Warhammer > Sword but it's close. I like the lifelink and +1 power because I think those will be more relevant than haste and first strike most of the time.
How big is the cube? I don't like any of those 2-drops really and would have to have a pretty large cube before those looked attractive.
I've been misreading Sword for a while now and thought it had lifelink. Whoops.
It's a 720 cube with multiples so closer to 360. I don't particularly need the 2-drops to cost 2, so am open to other suggestions, but it has to be common/uncommon, so I'm not sure what. I have a post here if you'd like to discuss it more (and I'd be grateful if you did!)
Reflecting Pool is just low-grade mana fixing, while Dust Bowl is more of an archetype card.
Your cube should have something ~10% of mana-fixing lands (both guild lands and five-mana lands; something like Evolving Wilds counts but Wasteland won't). You appear to be over this number (80 in 720) so it's fine to cut Reflecting Pool.
Reflecting Pool, it is one of the most broadly playable cards. Dust Bowl never worked here. I also prefer the fixing content of the cube to be higher than 10%.
Reflecting Pool. I find repeatable land destruction to be an annoying mechanic that really hurts some decks and does very little to others. So it feels like a hate card to me (I prefer avoiding hate cards in my list).
Dust Bowl is an answer to broken lands and the ubiquitous manlands. There aren't that many, especially repeatable ones. Reflecting Pool is a middle of the road fixer in an environment with lots of fixing so I think Bowl easily takes this one. Dust Bowl can also punish greedy manabases and it's a nice rattlesnake for that purpose too.
Interesting that the opinions are so varied. I have had complaints about both cards not being good enough in my Cube and cut Dust Bowl recently. We rarely, if ever, saw Dust Bowl activated more than once in a game. I like Reflecting Pool which is why it got the nod, but a couple of my players said they wouldn't pick it unless it's the only playable card for their deck in the pack. That surprised me a bit. Regardless, you all know that's it's important to try to avoid personal bias in Cube choices so that the list is as optimized as possible for the whole group. Thanks for the feedback. Other interesting considerations were Tectonic Edge and Mouth of Ronom (we have snow basics).
Brago is an easy cut on the chopping block that is going to be replaced by Reflector Mage. Not exactly sure how I proceed from there though. I'm a little impartial of cutting Narset but I like fun, build around me type cards so she seems to fit the bill. I was thinking of cutting Verdict since it just comes down to being a board wipe in 2 colors. Nothing that would push you into Azorius like Dragonlord Ojutai or even Spell Queller would. Aside from that, I don't know what would be the third cut for Spell Queller if Narset isn't going to be cut.
The one thing I like about Supreme Verdict is that it signals a very obvious archetype in that color combination. Revelation does the same. Keep at least one of the two (or both if that is really a strong theme). Detention Sphere is a solid card, but the effect is available in mono white. I've never really been a fan personally. This won't be a popular opinion, but I'd swap Geist for Queller. I think queller is more interesting, supports the same deck while being less narrow outside it. I think it might wind up being the best UW card. Reflector Mage is awesome. Get that in. Not a planeswalker guy, so can't say one way or the other on Narset. Hope that was helpful.
Blue and white and no shortage of planeswalkers so Narset is pretty cuttable IMO. Was never a big fan of Sphinx's Rev, so those two would be the lowest in my personal rankings.
I really like all three of these cards. Geist seems the most out of place in terms of synergy but for raw power the card is great. Anyone else trying to squeeze Spell Queller in and if so, what are you taking out or are you unsure like me?
I really like all three of these cards. Geist seems the most out of place in terms of synergy but for raw power the card is great. Anyone else trying to squeeze Spell Queller in and if so, what are you taking out or are you unsure like me?
I think an argument can be made for running almost any 3 of
Spell queller, geist of saint traft, reflector mage, sphinx's revelation, supreme verdict and detention sphere.
I currently run Sphinx's Rev, Reflector mage, Spell Queller and Geist. But am not 100% confident it's the best configuration for my cube.
Sphinx's rev is the most fringe, but is up there in upside (Mana rocks heavy cubes want it more). I think Verdict/Sphere/Geist are the most "powerful" of the options. Unfortunately, they have either plenty of near redundant options, or involve less interesting synergies, which reduce their value.
FWIW, Some skilled members of my playgroup predict Spell Queller is better than Reflector mage. I'm still on the fence, leaning Reflector mage > Spell Queller, but I'm not confident.
I've not played with From Under the Floorboards, but I believe I like both more than Priest of the Blood Rite. The two life loss was such a liability and the token ended up being so easy to deal with. Unless I was able to abuse the ETB ability from Priest it never seemed worth the investment. I've been impressed with Dark Salvation in testing, but honestly, it's not yet been better than Tooth Collector. I would say test Dark Salvation for a bit and see how it goes just because it's the newest of these cards.
I'm planning on swapping out a bunch of the aggressive black cards for a bigger stax theme. Looking at adding either Liliana, the Last Hope or Liliana, Heretical Healer but not both. Healer provides more tokens for Braids and Smokestack and the plus ability on the flipped half helps with general resource denial. But the Raise Dead on Last Hope should work well in a stax build and might be more flexible to fit into other decks if nobody goes hard for a resource denial deck.
I'm planning on swapping out a bunch of the aggressive black cards for a bigger stax theme. Looking at adding either Liliana, the Last Hope or Liliana, Heretical Healer but not both. Healer provides more tokens for Braids and Smokestack and the plus ability on the flipped half helps with general resource denial. But the Raise Dead on Last Hope should work well in a stax build and might be more flexible to fit into other decks if nobody goes hard for a resource denial deck.
Thoughts?
Liliana the Last hope is the more powerful card in the vast majority of archetypes, but stax (with sac outlets) is the only deck where they are close in power.
I'm starting to feel that I have too many planeswalkers in my cube, which is an argument for the heretical healer, but... up to you obviously Both are sweet cards.
I've been misreading Sword for a while now and thought it had lifelink. Whoops.
It's a 720 cube with multiples so closer to 360. I don't particularly need the 2-drops to cost 2, so am open to other suggestions, but it has to be common/uncommon, so I'm not sure what. I have a post here if you'd like to discuss it more (and I'd be grateful if you did!)
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Your cube should have something ~10% of mana-fixing lands (both guild lands and five-mana lands; something like Evolving Wilds counts but Wasteland won't). You appear to be over this number (80 in 720) so it's fine to cut Reflecting Pool.
Reflecting Pool, it is one of the most broadly playable cards. Dust Bowl never worked here. I also prefer the fixing content of the cube to be higher than 10%.
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Reflecting Pool. I find repeatable land destruction to be an annoying mechanic that really hurts some decks and does very little to others. So it feels like a hate card to me (I prefer avoiding hate cards in my list).
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Brago, King Eternal, Detention Sphere, Geist of Saint Traft, Narset Transcendent, Supreme Verdict, Sphinx's Revelation
Brago is an easy cut on the chopping block that is going to be replaced by Reflector Mage. Not exactly sure how I proceed from there though. I'm a little impartial of cutting Narset but I like fun, build around me type cards so she seems to fit the bill. I was thinking of cutting Verdict since it just comes down to being a board wipe in 2 colors. Nothing that would push you into Azorius like Dragonlord Ojutai or even Spell Queller would. Aside from that, I don't know what would be the third cut for Spell Queller if Narset isn't going to be cut.
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http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
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http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
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I am currently running:
Supreme Verdict
Geist of Saint Traft
Reflector Mage
I really like all three of these cards. Geist seems the most out of place in terms of synergy but for raw power the card is great. Anyone else trying to squeeze Spell Queller in and if so, what are you taking out or are you unsure like me?
Modern: Jund
I think an argument can be made for running almost any 3 of
Spell queller, geist of saint traft, reflector mage, sphinx's revelation, supreme verdict and detention sphere.
I currently run Sphinx's Rev, Reflector mage, Spell Queller and Geist. But am not 100% confident it's the best configuration for my cube.
Sphinx's rev is the most fringe, but is up there in upside (Mana rocks heavy cubes want it more). I think Verdict/Sphere/Geist are the most "powerful" of the options. Unfortunately, they have either plenty of near redundant options, or involve less interesting synergies, which reduce their value.
FWIW, Some skilled members of my playgroup predict Spell Queller is better than Reflector mage. I'm still on the fence, leaning Reflector mage > Spell Queller, but I'm not confident.
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Thoughts?
Liliana the Last hope is the more powerful card in the vast majority of archetypes, but stax (with sac outlets) is the only deck where they are close in power.
I'm starting to feel that I have too many planeswalkers in my cube, which is an argument for the heretical healer, but... up to you obviously Both are sweet cards.
Last Updated 02/07/24
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I'm not thrilled with either but I want to keep the number of equipment healthy for Stoneforge and Relic Seeker.
Cheers,
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Spell Queller vs Reflector Mage vs Supreme Verdict
Pick 2
Hero of Bladehold
Restoration Angel
Gisela, the Broken Blade
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Four mana wraths are so hard to come by. I'd pick the Verdict.
Hero + Angel. Having your four drop killed by every Searing Spear is really sad.
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