Since there is no Ravnica Allegiance thread yet, what do you guys think about the Rakdos Firewheeler and Growth Spiral? Both look pretty interesting, but the Firewheeler looks much weaker than the other XXYY cards.
Rakdos Firewheeler still has quite a bit of potential, but its guild tends to already have good options. Growth Spiral is worthless - it might be a fine card but there is no point in dedicating a guild spot to a glorified Explore. On the other hand, depending on how 'Spectacle' works (and assuming that it is non-rare), Light Up the Stage could prove interesting. In particular, since it specifies the end of your next turn, it already provides a much better baseline for CA in red than prior exile draws available to us.
MTGGoldfish has Light Up the Stage as an uncommon. That's R for two castable cards in exile (if your opponent lost life this turn) AND you get to cast them next turn as well. It's a tremendous card.
Firewheeler looks strong to me, but I may be "best-case'ing" it. Of course, in our format it is competing against all stars like Nekrataal and Flametongue Kavu, so it is a bit less impressive in relative terms.
Light up the stage is indeed uncommon, and looks interesting. The "end of next turn" thing also means that even if you hit two lands, you at least get to play them both.
EDIT: Afterlife might have something cool for sacrifice decks. Will be interesting to see.
Yeah, I like the potential of the Afterlife mechanic, I will be keeping my eyes out over the spoiler season. White is getting really packed with token production so its really black cards with this mechanic I am going to be most interested in (also the colour with the sac outlets)
Also hoping for some simic +1/+1 cards, atm simic is mana-sink tribal for me, powerful but unexciting/one dimensional.
I am not super excited with spectacle it's like new bloodthirst (the previous gruul mechanic, which makes it red focused) it's really only going to be good for cards with small differences between with and without spectacle or low cost cards where it acts as kicker, which can still be a bad topdeck.
It seems like I am kind of looking for only half of each of the guilds because of the way my archetypes line up and the lack of space in multicolour cards.
Light up the Stage is interesting. I think it's strong enough, since split burn makes the condition easy even if you can't connect. I don't think a red divination as a floor is too bad, but I have no idea if that's actually true.
Rakdos Firewheeler feels underwhelming to me. Not being able to consistently slam your 4 drop in aggro on t4 is a huge downside, and the 4/3 vanilla body isn't ideal as the game progresses.
Afterlife makes more ways to independently activate Knight of Grace and Knight of Malice, which make both interesting if we eventually get a number of ways to do that.
Light up the Stage seems solid if the wording is correct. Allowing you to play both lands if you happen to hit two lands is just great.
Rakdos Firewheeler is okay, too bad it's not a warrior. It's a bit underwhelming, tho, since for the same (less specific) cost you get a Murderous Redcap or a Nekrataal. Just underwhelming. Glad to see the AABB cost card cycle continues in RNA, tho.
The gruul mechanic is nice ts basically Fanatic of Xenagos but you get to chose this time, everyone loves choices. I am hoping for some efficienct warriors because it works so well with bramblewood paragon and red has rage forger.
Edit: Since azorius mechanic depends on exactly on what the card does its barely a mechanic each card will be evaluated on their own.
thoughts on mechanics i guess. since we have nothing else to discuss atm, and only one spoiler is really relevant for us.
afterlife is built in evasive value, and synergises well with sac effects which my orzhov decks are built to do. but i feel like the cards with afterlife i cube with will have to either have a high afterlife value, or just be good cards already with afterlife tacked on. feeling good about the mechanic though.
addendum is case by case but i hope the cards involve meaningful decision making across the board. instant speed is a huge thing to give up on a spell most of the time, so i hope that's reflected in their power level at sorcery speed.
spectacle could be cool. i do like light up the stage, and i like how they're not always gunna be discounts or more expensive. flexibility in curve place is always welcome and deceptively powerful. we did get a couple of good bloodthirst cards so hopefully same goes here.
riot is awesome and i love it.
adapt seems terrible but i'm reserving judgement until we see some interesting cards. i guess.
I like that Spectacle isn't tightly tied to aggro like Bloodthirst is; I could see some really interesting mid-ranged cards come out of it, which is rare from a red mechanic.
I'm not super excited about the other 4, but I would be surprised if we didn't get some solid cards out of the non-Addendum ones. Doomed Traveler, Fanatic of Xenagos, and monstrosity are all reasonable things to cube. It's hard for me to imagine Addendum leading to interesting gameplay most of the time, though a Divination/Cancel hybrid might be interesting.
Rakdos sac and (maybe) Gruul midrange are two non-aggro decks that could run Spectacle cards. For a sac deck it shouldn't be hard at all to trigger life loss.
Bloodthirst only really results in undercosted beaters, which only aggro wants. Spectacle can result in actual card advantage, which appeals to midranged more than aggro. Obviously you still need to be able to trigger it, but the reward for spectacle can actually be worth jumping through the hoop for midranged, as opposed to just a big dude.
i think tempo based decks with evasive creatures might benefit from it. definitely makes cards like looter il-kor that much better since the damage becomes that bit more relevant. idk if anyone runs pingers that aren't gelectrode and co anymore though.
No thoughts on the Simic split card? A much needed flexible removal spell for Simic with the ability to cycle for 1! or a bad ponder with an expensive aura attached to it that usually reads “enchanted creature with cmc 5 or greater gets -2/-2.”
Incubation is hybrid Commune With Nature - a card that I'm not running myself. Incongruity is another Pongify/Rapid Hybridization that costs three times as much, including forcing a second color, limiting the number of decks it can go in.
It seems the only thing in favor of Incubation//Incongruity is a little flexibility, but you can't even hold it and make the decision at instant speed, as one side is a sorcery. I'm not really a fan.
To be fair, I neglected to notice it said "exile" rather than "destroy." If reanimator is a concern, Incongruity's effect is certainly better than Rapid Hybridization - but is it worth and extra 1G? And how often will the difference between exile and destroy matter? Still not keen on it, just wanted to cover my bases.
I think it's got an interesting place in simic as a usable card for both flash/go (holding up 3 mana often means either a counter or a dude at eot) and big mana fatties archetypes, both of which are common spaces for simic in C/Ubes. Not an optimal card, but pickable past p6 or so.
I wonder how the hybrid//split cards work into the hybrid theory cubers math
Why do I never learn? I keep waiting excitedly for spoilers to start, and then they just reveal planeswalkers, pushed constructed staples and commander toys.
Depose // Deploy This might be an interesting card for those that run bigger guild sections. I can't see this making it in smaller sections, tho. I like that it pushes Azorius tokens.
The new green enchantment, Wilderness Reclamation is kind of interesting. Don't know that we've ever had a seedborne muse type effect at uncommon? Pretty unique effect, and super powerful in a deck with enough instants/flash.
The new green enchantment, Wilderness Reclamation is kind of interesting. Don't know that we've ever had a seedborne muse type effect at uncommon? Pretty unique effect, and super powerful in a deck with enough instants/flash.
I think the closest we've had to Seedborn Muse was Quest for Renewal, but that untaps creatures (after jumping through a hoop) instead of lands. Not sure what deck I would want to play Wilderness Reclamation in - maybe UG with counterspells? But it is interesting and essentially refunds its mana cost that turn.
Simic in Peasant tends to operate a lot at instant speed in my experience, so I think this card definitely deserves some attention. Rarely do we get a noncreature with such a sweeping and swingy effect these days.
Incubation//Incongruity is incredibly mediocre imo. Incongruity loses out to Pongify or Beast Within on efficiency or flexibility respectively. It is a direct upgrade to Commune with Nature, but I can't see it justified unless you were strongly considering Commune, and even then it would have to not be considered a guild card for it to be reasonable.
Depose//Deploy seems reasonable, though not worth the guild slot imo. Kind of similar to Fire//Ice in effect, but without the high end of either spell for the most part.
I can't really imagine a UG deck consistently coming together with enough instant speed spells to justify Wilderness Reclaimation, though the card does have ridiculous high end. Powerful card with niche applications.
High Alert is our first Doran effect, but there just aren't enough played cards to justify it (Wall of Denial and Wall of Omens being the only standouts).
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Light up the stage is indeed uncommon, and looks interesting. The "end of next turn" thing also means that even if you hit two lands, you at least get to play them both.
EDIT: Afterlife might have something cool for sacrifice decks. Will be interesting to see.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Also hoping for some simic +1/+1 cards, atm simic is mana-sink tribal for me, powerful but unexciting/one dimensional.
I am not super excited with spectacle it's like new bloodthirst (the previous gruul mechanic, which makes it red focused) it's really only going to be good for cards with small differences between with and without spectacle or low cost cards where it acts as kicker, which can still be a bad topdeck.
It seems like I am kind of looking for only half of each of the guilds because of the way my archetypes line up and the lack of space in multicolour cards.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Rakdos Firewheeler feels underwhelming to me. Not being able to consistently slam your 4 drop in aggro on t4 is a huge downside, and the 4/3 vanilla body isn't ideal as the game progresses.
Afterlife makes more ways to independently activate Knight of Grace and Knight of Malice, which make both interesting if we eventually get a number of ways to do that.
Rakdos Firewheeler is okay, too bad it's not a warrior. It's a bit underwhelming, tho, since for the same (less specific) cost you get a Murderous Redcap or a Nekrataal. Just underwhelming. Glad to see the AABB cost card cycle continues in RNA, tho.
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
Edit: Since azorius mechanic depends on exactly on what the card does its barely a mechanic each card will be evaluated on their own.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
afterlife is built in evasive value, and synergises well with sac effects which my orzhov decks are built to do. but i feel like the cards with afterlife i cube with will have to either have a high afterlife value, or just be good cards already with afterlife tacked on. feeling good about the mechanic though.
addendum is case by case but i hope the cards involve meaningful decision making across the board. instant speed is a huge thing to give up on a spell most of the time, so i hope that's reflected in their power level at sorcery speed.
spectacle could be cool. i do like light up the stage, and i like how they're not always gunna be discounts or more expensive. flexibility in curve place is always welcome and deceptively powerful. we did get a couple of good bloodthirst cards so hopefully same goes here.
riot is awesome and i love it.
adapt seems terrible but i'm reserving judgement until we see some interesting cards. i guess.
I'm not super excited about the other 4, but I would be surprised if we didn't get some solid cards out of the non-Addendum ones. Doomed Traveler, Fanatic of Xenagos, and monstrosity are all reasonable things to cube. It's hard for me to imagine Addendum leading to interesting gameplay most of the time, though a Divination/Cancel hybrid might be interesting.
The two C/U cards we've seen with the mechanic thus far start out as a vanilla 4/2 for 4 and a bad Divination when you're not hitting Spectacle, so...
No thoughts on the Simic split card? A much needed flexible removal spell for Simic with the ability to cycle for 1! or a bad ponder with an expensive aura attached to it that usually reads “enchanted creature with cmc 5 or greater gets -2/-2.”
I’m not sure, but will probably try it for a bit.
Modern:
WBG
Legacy:
WBG
Incongruity is another Pongify/Rapid Hybridization that costs three times as much, including forcing a second color, limiting the number of decks it can go in.
It seems the only thing in favor of Incubation//Incongruity is a little flexibility, but you can't even hold it and make the decision at instant speed, as one side is a sorcery. I'm not really a fan.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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I wonder how the hybrid//split cards work into the hybrid theory cubers math
Show me some cards that I will get to play with !
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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Depose//Deploy seems reasonable, though not worth the guild slot imo. Kind of similar to Fire//Ice in effect, but without the high end of either spell for the most part.
I can't really imagine a UG deck consistently coming together with enough instant speed spells to justify Wilderness Reclaimation, though the card does have ridiculous high end. Powerful card with niche applications.
High Alert is our first Doran effect, but there just aren't enough played cards to justify it (Wall of Denial and Wall of Omens being the only standouts).
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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Everything else so far has been chaff.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.