I couldn't see ever cutting Impulse from my cube. Card selection is so important in a singleton format, and it gives tempo and control decks something useful to do while holding up mana for countermagic. Quality cantrips that bring you combo pieces, smooth out your draws in the early stages, and keep you in gas in the late game are a critical function of blue that deserves space in cube no matter how powerful - scratch that, they get better because of how powerful - the rest of the options available for blue are. I'm a surprised by how many people say they are cutting Impulse from their cubes these days, what's driving this?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Blue's too tight in powered cubes, but I think most people can find room for Impulse in small-medium / medium sized cubes and above. I love Impulse, it's essentially half a Dig Through Time for 2 mana, it's great both early and late game and digging deep is huge in a singleton format like cube.
Anticipate is still a good card, it's just a fairly redundant effect and many other cards are just better than it. One of my big "wishlist" cards though is an instant speed Strategic Planning or a sorcery speed one that digs for 4.
Impulse has been in and out of my cube for years. Currently out, but I may give it another turn over Compulsive Research. I'm not in love with it because there are great 1 mana cantrips, and spending 2 isn't the most appealing. It can be counterproductive if the Impulse has to spend a few turns in your hand before you have the spare mana for it, when it could have been something better to cast for tempo.
Anticipate isn't close.
And more than anything else I'm anticipating seeing a jellyfish drive a racecar.
Great card, a card that's cubable and has artifact/enchantment removal is so nice when most cards are Terrible without their destroy trigger.
He was an elder in his pride on Naya, and when the shards fused he was a noble in bant society.
Wild nacatl is the best cat, pack art is only one that isn't atrocious though.
I'm a dog person because I'm allergic to cats.
Pridemage will always be a staple for me: disenchant on a stick with great stats and exalted.
My favorite cats in MTG are Brimaz in terms of raw power, Savannah Lions for being the original.
I'm more of a dog person, but I do appreciate how much less maintenance a cat is. I like cats, but a lot of them are super moody and I'm pretty convinced that most of them come to you whenever they want something where a dog will come (and stick with you) the second you come through the door. I like most cats though, but I'm also allergic to them : /
I'm also a huge fan of Qasali Pridemage, it does so much for a 2-drop. The threat of activation usually requires your opponent to deal with this before they can even cast their artifacts. It's also an important card in one of my favorite decks to play, the "mono-fair" aggro-midrange deck that curves out with a lot of disruptive creatures like this, Phyrexian Revoker, Mother of Runes, Voice of Resurgence, Imposing Sovereign, Scavenging Ooze, and either version of Thalia. It often spills over into blue for cards like Man-o'-War, Phantasmal Image, and Vendilion Clique. It has a lot of main deck answers to a lot of the "broken" (i.e. combo-based) strategies that a lot of people favor, and as deep as Selesnya is it doesn't seem to get much respect so the pieces for this strategy are usually very available.
My favorite cat card is not really good enough for cube, but the original rules text on Mirri, Cat Warrior always makes me chuckle.
I like cats, but a lot of them are super moody and I'm pretty convinced that most of them come to you whenever they want something where a dog will come (and stick with you) the second you come through the door.
I'm a cat lover, and I actually have a cat who greets me at the door and follows me around pretty much non-stop. He's lovely, if a bit needy (the one on the right in the picture). I have two tabbies that were rescued from the streets of Korea, and they might not be exactly obedient, but they're very loving and loyal companions. Here's a picture of my boys.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 love the Pridemage. Like Spike Rogue, I play it in Selesnya or Bant hatebears type decks. Love the name 'monofair' for this deck type. When playing them, I just try my best to think about what Craig Wescoe would do.
My favorite cat in MTG is Norin the Wary.
I have both a cat and dog and love them both, but my dog is way better of a companion most of the time.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Pridemage is a nice cheap body that can beat down well and cheaply answer a lot of problematic permanents. It is sort of awkward that it competes with Voice Of Resurgence and Fleecemance Lion, but it competes with the lion pretty favorably.
I can't believe it was being seriously argued that Impluse wasn't strictly better than Anticipate. That requires a notion of strictly better which is mind-bogglingly useless.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
Pridemage is easily one of the best common multicolor cards in cube. It's just so useful and versatile. And it's surprisingly useful in more than just GW beats style decks.
Like Spike Rogue, my favorite cat is Mirri, Cat Warrior. I love the card and the character. She's like the green Nighthawk. She's not good enough for cube by today's standards, but she was in my original list nearly 10 years ago.
As far as real life cats go, I have a solid black kitty named Arya and she's the best. I was never a cat person because I was allergic when I was younger, but my wife talked me into giving it a shot as a cat dad and I'm glad she did.
Here she is patiently waiting on a sip of cereal milk.
Pridemage is less good in my lower power list, but still a really solid option for that guild. Exalted is great and it pushes the card over the edge as it can apply a lot of pressure using marginal bodies. I would have a much lower opinion of this card without that keyword on it.
Favorite cat card... I guess I have a soft spot for Savannah Lions even though I don't care for WW as an archetype. Nostalgia I guess.
As far as real life cats, I have two. A black and white male and an all black female who thinks she's a dog (she fetches and has a weird meow/bark that she does - applying zere exaggeration here, she's basically a spliced catdog).
The MTGO Legacy Cube is coming back September 21st, and they've made some changes so for the next week or so I'll be picking some of the more interesting inclusions from their most recent changelog.
With the recent influx of excellent 3-drops the vultures seem to be circling for this one, but MTGO's adding him now. Please reflect carefully on this guy's potential in today's cube....
I'm playing Anticipate as a redundancy to Impuse, along with all the one mana cantrips mentioned. It will outlive Opt though.
Kasali Pridemage is planted very deep in that guild. It simply sees play in every selesnya deck. My favorite cat belonged to my sister, she died recently. She had a crazy life living in several countries, two years on a boat (she loved swimming), she survived a week alone in death valley and was "adopted" by another family once and we had to get her back. She used to be a street cat where I live but we got tired of her climbing to the roof and not knowing how to get back down, meowing all night.
We still consider Mirror Entity a bomb. The interaction that springs to minds is Master of the Wild Hunt.
Still hanging on in my cube despite being surrounded by three-drop beasts like Mirran Crusader and Intrepid Hero.
I'm pretty sure the best tribal interaction in my cube is going to be Mirror Entity + Knight Exemplar. 1: Everything is indestructible for the turn.
Plenty of other options, though (not the least of which is now turning all of your dudes into Horrors in response to Thing in the Ice flipping).
It's great! An Overrun every turn is just an insane curve-topper play for any swarm-aggro or token/anthem based shell. The ceiling on the card is just absurd.
Just remember not to resolve it alongside your Ophiomancer, or you may snake-block yourself out of getting replacement snakes.
Just cut Mirror Entity for Recruiter of the Guard, but it's the first white 3 drop going back in once I expand to 450.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Best interaction is Master of the Wild Hunt+Boros Reckoner
It's especially funny that reckoner can deal damage to itself twice as the ability resolves.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
Nice! I didn't know about that, but I'll have to keep it in mind next time I'm drafting the "mono-fair" WG deck.
My favorite interaction with Mirror Entity isn't tribal, but the fact that it can be a 0-mana sac outlet to go infinite with Reveillark and Karmic Guide. My cut for new Thalia will be either Soltari Champion or Hallowed Spiritkeeper, not Mirror Entity.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Definitely one of the better cheap draw spells, but competition is extremely steep in blue. Obviously a powered cube would probably prefer Thirst for Knowledge, but Compulsive Research is probably the next best thing. I actually run Frantic Search in my unpowered cube over TFK / CS, I think it's a very underrated card that is great for reanimation support.
Not the most compelling thing I've ever researched, but I took a Human Sexuality psychology class in college and my final project was a research paper comparing the laws and social norms of three different countries of our choice regarding marriage and sexuality, I chose to compare France, Afghanistan, and the good o'l United States of America. There were a lot of interesting and shocking laws and practices in France and Afghanistan that I never knew about. On the last day of class, we all got our papers back and generally everyone I knew got the same grade with the teacher writing "good job" on everyone's paper except mine which he wrote "interesting points of view," that made me feel special.
Compulsive Research is quite solid, but I like my filtering draw to be at instant speed, and I simply prefer Thirst For Knowledge in that slot.
The most compelling research I've done has probably been in my field. I'm a fire investigator, and I've investigated seven fire fatalities in my career. I did research on the effectiveness of residential fire sprinkler systems and their impact on residential life safety, and the numbers are pretty staggering. They're incredibly effective at preventing loss-of-life due to fire, and have enormous additional benefits in terms of incidental property conservation in the event of a fire. However, it's shocking how much pushback there is from residential developers trying to prevent fire sprinklers from being installed. Apparently, the additional installation costs (which are pretty minor, ~$1/sf) and the potential for plumbing leaks (?!) are enough for them to lobby against and actually legislate against fire codes that require them to be installed. It's sickening watching 3000+ people die in fires every year and having residential development groups actually lobby against the most effective tool for preventing that loss of life. Those same kinds of groups used to lobby against smoke alarm legislation too ...and I hope to one day live in a world where people can say: "Can you believe they actually used to build homes without fire sprinkler systems in them!?". /rant /soapbox
All my blue decks want compulsive research, so it stays in. Super great, feels awesome, I don't see myself cutting it any time soon.
Writing in general. I'm pretty much always reading and writing (unless I'm gaming or working...) and I love the medium. Prose is so interesting to me; it's amazing how much you can do with the english language in a creative way, whether it's dabbling into minimalism, overabundance, and everything in between. There are so many spots you can hit in the brain with writing and I think that's so special and it's always been my goal to get my writing to a place where someone else feels what I feel when I read something cool. After a recent success in getting something of mine published, I've made a heavy-heavy-heavy push on working on my own stuff and have been pretty much writing non-stop and trying to read everything I can, it's truly invigorating to explore the language and see what's out there/what can be done/what works/what doesn't/what *really* doesn't/etc.
I echo Steve Man's sentiments. Compulsive Research is just a really solid card unfortunately competing with a bunch of really solid options. I also agree that Frantic Search is generally underrated, which I believe has become even more true with the increase of speed and efficiency in most cube lists. Being able to draw two cards and get mana back to play what you draw is very often worth the card disadvantage over things like CR/TFK.
As far as the most compelling thing I've researched? Probably something related to religion. Can't pinpoint any one thing as greatest though. The life of the Buddha is fascinating as is the whole Buddhist philosophy and how that religion evolved. I also read a very interesting take on Jesus Christ that presents a completely plausible alternative explanation to the birth of Christianity (one that doesn't involve the events in the Gospels). Spirituality is very interesting to me because it's such a powerful force in the lives of so many people. It's also (IMO anyway) very clear that there is a great deal more to the nature of reality than what we humans can see or interact with on a day to day basis. That alone is compelling. Just look at all the polarization and conflict that exists virtually everywhere in the world. That's mostly caused by our lack of understanding as a species. Not talking any one person or group. I mean all of us as a collective.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Anticipate is still a good card, it's just a fairly redundant effect and many other cards are just better than it. One of my big "wishlist" cards though is an instant speed Strategic Planning or a sorcery speed one that digs for 4.
A part of me died today.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Anticipate isn't close.
And more than anything else I'm anticipating seeing a jellyfish drive a racecar.
Qasali Pridemage
BONUS QUESTIONS
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
He was an elder in his pride on Naya, and when the shards fused he was a noble in bant society.
Wild nacatl is the best cat, pack art is only one that isn't atrocious though.
I'm a dog person because I'm allergic to cats.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
My favorite cats in MTG are Brimaz in terms of raw power, Savannah Lions for being the original.
I'm more of a dog person, but I do appreciate how much less maintenance a cat is. I like cats, but a lot of them are super moody and I'm pretty convinced that most of them come to you whenever they want something where a dog will come (and stick with you) the second you come through the door. I like most cats though, but I'm also allergic to them : /
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My favorite cat card is not really good enough for cube, but the original rules text on Mirri, Cat Warrior always makes me chuckle.
I'm a cat lover, and I actually have a cat who greets me at the door and follows me around pretty much non-stop. He's lovely, if a bit needy (the one on the right in the picture). I have two tabbies that were rescued from the streets of Korea, and they might not be exactly obedient, but they're very loving and loyal companions. Here's a picture of my boys.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
My favorite cat in MTG is Norin the Wary.
I have both a cat and dog and love them both, but my dog is way better of a companion most of the time.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I can't believe it was being seriously argued that Impluse wasn't strictly better than Anticipate. That requires a notion of strictly better which is mind-bogglingly useless.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Like Spike Rogue, my favorite cat is Mirri, Cat Warrior. I love the card and the character. She's like the green Nighthawk. She's not good enough for cube by today's standards, but she was in my original list nearly 10 years ago.
As far as real life cats go, I have a solid black kitty named Arya and she's the best. I was never a cat person because I was allergic when I was younger, but my wife talked me into giving it a shot as a cat dad and I'm glad she did.
Here she is patiently waiting on a sip of cereal milk.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Favorite cat card... I guess I have a soft spot for Savannah Lions even though I don't care for WW as an archetype. Nostalgia I guess.
As far as real life cats, I have two. A black and white male and an all black female who thinks she's a dog (she fetches and has a weird meow/bark that she does - applying zere exaggeration here, she's basically a spliced catdog).
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
With the recent influx of excellent 3-drops the vultures seem to be circling for this one, but MTGO's adding him now. Please reflect carefully on this guy's potential in today's cube....
Mirror Entity
BONUS QUESTION
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Kasali Pridemage is planted very deep in that guild. It simply sees play in every selesnya deck. My favorite cat belonged to my sister, she died recently. She had a crazy life living in several countries, two years on a boat (she loved swimming), she survived a week alone in death valley and was "adopted" by another family once and we had to get her back. She used to be a street cat where I live but we got tired of her climbing to the roof and not knowing how to get back down, meowing all night.
We still consider Mirror Entity a bomb. The interaction that springs to minds is Master of the Wild Hunt.
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
I'm pretty sure the best tribal interaction in my cube is going to be Mirror Entity + Knight Exemplar. 1: Everything is indestructible for the turn.
Plenty of other options, though (not the least of which is now turning all of your dudes into Horrors in response to Thing in the Ice flipping).
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Just remember not to resolve it alongside your Ophiomancer, or you may snake-block yourself out of getting replacement snakes.
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!
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Best interaction is Master of the Wild Hunt+Boros Reckoner
It's especially funny that reckoner can deal damage to itself twice as the ability resolves.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Nice! I didn't know about that, but I'll have to keep it in mind next time I'm drafting the "mono-fair" WG deck.
My favorite interaction with Mirror Entity isn't tribal, but the fact that it can be a 0-mana sac outlet to go infinite with Reveillark and Karmic Guide. My cut for new Thalia will be either Soltari Champion or Hallowed Spiritkeeper, not Mirror Entity.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Compulsive Research
BONUS QUESTION
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Not the most compelling thing I've ever researched, but I took a Human Sexuality psychology class in college and my final project was a research paper comparing the laws and social norms of three different countries of our choice regarding marriage and sexuality, I chose to compare France, Afghanistan, and the good o'l United States of America. There were a lot of interesting and shocking laws and practices in France and Afghanistan that I never knew about. On the last day of class, we all got our papers back and generally everyone I knew got the same grade with the teacher writing "good job" on everyone's paper except mine which he wrote "interesting points of view," that made me feel special.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
The most compelling research I've done has probably been in my field. I'm a fire investigator, and I've investigated seven fire fatalities in my career. I did research on the effectiveness of residential fire sprinkler systems and their impact on residential life safety, and the numbers are pretty staggering. They're incredibly effective at preventing loss-of-life due to fire, and have enormous additional benefits in terms of incidental property conservation in the event of a fire. However, it's shocking how much pushback there is from residential developers trying to prevent fire sprinklers from being installed. Apparently, the additional installation costs (which are pretty minor, ~$1/sf) and the potential for plumbing leaks (?!) are enough for them to lobby against and actually legislate against fire codes that require them to be installed. It's sickening watching 3000+ people die in fires every year and having residential development groups actually lobby against the most effective tool for preventing that loss of life. Those same kinds of groups used to lobby against smoke alarm legislation too ...and I hope to one day live in a world where people can say: "Can you believe they actually used to build homes without fire sprinkler systems in them!?". /rant /soapbox
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!
Writing in general. I'm pretty much always reading and writing (unless I'm gaming or working...) and I love the medium. Prose is so interesting to me; it's amazing how much you can do with the english language in a creative way, whether it's dabbling into minimalism, overabundance, and everything in between. There are so many spots you can hit in the brain with writing and I think that's so special and it's always been my goal to get my writing to a place where someone else feels what I feel when I read something cool. After a recent success in getting something of mine published, I've made a heavy-heavy-heavy push on working on my own stuff and have been pretty much writing non-stop and trying to read everything I can, it's truly invigorating to explore the language and see what's out there/what can be done/what works/what doesn't/what *really* doesn't/etc.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
As far as the most compelling thing I've researched? Probably something related to religion. Can't pinpoint any one thing as greatest though. The life of the Buddha is fascinating as is the whole Buddhist philosophy and how that religion evolved. I also read a very interesting take on Jesus Christ that presents a completely plausible alternative explanation to the birth of Christianity (one that doesn't involve the events in the Gospels). Spirituality is very interesting to me because it's such a powerful force in the lives of so many people. It's also (IMO anyway) very clear that there is a great deal more to the nature of reality than what we humans can see or interact with on a day to day basis. That alone is compelling. Just look at all the polarization and conflict that exists virtually everywhere in the world. That's mostly caused by our lack of understanding as a species. Not talking any one person or group. I mean all of us as a collective.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/