How about Shuko vs Basilisk Collar vs Loxodon Warhammer?
I can't say I like any of them all that much. Warhammer can be pretty game breaking if you can get it to stick on a threat, but 3+3 mana makes it pretty clunky and very vulnerable to tempo blow outs from instant speed removal. Because it's so potentially high impact, though, it's probably the best of the bunch. Shuko seems kinda low impact, and Basilisk Collar doesn't improve stats at all, so I'm pretty suspicious of it.
If you're looking for more equipment, I had pretty decent results with Trusty Machete and Darksteel Axe before I had the Swords and Jitte in my cube. Manriki-Gusari seems good, too. It's a bit less aggressive but the equip cost is nice and cheap and it's a repeatable answer to the other more broken equipment that you're already running.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
1 - Devouring Light but I guess Condemn. I think at 3 mana I'd rather have more versatile removal or something that actually gets rid of a creature for real.
2 - I removed Crux for BSZ recently. 5 mana vanilla sweeper didn't work out. Zenith is sweet and can do work at 3-4 mana.
3 - Skulker, its a little low on raw power but its so fun I can't cut it. Sweet in stax, wildfire, etc, great with stuff like brainstorm, wheel, etc.
Ainok Survivalist, the flexibility in casting its cost makes it a little better.
Cut the checklands or keep it as is?
I'd keep it as is or find a better cycle of duals to run than the checklands if your playgroup doesn't like them. If ABU duals are out of the question (including proxying them) I think painlands are the best option after the ones you're currently running and I also think they're better than checklands.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Loosely related, isn't it that time of year when we rank everything? Would be nice to see where people are at.
Great question, we did the Power Rankings in May last year, but it looks like no one's stepped up to run it this year. I'm not really in a position to do it this month because I have end of semester grading to do, and I'll be traveling towards the end of the month, otherwise I'd volunteer.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Balance is very powerful, but it can be tricky to get good value out of it. Against an aggressive start you can end up Mind Twisting yourself when you Balance. It's definitely a skill-testing card, so I recommend that. If it's too good you can always cut it.
Cataclysm's probably the strongest "fixed" Balance, it resets the game to favor whoever has the biggest creature (or creature plus equipment). It's a terrible card to have when you're behind against a player with a large creature you have no other way to deal with.
Tragic Arrogance is probably the hardest to break, and it's a bit slow since it costs 5.
Fell the Mighty looks unplayably bad. There will be board states where it does absolutely nothing (against token and weenie swarms, for example, where control struggles most).
If I had to choose two of those cards, I'd pick Balance and Cataclysm, but I'm not a big fan of any conditional white boardwipes except for Balance and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. If you want control decks to have a fighting chance, they need to have access to reliable boardwipes to have a chance of stabilizing. Plus, once players know that control decks have access to something like Wrath of God it's just not that hard to play around it by not overextending. I guess you might also try Sunblast Angel or Wing Shards if you're trying to nerf your boardwipes.
Harmonize is an off-colour effect, but still costly and unexciting. Reflection is very niche but a huge effect if you produce decks that actually want 12+ mana. In most cases a Gilded Lotus or Thran Dynamo will do. Primal carries some good tempo advantage, can help recover against aggro, and can fit into general midrange strategies. I don't think any of these are stellar but that's my pick.
Garruk, Primal Hunter is a very good Planeswalker despite the awkward cost, with three relevant abilities. The draw is usually going to come a turn later, but even with Harmonize, that's usually when you'll be able to make use of the new cards anyway.
Growth vs. Sprawl is pretty cube dependent - they are both very decent ramp cards. I do like Wild Growth a little more on the basis that it can function as more reliable ramp in the decks where green is only a lighter splash - sometimes your green sources are non-Forests. Luckily, in cubes with good mana bases, your ABU duels, Shocks and Fetches will ensure access to the appropriate land most of the time. I like these cards as a way to diversify your ramp sources away from the mana Elves; although being a creature is usually an advantage for green (Natural Order, Duskwatch Recruiter, Collected Company etc.) in some matchups (red or black control, for example) it is a certain advantage not to put all your eggs in very fragile baskets...
I like Utopia Sprawl over Wild Growth but then my lands were such that the forest only restriction never really mattered as only the man-lands were non-forests and they EtB tapped so couldn't cast it turn one anyways. I'm running both now anyway as I'm playing about with an enchantment theme.
I like Utopia Sprawl over Wild Growth but then my lands were such that the forest only restriction never really mattered as only the man-lands were non-forests and they EtB tapped so couldn't cast it turn one anyways. I'm running both now anyway as I'm playing about with an enchantment theme.
Mentor of the Meek>Hanweir>Thalia's Lieutenant. Thalia's Lieutenant goes up in stock if the humans deck is a real thing in your play group. The other two don't rely on tribal and I feel getting cards off of mentor is probably better than working towards flipping Hanweir.
waterfront bouncer, willbender (not a huge morph theme in the cube, but a fair number of creatures), or clever impersonator. I'm leaning towards bouncer here as 10% of the time the card is amazing, and 90% it seems to do nothing.
Preacher vs Relic Seeker
360 powered cube with 5 swords, jitte, and batterskull
Definitely Relic Seeker. It's a decent aggro creature that can sometimes work as a second Stoneforge Mystic. Preacher is too slow, fragile, and unreliable for a typical cube.
Condescend is a fantastic splashable counterspell that often costs only 1u and can help dig for the cards you need basically for free. Capsize is just too slow for what it does either with or without Buyback.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
waterfront bouncer, willbender (not a huge morph theme in the cube, but a fair number of creatures), or clever impersonator. I'm leaning towards bouncer here as 10% of the time the card is amazing, and 90% it seems to do nothing.
I'd cut Shrine or Pillage. I'd cut Impersonator or Willbender, most likely Impersonator. I think Bouncer is great and not close to dead 90% of the time.
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I can't say I like any of them all that much. Warhammer can be pretty game breaking if you can get it to stick on a threat, but 3+3 mana makes it pretty clunky and very vulnerable to tempo blow outs from instant speed removal. Because it's so potentially high impact, though, it's probably the best of the bunch. Shuko seems kinda low impact, and Basilisk Collar doesn't improve stats at all, so I'm pretty suspicious of it.
If you're looking for more equipment, I had pretty decent results with Trusty Machete and Darksteel Axe before I had the Swords and Jitte in my cube. Manriki-Gusari seems good, too. It's a bit less aggressive but the equip cost is nice and cheap and it's a repeatable answer to the other more broken equipment that you're already running.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
2 - Black Sun's Zenith vs Crux of Fate ?
3 - Sea Gate Oracl vs Chasm Skulker ?
4 - Ainok Survivalist vs Conclave Naturalists?
2 - I removed Crux for BSZ recently. 5 mana vanilla sweeper didn't work out. Zenith is sweet and can do work at 3-4 mana.
3 - Skulker, its a little low on raw power but its so fun I can't cut it. Sweet in stax, wildfire, etc, great with stuff like brainstorm, wheel, etc.
Ainok Survivalist, the flexibility in casting its cost makes it a little better.
I'd keep it as is or find a better cycle of duals to run than the checklands if your playgroup doesn't like them. If ABU duals are out of the question (including proxying them) I think painlands are the best option after the ones you're currently running and I also think they're better than checklands.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Great question, we did the Power Rankings in May last year, but it looks like no one's stepped up to run it this year. I'm not really in a position to do it this month because I have end of semester grading to do, and I'll be traveling towards the end of the month, otherwise I'd volunteer.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Balance is very powerful, but it can be tricky to get good value out of it. Against an aggressive start you can end up Mind Twisting yourself when you Balance. It's definitely a skill-testing card, so I recommend that. If it's too good you can always cut it.
Cataclysm's probably the strongest "fixed" Balance, it resets the game to favor whoever has the biggest creature (or creature plus equipment). It's a terrible card to have when you're behind against a player with a large creature you have no other way to deal with.
Tragic Arrogance is probably the hardest to break, and it's a bit slow since it costs 5.
Fell the Mighty looks unplayably bad. There will be board states where it does absolutely nothing (against token and weenie swarms, for example, where control struggles most).
If I had to choose two of those cards, I'd pick Balance and Cataclysm, but I'm not a big fan of any conditional white boardwipes except for Balance and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. If you want control decks to have a fighting chance, they need to have access to reliable boardwipes to have a chance of stabilizing. Plus, once players know that control decks have access to something like Wrath of God it's just not that hard to play around it by not overextending. I guess you might also try Sunblast Angel or Wing Shards if you're trying to nerf your boardwipes.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
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540> 360 Powered Cube2 - Garruk, Primal Hunter vs Harmonize ? (draw efects green)
3 - Wild Growth vs Utopia Sprawl ?
Harmonize is an off-colour effect, but still costly and unexciting. Reflection is very niche but a huge effect if you produce decks that actually want 12+ mana. In most cases a Gilded Lotus or Thran Dynamo will do. Primal carries some good tempo advantage, can help recover against aggro, and can fit into general midrange strategies. I don't think any of these are stellar but that's my pick.
Garruk, Primal Hunter is a very good Planeswalker despite the awkward cost, with three relevant abilities. The draw is usually going to come a turn later, but even with Harmonize, that's usually when you'll be able to make use of the new cards anyway.
Growth vs. Sprawl is pretty cube dependent - they are both very decent ramp cards. I do like Wild Growth a little more on the basis that it can function as more reliable ramp in the decks where green is only a lighter splash - sometimes your green sources are non-Forests. Luckily, in cubes with good mana bases, your ABU duels, Shocks and Fetches will ensure access to the appropriate land most of the time. I like these cards as a way to diversify your ramp sources away from the mana Elves; although being a creature is usually an advantage for green (Natural Order, Duskwatch Recruiter, Collected Company etc.) in some matchups (red or black control, for example) it is a certain advantage not to put all your eggs in very fragile baskets...
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Garruk, Primal Hunter > Harmonize
Utopia Sprawl > Wild Growth, if you have a full suite of dual/shock/fetch as your main 2-color fixing lands.
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My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Agreed. I've been liking Bygone Bishop quite a bit if you're looking for an SOI creature to support white weenie decks.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Jeskai Sage or Palace Familiar
Whisk Away or Anchor to the Aether
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Commune if your green decks almost always have enchantments they care about, otherwise gather (although spell mastery is hard in a lot of green decks)
Sage if you support UW or UR spells matter, otherwise familiar
Anchor.
I need a cut for sin prodder
gore-house chainwalker, pillage, or shrine of burning rage
Edit - Also need a cut for thing in the ice
waterfront bouncer, willbender (not a huge morph theme in the cube, but a fair number of creatures), or clever impersonator. I'm leaning towards bouncer here as 10% of the time the card is amazing, and 90% it seems to do nothing.
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360 powered cube with 5 swords, jitte, and batterskull
Relic Seeker
Condescend >>>>>>>>>>> Capsize
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Definitely Relic Seeker. It's a decent aggro creature that can sometimes work as a second Stoneforge Mystic. Preacher is too slow, fragile, and unreliable for a typical cube.
Condescend is a fantastic splashable counterspell that often costs only 1u and can help dig for the cards you need basically for free. Capsize is just too slow for what it does either with or without Buyback.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I'd cut Shrine or Pillage. I'd cut Impersonator or Willbender, most likely Impersonator. I think Bouncer is great and not close to dead 90% of the time.
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