If you're not new to Magic altogether, Council's Judgment is not a hard card to understand at all. You just read it and do what it says. Some cards are hard to understand because they're unintuitive for the format (seem bad but experience shows them to be good) or rely on context to function (only works in specific decks). But Judgment is just a removal spell, and the card does exactly what it says.
Except that there is no reason to be "voting" since the person casting it gets exactly what he wants in a duel. The most concise and intuitive possible way to describe what this card does in a 1-on-1 matchup is "Exile any nonland permanent in play you don't control", but the rules text is quite a bit more complicated than that. In a vacuum, a Magic player of reasonable intelligence should be able to figure out what this card does without too much trouble. Take that same player drafting cube for the first time - and I have a first time cube drafter pretty much every time I draft my cube - and they often pass Council's Judgment not quite having understood what it does until it gets played against them. Will of the Council cards have been popular enough in EDH that EDH players typically get this card as soon as they see it, but players who are mostly Standard and Modern, not so much.
Don't get me wrong, this card's nowhere near the chopping block for me, but the wording has caused some frustration in my drafts.
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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.
For the next few weeks I'll be using Ben's cube, cube #1 at Cube Tutor. In honor of the man who brought us the beginning of Cube Tutor I bring you this card to discuss....
A good card that got pushed out due to competition rather than performance. A solid way for midrange decks to grind out late game advantage in the control matchup.
For me, the reason was the raising power level of my cube, or rather the speed increase that came with it. Too often the mana investment was simply not worth it. Trading 3 mana for to-hand-recursion that has to happen in the upkeep throws you back more often than it helps you win the game (unless it's super late game and mana is a non-issue).
Having Genesis with an activated ability that can only be used once each turn or something similiar would be much better for today's cube environment and its average power.
I really hope it gets reprinted at uncommon someday. Such a classic cube staple deserves a home somewhere now that it's not of a sufficient power level anymore.
The card is a beating in tempo shells, but ultimately the guild was just too tight. I'd have to dismantle my Dimir section to make room for Duskmantle.
The card is a beating in tempo shells, but ultimately the guild was just too tight. I'd have to dismantle my Dimir section to make room for Duskmantle.
I Seer what you did there...
This card is fine, and I run it in my cube as a niche card for the B/u tempo-aggro deck... But nothing too exciting here.
Edit: I opened a foil of this card back in 2014 and decided to test it... I want to replace it with something better but I have no idea what to replace this with.
I like Seer as support for UB tempo, but I also just love to play tempo oriented decks. My other two Dimir cards are Baleful Strix and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas to support the artifact deck. The Seer has made maindecks in 6/17 drafts and has a 56% win rate in games. Interestingly, I've drafted 3 out of the 6 decks that featured it, so maybe it's a bit of a pet card. Strix and Tezzeret both have higher maindeck and win rates, but smaller sample sizes at the moment (only added more dedicated artifact deck support recently).
I might be way off base here, but I don't really see a good reason to cube this over Moroii. Giving an opponent free Dark Confidant triggers seems like a bad idea even if you do get to use the cards first. Not that I cube Moroii either, there are somanystrongoptions for blue 4-drops that are good in more than tempo shells that I don't see either being particularly necessary.
Edit: I opened a foil of this card back in 2014 and decided to test it... I want to replace it with something better but I have no idea what to replace this with.
I've seen it apply a huge amount of pressure to the opponent - games where it dealt 16 damage to the opponent over 2 turns between attacking and the confidant triggers. In the ideal deck for it, you have discard and countermagic to nullify the cards your opponent gets and to protect the Seer. I think it's a strong finisher, certainly better than Moroii. That said, it can certainly backfire and it doesn't fit in every deck.
I've always been a big fan of Plated Geopede. Attacking for 3 with first strike is pretty amazing for a 2cc creature. And the ceiling of interacting with fetches and the like is just absurd when it crashes in for 5. Its powerlevel is a bit swingy, but in my experience it's well been worth the inconsistencies given how powerful both the ACS and BCS performances are.
Love Geopede. Attacking for 3 (or occasionally 5) first strike damage is saucy. And if you don't hit landfall, having even a 1/1 first-striking defender can change your opponent's combat decisions.
A really good creature for red aggro. Multiple good attacks if cast on curve. If you have it in your deck, but don't cast it on curve, just keep access lands in your hand to make it a respectable attacker later.
Note that first strike interacts very nicely with instant speed burn.
It's a good card but in the last months simply it wasn't played so we cut it. I talked with the other members of my group and we shared that in aggro decks after two lands there isn't a reasonable possibility for this creature to get through with consistency. I admit this is a matter of prejudice, not practical results: it is perceived as "not good enough" and, as a consequence, not played.
Plated Geopede is frequently in the bottom 50 according to my CT page, and it often wheels when I draft my cube on paper, so a lot of people feel the same way when they see it in my cube. However, I've been quite happy to pick this up on the wheel any time I'm playing an aggressive deck with red in it because it beats down fantastically for 1R. It may be curve filler for red aggro decks, but it's very underrated curve filler.
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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.
(and, of course, you can evoke it and bounce it with shard/portal!)
Slight nitpick, but I'd much rather just cast it and bounce it, since the trigger happens on leaving the battlefield and the evoke cost is one mana more :).
I love Reveillark as a card, but I've had some trouble putting together a good Reveillark deck - I just don't have a clear picture of what a well-balanced Lark deck with a respectable curve should look like. Not to say that my Lark decks have been all bad (they have a decent winrate), they just haven't been as extremely busted as some people's stories or my own experience with Lark in constructed. I also get the nagging feeling that the most broken things I've pulled off with Reveillark have happened in sluggish midrange matchups or games where my opponent has, for whatever reason, been just completely unable to put together a deck that's as fast and powerful as a legacy/vintage legal cube environment necessitates - not exactly situations I'd like to encourage more of. How do you people actually draft your Reveillark decks, and in what colors? I usually try WGx for the value and random Hornet Queen reanimation, WU for Venser shenanigans. It just occured to me that maybe I should try WR with Resto Angel, Kiki-Jiki, Alesha, Feldon etc.
Still one of my favorite white cards. The cube is filled with fantastic targets to buy back with 'Lark, and you can easily assemble a deck with strong ≤2 power utility creatures, blink/flicker effects, maybe some bounce, cards like Vat/Feldon, Displacer, Recruiter, Alesha, etc. just going synergy crazy. 'Lark puts the opponent in an awkward spot, because they're usually safer with it alive than they are with it dead, so you have this 4-power flying creature our opponent has to tiptoe around, for fear that you'll buy back a Splicer and a Mulldrifter as soon as it leaves the table. Every white 5-drop has a different shell that it shines in the most, but I think 'Lark does more for the strategy it plays best in than any of the other creatures do for their respective decks. It can also be a random curve-topper for aggressive decks in a pinch too, since it gives you wrath protection that can bring back a couple of pikers/bears if they sweep everything away. Not its main use, but it's serviceable in that role too.
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Don't get me wrong, this card's nowhere near the chopping block for me, but the wording has caused some frustration in my drafts.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Example: I vote for your Savannah Lions, and you try to sacrifice it to Flesh Carver in response.
I don't blame people for this since it's kind of a habit to do something in response to them targeting your creature with Lightning Bolt or something.
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Genesis
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For me, the reason was the raising power level of my cube, or rather the speed increase that came with it. Too often the mana investment was simply not worth it. Trading 3 mana for to-hand-recursion that has to happen in the upkeep throws you back more often than it helps you win the game (unless it's super late game and mana is a non-issue).
Having Genesis with an activated ability that can only be used once each turn or something similiar would be much better for today's cube environment and its average power.
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Duskmantle Seer
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I Seer what you did there...
This card is fine, and I run it in my cube as a niche card for the B/u tempo-aggro deck... But nothing too exciting here.
Edit: I opened a foil of this card back in 2014 and decided to test it... I want to replace it with something better but I have no idea what to replace this with.
How do others rank the Dimir cards?
Dragonlord Silumgar's been solid, and I also like Tasigur, the Golden Fang (I cut gold cards for the tri-brids). I've also been hearing good things about Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
Plated Geopede
The art and flavor text are way cooler on the Duel Deck version, but I'm a sucker for shiny stuff in my cube, so I'm running the Zendikar foil.
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I used to write for MTGS, including Cranial Insertion and cube articles. Good on you if you can find those after the upgrade.
Note that first strike interacts very nicely with instant speed burn.
I'd put it in the top 5 of red 2-drops.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Plated Geopede is frequently in the bottom 50 according to my CT page, and it often wheels when I draft my cube on paper, so a lot of people feel the same way when they see it in my cube. However, I've been quite happy to pick this up on the wheel any time I'm playing an aggressive deck with red in it because it beats down fantastically for 1R. It may be curve filler for red aggro decks, but it's very underrated curve filler.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Reveillark
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Slight nitpick, but I'd much rather just cast it and bounce it, since the trigger happens on leaving the battlefield and the evoke cost is one mana more :).
I love Reveillark as a card, but I've had some trouble putting together a good Reveillark deck - I just don't have a clear picture of what a well-balanced Lark deck with a respectable curve should look like. Not to say that my Lark decks have been all bad (they have a decent winrate), they just haven't been as extremely busted as some people's stories or my own experience with Lark in constructed. I also get the nagging feeling that the most broken things I've pulled off with Reveillark have happened in sluggish midrange matchups or games where my opponent has, for whatever reason, been just completely unable to put together a deck that's as fast and powerful as a legacy/vintage legal cube environment necessitates - not exactly situations I'd like to encourage more of. How do you people actually draft your Reveillark decks, and in what colors? I usually try WGx for the value and random Hornet Queen reanimation, WU for Venser shenanigans. It just occured to me that maybe I should try WR with Resto Angel, Kiki-Jiki, Alesha, Feldon etc.
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!