By "established" you mean Wtwlf123 has picked up playing it
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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
Huh, what? Initiative is being played in Legacy and Vintage, so, looks like as "established" as a mechanic can get.
Also I meant Initiative instead of Adventure! My bad. Will edit.
Been pretty solid for me. Generally all the initiative creatures have been great.
Gets a land, becomes a 7/5 in time to attack then drains for 5. Puts on alot of pressure and can keep it on even if removed. Good for closing games quickly but also helps you grind if the game goes long (assuming you can keep the initiative).
As if that wasn't enough you can pretty easily
My only gripe is you take the same path 95% of the time so it doesn't add the variety I'd hope for with a branching choice mechanic.
Initiative is a busted mechanic. The recipe for me seems to be: If the card costs <5 mana, has at least remotely reasonable stats, and has some aspect of its design that helps retake (or helps protect) initiative, you should probably cube it. Hell, even Aarakocra Sneak is putting in work in Legacy, lol.
Damn, I really don't want to play initiative simply for the increased overhead of complexity that is not captured on the cards themselves, but it sounds like it's good fun!
Damn, I really don't want to play initiative simply for the increased overhead of complexity that is not captured on the cards themselves, but it sounds like it's good fun!
I'm not a huge fan of it either, but I feel its a necessity now.
The part I like is how Red decks have shifted from the all-in, hyper low to the ground to Rabblemaster - Hazoret decks that can have aggressive starts but also curve into 4 drops. I love how these decks can take advantage of Moxen/ Sol Rings (which I found previous red decks weren't able to do as effectively). But also there is a lot more play to these decks as its not the end of the world if the opponent sticks a Siege Rhino and your attackers cannot get through.
The part I don't like as much is how bad removal is compared to the threats in this format ...
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I'm thinking of giving this a try to support a very light Naya Initiative theme given I already have Dungeoneer, White Plume and Undermountain Adventurer. Also might add Eladamri's Call to tutor up the pieces on curve. IDK.
On a side note, these cards got pretty expensive. I regret not picking up Seasoned Dungeoneer on release; got the rest as extended art foils for like £2 each and White Plume especially has rocketed up in value.
The part I don't like as much is how bad removal is compared to the threats in this format ...
I think it's more a problem with these mechanics that add another mechanic to the game. It's a hard problem to fix since there is no real way to remove Monarch or initiative from the game once it is introduced.
If your game plan is gain the initiative and defend it, there is no real way to interact with it other that forcing through combat damage, and some decks just aren't able to do that reliably/quickly enough.
I'm surprised they haven't released some kind of safty-valve card along the lines of "Remove all additional game prices from the game" but I guess they would have to name each one like they have to do with keywords on Soulflayer and it would miss the next one that is added.
I really think these should have been tied to a card type like an Emblem, at least that way they could print a generic card like "target player loses all emblems"
I've been playing this card ever since it dropped and it's very good, for obvious reasons. I didn't realise it was just me running it. Swinging as a 7/5 trample that 'draws' a card on attack is kind of the baseline.
I would suspect the best answer to initiative would be the classic commandos like Invisible Stalker. Any chance those balloon back up in an environment where that matters?
Now that Initiative is pretty much established as bonkers, I think this card warrants its thread.
To those who play it, what are your impressions?
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
Also I meant Initiative instead of Adventure! My bad. Will edit.
Gets a land, becomes a 7/5 in time to attack then drains for 5. Puts on alot of pressure and can keep it on even if removed. Good for closing games quickly but also helps you grind if the game goes long (assuming you can keep the initiative).
As if that wasn't enough you can pretty easily
My only gripe is you take the same path 95% of the time so it doesn't add the variety I'd hope for with a branching choice mechanic.
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I'm not a huge fan of it either, but I feel its a necessity now.
The part I like is how Red decks have shifted from the all-in, hyper low to the ground to Rabblemaster - Hazoret decks that can have aggressive starts but also curve into 4 drops. I love how these decks can take advantage of Moxen/ Sol Rings (which I found previous red decks weren't able to do as effectively). But also there is a lot more play to these decks as its not the end of the world if the opponent sticks a Siege Rhino and your attackers cannot get through.
The part I don't like as much is how bad removal is compared to the threats in this format ...
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 think it's more a problem with these mechanics that add another mechanic to the game. It's a hard problem to fix since there is no real way to remove Monarch or initiative from the game once it is introduced.
If your game plan is gain the initiative and defend it, there is no real way to interact with it other that forcing through combat damage, and some decks just aren't able to do that reliably/quickly enough.
I'm surprised they haven't released some kind of safty-valve card along the lines of "Remove all additional game prices from the game" but I guess they would have to name each one like they have to do with keywords on Soulflayer and it would miss the next one that is added.
I really think these should have been tied to a card type like an Emblem, at least that way they could print a generic card like "target player loses all emblems"
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