Ostracize (and by extension, this card) trades cleanly 1-for-1 with a number of cards that are hard to do that with, Mulldrifter, Dinrova Horror, Gravediggers, etc. I ended up cutting it because it's difficult to "target" in the way that you want to but it was always fine, efficient, if narrow.
1-drops are so low quality at common that it's really hard for me to cut Inciter. I'll try out Crimson Mage, I think it's a solid card and haste keeps it relevant as the game goes on. I'll play both and expect Crimson Mage will make his way out of the cube over the next few releases.
"I'd rather not put them in this spot and have them feel bad about not knowing that disenchant guy was even an option."
There's a difference in my mind between "what if they have a naturalize in hand? that's an effect that is in many cubes" and "what if that face down card is specifically daru lancer (or whatever)" The first case is something that an player without knowledge of the entire range of morphs that could be in the cube could feasibly play around, and the second is someone trying to remember if there is even a card that exists AND is in the cube AND might be in the opponent's deck to even consider playing around.
Yes, there's hidden information involved about not knowing the specific contents of any given cube, but I don't want my drafters to feel like they got punished for not doing their homework before sitting down to do a casual draft and have some fun. As I said I don't value the upside of having this cards in my cube as much as I value a positive experience for the people who cube because they want to try it, and I think a portion of the gameplay of morphs is not a positive experience.
I hope that makes some sense, I'm in no way saying it's incorrect to play these cards, just trying to explain why I personally am not interested in doing so.
There is no such thing as "knowledge advantage" with morphs. The worst case is that when you play your morph your opponent knows 100% which card it is..which is EXACTLY the same as every other card in your deck.
It seems like the theory of "knowledge disadvantage" is a stupid idea being peddled by Rosewater. At one point he had morph as "highly linear". Garbage.
The problem is that sometimes your opponent doesn't know what your morph does. For example in the case of Ainok Survivalist he would probably kill the morph token if he had a Renegade Freighter out, a Burst Lightning in his hand and knew what the morph is. But as long as he doesn't know what the morph does he'll save his Burst Lightning for something else.
On the other hand if it's your cube, your opponent plays green and Ainok Survivalist is the only green morph in the cube and you are the one with the Renegade Freighter and the Burst Lightning...what would you do? That's knowledge disadvantage/advantage.
Moreover, if a player who hasn't ever played my cube and isn't aware of the range of morph commons, I'd rather not put them in this spot and have them feel bad about not knowing that disenchant guy was even an option. The upside to include these cards just isn't high enough for the potential negative impact on the experience of my drafters. YMMV.
Anyway. I'm looking at the following swaps:
Loyal Sentry > Observant Alseid
Savannah Lions > Benevolent Bodyguard
Raise the Alarm > Ironclad Slayer
Fencing Ace > ????
I really dislike morphs in cube from a cube design standpoint because there are so few playables (several more now, but still) that being a regular drafter of the cube (or me as the cube designer) gives you a significant knowledge advantage. Particularly in a low-rarity format where there aren't a lot of staple morphs that people can know to think about. It's just not great gameplay in this kind of format, even though several are there on power level.
Loyal Sentry seems pretty solid but I have a lot of white 1s. Might still be good, I'll think about it.
Frenzied Goblin is an incredible downshift. This card is a lot more powerful than it reads, much like Intimidator Initiate. Very exciting.
Hordeling Outburst is also very exciting, and it makes me reconsider Raise the Alarm/Krenko's Command and look at another mass pump to go with it, like Rites of Initiation or perhaps Weapon Surge. Also some nice incidental support for potential sacrifice themes/archetypes. We might be at the point where there are just enough enablers for that deck, certainly something I'm going to take a look at when we have all our spoilers.
If a lifegain option is something you're looking for, the 4th toughness on Staunch Defenders makes it a good option too. Angel of Mercy would have been great a while ago but it doesn't stack up anymore.
BAck end pump is usually great but with both of these cards you kinda actively want the creature to die, so...
I should clarify, Stamina lets you make a trade and have the creature come back, Evil lets you trade (less effectively) but have the creature come back larger.
Stamina is comparable to Undying Evil, one pumps on the front end one pumps on the back end and I think the back end pump ends up better most of the time.
I check this forum infrequently. I saw new posts in this thread and went "great I still need to do my update! Maybe they're results of testing!"
That's not what it was and I can't believe I read the whole thing. Just because the topic wasn't being discussed doesn't make this the right place to go off on modern design... anyway.
What AKH cards have people included and tested favorably? Not interested in rehashing the argument about Bloodlust Inciter because I know some people were really opposed to it but I guess testing results there are good. Green Cartouche? Black Cartouche? What's been decent, what's been unexciting, what's overperformed?
This is a card that plays so much better than it reads in most normal games of magic. If you play it and a single trade occurs in combat, it's a Bloodhunter Bat already. That's not exciting, but it's acceptable. But then consider that it drains any time you use a kill spell, is a removal magnet on its own, doesn't get effectively answered by Pacifism effects, has a reasonable if unexciting body to get in for damage... it's really hard to race this card and it adds a lot of incremental value to any kind of creature deck. I'm fully on board the hype train for this card even without archetype support.
Rusalka is no Bombardment, for sure, but we have one or two playable one-drops in red, right? Getting in for a couple points of early damage or a chip shot here or there is totally reasonable, and gaining a couple points of damage to close out the game or when removal is used (or afterwards, again in the case of the aura based removal) seems like it's enough to crack the red section. I'm not as convinced as I am with Noble, but I think this card will be a solid role player in red-based creature decks.
Multicolor-wise, this set is obviously a huge boon. But with a 3-card section it's very hard to break into. I did think about moving up to 4 cards per section because of the excellent downshifts, and will probably do that in the long run.
There's a difference in my mind between "what if they have a naturalize in hand? that's an effect that is in many cubes" and "what if that face down card is specifically daru lancer (or whatever)" The first case is something that an player without knowledge of the entire range of morphs that could be in the cube could feasibly play around, and the second is someone trying to remember if there is even a card that exists AND is in the cube AND might be in the opponent's deck to even consider playing around.
Yes, there's hidden information involved about not knowing the specific contents of any given cube, but I don't want my drafters to feel like they got punished for not doing their homework before sitting down to do a casual draft and have some fun. As I said I don't value the upside of having this cards in my cube as much as I value a positive experience for the people who cube because they want to try it, and I think a portion of the gameplay of morphs is not a positive experience.
I hope that makes some sense, I'm in no way saying it's incorrect to play these cards, just trying to explain why I personally am not interested in doing so.
Interesting. Has it underperformed that much? I haven't had a chance to play with it.
Moreover, if a player who hasn't ever played my cube and isn't aware of the range of morph commons, I'd rather not put them in this spot and have them feel bad about not knowing that disenchant guy was even an option. The upside to include these cards just isn't high enough for the potential negative impact on the experience of my drafters. YMMV.
Anyway. I'm looking at the following swaps:
Loyal Sentry > Observant Alseid
Savannah Lions > Benevolent Bodyguard
Raise the Alarm > Ironclad Slayer
Fencing Ace > ????
Court Hussar > Deft Duelist
Crimson Mage > Plated Geopede
Frenzied Goblin > Aetherflame Wall
Hordeling Outburst > Pyre Hound
Jackal Pup > Manic Vandal
Dynacharge > Rock Slide
I welcome your feedback and suggestions as to how to get Fencing Ace in there.
Loyal Sentry seems pretty solid but I have a lot of white 1s. Might still be good, I'll think about it.
Geist of the Moors
Loyal Sentry
Savannah Lions
Borrowing 100,000 Arrows
Court Hussar
Dragon’s Eye Savants
Ruthless Ripper
Balduvian Horde
Cinder Storm
Crimson Mage
Frenzied Goblin
Hordeling Outburst
Jackal Pup
Pillage
Skeletonize
Ainok Survivalist
Assembly-Worker
Primal Clay
I am excited about Jackal Pup, Crimson Mage, Hordeling Outburst, Frenzied Goblin, Court Hussar (in UW) and Fencing Ace and sad about no foil Cuombajj Witches.
Hordeling Outburst is also very exciting, and it makes me reconsider Raise the Alarm/Krenko's Command and look at another mass pump to go with it, like Rites of Initiation or perhaps Weapon Surge. Also some nice incidental support for potential sacrifice themes/archetypes. We might be at the point where there are just enough enablers for that deck, certainly something I'm going to take a look at when we have all our spoilers.
Thanks for the insight! Look forward to playing with the new cards myself.
I should clarify, Stamina lets you make a trade and have the creature come back, Evil lets you trade (less effectively) but have the creature come back larger.
That's not what it was and I can't believe I read the whole thing. Just because the topic wasn't being discussed doesn't make this the right place to go off on modern design... anyway.
What AKH cards have people included and tested favorably? Not interested in rehashing the argument about Bloodlust Inciter because I know some people were really opposed to it but I guess testing results there are good. Green Cartouche? Black Cartouche? What's been decent, what's been unexciting, what's overperformed?
Rusalka is no Bombardment, for sure, but we have one or two playable one-drops in red, right? Getting in for a couple points of early damage or a chip shot here or there is totally reasonable, and gaining a couple points of damage to close out the game or when removal is used (or afterwards, again in the case of the aura based removal) seems like it's enough to crack the red section. I'm not as convinced as I am with Noble, but I think this card will be a solid role player in red-based creature decks.
Multicolor-wise, this set is obviously a huge boon. But with a 3-card section it's very hard to break into. I did think about moving up to 4 cards per section because of the excellent downshifts, and will probably do that in the long run.