MTG Salvation

Quote from noshadowkick

I was thinking pretty much the same thing with regards to Triumph of Ferocity. There are an abundance of chump blockers in the format, especially in white, that can keep the fatty fatty from connecting.

Have you thought about Thunderous Wrath? I want miracle to work! This seems like its Peasan't best chance... though without mircale it is a bit pricey. However, your cube is 450 and you seem to be pretty open to experimenting

Indeed I am. Keeps things fresh because I mostly play with the same two guys. I'm not too sure on Thunderous Wrath, red's got quite a lot this set. I'll figure out the ins and outs once I have the physical cards. Which will maybe be saturday 00 o'clock...

Quote from NewbornMuse

Totem-Guide Hartebeest doesn't require you to play a lot of auras, you just need one. It's not a toolbox card but a card advantage generator. Even if Pacifism is the only target you have, a 2/5 that fetches a removal is nice in my book. I agree that my aura count is currently a little low, I might raise it a little in the future if that happened to come easy.

I'm a big fan of Hartebeast as well. He's especially great when you're playing W/U and he's able to dig up a Control Magic effect. Card advantage that often leads into even more card advantage the following turn.

Speaking of, maybe Corrupted Conscience in place of (or in addition to) Mind Control?

I really dislike the idea of giving something infect when there are no other infect cards in the cube. It's a really parasitic mechanic.

Quote from Bizarro Bike

I really dislike the idea of giving something infect when there are no other infect cards in the cube. It's a really parasitic mechanic.

Yea, that's fair enough. It's a bit strange out of block.

So, here's the first part of the AVR update. The substitutions are not very like-for-like this time, but it increases card quality (or card-wanted-by-me-ness) quite a lot.

Naturalize -> Abundant Growth
This card might turn out to be very versatile.

Brutalizer Exarch -> Howlgeist
I want to see how good this is. I suspect we have a tendency to undervaluate the undying here.

Kavu Primarch -> Wolfir Avenger
So happy to see this guy here and cut a filler three-drop.

Gilt-Leaf Ambush -> Blessings of Nature
Experimental card that turned out to be lackluster for experimental card.

Inner-Flame Acolyte -> Hanweir Lancer
Lancer was super solid for me at the prerelease. I'm fine with the number of three-drops and Acolyte is the one I like least.

Kuldotha Ringleader -> Fervent Cathar
I could have cut Crossway Vampires, but I want to see what happens if I have three of these effects.

Ember Augur -> Kruin Striker
Goblin Striker plus for Goblin Striker a little more plus.

Mogg Flunkies -> Lightning Mauler
I'm so happy to be able to type this right now.

Bladetusk Boar -> Heirs of Stromkirk
I like Slith cards, and this feels like an upgrade. I like red to have some evasion.

Chittering Rats -> Demonic Taskmaster
Grindy black three-drop for bashy black three-drop as I want black to be a little more bashy.

Coastal Piracy -> Wing Crafter
I've heard very good things of this innocuous one-drop.

Plasma Elemental -> Tandem Lookout
I love Ophidians.

Volitions Reins -> Latch Seeker
Overpriced card for blue tempo enabler.

Deceiver Exarch -> Fettergeist
Solid roleplayer for strong roleplayer.

Divination -> Ghostly Flicker
Underwhelming card draw for potentially cool shenanigans.

Ninja of Deep Hours -> Mist Raven
Why does everyone like the Ninja so much? It generally connects once and "bounce your guy, draw a card" is rarely worth two mana.

Thraben Sentry -> Goldnight Commander
I want to try out this guy.

Momentary Blink -> Cloudshift
That might seem counterintuitive, but Momentary Blink is currently listed as a white-only card and this change shall prove whether or not this is justified. If Cloudshift wasn't worth it, then Blink wouldn't be worth it either (as a mono-white card) and should go out.


Also, I'm cutting back on multicolor cards to add a few lands and artifacts. I'm currently lacking a few of the new cards I want, so some of the additions are merely okay placeholders, but I'm so eager to cut the unneeded multicolor cards that I do it nonetheless.





If you think that any of the cuts were wrong or that some cards don't deserve being added, please let me know that and why you think so. There are a few more AVR cards to come as well as better artifacts and lands, but this will do for the moment.

The changes all look pretty good, though I don't really like Ghostly Flicker or Cloudshift. I think a large part of Momentary Blink's playability comes from the flashback (also, I play it as a WU card).

Ninja of the Deep Hours certainly isn't as impressive as I want him to be, but he's a fun card and can occasionally be really good in decks like UB control with plenty of ways to keep the board clear. I'll play him in aggressive XU decks, as well. Late game, those green mana dorks really don't do much, so getting in there with them is an easy way to get an extra card. Re-triggering ETB effects is a nice benefit, but it is admittedly not the most efficient way of doing so.

I think he's fun enough to justify his inclusion, but I understand that there could be better alternatives for a blue aggro/tempo support card.

I really like the multicolor cuts, but missing out on Behemoth Sledge is brutal. That card is so good it hurts.

I'm playing with and enjoy all of the cards you're adding in the land/colorless section (except for Palladium Myr).

I definitely wouldn't cut behemoth sledge. That card is a windmill slam, and as they say. Also, why palladium myr over worn powerstone? The myr is so much easier to kill and essentially comes into play 'tapped' as far as mana production goes. I'll be curious to see if the pro's of having an extra body outweigh the con's on that one.

Also will be curious to see how Wingcrafter and Demonic Taskmaster work out for you as I haven't really been planning on adding them to my list. I think one of the intangible benefits of the Wingcrafter will be that opponents may not want to waste removal on a 1/1 and he will end up just giving half of your creatures flying throughout the game.

Also, yay for darksteel sentinel and pierce strider!

Thanks for the feedback guys. Cutting Sledge is so sad, I know, but I really, really want to give Juniper Order Ranger a little more testing. The one time it showed up, it was quite the powerhouse and warped the game in a pretty unique way. I might imbalance my multicolor section in the future to include such cards again.

Pd Myr over Powerstone is because I own Myr and no Powerstone. Also, it's not Pierce, but Peace Strider, once again for reasons of availability. Both will be changed asap.

I like how your doubts, shoutouts and agreements kinda reflect what I feel about the changes. Sledge is a sad cut, the Blinks are there because I want to make them work, Cloudshift is an experiment, and Ninja is a card I'm on the fence about.

I'll post again when I have first testing results or further cards.

I finally got to play C/Ube again this afternoon, after a thirst period of a few weeks of only reading and writing about cubing. Some interesting stuff happened:

In five-booster sealed, I actually played UB tempo and loved it. It only had ten creatures, but most of them had evasion and there was a ton of backup spells to help that. This deck was the justification for all these black and blue cards that are there to make exactly this work. Never have Phantasmal Bear, Daggerclaw Imp, Latch Seeker, Vampire Interloper, Frost Breath, Memory Lapse and Force Spike been so good.

Mask of Memory is awesome. Drawing two extra cards is great for aggro decks that aim not to run out of gas. It also draws you into evasive critters that can subsequently wear the Mask. I had it in two tempo-oriented decks today and both times, it was huge.

Goldnight Commander looks pretty good. It hasn't had its great memorable story yet, but even if you can continue to add creatures to the board, it's a Hill Giant that boosts your creatures. This guy deserves more testing. I tried to pull off the super-sneaky mid-combat-Briarhorn-trick, but Commander was removed in response.

Moan of the Unhallowed is a very real card. It looks unassuming, but it's pretty cool and if you're tired of your black four-drops killing creatures all day, you might want to try this for a change.

Keldon Megaliths is cool. I had it against the blue-black guy with many utility creatures and it shot down quite a few of them. I really suggest that you try this card out.

Cascade Draft is a quick and fun alternative for two-player drafting. Next time I do it, I invert the order, though, so that each player gets nine random cards, then can Sleight of Hand nine times, then one out of three etc. That way, it's a challenge of making the best of what you have. Less like regular drafting, but possibly pretty cool, too.

Throat Slitter doesn't do anything, I try Buried Alive instead. Very often, we were in the situation where we had reanimation spells, reanimation targets, but only very few ways of getting the fatties in the grave, especially in monoblack. Triple Tutor looks good.

Thanks to dirt cheap proxies, I could test a number of cards from AVR and from earlier sets that I don't own. The changes in detail and the result of rather excessive testing:

Colorless and Multicolor
Tinkering with the optimal setup. The recent change (less multi, more artifact and fix) has been an all-around success.

Agony Warp, Soul Manipulation -> Baleful Strix, Psychatog
Pretty clearly upgrades, but the haven't come up as they're multicolor.

Gelectrode -> Electrolyze
Probably better too. Has come up and is not exactly spectacular, but always does something you want.

Simic Signet -> Shardless Agent
Hasn't come up.

Darksteel Ingot -> Vessel of Endless Rest
Has not been very relevant, though rainbow fixing is very nice. Not too sure if three-mana mana stones are needed.

Prismatic Lens -> Coldsteel Heart
Mana stones are cool, this one is a colorless Rampant Growth.

Skullclamp -> Pierce Strider
Not even too much of a downgrade... Pierce Strider coming once is cool, coming twice or more is a serious threat to the opponent's life total.

Orzhov Basilica -> Tainted Field
Has been disappointing. It doesn't help you splash black (which is rather common), and it's awkward anyway because it's not symmetrical. I hope for RTR to bring something viable here.

Urza's Factory -> Desert
Desert is huge, it pretty much wrecks the average aggressive deck that's full of 2/1s. If you're not running it, you should try it out.

Chalice of Life -> Thunderstaff
And the perpetual experimenting goes on. This one might even actually be good, though I doubt it.

Isochron Scepter -> Guardian Idol
Mana Stones are cool (did I already say this?), and Scepter just has to go. The final nail in the coffin was that I had it in the perfect deck, but it still ended up mediocre and almost cut from the final forty. It's a little sad, because I find Scepter decks super exciting, but well..

White
Not too much to see here.

Ballynock Trapper -> Glimmerpoint Stag
Is anyone surprised this is a good change?

Roc Egg -> Stonecloaker
Seriously, what doesn't this guy do?

Lightkeeper of Emeria -> Seraph of Dawn
Slight angel upgrade.

Blue
Watch out, there's a lot:

Soratami Cloudskater -> Waterfront Bouncer
Having all your lands be Horizon Canopy is cool, but Bouncer is cooler.

Reality Acid -> Crystal Shard
Pretty cool too.

Sensory Deprivation -> Remand
Tempo, tempo, tempo!

Negate -> Daze
After a couple of blowouts from Force Spike and Mana Tithe, this just had to come in.

Remove Soul -> Standstill
Not quite Ancestral Recall, but hella close. You should try this out in your cube if you're not already running it.

Vedalken Mastermind -> Nephalia Smuggler
Was good once in a grindy game.

Black
Black lacks identity lately. There are only minor updates here.

Enslave -> Grixis Slavedriver
Enslave is awkward as a black card, Slavedriver is an okay Buried Alive target.

Evil Eye of Urborg -> Corpse Connoisseur
Experimental (and horrible, never play the Eye!) card for another one. Entomb machine can't be too bad, and "tutoring" for Artisan of Kozilek might come in handy.

Tortured Existence -> Dead Weight
I was too anxious about black having too little removal, so there's another one.

Throatslitter -> Pulse Tracker
Throatslitter is a Dark Banishing that bounces your creature. Not worth it.

Red
Minor updates, lots of one-drops.

Volcanic Dragon -> Frenzied Goblin
Nice red one-drop is nice.

Geyser Glider -> Ingot Chewer
Chewer is just a little more flexible, and costing one is what a red five-drop needs to do sometimes.

Barbarian Ring -> Keldon Megaliths
This card is just so much better than it looks. Definitely stays in the cube.

Ghitu War Cry -> Stonewright
Relic of times when a red deck could afford a three-mana do-nothing card. One-drops are always cool.

Green
Mostly "cards I finally got" updates.

Groundswell -> Imperious Perfect
Watch out, there's tribal here! Wins any attrition war.

Changeling Titan -> Fyndhorn Elves
I am a little opposed to functional reprints, but mana elves are green's bread and butter, and five mana for zero creatures is too little these days.

Hunter's Insight -> Triumph of Ferocity
As discussed above. I like the minigame that this spawns.

Centaur Glade -> Druid's Familiar
Super slow creature for insane bear.

Overall very, very good changes, now I just need to acquire the real cards to replace those ugly proxies. The cube is now in a spot where I'm really, really happy with it, and because I'm about to finish high school and will probably lose contact with my best cube buddy to a certain extent, this version of the cube is going to be preserved, so we can get it out in twenty years and play the "2012 cube" again.

Bladetusk Boar -> Heirs of Stromkirk
Stromkirk has to hit 4 times to outpace the boar.

Chittering rats isn't grindy, it's for aggro. You play it on curve and it makes your opponent stumble so hard they sometimes can't get back into it until they're in burn range. I'm not saying he's a monster, but he's quickly becoming one of my favorite cards for aggro.