Court of Garenbrig
Court of Locthwain
Court of Embereth
Embereth Veteran
Gruff Triplets
Restless Bivouac
Restless Vinestalk
The Irencrag
Irencrag is the one I am least solid on, but it was pennies so I decided to try it out.
The courts I am very hopefull for, the red one is kinda fringe but I'm hopeful. I was sad to cut Gonti so adding a better version of the effect is exciting. Green Court just seems busted to me.
Giving this a shot in my cube. Feels like it can really run away with games. Green doesn't have a "you become the monarch" card in my yet so I am glad to add the effect.
As other have mentioned, green is a solid creature based colour for taking/holding the monarchy so I expect this to be triggering its bigger effect pretty regularly.
Not 100% on the cut yet but I'll probably just cut my most boring non-creature and never look back.
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly.
The difference between Spirit of the Labyrinth and those sweepers is that it's much easier to tailor your deck around the sweepers to be very asymmetrical. It's much harder to break the symmetry of Spirit of the Labyrinth.
If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
This was much more true back when Spirit of the Labyrinth was printed, but there are so many card draw engines now regardless of color / archetype. Back in the day the aggro deck really only had Skullclamp / Sword of Fire and Ice, but now there's Palace Jailer / Esper Sentinel / Staff of the Storyteller / etc.
All true, its been a long time since I ran him so it could be a tinge of nostalgia. I opened my copy at first pre-release so its maybe a bit of a pet card.
Spirt's symetry is definitely alot harder to break than the cards I listed, a bit of exaggeration to make a point.
I still don't think I would be surprised to see it in a cube list; it's a 3 power 1W disruptive guy.
Is anyone still running the spirt, or would it look out of place in the average cube?
Solid card, I ran it for years before swapping it out for variety rather than power.
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly. If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
1 toughness is weak, but it also means it can be clamped or killed pretty easily when you want it off board.
Not a staple but I wouldn't think it was weird if I seen it in a list.
The wheel/draw-denial deck has been working well so far for me.
It's easy enough to slot it into a few different shells and they are all playable cards in their own rights.
It not winning the game can be an issue if the opponent decides to play it out and you are light on threats, it can take a while to actually win despite your massive advantage.
Part of me kind of likes its not an instant win button though. If you pull it off at a low life total your opponent has a chance to top deck for the win, happened to me last draft, my wheel drew me garbage (lands, redundent lock peices and counters they could play round)and my opponent top decked naught but gas.
I might be overreaching here, but I haven't explored this particular combo space in a while and I wonder if there are other new ways you can use this kind of self-bounce for other locks. The One Ring hardly needs support IMO, but maybe there can be a really fun package to assemble for some drafters?
These locks are usually pretty clunky and just generally unfun and extremely polarizing anyways. Taking extra turns, constant protection, things like Constant Mists can really derail a draft pretty fast and unnecessarily prolong games. When it comes to infinite life / infinite damage type stuff, I always say that it's better for a game to end than it is for a game to last forever.
Win speed is definitely the problem with some locks. Clocknapper/crystal shard has similar issues in my cube, players want to play it out because they have a very small chance to win, like interaction if their opponent taps out (Hint: they never will).
Might you not sooner want to use Kor Skyfisher? Or has that card fallen off
I think it's currently out for me or on the next round of updates, it might edge back in if I pick up a copy of The One Ring though. Still a decent card but I decided to try something else
A friend pointed out a lock with some common cube cards.
The One Ring
Hostage Taker
Venser the Sojourner (or Soulherder)
Play the ring, Hostage taker the ring, recast the ring, blink the Hostage taker. 3 colours, but esper is a solid shell with the tutors, card draw and removal to stay alive and find the peicez.
I never thought about the Hostage Taker interaction. Aether Channeler also works in this scenario too.
Yep, that's another. Hostage taker does the same with crystal shard from earlier in the thread.
A friend pointed out a lock with some common cube cards.
The One Ring
Hostage Taker
Venser the Sojourner (or Soulherder)
Play the ring, Hostage taker the ring, recast the ring, blink the Hostage taker. 3 colours, but esper is a solid shell with the tutors, card draw and removal to stay alive and find the peicez.
It's been OK for me, but nothing amazing. Having more info to base your plays can be very usefull but sometime you would really rather just dig a bit deeper or have some selection. What I'd prefer varies match to match so I am happy enough to keep the effect for now.
Highly recommend the secret lair version of the card with the cute riceballs if you're gonna jam it into your cube, the odyssey art is just uncomfortable in so many ways
Uncomfortable how? I think it's nice; nothing standout but just classic MTG art. The rice ball art I would avoid putting in because it's too cutsie for me and doesn't feel like Magic art.
Personal taste varies wildly so you do you though.
Looks great, could definitely be worth testing. Depends on your group but I wouldn't be worried about my opponents hiding a non-land but I can see why it's an issue for magic in general to print this effect.
I'm looking more for feedback on how people would feel about Alchemy only cards in Cube - I feel its fine as it is a card searchable via gatherer.
I'd be excited to draft a cube running them as there is alot of cool design space.
As a cube curator I'm not in a rush to add any as most take extra game peices to make work. I tried some "package deal" cards before and it was just enough of a hassle to make me not bother.
Having to maintain separate "spellbooks" or card sets to add toyou deck is just a bit more work than I'm willing to put in, but again, I'd be excited to draft a cube that runs them.
The hidden info, perpetual increases and other weirdness I trust my players enough no to try and cheat so I'd be happy adding them.
I'm a fan of Un cards so alot of the cards I'm fine with in theory, it's really just the added complexity on the admin side that puts me off. Every draft players will need to remember what cards were added to library, contoured etc. and remove/sort them at the end of draft. Could be worth the added complexity, but it's a big leap to add.
You are going to need to house rule how cards work in physical play and make sure its clear. I added Blurry Beeble with the house rule it's always un blockable, one player didn't get the memo and there was a little bit of feels-bad as reading the card didn't explain the card
How seasoned is your group? Long time players may grok thinks a bit quicker but less enfranchisement players.may have issues unless they are into arena
I would start with a small package of the more simple cards and add more as players get adjusted to them. Invest in cube shells or a similar product and consider different coloured sleeves for the cards that don't get added to your deck so they can more easily be found/replaced when you need to.
TLDR; Cool design space but difficult to fully implement in paper. Excited to draft an environment with them, too lazy to manage/curate the enviroment myself.
Looks great, could definitely be worth testing. Depends on your group but I wouldn't be worried about my opponents hiding a non-land but I can see why it's an issue for magic in general to print this effect.
Ya, if you're in the market for a 5-drop that actually slaps, Éomer, King of Rohan is a baller.
Got a copy of this guy so I might drop him in and see. Doesn't seem too hard to have a couple of humans about. Even the floor doesn't see unplayable for the stats, ping and monarch.
Court of Garenbrig
Court of Locthwain
Court of Embereth
Embereth Veteran
Gruff Triplets
Restless Bivouac
Restless Vinestalk
The Irencrag
Irencrag is the one I am least solid on, but it was pennies so I decided to try it out.
The courts I am very hopefull for, the red one is kinda fringe but I'm hopeful. I was sad to cut Gonti so adding a better version of the effect is exciting. Green Court just seems busted to me.
As other have mentioned, green is a solid creature based colour for taking/holding the monarchy so I expect this to be triggering its bigger effect pretty regularly.
Not 100% on the cut yet but I'll probably just cut my most boring non-creature and never look back.
Black has more recurring bodies, but I feel like my green goes less wide than it used to.
All true, its been a long time since I ran him so it could be a tinge of nostalgia. I opened my copy at first pre-release so its maybe a bit of a pet card.
Spirt's symetry is definitely alot harder to break than the cards I listed, a bit of exaggeration to make a point.
I still don't think I would be surprised to see it in a cube list; it's a 3 power 1W disruptive guy.
Is anyone still running the spirt, or would it look out of place in the average cube?
It's symetrical, but so are alot of cards; Balance, Armageddon, Wrath of God. You just have to be aware of what it's shutting off in your own deck and play accordingly. If your the agressive deck it's likly hurting your opponent alot more.
1 toughness is weak, but it also means it can be clamped or killed pretty easily when you want it off board.
Not a staple but I wouldn't think it was weird if I seen it in a list.
It's easy enough to slot it into a few different shells and they are all playable cards in their own rights.
It not winning the game can be an issue if the opponent decides to play it out and you are light on threats, it can take a while to actually win despite your massive advantage.
Part of me kind of likes its not an instant win button though. If you pull it off at a low life total your opponent has a chance to top deck for the win, happened to me last draft, my wheel drew me garbage (lands, redundent lock peices and counters they could play round)and my opponent top decked naught but gas.
Win speed is definitely the problem with some locks. Clocknapper/crystal shard has similar issues in my cube, players want to play it out because they have a very small chance to win, like interaction if their opponent taps out (Hint: they never will).
I think it's currently out for me or on the next round of updates, it might edge back in if I pick up a copy of The One Ring though. Still a decent card but I decided to try something else
Yep, that's another. Hostage taker does the same with crystal shard from earlier in the thread.
The One Ring
Hostage Taker
Venser the Sojourner (or Soulherder)
Play the ring, Hostage taker the ring, recast the ring, blink the Hostage taker. 3 colours, but esper is a solid shell with the tutors, card draw and removal to stay alive and find the peicez.
Uncomfortable how? I think it's nice; nothing standout but just classic MTG art. The rice ball art I would avoid putting in because it's too cutsie for me and doesn't feel like Magic art.
Personal taste varies wildly so you do you though.
I'd be excited to draft a cube running them as there is alot of cool design space.
As a cube curator I'm not in a rush to add any as most take extra game peices to make work. I tried some "package deal" cards before and it was just enough of a hassle to make me not bother.
Having to maintain separate "spellbooks" or card sets to add toyou deck is just a bit more work than I'm willing to put in, but again, I'd be excited to draft a cube that runs them.
The hidden info, perpetual increases and other weirdness I trust my players enough no to try and cheat so I'd be happy adding them.
I'm a fan of Un cards so alot of the cards I'm fine with in theory, it's really just the added complexity on the admin side that puts me off. Every draft players will need to remember what cards were added to library, contoured etc. and remove/sort them at the end of draft. Could be worth the added complexity, but it's a big leap to add.
You are going to need to house rule how cards work in physical play and make sure its clear. I added Blurry Beeble with the house rule it's always un blockable, one player didn't get the memo and there was a little bit of feels-bad as reading the card didn't explain the card
How seasoned is your group? Long time players may grok thinks a bit quicker but less enfranchisement players.may have issues unless they are into arena
I would start with a small package of the more simple cards and add more as players get adjusted to them. Invest in cube shells or a similar product and consider different coloured sleeves for the cards that don't get added to your deck so they can more easily be found/replaced when you need to.
TLDR; Cool design space but difficult to fully implement in paper. Excited to draft an environment with them, too lazy to manage/curate the enviroment myself.
How often is he just hitting the field as a 2/2, and is he still good enough when that happens?
Got a copy of this guy so I might drop him in and see. Doesn't seem too hard to have a couple of humans about. Even the floor doesn't see unplayable for the stats, ping and monarch.