Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider 4GG
Legendary Creature - Phyrexian Praetor
Trample, haste
If you would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put twice that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.
If an opponent would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put half that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead, rounded down.
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider looks great for cubes with +1/+1 counter themes and/or lots of planeswalkers. I'm planning to include it.
Upsides:
— Like Doubling Season, Vorinclex doubles your planeswalkers' starting loyalty (and upticks), giving many walkers an immediate backbreaking ultimate.
— +1/+1 counter doubling effects are fun and stack really well! My cube hasalotofcreaturesthatnaturallycreate+1/+1counters, plus afewcounterlords.
— Vorinclex doubles otherrandomusefulcounters common in cube.
— Vorinclex hoses your opponent's planeswalkers' starting loyalty/upticks, +1/+1 counters, counter-based mana rocks/lands, and completely blanks their sagas. Even if you drafted most of the +1/+1 counters matter cards for your own deck, there are enough random +1/+1 counter creatures and planeswalkers that most opposing decks will still have something for Vorinclex to hate on.
— A 4GG 6/6 with haste and trample are already respectable stats for surprise attacking opposing planeswalkers or players. This higher floor is the main reason I prefer Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider over Doubling Season in cube — by itself Doubling Season does nothing, but even if you draw zero others cards that make counters a hasty hate-Dreadmaw is fine.
Downsides:
— Ideally you want doubling effects to be cheap so you can get them going before all your other +1/+1 counter generators and counter-based mana rocks come down.
— Vorinclex is a nonbo with your persistcreatures, Wall of Roots, and Thing in the Ice. It's a super-duper-nonbo if your opponent plays any of those cards (it acts as a Melira for your opponent's persisters).
— Compared to Doubling Season, Vorinclex costs an extra G, is easier to remove, and does not affect tokens.
Decent Stats, and will rank depending on the interaction with counters.
Skipping my 450 but I am considering for my Artifact cube, where there a lot of counters going on. Wish it was doubling season instead of the counter nerf half, but of course this is the mechanics of the Praetors.
Haste & trample is a rare combination in green, am hoping the immediate value of an evasive attack makes up for the real concerns about the lateness of the doubling season ability. It's such a fun effect (immediately ulting PWers, +1/+1 counter wackiness etc), so we're giving it a shot.
I was hoping to get some feedback this week, but I think it didn't end up being in the draft pool. When he was played in our group a few weeks ago he went off once but the other times probably would have been better as a carnage tyrant. I'm still hoping it can get there.
A 6 mana 6/6 trample, haste is likely not strong enough to break it into 720 card cube, but it is still a very strong creature. I call it a "Let me live the Dream" card that allows you to play him on turn 6, curve into a planeswalker + Ultimate.
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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
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
4GG
Legendary Creature - Phyrexian Praetor
Trample, haste
If you would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put twice that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.
If an opponent would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put half that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead, rounded down.
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider looks great for cubes with +1/+1 counter themes and/or lots of planeswalkers. I'm planning to include it.
Upsides:
— Like Doubling Season, Vorinclex doubles your planeswalkers' starting loyalty (and upticks), giving many walkers an immediate backbreaking ultimate.
— +1/+1 counter doubling effects are fun and stack really well! My cube has a lot of creatures that naturally create +1/+1 counters, plus a few counter lords.
— Vorinclex doubles other random useful counters common in cube.
— Vorinclex hoses your opponent's planeswalkers' starting loyalty/upticks, +1/+1 counters, counter-based mana rocks/lands, and completely blanks their sagas. Even if you drafted most of the +1/+1 counters matter cards for your own deck, there are enough random +1/+1 counter creatures and planeswalkers that most opposing decks will still have something for Vorinclex to hate on.
— A 4GG 6/6 with haste and trample are already respectable stats for surprise attacking opposing planeswalkers or players. This higher floor is the main reason I prefer Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider over Doubling Season in cube — by itself Doubling Season does nothing, but even if you draw zero others cards that make counters a hasty hate-Dreadmaw is fine.
Downsides:
— Ideally you want doubling effects to be cheap so you can get them going before all your other +1/+1 counter generators and counter-based mana rocks come down.
— Vorinclex is a nonbo with your persist creatures, Wall of Roots, and Thing in the Ice. It's a super-duper-nonbo if your opponent plays any of those cards (it acts as a Melira for your opponent's persisters).
— Compared to Doubling Season, Vorinclex costs an extra G, is easier to remove, and does not affect tokens.
Skipping my 450 but I am considering for my Artifact cube, where there a lot of counters going on. Wish it was doubling season instead of the counter nerf half, but of course this is the mechanics of the Praetors.
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