What are the first picks that lead you into the blink/bounce archetype? Just the best ETB creatures (I guess Blade Splicer, etc.)? Restoration Angel? Venser (PW)?
Crystal Shard, Venser the Sojourner and Mimic Vat are probably the biggest ones. Restoration Angel can be a good start too, as you mentioned. But I really need to have like 2-3 consecutive picks early in the draft that lead me down that road before I'm willing to go "all in" on the blink/bounce deck. If I don't get two engine cards early, I'll just scoop up goodstuff, and I can still wind up in a WU midrange deck with value creatures ...and that's not a bad place to be.
Correct, Portal too. Although I'm less likely to first-pick that card than I am Shard ...the extra mana does make quite a bit of difference in the overall powerlevel.
A long time ago, I was making a handle for one of my first online forums, which was for a Vampire: The Masquerade/World of Darkness forum. Most other iterations of "White Wolf" (the publishing company that produced that game/universe) that I kept trying to make were already taken, but wtwlf123 was open. It's stuck with me ever since. It's White Wolf. But most people have their own theories of what it is, and no matter how much I tell them different, I'll always be seen as whatever they first read it as. Someone considers me "What the Wolf" on these boards, but I can't remember who that is.
@Red13th: I don't know yet. Last time, we played it as a way to bridge through the CMC creatures with ETB triggers, grinding out value with it like a planeswalker. I assume it'll be similar at this size. Wanted to use it in an ETB trigger deck, and see how it plays with Whip.
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We ran Birthing Pod at this size pretty much since New Phyrexia was released and it basically did nothing of note during that time. I was glad to see it go when we finally cut it. It seems like a fairly easy build around card that slides right into a value rock deck or something, but I found it very hard to put together the value deck that it needs to be successful.
Condemn seems like an odd addition as well. Not being able to control when you kill their creature or even really control which creature you can target is a big negative for me on this card. I'd probably add it in just for redundancy at larger size (like 720 or so), but I don't think it's 540 material.
I'm interested in hearing your results on Whip of Erebos. I've always kind of found it interesting and it's always just been chilling in the binder. Did The Abyss just not work out or was it the only 4cc black card near the chopping block? We've had a couple of drafts with The Abyss present and it's been fine. I actually won one of them with a mono black Pox/Stax aggro deck that ran The Abyss.
Condemn is the next best cheap removal spell in white. The defensive nature of the spell relegates it to a control shell, but in those decks, it's one of the better removal spells available.
The Abyss is a fine card, but I think I have too much Pox/Stax support at this size, so I wanted to try out a more unique effect.
Quote from calibretto »
We ran Birthing Pod at this size pretty much since New Phyrexia was released and it basically did nothing of note during that time. I was glad to see it go when we finally cut it. It seems like a fairly easy build around card that slides right into a value rock deck or something, but I found it very hard to put together the value deck that it needs to be successful.
We ran Pod before too and it was only ever okay. I want to see if a few of the new tools that went in can make it more successful this time around.
Quote from calibretto »
I'm interested in hearing your results on Whip of Erebos. I've always kind of found it interesting and it's always just been chilling in the binder. Did The Abyss just not work out or was it the only 4cc black card near the chopping block? We've had a couple of drafts with The Abyss present and it's been fine. I actually won one of them with a mono black Pox/Stax aggro deck that ran The Abyss.
The Abyss is a fine card, but the deck the decks that want it operate just fine without it, so I wanted to cut it for something more unique.
Quote from calibretto »
Condemn seems like an odd addition as well. Not being able to control when you kill their creature or even really control which creature you can target is a big negative for me on this card. I'd probably add it in just for redundancy at larger size (like 720 or so), but I don't think it's 540 material.
Maybe. But Condemn is the next best cheap removal spell, and I wanted lower-cmc spells for my control decks at this size. So it looks like it'll be a good fit until the next Sword/Path is printed. I like it a lot more than Oust, and it can kill scarier threats than Harm's Way. The only other real option is something like Pacifism or Temporal Isolation, and those options sound much worse to me than Condemn.
Hey WTWLF, I added a few of the spells matters cards to my cube but feel like it's lacking the umph it needs (mainly because I can't find the cuts for white. Would you say there's room for the full 3 color spells matters package at 465?
Out of curiosity, do you keep a list of smaller versions of your current cube--in other words, if your group wanted to do a classic 8-man 360, do you have a spreadsheet listing the cards you'd remove?
Out of curiosity, do you keep a list of smaller versions of your current cube--in other words, if your group wanted to do a classic 8-man 360, do you have a spreadsheet listing the cards you'd remove?
Short answer? No.
I tried to do this, and it just doesn't work. Size expansion modules are too hard to manage, and the one time I did try it, it was a nightmare.
There are some boards where Dictate is just insane. And other times it's a powerful (albeit expensive) anthem effect that turns a small group of threats into a formidable board. But it can occasionally be a 5-mana do-nothing card. I don't know if it'll last forever, but the 5cc white spell section is pretty shallow on great cards.
It's a fine card. But I don't need/want any more 4cc white noncreature spells. Effectively using your mana is important, and it's hard to do that when your curve winds up all wonky and saturated with 4cc cards.
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Condemn seems like an odd addition as well. Not being able to control when you kill their creature or even really control which creature you can target is a big negative for me on this card. I'd probably add it in just for redundancy at larger size (like 720 or so), but I don't think it's 540 material.
I'm interested in hearing your results on Whip of Erebos. I've always kind of found it interesting and it's always just been chilling in the binder. Did The Abyss just not work out or was it the only 4cc black card near the chopping block? We've had a couple of drafts with The Abyss present and it's been fine. I actually won one of them with a mono black Pox/Stax aggro deck that ran The Abyss.
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Condemn is the next best cheap removal spell in white. The defensive nature of the spell relegates it to a control shell, but in those decks, it's one of the better removal spells available.
The Abyss is a fine card, but I think I have too much Pox/Stax support at this size, so I wanted to try out a more unique effect.
We ran Pod before too and it was only ever okay. I want to see if a few of the new tools that went in can make it more successful this time around.
The Abyss is a fine card, but the deck the decks that want it operate just fine without it, so I wanted to cut it for something more unique.
Maybe. But Condemn is the next best cheap removal spell, and I wanted lower-cmc spells for my control decks at this size. So it looks like it'll be a good fit until the next Sword/Path is printed. I like it a lot more than Oust, and it can kill scarier threats than Harm's Way. The only other real option is something like Pacifism or Temporal Isolation, and those options sound much worse to me than Condemn.
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Short answer? No.
I tried to do this, and it just doesn't work. Size expansion modules are too hard to manage, and the one time I did try it, it was a nightmare.
There are some boards where Dictate is just insane. And other times it's a powerful (albeit expensive) anthem effect that turns a small group of threats into a formidable board. But it can occasionally be a 5-mana do-nothing card. I don't know if it'll last forever, but the 5cc white spell section is pretty shallow on great cards.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
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!