I enjoy Purphoros, he doesn't ask a whole lot to be good and isn't often a very early pick up for red. When I want him, I can get him and when I want him, he's REALLY good. Even as a 23rd card if I really screwed up my draft, he'll probably get in a bit of work as well. He hits the required amount of "fun" to justify his slot in my 450.
Bloodbraid Elf is probably my favorite card in cube. It creates so many feel good moments, that don't inherently feel that awful to be up against. With the singleton nature of cube, it's not as easy to make sure that it's always backbreaking but at the same time I'm never disappointed when I cast it.
It's going to take Magic going in a really weird direction for me to ever cut BBE.
Bonus Answer - I've only ever seen a few waterfalls, Niagra and a backwoods one near where I used to live in Japan. Niagra Falls was certainly very impressive, but I don't know that I'd call it beautiful. The one in Japan was very pretty, but I only every really caught it in quick glimpses on a train.
Viscera Seer is something I could probably cut, but having a quick sac outlet has been a bit useful.
Why not Carrion Feeder? It has synergy with Gravecrawler and is quite playable if an aggro deck need another cc1 dude, since he can easily grow big and makes blocking more difficult. In non aggro decks, who want to have a sac outlet an do not run Gravecrawler, Seer is probably better, but pretty unplayable in aggro I think and less therefore less flexible
That is an excellent question that I do not have an answer to I'm sure I have one in my boxes of cards to slot in. Definite good call, and A+ recommendation. Thanks, yo!
Carrion Feeder is pretty underrated IMO, also excelling in BW token builds. It has performed better for me than a lot of others here, though, so have a grain of salt in tow.
Great point, and I have been transitioning into tokens for my black white section after one of my players became super into it in Modern. This seems like such a no brainer that I totally blanked on.
Vampire Lacerator was cut a while ago for my group. We tend to stick away from the straight aggro decks and go for the more "fun" cards (Recurring Nightmare, Show and Tell, that ilk). I still support aggro in Red and White, but it's taken a back seat in Green and Black. I'll probably be revisiting this as I revisit a lot of my cube over the next few months, but for now Lacerator is out.
I will say that when I revisit Black Aggro, I'm not even sure that Lacerator will come back in. I like Scarhide for the ability to sit on top of another creature if drawn later. Champion's recursion allows it to play a role in more than just aggro.dec. Viscera Seer is something I could probably cut, but having a quick sac outlet has been a bit useful. Diregraf Ghoul and Gravecrawler are just awesome in their own right.
If I were to really push black aggro (and maybe steer white towards a more midrange color), then Lacerator and Carnophage would probably come in.
I've never had a really bad cut (outside of surgery). So probably a cat scratch from giving my cat a bath a few years back.
Also going to grab one of these. This will most likely replace Spikeshot Elder, which routinely doesn't see play with my group. Isamaru the Red should be a good include.
I'm going to give it a shot in my cube. My Azorius is currently Venser, Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere and Judge's Familiar. While not the same slot, Judge's Familiar rarely gets played so I'll probably swap out those two and then tinker from there. Ojutai's Command will probably also be tested in that slot.
Excited for the card, foils of it are going to be gorgeous.
Yea, it definitely needs to be cut down. A bit overzealous in trying to recreate the one mana removal of Path. I'd love to find a 2 mana piece of removal that I liked, the deck is a bit crowded in three drops.
Something I noticed while looking through the KTK spoilers was that Sorin, Solemn Visitor looked a lot like the Sorin that sees play in BW tokens (Sorin, Lord of Innistrad). It got me thinking, and after going over my BW tokens list, I found some standard replacements that meant I could run a fairly similar list to my Modern deck. It's clunky, that's for sure, but it seems like it might work.
BW Tokens in Modern works by playing a lot of hand disruption to keep your opponent off of their plan, then play instants and sorceries that create more than 1 creature token, and play some anthems as well. There are more nuances to the deck, but that's essentially how it works. The idea is that if a token dies you're only trading half or a third of a card.
The idea here is to do essentially the same thing. Use your hand disruption to learn your opponent's plan and mess it up. Then put some creatures down and swing in for 6 or so per turn.
Token Generators:
Raise the Alarm - This is a given, it's already run in the Modern deck. It's standard legal. It's in.
Triplicate Spirits - A bit clunky in comparison to Spectral Procession, but I feel like it's an adequate substitution. It's not perfect, but it'll work.
Take Up Arms - This is my least favorite one, and something that I'd actively look to replace if a better token spawner were to be printed.
Thoughtseize - Once again, it's in the modern list. It's in this one.
Despise - It's certainly not an Inquisition of Kozilek or a Duress, but it hits the things this deck is worried about (decent ground blockers in Green and Elspeth/Sarkhan)
Brain Maggot - Almost Tidehollow Sculler, but not quite. Still does the trick though.
Anthems:
Spear of Heliod - Pretty good, sadly legendary so not a 4 of
Hall of Triumph - All the tokens are white (except Sorin's), so this works. Since I run 3 Spears and 3 Sorins, I only do 1 of the Hall
The only card that I couldn't really get a true replacement for was Path to Exile. I'm hoping that with dumping enough Instants and Sorceries in the yard, Murderous Cut can play a similar part. I'm not sure and am most hesitant there.
This deck will have trouble with Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrow. The best way to play around these is to not over commit. Angering away a cards worth of tokens is fine. Angering away three cards worth is huge.
Some considerations:
Going Abzan (adding Green) opens up the possibility of running the GW fetch, Abzan Charm and Abzan Ascendancy. The fetch would smooth out some mana, the Charm would work as removal and the Ascendancy could work as another anthem (one shot) and token generator (for when Brain Maggots and Brimaz die).
4 Murderous Cut is probably too much. More likely it'll be cut to 2-3 and I'll add 1-2 Hero's Downfall.
At the end of the day, a lot of concessions had to be made when converting from the Modern deck. I don't really think this is a Tier 1 deck, but it seems fun and it has a lot of the workings that its bigger Modern brother has. I think I'll be using this in FNM for a bit to try it out.
I had him in my more budget oriented cube for a while. Solid card, would consistently make it into the 10-20 slot (not deck defining, but certainly in no risk of being left out of the 40). If you're looking for a budget walker, I'd definitely recommend him. He was replaced by Knight Errant and Sun's Champion Elspeths (Elspethi?), since Ajani 3 is a midrange card and the route that white in my cube was trying to go was more white weenies.
If you're looking for a solid white card, he's not horrible as either a place holder for something better or even in a 450+ list.
so theoretically, people that play "Unpowered cubes" should not be including Jitte in their list, since it rated above Lotus and the Moxen. Not that crazy when I think about how it can take over a game, though!
A lack of experience with the Lotus and Moxen by some players (and therefor a lack of votes/ranking) will skew them a bit down from cards that are much easier to acquire and play with. I'm not sure if I'd really rank Jitte as "power" in terms of cube.
Went to my LGS and found a couple cards for fairly cheap. I'm a bit sad to see Fettergeist go, but it hasn't been pulling its weight recently, and I'd like to give Capsize a shot. Elvish Archdruid is another card that I had hoped to push with more elves, but it just wasn't working at all. Hound of Griselbrand, while an awesome sword carrier, tended to be kinda bleh on its own. Hero of Oxid Ridge should be a great replacement.
These are the only lands I've had some play with in cube. Alexandria was cut for being far too powerful in comparison to the rest of the cards in my cube (maybe one day it'll get put back in). Just about everything else is either in it now, has been in before, or regularly rotates in and out.
1. Library of Alexandria
2. Strip Mine
3. City of Brass
4. Rav Shock Lands
5. Grand Coliseum
6. Maze of Ith
7. Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse
8. Ancient Tomb
9. Mutavault
10. Pain Lands
11. Filter Lands
12. M10/ISD Buddy(Check) Lands
13. Fast Lands
14. Reflecting Pool
15. Shards of Alara tapped lands
16. Gemstone Mine
17. Thawing Glaciers
18. Island
19. Mountain
20. Swamp
Small changes recently. First I decided against proxies for the ABU and Fetch lands. I'm going to keep my cube as traditionalist as possible, which means only real cards, no custom errata, and singleton through English card name (though not card effect, for example Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds are both fine).
Stifle is the card most likely to be swapped back. While Opportunity was a great card, it was lacking a bit behind the creatures that can draw cards (Lu Xun and any of the looters) in terms of being main decked. Though I'm also a bit iffy on Stifle being extremely useful without Fetches.
Still no pictures, they're to come. I'll also be making a thread for my [180] Peasant Travel Cube eventually, but it's still being developed.
As always, comments questions and criticism are very welcome
I picked up some really cheap KMC matte in blue...a switch from my usual black. Forgot that I had been stockpiling KMC matte in black so I could just replace as needed. Now i need to wear out these blues and switch back. Sometimes I do things that make sense and then totally negate them by being stupid.
I double sleeve with the tight fits, too. I've never noticed any sort of wear to my cards at all using this method; even foils stay completely scratch free. Mind you, I cube every single day and have had my cube at many a drunken Magic night--salsa included.
One might say that...everyday you're shuffling?
...
...
I'll leave...
Oh! Actually: Has anyone found a good place to buy the Deck Builder's Toolkit Boxes? 25$ seems like a lot for half a cube box to me, but they're so nice.
Troll and Toad has random fat pack boxes, but I couldn't find a lot for these. Fat Pack boxes are okay, but I don't like that they don't stay firmly shut.
Might be a little bit too cutesy, but Starcity has animated creature box things. They're about 5 bucks or so. They seem pretty nice and I think I'm going to get two of the penguin one for cube/land storage.
It's going to take Magic going in a really weird direction for me to ever cut BBE.
Bonus Answer - I've only ever seen a few waterfalls, Niagra and a backwoods one near where I used to live in Japan. Niagra Falls was certainly very impressive, but I don't know that I'd call it beautiful. The one in Japan was very pretty, but I only every really caught it in quick glimpses on a train.
That is an excellent question that I do not have an answer to
Great point, and I have been transitioning into tokens for my black white section after one of my players became super into it in Modern. This seems like such a no brainer that I totally blanked on.
Thanks guys
Right now at 450 my black one drop creatures are:
Bloodsoaked Champion
Diregraf Ghoul
Gravecrawler
Viscera Seer
Gnarled Scarhide
I will say that when I revisit Black Aggro, I'm not even sure that Lacerator will come back in. I like Scarhide for the ability to sit on top of another creature if drawn later. Champion's recursion allows it to play a role in more than just aggro.dec. Viscera Seer is something I could probably cut, but having a quick sac outlet has been a bit useful. Diregraf Ghoul and Gravecrawler are just awesome in their own right.
If I were to really push black aggro (and maybe steer white towards a more midrange color), then Lacerator and Carnophage would probably come in.
I've never had a really bad cut (outside of surgery). So probably a cat scratch from giving my cat a bath a few years back.
Excited for the card, foils of it are going to be gorgeous.
Something I noticed while looking through the KTK spoilers was that Sorin, Solemn Visitor looked a lot like the Sorin that sees play in BW tokens (Sorin, Lord of Innistrad). It got me thinking, and after going over my BW tokens list, I found some standard replacements that meant I could run a fairly similar list to my Modern deck. It's clunky, that's for sure, but it seems like it might work.
BW Tokens in Modern works by playing a lot of hand disruption to keep your opponent off of their plan, then play instants and sorceries that create more than 1 creature token, and play some anthems as well. There are more nuances to the deck, but that's essentially how it works. The idea is that if a token dies you're only trading half or a third of a card.
The idea here is to do essentially the same thing. Use your hand disruption to learn your opponent's plan and mess it up. Then put some creatures down and swing in for 6 or so per turn.
Token Generators:
Raise the Alarm - This is a given, it's already run in the Modern deck. It's standard legal. It's in.
Triplicate Spirits - A bit clunky in comparison to Spectral Procession, but I feel like it's an adequate substitution. It's not perfect, but it'll work.
Take Up Arms - This is my least favorite one, and something that I'd actively look to replace if a better token spawner were to be printed.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos - Also helps to pump out some dudes.
Hand Disruption:
Thoughtseize - Once again, it's in the modern list. It's in this one.
Despise - It's certainly not an Inquisition of Kozilek or a Duress, but it hits the things this deck is worried about (decent ground blockers in Green and Elspeth/Sarkhan)
Brain Maggot - Almost Tidehollow Sculler, but not quite. Still does the trick though.
Anthems:
Spear of Heliod - Pretty good, sadly legendary so not a 4 of
Hall of Triumph - All the tokens are white (except Sorin's), so this works. Since I run 3 Spears and 3 Sorins, I only do 1 of the Hall
Sorin, Solemn Visitor - He works as an anthem or a token generator.
The only card that I couldn't really get a true replacement for was Path to Exile. I'm hoping that with dumping enough Instants and Sorceries in the yard, Murderous Cut can play a similar part. I'm not sure and am most hesitant there.
My list ended up looking like this:
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Triplicate Spirits
4x Take Up Arms
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Hand Disruption:
4x Thoughtseize
3x Despise
3x Brain Maggot
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3x Spear of Heliod
1x Hall of Triumph
Removal:
2x Murderous Cut
2x Hero's Downfall
4x Caves of Koilos
9x Plains
7x Swamp
4x Temple of Silence
This deck will have trouble with Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrow. The best way to play around these is to not over commit. Angering away a cards worth of tokens is fine. Angering away three cards worth is huge.
Some considerations:
Going Abzan (adding Green) opens up the possibility of running the GW fetch, Abzan Charm and Abzan Ascendancy. The fetch would smooth out some mana, the Charm would work as removal and the Ascendancy could work as another anthem (one shot) and token generator (for when Brain Maggots and Brimaz die).
4 Murderous Cut is probably too much. More likely it'll be cut to 2-3 and I'll add 1-2 Hero's Downfall.
At the end of the day, a lot of concessions had to be made when converting from the Modern deck. I don't really think this is a Tier 1 deck, but it seems fun and it has a lot of the workings that its bigger Modern brother has. I think I'll be using this in FNM for a bit to try it out.
If you're looking for a solid white card, he's not horrible as either a place holder for something better or even in a 450+ list.
A lack of experience with the Lotus and Moxen by some players (and therefor a lack of votes/ranking) will skew them a bit down from cards that are much easier to acquire and play with. I'm not sure if I'd really rank Jitte as "power" in terms of cube.
Out ---> In
Fettergeist ---> Capsize
Foil---> Compulsive Research
Izzet Charm---> Dack's Duplicate
Swiftfoot Boots---> Worn Powerstone
Olivia Voldaren---> Falkenrath Aristocrat
Thespian's Stage---> Thawing Glaciers
Hound of Griselbrand---> Hero of Oxid Ridge
Elvish Archdruid---> Sakura-Tribe Elder
Went to my LGS and found a couple cards for fairly cheap. I'm a bit sad to see Fettergeist go, but it hasn't been pulling its weight recently, and I'd like to give Capsize a shot. Elvish Archdruid is another card that I had hoped to push with more elves, but it just wasn't working at all. Hound of Griselbrand, while an awesome sword carrier, tended to be kinda bleh on its own. Hero of Oxid Ridge should be a great replacement.
1. Library of Alexandria
2. Strip Mine
3. City of Brass
4. Rav Shock Lands
5. Grand Coliseum
6. Maze of Ith
7. Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse
8. Ancient Tomb
9. Mutavault
10. Pain Lands
11. Filter Lands
12. M10/ISD Buddy(Check) Lands
13. Fast Lands
14. Reflecting Pool
15. Shards of Alara tapped lands
16. Gemstone Mine
17. Thawing Glaciers
18. Island
19. Mountain
20. Swamp
Second, I made some changes after getting a few cards from Conspiracy/LGS/Modern Event Deck:
Out ---> In
Opportunity--->Stifle
Talrand's Invocation--->Misdirection
Steam Augury--->Dack Fayden
Falkenrath Aristocrat--->Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
Prophet of Kruphix--->Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Myr Sire--->Basalt Monolith
Grafted Wargear--->Sword of Feast and Famine
Stifle is the card most likely to be swapped back. While Opportunity was a great card, it was lacking a bit behind the creatures that can draw cards (Lu Xun and any of the looters) in terms of being main decked. Though I'm also a bit iffy on Stifle being extremely useful without Fetches.
Still no pictures, they're to come. I'll also be making a thread for my [180] Peasant Travel Cube eventually, but it's still being developed.
As always, comments questions and criticism are very welcome
Might be a little bit too cutesy, but Starcity has animated creature box things. They're about 5 bucks or so. They seem pretty nice and I think I'm going to get two of the penguin one for cube/land storage.
http://www.starcitygames.com/pages/creaturecollection/