Garruk is my favorite of the original Lorwyn 5. His power level is exactly what I want out of a 4 cc green 'walker. Just a solid overall card.
As far as tokens, I have copied of every token I need. Some are official tokens and some I've made myself in Photoshop and printed out. My Thopters are Inspector Gadget, my Brimaz cats are Lion-O from Thundercats, my Ragavan is Abu from Alladin. Like wtwlf said, it's nice to have full sized cards on the battlefield to ease the confusion when the board state starts to get complicated. I hated having to ask which dice represented which tokens, so I just set out on a mission to acquire everything I needed.
I think OG Garruk is the best green walker despite being the first. He's not the kind to take over a game like a JTMS, Karn, Ugin, or LotV, but everything you want to do he helps you do in green. Want to ramp? Untap your lands. Need a creature? Crap out a 3/3 beast. Want to swing for victory? Easy access Overrun. Nothing fancy, but solid value all around. It would have to take another pushed walker to shove him out of his spot as the best green walker.
Me and tokens have a love/hate relationship. Obviously tokens are aplenty in mine, but I don't have a super token focus theme running through it. Pretty much each color has access to token creation, but I'm not running much specific token support. Mostly just use other/leftover cards and memory, or dice for actual token use.
The best of the original Lorwyn 5, Garruk stands the test of time as not only the best green planeswalker, but one of the best green cards period. OG Garruk does everything green wants to do: ramp, make tokens, overrun. His ultimate is not only strong, but fast since it's achievable on his second active turn. I just recently had a match where my opponent forced a stalemate by cloning my Hornet Queen. I broke the stalemate by using Garruk's ultimate and Rolling Earthquaked for 2 to sweep the opposing hornets and bashed for 15 for the win.
I just use facedown cards bulk cards to represent tokens and have a sharpie in case people want to be specific. Keeping the cube shuffled and making sure everything is in-tact every session is already enough of a chore, I don't want to add organizing 50+ unique tokens on top of that.
Big fan of Garruk for all the reasons listed above. Literally never getting cut.
I have all but a few tokens my cube requires sleeved up in bright pink so they don't get shuffled into decks. I don't do the same with emblems or checklist cards, but I probably will sooner or later.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Garruk easily holds up better today than any of the rest of the original Lorwyn 5 planeswalkers, and definitely deserves its spot as the #7 green card in the latest Power Rankings. If its +1 ability won't protect it, its -1 ability usually does, and the quick ultimate can threaten to end a game very quickly. Garruk supports ramp, midrange, and token strategies extremely well, and will probably have a home in my cube's green section for as long as I'm cubing.
I'm running the Duel Deck foil right now, which is my least favorite Garruk Wildspeaker art because of the goofy facial expression. Sorry Terese, this was not one of your best.
Tokens are usually just dice
Every time dice get used as tokens, a Serra Angel cries. It's harder to tell whether or not they're tapped than cards, and harder to tell what they actually are. I keep a tokens library in a Deckbuilder's Tool Kit box, where I have copies of every token you could ever need during a cube match filed by color along with planeswalker emblems. Most of my tokens are WotC printed versions, but I have a few special versions of tokens that were made by MTG artists that I've picked up from GPs and other events. I'm also a big fan of the Channel Fireball tokens that they include as throw-ins with singles orders. Having nice looking tokens on hand really adds pizzazz to cube drafts, and collecting them is cheap and pretty fun.
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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.
I find 2 of each type of tokens and a handful of dice is a nice middle ground; use one token with dice on it to represent the number of tokens, then if you need to tap some use the second token tapped with dice to how many are tapped.
I take this approach if table space is an issue as its clear to players, looks nice but doesn't clutter the board too much.
I have all but a few tokens my cube requires sleeved up in bright pink so they don't get shuffled into decks. I don't do the same with emblems or checklist cards, but I probably will sooner or later.
I tried putting all of my tokens in the same sleeve for this reason, but it became such a hassle to find the right token at that point. Digging through a stack of 100 tokens was so cumbersome just to find the damn faeries. I now have them in color identifying sleeves (goblins in red sleeves, beasts in green, etc.) Every now and then someone will shuffle up a zombie token (my cube is in black sleeves), but the cube is in different sleeves so it's not that big of a deal. Just pitch it away and draw another card if you draw into it.
Every time dice get used as tokens, a Serra Angel cries. It's harder to tell whether or not they're tapped than cards, and harder to tell what they actually are.
Yeah it definitely can be, but there are pretty easy ways to differentiate it and we have some smaller dice so it's not like you're clogging the board with casino-sized d6s or anything. When we hit crazy stalemate board states it can get silly and sloppy, but for the most part we are able to differentiate by leaving certain tokens near their origin (plants are the one by the Avenger, faeries are by the bitter blossom etc) and then by keeping the tapped ones forward toward the opponent (or back) to show who's tapped or not. In theory I have the same issues that have been brought up in this thread, but in practice it only gets truly confusing once in a blue moon. Worse come to worst we grab bulks if it gets extra crazy. (e.g. 10+ tokens from Symbol Status.)
Muldrifter is great, I remember the first time I seen him I was pretty unimpressed but over the years I have come to respect it. It doesn't look broken on paper (was it busted in block?) but it has so many synergies and ways to abuse it in cube that it more than earns its spot.
Mulldrifter is great, at it's worse it's Divination which is great as an absolute floor. It fits in just about every recursion engine. Drawing cards is good.
Favorite common is probably mulldrifter, though I have love for Grim Harvest and Disturbed Burial due to their grind-fest pauper applications. Have won my fair share of Pauper games due to the latter, and it in fact works great with mulldrifter there.
Mulldrifter is a classic value card which has super high playability in midrange focused cubes. I feel it's less powerful in my combo list however, really being more filler there.
Favorite common is Llanowar Elves. I love me some green ramp.
Mulldrifter is one of the most versatile card in all of magic. A very splashable one blue in both hard cast and evoke cost. It's a strong pick in any blue deck. It has a decent skill ceiling (wether to evoke early and eek out early card advantage or to hold out and hard cast.) It's a flying threat for moat, plays well with grave yard recursion and is busted with blue white tempo and blink decks. It's the jelly to Revilarks delicious peanut butter.
Favorite common has to be brainstorm. One of the most simple designs that (although over evaluated in cube) is just the glue that holds up a deck built with it in mind.
Favorite common . . . some great ones mentioned so far. But one that hasn't is my undisputed favorite: Hymn to Tourach. I can't think of another common that can just win the game for you on turn 2.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Favorite common . . . some great ones mentioned so far. But one that hasn't is my undisputed favorite: Hymn to Tourach. I can't think of another common that can just win the game for you on turn 2.
card advantage is card advantage, and one of the best ETB effects. A good card in cubes and a monster in pauper.
Aside from the powerful staples (Bolt, Hymn to Tourach, Rancor, Counterspell), my favorite common used to be Yavimaya Elder, but right now it has to be Kiln Fiend.
Favorite common . . . some great ones mentioned so far. But one that hasn't is my undisputed favorite: Hymn to Tourach. I can't think of another common that can just win the game for you on turn 2.
Important question: Which art?
The wolf. House rule is you have to howl as you cast it. No one does but me.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I didn't have much money when I first started playing Magic, so I got my start in Magic rummaging through commons boxes looking for playable gems. I also play retail limited regularly, so I have a real affection for commons that have stood the test of time and compete with the best of the best. Mulldrifter makes that short list of truly amazing commons. Divination plus Wind Drake for a full mana less that can still be cast as just a Divination in a pinch is value plus versatility that's hard to beat, and that's before figuring in the potential for abuse of the ETB trigger through blink or recursion.
I'm cubing foils of the original Lorwyn art, as everyone should. What were they thinking when they made that hideous FNM promo?
A lot of respectable choices have come up for favorite common, but I have a special love for Man-o'-War, a card whose flavor still makes no sense to me but is another classic that has stood the test of time and remains delightfully obnoxious to play against.
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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.
Regarding the flavor, maybe the idea is that the creature gets really scared of the toxic sea oddity and escapes to its owner's hand?
Or maybe the tentacles are made of some magical aether vortex stuff.
Mulldrifter is awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Less awesome when my opponent has managed to snag Mimic Vat during the drafts and starts pooping out copies of my own Mulldrifter, but even that is kind of awesome.
As far as tokens, I have copied of every token I need. Some are official tokens and some I've made myself in Photoshop and printed out. My Thopters are Inspector Gadget, my Brimaz cats are Lion-O from Thundercats, my Ragavan is Abu from Alladin. Like wtwlf said, it's nice to have full sized cards on the battlefield to ease the confusion when the board state starts to get complicated. I hated having to ask which dice represented which tokens, so I just set out on a mission to acquire everything I needed.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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Me and tokens have a love/hate relationship. Obviously tokens are aplenty in mine, but I don't have a super token focus theme running through it. Pretty much each color has access to token creation, but I'm not running much specific token support. Mostly just use other/leftover cards and memory, or dice for actual token use.
I just use facedown cards bulk cards to represent tokens and have a sharpie in case people want to be specific. Keeping the cube shuffled and making sure everything is in-tact every session is already enough of a chore, I don't want to add organizing 50+ unique tokens on top of that.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I have all but a few tokens my cube requires sleeved up in bright pink so they don't get shuffled into decks. I don't do the same with emblems or checklist cards, but I probably will sooner or later.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm running the Duel Deck foil right now, which is my least favorite Garruk Wildspeaker art because of the goofy facial expression. Sorry Terese, this was not one of your best.
Every time dice get used as tokens, a Serra Angel cries. It's harder to tell whether or not they're tapped than cards, and harder to tell what they actually are. I keep a tokens library in a Deckbuilder's Tool Kit box, where I have copies of every token you could ever need during a cube match filed by color along with planeswalker emblems. Most of my tokens are WotC printed versions, but I have a few special versions of tokens that were made by MTG artists that I've picked up from GPs and other events. I'm also a big fan of the Channel Fireball tokens that they include as throw-ins with singles orders. Having nice looking tokens on hand really adds pizzazz to cube drafts, and collecting them is cheap and pretty fun.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I take this approach if table space is an issue as its clear to players, looks nice but doesn't clutter the board too much.
I tried putting all of my tokens in the same sleeve for this reason, but it became such a hassle to find the right token at that point. Digging through a stack of 100 tokens was so cumbersome just to find the damn faeries. I now have them in color identifying sleeves (goblins in red sleeves, beasts in green, etc.) Every now and then someone will shuffle up a zombie token (my cube is in black sleeves), but the cube is in different sleeves so it's not that big of a deal. Just pitch it away and draw another card if you draw into it.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Yeah it definitely can be, but there are pretty easy ways to differentiate it and we have some smaller dice so it's not like you're clogging the board with casino-sized d6s or anything. When we hit crazy stalemate board states it can get silly and sloppy, but for the most part we are able to differentiate by leaving certain tokens near their origin (plants are the one by the Avenger, faeries are by the bitter blossom etc) and then by keeping the tapped ones forward toward the opponent (or back) to show who's tapped or not. In theory I have the same issues that have been brought up in this thread, but in practice it only gets truly confusing once in a blue moon. Worse come to worst we grab bulks if it gets extra crazy. (e.g. 10+ tokens from Symbol Status.)
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
Mulldrifter
BONUS QUESTION
What's your favorite common in the history of MTG?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Favorite common has to be Lightning Bolt.
As far as commons go Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Counterspell and Dark Ritual spring to mind.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
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Mulldrifter is great, at it's worse it's Divination which is great as an absolute floor. It fits in just about every recursion engine. Drawing cards is good.
Favorite common is probably mulldrifter, though I have love for Grim Harvest and Disturbed Burial due to their grind-fest pauper applications. Have won my fair share of Pauper games due to the latter, and it in fact works great with mulldrifter there.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
Favorite common is Llanowar Elves. I love me some green ramp.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
Favorite common has to be brainstorm. One of the most simple designs that (although over evaluated in cube) is just the glue that holds up a deck built with it in mind.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/414
Favorite common . . . some great ones mentioned so far. But one that hasn't is my undisputed favorite: Hymn to Tourach. I can't think of another common that can just win the game for you on turn 2.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Important question: Which art?
Aside from the powerful staples (Bolt, Hymn to Tourach, Rancor, Counterspell), my favorite common used to be Yavimaya Elder, but right now it has to be Kiln Fiend.
The wolf. House rule is you have to howl as you cast it. No one does but me.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm cubing foils of the original Lorwyn art, as everyone should. What were they thinking when they made that hideous FNM promo?
A lot of respectable choices have come up for favorite common, but I have a special love for Man-o'-War, a card whose flavor still makes no sense to me but is another classic that has stood the test of time and remains delightfully obnoxious to play against.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Or maybe the tentacles are made of some magical aether vortex stuff.
Mulldrifter is awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Less awesome when my opponent has managed to snag Mimic Vat during the drafts and starts pooping out copies of my own Mulldrifter, but even that is kind of awesome.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
It looks like you said no to this green 3 for 1. Harmonize.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
Correction, good green 3-for-1 card advantage. I apologize for any confusion.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!