I like Emeria's Call more, I think control needs more modal finishers than it does modal removal spells. Ramp too. Can't go wrong with either though, I can see people preferring Eiganjo just for the sake of less DFCs.
Nice to see some support for Baneslayer types -- I was pushing this same line in 2020 and the response was almost universally "nope, they're bad, thanks for playing" and then inevitably someone questioned the removal in my cube -- usually without looking at my readily available list. While power focused cube lists do have premium removal, the opponent still has to have it and have it before too much value has been accumulated. There's always going to be a place in my cube for the best 5CC threats that swing the game when unanswered even if they are susceptible to removal.
At 6CC on up I think you do have to insist on immediate value or self-protection -- the only 6CC and above creature I run that doesn't meet that standard is Consecrated Sphinx and this is because the card draw it generally provides makes this card worth it even without these features.
Nice to see some support for Baneslayer types -- I was pushing this same line in 2020 and the response was almost universally "nope, they're bad, thanks for playing" and then inevitably someone questioned the removal in my cube -- usually without looking at my readily available list. While power focused cube lists do have premium removal, the opponent still has to have it and have it before too much value has been accumulated. There's always going to be a place in my cube for the best 5CC threats that swing the game when unanswered even if they are susceptible to removal.
At 6CC on up I think you do have to insist on immediate value or self-protection -- the only 6CC and above creature I run that doesn't meet that standard is Consecrated Sphinx and this is because the card draw it generally provides makes this card worth it even without these features.
I have Linvala, the Preserver in my Vintage cube because I feel its a good control/ reanimator target. I found the lifegain to be enormously important especially with Reanimate and it provides two strong ETB effects.
Consecrated sphinx is more of a combo card than a control finisher in my books - I've stormed off with Consecrated Sphinx + Time Spiral in a UG untap storm deck. I wouldn't recommend it in a non-storm vintage deck.
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I've found its late game kicker value to be fairly important in aggressive style decks that seeks to attack past x/4 and x/5.
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I had not considered cutting Brimaz until recently when it seemed like aggro 3-drops are benefitting a lot more from disruption than “gum up the board with good stats.” We also have some human synergies, and Thalia’s 2W cost is great in Mana Crypt / Ancient Tomb aggro.
Tenacious Underdog > Skyclave Shade
Tenacious Underdog has a higher floor since it can block and it doesn't trade with a 1/1. While Skyclave Shade has a cheaper recursive option, but it's also reliant on landfall. 4 mana activation for blitz is more realistic in aggro than 5 mana + landfall, and haste + drawing a card is huge.
Thalia >= Brimaz
I could go either way, but I like Thalia more for the variety since Adeline already exists. Thalia also goes up in value if you play a lot of token generating planeswalkers / Kiki-Twin / Sneak Attack since it slows down their defense / combo by a good amount.
4) Lose Focus/Miscalcualtion or Remand/Memory Leak or Jwari disruption
The last choice depends on cube cosntruction. If blue is aggresive I like Memory Lapse /remand, the Miscalculation/Lose focus is good allround. Jwari Disruption doesn't take place in your deck. Which to include is a choice depending on how you want to build blue.
Gun to head for my own cube, I'd probably go with (in no particular order) Arcane Denial / Mana Leak / Lose Focus / Miscalculation, while having a lot of remorse for excluding Condescend / Remand. A lot of the counterspells aren't directly comparable, IMO, so I think there's a lot of context lost when you're just ranking all 8 of them together, so I'll give my 2 cents on how my personal hierarchy for counterspells goes for the ones that are most comparable to each other.
- Lose Focus > Mana Leak
There's only exactly one scenario where Mana Leak is superior to Lose Focus and that's when your opponent 2 mana open when you only have 1U. Otherwise, Lose Focus is just as good or better than Mana Leak.
- Miscalculation > Censor (not listed) > Jwari Isle Disruption.
I lumped these together since these are modal. Miscalculation has always been the best out of the bunch for me, and I've always liked Censor's cycling over Jwari Isle Disruption being an MDFC land.
It's really hard for me to compare Condescend to any of the other "tax" counters. I do think it's pretty interchangeable with Mana Leak / Miscalculation / Lose Focus though, can't go wrong with any of those.
Remand > Memory Lapse
These are the more tempo oriented counterspells and I've always liked Remand more due to the cantrip. Memory Lapse does have its advantages though, especially in a crucial counter war.
And then there's Arcane Denial, which is probably the most unique of the ones listed since it's the only true hard counter. I think Arcane Denial is pretty cube dependent. The higher powered the cube, the more useful it is IMO since so many threats in a powered cube are worth more than the extra card you're giving them.
Thanks for the responses! I totally agree that it is heavily context dependent, just wanted to hear some thoughts. Had also completely forgotten that Censor is a card at all, but I agree that it is comparable to Jwari Isle as the modal force spike variant. Interesting that you rank Mana Leak over Lose Focus. My first gut instinct is that it can't be right, as Mana Leak is an all star in so many formats with such a long history. But you have a great point that there are quite few situations where Mana Leak actually is better. Still don't think I could cut Mana Leak for Lose Focus (think my play group would protest), but now I might try to find room for both.
Small Lose Focus story: I was playing a Modern Rotisserie draft with my play group and most of the "known" counters had gone, so I picked the recently printed Lose Focus. The player drafting RG was dissing my pick, saying I should have gone Condescend, as it seemed much better. In our first game I Lose Focused his Bloodbraid + the cascaded spell, and he had to admit he hadn't realized that interaction. Felt good.
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Thanks for the responses! I totally agree that it is heavily context dependent, just wanted to hear some thoughts. Had also completely forgotten that Censor is a card at all, but I agree that it is comparable to Jwari Isle as the modal force spike variant. Interesting that you rank Mana Leak over Lose Focus. My first gut instinct is that it can't be right, as Mana Leak is an all star in so many formats with such a long history. But you have a great point that there are quite few situations where Mana Leak actually is better. Still don't think I could cut Mana Leak for Lose Focus (think my play group would protest), but now I might try to find room for both.
Small Lose Focus story: I was playing a Modern Rotisserie draft with my play group and most of the "known" counters had gone, so I picked the recently printed Lose Focus. The player drafting RG was dissing my pick, saying I should have gone Condescend, as it seemed much better. In our first game I Lose Focused his Bloodbraid + the cascaded spell, and he had to admit he hadn't realized that interaction. Felt good.
You Rotisseried every Modern card? Nice! I suppose this was online drafting?
You Rotisseried every Modern card? Nice! I suppose this was online drafting?
This is getting a bit off-topic, so I will keep my answer a bit short. And moderators, please feel free to delete this if you think it clogs up the post.
In a modern rotisserie draft, every modern card is a legal pick - but you typically only pick 45 cards per player, or 360 cards in total. As you typically draft in a snake pattern, some groups prefer 46 picks per player, so that you get to finish the final "wheel".
We drafted online using google sheets. A so-called asynchronous draft where people pick when they have time. For our play group it took about a week to finish. Then I assembled the decks physically and we met to play out the matches. We do 8-person drafts and play round robin, i.e., 7 rounds.
I'm not sure I am allowed to post a link to the draft sheet itself, but if you are curious, send me a private message and I can send you the link.
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I have an unpowered fair cube (list here) and I am struggling to find a decent 5cmc+ board sweeper (I already play WoD and DoJ and don't want to play all the functionnal reprints available at 4cmc, looking for a sweeper to replace the outdated Austere Command I recently cut).
I like Emeria's Call more, I think control needs more modal finishers than it does modal removal spells. Ramp too. Can't go wrong with either though, I can see people preferring Eiganjo just for the sake of less DFCs.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
At 6CC on up I think you do have to insist on immediate value or self-protection -- the only 6CC and above creature I run that doesn't meet that standard is Consecrated Sphinx and this is because the card draw it generally provides makes this card worth it even without these features.
I have Linvala, the Preserver in my Vintage cube because I feel its a good control/ reanimator target. I found the lifegain to be enormously important especially with Reanimate and it provides two strong ETB effects.
Consecrated sphinx is more of a combo card than a control finisher in my books - I've stormed off with Consecrated Sphinx + Time Spiral in a UG untap storm deck. I wouldn't recommend it in a non-storm vintage deck.
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
2 - Sea Gate Stormcaller vs Jacob Hauken, Inspector ? For unpowered cubes
Tenacious Underdog if specifically looking to push black aggro, Jadar if you're looking to push aristocrats.
Sea Gate Stormcaller > Jacob
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I vote for Skyclave.
I've found its late game kicker value to be fairly important in aggressive style decks that seeks to attack past x/4 and x/5.
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 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Another one, if I may…
Thalia, Heretic Cathar vs Brimaz?
I had not considered cutting Brimaz until recently when it seemed like aggro 3-drops are benefitting a lot more from disruption than “gum up the board with good stats.” We also have some human synergies, and Thalia’s 2W cost is great in Mana Crypt / Ancient Tomb aggro.
Tenacious Underdog has a higher floor since it can block and it doesn't trade with a 1/1. While Skyclave Shade has a cheaper recursive option, but it's also reliant on landfall. 4 mana activation for blitz is more realistic in aggro than 5 mana + landfall, and haste + drawing a card is huge.
Thalia >= Brimaz
I could go either way, but I like Thalia more for the variety since Adeline already exists. Thalia also goes up in value if you play a lot of token generating planeswalkers / Kiki-Twin / Sneak Attack since it slows down their defense / combo by a good amount.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
2)Mana Leak
3)Condescend
4) Lose Focus/Miscalcualtion or Remand/Memory Leak or Jwari disruption
The last choice depends on cube cosntruction. If blue is aggresive I like Memory Lapse /remand, the Miscalculation/Lose focus is good allround. Jwari Disruption doesn't take place in your deck. Which to include is a choice depending on how you want to build blue.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
After that Mana Leak > Remand > Miscalculation > Lose Focus then I'd probably put Jwari Disruption or Memory Lapse 5th but it's close.
Soft "taxing" counters
(Condescend / Mana Leak / Miscalculation / Lose Focus / Jwari Isle Disruption)
- Lose Focus > Mana Leak
There's only exactly one scenario where Mana Leak is superior to Lose Focus and that's when your opponent 2 mana open when you only have 1U. Otherwise, Lose Focus is just as good or better than Mana Leak.
- Miscalculation > Censor (not listed) > Jwari Isle Disruption.
I lumped these together since these are modal. Miscalculation has always been the best out of the bunch for me, and I've always liked Censor's cycling over Jwari Isle Disruption being an MDFC land.
It's really hard for me to compare Condescend to any of the other "tax" counters. I do think it's pretty interchangeable with Mana Leak / Miscalculation / Lose Focus though, can't go wrong with any of those.
Remand > Memory Lapse
These are the more tempo oriented counterspells and I've always liked Remand more due to the cantrip. Memory Lapse does have its advantages though, especially in a crucial counter war.
And then there's Arcane Denial, which is probably the most unique of the ones listed since it's the only true hard counter. I think Arcane Denial is pretty cube dependent. The higher powered the cube, the more useful it is IMO since so many threats in a powered cube are worth more than the extra card you're giving them.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Small Lose Focus story: I was playing a Modern Rotisserie draft with my play group and most of the "known" counters had gone, so I picked the recently printed Lose Focus. The player drafting RG was dissing my pick, saying I should have gone Condescend, as it seemed much better. In our first game I Lose Focused his Bloodbraid + the cascaded spell, and he had to admit he hadn't realized that interaction. Felt good.
You Rotisseried every Modern card? Nice! I suppose this was online drafting?
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
This is getting a bit off-topic, so I will keep my answer a bit short. And moderators, please feel free to delete this if you think it clogs up the post.
In a modern rotisserie draft, every modern card is a legal pick - but you typically only pick 45 cards per player, or 360 cards in total. As you typically draft in a snake pattern, some groups prefer 46 picks per player, so that you get to finish the final "wheel".
We drafted online using google sheets. A so-called asynchronous draft where people pick when they have time. For our play group it took about a week to finish. Then I assembled the decks physically and we met to play out the matches. We do 8-person drafts and play round robin, i.e., 7 rounds.
I'm not sure I am allowed to post a link to the draft sheet itself, but if you are curious, send me a private message and I can send you the link.
Cheers.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/5f79d238debf310362d43d47
I think Terastodon is the better cheaty face target since it can nuke multiple targets, hit lands early game and planeswalkers late game.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
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So the match is : Cleansing Nova vs Farewell.
Thank You for your answers!
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