I cut ball a while back; right now, I just run Top and Scroll Rack which dig deeper. 1 to activate is nice, but 3 to cast is a bit steep. I like the card once it's in play, but haven't found another card to cut for it.
I play it at 450 unpowered and I like it all right. I will cut it soon, though. The main reason is that I don't think all of Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Sylvan Library and Crystal Ball are needed at 450. It is debatable how the three artifact options compare, exactly, but I want to add Trinket Mage and want it to fetch the Top, and Scroll Rack is so good with Land Tax. On its own, Crystal Ball is probably even the best because of how few shuffle effects you have in a typical Cube deck.
I keep both Sensei's Divining Top, Crystal Ball and Scroll Rack in my cube, primarily as traps for greedy EDH players. This is because I love playing aggro, and there's nothing I like better than my opponent plopping a Ball Down on Turn 3.
Juju, you evil mastermind! But it is true, you don't really want to durdle around with those artifacts against aggro, and at least Top comes down turn 1 when you typically don't do anything with your mana. Playing Scroll Rack or Crystal Ball instead of a mana rock is a recipe for disaster.
In my unpowered cube, it's not an unanimity, but I find it great at breaking the control vs control matchup. It's not _that_ bad against aggro either, because it helps you find removal. I wouldn't maindeck more than one of those, but hey, it's cube.
I keep both Sensei's Divining Top, Crystal Ball and Scroll Rack in my cube, primarily as traps for greedy EDH players. This is because I love playing aggro, and there's nothing I like better than my opponent plopping a Ball Down on Turn 3.
Oh I love drafting with people that don't really draft/cube.
They always draft these hilarious ****piles because the cards were all good in standard or are EDH staples or something.
...T1 MOUNTAIN HORRIBLE 1DROP GG BRO
/highfive
I would say cards like Ball and Top are the biggest trap cards I run (in peasant) because while they can generste huge amounts of virtual card advantage/card quality advantage they are kinda slow 'do nothings' on their own. It takes the right deck to be able to (ab)use them and the right kind of player to know how to build around and use them in a game.
For every game I have where I went off with Triumph of Ferocity+Crystal Ball and drew 2 spells a turn for like 6 turns I can tell you 2 stories of some durdle spending 1 mana to top and then flipping it...every turn from T2 onwards.
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Agree as well. The bigger the cube (and thus the scarcer the fetches) and the less rare it is, the more better is Crystal Ball. (Syntax is art.)
In my peasant cube, I like Crystal Ball a lot. It fills the function of Jetting Glasskite in that it makes control decks win the late game. And it only costs three mana. It does not affect the board however, so it's fair overall. Top is getting cut. Does nothing but prolong the game.
Specialities about the cube: U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
I have been considering including Crystal Ball recently.
It seems a little expensive, but once it is on the battlefield, it provides a fairly powerful and cheap effect. Do you think there is space for it in a 720 cube?
It's very interesting for me. Judging from Wizards' current design, the implication I get is that Crystal Ball was a mistake; specifically, that Scry 2 was too strong. When the most recent scry artifacts include Witches' Eye and Seer's Lantern, I can't see Crystal Ball being printed today at the cost ratio it had.
Almost definitely good enough at 720. I would play it at 540, as I find the power of multiple scrying events in a long game to be more than worth its cost. I almost prefer it to Scroll Rack, which is seen as another kind of filter engine but tends to clutter up the top of my deck something fierce in comparison to the orb.
I don't think it's good enough for 720 anymore, and certainly not for 540. I'd probably play Seer's Lantern over it at this point, for the versatility of being both a ramp spell and a card selection engine.
Again, performed well in peasant cube. In some situations he is better than Top, in others it is just slow and clunky. Thoughts?
My Peasant Cube: @ mtgsalvation---- @ cubecobra
360 Uncommons only Cube!
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
540 card Unpowered Cube
Oh I love drafting with people that don't really draft/cube.
They always draft these hilarious ****piles because the cards were all good in standard or are EDH staples or something.
...T1 MOUNTAIN HORRIBLE 1DROP GG BRO
/highfive
I would say cards like Ball and Top are the biggest trap cards I run (in peasant) because while they can generste huge amounts of virtual card advantage/card quality advantage they are kinda slow 'do nothings' on their own. It takes the right deck to be able to (ab)use them and the right kind of player to know how to build around and use them in a game.
For every game I have where I went off with Triumph of Ferocity+Crystal Ball and drew 2 spells a turn for like 6 turns I can tell you 2 stories of some durdle spending 1 mana to top and then flipping it...every turn from T2 onwards.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
In my peasant cube, I like Crystal Ball a lot. It fills the function of Jetting Glasskite in that it makes control decks win the late game. And it only costs three mana. It does not affect the board however, so it's fair overall. Top is getting cut. Does nothing but prolong the game.
450, Peasant*, unpowered**
Specialities about the cube:
U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
It seems a little expensive, but once it is on the battlefield, it provides a fairly powerful and cheap effect. Do you think there is space for it in a 720 cube?
Almost definitely good enough at 720. I would play it at 540, as I find the power of multiple scrying events in a long game to be more than worth its cost. I almost prefer it to Scroll Rack, which is seen as another kind of filter engine but tends to clutter up the top of my deck something fierce in comparison to the orb.
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