Tamiyo would not be my Bant choice, no matter how I classified Noble.
Generally for 3-color cards, I want them to be as flexible as possible, and look for cards that play more like guild cards, or ones that are typically cheated into play to circumvent their mana costa. Typically they should be big, splashable and hugely impactful in order to justify their inclusion.
May I ask what would be?
Probably Empyrial Archangel. It's a good target for Natural Order and a thing I can cheat out with Oath/Stampede etc. It's a surprisingly tough card to beat.
Angel of Invention is an anthem and an army at the same time, so it helps stabilize the board while also changing combat math when your opponent might not expect it. However, as a 2/1, it is susceptible to being killed in the middle of combat by almost any removal spell, which can cause a blowout. Worse, as a 4/3, you lose the Servos without making it that much stronger against red removal. Still, it wears equipment incredibly well and can run away with a game if unanswered.
If you were able, what would you like to invent or see invented?
I think the Angel is one of the best white 5cc creatures. As an army-in-a-can, it gives you 6 power and 3 bodies. The built-in Anthem will bolster the rest of your team, which is amazing in token-centric builds. It has good interactions with ETB abuse triggers, especially since it has a small base body and can be tutored by Recruiter and chained back with 'Lark. Not to mention that it can resolve as a 4/3 flying vigilant lifgelinker, which can straight-up brick certain board states when the need arises. Amazing cube card.
I had my eye on Angel of Invention but she started seeing play in God Pharaohs Gift decks so I held off when it spiked a bit. As soon as she rotates out I will probably pick one up (ugh, rotations make me too aware of the passage of time).
I like the army in a can creatures and I will probably cut Geist Honoured Monk for this. White 5s have a wealth of army in a can options but I do think this looks like one of the better ones. I really wish it made thopters though, but we can't have it all I guess.
The modal flexibility is what interests me most when I don't need the bodies she gets to be 4/3 with some pretty relevant keywords, vigilance & lifelink is a nightmare for anyone trying to race you. As a 2/1 it does seem really fragile, but I assume you are keeping that in mind when you choose that mode unless your just on the backfoot and need blockers, but in that case you have 2 more bodies at least.
AoI is amazing. It's rarely cast for the +1+1 counters mode, but even having that as an option is awesome. Great card.
EDIT: In terms of the art/flavor, I'm going with she rips off her arms if she wants to make servos and they grow into servos like starfish grow their limbs back. Definitely that.
I'm also waiting for Angel to rotate before adding it, but I think it looks great. An army-in-a-can with a built-in Anthem is everything I want from a white 5-drop.
I think the Angel is one of the best white 5cc creatures. As an army-in-a-can, it gives you 6 power and 3 bodies. The built-in Anthem will bolster the rest of your team, which is amazing in token-centric builds. It has good interactions with ETB abuse triggers, especially since it has a small base body and can be tutored by Recruiter and chained back with 'Lark. Not to mention that it can resolve as a 4/4 flying vigilant lifgelinker, which can straight-up brick certain board states when the need arises. Amazing cube card.
Either it's a typo or I missed something, but she's only a 4/3 if you choose the counters mode. She's a great creature for all the reasons listed here. Good as a standalone, good as a support card, and good as a build around card. A slam dunk.
Three keywords, three bodies, anthem effect, a model feature, and a great art to boot.
Just be careful of the potential blowout when you lose the anthem effect.
I don't have a lot of experience with Tasigur in 1-on-1, but I'm never quite sure how I want to classify him, color-wise. I have him as mono-black currently, since I don't have a tri-colored section, and I don't want to spend an U/B or B/G slot on him. Still, it is awkward for Black to have a card that needs another color to use its activated ability. Still, an undercosted 4/5 with upside does seem good to have around.
Would you like to see more playable cards that give your opponent a choice, or are you not interested in that design space?
Tasigur is sweet, his ability can be flavor text but even then he's still awesome. Playing him for 1-3 total mana is a great deal.
It's not a bad mechanic when it's not a punisher card, but I'm not itching for more opponent-chooses cards, so I'm more neutral on wanting more than anything. It's not like Fact or Fiction where there is often a tough choice for the opponent in figuring all 5 cards out--there is typically an objectively-worse card than everything else in the GY, whether it's a signet late game or cantrip vs time walk.
Tasigur is a boss, best 1 drop in cube. I guess he isn't always 1 mana but I rarely pay more than 2. His ability is always stronger than it looks since you get to delve away the junk, you still always get the worst card but it always a non-land so I think it is on par with "draw a card".
I have been lazy and just called him a black creature; I used to have a tri-brid in each colour but I cut the blue and white ones for being a bit weak.
I like cards that give my opponent bad choices but it is a hard spot to fill in cube. I am having success with Do or Die though and fact or fiction is always an all-star.
I haven't tried Brain Maggot in my cube, but I do really enjoy cheap creatures that mess with my opponent's hand, such as Tidehollow Sculler or Kitesail Freebooter (which I am currently running due to it being evasive). Unfortunately, the stats are not aggressive enough for me to include it in my list.
What's your opinion on insects? Do they bother you, or do you just brush them off?
I currently run Freebooter after trashing it by making the brain maggot/etc comparison, but I still don't love it and really don't love brain maggot.
The rule with insects is: don't ruin my night and I won't ruin your life. I don't care if they exist, I don't care if there's a whole silent colony of tarantulas under my couch, just as long as they don't go encroaching on my sanity-spots.
I like Tidehollow Sculler, but have never really been a fan of Mesmeric Fiend/Brain Maggot/Freebooter. With all these creatures, it feels like you end up just taking a removal spell, because if you take anything else they care about, they will use removal to get the card back. In the case of Mesmeric Fiend/Brain Maggot, the bodies just don't feel large enough to do anything but sit on the battlefield, which makes them seem worse than Distress. Tidehollow Sculler I like more because the body can attack and block more often. I would like Freebooter for the evasion, but I've been burned a too many times by seeing hands with no noncreature nonlands.
If there's a lot of combo in your cube, Maggot/Fiend are pretty decent. For regular disruption + body, Freebooter is available, which is a little better at face value in a less combo-centric environment. I run it and like it just fine, but I could certainly see cutting it in the future. Sculler is another cool card along these same lines, but being multicolor hurts its playability, and making it an artifact makes it even more vulnerable (making it's disruption a bit less consistent). They're all solid cards, but none are particularly impressive. I want a 2/1 first strike one for 1B. It won't happen, but it's what I want.
I've never liked these cards. You never want to swing with anything but an empty board with this because it dies in all combat situations and gives your opponent back the best card that was in their hand. Which mostly just made it a bad discard spell. Tidehollow scullers second point of toughness was very relevant.
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Calvin and Hobbes Cube Tutor
I had it in the early days of my cube but it didn't last too long. It is an ok effect but it dies to everything. It's main power is in throwing people off curve; play it on 2 and steal your opponents next play but the problem with that is it isn't a very tempo-y card. A Black Knight with this effect would be really sweet but that's maybe a bit pushed.
I like insects, they don't bother me at all really and I have a soft spot for spiders, they are friendly little house guests who kill flying insects. Don't get me wrong if I worked up in bed covered in spiders I might freak out a bit but one or two I could brush off.
I recently added Freebooter but Maggot doesn't interest me. Pringlesman hits the nail on the head why these kind of creatures have been weak in cube: You usually can't swing with them. Freebooter gets around this a bit. I'd like one of these type of creatures with 2 power and either shadow (not happening) or intimidate (very unlikely).
Insects are cool. I like almost all animals, including insects. I do feed them to my tarantulas, though.
I recently added Freebooter but Maggot doesn't interest me. Pringlesman hits the nail on the head why these kind of creatures have been weak in cube: You usually can't swing with them. Freebooter gets around this a bit. I'd like one of these type of creatures with 2 power and either shadow (not happening) or intimidate (very unlikely).
Insects are cool. I like almost all animals, including insects. I do feed them to my tarantulas, though.
Cheers,
rant
2 power and Skulk? Wont get you round tokens but its pretty effective against a lot of other decks. Seems a lot more printable than the others, though I don't think skulk was very popular.
Supreme Will is one of my favorite counterspells printed in the last couple years. While three mana isn't a great rate for Mana Leak or Impulse in cube, having the choice makes it more than worth it, in my opinion. Sometimes, it can be awkward to hold up counter magic if you don't have a way to use your mana and advance your plan if you don't have to counter anything. Supreme Will fixes that by having its own option to dig if you don't need the counterspell. It's played very well for us so far.
Which color would you like to see get more good modal spells? Why would you choose that color?
Probably Empyrial Archangel. It's a good target for Natural Order and a thing I can cheat out with Oath/Stampede etc. It's a surprisingly tough card to beat.
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Angel of Invention
Angel of Invention is an anthem and an army at the same time, so it helps stabilize the board while also changing combat math when your opponent might not expect it. However, as a 2/1, it is susceptible to being killed in the middle of combat by almost any removal spell, which can cause a blowout. Worse, as a 4/3, you lose the Servos without making it that much stronger against red removal. Still, it wears equipment incredibly well and can run away with a game if unanswered.
If you were able, what would you like to invent or see invented?
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I like the army in a can creatures and I will probably cut Geist Honoured Monk for this. White 5s have a wealth of army in a can options but I do think this looks like one of the better ones. I really wish it made thopters though, but we can't have it all I guess.
The modal flexibility is what interests me most when I don't need the bodies she gets to be 4/3 with some pretty relevant keywords, vigilance & lifelink is a nightmare for anyone trying to race you. As a 2/1 it does seem really fragile, but I assume you are keeping that in mind when you choose that mode unless your just on the backfoot and need blockers, but in that case you have 2 more bodies at least.
EDIT: In terms of the art/flavor, I'm going with she rips off her arms if she wants to make servos and they grow into servos like starfish grow their limbs back. Definitely that.
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[180 classic cube]
Either it's a typo or I missed something, but she's only a 4/3 if you choose the counters mode. She's a great creature for all the reasons listed here. Good as a standalone, good as a support card, and good as a build around card. A slam dunk.
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Just be careful of the potential blowout when you lose the anthem effect.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
I don't have a lot of experience with Tasigur in 1-on-1, but I'm never quite sure how I want to classify him, color-wise. I have him as mono-black currently, since I don't have a tri-colored section, and I don't want to spend an U/B or B/G slot on him. Still, it is awkward for Black to have a card that needs another color to use its activated ability. Still, an undercosted 4/5 with upside does seem good to have around.
Would you like to see more playable cards that give your opponent a choice, or are you not interested in that design space?
It's not a bad mechanic when it's not a punisher card, but I'm not itching for more opponent-chooses cards, so I'm more neutral on wanting more than anything. It's not like Fact or Fiction where there is often a tough choice for the opponent in figuring all 5 cards out--there is typically an objectively-worse card than everything else in the GY, whether it's a signet late game or cantrip vs time walk.
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I'm not that interested in cards that give my opponents choices. They have usually been a bust for cube, with rare exceptions like FoF and Tasigur.
Cheers,
rant
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No, I do not want more cards that give my opponent a choice.
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I have been lazy and just called him a black creature; I used to have a tri-brid in each colour but I cut the blue and white ones for being a bit weak.
I like cards that give my opponent bad choices but it is a hard spot to fill in cube. I am having success with Do or Die though and fact or fiction is always an all-star.
Brain Maggot
I haven't tried Brain Maggot in my cube, but I do really enjoy cheap creatures that mess with my opponent's hand, such as Tidehollow Sculler or Kitesail Freebooter (which I am currently running due to it being evasive). Unfortunately, the stats are not aggressive enough for me to include it in my list.
What's your opinion on insects? Do they bother you, or do you just brush them off?
The rule with insects is: don't ruin my night and I won't ruin your life. I don't care if they exist, I don't care if there's a whole silent colony of tarantulas under my couch, just as long as they don't go encroaching on my sanity-spots.
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[180 classic cube]
The only insect I really really dont like is ticks.
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Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor
I like insects, they don't bother me at all really and I have a soft spot for spiders, they are friendly little house guests who kill flying insects. Don't get me wrong if I worked up in bed covered in spiders I might freak out a bit but one or two I could brush off.
Insects are cool. I like almost all animals, including insects. I do feed them to my tarantulas, though.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
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2 power and Skulk? Wont get you round tokens but its pretty effective against a lot of other decks. Seems a lot more printable than the others, though I don't think skulk was very popular.
Supreme Will
Supreme Will is one of my favorite counterspells printed in the last couple years. While three mana isn't a great rate for Mana Leak or Impulse in cube, having the choice makes it more than worth it, in my opinion. Sometimes, it can be awkward to hold up counter magic if you don't have a way to use your mana and advance your plan if you don't have to counter anything. Supreme Will fixes that by having its own option to dig if you don't need the counterspell. It's played very well for us so far.
Which color would you like to see get more good modal spells? Why would you choose that color?
I'd like to see more modal red spells like Abrade. It would be cool in green too, Primal Command is OK but I would like something better.
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