The one thing I do not like about this effect in general is that it punishes the deck that is already the best matchup for blue control - midrange. It also disproportionately hoses reanimator and/or cheat decks.
That's what I like about Control Magic though--there are enough disenchant and bounce effects that if Control Magic kills me then it's partly punishing because I'm not running those effects. If a deck is so all-in that it can't beat Control Magic or if it's missing enchantment hate, it's either a reflection of the cube and the lack of resources to deal with Control Magic or it's a valuable lesson.
Pretty much first-pickable in my Peasant cube. Currently not in my Multiplayer cube, as it's out in favour of Corrupted Conscience... but I should probably change that some day. There isn't enough infect in that deck for Conscience to be better (but that cube has a lot of control effects already, really).
I'm pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to the archetype I draft. If I fall into control, I'll go for it. Case in point - my group had a Kaladesh Booster Draft last night, and I pulled P1p1 Dovin Baan... all downhill from there, my friends...
This was actually voted the #1 card in this year's Peasant Power Rankings, although since that means they ranked it above Mana Drain I can't say I agree with it. I've still been happy to first pick Control Magic in my unpowered cube out of weak-to-middling packs, since it's hard to find a blue deck that can't make good use of it. There's a good reason this doesn't get reprinted in standard-legal set since 4th Edition.
I love the new Terese Nielsen art for this card in EMA, and I'm happy to have just gotten it in foil for my unpowered. I don't have any particular nostalgia for the art on the original Control Magic, but I really admire the straight-to-the-point wording on the 4th Edition and Battle Box versions, which are what I run in my Peasant cube and EDH decks.
I tend to lean towards hard aggro and tempo decks when I draft, but I'm trying to challenge myself to play control decks more often so I can get better at it when it's open.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
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Hasn't this been the card of the day before, or was it just mentioned a lot during another cards discussion?
I like this card but I haven't played with it; evasive threat that can fill in on 2 spots of your curve, counters a spell (though it is a but narrow or at least has the threat of activation. I really wish it had flash, that may be asking too much though.
I have a few morph cards but I am always looking for more. I have been considering adding more of this cycle; how have Ire Shaman and Hidden Dragon Slayer been? Den Protector has proven solid and I like Grim Haruspex (since the black one is kinda sucky)
Yeah, I think this is a repeat. I removed all the morph creatures from my cube. They're just too predictable without a dedicated morph theme. I do like morph, though, but the only deck of mine with a strong morph presence in is my mono-blue wizards Azami, Lady of Scrolls EDH deck. Some of the old onslaught morph wizards were pretty cool.
I'll just write, what I wrote the last time this card came up (Nov. 16th, btw):
I run a small morph packet spread throughout my cube (except in Red), and Stratus Dancer fits right perfectly into it. Bonus points for being evasive 3/2 beater after countering something (or sometimes even without), which was quite relevant surprisingly often. But I guess it's only useful in weaker cubes like mine.
Too weak for most cubes, I know, but they work fine for my power level and their number actually makes people guess which card has been played face down instead of just go "Ah, Exalted Angel!". I ran Gathan Raiders and Kolaghan Stormsinger in red for a while, but they were the only morphs that didn't see any play, so I cut them. I'd love to see a modern frame Blistering Firecat, though...
I like Stratus Dancer. It's a decent value creature and way to protect against your opponent's spells, or it can resolve as an evasive beater on T2 if that's what the matchup/curve calls for.
It's not a repeat, it's just another morph which also happened to be Stratus Dancer.
Sorry for the repeat! Although now that Stratus Dancer has some competition on the way I suppose it can't hurt to give it another look. To make it up to you, I'm not only posting today's card early, but I'll also give all of you exclusive access to a video of today's card in action in the Cube Tutor Championship Series.
Bloodline Keeper can be a strong card if it's allowed to take over the game without being removed. After a few turns, it's a pretty strong board presence. I'd play it if it created the token on upkeep rather than having to tap it. It really limits the kinds of decks that can use it effectively.
Bram Stoker's Dracula, probably. Or Interview with a Vampire. Or Dracula, Dead and Loving It.
Bloodline Keeper did a lot of work in the early build of my cube as a substitute for black planeswalkers before I got a copy of LotV, and before any of the recent versions of Ob-Nixilis came out. As long as it didn't die to early removal it doesn't take long for a steady stream of 2/2 fliers to dominate a game. However, it's not even a particularly budget-friendly card anymore.
My favorite vampire would have to be Near Dark, about a tribe of vampires terrorizing the roadhouses and small towns of the American South.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
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4cmc wraths are essential. This is easy to cast in Azorius decks and I cannot see myself cutting it, with wizards not printing any new wraths that cost four in white.
An uncounterable Mind Twist would be strong.
I don't really like having a guild slot being occupied by a card that's so similar to a mono-colored card, but I do think it's important enough to have 3 4-CMC wrath effects to run Supreme Verdict. Since they keep printing 5-CMC Wrath variants, SV will probably be tying up this slot for the foreseeable future.
I'm running the Buy-A-Box foil in my cube, and I like how the art on both editions looks like a weapon of mass destruction.
Electrolyze is solid, but it's a little unexciting considering the powerlevel and quantity of red's dividable damage burn spells. Just not something I want to dedicate a multicolor slot to when there's so much playable mono-colored competition.
Every card that I've ever cut from my cube would be immediately good enough again if it drew an extra card in addition to its other effects. But for funsies, let's add it to Capsize.
If you needed a pun, you could have said "Electrolyze, it's what plants crave."
I've also thought about trying to move on from it. It's a solid card, but not super duper great. Kinda unexciting, but not bad by any stretch of the term.
I wouldn't mind a conditional card draw on top of Mana Leak. Counter spell unless opponent pays 3, if they do, draw a card.
Maybe not Leak, maybe something small like Force Spike.
I still like Electrolyze quite a bit and run it at 540. I actually like it more than what seems to be the more popular choice of Fire//Ice.
I really want a Stifle that draws a card. Also, I can't remember the name of it now, but the Remand variant that bounced a spell or a creature/permanent? That's a bit much, but it certainly takes that unplayable card and makes it very playable.
That's what I like about Control Magic though--there are enough disenchant and bounce effects that if Control Magic kills me then it's partly punishing because I'm not running those effects. If a deck is so all-in that it can't beat Control Magic or if it's missing enchantment hate, it's either a reflection of the cube and the lack of resources to deal with Control Magic or it's a valuable lesson.
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I'm pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to the archetype I draft. If I fall into control, I'll go for it. Case in point - my group had a Kaladesh Booster Draft last night, and I pulled P1p1 Dovin Baan... all downhill from there, my friends...
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This was actually voted the #1 card in this year's Peasant Power Rankings, although since that means they ranked it above Mana Drain I can't say I agree with it. I've still been happy to first pick Control Magic in my unpowered cube out of weak-to-middling packs, since it's hard to find a blue deck that can't make good use of it. There's a good reason this doesn't get reprinted in standard-legal set since 4th Edition.
I love the new Terese Nielsen art for this card in EMA, and I'm happy to have just gotten it in foil for my unpowered. I don't have any particular nostalgia for the art on the original Control Magic, but I really admire the straight-to-the-point wording on the 4th Edition and Battle Box versions, which are what I run in my Peasant cube and EDH decks.
I tend to lean towards hard aggro and tempo decks when I draft, but I'm trying to challenge myself to play control decks more often so I can get better at it when it's open.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
BONUS QUESTION
What Morphs do you run in your cube?
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I like this card but I haven't played with it; evasive threat that can fill in on 2 spots of your curve, counters a spell (though it is a but narrow or at least has the threat of activation. I really wish it had flash, that may be asking too much though.
I have a few morph cards but I am always looking for more. I have been considering adding more of this cycle; how have Ire Shaman and Hidden Dragon Slayer been? Den Protector has proven solid and I like Grim Haruspex (since the black one is kinda sucky)
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I run a small morph packet spread throughout my cube (except in Red), and Stratus Dancer fits right perfectly into it. Bonus points for being evasive 3/2 beater after countering something (or sometimes even without), which was quite relevant surprisingly often. But I guess it's only useful in weaker cubes like mine.
I run the following morphs in my cube:
Hidden Dragonslayer
Whipcorder
Exalted Angel
Stratus Dancer
Willbender
Quicksilver Dragon
Ruthless Ripper
Bane of the Living
Ainok Survivalist
Den Protector
Sagu Mauler
Too weak for most cubes, I know, but they work fine for my power level and their number actually makes people guess which card has been played face down instead of just go "Ah, Exalted Angel!". I ran Gathan Raiders and Kolaghan Stormsinger in red for a while, but they were the only morphs that didn't see any play, so I cut them. I'd love to see a modern frame Blistering Firecat, though...
My current Morph list is:
I'm always tinkering with the idea of expanding it to an extra morph or two per color, but I can't find a ton that I love.
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Sorry for the repeat! Although now that Stratus Dancer has some competition on the way I suppose it can't hurt to give it another look. To make it up to you, I'm not only posting today's card early, but I'll also give all of you exclusive access to a video of today's card in action in the Cube Tutor Championship Series.
Bloodline Keeper
BONUS QUESTION
What's your all-time favorite vampire movie?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Bram Stoker's Dracula, probably. Or Interview with a Vampire. Or Dracula, Dead and Loving It.
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My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
My favorite vampire would have to be Near Dark, about a tribe of vampires terrorizing the roadhouses and small towns of the American South.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
BONUS QUESTION
What card in your cube would you most like to add "can't be countered" to?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I wish my Natural Order was uncounterable...
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Tooth and Nail would be super nice for a no counter clause.
An uncounterable Mind Twist would be strong.
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Natural Order is pretty near the top of the list of things that you'd want uncounterable. Next choice would be Armageddon.
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I'm running the Buy-A-Box foil in my cube, and I like how the art on both editions looks like a weapon of mass destruction.
I'd like to see an uncounterable Hero's Downfall or Searing Spear.
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Electrolyze
BONUS QUESTION
What MTG card would be good enough for your cube if only they'd reprint it with the words "draw a card"?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Every card that I've ever cut from my cube would be immediately good enough again if it drew an extra card in addition to its other effects. But for funsies, let's add it to Capsize.
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Fair point, I probably should have worded that as "What unplayable MTG card....."
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I've also thought about trying to move on from it. It's a solid card, but not super duper great. Kinda unexciting, but not bad by any stretch of the term.
I wouldn't mind a conditional card draw on top of Mana Leak. Counter spell unless opponent pays 3, if they do, draw a card.
Maybe not Leak, maybe something small like Force Spike.
I really want a Stifle that draws a card. Also, I can't remember the name of it now, but the Remand variant that bounced a spell or a creature/permanent? That's a bit much, but it certainly takes that unplayable card and makes it very playable.
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I'd slam Endless One into all my decks if it drew me a card.
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