I'm not a big fan of Harmonize. Green has lots of built-in card advantage elsewhere, and it's just not as efficient as green's other 4cc options. I maindeck it sometimes when I'm guest-drafting a different cube, but it's usually only when I'm short on better playables.
Harmonize is fine, but it's often a 23rd card since when it's bad it's super awful. I find that my green decks often want to land permanents instead of playing spells, and 4 mana is such a huge spot for that. It can be fine late game and even on curve when you're not being pressured, but there's always a card I'd rather MD over harmonize. Still, it's fine, since 4 mana for a draw three is much easier to do ahead of the curve in green.
I'm not musical but I love music. Within spotify--which is incredible btw and if you don't use it and like music then you should start--I am always trying to listen to new music, at least 1 new band every day. I have a big playlist that's pretty dope which I'm always adding to: https://open.spotify.com/user/salmoilla/playlist/3QSfz207EYTHW8xyVoxZUA
Harmonize is probably too low impact for high power cubes. It's still very good in my lower power rare cube though. Green is still lagging other colors as far as CA options go, and it is also able to get to 4 mana faster than other colors. At the end of the day, Harmonize is still a 3 for 1. It's also great late game where it is basically ancestral recall from an impact standpoint (and mana is likely not really a barrier in your typical green deck turns 7+).
This has been out of my cube for years and I haven't missed it. Like wtwlf123 said, green has plenty of card advantage in much better packages.
I have been playing guitar and bass since I was 6-7 years old and was in metal bands in highschool, jazz trio's in college, and I currently do church music stuff on Sundays. Music is a huge part of my life. On that note, one of my all time favorite bands, Neurosis, just dropped a new album today, check it out.... if you are brave.
It's time has passed in most powered lists, but it's still pretty good in peasant. I also happily play it in my low power list. It's not a bad card, it's just outclassed by more powerful cards since Planar Chaos.
As far as music goes, I'm not very musical. Like Salmo, though, I do love music and keep a very large Spotify playlist that I update pretty regularly. It's mostly metal/rock/punk, but if you want to check it out and follow, here's the link. This is what I jam when we cube or I'm playing MTGO.
I cut Harmonize from the Eternal cube a while ago. It's fine, but just fine. It's still in my C/Ube where it better fits the power level.
I like music but am not very musical. For a while in college, I played guitar. I never had the blazing finger speed to play lead but I could have played rhythm guitar had I kept it up. Even today, I could probably still play a fairly easy song like "Iron Man" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Singing is something I have never been good at. I can't carry a tune in a bucket even if you tell me the note and give me the bucket.
Believe it or not, counterspell is not my favorite counter in cube because of the casting cost. You can't always reliably have that available early in the game outside heavy blue builds. That said, this is iconic and I don't foresee ever coming up with a cube list where I wouldn't run it. But it's not inconceivable either.
This card is strictly worse than Mana Drain, it doesn't affect the board in any way, and since it's double blue it's way too hard to cast on time for most draft decks.
Nah, just kidding. Counterspell's every bit as good now as it was in the '90s, it's blue's answer to everything and anything for just 2 mana. Based on all of the soft counters and Cancel variants we've been getting ever since it was printed for the last time in a Standard legal set in 7th edition, we know that Wizards realized a long time ago that pricing a hard counter at 2 mana is just too efficient. It's a fantastic cube card, and considering it prevents ETB effects from ever occurring Counterspell just keeps getting better. It's unlikely they'll ever print another unconditional hard counter for 2 ever again, so its place in cubes of all sizes is about as secure as it gets.
In my unpowered cube I run a CE version of the original Alpha art. An actual Alpha or Beta Counterspell is way too rich for my blood, but I wouldn't want to enshrine any other Counterspell art in my cube. In my Peasant cube I'm using an Ice Age Counterspell, which a have a lot of nostalgia for because it was the first version I'd ever played or played against. I dig the snarky flavor text on it, too.
In college I worked as a desk clerk and night guard in my dormitory, and I worked the reception desk sometimes when I was a file clerk at a law firm.
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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.
There may be a few "better" options, but this one is too iconic and too classic to cut. I personally like the original Poole art the best, though the 5th edition one is pretty good also.
I like Counterspell, but I draft things like Arcane Denial way more often because I'm way more likely to play U/x tempo than U/x draw-go. I'm currently running the Mercadian Masques printing, although I do love the original art. I just haven't got a black-bordered one.
I've worked behind lots of counters, mostly at bookstores. I had my fill of it. I got so tired of having exactly the same interactions with people for one minute at a time for 8 hours. Now I teach, and every class is different, and every kid is different.
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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
Believe it or not, counterspell is not my favorite counter in cube because of the casting cost. You can't always reliably have that available early in the game outside heavy blue builds.
I hope my post didn't come across as making fun of your criticism of Counterspell, I actually ninja'ed it in while you were typing yours. It was meant to be parody of the extremely harsh criticism we put pretty much every card through on this subforum, but the timing inadvertently might have made it look like it was directed at you, and that was not my intention at all.
Because of the double blue, Counterspell doesn't make as many decks as some of the splashable soft counters do. In terms of my actual drafting tendencies, my favorite counterspell is probably actually Condescend, especially now that I'm running City of Ass.
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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.
Harmonize is below average, will maindeck it if I'm short on playables.
Counterspell's name speaks for itself, 'nuf said. Lots of art to choose from, I prefer the Mercadian Masques. As I said before during the Dark Ritual discussion, Mercadian Masques art almost always wins it for me when deciding upon multiple arts. I also dig the Ice Age one, the one with the M (dunno what that means?), and original art if it's black boardered.
BONUS QUESTION FROM HARMONIZE DISCUSSION.
As I said earlier (in this thread?), I'm a pretty musical guy. I've been playing electric bass for 14 years now and have a bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston in Professional Music. I originally started off as a film scoring major but decided to switch out after my 5th semester because I didn't like how most of my music making was done on the computer. Working with film directors is also very frustrating because it's very difficult for them to communicate what they want musically if they're not musically inclined. Also, it drives me crazy if I present them 3 reels and they pick the one I liked the least, ugh.
That being said, I'm glad I did as much as the film scoring stuff as I did because it taught me a lot about writing, composition, and musical software. I also took a video game scoring class which was pretty neat since it was new at the time. My professor, Michael Sweet, did all the audio on the Xbox360. It was an interesting class but I'm really out of touch with video games these days. I grew up playing a lot of NES / SNES / PS1 games, and the music from the Final Fantasy series is some of my biggest musical influences of all time. Today's games are very movie like and demands more ambient background music that I don't care for at all. Melodies / themes are my favorite aspects of composition, and modern gaming today is pretty devoid of it, IMO. Look back at the classics like the original Mario / Zelda games. Because of limited expression due to primitive technology, the music really had to carry a lot of the weight. This required composing really catchy, repetitive tunes to help distract you from the not-so-realistic 8-bit graphics that weren't exactly the most pleasing things to look at. Now that games have evolved to movies, thematic themes that you can sing to would get in the way of all the other cinematic stuff / dialogue that's going on.
I eventually switched my major from Film Scoring to Professional Music, which is Berklee's "build your own major / independent study" program. I focused a lot more on performance, writing, and entrepreneurship. A year after college, I moved from Chicago to NYC for a few years and played all around the tri-state area and eventually moved back to Chicago for family reasons / to start my own music apparel business. Currently looking for graphic designers, let me know if you are one / know one!
BONUS QUESTION FOR COUNTERSPELL DISCUSSION
I believe everybody should work in customer service at least once. My first job was at Potbelly Sandwich Works, a Chicago-based sandwich restaurant, and I used to work at a Starbucks in a Macy's foodcourt. I'm easy to get along with so I'm pretty great at working customer service, but god damn is it exhausting. During the day I currently work in an office for a state contractor that does medicaid peer review for several states. I basically set things up for nurses and tell doctors what to do. I don't interact with "customers" per se, but sometimes I have to call up hospitals and providers and yell at them for submitting things wrong. The best part of my job is that since I don't have to interact with people much, I have my headphones on all day. Also, can draft on cubetutor when it's slow
Fascinating stuff about movie and video game scoring, thanks for sharing, Steve_man!
I believe everybody should work in customer service at least once.
I couldn't agree more. They say that democracies with universal conscription are less inclined to go to war at the drop of a hat, and if everyone had to spend some time in customer service people in the service industry would take a lot less abuse from the public. My time in customer service was at a call center, and while I don't miss the job, it definitely gave me a lot more empathy for people who have to deal with the public and their problems day in and day out.
Moving on....
Today's card combos terribly with the previous card:
Bloodbraid is just a good creature. Whether it's in a value midrange deck or an aggro deck, it's pretty hard to not have this thing be worth at least 4 mana when it comes down. And the haste allows for it to apply good pressure in the process of providing value.
@steve_man: Thanks for that detailed write-up. I really enjoy the discussion this thread creates about individual cards, but honestly, more than that, I enjoy getting to know my fellow posters with the bonus questions.
BBE is probably the best cascade creature out there. It's just such a value monster.
As far as waterfalls, my wife and I vacationed last year at Niagara Falls. It was so much more awesome in person than what you see in pictures or film. Other than that obvious answer, we've recently started trying to get into hiking. We live in East Tennessee, so the Smokey Mountains are close and filled with trails for hikers of all skill levels. A couple of weeks ago we hiked a 1.5 mile trail that ends at a waterfall called Grotto Falls. It was pretty cool because the trail actually went behind the falls.
I haven't visited any of the world's amazing waterfalls, but we have a pretty cool one locally that I've hiked to a bunch of times. It's called Seven Falls, and it's here just outside of Tucson in Sabino Canyon. Photo here:
Bloodbraid is amazing. Sorting through cards the other day, I found a copy of Hypergenesis and thought about cascading into it with Bloodbraid and almost tossed it in the cube based on that. Also, Bloodbraid is the only creature with CMC5 or less that I can think of that I'd include in an Oath of Druids deck. The value this thing can get is great, especially if you Scroll Rack the top of your deck, or use Oracle of Mul Daya or Courser of Kruphix to inform your casting decision.
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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
In a competitive guild full of amazing 4-drops, this still comes out on top in terms of power and versatility and absolutely crushed it in last year's Power Rankings vote. It's tempo and card advantage in one package all wrapped up with a nice aggressive bow. The fact that it's banned in Modern only makes me happier to be running it in both my Unpowered and Peasant cube. In fact, it's kind of shocking WotC ever thought this was going to work out OK as an uncommon.
I'm running the FNM promo version which someone from this forum was generous to send me as part of a Secret Santa present a few years back, and I've since had it signed by Steve Argyle. If you're reading this, thanks, Santa!
As far as waterfalls, my wife and I vacationed last year at Niagara Falls. It was so much more awesome in person than what you see in pictures or film.
Great choice, and I second that emotion! I'm originally from Buffalo, NY, which is only about 20 minutes away from Niagara Falls so I've been there many times, and there are so many different ways to see it. I've ridden the Maid of the Mist, gotten drenched in the Cave of the Winds, ridden over the whilrpools in a cable car, eaten at a steakhouse right at the edge of the Falls, and watched fireworks over the falls. It really never gets old. Not many people from outside of Western New York and Southern Ontario choose winter as the time to visit Niagara Falls, but if you can brave the cold that's when it's most beautiful with ice crashing over the edge and the spray covering the nearby trees with ice. Here are some photos:
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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.
It's time has passed in most powered lists, but it's still pretty good in peasant. I also happily play it in my low power list. It's not a bad card, it's just outclassed by more powerful cards since Planar Chaos.
As far as music goes, I'm not very musical. Like Salmo, though, I do love music and keep a very large Spotify playlist that I update pretty regularly. It's mostly metal/rock/punk, but if you want to check it out and follow, here's the link. This is what I jam when we cube or I'm playing MTGO.
@Spike Rogue: We actually went right at the beginning of spring. It was pretty chilly on the Maid and the ice was still built up at the bottom of the falls. I recommend it as a vacation spot very highly. I'd also recommend going on into Canada and seeing the falls from that side.
@cuttups: Sweet playlist as well. Mine started out as just something to jam while I played MTGO, hence the name. It has become my main playlist for anytime I need music in the background.
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!
I'm not musical but I love music. Within spotify--which is incredible btw and if you don't use it and like music then you should start--I am always trying to listen to new music, at least 1 new band every day. I have a big playlist that's pretty dope which I'm always adding to: https://open.spotify.com/user/salmoilla/playlist/3QSfz207EYTHW8xyVoxZUA
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
I have been playing guitar and bass since I was 6-7 years old and was in metal bands in highschool, jazz trio's in college, and I currently do church music stuff on Sundays. Music is a huge part of my life. On that note, one of my all time favorite bands, Neurosis, just dropped a new album today, check it out.... if you are brave.
https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/stream-neurosiss-new-album-fires-within-fires-a-day-before-its-release
As far as music goes, I'm not very musical. Like Salmo, though, I do love music and keep a very large Spotify playlist that I update pretty regularly. It's mostly metal/rock/punk, but if you want to check it out and follow, here's the link. This is what I jam when we cube or I'm playing MTGO.
https://open.spotify.com/user/1224988733/playlist/5ymWIwlzQxBLknceSpYVXh
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I like music but am not very musical. For a while in college, I played guitar. I never had the blazing finger speed to play lead but I could have played rhythm guitar had I kept it up. Even today, I could probably still play a fairly easy song like "Iron Man" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Singing is something I have never been good at. I can't carry a tune in a bucket even if you tell me the note and give me the bucket.
My Eternal Cube on CubeTutor| |My Reject Rare Cube on CubeTutor| |My Peasant Cube on CubeTutor
I used to write for MTGS, including Cranial Insertion and cube articles. Good on you if you can find those after the upgrade.
Counterspell
BONUS QUESTION
Have you ever worked behind a counter?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I love the new EMA art, but it rather looks like Jace jumping rope in mid-air.
Worked behind a counter right through college. You definitely meet all walks of life!
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
I worked behind a counter at a convenience store after high school and for the first couple years of college.
My Eternal Cube on CubeTutor| |My Reject Rare Cube on CubeTutor| |My Peasant Cube on CubeTutor
I used to write for MTGS, including Cranial Insertion and cube articles. Good on you if you can find those after the upgrade.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
Nah, just kidding. Counterspell's every bit as good now as it was in the '90s, it's blue's answer to everything and anything for just 2 mana. Based on all of the soft counters and Cancel variants we've been getting ever since it was printed for the last time in a Standard legal set in 7th edition, we know that Wizards realized a long time ago that pricing a hard counter at 2 mana is just too efficient. It's a fantastic cube card, and considering it prevents ETB effects from ever occurring Counterspell just keeps getting better. It's unlikely they'll ever print another unconditional hard counter for 2 ever again, so its place in cubes of all sizes is about as secure as it gets.
In my unpowered cube I run a CE version of the original Alpha art. An actual Alpha or Beta Counterspell is way too rich for my blood, but I wouldn't want to enshrine any other Counterspell art in my cube. In my Peasant cube I'm using an Ice Age Counterspell, which a have a lot of nostalgia for because it was the first version I'd ever played or played against. I dig the snarky flavor text on it, too.
In college I worked as a desk clerk and night guard in my dormitory, and I worked the reception desk sometimes when I was a file clerk at a law firm.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
There may be a few "better" options, but this one is too iconic and too classic to cut. I personally like the original Poole art the best, though the 5th edition one is pretty good also.
I've worked behind lots of counters, mostly at bookstores. I had my fill of it. I got so tired of having exactly the same interactions with people for one minute at a time for 8 hours. Now I teach, and every class is different, and every kid is different.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
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!
I hope my post didn't come across as making fun of your criticism of Counterspell, I actually ninja'ed it in while you were typing yours. It was meant to be parody of the extremely harsh criticism we put pretty much every card through on this subforum, but the timing inadvertently might have made it look like it was directed at you, and that was not my intention at all.
Because of the double blue, Counterspell doesn't make as many decks as some of the splashable soft counters do. In terms of my actual drafting tendencies, my favorite counterspell is probably actually Condescend, especially now that I'm running City of Ass.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Counterspell's name speaks for itself, 'nuf said. Lots of art to choose from, I prefer the Mercadian Masques. As I said before during the Dark Ritual discussion, Mercadian Masques art almost always wins it for me when deciding upon multiple arts. I also dig the Ice Age one, the one with the M (dunno what that means?), and original art if it's black boardered.
BONUS QUESTION FROM HARMONIZE DISCUSSION.
As I said earlier (in this thread?), I'm a pretty musical guy. I've been playing electric bass for 14 years now and have a bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston in Professional Music. I originally started off as a film scoring major but decided to switch out after my 5th semester because I didn't like how most of my music making was done on the computer. Working with film directors is also very frustrating because it's very difficult for them to communicate what they want musically if they're not musically inclined. Also, it drives me crazy if I present them 3 reels and they pick the one I liked the least, ugh.
That being said, I'm glad I did as much as the film scoring stuff as I did because it taught me a lot about writing, composition, and musical software. I also took a video game scoring class which was pretty neat since it was new at the time. My professor, Michael Sweet, did all the audio on the Xbox360. It was an interesting class but I'm really out of touch with video games these days. I grew up playing a lot of NES / SNES / PS1 games, and the music from the Final Fantasy series is some of my biggest musical influences of all time. Today's games are very movie like and demands more ambient background music that I don't care for at all. Melodies / themes are my favorite aspects of composition, and modern gaming today is pretty devoid of it, IMO. Look back at the classics like the original Mario / Zelda games. Because of limited expression due to primitive technology, the music really had to carry a lot of the weight. This required composing really catchy, repetitive tunes to help distract you from the not-so-realistic 8-bit graphics that weren't exactly the most pleasing things to look at. Now that games have evolved to movies, thematic themes that you can sing to would get in the way of all the other cinematic stuff / dialogue that's going on.
I eventually switched my major from Film Scoring to Professional Music, which is Berklee's "build your own major / independent study" program. I focused a lot more on performance, writing, and entrepreneurship. A year after college, I moved from Chicago to NYC for a few years and played all around the tri-state area and eventually moved back to Chicago for family reasons / to start my own music apparel business. Currently looking for graphic designers, let me know if you are one / know one!
BONUS QUESTION FOR COUNTERSPELL DISCUSSION
I believe everybody should work in customer service at least once. My first job was at Potbelly Sandwich Works, a Chicago-based sandwich restaurant, and I used to work at a Starbucks in a Macy's foodcourt. I'm easy to get along with so I'm pretty great at working customer service, but god damn is it exhausting. During the day I currently work in an office for a state contractor that does medicaid peer review for several states. I basically set things up for nurses and tell doctors what to do. I don't interact with "customers" per se, but sometimes I have to call up hospitals and providers and yell at them for submitting things wrong. The best part of my job is that since I don't have to interact with people much, I have my headphones on all day. Also, can draft on cubetutor when it's slow
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I couldn't agree more. They say that democracies with universal conscription are less inclined to go to war at the drop of a hat, and if everyone had to spend some time in customer service people in the service industry would take a lot less abuse from the public. My time in customer service was at a call center, and while I don't miss the job, it definitely gave me a lot more empathy for people who have to deal with the public and their problems day in and day out.
Moving on....
Today's card combos terribly with the previous card:
Bloodbraid Elf
BONUS QUESTION
Where was the most beautiful waterfall you've ever seen?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
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!
BBE is probably the best cascade creature out there. It's just such a value monster.
As far as waterfalls, my wife and I vacationed last year at Niagara Falls. It was so much more awesome in person than what you see in pictures or film. Other than that obvious answer, we've recently started trying to get into hiking. We live in East Tennessee, so the Smokey Mountains are close and filled with trails for hikers of all skill levels. A couple of weeks ago we hiked a 1.5 mile trail that ends at a waterfall called Grotto Falls. It was pretty cool because the trail actually went behind the falls.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
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!
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm running the FNM promo version which someone from this forum was generous to send me as part of a Secret Santa present a few years back, and I've since had it signed by Steve Argyle. If you're reading this, thanks, Santa!
Great choice, and I second that emotion! I'm originally from Buffalo, NY, which is only about 20 minutes away from Niagara Falls so I've been there many times, and there are so many different ways to see it. I've ridden the Maid of the Mist, gotten drenched in the Cave of the Winds, ridden over the whilrpools in a cable car, eaten at a steakhouse right at the edge of the Falls, and watched fireworks over the falls. It really never gets old. Not many people from outside of Western New York and Southern Ontario choose winter as the time to visit Niagara Falls, but if you can brave the cold that's when it's most beautiful with ice crashing over the edge and the spray covering the nearby trees with ice. Here are some photos:
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Sorry I missed this originally. Great playlist! Here is mine.
https://open.spotify.com/user/1224874091/playlist/6bK64aEXq7VVeJweC5uY2r
I don't have one specific to MTGO but more of a "anything I love goes here" playlist.
Draft my cube!
Watch me stream!
@cuttups: Sweet playlist as well. Mine started out as just something to jam while I played MTGO, hence the name. It has become my main playlist for anytime I need music in the background.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.