Mardu Strike Leader > Curse of Shallow Graves, it's much more flexible IMO.
Stoke the Flames > Chandra, Pyromaster, I think 4 damage burn spells are still a premium and this is one of the only few options, especially at instant speed.
I have been searching and reading about Judge's Familiar in cube. Most people seem to think it is a good card for tempo/devotion builds, but obviously not good enough to deserve a guild spot.
How do you think it compares to Sygg, River Cutthroat and Inkfathom Infiltrator for blue devotion? (Please rank the 3 cards)
It depends a bit on your cube and what you are trying to support.
Chandra is better in a midrange grindy shell (which tend to not fair well for red in my cube), wheras stoke is >> in an agressive strategy.
In the vast majority of cubes stroke should be in over chandra. Some people choose not to heavily represnt burn tho, so *shrug*.
Cryptic Command or Mystic Confluence
I've been thinking about cutting Cryptic Command, because a lot of control decks that get drafted in my group tend to be three colored. Cryptic Command seems stronger in a vacuum however.
My cube is 360 unpowered, ABU Duals banned.
Mystic Confluence is a pretty absurd card. It's probably better than Cryptic in this format, especially if you have a chance to stumble at all on mana.
I think it's WAY better in cube, even if you can consistently cast both on curve. Bouncing three creatures has proven to be absolutely insane, and that's one of many modes.
Diabolic Servitude is probably the next best reanimator spell after Exhume, Dance of the Dead, and Life // Death. It's usable, but I wouldn't be excited to play it in this day and age.
Whip of Erebos is painfully slow in my experience. The lifelink is nice, but having to invest 8 mana for the first activation is way too slow, and the exile clause doesn't help either.
It's harder to break the symmetry of Static Orb and costing 1 more is a big deal. If I wanted a second Winter Orb effect I'd probably just play Hokori, Dust Drinker.
The Problem with Static is that it can prevent you from applying maximum pressure while locking out your opponent's mana. Not only that, but when they need to untap their mana to cast an out to the board state, they can do so twice as fast. And it costs more mana. It loses most of what makes Winter Orb good in this format.
Sygg, River Cutthroat > Inkfathom Infiltrator > Judge's Familiar
1/3 for 2 mana is a perfect body to stop early aggression and in most situations, Sygg will draw you at least one card. He is not as realiable as Dark Confidant, but he's been drawing more cards than both Pain Seer and Blood Scrivener. And unlike all of these, drawing cards with Sygg doesn't cost you any life! Dealing 3 damage is neither that hard for an aggro deck (where you have multiple cheap attackers and sometimes burn), nor for a controllish deck (where you often have 3+ power fliers). Yes, he takes up a guild slot, but he works both in BX aggressive decks and UX contollish decks. Plus, he works well with the two blue devotion cards.
Mystic Command is a little bit better than Cryptic Command. Bouncing 2 or 3 creatures can be game winning in a format like cube. Countering a spell and drawing 2 cards rather than 1 is also great.
Captive, unless you play a lot of aggro-Loam support cards. But I feel like you're pretty much always going to want both or neither, since green's aggro 1-drops are still pretty far from hitting their critical mass.
Definitely Sarkhan over Domri. Though I would pick either Sarkhan or Xenagos at such a small size.
That makes sense. I've been thinking that for a while, since all of my gruul cards are 4 drops and 2 are walker. I really hadn't considered Atarka before and she's perfect for gruul. I guess the question then becomes Sarkhan or Xenagos? I do like that Xenagos protects himself, but sarkhan wins games on a more empty board.
I prefer Xenagos over Sarkhan, because he is more flexible. The latter is mostly pure offense, but the former can play offense and defense and even ramp. Atarka is a good choice over the second planeswalker.
I have opted only to include one of the Gruul planeswalkers in my 720 card cube. I like Bloodbraid and Huntmaster more than both and I don't want four 4CMC cards in the guild.
Both are playable, but I have chosen to run Sarkhan as he offers more unique abilities and has the potential to turn around a game.
Which do you think is better between Goblin Heelcutter and Reckless Bushwacker. I imagine both of these are sorta fringe but red 3s isn't the most stacked section.
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Stoke the Flames > Chandra, Pyromaster, I think 4 damage burn spells are still a premium and this is one of the only few options, especially at instant speed.
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It depends a bit on your cube and what you are trying to support.
Chandra is better in a midrange grindy shell (which tend to not fair well for red in my cube), wheras stoke is >> in an agressive strategy.
In the vast majority of cubes stroke should be in over chandra. Some people choose not to heavily represnt burn tho, so *shrug*.
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Strike Leader > Curse
Pyromaster > Stoke
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I've been thinking about cutting Cryptic Command, because a lot of control decks that get drafted in my group tend to be three colored. Cryptic Command seems stronger in a vacuum however.
My cube is 360 unpowered, ABU Duals banned.
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Whip of Erebos is painfully slow in my experience. The lifelink is nice, but having to invest 8 mana for the first activation is way too slow, and the exile clause doesn't help either.
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1/3 for 2 mana is a perfect body to stop early aggression and in most situations, Sygg will draw you at least one card. He is not as realiable as Dark Confidant, but he's been drawing more cards than both Pain Seer and Blood Scrivener. And unlike all of these, drawing cards with Sygg doesn't cost you any life! Dealing 3 damage is neither that hard for an aggro deck (where you have multiple cheap attackers and sometimes burn), nor for a controllish deck (where you often have 3+ power fliers). Yes, he takes up a guild slot, but he works both in BX aggressive decks and UX contollish decks. Plus, he works well with the two blue devotion cards.
I would cut Bane of the Living from that list of black 3 drops.
Mystic Command is a little bit better than Cryptic Command. Bouncing 2 or 3 creatures can be game winning in a format like cube. Countering a spell and drawing 2 cards rather than 1 is also great.
...
Cut one:
Dack Fayden vs Ral Zarek
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
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Sarkhan Vol vs Domri vs Neither?
Other gruul cards are currently BBE and Xenagos.
Wolfbitten Captive over Scythe Leopard.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Dragonlord Atarka should get in there though, she's a complete beast.
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That makes sense. I've been thinking that for a while, since all of my gruul cards are 4 drops and 2 are walker. I really hadn't considered Atarka before and she's perfect for gruul. I guess the question then becomes Sarkhan or Xenagos? I do like that Xenagos protects himself, but sarkhan wins games on a more empty board.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Both are playable, but I have chosen to run Sarkhan as he offers more unique abilities and has the potential to turn around a game.