I'm kicking around the idea of adding more ramp and fatties to green. For fatties, I currently run Primeval Titan, Hornet Queen, and Woodfall Primus, plus Armada Wurm and Simic Sky Swallower. Given that, what do you think of Pelakka Wurm vs Terastodon.
For ramp, I will probably cut a midrangey green card. So I'd like input on Vengevine vs Master of the Wild Hunt vs Polukranos, World Eater. The latter two I haven't seen in action too much so I don't have a good feel for their relative power levels. Thanks.
I wouldn't cut any of those midrange cards. My ramp decks usually run a decent amount of 4 and five drops to accelerate out, in addition to the 6+ giant fatties. As for the fatties, I like Terrastodon more than the Wurn. I think it's more powerful, but it is also just a ton of fun.
It can be as formal or informal as you want, but I try to talk to every player after the draft about what they played, what they cut, how well things performed, what they wish they had been given access to, what they saw too much of, etc. It's a good way to diagnose how cards are performing, and what effects are over or under represented. Things like, I tried to go R/W aggro, but didn't see enough burn, or I grabbed Wildfire, but mana rocks and creatures with toughness 5+ were tough to come by can be great help to cube builders.
Yes and no. If you're at or close to your critical mass of aggro 1-drops, yes. A non 1-drop that's of a higher quality will be more beneficial. But if you're short on T1 aggression, even a less than optimal 1-drop is better than no pressure at all (unless it's completely unplayable garbage, which none of those three are).
What would you consider that "critical mass" of red one-drops to be in a 450 card cube? My red section has the 7 I listed, plus access to 2 hybrids (Rakdos Cackler and Figure of Destiny).
Go over on one drops. You can always scale back, and it is easy to spot when you have too many (assuming you do the sideboard post mortem that we always do). Knowing when you have too few is much more difficult to spot, and more importantly, much more damaging to the cube experience than just a wasted slot or two.
Lastly, the importance of one drops has NEVER been more important to aggro than it is now, thanks to the quality and volume of equipment in cube.
I think the quality/density of your aggro mana fixing really affects this decision. When we added our second set of fetches, greens impact on aggro became immense. As stated, it is rarely a main color, so you need to be able to splash it into two color decks, while at the same time having access to G turn one (and occasionally GG turn two) in two color decks.
Also, if you run non booster/roto drafts (winston, solomon, etc), green aggro becomes almost a neccessity in cubes larger than 360.
Fair enough. I was thinking about O-Ring and the new tempo spell. We don't use Library, so that's less of a concern to our group. You guys raise an excellent point though. I do hate to lose Parallax Wave, but White is pretty stacked at four. How are you blinking Fetters?
Venser PW, Flickerwisp, Kor Skyfisher, bounce spells. It doesn't happen a ton, but it can mean a win versus aggro.
Even if you don't use Library, there are always problematic lands (Maze, Manlands, V's Stronghold) and it is tough to include cards just to answer them.
And I don't disagree that white is getting more versatile answers, I'd just rather wait until there are too many than assume that two will be enough.
On the subject of White's four drops...is Faith's Fetters really necessary? It's a strong card, no doubt, but isn't it something White can do any number of other ways?
Point me to the white cards that can answer creatures, equipment, walkers, Survival, library of alexandria, for four (or less) mana all while not sucking versus aggro and being abusable by blink strategies so I can add them to my cube because I count only one.
Fetters is good for the same reason Vindicate is good. I get 23 slots in my deck, so one versatile answer is often better than three cheap but narrow answers.
More expendable than Lone Missionary? Don't get me wrong, I loves me some crazy blinking lifegain, but with the increased quality of white's 1 and 2-drops, the Missionary seems more expendable at this point than a unique and flexible card like Parallax Wave.
This is one of those "it makes no sense while looking at your cube, but makes perfect sense when deckbuilding" type cuts. One of my major reasons for going to 540 was wanting to play Parallax Wave. I just couldn't justify it at 450 with the amount of white four drops sitting in sideboards.
I think Wheel of Fortune is one of the cards with the highest "power on paper" vs "power as played" discrepancy in the cube. Every time I look at it, I think that it must be amazing - it is a draw 7 after all. But in practice, it is one of the least played red cards in my cube.
Does red aggro not see play in your cube, because the card is insane in every red aggro deck built, regardless of mono or splash color. This is before you get to the other decks it works in (like reanimator).
Like I said, I'm fine with Behemoth Sledge being a Selesnya card. I have 6 slots for each guild (not counting fixers) and it fits pretty well in my guild composition. We can't say that a reusable Armadillo Cloak doesn't feel it belongs to the Selesnya guild.
It is actually the most played and best card of the three, so I'd need solid arguments against it or in favour of the other two to make the decision of cutting it.
Seeing what your cube makeup, and size, is like (or at least the specific sections where these exist) would really help.
Otherwise, I'm with wtwlf in that you should cut all three.
I enjoy Desolation Angel, but I think it has become a mediocre card for cube due to its narrowness. It's upside is clearly amazing, but in the end it is a seven casting cost gold card that can't be cast on many unfavorable board states, can't be abused with blink effects (hello white) and can't be used in reanimator (hello black). So basically it is a card that wins me games where I get to 3WWBB, am not facing a fairly negative board, and have a seven drop in hand.
Both Titans, Elesh Norn, and Griselbrand all offer much more in a fatty package, and that's in mono sections.
I feel like the screwed up Miracle by making the power level between the versions so vast. I feel like they should have taken cards that they liked whose power level was juuuust too low for what they were trying to do, and added a decent but not insane miracle to them. Would Shock be cubeable with a miracle for four damage? Would Browbeat be worth it if it entwined via miracle? What if Goblin Welder searched up an artifact (or put on in the yard) or Blaze gave you an extra target to deal X to? Why can't I think of any non red cards to use as examples?
I only saw the last two post on my screen and started scratching my head thinking: 'Why are people playing Kudzu?'
Ok, I always like the card, but to cube with it?
I wouldn't cut any of those midrange cards. My ramp decks usually run a decent amount of 4 and five drops to accelerate out, in addition to the 6+ giant fatties. As for the fatties, I like Terrastodon more than the Wurn. I think it's more powerful, but it is also just a ton of fun.
It can be as formal or informal as you want, but I try to talk to every player after the draft about what they played, what they cut, how well things performed, what they wish they had been given access to, what they saw too much of, etc. It's a good way to diagnose how cards are performing, and what effects are over or under represented. Things like, I tried to go R/W aggro, but didn't see enough burn, or I grabbed Wildfire, but mana rocks and creatures with toughness 5+ were tough to come by can be great help to cube builders.
Go over on one drops. You can always scale back, and it is easy to spot when you have too many (assuming you do the sideboard post mortem that we always do). Knowing when you have too few is much more difficult to spot, and more importantly, much more damaging to the cube experience than just a wasted slot or two.
Lastly, the importance of one drops has NEVER been more important to aggro than it is now, thanks to the quality and volume of equipment in cube.
Also, if you run non booster/roto drafts (winston, solomon, etc), green aggro becomes almost a neccessity in cubes larger than 360.
Fire/Ice > Izzet Charm > Augury > Weird
I've never played any of those UW cards for a significant amount of time. I want Judge's familiar to be kickass though.
I agree withthe immediacy point, but Bloodgift probably does more for your topdecks on average.
Venser PW, Flickerwisp, Kor Skyfisher, bounce spells. It doesn't happen a ton, but it can mean a win versus aggro.
Even if you don't use Library, there are always problematic lands (Maze, Manlands, V's Stronghold) and it is tough to include cards just to answer them.
And I don't disagree that white is getting more versatile answers, I'd just rather wait until there are too many than assume that two will be enough.
Point me to the white cards that can answer creatures, equipment, walkers, Survival, library of alexandria, for four (or less) mana all while not sucking versus aggro and being abusable by blink strategies so I can add them to my cube because I count only one.
Fetters is good for the same reason Vindicate is good. I get 23 slots in my deck, so one versatile answer is often better than three cheap but narrow answers.
This is one of those "it makes no sense while looking at your cube, but makes perfect sense when deckbuilding" type cuts. One of my major reasons for going to 540 was wanting to play Parallax Wave. I just couldn't justify it at 450 with the amount of white four drops sitting in sideboards.
Does red aggro not see play in your cube, because the card is insane in every red aggro deck built, regardless of mono or splash color. This is before you get to the other decks it works in (like reanimator).
Seeing what your cube makeup, and size, is like (or at least the specific sections where these exist) would really help.
Otherwise, I'm with wtwlf in that you should cut all three.
Both Titans, Elesh Norn, and Griselbrand all offer much more in a fatty package, and that's in mono sections.
I like GV more than the Angel, but other than that, spot on.
Challenge. Accepted.