I have found that the box from the boxed set Battle Royale fits a 450 cube with 150 land and tokens almost perfectly. I'm not sure if it is the same size as some of their other products or not.
The artifact matters theme doesn't seem to be all that popular with my group. Tezzeret and friends aren't in, which I why I left Strix out. Or do you feel Strix is so good it makes it in even without an artifact theme?
I don't have an artifact theme at all, and I run it. As was suggested above, being able to stall in Dimir is extremely valuable. The Baleful Strix is not flashy, but it trades off an attacker cheaply, and nets you a card. Wouldn't we all play Murder for UB if it was a cantrip too?
As far as this planeswalker is concerned, I will at least try it out in place of Nemesis of Reason. It's most likely better, although my players are starting to grumble a bit about planeswalker density, so I need to keep an eye on that.
I don't think anyone understands the concept of this thread. Oh well.
Sure we do. Tons of people don't play Serendib Efreet because they don't play aggro blue cards. And Wall of Blossoms is plenty good, but many people are moving towards ramp-heavy green sections.
You also need to consider your 3 color manabase, since come into play tapped lands and not being able to play your spells on time due to mana screw are going to make aggro a lot worse and less consistent.
I think that most pools are realistically going to be two colors with at least two splashes, so "3 color manabase" may be more like "4/5 color manabase". With 6 gates, keyrunes, and cluestones running around, you're probably going to be able to support splashes of removal and bombs from the Dragon's Maze packs. Which further supports the claim that aggro is not the way to go. Friends don't let friends play Boros at this prerelease.
I think a better question is "am I going to open a sealed pool in this format that doesn't want to play every gate and splash all five colors?" and the answer is "not very often".
Also, the Enchantment is a Mythic Rare. Goodness me, I just noticed that.
That is the most disappointing part to me. Nothing about the card feels mythic. The rarity is not Lotus Cobra bad, but its effect doesn't seem too splashy, outside of a rare Boros blink deck that can abuse a bunch of ETB triggers. And even then, it isn't the card itself being mythic, it's the rest of your cards collectively giving you the awesome moment.
I am also happy that there are better and better cards sitting on deck. It will make cube lists more different from one another, and provide different but equally powerful options to different playstyles.
And just as importantly, it will allow larger cubes to maintain a desirable ratio of multicolor cards without having to dilute card quality.
This isn't entirely fair to the card, because disenchant effects aren't nearly as strong in pauper than in normal cubes. When the most troublesome artifacts behind Serrated Arrows are Bonesplitter and Vulshok Morningstar and a rather high portion of decks don't run a single target, these effects don't demand to be played in nearly the same way as they do in rare cubes.
Good point. The equipment section of most rare cubes is reason enough to make disenchant/shatter effects powerful. Once you add in utility artifacts and creatures, creatures like Manic Vandal start to become staples next to objectively more powerful cards.
Dandy_Lions;9899996']To everyone voting land: It WILL be unplayable. Lands are either broken or terrible, since there's less flexability in their design.
You forget: this card has to pass through standard.
Also anyone who thinks denying channel is fair can eat my shorts. Nice Life from the Loam hardlock.
I think they could do a playable riff on the Zendikar Enter-the-Battlefield lands that wouldn't be too insane. There are plenty of effects that could be tacked on that would be worthwhile without being bonkers. Could a land that taps for colorless and does 1 point when it comes in to play see print without coming in tapped? Would it be good enough to even see play?
Ya, I'm not 100% on the Fury either. It has a lot of promise, but it's expensive. It's been okay, but not stellar so far in testing. It may very well be a Boros Reckoner in another month or so.
That was my feeling as well. It can do so many awesome things, and it is versatile, but for it to be really absurd, you're generally looking at jamming 6ish mana into it. At which point on most boards you would have rather just played an Inferno Titan, gotten the pinging effect, and left a threat behind. Obviously the titan is an awesome finisher, but I find that all of my "what if" scenarios always come down to comparing the Fury to a 6 drop. And for 6 mana, I think we can do better.
So for people who played in the prerelease: were any of the new mechanics deceptively good? Any hidden gems?
I am giving [card]Basilica Guards[card] a shot in my 360, but I know I'm in the minority there. It would be much better as a 2 mana 0/4, but I still want to see if its defensive body is relevant enough. I am a huge Extort fan, though, so we'll see. None of the other extorters seem to be good enough. I had the Kismet rare in my prerelease pool and found that it is really more of a Boros card, although it had its moments in keeping a few haste guys off my back for an extra turn. Not tapping their land when they enter play really hamstrung its actual impact beyond being just an unkillable extort card.
I knew a guy who used to laminate his cards.
Something along the lines of a 3/3 that removes all the counters from a permanent when it enters the battlefield would be pretty reasonable.
I don't have an artifact theme at all, and I run it. As was suggested above, being able to stall in Dimir is extremely valuable. The Baleful Strix is not flashy, but it trades off an attacker cheaply, and nets you a card. Wouldn't we all play Murder for UB if it was a cantrip too?
As far as this planeswalker is concerned, I will at least try it out in place of Nemesis of Reason. It's most likely better, although my players are starting to grumble a bit about planeswalker density, so I need to keep an eye on that.
Sure we do. Tons of people don't play Serendib Efreet because they don't play aggro blue cards. And Wall of Blossoms is plenty good, but many people are moving towards ramp-heavy green sections.
Defender
When ~this enters the battlefield, draw a card.
0/4
Chandra's Efreet 2R
Flying
During your upkeep, ~this deals 1 damage to you
3/4
I think that most pools are realistically going to be two colors with at least two splashes, so "3 color manabase" may be more like "4/5 color manabase". With 6 gates, keyrunes, and cluestones running around, you're probably going to be able to support splashes of removal and bombs from the Dragon's Maze packs. Which further supports the claim that aggro is not the way to go. Friends don't let friends play Boros at this prerelease.
That is the most disappointing part to me. Nothing about the card feels mythic. The rarity is not Lotus Cobra bad, but its effect doesn't seem too splashy, outside of a rare Boros blink deck that can abuse a bunch of ETB triggers. And even then, it isn't the card itself being mythic, it's the rest of your cards collectively giving you the awesome moment.
And just as importantly, it will allow larger cubes to maintain a desirable ratio of multicolor cards without having to dilute card quality.
Good point. The equipment section of most rare cubes is reason enough to make disenchant/shatter effects powerful. Once you add in utility artifacts and creatures, creatures like Manic Vandal start to become staples next to objectively more powerful cards.
I think they could do a playable riff on the Zendikar Enter-the-Battlefield lands that wouldn't be too insane. There are plenty of effects that could be tacked on that would be worthwhile without being bonkers. Could a land that taps for colorless and does 1 point when it comes in to play see print without coming in tapped? Would it be good enough to even see play?
That was my feeling as well. It can do so many awesome things, and it is versatile, but for it to be really absurd, you're generally looking at jamming 6ish mana into it. At which point on most boards you would have rather just played an Inferno Titan, gotten the pinging effect, and left a threat behind. Obviously the titan is an awesome finisher, but I find that all of my "what if" scenarios always come down to comparing the Fury to a 6 drop. And for 6 mana, I think we can do better.
I am giving [card]Basilica Guards[card] a shot in my 360, but I know I'm in the minority there. It would be much better as a 2 mana 0/4, but I still want to see if its defensive body is relevant enough. I am a huge Extort fan, though, so we'll see. None of the other extorters seem to be good enough. I had the Kismet rare in my prerelease pool and found that it is really more of a Boros card, although it had its moments in keeping a few haste guys off my back for an extra turn. Not tapping their land when they enter play really hamstrung its actual impact beyond being just an unkillable extort card.