I've done a rough analysis of the persist enablers, free sacrifice outlets and recursion engines and found that any tri non-blue combination is good for supporting the melira combo, with Abzan being the best combination.
Similarly, any color combination with Red-Black + Splash and White-Black + Splash are good for supporting Aristocrats, with mardu being the best combination.
(For full details, read my Vintage Cube explained article at the Melira and Aristocrats section).
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I drafted this archetype several times and I've found we should be porting lessons from cEDH and not constructed for building this archetype:
- The Melira combo ideally should be somewhere around 2-2-2 (persist, sacrifice, recursion engine). There should be a minimum of 2 in the persist/ sacrifice half that can win the game/ scry into a win-con. I would strong advice going beyond this number as this would dilute the strength of cards creature tutors that are present in this deck + It would also hurt the deck's fair gameplan without significantly contributing to its unfair plan.
- Assembling 3 creatures is relatively difficult, however, cards such as Birthing Pod / Skullclamp can help significantly. The deck's strength should be its engine and not its combo pieces. There isn't enough redundancy for any one engine to be prevalant. I would opt for a minimum of 2 of the below options:
(Ashnod's Altar/ The Great Henge have some deckbuilding restrictions, if the deck can support them effectively, then they are strong cards)
I've found ALOT of examples of players drafting Melira decks with a good spread of persist creatures, sacrifice outlets and +1/+1 enablers, but fail to be effective as it was both terrible at playing the fair and unfair game in a Vintage Level environment.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
i'm genuinely curious when i ask this, but why does this thread keep popping up? i dont think anybody plays melira in their cubes do they? i started searching cube lists on here b/c i thought maybe i was missing something, but after looking thru like the top 20 or so, i literally only found 1 list w/ this card even in it. there was even 1 huge list w/ close to 1600 cards, that didnt bother running it
i'm genuinely curious when i ask this, but why does this thread keep popping up? i dont think anybody plays melira in their cubes do they? i started searching cube lists on here b/c i thought maybe i was missing something, but after looking thru like the top 20 or so, i literally only found 1 list w/ this card even in it. there was even 1 huge list w/ close to 1600 cards, that didnt bother running it
Its more or less that I just love the Melira Combo in Cube, primarily because of the complexity of the deck during drafts/ game play and deck building and I was hoping more people would be interested to bounce ideas.
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
ok, thought i was just missing something. i can get behind recurring nightmare & skullclamp, but Pod is a constructed card. just not good enuff in cube w/o the right amount of & the right type of creatures to pull it off consistently. & it seems that the majority of cube managers agree w/ that sentiment b/c just going back thru the same lists i looked @ on here for Melira, i only found 1 cube w/ Pod in it as well.
ok, thought i was just missing something. i can get behind recurring nightmare & skullclamp, but Pod is a constructed card. just not good enuff in cube w/o the right amount of & the right type of creatures to pull it off consistently. & it seems that the majority of cube managers agree w/ that sentiment b/c just going back thru the same lists i looked @ on here for Melira, i only found 1 cube w/ Pod in it as well.
My experience with Birthing Pod is its a strong card for any Gx creature deck (non-ramp). Almost 70& of targets 3 CMC or higher are strong targets and if you have a card like Revillark then it just becomes insane.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
ok, thought i was just missing something. i can get behind recurring nightmare & skullclamp, but Pod is a constructed card. just not good enuff in cube w/o the right amount of & the right type of creatures to pull it off consistently. & it seems that the majority of cube managers agree w/ that sentiment b/c just going back thru the same lists i looked @ on here for Melira, i only found 1 cube w/ Pod in it as well.
My experience with Birthing Pod is its a strong card for any Gx creature deck (non-ramp). Almost 70& of targets 3 CMC or higher are strong targets and if you have a card like Revillark then it just becomes insane.
i feel like this mite a case of confirmation bias Breathe. do you record deck lists from drafts? if you do, would those Gx decks have won w/ or w/o Birthing Pod; i.e. slot any other decent green 3 or 4 drop in its place? off the cuff, i'm going to say yes. like i said in an earlier post, Pod is a constructed card. its powerful to be sure, but in a deck designed to make use of its very specific ability; & it looks like cubers agree w/ that sentiment since most of them dont even run the card.
ok, thought i was just missing something. i can get behind recurring nightmare & skullclamp, but Pod is a constructed card. just not good enuff in cube w/o the right amount of & the right type of creatures to pull it off consistently. & it seems that the majority of cube managers agree w/ that sentiment b/c just going back thru the same lists i looked @ on here for Melira, i only found 1 cube w/ Pod in it as well.
My experience with Birthing Pod is its a strong card for any Gx creature deck (non-ramp). Almost 70& of targets 3 CMC or higher are strong targets and if you have a card like Revillark then it just becomes insane.
i feel like this mite a case of confirmation bias Breathe. do you record deck lists from drafts? if you do, would those Gx decks have won w/ or w/o Birthing Pod; i.e. slot any other decent green 3 or 4 drop in its place? off the cuff, i'm going to say yes. like i said in an earlier post, Pod is a constructed card. its powerful to be sure, but in a deck designed to make use of its very specific ability; & it looks like cubers agree w/ that sentiment since most of them dont even run the card.
I found the versatility to cheat on mana, tutor silver bullets and gain card advantage to all be invaluable. My problem with other 3-4 CMC cards is outside of a card like Oko, Thief of Crowns / Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, there isn't anything that can really serve all those roles.
I haven't recorded the decks so I guess this is a bit off the cuff.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/168471
edit: and another nice one, the stars really aligned this time
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/179774
https://deckstats.net/decks/1121/36544-gert-s-cube
I've done a rough analysis of the persist enablers, free sacrifice outlets and recursion engines and found that any tri non-blue combination is good for supporting the melira combo, with Abzan being the best combination.
Similarly, any color combination with Red-Black + Splash and White-Black + Splash are good for supporting Aristocrats, with mardu being the best combination.
(For full details, read my Vintage Cube explained article at the Melira and Aristocrats section).
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
- The Melira combo ideally should be somewhere around 2-2-2 (persist, sacrifice, recursion engine). There should be a minimum of 2 in the persist/ sacrifice half that can win the game/ scry into a win-con. I would strong advice going beyond this number as this would dilute the strength of cards creature tutors that are present in this deck + It would also hurt the deck's fair gameplan without significantly contributing to its unfair plan.
- Assembling 3 creatures is relatively difficult, however, cards such as Birthing Pod / Skullclamp can help significantly. The deck's strength should be its engine and not its combo pieces. There isn't enough redundancy for any one engine to be prevalant. I would opt for a minimum of 2 of the below options:
- Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman / Rankle, Master of Pranks / Altar of Dementia + Recurring Nightmare / Living Death / Incarnation Technique / Sevinne's Reclamation / Reveillark / Ao, the Dawn Sky / Lurrus of the Dream-Den
* Tutor creatures into Graveyard + Mass Recursion Engine
- Birthing Pod / Vivien, Monsters' Advocate / Defense of the Heart / Protean Hulk / Fiend Artisan
* Tutor multiple creatures Engine
- The Great Henge / Yawgmoth, Thran Physician / Skullclamp
* Mass Draw Engine
- Gaea's Cradle / Ashnod's Altar
* Fast mana Engine
(Ashnod's Altar/ The Great Henge have some deckbuilding restrictions, if the deck can support them effectively, then they are strong cards)
I've found ALOT of examples of players drafting Melira decks with a good spread of persist creatures, sacrifice outlets and +1/+1 enablers, but fail to be effective as it was both terrible at playing the fair and unfair game in a Vintage Level environment.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Its more or less that I just love the Melira Combo in Cube, primarily because of the complexity of the deck during drafts/ game play and deck building and I was hoping more people would be interested to bounce ideas.
I just have a love for Birthing Pod, Recurring Nightmare and Skullclamp decks.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
My experience with Birthing Pod is its a strong card for any Gx creature deck (non-ramp). Almost 70& of targets 3 CMC or higher are strong targets and if you have a card like Revillark then it just becomes insane.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
i feel like this mite a case of confirmation bias Breathe. do you record deck lists from drafts? if you do, would those Gx decks have won w/ or w/o Birthing Pod; i.e. slot any other decent green 3 or 4 drop in its place? off the cuff, i'm going to say yes. like i said in an earlier post, Pod is a constructed card. its powerful to be sure, but in a deck designed to make use of its very specific ability; & it looks like cubers agree w/ that sentiment since most of them dont even run the card.
I found the versatility to cheat on mana, tutor silver bullets and gain card advantage to all be invaluable. My problem with other 3-4 CMC cards is outside of a card like Oko, Thief of Crowns / Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, there isn't anything that can really serve all those roles.
I haven't recorded the decks so I guess this is a bit off the cuff.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i