowl, I had it in for a bit before I bought a Wasteland but couldn't puzzle out what shells it fit properly as I don't support lands-matter/recur to the hilt at my cube size: ie. no Titania, Edge of Autumn, Harrow, or the like: just running Loam/Crucible/KotR/Vinelasher Kudzu/and the usual landfall suspects aside from Avenger (I wonder if not going deep on lands matter mistake in and of itself). Other than land recursion decks as a LD engine, where does Dust Bowl shine? Or perhaps a resource-expensive Wasteland is good enough on its own? Which would lead me to believe an expensive Maze of Ith would be equally good enough?
Anyway, I appreciate the feedback. I'm finding the lower-priority card decisions to be much harder to suss out than the obvious all-star & well-rounded inclusions.
Thanks Again
I'm glad you threw out this recommendation, because I've decided to give it a trial run myself. Looks like fun!
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I was using your cube as a reference while tweaking mine last night and I noticed Worldspine Wurm was in there. I'd love to know how it works out.
Last draft my buddy was playing Jund reanimator and the Worldspine Wurm hit the table 5+ times(Out of 12 games). The game ended that turn or the next every time.
His favorite match which inspired his #worldspine4ife hashtag for a while. Game one he sneak attacks for the win. Game two it gets hit with bribery. Game three it gets hit with bribery but he responded with Zealous conscripts. Beautiful.
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I want to give Worldspine a shot too but don't really have the room in green. I can perhaps shuffle things around and cut Birthing Pod. It hasn't played as good as I thought it would but everyone here just loves trying to build around it (myself included) so it's not an ez cut.
Zealous Conscripts will always have a very special place in my heart, as it's the card that got me into the top 8 of my first major tournament (IQ), defeating a guy I really didn't like (who had also tried to pressure me to concede for money) in the most fantastic way. That aside, it's just an amazing card.
I think Pod has been seeing less play in a lot of lists. It's a very particular card and can be hard to build around; you get it early and the curve just doesn't pan out like you want or you pick it late and you haven't been able to plan for it. I love trying, but it's tough when you fail.
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I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay srict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay srict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
I like Worldspine better than Kozilek, which really only shines when you actually ramp it out, the Wurm is better with every cheat card except channel in your list, and all of the non exile removal. Karn and Ugin seem like big enough colorless incentives.
If you want to stay strict on your numbers I would cut Jungle Lion, Channel, or move one of the four multicolor greens to a guild section.
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I have Dakra Mystic and Kira in my cube currently. I included a morph package with Dragons of Tarkir, but I didn't include Willbender (I have Stratus Dancer and Vesuvan Shapeshifter in blue). I feel like Willbender has too few targets.
I'm thinking to drop Kira - it hasn't performed very well and the double blue cost really hurts the card.
What do you guys think?
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Thanks for the fast reply :). How do you feel about Dakra Mystic compared to Kira then?
I also have Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest and Pestermite in the cube. They could be considered for cuts too.
I like Kira the best but if it hasn't performed very well for you guys then you should just cut it. No use keeping a card you guys don't like. Why not try Deceiver Exarch since you already include Kiki and Pestermite? Harder to pull off in a bigger cube but I like having some combo flavour in my own cube.
I like Kira more than the Mystic. And Shu Yun more too. I'm not a huge fan of Pestermite, but if you are playing the combo, it needs to stay, obv.
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