Duress is amazing. It's better than Inquisition, I think, and only a tick behind Thoughtseize in cube due to the high concentration of noncreature spells that kill you. I love the old Urza's Saga art and frame, too, although the art with the elf getting tortured is pretty good.
I manage my cube. The playgroup is scattered enough that they don't know the list well enough to make good suggestions. If we start playing more regularly, that would change, I imagine. I have one good friend who suggests cards from time to time that seem really good, especially from newer sets.
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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
Duress is a necessary answer to a lot of permanent types black has no other outs to, but I tend not to main deck it or Inquisition of Kozilek because of their propensity to whiff against entire theaters of decks. Thoughtseize is the only targeted discard spell that always makes my main. Still, Duress gets plenty of play in my cube, and it's been devastating when played against me often enough that it's in zero danger of getting cut even though my own play style leads me not to value it as highly as others do.
I love that there are so many choices of art and frame with Duress, and there are many great choices. However, when the DTK art came out I immediately fell in love and got my wife to make a border extension alter of it. Here's a pic:
I'm always interested to hear feedback from regular and even newer players of my cube about cards and archetypes they'd like to see added or taken out. I also value the opinions of communities of cube managers like this one because I just don't get to playtest my cube often enough to find out in practice how well newer cards work as quickly as others in the cube community. After taking everything into consideration, I'm the final word, but I'm humble enough to know the importance of feedback and research to make my cube the best it can be.
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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.
I played Pact of Negation in my first cube iteration, it was actually quite solid since the cube was slow. I like Pact of Negation for bigger / multiplayer cubes that has longer games since Pact allows you to be aggressive with your mana and still have protection. A lot of players fall for it too since they'll see that you're tapped out.
I'm always a fan of the "counts as a ______" legends.
Pact can be a blowout in the right window, and is a strong card for tapout control and decks that win with singular haymakers. But it's pretty rough in everything else, which is why I don't cube with it.
I like cards that reference card types that don't even exist anymore, like references to interrupts and mana sources and the like. For example:
Pact is pretty boom or bust--I don't like how dead it is in a lot of windows vs how on it is in others. In a combo cube I'd be way more inclined to run it.
In addition to interrupts, I like cards that have "can be played as an interrupt" on them. I imagine it like how Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift, except at times not letting the opponent finish.
I don't have one, so I can't really say how it works in mine. Great against combo, but kinda hit or miss against anything else. Can drop a surprise second counter when needed, which is nice.
There is a lot of value to having counterspells you can play while tapped out, Force of Will and Daze are great and I don't think I'd mind having another, and in some decks and circumstances this certainly seems like it would be better than Daze. If this wasn't such an expensive card, I'd probably give it a try to see if it's good enough.
My favorite obsolete rules text is easily "Mirri, Cat Warrior counts as a Cat Warrior."
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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.
Pact of Negation seems good because it's a free counter but I haven't played with it. I don't think I would find a spot for it though, its lack of a hard casting mode is mainly what annoys me since you always have to spend the mana on your next turn. If it wasn't so expensive I would give it a shot but I am unwilling to shell out for it.
As far as obsolete text goes card types that no longer exist amuse me. I have had to explain quite a few times that "Mana Sources" are not lands and interrupts no longer exist for mystic tutor. "Enchant Dead Creature" is also some interesting wording.
On Duress, I put it in my cube last night and it has already been doing some work. Glad this thread made me realise I'd cut it. Not I just need one with better art (not a huge fan of the elf being tortured that they keep using).
I loved the Genju cycle in retail limited, can't say I tried them in cube though. I think they're decent on paper, build your own manlands that recur!
I played nothing but Stax in Legacy for 7 years, so I'm the poster boy of Souless Magic Player. I always like mono red being a viable option, as long as it's not dominant.
I was quite infamous and notorious online and was even covered in some SCG articles over the past ten years.
I've put some of the genjus in EDH decks, but never tried it in cube, considering my cube has a decent bit of land and creature kill. But it does recur, which is nice.
I might be one of those soulless people who love RDW, but I think it's a necessary kind of deck, because without a super-aggressive-go-for-the-throat type deck, combo and hard control decks become oppressive because they're allowed to prepare for longer games, which is only in their favor.
I've been fairly impressed with Spires. It's not the greatest as a 1 drop since it feels like a massive tempo killer when they have something t2 to block your Genju, so I like it as a Ball Lightning type card that lands on turn 3 and continues to punish that you can play T1 in the times where you don't draw a one drop. (Variance is a thing.) There's really only a set number of cards that interacts with Genju 100% on your turn outside of disenchants i.e. gets rid of the Genju. I'm surprised it's not in more lists and want to put it in mine since we see mono-red or R/x as the major aggressive deck that pops up.
I don't think someone can fully appreciate magic or at least cube without accepting that aggressive decks need to be a thing and mono red due to the nature of the color must naturally exist. Maybe you might not like the simple nature of an aggro deck vs control, but there are still big decisions to make with that deck (arguably more important decisions) and the balance of a cube/format largely hinges on the push-pull of different theaters. It's not like Mono-red is unbeatable, and if your deck folds to mono-red then that's a sacrifice you need to be willing to make and understand that you are making, or else you risk your cube ending up being battlecruisers only which is fine but ultimately becomes stale when everything is about the late stages of the game.
Worse come to worst, throw in a Perimeter Captain.
Perhaps we are not a representative of an average group, but everyone appreciates here a well built aggro deck and correct aggressive plays. Not all players build said decks, and that's natural, but when you play a piece of power it is hard to blame a deck trying to be faster than you.
There are some instances where Genju seems really powerful, and others where the activation cost seems really prohibitive on my own resources. It ultimately didn't make it in my cube long-term.
This looks interesting as a potential mana sink and way to turn excess lands into threats for red-heavy aggro decks. However, since it only works on mountains, I don't think it would be that great in a deck with less than 10 mountains, which makes it a bit more narrow than I'd like for my cube. If they ever printed something similar that could enchant any kind of land, I'd definitely test it.
I love the fact that the most well-crafted combo or control deck still has to live in fear of getting run over by Jackal Pup into Borderland Marauder and a finishing Fireblast to the face. However, straight mono-red doesn't seem to happen that often in my cube. Aggro decks are still usually 2-color, but there seems to be too much competition for burn spells for straight RDW to come together. If it's open, I'm not shy about drafting it, but I usually end up at least splashing something even in my reddest aggro decks.
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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.
One of reasons why Kamigawa limited was so great grindy was because you could activate Genju of the Fields multiple times to stack the "old lifelink" triggers.
Teferi was very powerful in Standard since he essentially makes all your spells uncounterable and shutdown your opponent's spells with Suspend. Those upsides don't exactly transfer to cube that well, though. He's a decent option if you have a devotion theme going on, but I'd much rather play Morphling in his slot since Teferi has that nasty UUU in its cost and doesn't support any particular archetype.
The flashiest thing I own is probably my bass. It's very nice, but its flashiness is extremely subtle.
Teferi is alright in decks that can run him, but it asks a lot. As others said, blue is not lacking in CMC 5 cards.
I'm not a flashy dude by any means. I guess the flashiest thing would be my growing shoe collection--10+ now--but those are literally all pairs I got at Marshall's off the clearance rack, sooooooooo see ya flash.
I manage my cube. The playgroup is scattered enough that they don't know the list well enough to make good suggestions. If we start playing more regularly, that would change, I imagine. I have one good friend who suggests cards from time to time that seem really good, especially from newer sets.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I love that there are so many choices of art and frame with Duress, and there are many great choices. However, when the DTK art came out I immediately fell in love and got my wife to make a border extension alter of it. Here's a pic:
I'm always interested to hear feedback from regular and even newer players of my cube about cards and archetypes they'd like to see added or taken out. I also value the opinions of communities of cube managers like this one because I just don't get to playtest my cube often enough to find out in practice how well newer cards work as quickly as others in the cube community. After taking everything into consideration, I'm the final word, but I'm humble enough to know the importance of feedback and research to make my cube the best it can be.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Pact of Negation
BONUS QUESTION
What's your favorite bit of now obsolete rules text from old MTG cards (e.g. "Pact of Negation is blue")?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I'm always a fan of the "counts as a ______" legends.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
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 like cards that reference card types that don't even exist anymore, like references to interrupts and mana sources and the like. For example:
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!
In addition to interrupts, I like cards that have "can be played as an interrupt" on them. I imagine it like how Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift, except at times not letting the opponent finish.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
Mana sources.
i think my favourite is "enchant dead creature" on dance of the dead
My favorite obsolete rules text is easily "Mirri, Cat Warrior counts as a Cat Warrior."
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
As far as obsolete text goes card types that no longer exist amuse me. I have had to explain quite a few times that "Mana Sources" are not lands and interrupts no longer exist for mystic tutor. "Enchant Dead Creature" is also some interesting wording.
On Duress, I put it in my cube last night and it has already been doing some work. Glad this thread made me realise I'd cut it. Not I just need one with better art (not a huge fan of the elf being tortured that they keep using).
Genju of the Spires
BONUS QUESTION
Mono-red: Fun archetype that keeps durdly decks in check, or parasitic archetype that only appeals to Magic players without a soul?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I played nothing but Stax in Legacy for 7 years, so I'm the poster boy of Souless Magic Player. I always like mono red being a viable option, as long as it's not dominant.
I was quite infamous and notorious online and was even covered in some SCG articles over the past ten years.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/15962_Unlocking-Legacy---Emerging-Decks.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/22988_Eternal_Europe_The_Ultimate_Legacy_Compendium.html (huge article, the list they posted of mine was experimental at the time).
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I might be one of those soulless people who love RDW, but I think it's a necessary kind of deck, because without a super-aggressive-go-for-the-throat type deck, combo and hard control decks become oppressive because they're allowed to prepare for longer games, which is only in their favor.
I don't think someone can fully appreciate magic or at least cube without accepting that aggressive decks need to be a thing and mono red due to the nature of the color must naturally exist. Maybe you might not like the simple nature of an aggro deck vs control, but there are still big decisions to make with that deck (arguably more important decisions) and the balance of a cube/format largely hinges on the push-pull of different theaters. It's not like Mono-red is unbeatable, and if your deck folds to mono-red then that's a sacrifice you need to be willing to make and understand that you are making, or else you risk your cube ending up being battlecruisers only which is fine but ultimately becomes stale when everything is about the late stages of the game.
Worse come to worst, throw in a Perimeter Captain.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
Aggro is awesome, and mono-red is a part of that.
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 love the fact that the most well-crafted combo or control deck still has to live in fear of getting run over by Jackal Pup into Borderland Marauder and a finishing Fireblast to the face. However, straight mono-red doesn't seem to happen that often in my cube. Aggro decks are still usually 2-color, but there seems to be too much competition for burn spells for straight RDW to come together. If it's open, I'm not shy about drafting it, but I usually end up at least splashing something even in my reddest aggro decks.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
greatgrindy was because you could activate Genju of the Fields multiple times to stack the "old lifelink" triggers.My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
BONUS QUESTION
What's the flashiest thing you own?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
The flashiest thing I own is probably my bass. It's very nice, but its flashiness is extremely subtle.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I just set up a nano-reef saltwater tank. That probably counts as the flashiest thing I own.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
I'm not a flashy dude by any means. I guess the flashiest thing would be my growing shoe collection--10+ now--but those are literally all pairs I got at Marshall's off the clearance rack, sooooooooo see ya flash.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
The flashiest thing I own is probably ...my cube.
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!
The flashiest thing I own is probably ...my cube.
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!