Btw, since we are doing the off-topic thing about avatars, Battle Chasers was one of my favorite graphic novel series of all time despite it's extremely short life-span. Glad to see some appreciation for it a decade after it's time.
it's nice to find someone who actually knows where my username comes from.
Thanks for all the suggestions, fudge man, there are some houses I need to consider.
And I changed my Machine Head logo avatar after watching the entire Godfather series on [shameless plug]HD Net[/shameless plug] (which means it was in glorius High Def, and unedited AND without commercials -- I love having a DVR!!) a week ago. I had REALLY forgotten how much I love Michael Corleone as a character. His cold, calculating thinking -- and how he never changes his tone of voice (unless his wife explains in bitter detail how it wasn't a miscarriage).
The first Godfather is arguably the best movie EVER -- metacritic.com even agrees! And Rotten Tomatoes has it at 100!
the godfather is, indeed, an amazing flick. see? there's a reason we cubers "hang out" together here on these boards. we should start a cube clan. haha...
it's nice to find someone who actually knows where my username comes from.
the godfather is, indeed, an amazing flick. see? there's a reason we cubers "hang out" together here on these boards. we should start a cube clan. haha...
and also... fudge man?
calibretto
I like to replace the typical four-letter curse word that typically explains a lewd sexual act, with the chocolate that starts with the same letter.
Think: A Christmas Story, when Ralphie is helping his pops change the car tire and what his reaction was when all the lug nuts went flying in the air.
Such replacement words become necessary when you have kids.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Thoughtseize should also go in, I'm not a huge fan of Diabolic Tutor, so maybe that should go in its place, as Diabolic Tutor is pretty overcosted for its ability.
Blue needs Jace Beleren, to be honest, I've never used Disrupting Shoal but it seems pretty suboptimal among existing blue counterspell options.
Balduvian Horde is another card that I'm not a huge fan of due to its card disadvantage, I think that Raaka Mar definitely should be in, it's a very good card advantage machine that can make game states pretty unfair with her making 3/1s every turn. It's a lot like Imperious Perfect, which is a card that I think should go in (in place of something like either Heartbeat of Spring [I don't think that there are enough circumstances to make it worthwhile and your opponent reaps its benefits first], Nourishing Shoal [Stream of Life with an upgrade still isn't worth running.] and the like.)
From doing the online Mock Cube Drafting, my crew and I have started to see cards we don't have in our Cube, such as Bitterblossom, Thoughtseize and Imperious Perfect. We're currently running one Planeswalker for each individual color, and I'm actually thinking Jace will get the vote over Tezzeret (although both are infinitely better if a deck is built around them, Jace is still useful without being built around).
I like your suggestions, they do couple with some of our own epiphanies lately, so I'll look into the changes.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
I think Oona's better. Better body and her milling doesn't become blanked when she dies (because you're still getting creatures out of the milling, likely. I can't think of many times when I'd want to make a straightforward mill deck and if your opponent's playing reanimator/flashback cards, the milling actually helps them whereas Oona RFGs cards.)
Oona is one of my favorite finishers, period, and Nemesis is very solid in forty card decks. Just because they both "mill" doesn't make it an either/or situation though.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
You could always cut the Ghastlord. Or the Puca/Funeral.
agreed. we cut ghaslord for oona and never looked back. not only is she easier to cast, but she's just all around better. in your case, you could cut him for nemesis of reason and probably never miss a beat.
Agreed on that (I'd use Wydwen out of those two) - I'm not a huge fan of the Ghastlord (or any of the HHHHH cycle) for cube, but in a UB deck, he looks better than cards like Mind Funeral (I'm not a fan of it in regular draft) or Puca.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Yeah, I just read Wydwen, and was thinking that -- but much like a high schooler who dates the wrong person for the wrong reasons -- I needed someone to validate my thinking.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Not only does Wydwen having flash fit blue's theme extremely well of holding back mana for counters/holding black mana for removal, but its ability to come down in combat is removal in and of itself, ala Plumeveil to kill attackers. If you have mana for its bounce ability, you can block and with damage on the stack, bounce it back to your hand if she would die from combat damage and her being able to attack as well with a decent evasive body is nice and her bounce ability protects her, as a win condition.
That's probably the least insane statement made on this thread. Given Jace, Oona and the like, I was considering making a Mill Archetype available (possibly viable) so Nemesis and Mind Funeral were floating around.
In the end, Wydwen is the better choice and the better card.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Whetstone is a cool card for you to be able to generate your own threshold and support reanimator, but it's terrible as a mill win condition. I have had success with Millstone and Grindstone. Ambassador Laquatus was in my cube (and we had some great success with him too) but he was cut when the cube was made smaller... there wasn't enough room for him anymore.
I don't like cards that have only one time mill effects (like Brain Freeze, etc...) because they don't actually provide you with a win condition. I want to put something to the table that will eventually mill them to death if they don't deal with it. Brain Freeze isn't one of those kinds of cards.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
I've never played it in limited but Millstone doesn't seem very strong on its own since it seems so slow ( maybe 10+ turns to kill them? ). While you are milling them it is helpful for them sometimes due to unearth, flashback, reanimator cards, genesis, glory and probably a bunch of other cards I am forgetting. At least the Ambassador can kill them quickly and gives you a 1/3 blocker while doing so.
I was feeling Ambassador because he's a 1/3 body on top of the effect itself -- and I love cards that do multiple things. If it came down to Ambassador versus Millstone, Laquatus would win every time.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
it's nice to find someone who actually knows where my username comes from.
the godfather is, indeed, an amazing flick. see? there's a reason we cubers "hang out" together here on these boards. we should start a cube clan. haha...
and also... fudge man?
calibretto
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I like to replace the typical four-letter curse word that typically explains a lewd sexual act, with the chocolate that starts with the same letter.
Think: A Christmas Story, when Ralphie is helping his pops change the car tire and what his reaction was when all the lug nuts went flying in the air.
Such replacement words become necessary when you have kids.
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
Thoughtseize should also go in, I'm not a huge fan of Diabolic Tutor, so maybe that should go in its place, as Diabolic Tutor is pretty overcosted for its ability.
Blue needs Jace Beleren, to be honest, I've never used Disrupting Shoal but it seems pretty suboptimal among existing blue counterspell options.
Balduvian Horde is another card that I'm not a huge fan of due to its card disadvantage, I think that Raaka Mar definitely should be in, it's a very good card advantage machine that can make game states pretty unfair with her making 3/1s every turn. It's a lot like Imperious Perfect, which is a card that I think should go in (in place of something like either Heartbeat of Spring [I don't think that there are enough circumstances to make it worthwhile and your opponent reaps its benefits first], Nourishing Shoal [Stream of Life with an upgrade still isn't worth running.] and the like.)
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
I like your suggestions, they do couple with some of our own epiphanies lately, so I'll look into the changes.
Thoughts on Nemesis of Reason vs. Oona, Queen of the Fae?
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Both!
Oona is one of my favorite finishers, period, and Nemesis is very solid in forty card decks. Just because they both "mill" doesn't make it an either/or situation though.
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)
Psychatog
Undermine
Recoil
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Ghastlord of Fugue -- damnit...I think we found our winner
Cemetary Puca or Mind Funeral
Oona, Queen of the Fae or Nemesis of Reason
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
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!
agreed. we cut ghaslord for oona and never looked back. not only is she easier to cast, but she's just all around better. in your case, you could cut him for nemesis of reason and probably never miss a beat.
also... i love a christmas story.
calibretto
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Out of those, Puca/Mind Funeral definitely looks like the weak link.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
i agree here as well. you could even think about cards like moroii or wydwen, the biting gale in this slot.
calibretto
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Agreed on that (I'd use Wydwen out of those two) - I'm not a huge fan of the Ghastlord (or any of the HHHHH cycle) for cube, but in a UB deck, he looks better than cards like Mind Funeral (I'm not a fan of it in regular draft) or Puca.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Is that the consensus?
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
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!
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
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!
That's probably the least insane statement made on this thread. Given Jace, Oona and the like, I was considering making a Mill Archetype available (possibly viable) so Nemesis and Mind Funeral were floating around.
In the end, Wydwen is the better choice and the better card.
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
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!
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
I don't like cards that have only one time mill effects (like Brain Freeze, etc...) because they don't actually provide you with a win condition. I want to put something to the table that will eventually mill them to death if they don't deal with it. Brain Freeze isn't one of those kinds of cards.
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!
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3