Love the updates. I'm still doing my Space Cube and had put together an extra 90 to add to your list - but now I'm glad to see you're doing my work for me!
You do still have 11 cards in the blue section, though.
Keep up the good work!
edit: whoops, missed the part about Jace 3! I see now.
I'd love for you to expand on your reasoning behind cutting Jace 3, if you wouldn't mind. Basically what you meant by 34% of games "it accomplished nothing".
It's an extremely efficient control finisher -- wins the game in 2/3 turns if you protect it. You simply have to protect it. I mean maybe it can't win the race against an aggro deck, but neither can many other finishers. I mean if you're dead on board and you drop a Morphling, or Tinker for a Sundering Titan, or whatever, 1/3 of the time at least you're probably still dead.
I really like it because it's a powerful card that's very good against control decks and not as good against aggro, which feels just to me. I've heard people say they cut it because they didn't like that it was uninteractive and they didn't like mill being a wincon, but not that it did nothing. Not trying to plead his case or anything here just interested in your reasoning.
edit: Oh and in my surprise at seeing Jace cut I forgot to mention: Love the changes! I really like that you're making more "archetypes" or particular strategies available, those are definitely by far my favourite types of decks to draft. Honestly I feel like those types of decks being available are what really make a great limited format, and it's by no coincidence that ROE was my favourite block limited format of all time -- Eldrazi ramp, token swarm, lust for war aggro, blue white levellers, blue red kiln fiend, grixis control -- the format simply had a lot of synergistic archetype that were potentially much stronger than the "goodstuff" decks.
Looks like a ton of fun and I hope it is that much fun to play!
Thanks for posting the changes! Am beyond obsessed with designing my cube right now and reading your page has given me so many great ideas.
Appreciate the time/effort! Stoked to read the changes you made.
Great analysis too!
Some questions:
I am trying to support artifact archetype in my 360 unpowered cube (Theres maybe 50 cards from your 360 that don't get in due to cost or power level or entertainment value, have some space)
Am trying to minimize the number of extremely powerful artifacts (so I don't have to spend as many slots on artifact hate), but still want to support
the tezzeret brothers and a couple nifty artifact tricks.
Imagine you were building an ideal artifact.dec, what would be the general theme of the deck?
Is it just blue control + artifact dominance?
Are the artifacts that might be less powerful in general that work great in this idealized deck?
Are there artifacts that are very powerful in general but are less useful in the artifact combo decs?
Thoughts on birthing pod? You seem to be supporting both artifact.dec AND blink effects, what's the draw back on this card that makes it not see cube play?
I like a lot of the changes, and I think I'm going to be trying out some new cards in my cube as seeing all these cards that aren't in a lot of cubes makes me excited. I'm especially excited to see portal cards.
I don't think I will ever cut Jace 3 as we have had a lot of success with him.
I'm curious as to why you have Caves of Koilos over Fetid Heath. BW I guess is an aggressive color, but I also think it is the combo that tends to have impossible mana. The heath can go a long way to helping cast Hymn, WW 2 drops after a thoughtseize on turn one, etc, whereas I think BW decks are rarely aggressive enough to merit the pain.
I'd love for you to expand on your reasoning behind cutting Jace 3, if you wouldn't mind. Basically what you meant by 34% of games "it accomplished nothing".
I mean exactly that. If you don't win with the card, it doesn't do anything for you. You mill 10/20 cards off their deck, but that doesn't really matter. It didn't impact their board, develop your board, or set you up to have the next creature finish them off. It either wins, or does absolutely nothing.
Quote from Ozryel »
It's an extremely efficient control finisher -- wins the game in 2/3 turns if you protect it. You simply have to protect it. I mean maybe it can't win the race against an aggro deck, but neither can many other finishers. I mean if you're dead on board and you drop a Morphling, or Tinker for a Sundering Titan, or whatever, 1/3 of the time at least you're probably still dead.
If you're behind on the board, any other card will impact it. Morphling's a perfect example of a card I want in situations where Jace would be bad. I can use it as a finisher, and simultaneously block my opponent's threats.
And my opponent and I are trading blows, Jace doesn't pull in the same direction as the rest of the deck. Meaning if my opponent is low on life, this card doesn't kill them any faster. If I get in with his {-} once or twice and then have him die, it doesn't make it any easier for my next creature to kill them. And as part of a group of threats, it doesn't really contribute anything.
Quote from Ozryel »
I really like it because it's a powerful card that's very good against control decks and not as good against aggro, which feels just to me. I've heard people say they cut it because they didn't like that it was uninteractive and they didn't like mill being a wincon, but not that it did nothing. Not trying to plead his case or anything here just interested in your reasoning.
Like I said. Sometimes he wins the game outright for you. But in cases where you're behind, it won't do anything for you. You can't use it to deter attacks, you can't use it to protect your life total... nothing. Either you're ahead on board position, you drop him, protect him and win the game, or you try on a congested board and either win or fail. But in the 1/3 of the cases where he doesn't seal the win, he's accomplished nothing.
The card isn't bad. In fact, it's great. Most of the time. But with other cards that serve a similar function (come down to finish the game) he doesn't impact the board or win in the same way the rest of your deck does. I'm more interested in Tezzeret at this point in time, so I can enable an archetype where it all works together. I don't fault anyone for running it or cutting it. I can see both sides of the argument.
Quote from Ozryel »
edit: Oh and in my surprise at seeing Jace cut I forgot to mention: Love the changes! I really like that you're making more "archetypes" or particular strategies available, those are definitely by far my favourite types of decks to draft. Honestly I feel like those types of decks being available are what really make a great limited format, and it's by no coincidence that ROE was my favourite block limited format of all time -- Eldrazi ramp, token swarm, lust for war aggro, blue white levellers, blue red kiln fiend, grixis control -- the format simply had a lot of synergistic archetype that were potentially much stronger than the "goodstuff" decks.
Looks like a ton of fun and I hope it is that much fun to play!
Glad you like the rest of the changes. I was more of a x3 ZEN guy myself.
..........
Quote from LucidVision »
Thanks for posting the changes! Am beyond obsessed with designing my cube right now and reading your page has given me so many great ideas.
Appreciate the time/effort! Stoked to read the changes you made.
Great analysis too!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the commentary on the expansion.
Quote from LucidVision »
Some questions:
I am trying to support artifact archetype in my 360 unpowered cube (Theres maybe 50 cards from your 360 that don't get in due to cost or power level or entertainment value, have some space)
Am trying to minimize the number of extremely powerful artifacts (so I don't have to spend as many slots on artifact hate), but still want to support
the tezzeret brothers and a couple nifty artifact tricks.
Imagine you were building an ideal artifact.dec, what would be the general theme of the deck?
Is it just blue control + artifact dominance?
Are the artifacts that might be less powerful in general that work great in this idealized deck?
Are there artifacts that are very powerful in general but are less useful in the artifact combo decs?
It's a lot harder and a lot less powerful in an unpowered cube. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the deck might be able to survive without the moxen, but without any fast artifact mana, it's going to be an uphill struggle.
The general theme of the artifact.dec is to draft lots of valuable artifacts that get a lot better because of the support cards that are present. Mana artifacts get better when Tezz 1 can untap them and you can ramp with them twice a turn. Cheap utility artifacts get better when Tezz 2 allows them to attack for 5. All the artifacts get better when you can draw them and tutor for them easier. They all get better when you can chain them with Academy Ruins. Everything's faster when Tolarian Academy is tapping for UUUU. Similar to something like Affinity, the more of it you can put together, the better it's going to become. The cards all play into the interactions with the other ones, and they all get exponentially better.
Every artifact gets better when you can untap it to use it twice a turn, tutor for it, draw into it, attack for 5 with it and recur it.
Quote from LucidVision »
Thoughts on birthing pod? You seem to be supporting both artifact.dec AND blink effects, what's the draw back on this card that makes it not see cube play?
We don't like it. We found it too slow, and the sorcery speed of the activation killed it for us. It just wasn't worth 4 mana, 4 life (or 5 mana and 2 life, or 6 mana) and a card to turn my 3-drop into a 4-drop, or my 4-drop into a 5-drop. I realize the effect is repeatable, but it was just so slow, and really needed an instant-speed activation to do much for us other than toolbox up the occasional ETB effect. It costs me a creature, mana, life and a card to upgrade the creature ever so slightly. And it never increases the number of threats I have on the board.
That's not to say we'd never play it again, but we had a bitter first experience with it. Maybe it would be better in a larger playgroup, but we're super skeptical. Anyone who wants to chime in and teach me how to break this card, I'd be happy to hear about it.
Quote from xfollowthereaperx »
No room for Fettergeist?
I like a lot of the changes, and I think I'm going to be trying out some new cards in my cube as seeing all these cards that aren't in a lot of cubes makes me excited. I'm especially excited to see portal cards.
I don't think I will ever cut Jace 3 as we have had a lot of success with him.
I looked for room for Fettergeist and found none. So not in this update, but perhaps in a future one. After the 450 dust has settled a bit.
I too am quite excited about the portal cards.
Jace 3 is certainly good. I don't fault anyone else for playing him.
Quote from evilone94 »
I'm curious as to why you have Caves of Koilos over Fetid Heath. BW I guess is an aggressive color, but I also think it is the combo that tends to have impossible mana. The heath can go a long way to helping cast Hymn, WW 2 drops after a thoughtseize on turn one, etc, whereas I think BW decks are rarely aggressive enough to merit the pain.
A few things.
First, I hate filter lands. Decks need to reliably cast their 1cc cards, and this doesn't help. I also like to be able to split my mana effectively between turns and phases, and I can't do that with Filters either.
Second, I can control not adding WW 2-drops and BB 2-drops into the same deck, but I can't control my Plains + Heath opening hand from stopping my T1 Thoughtseize or Gravecrawler. I'm in control of how greedy I want to make my mana demand. I don't want to play a bunch of 2cc double-cost cards in the same deck and hope I draw my Heath. One color will be heavier than another, and the smaller color won't have 2cc cards with double color mana symbols.
Third, black/white is not only a very aggressive color-pair, but it's also the color combination where it may be the most important to ensure that you cast your 1cc cards on T1.
Makes sense. I guess I hadn't thought about the gravecrawler plains Heath hand. Filter lands are terrible, I'll agree with you there. I guess for some reason I have an even greater hate of pain lands. In my peasant cube I tried to fix this by limiting CC two drops when possible. You would run a BW scars land if it exist, yeah?
This. It is more likely than them completing the Horizon Canopy cycle, which I would like even more.
I'd settle for them completing the man-dual cycle, but this would be amazing.
I'm really curious what mana-fixing tricks WotC has up its sleeve for Return to Ravnica. I mean they could reprint the shocklands (which would be nice for those of us that don't have them all foiled out yet), but I have a feeling they are going to do something new.
I'm very curious to see how Trinket Mage and Everflowing Chalice work out for you. The Chalice has been on my radar for a while, but I've never given the Mage a second thought.
Ok all, I wanted to discuss the additions that will be happening over the next 2 weeks as I transform the cube back into a 450. Most of the additions are for supporting themes and archetypes, and the rest of the slots are being dedicated to cards that are just outside of 360 playability and/or they fill a gap in needed effects.
There are 10 cards from each color, 15 colorless cards, 20 guild cards (2 for each guild; 1 land, 1 non-land) and the creation of a 5-card tri-color section.
..........
White
I wanted white to get a few more card advantage spells, a few more disenchant effects and some support cards for new and existing archetypes.
Weathered Wayfarer - I wanted an extra card advantage engine in white, and an extra target for Ranger of Eos that would hold some value into the later stages of the game. This little guy is a workhorse. He ensures you're never behind on resources, can re-build your economy as your opponent does after a disaster and can fix your mana. In white. It's also a enabler for Loam/Crucible archetypes, and will be a supporting role there.
Knight of Meadowgrain - This card is just good enough on its own merits. There are a few cards that belonged in my 360 that I struggled to find room for, but can't exclude from my 450. This is one of those examples.
Stonecloaker - This creature is loved by a few players in my playgroup, but I'm mainly adding it in as some extra value against the HUGE graveyard related theme that's being introduced/bolstered in this update. It's also a halfway decent support creature for the bounce/blink subtheme in addition to being graveyard hate. Sometimes just saving a creature from removal and having a 3-power flying creature is good enough. But we'll see. I don't know if it'll be in forever, but I wanted to see if he'd bring some extra value and some perhaps needed graveyard hate.
Ranger of Eos - A cool source of card advantage in white that can be built around for maximum efficiency. With a larger playgroup and the additional targets going in with this update, he should be a solid player.
Karmic Guide - I love this creature, and it's capable of some busted stuff, particularly with all the cards going in with this update. I played it at 360 for a long time, and it's assuredly going back in for good with this update.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - What can you say about the most devastating creature out there? It ravages and neuters your opponent's board presence, and gives you a double-Glorious Anthem effect, all strapped to a nice body with a great control ability. It's the best creature in mid-range token strategies and ramp decks with cheaper creatures. Can't wait to play this card.
Eternal Dragon - More of a 2cc spell than a big creature, you can cycle it away for a dual land in the early game, and then if there's an opportunity for value later on, you can buy it back and cast it. It provides inevitability in the control mirror, where it really shines. And it's a fatty + discard outlet in one for reanimator builds, which are a big focus of this update.
Revoke Existence - I need more disenchant effects. Especially with the increase in the reanimator build and the artifact.dec archetype, which are both coming in with this update. This also exiles the target, which is a big deal against Masticores, all the 6+cc artifact creatures and Academy Ruins.
Seal of Cleansing - Disenchant #3. I like the interaction with Sun Titan and Enlightened Tutor. I also like to be able to play it ahead of threats to keep artifacts that have an immediate board impact from effecting me. Glad to have it back.
Ravages of War - That's right guys. Portal is being un-banned. And why? Because I get to play with two Armageddons, two Wildfires and two Vampiric Tutors. That's reason enough. A second copy of one of the best white spells in the cube is a slam-dunk.
Blue
Blue has two main focuses: Looting/Graveyard Engines and the Artifact subtheme. Additionally, there are a few cards that are just making it in because they're good. I also wanted some more bounce.
Enclave Cryptologist - A great looting effect. Something I could've (should've?) played at 360 but couldn't find the right cut. Extra looting, extra draw, another Ranger target, and just generally a solid creature. A show-in.
Trinket Mage - This is a surprising one. But I started to tally it up, and it has a lot of targets. And a lot of targets that hold value through the first 3-4 turns as well. Stoneforge Mystic is a hell of a lot better because of the overall quality of the cards it gets, but Trinket Mage isn't as far behind as it looks. I have 12 mana-producing artifacts I can grab with it. There's 6 utility artifacts and 2 pieces of equipment too. That's 20 cards that can be snagged, and a lot of them are really high up there in power. It's played well as an artifact.dec supporter and has been pulling its weight.
Keiga, the Tide Star - I figured blue deserved a 6+cc creature. There are a few options for decent cards in this slot, but I opted to go with Keiga, who's always been a favorite of mine. Looking forward to Sneak Attacking this creature out, and then buying it back with Genesis.
Daze - Another free counterspell. Another Force Spike/Mana Tithe variant. I figured with the potential for early blow-out plays available, having an extra surprise counter would be really valuable. Also, it's additional aggro/tempo support in disguise, so that's always welcome. This card has been very good in testing so far.
Capsize - It's en vogue to be cutting this from cubes right now, but I wanted it back even at 360. It's a powerful spell, broken in the late-game and it's an answer to non-creature permanents that blue can struggle with from time to time. Happy to have it.
Intuition - Graveyard support. Specifically for reanimator and Loam decks, where it'll really shine. But not an awful Impulse/Strategic Planning variant on its own. Others have had success with it, so I wanna try it out. Seems like it could be really good in the right decks.
Thirst for Knowledge - This card serves double-duty. Reanimator support and artifact.dec support. It's the most natural include in any update bolstering those two strategies.
Gifts Ungiven - Graveyard support. We all really miss this card and are stoked to have it back. It looks like you're giving your opponent a choice, but you never really are.
Tezzeret the Seeker - One of the backbones of the blue artifact.dec. It tutors for mana/utility artifacts, untaps them and goes ultimate with them. This is technically the 11th card that went in for blue in this update, he'll be replacing Jace 3.0.
Academy Ruins - The Volrath's Stronghold of the artifact world, it keeps you in powerful artifacts, chains artifact sweepers and guarantees you threats with artifact creatures. You can't "support" the artifact build and leave this one out.
Tolarian Academy - I have done (and had done onto me) broken things with this land. Lands that can regularly tap for UU or UUU can do some absurd things. Another artifact support card.
Black
Black is supporting reanimator. Hard. All-in. Balls to the wall. 4 more reanimation spells (5 if you include gold) 3 more mono-black graveyard enabler cards, and 1 reanimation-exclusive fatty. Oh, and another tutor and removal spell.
Putrid Imp - Ew. A Putrid Imp. He's the next best reanimation enabling card that's not already in the cube. He does the broken plays for you. Other than Entomb, it's the only way to get T2 reanimated fatties without fast mana. It needs to go in. He's also an extra 1-drop Zombie for Gravecrawler builds with Skullclamp, Braids and Smokestack, etc. I suppose you could do worse than Imp in decks that only have a few graveyard interactions, and he's a windmill-slam in reanimator decks.
Griselbrand - How can I try and enable broken reanimator decks and NOT use this guy? At least for a while. If left alone, he wins you the game. No question. Even if he's answered, you still get to Yawgmoth's Bargain for 7. If he ends up failing to impress or being too narrow, Kokusho, Massacre Wurm and the Whispering One are all other alternatives.
Imperial Seal - Take one of the 5 best black cards in the entire cube and turn it from an instant to a sorcery and ...it's still amazing. Especially with all these new combos being introduced, I can't imagine a black deck in the cube ever leaving this card in the sideboard.
Dance of the Dead - 2cc reanimation is 2cc reanimation. Do I care about paying 2 mana to untap my giant fatty? Hell no. Do I like the +1/+1? Hell yes. It's not as easily thrown into random black decks because of the tap/untap clause, but it's no less potent in dedicated reanimator.
Doom Blade - Not much to say about this. One of the most efficient removal spells available. I used GFFT in 360, and I'll use both at 450.
Exhume - The best reanimation support card. This is the card that enables the sickest reanimation plays with the least (no?) drawback. If you're reanimating stuff on T2 or T3, there's no better card to use than this one.
Zombie Infestation - An enabler. Not quite as fast as Putrid Imp, but more acceptable outside of dedicated reanimator. With a Gravecrawler, this card is quite good, as you're pretty much always guaranteed 4-power on the board no matter what. Also, with Squee, it's more than fair. It also makes threats at instant speed which was really cool to find uses for in-game. And I got to play this with Upheaval once, and it's ridiculous. Like, maybe the best card to pair with Upheaval ever. But it's a fast, reliable and early discard engine for graveyard builds.
Buried Alive - A necessary evil. I wanted to include something else here, but sometimes getting the fatty from the deck and putting it right in the graveyard just can't be simulated by discard engines. It also gets 3 creatures for Living Death, and 2-3 creatures for Recurring Nightmare and Diabolic Servitude. You could do a lot worse than Buried Alive when you're supporting reanimator.
Diabolic Servitude - 4cc is the upper-limit for 1-shot reanimation spells. But this can work multiple times, and the fatty isn't crippled by a Mannequin token. I'd love to cut this for another Necromancy, but alas, that card doesn't exist.
Living Death - Randomly broken and always exciting. Wrath + mass reanimation = lots of fun. Especially for me, when I fill my graveyard with creatures first. I always liked Living Death, but it served more of a Wrath role than a broken build-around-me role when I last played it. With all the additional support in the list now, hopefully it can be both for me.
Red
Red is an interesting color, because it's typically so 1-sided. It's played as aggro/burn, and that's about it. I wanted to add in some cards in this update that mid-range and control decks can use in red, in addition to adding in some interesting and unique effects that can give red a multifaceted identity. And also, some extra good red cards for aggro and stuff too, because you can't forget about the bread and butter.
Goblin Patrol - A boring but effective creature, red needs a critical mass of 2-power 1-drops, and this dude will add to it.
Goblin Welder - This is a fun card to squeeze into artifact decks or try and get some extra value from in red mid-range and control decks. With graveyard support being big, I can get value from this guy in a whole bunch of different decks, and I think he's going to be a fun and potentially explosive card, especially for a 1-drop. He's also another good Ranger target.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - Fun. A ton of fun. He's a mid-range and control exclusive creature for the most part, but there's a pair of cards that came in in AVR that he goes infinite with, and a bunch of other creatures he can copy that just provide disgusting value. It's one of those cards that will provide fun stories, and I look forward to finding more. He's already enabled infinite Restoration angels, and dealing all 20 damage on T5 with a Hero of Bladehold in play. Fun.
Zealous Conscripts - This creature is great in mid-range and as an aggro curve-topper. Threaten effects are rare, and this gives me a Word of Seizing on a stick. With haste itself. Quite good.
Firestorm - An old-school favorite of mine. A discard outlet for B/R reanimation, a way to break Goblin Welder, and a solid source of early disruption against aggro and ramp decks. With a few extra lands/unneeded cards in your hand, you can kill a lot of creatures and deal a lot of damage with this card, and all for 1 mana.
Reckless Charge - Seeing Slayers' Stronghold in action made me realize I should've been playing this card long ago.
Sneak Attack - A discard engine for reanimator that also provides a lot of extra value from the creatures before they die. Combined with Volrath's Stronghold, Genesis or even Academy Ruins, you can accomplish a lot of damage from 1-threat, and have it be uncounterable and abusive. Combined with persist and undying, you get a ton of value. Giving a 1-mana Evoke trigger to a lot of creatures can give you value right away. Playing this and a ton of expensive creatures isn't the way to use it right. Using it like a graveyard enabler and engine/toolbox is the better way to go. It also gives something fun, unique and exciting to red. Also, very good with Mimic Vat.
Burning of Xinye - I love Wildfire, and the only thing better than 1 Wildfire is 2 Wildfires.
Barbarian Ring - A good land for aggro decks, and a cool card for Loam/Crucible shenanigans. My favorite red-aligned land.
Green
Green has 12 cards in this list, but that's because 2 of the existing cards are going to move into the 3-color Shard section (Hierarch and Nacatl). Green's focus in this update is Ramp and Stompy. I miss green aggro, and I want ramp to be better. This update should accomplish both.
Arbor Elf - Another good mana dork. Need to use all of these guys in order to support ramp and mid-range as effectively as possible.
Basking Rootwalla - We've always liked the Rootwallas. On offense they can get through blockers by threatening 3/3 size, deter attackers by threatening 3/3 size and, well, they can bash for 3 on T2 with no over extension. If you have a hand without 2-drops, they can keep you from having to mulligan. And a 3/3 body holds value into the mid-game and can trade with quite a few 4-drops even. Not bad for a 1cc creature. And this one can come into play for free if it's ever discarded, which should be a lot more valuable after this update.
Jungle Lion - One of the better non-white 2-power 1-drops ever. I've been waiting to get him into the list for ages. Stompy support FTW.
Pouncing Jaguar - Stompy support. More 2-power 1-drops. And with the concentration of 1cc cards throughout, the echo was never really a big deal. Go green aggro!
Twinblade Slasher - See Basking Rootwalla. But instead of sneaking into play for free when pitched, he has Wither. Which is randomly useful from one situation to the next.
Ulvenwald Tracker - Repeatable green removal. And another good Ranger target. I'll see what all the fuss is about.
Devoted Druid - A very good ramp enabler. Brings 5-drops on T3. I'll see which I prefer, the Druid or Wall of Roots. If it fails to impress, I'll cut it for the Wall, which I know is a solid performer.
Mire Boa - River Boa's slow cousin is still fair game for Stompy decks. I'll be happy to bring this card in.
Somberwald Sage - I need to see if this card is a good in ramp as it looks. I mean, 7-drops on T4 all by itself? 8-drops on T4 if you had one other ramp card? I mean, how can you ignore that speed advantage?
Hornet Queen - One of my favorite ramp targets. 5 threats, all with evasion, all with deathtouch (to ensure the CA). It can really take over a game. Not to mention blinking/reanimating/copying/etc... this card can really get abusive, and will likely win the game right away if you can abuse it.
Pelakka Wurm - My value creature. 7 life + a 7/7 trample is a good way to stabilize and start to threaten them all in 1 move. Drawing a card when it dies is just added gravy.
Natural Order - The green Tinker. Sac a mana dork, turn it into a big fatty. It happens a turn or two later, but don't underestimate T3/4 Simic Sky Swallowers, Woodfall Primuses or either of the fatties above. Pretty nasty stuff.
Colorless
Not much to say here, just added in extra cards that should play well at 450, and some to support the archetypes the other colors added in.
Lightning Greaves - A good piece of equipment. So many creatures in the cube are turned from solid to utterly broken when you give them haste and shroud. And it plays as a pseudo Fires effect because of the 0 equip cost.
Chrome Mox - A Mox is a Mox, as they say. This one is worse than Mox Diamond by a fair margin, but it's still colorless acceleration.
Everflowing Chalice - A solid mana rock. Good on T2, and good when flooded. Also, a great target for Trinket Mage.
Zuran Orb - Let the whining begin. And I mean that in two ways. It's an unpopular card on these boards, but we love it. Good artifact.dec support, another good target for the Mage, and it wins games that you'd otherwise lose without it. And it has a lot of fun synergies too, like with Loam/Crucible, extra value with and against 'Geddon(s) and it's absurd with Balance. It wins races, hoses aggro and can gain a substantial amount of life out of nowhere. Glad to have it back.
Black Vise - Sometimes dead, sometimes fair and sometimes degenerately powerful. Sounds like fun. Good for aggro, good for mana-denial decks and Braids/Stack locks, and busted with Upheaval.
Ankh of Mishra - A great colorless aggro support card that can go into a wide range of decks. Your opponent better hope they played their fetchland before this resolves, or they're taking 5 damage to get 1 land now.
Ratchet Bomb - A way for mid-range and control decks to combat token strategies and aggro decks. Also a good artifact for Academy Ruins, and it can build up to kill planeswalkers and stuff.
Scroll Rack - One of the cards I really felt could've been 360 material, is now a 450 staple. Especially with additional shuffle effects.
Mimic Vat - Mimic Vat is an engine, and can do some absolutely disgusting things with the right creature strapped to it.
Erratic Portal - Support for the blink/bounce deck as another way to abuse ETB triggers, and it can also protect your guys from combat, removal and occasionally keep creatures off your opponent's board.
Engineered Explosives - We like EE a lot. It can nuke greedy boards and be re-used by Ruins and tutored by Mage. Fun stuff ahead.
Ancient Tomb - Mid-range decks and certain aggro builds can just break this card by hitting the right concentration of 3 and 4cc cards with 2 colorless mana in their cost. It puts you a turn ahead for the couple of activations in the power-band of the curve, and you can build up a significant advantage with it.
Dust Bowl - Repeatable LD, and another great colorless tool to fight off problematic nonbasics. In addition to being quite abusive with Loam/Crucible, etc.
Gemstone Mine - One of our favorite aggro mana-fixers. We missed it at 360, and are stoked to have it back at 450.
Guild
The guild section is getting 2 new cards for each guild (one spell card and one fixing land per guild) and is getting 3 tri-color cards to compliment the two green cards moving over to create a 5-card "Shard" section.
Talisman of Progress - W/U had a land in already, so it moved to the land-fixing side and Azorious gets two support cards. I prefer the Talisman to the Signets, and the artifact deck, as well as mid-range and control decks in this combination, will appreciate the extra mana rock.
Venser, the Sojourner - An archetype addition. This supports the bounce/blink subtheme in W/U, and hopefully the increase in playgroup size will improve his performance. The 3rd time's the charm, right?
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas - An archetype addition to support the artifact.dec. He was good in my old 450, and I expect him to do the same here.
..........
Falkenrath Aristocrat - A great aggro curve-topper and a sac outlet. I had no room at 360, but I'm looking forward to playing it here.
Blackcleave Cliffs - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
..........
Sarkhan Vol - A Fires, an Anthem and a repeatable Threaten. And 20 power worth of flying dragons. Welcome back Sarkhan.
Copperline Gorge - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
..........
Sigarda, Host of Herons - She's a beast. 5/5 flying hexproof for 5 mana that stops Edicts? She's in.
Horizon Canopy - Is this the best 2-color fixing land? Maybe. Lands that draw cards are nutty. Especially when they also fix your mana. And combo with Loam/Crucible. Sweetness.
..........
Gerrard’s Verdict - 2 cards for 2 mana, and much needed life-gain for black. Black/White is utterly stacked. Desolation Angel was considered, but I opted out because I'm adding in a bunch of other fat in this update. Stillmoon Cavalier was considered, but white has a ton of 3-drops now. I even considered Unburial Rites, but decided it wasn't needed, and was too slow for the type of reanimator I'm trying to push. So Verdict is good, powerful and will be a welcome addition.
Caves of Koilos - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
Battlefield Forge - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
..........
Desolate Lighthouse - The Loothouse is a cool way to add in some extra reach without dedicating a deck slot. It also plays very well with reanimation and Goblin Welder and stuff. A great land during this update.
Izzet Boilerworks - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
..........
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - This guy's a total house. Extra card-draw all around! I can't wait to combo this with the Life side of Life // Death.
Simic Growth Chamber - My favorite land for this combination that's not a Dual/Shock/Fetch.
..........
Life // Death - Another card that's likely surprising. And let me tell you, it's been pulling it's weight already. I discussed it in detail in another post already, but I used to look at it like a bad Reanimate, not realizing how many uses there are for Life. This is a good utility spell, and an excellent reanimation spell for dedicated reanimator decks. A real diamond in the rough.
Llanowar Wastes - I thought I'd be more interested in the INN land here because it's primarily a mid-range color, but black and green absolutely have to hit their 1-drops, and Wastes is just too consistent.
..........
The Shard Section
Viashino Slaughtermaster - A solid beater for red as it is (assuming you have some way to pump the power through anthems, equipment, battle cry, etc) he may see play outside of Jund decks. But he's really quite good if you can pump him with his mana activation.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - This guy's a crowd favorite. Not the most powerful card in the cube because of it's prohibitive casting cost, but I don't think I've ever seen it lose. Players have fun putting Nicol Bolas in their deck (myself included) and that's part of what the cube's about, isn't it?
Sphinx of the Steel Wind - Tinker target. Reanimation target. Esper control finisher. Artifact.dec finisher. Welder target. An 8cc jack-of-all trades, if you can believe that. A powerful creature that will kill more than it's fair share of players. Particularly if they're not playing white.
(The other two cards in this 5-card section are Noble Hierarch and Wild Nacatl, which moved over from green, giving green 2 extra cards during this update)
..........
You guys wanted it, so there it is. And it took me 2 and a half hours to write, so I hope you like it.
Cheers! And happy cubing.
~wtwlf123
This update looks great, and I am even more excited because I see you are branching out into some very cool design concepts.
Only one or two recomendations:
Keep Zombie Infestation, its better than it looks, But get rid of Putrid imp, its aweful, really bad. Trust me I tried it.
3 options to replace it: Tortured Existence In the right deck, it will play almost like survival. Krovikan Horror This card works every end step, and is both a squee, and a sac outlet that does something relevant. Will work great with a lot of cards in your cube in the update. Its good with Intuition, Gifts Ungiven, and more. Darkblast This is a surprisingly good removal spell, and it fuels reanimator and other strategies in a very different way.
in Green I think it would be worth your time to explore Green Sun's Zenith, its been a crowd favorite in my fully powered 360 card cube. Tutors are insane, especially when they recycle themselves.
Keep Zombie Infestation, its better than it looks, But get rid of Putrid imp, its aweful, really bad. Trust me I tried it.
3 options to replace it:
Tortured Existence In the right deck, it will play almost like survival.
Krovikan Horror This card works every end step, and is both a squee, and a sac outlet that does something relevant. Will work great with a lot of cards in your cube in the update. Its good with Intuition, Gifts Ungiven, and more.
Darkblast This is a surprisingly good removal spell, and it fuels reanimator and other strategies in a very different way.
in Green I think it would be worth your time to explore Green Sun's Zenith, its been a crowd favorite in my fully powered 360 card cube. Tutors are insane, especially when they recycle themselves.
The Imp hasn't been that bad in testing. It's one of the only cards that can enable the T2 reanimation. If I replace it, it'll have to be with something that can simulate the effect, like Raven's Crime.
Tortured Existence is an okay card, but you can't activate it unless you already have a dead creature to target. Making it a bad outlet for reanimation decks that are looking to reanimate stuff in the early game.
Krovikan Horror looks absolutely terrible. It's not a Squee unless there's another dead creature on top of it. You have to pay mana for the Sac outlet effect. And it's a 4 mana 2/2.
Darkblast is okay, but I'm interested in reanimating things early. Dredge isn't particularly reliable at that. I'd rather run a 1cc discard spell I can target myself with.
We tried GSZ before, and it didn't interest us much. Perhaps in a future update we can try it out, but it was extremely unimpressive in its first go-around.
Quote from Laucamort »
Hi there, speaking of reanimation outlets - why don't you come back playing smallpox ?
This card is really good and gets even better in hands of experienced players; It works as an outlet, slows down your opponent and generates unearthly advantage if u manage to nab solely an opponent's creature. It's also heavy playable outside the archetype. It shines in black aggro -which u heavily support- and stax (braids) midrange (so shall I sac gravecrawler, bloodghast or bitterblossom token ^^ ?) and even in heavy control it's an innocent blood, crippled, but still.
Try it in place of the imp, which sucks badly.
Cheers,
Kaziks vel 'Mort
I like Smallpox, but there's already a good number of BB 2cc cards in the cube. The Imp is faster reanimation support, and I'm gonna play it for a while to see how it does. It's been pretty decent so far, enabling some plays with Gravecrawler that are decent, as well as getting stuff into the 'yard fast and cheap.
So far, I can vouch for every card I've added in. Particularly three of the cards I was really unsure about (Firestorm, Somberwald Sage and Intuition) have played beyond my expectations. Outstanding.
Quote from magicsimon »
1. How about Empyrial Archangel as a reanimation/Natural Order target? He would fit nicely into your Bant shard slot if you found room to put Noble Hierarch back in green. I realise Pelakka Wurm fills a similar niche in some matchups while also being far easier to cast in straight ramp strategies, but I get the impression that Archangel is at least better in situations where you want this kind of effect.
2. Did you think about running Show and Tell and/or Tooth and Nail? I like the fact that there is a fair amount of overlap between them, Sneak Attack, Natural Order and the reanimation spells you’ve added (and indeed Tinker as well), so they really don’t take up a lot of space. Of course, Show and Tell can do fun things with other permanents - and as you’ve just added Nicol Bolas it’s like fate or something : P
3. How heavily are you wanting to support Reanimation as a dedicated archetype? As in, do you want it to be a powerful strategy that will be available for at least one player every time your cube is drafted (for example)? Also, do you want it to be competitive in every black/X colour combination? I was thinking of it as a strategy for BG or BU only when building my list, but your inclusion of Firestorm and your comments about Sneak Attack as an extra enabler have changed my mind on that account : )
4. Would your answer to any of the above questions be different if your cube was an unpowered 540 and therefore had a little more room?
1. The Archangel is a solid card, but I'm happy with my number of reanimation targets and Natural Order targets at the moment.
2. Show and Tell and Tooth and Nail are cool cards, but they're better for the super expensive creatures like Inkwell and Eldrazi. If most of your interactions are based around reanimation and tinkering, they're not needed.
3. I wanted reanimation to be consistent enough to be drafted with success if uncontested, and be able to bolster graveyard strategies throughout. I don't want it to get to the point where it's the "unbeatable" deck that always comes together, but I want it to be good.
4. If my cube was bigger, I would expand on these archetypes with the more fringe support cards for them, including the ones you've mentioned above.
Is Firestorm good in a deck outside of Reanimation? Lets say big red?
I used to play it without a lot of reanimation support and it can be solid. It's a way to kill an aggro creature or two, or a mana dork or two without dedicating a lot of mana to do so. But it's insane with a ton of cards, and there's a whole grip of stuff in the cube that makes it well above average. Even in red alone, it's great with Chandra's Phoenix, Squee and Goblin Welder, and outstanding right before a Wheel of Fortune. Pair it with black and you have Bloodghast, Gravecrawler and all the reanimation spells. With white you have Karmic Guide and Reveillark. With green you have Vengevine, Loam and Genesis. You can use Crucible really effectively. You can set up a hand-wrecking Balance. It does a lot for 1 red mana. It's also works with Flashback slightly, and is a nice thing to do with extra lands if you're flooded.
Is Firestorm good in a deck outside of Reanimation? Lets say big red?
I used to run it before my cube's recent switch to the reanimator push and it was pretty good. I did eventually cut it, but there were times it just did digusting amounts of damage. Without the reanimator push I found it too inconsistent but it's on my radar to bring back in if I need another graveyard enabler.
Seems like a skill intensive synergy card .... mmh .... I like ;-D.
Intuition seems like Gifts 2.0.
I will give the Firestorm at least a try.
Thanks for sharing
I think Gifts is Intuition 2.0
I'm interested in Somberwald Sage. Do you find the body to be to fragile? Does he pull removal frequently? I guess I'm just a little confused on why he's so outstanding, but Elvish Piper isn't. Does the 1 turn difference negate the jump in power level from Sage to Piper?
I'm interested in Somberwald Sage. Do you find the body to be to fragile? Does he pull removal frequently? I guess I'm just a little confused on why he's so outstanding, but Elvish Piper isn't. Does the 1 turn difference negate the jump in power level from Sage to Piper?
It will draw a lot more removal after we saw what it's capable of.
Very exciting update. I'm curious if you think you'd have done such an overhaul if you had stayed at 450, or if the act of cutting down to 360 first gave you the psychological "room" for the big changes.
I have decided to have my shard section rotate each draft from a small pool of silly fun cards. I just put The Mimeoplasm in for the next draft, and while not a good cube card it might be an absolute beast with your new reanimator archetype, and worth trying out.
Lovely set of changes. I cut back on reanimator recently, so some of this is at odds with your upcoming revision. I just didn't feel like the deck was consistent enough at the reanimate-a-fatty-in-the-first-five-turns plan, which usually meant it was playing catch-up in the late game if plan A didn't work out. Including enablers like Putrid Imp and Buried Alive should be pretty amazing in smaller lists though as they don't have the same all-purpose value that reanimation spells have, thus making them easier to pick up in drafts.
I've played it on 0 before myself, so I could turn it into a 5/5 with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas.
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Fauna Shaman is a 360 staple, and is in the cube.
Wall of Roots will go in if either Devoted Druid or Somberwald Sage fail to perform. I like the Wall though.
I'm not big on Edge of Autumn. I'd rather use the 2cc creature ramp available that can serve double-duty.
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You do still have 11 cards in the blue section, though.
Keep up the good work!
edit: whoops, missed the part about Jace 3! I see now.
If you read the comments in the blue section, you'll know why.
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It's an extremely efficient control finisher -- wins the game in 2/3 turns if you protect it. You simply have to protect it. I mean maybe it can't win the race against an aggro deck, but neither can many other finishers. I mean if you're dead on board and you drop a Morphling, or Tinker for a Sundering Titan, or whatever, 1/3 of the time at least you're probably still dead.
I really like it because it's a powerful card that's very good against control decks and not as good against aggro, which feels just to me. I've heard people say they cut it because they didn't like that it was uninteractive and they didn't like mill being a wincon, but not that it did nothing. Not trying to plead his case or anything here just interested in your reasoning.
edit: Oh and in my surprise at seeing Jace cut I forgot to mention: Love the changes! I really like that you're making more "archetypes" or particular strategies available, those are definitely by far my favourite types of decks to draft. Honestly I feel like those types of decks being available are what really make a great limited format, and it's by no coincidence that ROE was my favourite block limited format of all time -- Eldrazi ramp, token swarm, lust for war aggro, blue white levellers, blue red kiln fiend, grixis control -- the format simply had a lot of synergistic archetype that were potentially much stronger than the "goodstuff" decks.
Looks like a ton of fun and I hope it is that much fun to play!
Appreciate the time/effort! Stoked to read the changes you made.
Great analysis too!
Some questions:
I am trying to support artifact archetype in my 360 unpowered cube (Theres maybe 50 cards from your 360 that don't get in due to cost or power level or entertainment value, have some space)
Am trying to minimize the number of extremely powerful artifacts (so I don't have to spend as many slots on artifact hate), but still want to support
the tezzeret brothers and a couple nifty artifact tricks.
Imagine you were building an ideal artifact.dec, what would be the general theme of the deck?
Is it just blue control + artifact dominance?
Are the artifacts that might be less powerful in general that work great in this idealized deck?
Are there artifacts that are very powerful in general but are less useful in the artifact combo decs?
Thoughts on birthing pod? You seem to be supporting both artifact.dec AND blink effects, what's the draw back on this card that makes it not see cube play?
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I like a lot of the changes, and I think I'm going to be trying out some new cards in my cube as seeing all these cards that aren't in a lot of cubes makes me excited. I'm especially excited to see portal cards.
I don't think I will ever cut Jace 3 as we have had a lot of success with him.
I mean exactly that. If you don't win with the card, it doesn't do anything for you. You mill 10/20 cards off their deck, but that doesn't really matter. It didn't impact their board, develop your board, or set you up to have the next creature finish them off. It either wins, or does absolutely nothing.
If you're behind on the board, any other card will impact it. Morphling's a perfect example of a card I want in situations where Jace would be bad. I can use it as a finisher, and simultaneously block my opponent's threats.
And my opponent and I are trading blows, Jace doesn't pull in the same direction as the rest of the deck. Meaning if my opponent is low on life, this card doesn't kill them any faster. If I get in with his {-} once or twice and then have him die, it doesn't make it any easier for my next creature to kill them. And as part of a group of threats, it doesn't really contribute anything.
Like I said. Sometimes he wins the game outright for you. But in cases where you're behind, it won't do anything for you. You can't use it to deter attacks, you can't use it to protect your life total... nothing. Either you're ahead on board position, you drop him, protect him and win the game, or you try on a congested board and either win or fail. But in the 1/3 of the cases where he doesn't seal the win, he's accomplished nothing.
The card isn't bad. In fact, it's great. Most of the time. But with other cards that serve a similar function (come down to finish the game) he doesn't impact the board or win in the same way the rest of your deck does. I'm more interested in Tezzeret at this point in time, so I can enable an archetype where it all works together. I don't fault anyone for running it or cutting it. I can see both sides of the argument.
Glad you like the rest of the changes. I was more of a x3 ZEN guy myself.
..........
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the commentary on the expansion.
It's a lot harder and a lot less powerful in an unpowered cube. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the deck might be able to survive without the moxen, but without any fast artifact mana, it's going to be an uphill struggle.
The general theme of the artifact.dec is to draft lots of valuable artifacts that get a lot better because of the support cards that are present. Mana artifacts get better when Tezz 1 can untap them and you can ramp with them twice a turn. Cheap utility artifacts get better when Tezz 2 allows them to attack for 5. All the artifacts get better when you can draw them and tutor for them easier. They all get better when you can chain them with Academy Ruins. Everything's faster when Tolarian Academy is tapping for UUUU. Similar to something like Affinity, the more of it you can put together, the better it's going to become. The cards all play into the interactions with the other ones, and they all get exponentially better.
Every artifact gets better when you can untap it to use it twice a turn, tutor for it, draw into it, attack for 5 with it and recur it.
We don't like it. We found it too slow, and the sorcery speed of the activation killed it for us. It just wasn't worth 4 mana, 4 life (or 5 mana and 2 life, or 6 mana) and a card to turn my 3-drop into a 4-drop, or my 4-drop into a 5-drop. I realize the effect is repeatable, but it was just so slow, and really needed an instant-speed activation to do much for us other than toolbox up the occasional ETB effect. It costs me a creature, mana, life and a card to upgrade the creature ever so slightly. And it never increases the number of threats I have on the board.
That's not to say we'd never play it again, but we had a bitter first experience with it. Maybe it would be better in a larger playgroup, but we're super skeptical. Anyone who wants to chime in and teach me how to break this card, I'd be happy to hear about it.
I looked for room for Fettergeist and found none. So not in this update, but perhaps in a future one. After the 450 dust has settled a bit.
I too am quite excited about the portal cards.
Jace 3 is certainly good. I don't fault anyone else for playing him.
A few things.
First, I hate filter lands. Decks need to reliably cast their 1cc cards, and this doesn't help. I also like to be able to split my mana effectively between turns and phases, and I can't do that with Filters either.
Second, I can control not adding WW 2-drops and BB 2-drops into the same deck, but I can't control my Plains + Heath opening hand from stopping my T1 Thoughtseize or Gravecrawler. I'm in control of how greedy I want to make my mana demand. I don't want to play a bunch of 2cc double-cost cards in the same deck and hope I draw my Heath. One color will be heavier than another, and the smaller color won't have 2cc cards with double color mana symbols.
Third, black/white is not only a very aggressive color-pair, but it's also the color combination where it may be the most important to ensure that you cast your 1cc cards on T1.
So, that's why I prefer the Painland.
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Gods yes. I'm a huge fan of those lands. I hope they complete the cycle someday.
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"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
That would be glorious.
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I'd settle for them completing the man-dual cycle, but this would be amazing.
I'm really curious what mana-fixing tricks WotC has up its sleeve for Return to Ravnica. I mean they could reprint the shocklands (which would be nice for those of us that don't have them all foiled out yet), but I have a feeling they are going to do something new.
I'm very curious to see how Trinket Mage and Everflowing Chalice work out for you. The Chalice has been on my radar for a while, but I've never given the Mage a second thought.
Cheers,
rant
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This update looks great, and I am even more excited because I see you are branching out into some very cool design concepts.
Only one or two recomendations:
Keep Zombie Infestation, its better than it looks, But get rid of Putrid imp, its aweful, really bad. Trust me I tried it.
3 options to replace it:
Tortured Existence In the right deck, it will play almost like survival.
Krovikan Horror This card works every end step, and is both a squee, and a sac outlet that does something relevant. Will work great with a lot of cards in your cube in the update. Its good with Intuition, Gifts Ungiven, and more.
Darkblast This is a surprisingly good removal spell, and it fuels reanimator and other strategies in a very different way.
in Green I think it would be worth your time to explore Green Sun's Zenith, its been a crowd favorite in my fully powered 360 card cube. Tutors are insane, especially when they recycle themselves.
P.S. Cant wait to see how good Trinket Mage is!
Cheers,
H.G.
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The Imp hasn't been that bad in testing. It's one of the only cards that can enable the T2 reanimation. If I replace it, it'll have to be with something that can simulate the effect, like Raven's Crime.
Tortured Existence is an okay card, but you can't activate it unless you already have a dead creature to target. Making it a bad outlet for reanimation decks that are looking to reanimate stuff in the early game.
Krovikan Horror looks absolutely terrible. It's not a Squee unless there's another dead creature on top of it. You have to pay mana for the Sac outlet effect. And it's a 4 mana 2/2.
Darkblast is okay, but I'm interested in reanimating things early. Dredge isn't particularly reliable at that. I'd rather run a 1cc discard spell I can target myself with.
We tried GSZ before, and it didn't interest us much. Perhaps in a future update we can try it out, but it was extremely unimpressive in its first go-around.
I like Smallpox, but there's already a good number of BB 2cc cards in the cube. The Imp is faster reanimation support, and I'm gonna play it for a while to see how it does. It's been pretty decent so far, enabling some plays with Gravecrawler that are decent, as well as getting stuff into the 'yard fast and cheap.
..........
Thanks to both of you for the comments.
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1. The Archangel is a solid card, but I'm happy with my number of reanimation targets and Natural Order targets at the moment.
2. Show and Tell and Tooth and Nail are cool cards, but they're better for the super expensive creatures like Inkwell and Eldrazi. If most of your interactions are based around reanimation and tinkering, they're not needed.
3. I wanted reanimation to be consistent enough to be drafted with success if uncontested, and be able to bolster graveyard strategies throughout. I don't want it to get to the point where it's the "unbeatable" deck that always comes together, but I want it to be good.
4. If my cube was bigger, I would expand on these archetypes with the more fringe support cards for them, including the ones you've mentioned above.
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They've done exactly what I've wanted them to do. T4 7-drops, 1cc discard outlets, tutors for fatties/reanimation spells/Loam, etc.
Somberwald Sage is the real deal.
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I used to play it without a lot of reanimation support and it can be solid. It's a way to kill an aggro creature or two, or a mana dork or two without dedicating a lot of mana to do so. But it's insane with a ton of cards, and there's a whole grip of stuff in the cube that makes it well above average. Even in red alone, it's great with Chandra's Phoenix, Squee and Goblin Welder, and outstanding right before a Wheel of Fortune. Pair it with black and you have Bloodghast, Gravecrawler and all the reanimation spells. With white you have Karmic Guide and Reveillark. With green you have Vengevine, Loam and Genesis. You can use Crucible really effectively. You can set up a hand-wrecking Balance. It does a lot for 1 red mana. It's also works with Flashback slightly, and is a nice thing to do with extra lands if you're flooded.
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I used to run it before my cube's recent switch to the reanimator push and it was pretty good. I did eventually cut it, but there were times it just did digusting amounts of damage. Without the reanimator push I found it too inconsistent but it's on my radar to bring back in if I need another graveyard enabler.
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I think Gifts is Intuition 2.0
I'm interested in Somberwald Sage. Do you find the body to be to fragile? Does he pull removal frequently? I guess I'm just a little confused on why he's so outstanding, but Elvish Piper isn't. Does the 1 turn difference negate the jump in power level from Sage to Piper?
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It will draw a lot more removal after we saw what it's capable of.
It's faster than Elvish Piper, and accomplishes basically the same thing. It's the same reason Fyndhorn Elves is better than Fyndhorn Elder.
It's typically never more than -1 card disadvantage. Your 2 cards net you 1 kill, your 3 cards net you 2 kills, etc.
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I have decided to have my shard section rotate each draft from a small pool of silly fun cards. I just put The Mimeoplasm in for the next draft, and while not a good cube card it might be an absolute beast with your new reanimator archetype, and worth trying out.
My $40 MTGO cube
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My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge