Not exactly sure if it's cool that I post this here but wanted input from the Pauper community. I recently built a Pauper Battle Box. I don't have a ton of experience or depth of knowledge with Pauper (Peasant cube is why I frequent).
I was hoping you fine people could point me to some inefficiencies or straight up poor card choices and maybe help with some replacement recommendations.
There are some morph cards. The ability wasn't something I sought to play a lot of. The cards with morph that are in are used to push certain things that I was already doing (Temur Charger giving a creature Trample before pumping it a bunch or Horde Ambusher working along with the "can't block theme running through whit e and red). A card like Willbender CERTAINLY has a place in a cube like this though that was a pure oversight on my part.
I hate the lull in time between big set releases and the second set in a block. Hate it. Something I have found myself doing in this interim to satisfy the need to tinker is to build a cube that I use to influence my “real” cube.
So I sat down and my thoughts were fairly simple:
1) Can I learn anything about cards with Heroic that is applicable to a cube that isn't built with it in mind? I dislike limiting my thought process on cards that there are a bunch of. And with Heroic I felt that you could support the better cards in a "real" environment if you were careful about it.
2) Can I make a cube that is 30% instants?
3) Can they all say ‘target creature’?
4) Can I make this “work” in a balanced way?
5) Can I do it without overlapping with the cube I already have?
The answers were also fairly straight forward:
1) In colors like Red and White I believe cards with Heoric (specifically Akroan Crusader and Vangaurd of Brimaz) are good enough to try and enable. A lot of red sections are spell heavy because of UR spells matter decks and I don't think it would be all that difficult (especially with Prowess making those decks stronger) swapping some burn for Cards like Dragon Mantle and Hammerhand and Coordinated Assault and Brute Force. I feel the same way about white sections. Not for everyone to be sure but I think these 2 cards specifcally with the way they dovetail into RW aggressive and token decks are worth at least looking at a second time.
2) I can. And did. at this point I am around 24% and I think this is beautiful. It works so much better than I could have anticipated.
3) I can. And with few exceptions all of the spells still say target creature at this point and I am, again, very happy with the way it worked.
4) I can. This is much more complex. The issues I found were:
WotC dosen’t really make Black instants that say target creature that aren’t removal.
WotC dosen’t really make Red instants that say target creature that aren’t Burn.
WotC dosen’t really make Blue instants that say target creature that aren’t Bounce.
WotC dosen’t really make Green instants that say target creature that aren’t Pump.
With all things there are exceptions to the rules and a deep dive or seven on gatherer uncovered some sweet toys. I think I've found a good balance but I am not convinced I've found everything there is to find but I've got time.
5) I could have and in fact did. The first pass was 100% cards I wasn’t playing in the 450 I usually keep with me at all appropriate times. It didn’t take long for this to change. Not because it had to but because I quickly fell for this new cube and wanted to see exactly what I could make of it if I just pushed everything I had into it. Even if that meant sacrificing some of the ideas that led me here to begin with. That said I have still maintained a good bit of dissonance between the two cubes (and the way this cube is built necessitates that a great deal).
Let’s make a check list of exactly what we hope to accomplish:
• Black aggro – I don’t support this in my “real” cube because it was always underwhelming and once I made the change black finally felt like a real boy that was as fun and flexible as the other colors. Since then there have been 3 additional two power one mana creatures birthed into the world. Let’s see how good it is really.
• Green aggro - I don’t support this in my “real” cube because it was far too far afelid of the rest of green’s signature archetypes. Like black aggro things have changed and with the way this cube would be constructed I thought now was the time to dig up my Jungle Lion and Experiment One and see exactly what we were working with.
• +1+1 counters – This ties directly to the next bullet point but it is worth noting that this came directly from my experience with Outlast at GP Orlando (3-2 drop cause my deck wasn’t good enough to win out and even if it were I was not. Also, a friend was like, “Food?”)
• Heroic – If you drafted Theros Block you already know that these cards are powerful. Going a little deeper is what I cared about. I love Akroan Crusader but for a normal cube the general consensus is “too difficult to support”. This cube isn’t normal and when you build for Heroic what happens? And when it happens what exactly does that tell you about the way the cards (especially the more powerful among them) can function when not directly supported? I have answers and they surprised me.
• Prowess – I knew Prowess was nutso. At the Prerelease I picked up Monastery Swiftspear, Jeskai Elder and Jeskiai Windscout (Seeker of the Way was immediately regarded as probably too good but we are using it here for reasons and I was probably right in my assessment) and they went into my “real” cube. But what about the less heralded amongst the Jeskai? Let’s push it as far as we can and see if the probably not very good 1W 1/3 and 4U Hexproof 4/2 can be real cards.
• Combat, Combat, Combat – Obvious, really. When you build around instants that aren’t removal things get real attack-y real fast. But can it be regulated to where boards don’t become stalemates decided by who draws the bombiest trick or the highest volume of non-lands? Turns out this wasn’t a problem at all.
I am going to post the list I am currently at now (after 10 drafts over about a month) and talk about all the things from above again and then talk about where I am going when I sit down to tweak again.
Black Aggro – The first draft was 3-0 6-1’d by a black aggressive deck. This was a problem. Not that it did well but the way it did well and a problem that was inherent in the way I built the cube and the black section specifically (too many ETB creatures as a start but the removal number was also too high despite being something I was acutely aware of when building). I made a change of 12 cards and the deck hasn’t ruined a draft the same way since. I still don’t feel like I’ve nailed the perfect configuration though. (The other deck that did really well in draft 1 was UG and featured unblockable creatures and pump spells exclusively. It was stupid to put them in the cube to begin with and I removed everything with native unblockability of any kind immediately after. A fairly embarrassing oversight on my part.)
Green Aggro – Green, probably unsurprisingly, is best at sharing and RG/BG/WG and UG decks of all sorts have been really strong in drafts. Mono green has been a little less prevalent (as are most mono colored strategies in C/Ube, I find). It has done well in drafts though and I’m happy with that and the balance I found with pump spells (I had to sacrifice the 30% instants goal to do it since the fight cards are mostly Sorcery speed, but eggs and omelets).
+1+1 Counters – A smashing success. Honestly, Outlast creatures are just impressive to me. Some for sure more than others but none of the ones I put in have been bad. This theme runs through all 5 colors which is exceptionally interesting as it has led to some greedy deck building choices and interesting decks. Plaxcaster Frogling has been the standout card among the non-Outlast support cards. The most fun thing I’ve been able to do is:
I am at 6 with a single card in my hand but a fairly robust board including Phalanx Leader. My opponent has 2 fliers and lethal on the next turn. I draw Abzan Battle Priest and with the card in my hand trigger Phalanx Leader in combat to gain 26.
The additional clauses on Outlast Creatures when surrounded by +1+1 support get out of control quickly (you don’t say?). This is the only blowout that has come of them though. To my surprise there hasn’t been an outcry for the removal of the Outlast creatures. The theme and being widespread has added a great deal of depth to the actual drafting process. This is probably the thing I am most proud of with this cube. It took a lot of digging to find exactly the cards to get to this point but I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Heroic – Unsurprisingly, this worked out incredibly. The way this cube is built means you are going to be able to trigger any heroic ability upwards of 11-12 times reasonably per deck. That doesn’t include the cards that trigger 2 or 3 at the same time. The green cards have been the least impressive which I wouldn’t have suspected (despite my love of Akroan Crusader I had my doubts about basically all of the other Red heroes and was surprised by almost all of them). I suspect the green issue is fixable. I intentionally stayed clear of a lot of ramp and I think a few mana elves might correct cumbersome nature of the green creatures (1GG 1/1, 3G 2/2, 3GG 3/3 are all below the bar on cost to P/T conversion but being able to play them on 3, 4, 5 and have mana up to trigger them probably cleans that up some).
Combat, Combat, Combat –Absolutely, and intentionally a major feature of the cube but what I really enjoy is the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach every time an opponent turns something sideways. NO ONE IS SAFE. This is the least surprising but my favorite thing about the cube. Combat math and being able to navigate combat tricks is one of the more valuable skills when playing WotC limited formats and it has been fun watching the people I play with stare at the board and try and remember the draft and the cards they saw. I am consistently impressed by the way the games breakdown but rarely amount to slogs of locked up boards.
Going forward I think the cube needs 5 more land and the artifacts are probably the go to cuts for them. I do want to tweak some numbers here and there. 1-2 more removal spells to help push black aggressive decks just a little while also helping midrange decks get to a point where they can execute their plans. I am hoping Outlast and Prowess make returns over the rest of Tarkir Block so I can continue to fiddle with the capabilities of the mechanics on a level that is my own to control. I want to figure out Green and Blue a little better. Green I mentioned in the heroic section but blue I haven’t really touched on. The reason for that is Blue has changed the least from draft 2 to 10 (draft 1 being the unblockable creatures still in draft). The cards I chose work really well but don’t lend themselves to mono Blue the way other colors do and, like green, I want the identity of Blue to be one you could forgo other colors for. I suspect the answer is flying but that’s a slippery slope as they become pseudo unblockable and that is not where I want to be, again. But if I can’t maneuver in a way that makes Blue a standalone star that’s ok. In general I draft 6 person team drafts and very rarely are any decks one color so if Blue’s role in the cube is as a featured player but not a star that’s fine by me.
Sorry this was a bit long winded but I really am quite excited with how much fun this cube turned out to be and wanted to share. If you have any thoughts or suggestions please let me have them.
This is how is build it. The splash colors cards are pretty good (especially the Simic creatures). The mana is rough but this build has 6 sources for Black and 6 for Blue (counting Krosan Tusker). I like the Flash sub theme the deck has going for it. The only thing I don't really like is it doesn't get itself on the board early so maybe cutting Juggernaut for Felwar Stone is correct. In any case I think this gives you a good shot at consistently playing magic where a riskier deck might crap out on lands. Posts like this are a lot of fun. Can't wait to get a shot at the other pools.
Squirrely did a great job of offering a bunch of different things you can do. I can specifically attest to the Modern Masters Suspend-Storm deck since I really love it in my cube. While you won't often "just win" with Empty the Warrens the average number of goblins produced is between 6 and 8 and the high has been 16. And mostly it exists as a package in rg midrange decks (turn 5 Skred-Empty for 4 goblins is perfectly fine and only gets better from there), though it can be the focus of a deck when Empty shows up early in draft. The thing to know about the deck is there are a lot of cards that fit in elsewhere that really excel in it. Burning Tree Emissary, mana elves, guttersnipe, young Pyromancer, Kiln Fiend, ramp spells and burn spells all stoke the fire of the deck as well as create a consistent framework with a lot of play outside of "Storming". The deck dovetails really nicely with Ramp, Tokens and RG aggressive strategies so the changes needed to make it work in my cube were minimal.
Would Priest of Urabrask be worth it to push this some more? I've seen the card pop up in rare cubes here and there and with how good Burning-Tree Emissary has been performing, I'm wondering if the Priest would be playable. I'm guessing no, but who knows.
I see you run Rift Bolt as well, I guess I should start including it again.
Yeah. I honestly never even considered Priest of Urabrask but I should almost certainly be running it along side the existing Storm stuff. Fits exactly where BTE does IMO. Making RRR is slightly worse (along with the -1 toughness) but there are enough 3 drops in red (or a 2 drop +1 drop) and additionally you can get value out of it in later turns by chaining it into another creature (FTK would be ideal) that it should be negligible.
I cut Rift Bolt for a long time and it's only in my cube now because this archetype exists. I could just play an additional Incinerate variant if I wanted mother 3 damage spell that much. Just in general I feel like the card is marginal.
Squirrely did a great job of offering a bunch of different things you can do. I can specifically attest to the Modern Masters Suspend-Storm deck since I really love it in my cube. While you won't often "just win" with Empty the Warrens the average number of goblins produced is between 6 and 8 and the high has been 16. And mostly it exists as a package in rg midrange decks (turn 5 Skred-Empty for 4 goblins is perfectly fine and only gets better from there), though it can be the focus of a deck when Empty shows up early in draft. The thing to know about the deck is there are a lot of cards that fit in elsewhere that really excel in it. Burning Tree Emissary, mana elves, guttersnipe, young Pyromancer, Kiln Fiend, ramp spells and burn spells all stoke the fire of the deck as well as create a consistent framework with a lot of play outside of "Storming". The deck dovetails really nicely with Ramp, Tokens and RG aggressive strategies so the changes needed to make it work in my cube were minimal.
It is difficult, in my experience, to reliably flip Delver. In 40 card decks with 16 land you only have 24 spots and you want to be running 10 creatures (at an absolute minimums even in a spells matter style deck IMO. I'd probably still want 13-15 creatures). So if you're on 16 and 10 with the rest spells you're less than 50/50 to naturally flip. Also, it isn't a great top deck in a game at parity and basically blank if your behind (a 1/1 blocker or wait a turn and flip it are both huge holes for an opponent to attack through). Also, a lot of the power Delver derives in constructed formats is in having multiples to clock an opponent really quickly. One is, relatively, easily answered so it's much less potentially oppressive.
Granted, we have access to Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain (and the lesser versions Slight of Hand and Serum Visions) which certainly adds something to the argument in favor of Delver. But I think you want to be choosing the best possible card with those and not simply leaving spells (that may be good but aren't necessarily the best card in the moment) to flip a delver.
I don't want to derail a good discussion about Chandra's Spitfire by talking about Raid Bombardment. However, I will say my cube has 163 creatures (counting cards that make tokens with power less than 3 as a single creature [despite not being fantastically accurate since they all make multiple]) that activate Raid Bombardment so it really does a lot of business.
31 white, 25 blue, 25 black, 25 red, 27 green, 27 multicolored, 3 colorless is my cube's breakdown.
I imagine most people's cubes at peasant is mostly inhabited by tiny-ish critters (your cube, Leelue, has 162 creatures that would activate it using the same criteria [35W, 22U, 26B, 25R, 26G, 22MC, 6Cololess]). You might find it more beneficial than you'd think if you have it a shot (it's better than favorable winds in my experience).
Chandra's Spitfire isn't really a magical Christmas land scenario, IMO. There are enough non-combat sources of damage to make it appealing. Simply turning Arc Trail into removal+burn+pump would be enough. The aforementioned pingers/Keldon marauders/Keldon Champion and the unmentioned Ghitu Slinger and Fanatic of Mogis all go up in value. If you play it as a 1/3 flyer (which wins combat against a non-insignificant amount of creatures) it isn't great but honestly you don't need it to be a 4/3 more than twice in a red deck to give it real value.
PS- I run Raid Bombardment which is hyper-aggressively-adorable with ye olde Spitfire. It's an interesting card (while not necessarily in keeping with the "storm" scenarios my cube sees) that I'm looking forward to trying.
I still steadfastly refuse to believe that this card is good enough. The benefits that it provides are so marginal and this format is too highly powered for a card that has minimal impact on the game like this one, in my humble opinion of course.
I felt the same way about Lifestaff for a long time but then I tried it. It breaks aggro mirrors wide open (OP has aggressive elements in all 5 colors). Also, if you manage to live the dream and get staff+Mortarpod (which I highly recommend) your opponent's margins for victory become incredible narrow.
Lurebound Scarecrow and Bubbling Cauldron are the other two I'd throw in with the previously mentioned options.
I recently put Empty the Warrens into my cube and it has been perfectly fine. It often goes into GR decks that play it the same way it was played in Modern Masters draft. Ramp and then cast 2-3 spells of low cost and make 6-8 goblins on like turn 7-8. It's also done some explosive things like unsuspend Rift Bolt and Search for Tomorrow on turn 3 play a land cast Burning-Tree Emissary and then empty for 8. Although, that was certainly a rare sort of thing that hasn't been replicated. Both are sweet though. Both scenarios get better with Young Pyromancer and/or Guttersnipe in play. I don't believe a true storm-you-to-death-on-an-early-turn style deck is doable but incremental value is and readily achievable without too much sculpting specifically for Storm.
Without a single tweak to my cube I have >10 black enchantments (which I'll grant you is more than average, specifically a lot of people don't play Paralyze, Oubilette or Haunted Crossroads, but I don't think 7 is a difficult number to hit with Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, Curse of Shallow Graves, Necromancy, Diabolic Servitude, Pestilence (which I'm not playing) and a few of the others Leelu mentioned being powerful enough for most cubes.
If Blightcaster had constellation it would just be a little Skinrender and beyond reproach as a cubeable card. I haven't seen much hope as yet in Journey. But there is a long way to go yet and am hopeful for some more sweet stuff to try and push enchantments matter in the block (and inherently my cube).
Spellshock is interesting. I would say that if you aren't pushing a spells matter theme in Red that my only argument would be that it isn't a good top deck at all if you're behind on board. I think about things like Sprout Swarm and Lingering Souls/Battle Screech that get a lot of their value from being cast multiple times and Spellshock is really good against them.
I am going to pick up a copy and at the very least stick it in my Potential Playables Box.
Squirrley, that's exactly where I am. I tend to agree with everyone on the abstracts of the card. 4 mana 2/2 with additional investment for value is mediocre. However, I think it is ok in some instances to choose something unique over more powerful or consistent. Another thing about Blightcaster that I like is it has the potential to create really swingy 2 for ones (or better). For example playing a pacifism and killing a creature is pretty awesome. And there are situations where you get to reanimate a nekratal and then you're up an additional body plus 2 corpses on your opponents side.
I wanted to talk a little bit about Blightcaster. I haven’t pulled the trigger on this card just yet because I think the % of enchantments is too low in my cube. I have 35 (a number that suspect is higher than normal but I’ve found some gems and some archetype staples in the card type and I would say some people don’t exploit their gameplay value enough. That is, of course, neither here nor there.) most in Black (a bunch of Animate Deads with Curse of Shallow Graves, Oubliette and Paralyze) and White (many a pacifism, Intangible Virtue and a few buffers) but a good number in blue (3 control magics, favorable winds and spectral flight) red (goblin bombardment, lust for war, mad cap skills, raid bombardment) and green (sylvan Library, Cures of Predation, Triumph of ferocity). I could go a little deeper on redundant types of cards. More Pacifism! More Control Magic! But the truth is I am at the limit for those types of things without unbalancing the Cube.
Of note I am not playing Rancor at the moment and there is value to adding it with Blightcaster.
Seal of Fire is also a card that could be a contender under these parameters.
With Theros there are cards I would see myself adding because they are solid and would support the Blightcaster that I haven’t yet. Baleful Eidolon and Dragon Mantle and Heliod’s Emissary chief among them.
I had given up on the idea as not worth it but something occurred to me recently. Journey into Nyx is the next set and the name, to me, implies more Nyx infused creatures (the world of the set is Elspeth venturing Into Nyx to remove the interloper God of Revels, Xenagos for anyone wondering why I would think such a thing). If this correct I think there could be something to build on here.
So, back to Blighcaster, what do you guys and gals think it would take to make Blightcaster function? How many enchantments would a cube need (450 cards if we are talking my cube {which may be too big for something gimmicky like this, I freely admit})? How many would you need in your deck to play Blghtcaster?
I was hoping you fine people could point me to some inefficiencies or straight up poor card choices and maybe help with some replacement recommendations.
Anyway, here's the list:
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/65450
Thanks for your time and any advice!
So I sat down and my thoughts were fairly simple:
1) Can I learn anything about cards with Heroic that is applicable to a cube that isn't built with it in mind? I dislike limiting my thought process on cards that there are a bunch of. And with Heroic I felt that you could support the better cards in a "real" environment if you were careful about it.
2) Can I make a cube that is 30% instants?
3) Can they all say ‘target creature’?
4) Can I make this “work” in a balanced way?
5) Can I do it without overlapping with the cube I already have?
The answers were also fairly straight forward:
1) In colors like Red and White I believe cards with Heoric (specifically Akroan Crusader and Vangaurd of Brimaz) are good enough to try and enable. A lot of red sections are spell heavy because of UR spells matter decks and I don't think it would be all that difficult (especially with Prowess making those decks stronger) swapping some burn for Cards like Dragon Mantle and Hammerhand and Coordinated Assault and Brute Force. I feel the same way about white sections. Not for everyone to be sure but I think these 2 cards specifcally with the way they dovetail into RW aggressive and token decks are worth at least looking at a second time.
2) I can. And did. at this point I am around 24% and I think this is beautiful. It works so much better than I could have anticipated.
3) I can. And with few exceptions all of the spells still say target creature at this point and I am, again, very happy with the way it worked.
4) I can. This is much more complex. The issues I found were:
WotC dosen’t really make Black instants that say target creature that aren’t removal.
WotC dosen’t really make Red instants that say target creature that aren’t Burn.
WotC dosen’t really make Blue instants that say target creature that aren’t Bounce.
WotC dosen’t really make Green instants that say target creature that aren’t Pump.
With all things there are exceptions to the rules and a deep dive or seven on gatherer uncovered some sweet toys. I think I've found a good balance but I am not convinced I've found everything there is to find but I've got time.
5) I could have and in fact did. The first pass was 100% cards I wasn’t playing in the 450 I usually keep with me at all appropriate times. It didn’t take long for this to change. Not because it had to but because I quickly fell for this new cube and wanted to see exactly what I could make of it if I just pushed everything I had into it. Even if that meant sacrificing some of the ideas that led me here to begin with. That said I have still maintained a good bit of dissonance between the two cubes (and the way this cube is built necessitates that a great deal).
Let’s make a check list of exactly what we hope to accomplish:
• Black aggro – I don’t support this in my “real” cube because it was always underwhelming and once I made the change black finally felt like a real boy that was as fun and flexible as the other colors. Since then there have been 3 additional two power one mana creatures birthed into the world. Let’s see how good it is really.
• Green aggro - I don’t support this in my “real” cube because it was far too far afelid of the rest of green’s signature archetypes. Like black aggro things have changed and with the way this cube would be constructed I thought now was the time to dig up my Jungle Lion and Experiment One and see exactly what we were working with.
• +1+1 counters – This ties directly to the next bullet point but it is worth noting that this came directly from my experience with Outlast at GP Orlando (3-2 drop cause my deck wasn’t good enough to win out and even if it were I was not. Also, a friend was like, “Food?”)
• Heroic – If you drafted Theros Block you already know that these cards are powerful. Going a little deeper is what I cared about. I love Akroan Crusader but for a normal cube the general consensus is “too difficult to support”. This cube isn’t normal and when you build for Heroic what happens? And when it happens what exactly does that tell you about the way the cards (especially the more powerful among them) can function when not directly supported? I have answers and they surprised me.
• Prowess – I knew Prowess was nutso. At the Prerelease I picked up Monastery Swiftspear, Jeskai Elder and Jeskiai Windscout (Seeker of the Way was immediately regarded as probably too good but we are using it here for reasons and I was probably right in my assessment) and they went into my “real” cube. But what about the less heralded amongst the Jeskai? Let’s push it as far as we can and see if the probably not very good 1W 1/3 and 4U Hexproof 4/2 can be real cards.
• Combat, Combat, Combat – Obvious, really. When you build around instants that aren’t removal things get real attack-y real fast. But can it be regulated to where boards don’t become stalemates decided by who draws the bombiest trick or the highest volume of non-lands? Turns out this wasn’t a problem at all.
I am going to post the list I am currently at now (after 10 drafts over about a month) and talk about all the things from above again and then talk about where I am going when I sit down to tweak again.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/20555
Black Aggro – The first draft was 3-0 6-1’d by a black aggressive deck. This was a problem. Not that it did well but the way it did well and a problem that was inherent in the way I built the cube and the black section specifically (too many ETB creatures as a start but the removal number was also too high despite being something I was acutely aware of when building). I made a change of 12 cards and the deck hasn’t ruined a draft the same way since. I still don’t feel like I’ve nailed the perfect configuration though. (The other deck that did really well in draft 1 was UG and featured unblockable creatures and pump spells exclusively. It was stupid to put them in the cube to begin with and I removed everything with native unblockability of any kind immediately after. A fairly embarrassing oversight on my part.)
Green Aggro – Green, probably unsurprisingly, is best at sharing and RG/BG/WG and UG decks of all sorts have been really strong in drafts. Mono green has been a little less prevalent (as are most mono colored strategies in C/Ube, I find). It has done well in drafts though and I’m happy with that and the balance I found with pump spells (I had to sacrifice the 30% instants goal to do it since the fight cards are mostly Sorcery speed, but eggs and omelets).
+1+1 Counters – A smashing success. Honestly, Outlast creatures are just impressive to me. Some for sure more than others but none of the ones I put in have been bad. This theme runs through all 5 colors which is exceptionally interesting as it has led to some greedy deck building choices and interesting decks. Plaxcaster Frogling has been the standout card among the non-Outlast support cards. The most fun thing I’ve been able to do is:
I am at 6 with a single card in my hand but a fairly robust board including Phalanx Leader. My opponent has 2 fliers and lethal on the next turn. I draw Abzan Battle Priest and with the card in my hand trigger Phalanx Leader in combat to gain 26.
The additional clauses on Outlast Creatures when surrounded by +1+1 support get out of control quickly (you don’t say?). This is the only blowout that has come of them though. To my surprise there hasn’t been an outcry for the removal of the Outlast creatures. The theme and being widespread has added a great deal of depth to the actual drafting process. This is probably the thing I am most proud of with this cube. It took a lot of digging to find exactly the cards to get to this point but I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Heroic – Unsurprisingly, this worked out incredibly. The way this cube is built means you are going to be able to trigger any heroic ability upwards of 11-12 times reasonably per deck. That doesn’t include the cards that trigger 2 or 3 at the same time. The green cards have been the least impressive which I wouldn’t have suspected (despite my love of Akroan Crusader I had my doubts about basically all of the other Red heroes and was surprised by almost all of them). I suspect the green issue is fixable. I intentionally stayed clear of a lot of ramp and I think a few mana elves might correct cumbersome nature of the green creatures (1GG 1/1, 3G 2/2, 3GG 3/3 are all below the bar on cost to P/T conversion but being able to play them on 3, 4, 5 and have mana up to trigger them probably cleans that up some).
Combat, Combat, Combat –Absolutely, and intentionally a major feature of the cube but what I really enjoy is the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach every time an opponent turns something sideways. NO ONE IS SAFE. This is the least surprising but my favorite thing about the cube. Combat math and being able to navigate combat tricks is one of the more valuable skills when playing WotC limited formats and it has been fun watching the people I play with stare at the board and try and remember the draft and the cards they saw. I am consistently impressed by the way the games breakdown but rarely amount to slogs of locked up boards.
Going forward I think the cube needs 5 more land and the artifacts are probably the go to cuts for them. I do want to tweak some numbers here and there. 1-2 more removal spells to help push black aggressive decks just a little while also helping midrange decks get to a point where they can execute their plans. I am hoping Outlast and Prowess make returns over the rest of Tarkir Block so I can continue to fiddle with the capabilities of the mechanics on a level that is my own to control. I want to figure out Green and Blue a little better. Green I mentioned in the heroic section but blue I haven’t really touched on. The reason for that is Blue has changed the least from draft 2 to 10 (draft 1 being the unblockable creatures still in draft). The cards I chose work really well but don’t lend themselves to mono Blue the way other colors do and, like green, I want the identity of Blue to be one you could forgo other colors for. I suspect the answer is flying but that’s a slippery slope as they become pseudo unblockable and that is not where I want to be, again. But if I can’t maneuver in a way that makes Blue a standalone star that’s ok. In general I draft 6 person team drafts and very rarely are any decks one color so if Blue’s role in the cube is as a featured player but not a star that’s fine by me.
Sorry this was a bit long winded but I really am quite excited with how much fun this cube turned out to be and wanted to share. If you have any thoughts or suggestions please let me have them.
Thanks for reading.
1x Horizon Chimera
1x Pierce Strider
1x Juggernaut
1x Trygon Predator
1x Fleetfeather Cockatrice
1x Frost Lynx
1x Leafcrown Dryad
1x Briarhorn
1x Wolfir Avenger
1x Phantom Centaur
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Deadwood Treefolk
1x Krosan Tusker
1x Ebony Treefolk
1x Dreg Mangler
1x Simic Charm
1x Condescend
1x Dismember
Sorceries
1x Overrun
1x Hurricane
1x Beastial Menace
Enchantments
1x Curse of Predation
Lands
1x Jwar Isle Refuge
1x Savage Land
1x Grixis Panorama
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x Swamp
2x Island
10x Forest
This is how is build it. The splash colors cards are pretty good (especially the Simic creatures). The mana is rough but this build has 6 sources for Black and 6 for Blue (counting Krosan Tusker). I like the Flash sub theme the deck has going for it. The only thing I don't really like is it doesn't get itself on the board early so maybe cutting Juggernaut for Felwar Stone is correct. In any case I think this gives you a good shot at consistently playing magic where a riskier deck might crap out on lands. Posts like this are a lot of fun. Can't wait to get a shot at the other pools.
Yeah. I honestly never even considered Priest of Urabrask but I should almost certainly be running it along side the existing Storm stuff. Fits exactly where BTE does IMO. Making RRR is slightly worse (along with the -1 toughness) but there are enough 3 drops in red (or a 2 drop +1 drop) and additionally you can get value out of it in later turns by chaining it into another creature (FTK would be ideal) that it should be negligible.
I cut Rift Bolt for a long time and it's only in my cube now because this archetype exists. I could just play an additional Incinerate variant if I wanted mother 3 damage spell that much. Just in general I feel like the card is marginal.
Granted, we have access to Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain (and the lesser versions Slight of Hand and Serum Visions) which certainly adds something to the argument in favor of Delver. But I think you want to be choosing the best possible card with those and not simply leaving spells (that may be good but aren't necessarily the best card in the moment) to flip a delver.
31 white, 25 blue, 25 black, 25 red, 27 green, 27 multicolored, 3 colorless is my cube's breakdown.
I imagine most people's cubes at peasant is mostly inhabited by tiny-ish critters (your cube, Leelue, has 162 creatures that would activate it using the same criteria [35W, 22U, 26B, 25R, 26G, 22MC, 6Cololess]). You might find it more beneficial than you'd think if you have it a shot (it's better than favorable winds in my experience).
PS- I run Raid Bombardment which is hyper-aggressively-adorable with ye olde Spitfire. It's an interesting card (while not necessarily in keeping with the "storm" scenarios my cube sees) that I'm looking forward to trying.
I felt the same way about Lifestaff for a long time but then I tried it. It breaks aggro mirrors wide open (OP has aggressive elements in all 5 colors). Also, if you manage to live the dream and get staff+Mortarpod (which I highly recommend) your opponent's margins for victory become incredible narrow.
Lurebound Scarecrow and Bubbling Cauldron are the other two I'd throw in with the previously mentioned options.
If Blightcaster had constellation it would just be a little Skinrender and beyond reproach as a cubeable card. I haven't seen much hope as yet in Journey. But there is a long way to go yet and am hopeful for some more sweet stuff to try and push enchantments matter in the block (and inherently my cube).
I am going to pick up a copy and at the very least stick it in my Potential Playables Box.
Of note I am not playing Rancor at the moment and there is value to adding it with Blightcaster.
Seal of Fire is also a card that could be a contender under these parameters.
With Theros there are cards I would see myself adding because they are solid and would support the Blightcaster that I haven’t yet. Baleful Eidolon and Dragon Mantle and Heliod’s Emissary chief among them.
I had given up on the idea as not worth it but something occurred to me recently. Journey into Nyx is the next set and the name, to me, implies more Nyx infused creatures (the world of the set is Elspeth venturing Into Nyx to remove the interloper God of Revels, Xenagos for anyone wondering why I would think such a thing). If this correct I think there could be something to build on here.
So, back to Blighcaster, what do you guys and gals think it would take to make Blightcaster function? How many enchantments would a cube need (450 cards if we are talking my cube {which may be too big for something gimmicky like this, I freely admit})? How many would you need in your deck to play Blghtcaster?