MTG Salvation

Thanks so much, Brainz! Those look like a lot of great suggestions and I can't wait to see how they work into my cube.

Does anybody have advice for how to frame removal in a cube that seeks to highlight creature interaction? I have read about the concept of asfan and want to use that type of math to make this more of a reality - possibly aiming for 1.5 - 2.5 pieces of removal per pack. Does this seem too low?

Nettle Sentinel is not that good in cube. Most decks are 2 colour, and elves is not a real archetype unless you push it very hard.

For those who have tried the swarm archetype more... It is a attrition archetype, right?

Quote from Merovingiann »

For those who have tried the swarm archetype more... It is a attrition archetype, right?

As Runner said, it can be either. Usually it comes out ahead of the opponent and swarms around blockers, sacrificing tokens in chump attacks to the noble cause of damage. Sometimes, however, it's a little slower out of the gates and uses the first few tokens to chump block and buy time to build up a force. In the cases where the deck has to play this role, it turns the corner to aggression very quickly.

Angelic Renewal is pretty good for supporting Blink as a forced "Seal of Flicker", but much better for supporting Sacrifice in BW with sacrifice creatures to trigger it at the ideal time.

Has anybody had good results with Mardu Scout? I'm making major changes to my cube and am not sure about whether or not the scout deserves to stay. The card has yet to come up in any of our games.

Mardu scout is great. It's 3 surprise damage and it's a 3/1 for 2 mana. You don't really see that kind of power for 2 mana in red without some sort of drawback.

Even if you don't have double red t2, dashing it is still a fine play. The true power of Mardu Scout is if you draw it up at parity or in the late game. Haste changes combat significantly, its a better mechanic later in the game than early.

Imo, it's one of reds deck 2 drops, but it isn't the strongest t2 play.

It is also a rare 2cc that has topdeck usefulness

Well, I am definitely convinced to keep him in. Also, I really like how dash interacts with Intimidator Initiate, another reason for me to keep the Scout.

I found it better than Borderland Marauder, also because I have goblin tribal sinergies, but it's a fine card on its own.

Yeah, I wanted to give colors some identity, because I felt that otherwise being monocolored didn't pay off the way I wanted. It has been working well so far, goblins is a really strong archetype.

Quote from Runner5678 »

Quote from No Bass No Fun »

Yeah, I wanted to give colors some identity, because I felt that otherwise being monocolored didn't pay off the way I wanted. It has been working well so far, goblins is a really strong archetype.

that's cool. I avoid archetypes like that because if you don't draft mono-red goblin tribal, most of those cards are pretty terrible in other decks. They may buff mono red but they hurt red as a color in general imo. It's tricky to find the right mix and what's best for your group. So everyone's mileage varies. I do look at goblin matron though pretty often and want to play it.

Borderland Marauder is admittedly an odd cut. It's tied for the best aggressive 2-drop in Red.

I see what you mean. I personally think that archetypes are a healthy consequence of drafting. I add key cards that encourage and reward people to go deep in some archetypes, then the players do the rest. For example, Raid Bombardment was a key card originally added to support goblins, but ended up being played in some other archetypes, like RG aggro or Boros tokens, with surprising good results. Now I find it hard to build those decks without it.
Cubes (and limited in general) taught me to think of archetypes rather than the cards on their own. I updated the cube with that goal in mind and now it's much more fun. Draft it and you'll see!

Hi, NBNF, I see that you play Defender En-Vec on your cube. How does it work?

On a first glance, it seems like a Troubled Healer with a better body/cost relation. Yeah, it dies on its own, but doesn't require you to burn lands, and a 1/2 usually dies anyway. Am I analizing it correctly??

Yeah, from testing I dind't like Troubled Healer. Defender en-vec was originally leaving, but when I started to enhance the goblin tribe, it became more and more valuable, creating really complex battle steps for the aggro player. It goes well in midrange/control archetypes, like an 8th-9th pick.
Usually, if it dies on its own, then it already put you way far ahead. It also goes well with Momentary Blink, of course. I find it kinda like Harvest Gwyllion (a card that I'm also running in my orzhov section) or Sea Gate Oracle, they are roadblocks for aggro decks used by midrange to get some breathing air and start deploying threats.

With Goblin Heelcutter as yet another addition to the cool and powerful "can't block" sub theme within red, what about some other options?

In particular, these caught my eye:
Goblin War Drums
Hammerhand
Unearthly Blizzard/Panic Attack
Falter

This in addition to Goblin Shortcutter, Fervent Cathar, Nightbird's Clutches, Intimidator Initiate that are already in my cube. War Drums and Hammerhand are most interesting to me but I wonder what other people think of them, and the effect in general?

I love Goblin War Drums, have been cubing that for years and would definitely play that over Nightbird's Clutches at least. I don't think you want too many of this effect as they just start not making peoples decks in my experience. War Drums is more flexible than some of the others because it's not just for aggro but with many other archetypes as well.

So are they removing all of the useless chaff from this block and just releasing it as a 300 card set or something? These sets had some awesome cards but they also had 7 mana 5/5 white dragons with stupid drawbacks.

Urza's Saga would probably be fun "remastered".
Move the excessive numbers of black common removal out, make a lot of the playable creatures uncommon.

Then again even Ice Age or Legends could be fun "remastered".

Concerning Thalakos Dreamsower:
Suppose I attack, damage opponent, tap creature A. On opponent's turn, creature A doesn't untap, because Thalakos is tapped.
On my next turn, if I untap Thalakos, attack again, and tap creature B. Creature A can or cannot untap on its turn? Thalakos Dreamsower is tapped at the moment of Creature A's untap fase, but I wouldn't say it 'remained tapped'. How does it work? Cause if it's considered like it 'remains tapped' at the moment of untap, then it's stupidly powerful.

Quote from Merovingiann »

Concerning Thalakos Dreamsower:
Suppose I attack, damage opponent, tap creature A. On opponent's turn, creature A doesn't untap, because Thalakos is tapped.
On my next turn, if I untap Thalakos, attack again, and tap creature B. Creature A can or cannot untap on its turn? Thalakos Dreamsower is tapped at the moment of Creature A's untap fase, but I wouldn't say it 'remained tapped'. How does it work? Cause if it's considered like it 'remains tapped' at the moment of untap, then it's stupidly powerful.

You attack and tap creature A. It doesn't untap on its controller's turn because the dreamsower is tapped. If you untap Dreamsower, creature A will untap on teh next untap step.