I had a look at some Planar Chaos cards to have a look for some interesting color-pie stretching cards. Found a few that I have not seen discussed or cubed, that at least could be interesting to talk about.
Anyone have any experience with, or want to do some theorycrafting on, any of the following?
Enslave
Control magic is sweet. 6 mana is a lot. Small amounts of damage are unlikely to be very relevant unless you are in a situation where you are facing two scary things and steal the one to create a stalemate. But is this the best option for this effect in black?
Lavacore Elemental
Beware the best-case-scenario-analysis? If you play this on turn three and your opponent didn't play a two-drop it seems pretty sweet. Obviously goes in an aggro-deck, and seems best against a creature-light deck, but such a deck might just blast it out of the way. But then it is a 1 for 1 I suppose. When you are behind it is miserable, but might act as a kind of Fog.
Dead // Gone Shock that can't hit players with the option of being an expensive Unsummon. I guess the favourable way to read this card is that shock is a good card in the early game that can remove most early drops, and then it can bounce their big butts later on that are out of reach of your burn-spells, allowing you to keep aggroing. The unfavourable way is to say nasty things about Shock and then point out that this can't even hit players. How much do we value flexibility then?
(How do we link to split-cards again?)
Edit: it workded.
I played both Enslave and Dead // Gone at one point in my cube because I liked them in Time Spiral Limited. I think both can be decent addition in cubes of 540 or bigger. Enslave might be good enough for 450.
On another note, what are people's experiences with Hour of Need? It has been pretty mediocre here. it mostly ends up in sideboards, what type of decks would like to have Hour in Need?
I"ve been curious about trying Hour of Need too. It seems like it scales up as the game progresses, turning your Welkin Terns and Wingcrafters into beefy flyers. Of course, I could see it being total dead weight sometimes, too. And of course, I need to be running Enslave.
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Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 6/29/20 (Core Set 2021).
I have had Hour of Need in there since basically that set's prerelease. Almost always makes the cut in a 50%+ blue deck, usually played to good effect.
No real interest in Enslave, the CMC is absurdly high and the lifeloss clause might as well be flavor text in most games.
It's been a part of multiple insane value plays when it isn't played around, and even when it is, its default state is still a flash speed multi-target untap + spectral flight, which isn't bad at all.
What's your opinion on Nemesis of Mortals? Other good cards in this slot?
like every "big bomb" — the card is good.
it excels best in match-ups where combat interaction and trading is heavy, but other than that; in our current environment — I would rather take an evasive 2 drop or value 3 drop over him.
his largest pro is obviously that you can play him at discount and 5/5; left unanswered obviously wins, but unfortunately he doesn't have any reach or versatility beyond turning sideways. He'll occasional assist you coming back from behind by himself, but there are better options than him if that's what you're looking for in your designated fatties. (pelakka wurm)
I've been cubing Enslave for a while. It's been alright as a curve-topper for the black midrange decks and as a control magic effect for the UB control decks that somehow missed Control Magic, Mind Control, and Binding Grasp during the draft. I think the fact that I have 3 effects like that in blue makes Enslave a little less relevant, but not completely obsolete. In a smaller cube, I wouldn't dream of playing Enslave.
Hour of Need has also been pretty solid. It gets an occasional blowout and is rarely useless.
What's your opinion on Nemesis of Mortals? Other good cards in this slot?
I am also musing over this particular card at the moment. It's competition in my cube are Baloth Woodcrasher and Destructor Dragon. Nemesis of Mortals has no Trample or Flying, but can be cast for 2 mana in certain decks/ situations. It is also the only one of the three that can buff as high as 10/10 without outside help. But he gets chump blocked all day long by tokens. Baloth Woodcrasher is great, but unreliable. He will smash things up for a few turns and then suddenly you run out of land to drop... Destructor Dragon is the most reliable but also the most boring. Flying gets the damage through consistently, but 4/4 is not as bomb-y as I would like. His death effect is decent though, can get rid of a troublesome Skullclamp or Behemoth Sledge.
No evasion just seems to make it weak. Getting blocked by dorks and tokens just seems so bad. Delve is an upside, sure, but if you are playing a ramp deck, you can't always rely on a significantly discounted delve cost. Midrange-y decks seems to be where he shines.
I'll probably test Destructor Dragon but I don't see it sticking around.
I really want to push ramp decks, though. What I'm saying is, I really want more spooky scary fatties like Pelakka Wurm.
Gravetiller Wurm anyone? Easily splashed, but it seems tricky to trigger morbid, especially game 2 or 3.
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"Once you let go of your morals, everything becomes funny."
To generally quote Leelue -- Gravetiller Wurm gets a bunch better if you play a couple of already-decent green cards that make Eldrazi Spawn tokens. Ramp + built-in morbid!
yeah the druid is often a must kill. Turn 3 nessian asp or most 5s is really hard for hands without hard removal to beat. The variance is strong but it's a great puzzle piece.
How would you guys have built this pool? This is my first draft since I pushed a bunch of archetype cards, GB Graves being one of them. I'm going to take out boneyard wurm after I found that I didn't really want it in the deck it was meant to go in. Commune with the gods might go too, but I'd like to try Spider spawning (and cheat it into the 360 as a mono-green card )
Am I missing something, or are these cards awesome? Running less cards for free is all upside, as is being on the play every game. Why aren't people cubeing these cards? Is it just that they're too "weird" for most people's taste? Am I missing something that makes them bad?
Am I missing something, or are these cards awesome? Running less cards for free is all upside, as is being on the play every game. Why aren't people cubeing these cards? Is it just that they're too "weird" for most people's taste? Am I missing something that makes them bad?
I like them, I cut the ones that felt broken, or unfun.
But now, I don't think I want to draft my cube without Unexpected Potential in it.
I particularly like Unexpected Potential and Advantageous Proclamation...I've teetered back and forth on including them or not. The old school player in me doesn't really like the dynamic of them, but their potential is hard to deny.
Cubing with Unexpected Potential and Double Stroke. Only Unexpected Potential has shown up in draft, and the player who drafted it named Pelakka Wurm. He was playing WR control. I think interactions like this with Unexpected Potential add an extra dynamic to cubing that doesn't necessarily ruin the experience for those who didn't draft it.
Double Stroke, though it hasn't reared its ugly head yet should be swiftly cut (but if I did I'd be a hypocrite since I'm cubing with warhammer, sledge, skullclamp, sol ring).
EDIT: I just added Call of the Herd. I'll report on how well it fits in CU/be.
I had a look at some Planar Chaos cards to have a look for some interesting color-pie stretching cards. Found a few that I have not seen discussed or cubed, that at least could be interesting to talk about.
Anyone have any experience with, or want to do some theorycrafting on, any of the following?
Enslave
Control magic is sweet. 6 mana is a lot. Small amounts of damage are unlikely to be very relevant unless you are in a situation where you are facing two scary things and steal the one to create a stalemate. But is this the best option for this effect in black?
Lavacore Elemental
Beware the best-case-scenario-analysis? If you play this on turn three and your opponent didn't play a two-drop it seems pretty sweet. Obviously goes in an aggro-deck, and seems best against a creature-light deck, but such a deck might just blast it out of the way. But then it is a 1 for 1 I suppose. When you are behind it is miserable, but might act as a kind of Fog.
Dead // Gone
Shock that can't hit players with the option of being an expensive Unsummon. I guess the favourable way to read this card is that shock is a good card in the early game that can remove most early drops, and then it can bounce their big butts later on that are out of reach of your burn-spells, allowing you to keep aggroing. The unfavourable way is to say nasty things about Shock and then point out that this can't even hit players. How much do we value flexibility then?
(How do we link to split-cards again?)
Edit: it workded.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
enslave is good since i think it's one of few (if not the only) options for this effect in black. a 6 mana mind control is still fine i think.
lavacore elemental seems terrible but i'm just looking at that awful wcs.
On another note, what are people's experiences with Hour of Need? It has been pretty mediocre here. it mostly ends up in sideboards, what type of decks would like to have Hour in Need?
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
My 720 Peasant Cube
No real interest in Enslave, the CMC is absurdly high and the lifeloss clause might as well be flavor text in most games.
~David Hayden
[420 Peasant Cube] (work in progress)
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/21789
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
It's been a part of multiple insane value plays when it isn't played around, and even when it is, its default state is still a flash speed multi-target untap + spectral flight, which isn't bad at all.
like every "big bomb" — the card is good.
it excels best in match-ups where combat interaction and trading is heavy, but other than that; in our current environment — I would rather take an evasive 2 drop or value 3 drop over him.
his largest pro is obviously that you can play him at discount and 5/5; left unanswered obviously wins, but unfortunately he doesn't have any reach or versatility beyond turning sideways. He'll occasional assist you coming back from behind by himself, but there are better options than him if that's what you're looking for in your designated fatties. (pelakka wurm)
Hour of Need has also been pretty solid. It gets an occasional blowout and is rarely useless.
Modern
Value Town
Amulet Titan
Legacy
4C Loam
My Peasant Cube
http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/11667
I am also musing over this particular card at the moment. It's competition in my cube are Baloth Woodcrasher and Destructor Dragon.
Nemesis of Mortals has no Trample or Flying, but can be cast for 2 mana in certain decks/ situations. It is also the only one of the three that can buff as high as 10/10 without outside help. But he gets chump blocked all day long by tokens.
Baloth Woodcrasher is great, but unreliable. He will smash things up for a few turns and then suddenly you run out of land to drop...
Destructor Dragon is the most reliable but also the most boring. Flying gets the damage through consistently, but 4/4 is not as bomb-y as I would like. His death effect is decent though, can get rid of a troublesome Skullclamp or Behemoth Sledge.
I'll probably test Destructor Dragon but I don't see it sticking around.
I really want to push ramp decks, though. What I'm saying is, I really want more spooky scary fatties like Pelakka Wurm.
Gravetiller Wurm anyone? Easily splashed, but it seems tricky to trigger morbid, especially game 2 or 3.
~David Hayden
[420 Peasant Cube] (work in progress)
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/21789
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
1x Putrid Leech
1x Satyr Wayfinder
1x Wall of Roots
1x Wild Mongrel
1x Dreg Mangler
1x Hypnotic Specter
1x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Masked Admirers
1x Penumbra Spider
1x Skinrender
1x Temur Sabertooth
1x Acidic Slime
1x Deadwood Treefolk
1x Nemesis of Mortals
1x Darkblast
1x Dismember
Sorcery
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Drown in Sorrow
1x Roar of the Wurm
Enchantment
1x Wild Growth
1x Curse of Predation
1x Necromancy
Enchantment Creature
1x Nyx Weaver
Land
1x Jungle Hollow
1x Treetop Village
1x Vivid Grove
1x Vivid Marsh
6x Swamp
7x Forest
1x Animate Dead
1x Beetleback Chief
1x Boneyard Wurm
1x Carnophage
1x Carven Caryatid
1x Centaur Glade
1x Civic Wayfinder
1x Dance of the Dead
1x Explore
1x Gravetiller Wurm
1x Krosan Tusker
1x Phyrexian Gargantua
1x Phyrexian Rager
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Tragic Slip
1x Unburial Rites
1x Unearth
1x Wolfir Avenger
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Am I missing something, or are these cards awesome? Running less cards for free is all upside, as is being on the play every game. Why aren't people cubeing these cards? Is it just that they're too "weird" for most people's taste? Am I missing something that makes them bad?
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I like them, I cut the ones that felt broken, or unfun.
But now, I don't think I want to draft my cube without Unexpected Potential in it.
I particularly like Unexpected Potential and Advantageous Proclamation...I've teetered back and forth on including them or not. The old school player in me doesn't really like the dynamic of them, but their potential is hard to deny.
Double Stroke, though it hasn't reared its ugly head yet should be swiftly cut (but if I did I'd be a hypocrite since I'm cubing with warhammer, sledge, skullclamp, sol ring).
EDIT: I just added Call of the Herd. I'll report on how well it fits in CU/be.
Multiplayer Cube