I'd like to try Den Protector, but haven't so far because I have no other morph creatures. I'd like more aggressive 2/3 drops in green (especially at 3), but I'm afraid it doesn't really act as an aggressive 3-drop due to the extra morph cost which you likely don't want to activate on turn 4.
Overall I've drafted a few decks recently that were hurting for more proactive, aggressive green 3-drops. Out of my current suite, Reclamation Sage and Eternal Witness are fantastic but not necessarily at their best played on turn 3, and Yavimaya Elder and Courser of Kruphix are solid but not aggressive. Only Tireless Tracker does what I'm looking for. I'm not entirely enthused about him, but may try Rishkar, Peema Renegade to help out, and am strongly considering the blasphemy of cutting Yavimaya Elder for something more proactive when it comes along.
Den protetor is sweet. His/her (what gender is this card?) evasion is actually pretty good, and it's also actually synergistic with the megamorph ability. Slap a rancor on it and you have a legitimately dangerous threat.
Card is much better later in the game (where you can play face down and immediately pay morph - removing any tempo loss concerns from instant speed removal). IMO, it's the only stellar morph card besides Exalted Angel.
Den Protector is a cool card, I really want a stronger green 3 drop. When you start comparing the raw strength of the green 3 drops to the other colors, you realize how far outclassed they are. Tireless tracker is good. But you have to hit land drops afterwards, and spend mana to make him bigger. Compare it to say Brimaz, who just comes down and hits hard without any further mana investment.
Den Protector is a cool card, I really want a stronger green 3 drop. When you start comparing the raw strength of the green 3 drops to the other colors, you realize how far outclassed they are. Tireless tracker is good. But you have to hit land drops afterwards, and spend mana to make him bigger. Compare it to say Brimaz, who just comes down and hits hard without any further mana investment.
I agree, but I think this works to some degree with what green wants to do in a lot of its decks i.e. ramp. Skipping the 3 mana board impacting card--and often t2 play due to mana elves--for playing a 5 drop on turn 3 mitigates the lack of impact a green 3 drop might have in a vacuum versus something like Brimaz. The 5 drop could/should hypothetically be coming down t3 as well, and all the green 5 drops outclass all the white 3 drops.
Even if my opponent knows it's a Den Protector, the card is still great.
I don't like megamorph as a keyword; it's basically the same thing as morph, and the +1/+1 counter could just be in the text. *shrug* Seems like a lazy, recycled design.
Den Protector survived my cut back down to 360 so yes I value it pretty highly. I believe it's the only morph/megamorph card I run and telegraphing doesn't bother me much.
Den Protector's a bit clunkier and harder to abuse than Eternal Witness, but she's still solid value even though it's hard to get more than a 2-for-1 out of her. I run all of the Megamorphin' Power Rangers except for Silumgar Assassin, which I actually liked quite a bit until we got an influx of great black 2-drops, but I expect Den Protector to outlast the other 3 in my cube.
Overall I've drafted a few decks recently that were hurting for more proactive, aggressive green 3-drops.
This is something that's bothered me for quite a while, I really want green midrange decks to have access to strong aggressive plays that they can ramp out with an elf on T2. Tireless Tracker and Rishkar, Peema Renegade are a great start, but I'd really like to see at least one more green 3-drop that rivals Blade Splicer, Drana, Liberator of Malakir, or Serendib Efreet. After all, green's supposed to be the creature color! In the meantime, I'm running Call of the Herd.
I'm not entirely enthused about him, but may try Rishkar, Peema Renegade to help out, and am strongly considering the blasphemy of cutting Yavimaya Elder for something more proactive when it comes along.
I'm already trying this swap.
To me, megamorph falls under the "so bad, it's good" category.
That's about where I stand. I announce the flipping over of my Megamorphs in my best monster truck rally announcer voice.
Now that we're on the morph topic again, I don't see what's so bad about only having 1-2 morph cards. I didn't exactly play Standard Type 2 back in the day, but knowing every facedown card was going to be Exalted Angel didn't stop everyone from playing Exalted Angel.
I agree. Since I'm running only 4 MEGAMORPHS, each one in a different color, it's usually not hard to tell which one each one is while it's face down. However, each one is efficient enough and provides enough value to justify its slot in my cube.
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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.
Not gonna lie, I laughed pretty hard at MEGAMORPHS. I hope this becomes standard protocol.
But yeah, my favorite thing to do with Den Protector that nobody has brought up is to use it as a pseudo Snapcaster Mage. Your opponent's about to do something cool? MEGAMORPH Den Protector and get back and immediately cast whatever counter / removal spell you need in that situation.
Isochron Scepter is definitely one of those fun, shiny cards that can be very deadly in the right deck. From re-usable removal to literally locking your opponent out of the game with Memory Lapse, Scepter has a lot of things going for it.
That being said, it's a bit slow and vulnerable to getting 2 for 1'd right off the bat. If I had a bigger cube that went all in on spells matters, I'd probably run Scepter. It's a pet card, but currently the risk isn't worth the reward in my current cube configuration.
I like sceptre in theory but I think my drafters grab it without much consideration to how many spells they have in their deck to put under it so it has been playing poorly or rotting in hands. When you do get something like a counter or a kill spell under it though it feels pretty busted; I think its just a case of a learning curve for my drafters and expect it to get better with time.
It is definitely high variance but it is a lot of fun when it works so it will provably stick about for a while. It is a pretty unique effect and its once a turn restriction leads to some fun tension with one player trying to bait it out and the other deciding when its best to use it.
One quick question that came up in a draft; Does sceptre get round Hymn of the Wilds? I didn't think it did but one of my players was sure it would.
My most pimped 2CMC or less instant is my extended art lightning my secret santa got me.
One quick question that came up in a draft; Does sceptre get round Hymn of the Wilds? I didn't think it did but one of my players was sure it would.
I don't think so. You're still casting the instant copy.
Scepter is one of my favorite cards for the Spells Matter archetype. It can definitely be high variance but several of my drafters appreciate it and know how to use it to reasonable success. Being able to imprint a Lightning Helix or Remand makes it very difficult for the opponent to overcome without straight-up artifact hate.
Iso is one of my favorite cards. It's quirky, gives much valued extension to any instant. Extremely strong with charms, fire/ice, counterspell, cantrips, anything. Pure Valuetown, though almost always the #1 target of artifact kill.
Most pimped is probably a foil Entomb. Which isn't much, but whatever.
One quick question that came up in a draft; Does sceptre get round Hymn of the Wilds? I didn't think it did but one of my players was sure it would.
Unfortunately no. Iso doesn't copy the spell effect, it allows you to cast a copy of the instant for free, while HotW prevents you from casting instants.
I like Isochron, I should probably cut it for consistency purposes but I have kept it in just for the fun times when it does go off. Like stated above, the biggest mistake people make is drafting it without enough targets. Statistically speaking I am not sure how many instants you need to be running, but my gut says minimum of 6 and preferably 7 or 8.
My 360 cube has 24 instants which are 2 mana or less which = 3 targets on average per person. So to play it you either have to already be heavy into a spells matter shell or pick it early and draft around it.
My Color break down looks like the following
White: 3
Black: 4
Green: 1
Red:6
Blue: 7
boros: 2
Izzet: 1
so pretty much you can't play green and use this card.
On the other hand, if they printed this with the ability to cast sorceries, it might get banned for power reasons.
Being able to attach Balance, Hymn to tourach, Sinkhole, exhume, could really make for some broken plays.
But going infinite with Time Walk would make a 2 one interesting...
There's a reason Panoptic Mirror is banned in EDH. Card is downright absurd, but you need a million mana to play it, and it has to be the priority target #1 on it's first turn around the board. Even a tiny one on ISO's level would still be pretty busted.
I run Scepter and love it in the UWR/UR spells decks. Boros Charm or Memory Lapse under it with a Young Pyromancer or Monastery Mentor on the field is goodnight after a turn or so. It's a fun, unique card that can be very powerful with a small bit of building around. Those are my favorite cards to run in cube.
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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 cut Scepter from my Unpowered cube pretty early on, too many other less risky options that were at least as powerful. It's doing much better in my Peasant cube, where sweet but risky buildarounds don't have to compete with Swords and walkers. Plus, even though they're the same size, my Peasant cube has about 10 more scepter targets, so it's more likely to come together.
I'm running the original Mirrodin version, although I really love the art on the FNM promo.
My most pimpin' potential scepter target is my border extension alter of the Terese Nielsen Swords to Plowshares, made by our very own Juju.
Overall I've drafted a few decks recently that were hurting for more proactive, aggressive green 3-drops. Out of my current suite, Reclamation Sage and Eternal Witness are fantastic but not necessarily at their best played on turn 3, and Yavimaya Elder and Courser of Kruphix are solid but not aggressive. Only Tireless Tracker does what I'm looking for. I'm not entirely enthused about him, but may try Rishkar, Peema Renegade to help out, and am strongly considering the blasphemy of cutting Yavimaya Elder for something more proactive when it comes along.
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Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
Card is much better later in the game (where you can play face down and immediately pay morph - removing any tempo loss concerns from instant speed removal). IMO, it's the only stellar morph card besides Exalted Angel.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
I agree, but I think this works to some degree with what green wants to do in a lot of its decks i.e. ramp. Skipping the 3 mana board impacting card--and often t2 play due to mana elves--for playing a 5 drop on turn 3 mitigates the lack of impact a green 3 drop might have in a vacuum versus something like Brimaz. The 5 drop could/should hypothetically be coming down t3 as well, and all the green 5 drops outclass all the white 3 drops.
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I don't like megamorph as a keyword; it's basically the same thing as morph, and the +1/+1 counter could just be in the text. *shrug* Seems like a lazy, recycled design.
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!
This is something that's bothered me for quite a while, I really want green midrange decks to have access to strong aggressive plays that they can ramp out with an elf on T2. Tireless Tracker and Rishkar, Peema Renegade are a great start, but I'd really like to see at least one more green 3-drop that rivals Blade Splicer, Drana, Liberator of Malakir, or Serendib Efreet. After all, green's supposed to be the creature color! In the meantime, I'm running Call of the Herd.
I'm already trying this swap.
That's about where I stand. I announce the flipping over of my Megamorphs in my best monster truck rally announcer voice.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
StandardType 2 back in the day, but knowing every facedown card was going to be Exalted Angel didn't stop everyone from playing Exalted Angel.My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Not gonna lie, I laughed pretty hard at MEGAMORPHS. I hope this becomes standard protocol.
But yeah, my favorite thing to do with Den Protector that nobody has brought up is to use it as a pseudo Snapcaster Mage. Your opponent's about to do something cool? MEGAMORPH Den Protector and get back and immediately cast whatever counter / removal spell you need in that situation.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Isochron Scepter
BONUS QUESTION
What's the pimpinest 2 CMC or less Instant card in your cube?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
That being said, it's a bit slow and vulnerable to getting 2 for 1'd right off the bat. If I had a bigger cube that went all in on spells matters, I'd probably run Scepter. It's a pet card, but currently the risk isn't worth the reward in my current cube configuration.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
It is definitely high variance but it is a lot of fun when it works so it will provably stick about for a while. It is a pretty unique effect and its once a turn restriction leads to some fun tension with one player trying to bait it out and the other deciding when its best to use it.
One quick question that came up in a draft; Does sceptre get round Hymn of the Wilds? I didn't think it did but one of my players was sure it would.
My most pimped 2CMC or less instant is my extended art lightning my secret santa got me.
I thought they had been the Megamorphing Power Rangers from day 1
I don't think so. You're still casting the instant copy.
Scepter is one of my favorite cards for the Spells Matter archetype. It can definitely be high variance but several of my drafters appreciate it and know how to use it to reasonable success. Being able to imprint a Lightning Helix or Remand makes it very difficult for the opponent to overcome without straight-up artifact hate.
Modern:
Dredge | Restore Balance | Titanshift
My [360][Unpowered][Modern-Frame] Cube
Most pimped is probably a foil Entomb. Which isn't much, but whatever.
Unfortunately no. Iso doesn't copy the spell effect, it allows you to cast a copy of the instant for free, while HotW prevents you from casting instants.
My 360 cube has 24 instants which are 2 mana or less which = 3 targets on average per person. So to play it you either have to already be heavy into a spells matter shell or pick it early and draft around it.
My Color break down looks like the following
White: 3
Black: 4
Green: 1
Red:6
Blue: 7
boros: 2
Izzet: 1
so pretty much you can't play green and use this card.
On the other hand, if they printed this with the ability to cast sorceries, it might get banned for power reasons.
Being able to attach Balance, Hymn to tourach, Sinkhole, exhume, could really make for some broken plays.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
Panoptic Mirror!
But going infinite with Time Walk would make a 2 one interesting...
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!
There's a reason Panoptic Mirror is banned in EDH. Card is downright absurd, but you need a million mana to play it, and it has to be the priority target #1 on it's first turn around the board. Even a tiny one on ISO's level would still be pretty busted.
Most pimp instant? Alpha Lightning Bolt. At this point I think White Knights everywhere fear lightning.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm running the original Mirrodin version, although I really love the art on the FNM promo.
My most pimpin' potential scepter target is my border extension alter of the Terese Nielsen Swords to Plowshares, made by our very own Juju.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Wandering Fumarole
BONUS QUESTION
Ever visited a volcano?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.