Khans feels faster and so morphs aren't as good as they were the last two times around. In Onslaught, they block craghorn and it's almost always a 0-for-1 if they don't have a removal. They attack, and craghorn almost always eats their attacker, too. 3 points of first strike is pretty big in pauper or draft in general.
I really like the 0/5 flying morph wall in KTK. Very few things can kill it without a combat trick in pauper. And if you need an attacker, it's a grey ogre that reads "when this creature would die to burn, instead it becomes a 0/5 flying wall".
As we all know, morphs aren't as good as they used to be because of the M10 rules change. C'est la vie.
I'm actually considering to add 3 morphs of each color, to the 5 wedge that already are in my 490 cube.
I didn't like morph at all till I saw it in action =)
My idea is that in each color, it should be:
- 1 Morph that your opponent doesn't wanna block (at least with a 2/2)
- 1 Morph that your opponent DOES want to block
- 1 flex-slot morph (with a triggering abbility, for example).
That way I keep the mystery in the combat math.
For now, the ones I'm considering are these:
WHITE (White is an exception, cause all the 3 have combat-trickness)
- Daru Lancer
- Aven Liberator
- Wingbeat Warrior
BLUE
- Aquamorph Entity: You want to block it, 5 damage to the head is too much.
- Shaper Parasite: You don't want to block it.
- Fathom Seer / Disruptive Pitmage: Utility creatures.
BLACK
- Haunted Cadaver: You want to block it
- Zombie Cutthroat: You don't want to block it
- Skinthinner: Removal-on-a-body
RED
- Skirk Commando: You want to block it
- Gathan Raiders: You don't want to block it
- Skirk Marauder: Shock-on-a-body
GREEN (the color that fits the less, because of high morph cost)
- Woolly Loxodon: You want to block it
- Titanic Bulvox: You don't want to block it
- Nantuko Vigilante: Naturalize-on-a-body
Of course, this is a little overstreched, but I think that it's the best I can get with the morphs I have right now.
If the next sets introduce better morphs, this could be changed.
Blue is difficult to narrow down. Both Monastery Flock, Mystic of the Hidden Way, and Fathom Seer deserve consideration. Flock and Mystic don't really fit this mold however, and my experience with Fathom Seer hasn't been great.
Snarling Undorak I think is a good candidate because of how versatile the pump can be.
Overall, the Don't Block category was a lot more difficult than I anticipated, as I tried to treat is as the opponent will lose their creature, and that qualifies a lot of morphs.
Man-O'-War is sometimes stranded in my hand when I want to get value out of it. Echo Tracer allows me to keep up the pace while still keeping the bounce ready.
I, too, think that Disruptive Pitmage is more than a bad Force Spike. It works like a Force spike when you surprisingly morph it, but after that It makes it difficult for your opponent to play on curve. Force Spike only works once. Ofcouse, being a creature makes it more fragile, but if your opponent uses a removal to take him off, I wouldn't complain.
Aquamorph Entity is a 2/2, a 1/5, or a 5/1 in one card. None of them are powerfull, but it's a lot of flexbility. Also, if we consider reasonable a 2/2 or 1/3 for 2U that draws you a card if they pass unblocked, I don't see why a 5/1 is that worse (if you look at it as a [2/2 with ''if unblocked, pay 2U and it gets +3/+0]). 5 damage is a lot, that is the main argument to defend Ruinous Minotaur. And a 5/2 is not that different from a 5/1, in that regard.
Nonetheless, as I see that many of you value Echo Tracer so high, I will put it to test instead of the other two.
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My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I am a sucker for themes. Manifest breathes more, not new, life into morph; as the block mechanics should.
In my search for 'better bad cards', I now consider the Ponder discussion, and for that matter, Brainstorm. They pair with Manifest cards well enough. Tuck away extra lands, or non EtB creatures to become blockers or part of the shell-game.
With the full block of Tarkir already with us, I have to say that seeing the Morph mechanic in action has supressed my prejudges against morph. I think now that it IS a fun mechanic, and that it helps smoothing the manacurve of a deck.
But, beyond the mechanic, the CARDS with morph haven't impressed me that much. There are exceptions, but I don't think there is a raw mass of morphs to include a good number on every colour in a singleton format.
With that in mind, why not implement morph in a cube but restricting it to 2/3 colours? If, for example, we add morphs only in white, red and green, we can include more of them, mantaining the 'surprise' factor, but we don't have to include any of the blue and black ones, because when the opponent knows what lands we are playing, already knows what coloured-morphs there can be an which ones there cannot be.
If you have a high powerlevel most morphs are pretty unexiting. I only run Fathom Seer and Gathan Raiders
But of you build your cube a little slower and more about interesting options, a lot of morphs can be played.
Tier2 totally needs to be play(test)ed again, but atm Im running:
I liked the mini-reviews on Glacial Stalker and Woolly Loxodon, but it makes me wonder what to do with green and blue's top end. I'm still stuck on stuff like Winding Wurm, Oakgnarl Warrior and Benthic Giant. What would you guys consider top-tier 6 and 7 mana critters in those colors?
What about Skinthinner then? I would rank it higher than your black exclusion Haunted Cadaver, but cut it recently for being a tad slow. Seems to me that 3 + 5 mana for a Goblin Piker + Dark Banishing would be more than fair in a removal-light environment.
It would be good in a Blink deck, I agree. We didn't play it in that shell, but I would still be skeptical of whether it was good enough overall.
Just move gathan raiders to colorless. Be real with yourself broski
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
seal of doom
dead weight
stab wound
font of return
baleful eidolon
mark of the vampire
(pestilence?)
If you are one of those people who deliberately scales back removal, you can go deeper and replace some removal with debilitating injury too
Even deeper: unhallowed pact/shade's form, casting of bones, soul stair expedition?
If you go deep, redundancy is provided by griffin dreamfinder
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
I have them more focused in the Hexproof package expansion.
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Khans feels faster and so morphs aren't as good as they were the last two times around. In Onslaught, they block craghorn and it's almost always a 0-for-1 if they don't have a removal. They attack, and craghorn almost always eats their attacker, too. 3 points of first strike is pretty big in pauper or draft in general.
I really like the 0/5 flying morph wall in KTK. Very few things can kill it without a combat trick in pauper. And if you need an attacker, it's a grey ogre that reads "when this creature would die to burn, instead it becomes a 0/5 flying wall".
As we all know, morphs aren't as good as they used to be because of the M10 rules change. C'est la vie.
I didn't like morph at all till I saw it in action =)
My idea is that in each color, it should be:
- 1 Morph that your opponent doesn't wanna block (at least with a 2/2)
- 1 Morph that your opponent DOES want to block
- 1 flex-slot morph (with a triggering abbility, for example).
That way I keep the mystery in the combat math.
For now, the ones I'm considering are these:
WHITE (White is an exception, cause all the 3 have combat-trickness)
- Daru Lancer
- Aven Liberator
- Wingbeat Warrior
BLUE
- Aquamorph Entity: You want to block it, 5 damage to the head is too much.
- Shaper Parasite: You don't want to block it.
- Fathom Seer / Disruptive Pitmage: Utility creatures.
BLACK
- Haunted Cadaver: You want to block it
- Zombie Cutthroat: You don't want to block it
- Skinthinner: Removal-on-a-body
RED
- Skirk Commando: You want to block it
- Gathan Raiders: You don't want to block it
- Skirk Marauder: Shock-on-a-body
GREEN (the color that fits the less, because of high morph cost)
- Woolly Loxodon: You want to block it
- Titanic Bulvox: You don't want to block it
- Nantuko Vigilante: Naturalize-on-a-body
Of course, this is a little overstreched, but I think that it's the best I can get with the morphs I have right now.
If the next sets introduce better morphs, this could be changed.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
White:
Block - Daru Lancer
Don't Block - Aven Liberator
Utility - Wingbeat Warrior
For the utility slot in White I would consider Daru Sanctifier if more enchantment hate was needed.
Blue:
Block - Shaper Parasite
Don't Block - Echo Tracer
Utility - Disruptive Pitmage
Blue is difficult to narrow down. Both Monastery Flock, Mystic of the Hidden Way, and Fathom Seer deserve consideration. Flock and Mystic don't really fit this mold however, and my experience with Fathom Seer hasn't been great.
Black:
Block - Haunted Cadaver
Don't Block - Krumar Bond-Kin
Utility - Skinthinner
Black is tough as there isn't really a creature you don't want to block. Zombie Cutthroat just has too high a price.
Red:
Block - Gathan Raiders
Don't Block - Battering Craghorn
Utility - Skirk Marauder
Again, a lot of good sneaky morphs you don't want to get hit with.
Green:
Block - Snarling Undorak
Don't Block - Woolly Loxodon
Utility - Nantuko Vigilante
Snarling Undorak I think is a good candidate because of how versatile the pump can be.
Overall, the Don't Block category was a lot more difficult than I anticipated, as I tried to treat is as the opponent will lose their creature, and that qualifies a lot of morphs.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Slow Motion it might even become an sub-archetype.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Aquamorph Entity is a 2/2, a 1/5, or a 5/1 in one card. None of them are powerfull, but it's a lot of flexbility. Also, if we consider reasonable a 2/2 or 1/3 for 2U that draws you a card if they pass unblocked, I don't see why a 5/1 is that worse (if you look at it as a [2/2 with ''if unblocked, pay 2U and it gets +3/+0]). 5 damage is a lot, that is the main argument to defend Ruinous Minotaur. And a 5/2 is not that different from a 5/1, in that regard.
Nonetheless, as I see that many of you value Echo Tracer so high, I will put it to test instead of the other two.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
In my search for 'better bad cards', I now consider the Ponder discussion, and for that matter, Brainstorm. They pair with Manifest cards well enough. Tuck away extra lands, or non EtB creatures to become blockers or part of the shell-game.
And to further morph interactions I have bundled:
Basically dovetail in with Kor Skyfisher creatures. As well as value 2 effects I.e. Shock, Disfigure, etc being considered.
I will note, just like with control being too good, if ypu overload the low cost small body kill spells you breed out Morph as a strong theme.
To date, I have many mini 'expansions':
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Vigilance seems plain useless with 2 resistance, and a 3/2 flyer for 5 mana doesn't seem good, even when you split the five.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
But, beyond the mechanic, the CARDS with morph haven't impressed me that much. There are exceptions, but I don't think there is a raw mass of morphs to include a good number on every colour in a singleton format.
With that in mind, why not implement morph in a cube but restricting it to 2/3 colours? If, for example, we add morphs only in white, red and green, we can include more of them, mantaining the 'surprise' factor, but we don't have to include any of the blue and black ones, because when the opponent knows what lands we are playing, already knows what coloured-morphs there can be an which ones there cannot be.
Thoughts?
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
But of you build your cube a little slower and more about interesting options, a lot of morphs can be played.
Tier2 totally needs to be play(test)ed again, but atm Im running:
White
Blue
Black
Red
Green
+all 5 wedgemorphs
EDIT: Added more mophs
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Mmm, I certainly need more experience with morphs, but at least by now, I think that white ones are better than blue's.
It would be very useful to rate all morphs from the most powerful to the least, all-5-colours together.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
What about Skinthinner then?I would rank it higher than your black exclusion Haunted Cadaver, but cut it recently for being a tad slow. Seems to me that 3 + 5 mana for a Goblin Piker + Dark Banishing would be more than fair in a removal-light environment.EDIT: I missed Skinthinner's inclusion, carry on
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Green:
EDIT:
forgot
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t