I didn't expect to see Cruise so high
Anyway, it's "pick 2 out of 3" time, once for each color (kinda):
- Path to Exile, Council's Judgment, Banishing Light (assuming you're already playing O-Ring, ofc)
-Control Magic, Sower of Temptation, Vedalken Shackles (yeah, I left our lord and savior Treachery out of this)
-Murderous Redcap, Kalitas, Nekrataal
-Borderland Marauder, War-Name Aspirant, Abbot of Keral Keep
-Polukranos, Wickerbough Elder, Thrun (yeah Polukranos vs Elder was asked days ago, but what about dat lonely troll)
-Chrome Mox, Gilded Lotus, Worn Powerstone
Path > Judgment > Banishing Light > Oblivion Ring. Council’s Judgment is permanent and can get rid of pesky True-Name and hexproof creatures. Banishing Light is superior to Oblivion Ring since you can only target your opponent’s permanents. This is important in Mindslaver / Smokestack scenarios.
Control Magic > Sower > Shackles. Would try and play all 3 if you can.
I didn't expect to see Cruise so high
Anyway, it's "pick 2 out of 3" time, once for each color (kinda):
- Path to Exile, Council's Judgment, Banishing Light (assuming you're already playing O-Ring, ofc)
-Control Magic, Sower of Temptation, Vedalken Shackles (yeah, I left our lord and savior Treachery out of this)
-Murderous Redcap, Kalitas, Nekrataal
-Borderland Marauder, War-Name Aspirant, Abbot of Keral Keep
-Polukranos, Wickerbough Elder, Thrun (yeah Polukranos vs Elder was asked days ago, but what about dat lonely troll)
-Chrome Mox, Gilded Lotus, Worn Powerstone
Path > Judgment > Banishing Light
Vedaken Shackles > Control Magic >> Sower
Kalitas > Nekrataal > Redcap
Abbot > Aspirant > Marauder
Polukranos > Thrun >> Elder
Powerstone > the other two. Ranking between them depends on archetype support more than anything intrinsic to the cards themselves.
I don’t agree with anybody valuing Shackles over any other commonly played Control Magic effect. It’s a strong card, but I definitely value it less than the usual suspects of Control Magic / Sower of Temptation / Treachery.
Path > Light > Judgement (I'd always play all 3, but I think the 2W edges out the 1WW cost on the latter)
Control > Sower > Shackles (Again, all 3 is probably always correct, but I gave the edge to the ones that are less mana-reliant)
Nekrataal > Kalitas >> Redcap
Abbot >> Aspirant > Marauder (I don't like either of the latter two much at all, so IDK)
Thrun > Elder > Polukranos
Mox > Powerstone > Lotus (I think at the cube size small enough where these would be on the block, several of the other monster top-end cards for Lotus to ramp out may not be in the list anymore)
I more or less agree with wtwlf's rankings but I like Shackles more than Sower. I also would run everything in the first two categories and likely everything in the last one.
Sower can easily steal a Titan / Griselbrand level creature where Shackles really has to be heavy blue and super late game to do so. Sower also bing am evasive creature and having synergies with Reveillark / Recruiters / Survival of the Fittest / etc makes it the more versatile card.
One thing I’ve observed in P1P1 discussions is that people overrate Shackles, IMO. Great card, but definitely on the bottom of the commonly played Control Magic effects totem pole.
One thing I’ve observed in P1P1 discussions is that people overrate Shackles, IMO. Great card, but definitely on the bottom of the commonly played Control Magic effects totem pole.
Agreed, I'm pretty hesitant to p1p1 a card whose power level not only depends on me being heavy blue, but also having a heavy island mana base. It probably has the highest ceiling--even higher than treachery, since it's insane against decks you can continually steal creatures with to chump/attack--but the floor is actually horrendous, whereas I could have literal no actual-Island blue lands and all the other control magics are going to do exactly what they do. At least in P1P1 scenarios it's hard to ignore these floors, but it's worth noting that some metas may be midrange/aggro/smaller-creature heavy where Shackles might be P1P1-worthy.
After that it gets fuzzy for me. Hellspark Elemental and Keldon Marauders are personal favorites but I wouldn't begrudge anyone for choosing something else.
Shackles is pretty unbeatable for many decks, if they do not answer it. It is somewhat of a build around card, but I think the power level is worth it. It is one of the reasons you want to pack artifact destruction maindeck in cube. Sower is not an amazing card in my experience too (still good but does not shine by cube standards), very easy for some decks to answer it for 1-2 mana and then it did not do much.
Sower is fragile but is more offensive, has much more synergies with recursion / creature tutors / etc, and can easily take creatures that will commonly be out of the reach of Shackles.
I can see the argument for Banishing Light > Council’s Judgment. I think the upsides are worth it for Council’s Judgment though. The exile is permanent, it can hit TNN / hexproof, has more Spells Matters synergies with Snapcaster / JVP / Mystical Tutor, and isn’t awkward with Upheaval.
Gilded Lotus is a very niche card, which is why I don’t like it more than Worn Powerstone / Chrome Mox. Super Ramp takes up a decent amount of real estate, probably too much for a micro cube that you’re building.
Waterfront Bouncer does so much. Fills the yard, buys time, reuse ETB effects, all before you get to any specific synergies like Madness/Flashback or the fact that it's a Merfolk. I've only seen Thing in the Ice in action a few times though, so take that with a grain of salt.
I really don't like Bouncer, so I'd say Thing in the Ice. Thing is still not for small cubes, and will only fit medium cubes if you explicitly support the spells.dec. It does flip more often than I've thought.
I’d cut Silumgar. High ceiling but can be awkward post/ pre sweeper, or just on an empty board in general. Also, Fractured Identity is the new Silumgar.
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Path > Judgment > Banishing Light > Oblivion Ring. Council’s Judgment is permanent and can get rid of pesky True-Name and hexproof creatures. Banishing Light is superior to Oblivion Ring since you can only target your opponent’s permanents. This is important in Mindslaver / Smokestack scenarios.
Control Magic > Sower > Shackles. Would try and play all 3 if you can.
Nekrataal > Kalitas > Redcap.
Marauder > Abbot > Aspirant
Thrun > Elder > Polukranos
Chrome > Powerstone > Lotus
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Path > Judgment > Banishing Light
Vedaken Shackles > Control Magic >> Sower
Kalitas > Nekrataal > Redcap
Abbot > Aspirant > Marauder
Polukranos > Thrun >> Elder
Powerstone > the other two. Ranking between them depends on archetype support more than anything intrinsic to the cards themselves.
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Unsure on the black cards. I'd keep Redcap. Maybe cut Nekrataal assuming you're playing Skinrender and Shriekmaw.
[180 classic cube]
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This one might seem kinda trivial to some: Waterfront Bouncer or Thing in the Ice?
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Control > Sower > Shackles (Again, all 3 is probably always correct, but I gave the edge to the ones that are less mana-reliant)
Nekrataal > Kalitas >> Redcap
Abbot >> Aspirant > Marauder (I don't like either of the latter two much at all, so IDK)
Thrun > Elder > Polukranos
Mox > Powerstone > Lotus (I think at the cube size small enough where these would be on the block, several of the other monster top-end cards for Lotus to ramp out may not be in the list anymore)
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One thing I’ve observed in P1P1 discussions is that people overrate Shackles, IMO. Great card, but definitely on the bottom of the commonly played Control Magic effects totem pole.
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Agreed, I'm pretty hesitant to p1p1 a card whose power level not only depends on me being heavy blue, but also having a heavy island mana base. It probably has the highest ceiling--even higher than treachery, since it's insane against decks you can continually steal creatures with to chump/attack--but the floor is actually horrendous, whereas I could have literal no actual-Island blue lands and all the other control magics are going to do exactly what they do. At least in P1P1 scenarios it's hard to ignore these floors, but it's worth noting that some metas may be midrange/aggro/smaller-creature heavy where Shackles might be P1P1-worthy.
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Sower is fragile in-game, but Shackles is fragile in drafting/deck building.
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Path to Exile > Banishing Light > Council's Judgment
Control Magic > Sower of Temptation > Vedalken Shackles
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet > Nekrataal >> Murderous Redcap
Abbot of Keral Keep >> War-Name Aspirant = Borderland Marauder
Thrun, the Last Troll > Wickerbough Elder > Polukranos, World Eater
Worn Powerstone > Chrome Mox > Gilded Lotus
In terms of red 2 drop creatures, which was a follow-up question, I rank them like this:
Stormblood Berserker = Young Pyromancer
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Plated Geopede
Abbot of Keral Keep
Harsh Mentor
Earthshaker Khenra
After that it gets fuzzy for me. Hellspark Elemental and Keldon Marauders are personal favorites but I wouldn't begrudge anyone for choosing something else.
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I can see the argument for Banishing Light > Council’s Judgment. I think the upsides are worth it for Council’s Judgment though. The exile is permanent, it can hit TNN / hexproof, has more Spells Matters synergies with Snapcaster / JVP / Mystical Tutor, and isn’t awkward with Upheaval.
Gilded Lotus is a very niche card, which is why I don’t like it more than Worn Powerstone / Chrome Mox. Super Ramp takes up a decent amount of real estate, probably too much for a micro cube that you’re building.
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Waterfront Bouncer does so much. Fills the yard, buys time, reuse ETB effects, all before you get to any specific synergies like Madness/Flashback or the fact that it's a Merfolk. I've only seen Thing in the Ice in action a few times though, so take that with a grain of salt.
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I generally prefer Waterfront Bouncer. It's great for tempo and enabling graveyard strategies.
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Agreed, it's a good card but the other two have been much better in my experience.
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I play all three. If I had to cut one, I'd cut Dragonlord Silumgar. I prefer the resilience of the Scarab God.
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