[Somberwald Sage] is a lot more versatile than piper too, obviously. Casts big X spells, planeswalkers, equipment, etc. etc.
Actually, it's not.
Quote from PyreDream »
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'm sure it's harder to do in a 720+ cube than it is when I'm running almost every playable reanimation spell and all the best enablers at 450.
Quote from tomchaps »
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.
Ya, I don't know. Playing 360 helped me see what 450 needs to be more than just "the next tier" of the same stuff that's in 360. But at the same time, without a growth in the playgroup, a lot of these cards would be less than stellar.
With this update, I think your Cube has reached almost a pinnacle of perfection. If I ever wanted a more competitive and less casual Cube, this is definitely where I would start.
Oh wow it's not, durr. That card's a lot worse than I thought it was, I was wondering how people could even consider not putting it into their cubes haha.
Reading is clearly tech.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Add my MTGO accountOzryelto playtest competitive standard. Currently playing BUG Midrange.
With this update, I think your Cube has reached almost a pinnacle of perfection. If I ever wanted a more competitive and less casual Cube, this is definitely where I would start.
I don't like Cabal Therapy for the cube at all. If it's going to be anything but the Imp, it'll be Raven's Crime.
Quote from Ozryel »
Oh wow it's not, durr. That card's a lot worse than I thought it was, I was wondering how people could even consider not putting it into their cubes haha.
Reading is clearly tech.
It still makes 7-drops on T4 all on its own. It's a scary card that's going to start immediately earning its respect around here. It should draw removal at once.
I don't like Cabal Therapy for the cube at all. If it's going to be anything but the Imp, it'll be Raven's Crime.
raven's crime seems better than the imp, to me. It works with Loam and crucible, etc, and can absolutely wreck your opponent's hand if you need it to. To me it fits into more decks, is harder to deal with, and is more of a pain in the ass.
raven's crime seems better than the imp, to me. It works with Loam and crucible, etc, and can absolutely wreck your opponent's hand if you need it to. To me it fits into more decks, is harder to deal with, and is more of a pain in the ass.
It definitely is. There's a couple things I like about the Imp though, as I can play it on T1, even if I don't already have the fatty in my hand, and it will discard it for free when I do draw it. Which can be a big deal if the fatty you "draw" comes from a Vamp Tutor or a Seal in the next turn or so. If the fatty isn't in your opening hand with the Raven's Crime, your reanimation will be a turn slower because you have to pay the mana for the Crime and the reanimation spell together. The Imp has no such issues. Additionally, the Imp has a cool synergy with Gravecrawler in graveyard themed decks, because it's actually a Zombie itself. And god forbid those instances where the Imp can prove useful deterring a Savannah Lions from attacking or picking up a Sword when plan A and B have both gone awry.
I'll playtest it for a while longer before I decide for certain whether or not I want to cut it for Raven's Crime (I may very well end up doing that though).
It definitely is. There's a couple things I like about the Imp though, as I can play it on T1, even if I don't already have the fatty in my hand, and it will discard it for free when I do draw it. Which can be a big deal if the fatty you "draw" comes from a Vamp Tutor or a Seal in the next turn or so. If the fatty isn't in your opening hand with the Raven's Crime, your reanimation will be a turn slower because you have to pay the mana for the Crime and the reanimation spell together. The Imp has no such issues. Additionally, the Imp has a cool synergy with Gravecrawler in graveyard themed decks, because it's actually a Zombie itself. And god forbid those instances where the Imp can prove useful deterring a Savannah Lions from attacking or picking up a Sword when plan A and B have both gone awry.
I'll playtest it for a while longer before I decide for certain whether or not I want to cut it for Raven's Crime (I may very well end up doing that though).
Thanks for the feedback!
touche! the "creature is better" argument is impenetrable. I once had a miserable conversation with my friend when he wanted me to cut llanowar elves for utopia vow, insisting that it was better in every way. Sometimes, my playgroup makes me want to bash my head into the wall, but that's not really relevant, it just sort of reminded me of that awfult ordeal.
as somewhat boring an inclusion as it seems, I'm actually really interested to see how reckless charge is working for you. It's a card I've always been rather fond of, but never really used.
Reckless Charge is good. It's 6 damage from one card at the bare minimum, and makes all your creatures more threatening because of the haste. Similar to Slayers' Stronghold, it will add value to your cheap creatures in the mid-late game. If you target a bear with it twice, and the haste is relevant in both occasions, it's 10 extra damage. For R + 2R. And it can be more if the creatures you're giving haste two have more than 2 base power.
I'm going to be trying out the two Miracle spells I want to use. Entreat the Angels and Bonfire of the Damned, respectively. Entreat will be taking the place of Stonecloaker in the new update, and Bonfire of the Damned will be replacing Devil's Play to test it out for a while. I don't know if either swap will be permanent, but I want to test out the mechanic in the cube environment and see for myself.
I updated the change log in Post #2 and I'm going to add descriptions into the change post #6138.
I'm going to be trying out the two Miracle spells I want to use. Entreat the Angels and Bonfire of the Damned, respectively. Entreat will be taking the place of Stonecloaker in the new update, and Bonfire of the Damned will be replacing Devil's Play to test it out for a while. I don't know if either swap will be permanent, but I want to test out the mechanic in the cube environment and see for myself.
Adding Imperial Seal definitely won't hurt their chances.;)
I'm going to test Entreat myself, these cards are too hard to evaluate to simply dismiss the mechanic.
And Scroll Rack's coming back in too. Plus Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Mystical, Jace 2, Top, Sylvan and a couple others. They should prove to be pretty good. I hate the mechanic, but sometimes you gotta play good cards despite that. I don't like Dredge as a mechanic, but I love Loam, so maybe these cards will change my mind.
These are really interesting additions. It brings your cube much closer to mine - 450, powered, pushing archetypes - so I'm planning on nicking plenty of ideas!
I have found 450 to be a good size to create this sort of environment. When I was 500+ I was having to scrape the barrel for support cards and it was harder for archetypes to come together. 360 is probably a little tight to get everything in.
If you are in a situation where you want to Winston or play sealed how will you manage it? I would suggest running a few more cards otherwise a lot of the cards will be dead and the decks feel underpowered.
Regarding some of the specific changes:
Weathered Wayfarer - This is a sweet card. He was always more of a tutor for busted lands in my cube rather than an outright source of advantage. I'm often tempted to add him back in so I'm interested to see how he does for you.
Karmic Guide - It is disappointing how there are few good cards in white to support reanimator (balance can sometimes help) but this guy can be good in Esper builds. Reveillark -> Karmic Guide -> something awesome is particularly strong.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Eternal Dragon - as the most powerful White fatty and a self-supporting reanimation target, I think these are very sensible additions.
Ravages of War - Looking forward to seeing the alter for this.
Enclave Cryptologist - Great card even without the graveyard push. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Trinket Mage - I'm a little surprised by this but you make a good case for it. Did you consider Chimeric Mass as another target for it?
Daze - I used to run this without much success, but maybe it is worth another look.
Capsize - Bounce is good against reanimator. 'Nuff said.
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 - Crucial to what you are wanting to achieve. Compulsive Research is less good but may be worth a look. I can't see Frantic Search in your list. That card enables turn 3 reanimation very consistently, as you can dump the fatty, untap and then reanimate. I strongly recommend it.
Academy Ruins, Tolarian Academy - Both necessary for the artifact deck. Would Shelldock Isle be worth considering for reanimator? It would be another way of getting the fatty into play and in a BU reanimator deck you often have lots of ways to shrink your library quickly. Probably a little loose but just a thought.
No Inkwell Leviathan? Supports both the reanimator decks and the artifact decks; I really like it, but it's partly because I like having a superfatty in every colour.
Cutting Jace 3.0 seems sensible. Do you really want to mill you're opponent when he might be running reanimator?
Putrid Imp - I remain unconvinced, but there are so few ways to get a turn 2 reanimation that he may be a necessary evil. The thing is that you won't be running a mono black reanimator deck, so maybe its better looking to other colours for this sort of thing.
Griselbrand - This guy is made for reanimator. The lifelink is huge: in my experience so far almost more important than the draw 7. I beat a mono-red aggro deck with my UB reanimator deck twice on the back of this guy. One game I was down to 1 life but could swing and gain life faster than the red deck could damage me.
Dance of the Dead, Exhume - I haven't tried DotD, but as well as allowing very early reanimation, the other advantage is that they are likely only wanted by dedicated reanimator decks. Unlike spells such as Necromancy it is hard to play Exhume for value unless you are certain that you will have better fatties in the yard than your opponent. Exhume really helps the archetype. Other decks may not want to play the untap for DotD so it may come late to reanimator decks, and is a neat combo with Elesh Norn. Vigilance for the win!
Zombie Infestation - I think this is super narrow, but there may just be enough ways to break it in cube. Again has the advantage that it will likely go late so be easier to pick up for the decks that need it. I have been having some success with Rotting Rats in testing. The symmetrical discard helps strip answers from your opponent's hand, the body helps prevent you being overrun by aggro decks early game and the unearth gives late game value if the first attempt to go off doesn't work out.
Buried Alive, Diabolic Servitude - I'm inclined to agree that these may be necessary to really push reanimator. I think I will give them both a try.
Living Death - This one is a lot of fun and can be phenomenal in more controlling reanimator builds.
Goblin Welder - A card that supports reanimator. And artifact decks. For one mana. And he can sometimes hose your opponent's plays. This little dude is value. "I wrecked your ashtray, Boss. But look! I made you an awesome F#@<-off killing machine!"
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - I took this guy out when I last shrank my cube, but he's coming back in now that there are infinite combos with cards that make it on their own merits. Even if they hardly ever happen, just knowing the potential is there makes my cube more fun. So I'll be looking out for a Zealous Conscripts too.
Firestorm - red becomes a very strong graveyard enabling colour with these additions.
Somberwald Sage - This does look strong on paper, and I think is well worth testing. Is it just me or is she a little overdressed for a druid?
Pelakka Wurm - The life can be really important versus aggro if you are the ramp/reanimator deck. I like Terastodon in ramp decks when you can usually turn three unnecessary mana sources into extra creatures, but it never worked out so well in reanimator. The lowly Wurm always did much better: stabilised, beat face, and if it died helped draw me into another reanimation spell.
Natural Order - I think the fact that, like tinker, this is also a toolbox tutor tempts me to try it again.
Lightning Greaves - This is really good in reanimator and other fatty cheating decks. Getting your creature online immediately and protected is very valuable
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I'll second the recommendation of Shelldock Isle. It's a low-investment, potentially high-reward kind of card that I happen to like. Draw, mill or loot 12 cards over the course of the game and you get yourself a free removal, finisher or other useful (did I mention it's free?) card. Fact or Fiction totally gets you there, by the way, as well as Life from the Loam and a surprisingly big buch of other cards once you start to think about it.
Specialities about the cube: U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
Regarding the miracle cards: while I believe Entreat and Bonfire might be "good enough" to be worthy inclusions, my main reason for not adding them is the baggage they bring with them.
Having them in your pool basically means that now every player has to draw all their cards in this new awkward way every single draw step in every single game.
If a player actually has a miracle card in his deck of course he will want to do this (and fell pretty bad if he forgot), but even players who don't have a miracle card will be forced to do so all the time unless they want to give up information that they don't have a miracle in their deck - that sounds awful.
depends on the seriousness of your playgroup i suppose? Or if your playing against someone you really want to beat that night =).
Thanks for the long write-up and the extended commentary! I'll try and address some of the specific questions and comments you asked about:
I considered Chimeric Mass, but I decided against it. It's a fine tutor target for the Mage, but I couldn't find room.
Daze has been testing well. Free counterspells are plain good.
I'm looking into Frantic Search. I added in Intuition first because it pulls the threats from the deck and bins them for you. I went with Thirst because it also supports the artifact deck. If I can find room in a future update, it's right at the top of the list.
Shelldock was too slow for my old 450, and definitely too slow for the powered 360. But with all the extra draw/graveyard stuff that went in with this update, I'll be tracking the number of times we wind up with libraries <20 cards again. If it happens with some regularity, I'll add the card back in. It has a huge potential upside, but had a very low average performance for us before. But like I said, with all the extra 'yard support and looting, etc it could wind up playing a lot better.
I like Inkwell Leviathan too, but I really can't find room for it right now.
Zombie Infestation has been quite good. I like it more than Rotting Rats so far in testing. But I've always liked the repeatable threat generators, so I may be biased there. Plus, you can play it in front of your fatty; you don't need to already have it in hand to get value from the Infestation.
Life // Death has been very good in both modes. Finding new value from the Life side has been a little subgame of mine, and it's really not that hard. Attacking with a Hellrider out was fun. {-2}-ing a Tamiyo was better. Pairing it with Garruk's ultimate was game-ending on T4. With 6 lands you can add 5 extra damage to your alpha strike for G. Any battle cry/anthem effect out there turns Life into a 1-mana Rude Awakening. And it has a 2cc reanimation spell strapped to it.
Thanks for the feedback!
Quote from Lord Tiram »
Regarding the miracle cards: while I believe Entreat and Bonfire might be "good enough" to be worthy inclusions, my main reason for not adding them is the baggage they bring with them.
Having them in your pool basically means that now every player has to draw all their cards in this new awkward way every single draw step in every single game.
If a player actually has a miracle card in his deck of course he will want to do this (and fell pretty bad if he forgot), but even players who don't have a miracle card will be forced to do so all the time unless they want to give up information that they don't have a miracle in their deck - that sounds awful.
Like it or not, Miracle has changed all of Magic in every format to have this be "best practice" for drawing cards. If you don't want to give away any free information, drawing your cards like this every single time is the only way to go. While it would be nice to not have this extend to the cube, people in my playgroup that play in other formats will be doing it anyways as habit; may as well extend it to the cube to reinforce best practice.
Quote from NewbornMuse »
I'll second the recommendation of Shelldock Isle. It's a low-investment, potentially high-reward kind of card that I happen to like. Draw, mill or loot 12 cards over the course of the game and you get yourself a free removal, finisher or other useful (did I mention it's free?) card. Fact or Fiction totally gets you there, by the way, as well as Life from the Loam and a surprisingly big buch of other cards once you start to think about it.
Like I said in my response above, I'll be watching library counts and reconsidering the card. With all the extra draw/looting/graveyard support, this could end up being much better than it was before. It was bad/inconsistent in my old 450, and unplayable in the 360. But perhaps with extra help it could be worth using again. As a combo card with Gifts, FoF, Intuition, Loam and Buried Alive. Or as a sideboard card in the control mirror. We'll see. Thanks for the suggestion.
I like Forbidden Alchemy. It was on deck to go in until Tezz and the Talisman took priority for the artifact deck. If you don't support artifacts in esper/grixis, I'd suggest trying out the Alchemy.
Worldly Tutor, Birthing Pod and Green Sun's Zenith will be getting a spin in the new format. Look like interesting cards that play well with the direction I'm taking green. I pulled the 2 new rootwallas and mire boa to squeeze them in. I left all the 2-power 1-drops for green aggro, but I'm going to pass on the 2nd tier aggro duders in favor of more interesting cards for green. Stompy should still be plenty competitive with 5 aggro creatures available to it in the 1cc section alone.
Also, as an additional card to support those strategies, I'll be adding in Primeval Titan, which can be a sick card when ramped into play early (and it's a great Birthing Pod target, and my only true 6cc card in green). With Pod and Natural Order going in, it seemed natural to add in a creature that works so well with them. Thornling is going to be the cut for it, which was tested against Vorapede and Garruk 2 for a long time, and ultimately lost out to both.
It can only cast creature spells with its mana.
The Great Cube Map!
My Powered Cube
Draft it here!
Actually, it's not.
I'm sure it's harder to do in a 720+ cube than it is when I'm running almost every playable reanimation spell and all the best enablers at 450.
Ya, I don't know. Playing 360 helped me see what 450 needs to be more than just "the next tier" of the same stuff that's in 360. But at the same time, without a growth in the playgroup, a lot of these cards would be less than stellar.
The Mimeoplasm is certainly a fun card.
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!
So congrats!
Also, maybe Cabal Therapy as a reanimation spell instead of Putrid Imp?
Reading is clearly tech.
I don't like Cabal Therapy for the cube at all. If it's going to be anything but the Imp, it'll be Raven's Crime.
It still makes 7-drops on T4 all on its own. It's a scary card that's going to start immediately earning its respect around here. It should draw removal at once.
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!
raven's crime seems better than the imp, to me. It works with Loam and crucible, etc, and can absolutely wreck your opponent's hand if you need it to. To me it fits into more decks, is harder to deal with, and is more of a pain in the ass.
Cube list thread
Cubetutor
It definitely is. There's a couple things I like about the Imp though, as I can play it on T1, even if I don't already have the fatty in my hand, and it will discard it for free when I do draw it. Which can be a big deal if the fatty you "draw" comes from a Vamp Tutor or a Seal in the next turn or so. If the fatty isn't in your opening hand with the Raven's Crime, your reanimation will be a turn slower because you have to pay the mana for the Crime and the reanimation spell together. The Imp has no such issues. Additionally, the Imp has a cool synergy with Gravecrawler in graveyard themed decks, because it's actually a Zombie itself. And god forbid those instances where the Imp can prove useful deterring a Savannah Lions from attacking or picking up a Sword when plan A and B have both gone awry.
I'll playtest it for a while longer before I decide for certain whether or not I want to cut it for Raven's Crime (I may very well end up doing that though).
Thanks for the feedback!
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!
touche! the "creature is better" argument is impenetrable. I once had a miserable conversation with my friend when he wanted me to cut llanowar elves for utopia vow, insisting that it was better in every way. Sometimes, my playgroup makes me want to bash my head into the wall, but that's not really relevant, it just sort of reminded me of that awfult ordeal.
as somewhat boring an inclusion as it seems, I'm actually really interested to see how reckless charge is working for you. It's a card I've always been rather fond of, but never really used.
Cube list thread
Cubetutor
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 updated the change log in Post #2 and I'm going to add descriptions into the change post #6138.
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!
Adding Imperial Seal definitely won't hurt their chances.;)
I'm going to test Entreat myself, these cards are too hard to evaluate to simply dismiss the mechanic.
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 find it's pretty card specific, pretty sure most people on this forum like Worn Powerstone over Palladium Myr.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
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 have found 450 to be a good size to create this sort of environment. When I was 500+ I was having to scrape the barrel for support cards and it was harder for archetypes to come together. 360 is probably a little tight to get everything in.
If you are in a situation where you want to Winston or play sealed how will you manage it? I would suggest running a few more cards otherwise a lot of the cards will be dead and the decks feel underpowered.
Regarding some of the specific changes:
Weathered Wayfarer - This is a sweet card. He was always more of a tutor for busted lands in my cube rather than an outright source of advantage. I'm often tempted to add him back in so I'm interested to see how he does for you.
Karmic Guide - It is disappointing how there are few good cards in white to support reanimator (balance can sometimes help) but this guy can be good in Esper builds. Reveillark -> Karmic Guide -> something awesome is particularly strong.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Eternal Dragon - as the most powerful White fatty and a self-supporting reanimation target, I think these are very sensible additions.
Ravages of War - Looking forward to seeing the alter for this.
Enclave Cryptologist - Great card even without the graveyard push. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Trinket Mage - I'm a little surprised by this but you make a good case for it. Did you consider Chimeric Mass as another target for it?
Daze - I used to run this without much success, but maybe it is worth another look.
Capsize - Bounce is good against reanimator. 'Nuff said.
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 - Crucial to what you are wanting to achieve. Compulsive Research is less good but may be worth a look. I can't see Frantic Search in your list. That card enables turn 3 reanimation very consistently, as you can dump the fatty, untap and then reanimate. I strongly recommend it.
Academy Ruins, Tolarian Academy - Both necessary for the artifact deck. Would Shelldock Isle be worth considering for reanimator? It would be another way of getting the fatty into play and in a BU reanimator deck you often have lots of ways to shrink your library quickly. Probably a little loose but just a thought.
No Inkwell Leviathan? Supports both the reanimator decks and the artifact decks; I really like it, but it's partly because I like having a superfatty in every colour.
Cutting Jace 3.0 seems sensible. Do you really want to mill you're opponent when he might be running reanimator?
Putrid Imp - I remain unconvinced, but there are so few ways to get a turn 2 reanimation that he may be a necessary evil. The thing is that you won't be running a mono black reanimator deck, so maybe its better looking to other colours for this sort of thing.
Griselbrand - This guy is made for reanimator. The lifelink is huge: in my experience so far almost more important than the draw 7. I beat a mono-red aggro deck with my UB reanimator deck twice on the back of this guy. One game I was down to 1 life but could swing and gain life faster than the red deck could damage me.
Dance of the Dead, Exhume - I haven't tried DotD, but as well as allowing very early reanimation, the other advantage is that they are likely only wanted by dedicated reanimator decks. Unlike spells such as Necromancy it is hard to play Exhume for value unless you are certain that you will have better fatties in the yard than your opponent. Exhume really helps the archetype. Other decks may not want to play the untap for DotD so it may come late to reanimator decks, and is a neat combo with Elesh Norn. Vigilance for the win!
Zombie Infestation - I think this is super narrow, but there may just be enough ways to break it in cube. Again has the advantage that it will likely go late so be easier to pick up for the decks that need it. I have been having some success with Rotting Rats in testing. The symmetrical discard helps strip answers from your opponent's hand, the body helps prevent you being overrun by aggro decks early game and the unearth gives late game value if the first attempt to go off doesn't work out.
Buried Alive, Diabolic Servitude - I'm inclined to agree that these may be necessary to really push reanimator. I think I will give them both a try.
Living Death - This one is a lot of fun and can be phenomenal in more controlling reanimator builds.
Goblin Welder - A card that supports reanimator. And artifact decks. For one mana. And he can sometimes hose your opponent's plays. This little dude is value. "I wrecked your ashtray, Boss. But look! I made you an awesome F#@<-off killing machine!"
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - I took this guy out when I last shrank my cube, but he's coming back in now that there are infinite combos with cards that make it on their own merits. Even if they hardly ever happen, just knowing the potential is there makes my cube more fun. So I'll be looking out for a Zealous Conscripts too.
Firestorm - red becomes a very strong graveyard enabling colour with these additions.
Sneak Attack - Never left my cube. Just saying.
Somberwald Sage - This does look strong on paper, and I think is well worth testing. Is it just me or is she a little overdressed for a druid?
Pelakka Wurm - The life can be really important versus aggro if you are the ramp/reanimator deck. I like Terastodon in ramp decks when you can usually turn three unnecessary mana sources into extra creatures, but it never worked out so well in reanimator. The lowly Wurm always did much better: stabilised, beat face, and if it died helped draw me into another reanimation spell.
Natural Order - I think the fact that, like tinker, this is also a toolbox tutor tempts me to try it again.
Lightning Greaves - This is really good in reanimator and other fatty cheating decks. Getting your creature online immediately and protected is very valuable
Zuran Orb - Whine.
Most of the rest of the colourless cards are just really good. Makes you realize what you lose going down to 360.
Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge - I've had a lot of success with these two fine lands. Wish I had a RW and WB one.
Life // Death - I'm a bit surprised by this one, but may give it a try considering the write-up you've given it.
Llanowar Wastes - I've been happy with the wastes in this combination too. It feels counterintuitive in some ways but it just seems to work.
All in all really interesting changes. I had thought that my cube was one of the most reanimator friendly on these boards, but certainly no more.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
450, Peasant*, unpowered**
Specialities about the cube:
U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
depends on the seriousness of your playgroup i suppose? Or if your playing against someone you really want to beat that night =).
Deckbox tradelist/for sale
Draft my cube on cubetutor!
Check out my blog on Cube Archetypes!
Thanks for the long write-up and the extended commentary! I'll try and address some of the specific questions and comments you asked about:
I considered Chimeric Mass, but I decided against it. It's a fine tutor target for the Mage, but I couldn't find room.
Daze has been testing well. Free counterspells are plain good.
I'm looking into Frantic Search. I added in Intuition first because it pulls the threats from the deck and bins them for you. I went with Thirst because it also supports the artifact deck. If I can find room in a future update, it's right at the top of the list.
Shelldock was too slow for my old 450, and definitely too slow for the powered 360. But with all the extra draw/graveyard stuff that went in with this update, I'll be tracking the number of times we wind up with libraries <20 cards again. If it happens with some regularity, I'll add the card back in. It has a huge potential upside, but had a very low average performance for us before. But like I said, with all the extra 'yard support and looting, etc it could wind up playing a lot better.
I like Inkwell Leviathan too, but I really can't find room for it right now.
Zombie Infestation has been quite good. I like it more than Rotting Rats so far in testing. But I've always liked the repeatable threat generators, so I may be biased there. Plus, you can play it in front of your fatty; you don't need to already have it in hand to get value from the Infestation.
Life // Death has been very good in both modes. Finding new value from the Life side has been a little subgame of mine, and it's really not that hard. Attacking with a Hellrider out was fun. {-2}-ing a Tamiyo was better. Pairing it with Garruk's ultimate was game-ending on T4. With 6 lands you can add 5 extra damage to your alpha strike for G. Any battle cry/anthem effect out there turns Life into a 1-mana Rude Awakening. And it has a 2cc reanimation spell strapped to it.
Thanks for the feedback!
Like it or not, Miracle has changed all of Magic in every format to have this be "best practice" for drawing cards. If you don't want to give away any free information, drawing your cards like this every single time is the only way to go. While it would be nice to not have this extend to the cube, people in my playgroup that play in other formats will be doing it anyways as habit; may as well extend it to the cube to reinforce best practice.
Like I said in my response above, I'll be watching library counts and reconsidering the card. With all the extra draw/looting/graveyard support, this could end up being much better than it was before. It was bad/inconsistent in my old 450, and unplayable in the 360. But perhaps with extra help it could be worth using again. As a combo card with Gifts, FoF, Intuition, Loam and Buried Alive. Or as a sideboard card in the control mirror. We'll see. Thanks for the suggestion.
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!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Once I get all the alters finished, I'll be posting new pictures of the cube and re-starting the YMtP. I haven't forgotten.
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!
Thoughts on Forbidden Alchemy?
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
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!
Also, as an additional card to support those strategies, I'll be adding in Primeval Titan, which can be a sick card when ramped into play early (and it's a great Birthing Pod target, and my only true 6cc card in green). With Pod and Natural Order going in, it seemed natural to add in a creature that works so well with them. Thornling is going to be the cut for it, which was tested against Vorapede and Garruk 2 for a long time, and ultimately lost out to both.
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!
Where is your cube box from and how much was it? It's very sweet!
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!